Kabuki - Not so Japanese after all

Yesterday I had a birthday dinner at Kabuki in the city centre of Brussels, while I was glad to see old acquaintances and enjoyed my evening with them, the restaurant itself wasn't half as nice. Not all experiences can be positive, but I think it is important to share even the bad ones...

We arrived around 8PM, the restaurant wasn't crowded so it was easy to spot our table at the back. We booked a Teppanyaki show for the birthday boy for 14 people. It took a while for everyone to arrive so in the meantime we ordered drinks which arrived quickly but obviously the server had no idea anymore who ordered what...That was the beginning of a big disappointment.

I guess people wandering at Kabuki enter because of the sushi train and all-you-can-eat formula which is a nice attraction and I guess their sushis are standard, so the experience isn't bad. It's actually more on the fun side. However, when you plan a complete evening there with a menu, that's another story.

As expressed above, managing a table of 14 isn't the staff's forte nor is advising. We had 4 vegans at the table and they were suggested to take the tempura and fried rice or noodles and they ended up receiving dishes with eggs in them...As for the rest of us, most took menus and a few made specific orders and all of it was mixed up when plates started showing up. Wrong orders for everyone, plates missing, and more.

Kabuki - Japanese Restaurant

Kabuki - Japanese Restaurant

Kabuki - Japanese Restaurant

Starters were quite ordinary and the taste was so-so, be it for sushis or tempuras. The portions sizes were alright and the look of the plate neat but that's the only real positive note. The rest of the food was tasteless and quickly thrown. We ordered a teppanyaki and it is almost as if the cook didn't want to be there. He threw something together quickly and left...Not the best impression. For example, the veggies were watery, the salmon had the same faint taste as the meat...

Kabuki - Japanese Restaurant

Kabuki - Salmon Teppanyaki

Kabuki - Japanese Restaurant

In short, we ate but didn't enjoy our food, the teppanyaki was short and boring (nothing to see!), staff wasn't very happy to be there and showed it, and it was expensive for nothing. We paid 80€ for:

- A menu découverte at 35€ = tempuras, plain miso soup, salmon & 2 shrimps, tiny plate of veggies and fried rice;

- 2 Singapour rolls;

- A salmon teppanyaki = the little piece of salmon, white rice and the tiny plate of veggies;

- a coke, 2 Jupiler and 1 glass of wine;

Now if you are looking for a lunch/dinner with all you can eat option and a little train driving the food around, go for it but don't expect superb food...Or actual Japanese food. It looks like it and that is where the resemblance stops. Note that this restaurant is 8/10 on resto.be and 3.5/5 on cityplug but don't be fooled. Reading the comments you find out that the quality of the food is going down.