Samurai Japanese Steakhouse

Samurai Japanese Steakhouse Restaurant Review:

“The play’s the thing” at this Asian theme restaurant, housed in a pagoda, and the performance’s stage is your own table. On tabletop teppanyaki griddles, beef in various forms---plus seafood, chicken and vegetables (including entire vegetarian dinners, if desired)---are flash-cooked by cleaver-wielding warrior-chefs who follow the rapid-fire slice ’em/dice ’em/toss ’em-in-the-air formula made famous over forty years ago by Samurai’s owning chain, Benihana. It’s gimmicky, but it works; if an occasional shrimp, which chefs bounce from spatula to toque to plate, lands on dad’s tie instead, it’s all part of the fun. The soy-sesame-spiced stir-fries are basic but tasty, healthful, and accessible to all ages, at the least. At best, a few items, like the secret pink shrimp sauce dip, have become obsessions to many diners. Prices are also universally user-friendly, since entrées include soup or salad (choose salad), appetizer (hibachi chicken livers, mushrooms or shrimp; choose shrimp), hibachi veggies, rice and tea.