Communal Dining (Hot Food Trend Circa 2007)

Yet another from the dusty archives as I attempt to bring this blog back from its two year hibernation.

This review was published back in early 2007 when this restaurant opened. It was fun, but just not the type of dining I want to do every time. I liken it to "Chuckie Cheese's" for adults. It's just a bit too "active" for me. Sometimes I just want to relax with someone at a meal and not be part of entertainment.

Let me know what you think.


HIBACHI
Japanese Steakhouse
Southridge

So I had a few minutes in a waiting room and I picked up a Time magazine. Does anyone ever read these types of magazines anywhere but in a waiting room?

Anyway, I came across an article on the newest restaurant trends and the writer talked about “communal dining” and how it is quickly becoming the hottest restaurant trend of 2007.
They defined communal dining much as I imagine you readers are defining it. Basically, you are seated at a huge table with complete strangers and have a restaurant dining experience while meeting and socializing with new people.

As I read the page length column I was slowly overcome with the same uncomfortable feelings that I would experience if I was forced to sit at a table with a bunch of strangers. I know there are people that look at every day as another opportunity to meet new people, but personally, I look to meals at nice restaurants, be it on a date or with friends, as an opportunity to not have to deal with the general public. I don’t want to have to go through the efforts of meeting, and tolerating, new people all while paying big money for a restaurant experience that is being ruined by these strangers at my dining table.

Give me a quiet booth in the corner or a table with my friends and that is a proper restaurant experience. An after church luncheon or maybe a wedding reception are, in my mind, the only places where one should have to experience eating while seated with a complete stranger who is firing question after question trying to have a conversation with you while your mouth is full.
It was a bit of kismet that I read that article on communal dining because I had recently dined at a restaurant that bases its experience on being communal. Part dinner theater, part comedy show, eating at Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse at Southridge is an experience unlike any of the other Asian restaurants in the area.

To be fair to Hibachi, I have only made a single visit. I enjoyed my meal and can, without hesitation, recommend the food. I look forward to future visits so I can experience the Sushi and I can only imagine that the show that comes along with the dinner varies with each meal.
Hibachi is a restaurant that utilizes a style popularized in the United States by a Rocky Aoki in 1964 when he opened the first Benihana Restaurant in New York City. The concept was to use trained Japanese Chefs to prepare the meal at the table, in front of the guests, in a dynamic and flamboyant style which owed much to the Japanese Teppanyaki style of cooking.

Teppanyaki literally means grilling on an iron plate and that is exactly what the chefs do while standing at an iron grill surrounded on three sides by restaurant customers.
So that’s what you have, like I said, it’s part dinner theatre and it is definitely not a place you go for quiet conversation. In fact, until the cooking show is over, it’s more akin to going to a movie or play because your interaction with your friends is limited to laughing and nodding at the show being performed before your eyes.

It’s a great restaurant for celebrations or gatherings of friends but I doubt it would be at the top of anyone’s list for a simple date or dinner gathering.

My trip to Hibachi was on a very sunny evening. Our party of four was quickly met at the door by a smiling hostess and we were led through the restaurant to our table.

The interior, aside from the abundant bricks, bears no resemblance to the former occupant Pizzeria Uno. In fact, the mild Asian redecoration was very tasteful and brought a lot of nice color to the previously drab décor.

The table/grill combination are very large structures and the main dining room appeared to only have maybe 10-15 separate tables with their connected grill station.

Each table has semi-circular seating for between six to eight people. Elbow room can be tight, but if you can keep them from jamming in too many people, the shallow tables are quite comfortable.

I would imagine that everyone that comes to a restaurant of this type already knows what to expect. You pretty much know that a chef will come and prepare the food, he will throw shrimp at you and it will be a laughing and talking experience for all. Even with the popularity and general knowledge of this type of dining, I did feel that we would get some sort of primer or explanation from the waitress. Well, I was wrong.

I wasn’t in my chair for more than 30 seconds before I came to realize that the 3 empty seats to my left would not remain vacant. It was my worst nightmare. In fact, as we walked in the door, I quietly stated to my friends that I didn’t want to be seated by some strangers and I particularly didn’t want to have a screaming baby at my table.

I have to learn to watch my comments because the hostess brought and seated three adults and a diaper clad baby at our table. I was thrilled.

The waitress soon appeared but she also gave no explanation about the procedures and gave no assistance with the menu (which I found to be complicated and very difficult to read).
The menu goes on for pages and is printed in a cursive font that even with my great eyesight just seemed difficult to read. There is little explanation provided with the different categories and given that you are seated at the grill, it’s hard to imagine how the different selections may change the dining experience. I just would have appreciated a brief presentation from the waitress explaining how the “show” is performed and which selections make good combinations.
Basically, you choose a protein (meat or seafood) and that is paired with a salad some rice and vegetables. The combinations are endless but given that everyone’s food is all cooked together, it seems that everything ended up being, more or less, the same.

Don’t get me wrong, but when you witness the procedure in front of your eyes, you kind of get insight to how restaurants really work. Entrees are all basically the same dish and they only differ in what meat is being served.

Eventually, the waitress returned and each of us worked through our selection. The four of us all got essentially the same thing but we each chose a different meat. The strangers at our table weren’t quite ready yet and herein lies one of the problems with communal dining. They were feeding the baby with baby food and hadn’t selected their meals. They were delaying our meal and seemed completely oblivious. After all, our chef and the show can’t begin until everyone has made their order.

It took the waitress two more trips to our table (and refills of our drinks) before our table mates saw fit to make a menu selection.

Once the order is made, I determined that the waitress goes to the assigned Chef and he assembles the ingredients and places everything on a little rolling cart. He leaves the kitchen with everything he needs to cook the meal and complete his performance.

Soon the Chef arrives and the show begins with the turning on of the loud exhaust fan. Conversation pretty much goes out the window once this jet engine fan is running. There is lots of laughing and nodding but it is difficult to hear much between the sounds of grilling and loud fan.

All the fresh ingredients are displayed and here is one place where you definitely see the quality of what you are paying for. Is there anything more enticing than a juicy red steak or a pile of fresh looking shrimp? The Chef artfully slices and dices each ingredient and then displays knife and spatula skills that made this amateur Chef quite jealous.

It was fun when the four foot fireball part of the show made the baby next to me scream and cry. I had to wonder if this type of restaurant, with flames and a red hot grill mere inches away, was the best place to bring a diaper clad infant.

With the screams of a baby on the left of me and the delicious noise of cooking steak in front of me, I realized that I was all but unable to communicate with the friends to my right. I attempted conversation but it is really difficult. You end up feeling alone while watching the show unfold before you.

The Chef serves up a salad and some rice and you can work through that while waiting on your meat. It really is a tasty, fresh and high quality tasting meal, but I just didn’t really enjoy eating it because of all the distractions.

I was here with two old friends and a new friend. With all the noise and commotion, it was the latter part of the meal before I really had a chance to get to know the new friend sitting beside me. It’s definitely not the place to take a date or to go to reminisce with friends.

Along those same lines, conversation is further hindered by the fact that everyone is sitting shoulder to shoulder. The common across table banter is not possible because you are sitting in a row. Every communication is left to right and around other people’s heads.

As the last bit of hot food is delivered, the Chef takes a bow, there is applause and then he turns off the loud fan. Everyone exhales in a sigh of relief, but then the Chef at the next table turns on his fan (six feet away) and the noise is back.

Once the Chef is gone, you quickly become aware that your show is over and the staff would like you to quickly finish your meal and clear the area for the next batch of guests. The place isn’t making money when that grill isn’t being used. It’s not a place where you linger over coffee while discussing the day’s events.

Overall, it’s a fun experience. The food is very good and presents many options to explore. The Chef makes sure he puts on a good show and that is the highlight of the meal. A nice entrée will come in around twenty bucks (or less) so it’s not even very expensive.
Hibachi is the type of restaurant that deserves to thrive. Charleston doesn’t have enough “different” places to dine and I hope Hibachi is very successful. It’s not my cup of tea for every meal, but for a fun and entertaining night when conversation isn’t a priority, it’s a great place to go.

Enjoy.