All Is Not Well at Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse and Sushi
Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi
8812-14 Fourth Ave
Btw 88th and 89th St
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 238-9880
Looking for a good Hibachi place in Brooklyn? Well look no further, this place is certainly not the place. I don’t even know where to begin because everything about this place really grinds my gears. I’ll just give you the brief info:
1) There isn’t a single Japanese chef working here, in fact they’re all Chinese.
HI-BA-CHI! Does that sound chinese to you?! Heck, non-asian people don’t know that
and quite frankly they really don’t care because they think we all look the same and
cook the same. There is a huge difference when you have a Chinese guy making
Japanese foods and visa versa. Why do they do this? It’s because the owner is
Caucasian and he hires Chinese chefs for cheap labor. How do I know this? I have
inside information. And these chefs only make $7.25/hr. How sad is that? Comes with the quality of the food.
2) This is purely a tourist place.
The people who come here doesn’t know jack-squat about Japanese food. Everything tastes great too them that’s why you see rave reviews on citysearch. All bullsheit.
And in that one night 6+ fucken birthday alarms went off where wierd fake
japanese-esque birthday music played for the birthday boy/girl/man/woman. Sure it
looks entertaining, but if I wanted entertainment, I’d go to a fucken circus. The hell is
the professionalism?
3) They discriminate against you– treat you based on the color of your skin.
My experience: I was assigned an asian waiter and a half ass chinese chef. The
caucasian group next to me had a caucasian waiter and had warm towels for them to
wipe their hands. Where the fuck is my fucken towel?? No I don’t get one because I’m
Chinese and my people are cheap bastards. How the hell can they even assume that?
And it wasn’t just them, it was the black and causasian table in front and next to me
who receives warm towels!! And you know what, the indian table of 2 did not receive
warm towels. What the fuck is this kind of shabby discriminatory practice?!
3) Food is nothing special and tasted horrible cause everything was
drenched in soy sauce, entertainment was poor and disgraceful, and our
chef looked like he hates his job so incredibly much.
Fan-freakin-tastic cause that’s what I need. A circus-like restaurant with low quality
chefs being paid next to nothing and has to sell out so much to get tips. How can I live
with that? I can’t because my mouth is burning from all the soy sauce. Christ sakes,
wouldn’t happen if I had a real jap dude making me some hibachi. Fuck.
Alright enough about my problems, let’s get started with the review of the food.
First off:
Reservations: Yes, especially if you have a party of 4+
This place was kind of desolate, but they do recommend them to call in advance. I came in at 8:30pm, just lookie here:
Oh btw, once you step into this restaurant, you’ll feel how touristy this place really is. Everything, everything is so corny. The decor is nice, bathroom clean and nice, but it is so hot in there and I’ll tell you why.
Free Soup: It has traces of mushrooms, fried onions, scallions, chicken broth, and good ol’ fashion m.s.-mother-freakin-gee, yeaah.
Wing-the source- tell me not to drink this soup, because it’s a) not very clean & b) bland-sucks.
Verdict: Hell yes people, this bowl of soup suck because it taste like water + msg.
Free salad: Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and ginger vinegrette.
The source also tells me that this also isn’t that clean and that it sucks.
Verdict: This really doesn’t taste so bad. I can do without the ginger, but otherwise it’s fine. It’s nothing special though.
Mai Tai Cocktail: Vodka, cherry, and some fruity punchy flavor.
Price: $6.25
Verdict: It was a little strong for me, but this is one of the supposed drinks that’s popular around here. I wouldn’t try this again if I were you.
As we were waiting for the rest of our food, more people started to come in. And look, it’s some kid’s birthday. Charming.
Yeah and this metal dealie is where the food is prepped and prepared.
Gyoza
Fried japanese dumplings
Verdict: The blandest piece of dumplings I have ever had. What do you think you should do? Ignore this plate.
Oh look, our hibachi chef is already working on our food. He asked me not to show his face to the world if I took a picture of him. He says for immigration reasons. Haha-very funny. I seriously almost fell off my chair laughing at his serious-to-lame joke. Haha.
California Roll
Verdict: Look how they skimped out on my rice and crabmeat. These people who prepared in the back sure have skills or sure wants to starve us to death. I’m addicted to avocado, so I liked it anyways. I think you guys can skimp this because it’s nothing special.
Lookie, the chef is making his “secret-special-ultra-fried rice!”
Hibachi Fried Rice
Price: $2.95 (That’s 1 bowl)
Verdict: My god is this bowl greasy. It tastes like cha-siew, or porky pork, and lots of soy sauce. If you ordered chicken and steak like I did, go for the white rice instead.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention, like all corny chefs, he did his job and tried to flip a piece of cucumbers in our mouths. He missed my mouth twice. Once landed in my neck, another in my face. That’s greasy goodness.
So far I have:
Medium steak – piece of meat suck ass, bland, and you can taste the cheapness.
Everything else: Cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, and carrots, oh it was terrible because it was so drenched in soy sauce.
Verdict: My chicken was supposed to be here as well as my bean sprout, oh well. But they also were overwhelmed by the raw power of the soy sauce. I thought I was poisoned that night. Plus I was already buzzed from drinking my Mai Tai on an empty stomach.
Man did it start to get so hot because there was fire roaring from all sides, therefore cutting all my breathable oxygen.
So this is my meal. Oh man take a guess at how much this place cost?
Dessert:
Red bean ice cream.
Verdict: Nothing special, not even worth getting. I must have been quite buzzed.
Wow, look at those fishes kiss. I actually forced the boyfriend to take a picture of this because I wasn’t fully functional any more. Very very cute.
The mai tai led to an argument with the bf about religion and science. It was the craziest sheit, but I’d go there to get liquored up, haha.
Summary:
Reservations: Yes
Food: Terrible
Price: Expensive! $36/person for 6 people. That’s more expensive than Olive Garden as my bf would put it, and it’s so true. So true.
Decor: Good
Bathroom: Very clean, stalls are a little cramp though.
Ever coming back: Only for drinks.
