Ninki: Japanese Bistro

Ninki is your go-to cheap (relatively) and delicious hibachi. I have been here about 8 or 9 times, mainly due to the price. The food is not going to knock your socks off but if you are looking for a well-made hibachi meal, this is the place to go. NY-strip is always cooked well. One ask would be to have noodles incorporated into the hibachi meal package, similar to other hibachi places. The service depends on the waiter(ess), but overall I have had no problems. There was one time where we waited over an hour for a chef to come to our table, but most other times the speed of service was reasonable. They don't accept reservations, so you might have to end up waiting 1-1.5 hours on peak nights.

Great experience if you never saw the live fire hibachi

TIL that there is a difference between a professional chef and a professional hibachi chef. Both make good food, but the latter can entertain as well. It wasn't very busy when I got there around 5:30pm on a Sunday, and I asked to be seated at the hibachi grill. I noticed that there was still a wait to fill up the seats around the grill. While I waited, I ordered a "Japanese hot green tea" for $2.75, and it came with a little ceramic cup + tea pot (I suspect it was matcha; I liked it). I was also brought a complementary bowl of soup (possibly miso, or maybe a mushroom soup broth). Once all the seats around the grill were full and everyone had made their order (from a "hibachi" page in the back of the menu; I ordered the salmon for $19.95), the chef came out with a cart that had all the raw ingredients on it. He started by making an impressive (for me, at least; first time seeing it) display of his spatula and fork skills, flaring up something (possibly sake; it burned like alcohol, and I suspect the flame had a caramelizing effect, but I don't know for certain; it was hot and entertaining though (FIRE!)), and started the rice. I opted for the "spicy" fried rice, same with everyone else at the table (in the sense of "had spices"; contrast the Indian culinary sense where "spicy" = "raging inferno", which this rice was not). It was excellent, flavorful, had a hint of what my limited culinary vocabulary can only describe as "Mongolian grill-esque", and there was a lot of it. By the time I was done, I didn't have to wait long for a couple small shrimp that came complementary, and after that was the stir fry vegetables, and my salmon followed shortly after that. All very good food, and I left full. An 18% mandatory tip is automatically included when seated at the hibachi grills (not mandatory at other tables), but I thought he deserved more, so I added a bit extra on top all that. After taxes and tips my total for a single dinner was $30. Expensive, yes, but I'm on travel, and today I thought that it was worth it.

This review is for the hibachi grill section of this restaurant since that's the only part of the place that I experienced. We were a party of eight so we got our own grill and our own chef. Our order was taken by a very nice Japanese woman who checked our food allergies before taking our orders. I've never had that happen before in any other restaurant. The hibachi meal comes with either miso soup, which my wife said was very good, or onion soup, which I enjoyed even though it didn't have very many green onions. It also comes with a small salad with their own dressing. The dressing was quite good even though it tasted the same as the salad dressing that they serve in the hibachi restaurant back home that I go to several times a year. Among the pictures I included with this review are pictures of the cooking and clean up process that takes place in front of the hibachi customers. The big flame that you see in one of the pictures is the result of part of the prep process in which the chef pours vodka on the grill and then lights it on fire. Some of the pictures will have some blurry spots because the chef moves his instruments quickly during the process of cooking. There are a few pictures of a woman included in this review. She was at another table. I have no idea who she is. I took the pictures because she's very pretty. We had two birthday girls (actually birthday women) in our party, and they received plates of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream with a candle at the end of our meal. The lady who brought them out beat a drum in an interesting rhythm and then led us in a rendition of "Happy Birthday." The food is fresh and delicious. The service is very friendly and efficient. This place is in a strip mall so there's plenty of free parking in the front of the restaurant. I recommend this place.

Great Habachi place. Food is good and fast. Would go to again.