Kobe Japanese Steakhouse

My wife and I went to Kobe last night with two other couples and we were thoroughly pleased. My wife is Asian and from Hawaii... would this ""Americanized"" Japanese restaurant receive high praise in Japan, Hawaii or any other large city with a high Asian population? Probably not; however, for a small town this is a GREAT place to eat. The chef's were far superior to the ones we've had at Kanki in Raleigh. They were very entertaining and could hanlde a spatula with the best of them. The food tastes like all of the food I've ever eaten at any Japanese restaurant. I ordered two sushi rolls and although they were quite good I have had better. Again, the food and entertainment was well worth our time and money. Rick is obviously a ""wanna-be food critic"" and needs to stick with his day job (if he has one). Maybe Rick wanted re-fills on his alcohal which he obviously drank too much. We will return to Kobe with our three kids next time. more

OK....so Rick's review is absolutely false. Kobe's does not charge for refills on Tea, soft drinks, or water. It doesn't matter if you have 1 refill or 12...they are free. The cooks are all very nice and a pleasure to deal with. The waitstaff is just as nice. It is a great place to eat when you are wanting Japanease and don't want to drive forever to get it. I recommend it to anyone. Rick, get a life. Pros: great food Cons: Small dining area more

In response to that last post from rick---There isnt a japanese restaurant that wont charge u a seating fee at a grill. This is also posted on the menu and on the front door before you even walk into the facility. SOOO if you didnt want to pay the fee you shouldve turned around!!!!~On top of that u do not get charged for refills unless it is juice or milk so that is a total lie... as far as a reservation u must been with a GROUP BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE ONE. tHEPRICES ARE CONSIDERED TO BE REASONABLE FOR THE AMOUNT OF THE FOOD YOU GET ---MOST PEOPLE WALK OUT FULL AND WITH A BOX FOR LUNCH THE NEXT DAY.mAYBE IT WASNT THE RESTAURANT MAYBE IT WAS JUST THE CUSTOMER. Pros: PLENTY OF FOOD FOR THE $$$ more

This Resturant is a rip off from the fine Kobe Japanese Steakhouses which are located in Major cities across the US. I highly recommend not to eat in this place. The Staff is very rude and would even enrage someone to perforn sepuka with a spoon upon themselves. The food, if you can call it that, reminds one of table scraps from a church steak dinner. It is very easy to make a reservation, you will be promptly seated, then the torture begins. The hidden fees are disclosed at that time and you are then nickeled and dimed to death for the smallest detail. This is a very dishonorable practice even for Americans. When I ask a waitress for my first beverage refill she then charge me as to getting a second refill. The sitting fee has been raised to 7$ and I see why it is easy to get a reservation in this rip off on Kobe. I wish I had seen these reviews before trying to eat there. As to the competence of the chefs, the cook at the waffle house down the street is more talented and more personable to enhance your meal. I hope they file for bankruptcy soon and get out of town. Oh the sushi, if you are wondering about that. It is frozen and then microwaved and presented as fresh. The blonde cashier should think about trying out as Florence on the TV show Alice. Because Mel is cooking in the back. Pros: The Exit Cons: The Front Door more

Don't let the appearance of the place fool you and I can't speak for the dining, but one of the best sushi bars around. Highly recommend the firecracker. The chef knows what he is doing. Pros: Sushi, prices Cons: Atmosphere more

I usually like Kobe's but on two occasions myself and a friend were harrased for a tip. The waitress went as far as following us out to the parking lot to ask for it. We informed her that the tip was left on the table and another lady came over and picked up the cardholder folder we left it in. After speaking with the manager she made it seem as this was the norm to have the waitress run you down for a tip. I think we left a good tip we left her about a 35% tip. If you want to be ""tip harrased"" this is the place to go! Pros: Great Food Cons: Crazy employees! more

Will not return to this location. Our server Lisa was extremely rude! To ask her for a drink was like asking her to climb Mount Everest. She reacted to any of our request on dinner with hatefullness and anger. I was afraid to even ask for a napkin for fear she might explode. We didn't have dinner with a personal cheif and ate where the other seating was near the bar. However Lisa made sure to charge us gratuity, which should be illegal. I think she knew her service was terrible and the only way to get a tip was to ring it up herself. This place is extremely dirty the sanitation score will reflect this.Also the prices are rediculous considering the terrible service. The food is ok but when were paying 86.00 for our family to eat out and the way the economy is you deserve to have superior service. Anything less at that price is a waste.Please don't give this place the pleasure of your company. Also the manager won't be available for any complaints. Pros: we didn't get sick Cons: everything about this dump more

If your big on sushi then your in the right place the variaty is more than awakeing of your knowldge as well as your taste buds, and I'm not talking california rolls. The portions are plentifull, fresh and filling. I would recommend staying away from the squid which is rather chewie to say the least. The stake and shrimp are meger and the rice over wheming serverd more as a filling than a complement to the shrimp and stake. The decor is lacking to say the least as well the table performance. Over all the sushi stands alone given smithfield isn't big on Japanese cusine. Pros: sushi chief true to art Cons: Lacking flair and feeling of Japan, inexperinced personell, poor performances more

We ate here for lunch. The experience was terrible, and we would never return.\r The chef spilled sauce on part of party and his performance was terrible. The grill barely worked and it took forever. \r The food was poor even for Japanese steak house standards. \r I would NOT recommend this. Pros: price Cons: decor, food quality, manager response to issues more

i live in Raleigh, but went to visit my mom in smithfield for her birthday. we went out to dinner and decided on Kobe. I'm vegetarian and they only had 1 option for me to choose from. plus, i wasn't very hungry. I decided to get Vegetable Tempura, b/c it's my favorite thing to eat. the price for this was around $5. The waitress told me it wasn't considered a meal and if i want to sit at the table (with the rest of my family) i'd be charged $6 as a ""sitting fee"". um, no. so i saw a dish that was noodles with vegetable tempura on top. it was $9. so i ordered that. the waitress brought out my salad and told me that dish was considered a ""soup"" so i'd still be charged the ""sitting fee"". she then told me if i paid $2.50 for the salad, that would make it a meal. i asked if i could get just the tempura (no noodles) and pay for the salad, would that still be considered a meal. she said yes. so that's what i did. let me mention, i order the $10 steak KIDS meal for my 4 year old. i got my tempura after the guy was finished cooking. then she brought out the bill. she charged me the $6 sitting fee anyway. she left the check and NEVER came back. so, we went up to the front to handle the situation. they told me the same thing she did, that i had to order a meal. then i told them what she told me. so they went to get the waitress. she stood right there in front of us and said she never told us that. she called us liars. then she tried to say i was sharing food with my daughter. (i gave my daughter a piece of baby corn from my tempura). not to mention they figured in gratuity for 4 people (1 was a child). finally we paid them their 6 bucks b/c obvisously they needed it more than we did.... considering they had only 3 full tables in the entire resturant.... and we left.... and i PROMISE you we will NEVER return. Next time the family will just drive to Raleigh to eat at Kanki... which has never let me down... and their Vegetable Tempura is a MEAL!!! more