Takeniwa

Short wait for a table with drinks and appetizers ordered right after being seated. Food served hot right after appetizers are finished. Drinks reserved with fresh glass and ice, empty glass removed. Ordered three entrees for the two of us. Entrees are huge. Food was excellent! Five drinks total. The waitress was very attentive but not intrusive. The expense with the tip was reasonable.

My wife and I LOVE sushi... that is our special treat to each other whenever we get an evening together for date night. So it stands to reason that we are a little picky about our sushi experience. But when comparing Takeniwa to the rest of the places that we have visited in the area I'm afraid they rely too heavily on location and not enough on quality. That's not to say there are not significant highlights of our meal; the location is easy to get to and centrally located, I have zero complaints about the atmosphere and the staff is very friendly. A+ for an excellence in hiring. Even the food is very good when compared to any of the 'larger' sushi places around here. But they are highly overpriced for what they offer. The food is not outstanding and the atmosphere is mediocre when it comes to $15-$20 rolls served with paper napkins, plastic fry-baskets and luke-warm saki. The lunch-special consisted of four-pieces of their cheapest roll for every $12+ roll you purchased. It just was not a deal. Everything else is actually just fine, it's just the location I guess... it's an expensive piece of property and you are paying for that and not the added quality of the higher-end sushi experience I would expect for a $100 lunch.

My experience was overall very positive, the place is very inviting, clean, well kept. The service was a bit slow at times, such as it took more than 15 minutes to get my water. I was there 30 or so minutes after opening. I think they may have had just 1 waitress on the floor at the time, I believe she was just maxed out until more staff arrived. My actual " woah" kinda disappointment was I asked for the hibachi grill. I did not mind waiting for a group but was sat a a normal table. I was by myself. I did not see any others sitting at the grill tables so I think they might not be open until the dinner crowd. The clear soup was not available, and I did not want the salad. The waitress again was very sweet and brought me an egg roll. It was delicious. I ordered the tempura and the steak and shrimp hibachi with steamed rice. The steak and shrimp were very peppery and the rice was not that warm. The tempura was good but I am not sure what all it came with, and the sauce that comes with it tasted like a vinegar sauce. I did not like it as much as the yum yum and teriyaki which were both good. I took pictures of the portions but for just me, and drinking only water it was almost 60$. Overall a good experience, but it seems very expensive per person especially for a lunch.