Japanese Kitchen

I am rewriting my review from several years ago because I need to remove some stars. I still think they have the best Japanese food in town, but they have allowed the restaurant to become so rundown. The men's restroom looks like a filthy gas station restroom! There's graffiti on the walls and mirror and the ceiling is in disrepair. They should be ashamed of themselves for letting it get that this way! (See attached pictures). I used to proudly take my out-of-town guests here, but now I'm embarrassed to bring them.

My go-to teppanyaki spot in Fresno! We always kick things off with the Volcano Roll—it’s hands down the best sushi I’ve ever had. The fried rice is always delicious, and I really appreciate that they don’t add bacon to it. You can never go wrong with the chicken or the New York steak, both are cooked perfectly every time. If you like bold flavor, the hot & spicy option is definitely the way to go. Great food, great vibe—easily one of my favorite places to eat.

Amazing food. Don’t try and make plans after. Reservation time of 1:30, didn’t seat until long after that. Now sitting here at 2:30 with no one cooking. Was told they are still preparing. Appetizers are long gone and a toddler that wants to be anywhere else. Frustrating.

I went to celebrate my wife birthday with our 3 kids. We got our own teppanyaki grill. The cook/chief saw us and rush to make the food. Good amount of the rice was still white. Some of the vegetables were still hard and not fully cooked. Food portions seem very small. Seems like he didn't even want to cook for us by the way he looked at us. Didn't even try to have an Conversation with us. This will be the last time we go to Japanese kitchen. You'll be better off going to wasabi on fire paying a little more for a lot more food and way better service.

We used to come here for sushi whenever we are in town. They used to make them the traditional way with seaweed wrap. So my boyfriend and I ordered 4 sushi rolls and our first roll came out and we thought it was just that roll that had a different wrap... until we saw the next 2 rolls. Our server didn't let us know that the restaurant defaults to making "soy wraps" until I looked over at the sushi Bar and asked the sushi chef. The sushi chef kindly told me that this restaurant now makes Soy wraps but they can make us seaweed wraps. As the server came back she told the chefs about us wanting seaweed wraps but we didn't tell her. (Which was false because she didn't let us know) Anyway, they were kind to remake the rolls for us. But just beware of soy wraps if you are looking for traditional sushi.

Food was great! Our Tapi Chef was good. He had good personality but wasn’t super entertaining. We had a party of 6 adults and two kids under 3 yrs. It was a Tuesday evening at about 7 pm. The restaurant was very busy and we had about a 15 minute wait. The restaurant was very warm (room temperature). Everyone enjoyed their meal and if course the fried rice was fantastic. I had scallops ( perfectly cooked). Due to kid issues did not get pics of food. All food was eaten by everyone so trust me. It’s worth the wait

The food was good. Our server was great. She was very welcoming and engaging and made my son feel right at home. Didn't catch her name, but she was great!

Love the sushi chefs here. I have been getting some pretty cute rolls lately. Almost too pretty to eat. Even my simple tuna roll was fancied up.

We've been coming here for 40 years? Something like that. The Original Tepanyaki in Fresno/Clovis and still won't let you down!

Came for a friend's birthday and had to wait for everyone to be present to be seated. First place that I've been to that doesn't put bacon in the fried rice (yay for me), and first place to wait to cook the mushrooms with the protein, for extra flavor! This is really great and food turned out delicious! 3/5 stars for the Service. subpar from our server. Barely came to check on us and take dishes away. Didn't refill drinks much, my water was low the whole time. Then took out the cake we had in the fridge, way too early even before anyone was done eating. Gave us boxes but left all the dishes there. Also they charge you for the hot/spicy paste without telling you.

There are lots of Tepanyaki options In Fresno but Japanese Kitchen should be your only choice. Make reservations on weekends or go early if you don't want to wait! It's a dive but it's a delicious dive. Miso soup hands down FULL of flavor and it's only a few green onions and mushrooms. Get ginger on the side and HOT & SPICY. I love my hot and spicy cooked into my meat as well! It's so flavorful and more sweet than spicy. I've eat Teppan all over and this is the BEST hot and spicy that I've ever had. The food makes me overlook the rundown dive and the fact that many of the chefs fake their way through the performative aspect of the Tepanyaki experience. Good measure to tip chef after dinner with cash. The more You engage the chef, the better the show. Go and have fun and be open to socializing with strangers. Pepsi products...but I can overlook a lot for that Hot & Spicy sauce.

My go-to teppanyaki spot in Fresno! We always kick things off with the Volcano Roll--it's hands down the best sushi I've ever had. The fried rice is always delicious, and I really appreciate that they don't add bacon to it. You can never go wrong with the chicken or the New York steak, both are cooked perfectly every time. If you like bold flavor, the hot & spicy option is definitely the way to go. Great food, great vibe--easily one of my favorite places to eat.

Very good food if you eat from the hot grill. Take out is not so good. I definitely recommend going in person and having the food cooked in front of you. The egg rice is good and its a pretty fast show. Plus they have lunch specials

Such excellent service on our recent visit in September 2024 to celebrate my dad's birthday. Our chef took the time to joke and celebrate with us and took care that we had a little bit of a nervous 3.5 yr old who wasn't sure about the "fire." He was great and we all had a great time! I'm so glad they let us move our seats around a bit and sat us all at one table. Great place for family dinners!

Reservation highly encouraged. Great service Cook was very entertaining and had a great sense of humor (wish I knew his name, he was awesome!) Good portion sizes were great and food was cooked fresh to order and definitely very flavorful. Definitely would dine here again if I'm ever in that area of CA.

I've been dining at Japanese Kitchen in Clovis for over two decades, and it remains a top choice for authentic Japanese cuisine. The teppanyaki experience is consistently outstanding, with skilled chefs delivering both exceptional food and engaging performances. The menu offers a variety of options, including fresh sushi and traditional dishes, all prepared with high-quality ingredients. While the teppanyaki chefs excel, the waitstaff can occasionally be less attentive, which slightly affects the overall experience. Despite this, the restaurant's inviting atmosphere and culinary excellence make it a must-visit for anyone seeking a memorable dining experience in Clovis. I had to knock off a star because of the servers.

Good service, good food. Nice environment, food was on point. Highly recommend!!!!!!!

The Teppanyaki show was fun, The chef was so funny and entertaining. They had amazing food. My husband and I will definitely be going back to this restaurant

We've been here many of times through the yrs & they've always been good. This time my besties hubby threw my bestie & hubby & bday party which we did the Tabanaki & almost filled up all the tables! Was so much fun. The service was really good & the food was delicious & the chefs were entertaining. The ambience is the same may need some up grading but I'm not gonna complain it's still nice & intimate. When my bestie & I go for a lunch or small dinner date we always come here. They are good for big parties the only thing is y'all have to be there 15 minutes early & your party has to be there. Which I get it I guess. I do recommend this place!

Exceptionally perfect!! Omg we miss it already, this is one of THE best restaurants...in the world. Grilled right before your very eyes, everything is fresh, flavorful and their sauces are rich, you'll embark on a mission just to obtain extra sauces to go, I promise you. We went crazy...ordered their soup, hot green tea (which there has got to be some secret, it's like butter in a cup, smooth...and flavorful but it's just tea in water so how!?) I hadn't been there in about 10 years and upon returning it was everything I promised my husband it would be. His first time. And we will always keep coming back!!

Was super hungry, didn't want to wait for teppanyaki so opted for the regular dining instead. Service is okay. Not the greatest. We've never been here, it was our first time and our waitress was kind of rushing us. Dining area did not seem busy at all. And Their menu is pretty large. Usually I look over menus online beforehand but we just happened to pass by and stopped on in. So there was no prep. We had to ask her for a minute 3 times. And no, we weren't taking a long time. She sat us down handed us our menus and asked if we were ready. (Asked for a minute). She came back in a minute. This happened two times after this. She it the minute quite literal. (2/5) Salmon sashimi: basic, standard, good. No complaints (4/5) I don't remember what was the name of the sushi: this was pretty good. It was soy paper wrapped, had shrimp tempura and was topped with baked krab. (4/5) Veggie fried rice: not a fan, this fried rice was kind of wet, soggy in a way. I'm not sure how to explain it but you can kind of tell from the picture I posted. It didn't really have much flavor, thankfully we had hot and spicy sauce to make up for the flavor(2/5) Hot and spicy chicken dinner? Lunch?: you get a noodle pasta salad thing (basically mayo and noodles) this also had no flavor. Tempura was delicious, hot and spicy chicken also had no flavor. And the chicken was also kind of burnt so it was a little bitter in some parts. (2/3) Shrimp tempura udon: this was good. It definitely hit the spot for me. If you're not a fan of shiitake mushroom flavor you won't like this. The flavor is strong. But I enjoyed it. (4/5)

Very disappointed with Japanese Kitchen. I used to go there all the time and order take out all the time. This time.... Japanese Kitchen started making up all these rules about not being able to sub for things and they need to honor their prices for whatever they have posted up online or they need to change it. Don't say something is 21.99 and then say oh, no I don't know why it google says that. That's not correct. Update your stuff then, because that's FLASE ADVERTISING! Additionally, all the servers, or whoever took my order needs to work on her attitude. It made me realized that it's just not worth it to order from here anymore.

I normally don't write reviews like this but this place was not good at all. First of all, I am from Atlanta and if Hibachi on the west coast is different, then I apologize in advance and will eat my words. The atmosphere here is off. Hibachi places are normally lively and exciting, this place is just dull. The waiting area could use some sprucing up and it is dead silent. There is no music or anything. The lights are dim and the colors are dark. You're greeted by an empty fish tank and that's about it. While waiting in the lobby, all you hear is whatever the hostesses are talking about. The wait staff was friendly but the food just lacks any seasoning or too much seasoning. The soup was good but the salad was a let down. I feel like all my lettuce was old and had hardly any green to it. When it came to the actual food, the options threw me off when it came to what was served with your meal. Most hibachi places when it comes to veggies include carrots, broccoli, squash, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms. This place had nothing but onions, bean sprouts (wtf), I think zucchini, and mushrooms. And then they are all cooked separately instead of together. It was bland and visually unappealing. When it came to the meat, I believe our chef used onion powder and a lot of it right at the end of the cook. So when you got your food, all you tasted was huge chunks of uncooked onion powder. It was the grossest thing I've ever tasted. Just raw, uncooked onion powder. You could not enjoy the meat at all! And then why is there no yum yum sauce?! Is that a west coast thing? The only sauce option was teriyaki sauce. We also sat next to a family that had so many ridiculous requests which I know is not the restaurants fault but it affected everyone's food, not just theirs. They asked for their meat to be cooked with the mushrooms and we did not. The chef must've forgot because our food was cooked with the mushrooms as well (with a pound of onion powder). They were also very rude so hey, some of my frustrations are with them. I'm giving it two stars only because the wait staff was friendly and the sushi was ok. I got a dragon roll which is normally eel but here it was crab. The roll was absolutely huge and honestly, I should've just done sushi by itself. If it wasn't for the sushi, this is a one star restaurant. Again, if west coast hibachi is different, I will take my words back. But if this is what it is over here, I'll stick to the taco places. What a major letdown for what's normally a meal you're excited to go to.

We had Teppanyaki. The cook was entertaining and friendly. The food was delicious and we were served a lot of food.

Japanese kitchen offers a pretty decent menu. Today I had the miso, fried rice, and two classic rolls. My boyfriend and I enjoyed everything we had. The one issue I had was I felt a bit rushed when it came to service, which was a bit stressful. For a Sunday night, we enjoyed how quiet and peaceful it felt. While we felt a bit rushed at first, the staff was very kind.

Such a fun family experience! My parents love this place and take us regularly. All the meat options are delicious, especially paired with the hot and spicy sauce. My only downside is they didn't do the volcano, which they usually do. Other than that, everything was delicious, servers were amazing, and portions left us all with enough food for leftovers!

I've eaten here and had Teppanyaki and it was really good. Last night I tried the sushi not so good.

Not as tasty as in past. Rice to dry. But the most shocking is the men's toilet room. It grimy and needs a makeover. And, the front door leaving needs sanding and a painting. The service was passable.

I used to love coming here when my kids were little because it was such a fun show. Sadly, it wasn't like that at all tonight. We miss the tricks and onion volcano. This was just a guy cooking our food in front of us.

Ordered the j&j roll and the crunchy roll with salmon and it was delicious! Sushi chef Jin made the layers so cute and tasty! I love that there is never a wait at the sushi bar

I haven't been to this location in years. When I was invited to a birthday party, I got very excited because I had forgotten all about this place. The interior is a little drab, and dark and itand can definitely use a makeover. But the food was incredible, and the service was absolutely outstanding. I will definitely come back to this location again. I went here on a Saturday night around 5 PM. We had reservations, and were seated promptly. The waitress was outstanding. She was friendly, courteous, and went out of her way to help me and the other party guests. The food was good. Everything I ate there was very tasty. I got the vegetarian lunch and I loved every bit of it. Every veggie was cooked perfectly, and not over cooked. The fried rice was just OK. I'm very used to having bacon in it, so when I go to a place that doesn't put bacon in it, it always throws me off. But, the flavor was still delicious. My biggest complaint is that the hot and spicy sauce is an add-on. So I had to pay an extra $1.50 to have this with my meal. I'm so used to other restaurants giving this for free, that this really threw me for a loop. It makes me want to go back and see if it actually is listed as an add-on in their menu. Again, I'm paying over $20 a plate, I think they can probably afford to give me some sauce for free. Just my two cents. All in all, this is an outstanding restaurant. If you're in the mood for some good Teppanyaki, try them out. You'll be happy you did. Also, they have deep fried ice cream. So If you haven't had this, it's totally worth trying once.

They need to be inspected for bugs because when we got done eating a roach crawled across the table right in front of me.... Be aware!!!!!!!

I've gone here a few times and I really enjoy this hibachi place. They are the one of two hibachi places that I know of in Fresno that don't put bacon in their fried rice which I like! You do have to make a reservation which i haven't had any issues with that. It's just having to keep in mind to book ahead since there aren't walk ins I believe. Lunch and dinner prices are priced reasonably and the chefs there have always done a great job with servicing the customers and making sure our food is cooked to our liking. I like to get the calamari and I like how they cook it to where it's not overcooked. This is def my go to hibachi spot for any occasion

This place is absolute fucking garbage. The wife and I went in for dinner tonight and from the second I walked in and smelled the place I was like nope. Japanese kitchen needs a complete overhaul the smell of the food has permanently ruined it. But like a trooper I sucked it up and gave it a shot. The soup was bland the salad wasn't fresh. I ordered the New York and there serving choice quality meat the bathrooms were disgusting and the ambiance was super run down. I usually recommend that you go and have your own experience but not this time. The one good thing is that the staff was super friendly and parking was good lol. Follow me on IG @hungry_dude_usa

No Show & We Got Sick! Very Disappointing! The 1st disappointment was no show. No juggling salt & pepper shakers, catching egg in hat or slicing egg in half with knife. The chef spelled I Love U with rice, put spatula under heart to look like it was beating and took two tries to light onion volcano. 2nd Disappointment was the food. They forgot to give us our salads, cooked the Fillet Mignon well done when it was supposed to be medium rare and the chicken teriyaki made the 4 of us who ordered it very sick. Usually vegetables are cooked at end but the Chef put the vegetables at the same time as the meat and cross contaminated using same spatula. Food was bland no flavor! Stay away we were sick as soon as we got home & the next day. There were 8 in our group and we all agree we won't be back !

Baked stuffed lobster and Las Vegas made spicy ordered. The worker was a pretty rude in trying to get it set up. Not wanting eel and if something had eel she was very stern in saying it had eel. Not right. Then, another call to add to the order. A noodle salad and luckily, that worker was very kind. Thankfully! Said it would be ready in 20 minut FYI! Their prices have went up $2 each in orders from what it shows on Yelp. These times... I went in to pick up the order. Thankfully, the workers were very kind and the order was ready, brought out and handed over with good day wishes. Relief! You can't see much of the restaurant. It's closed off with a little waiting area before you're taken back. There is a big fish tank. Clean, safe & practiced! Lunchtime! I got everything set up and split. Las Vegas roll 1/2 was really delicious! Fresh and tasty! Even better with the wasabi & soy sauce! Baked Stuffed Lobster 1/2 was AMAZING! FANTASTIC! DELICIOUS! Thick pieces of lobster with lots of veggies! Noodle salad 1/2 was really great too! Mother said her lunch was Great too! Her favorite was the the stuffed lobster! Said she really liked it and never tasted anything like it! She loved the pas Vegas rolls and noodle salad too! Great lunch! Lots of flavor! You pay more, but it's definitely worth it! Good service and absolutely delicious lunch! Highly recommended!

All of my protein was way over cooked. Shrimp, steak, and scallops. Scallops tasted Off. my tea was incredibly weak and overall poor food. the only part is my meal that I enjoyed was the company, my rice, and veggies. The ladies restroom had no TP and we were there at their earliest appt time 4:30. We paid for 11 meals. Will NOT be returning.

This place was DELICIOUS! The chef was exciting and the service was outstanding. This past Sunday my roommate and I made a reservation for 1pm. We headed in around that time and were seated quickly. They paired us with another family, I didn't expect the ten seats around the grill to stay empty with just the two of us eating. It's always a great time when going to any restaurant that does this sort of cooking! I have heard numerous compliments about this restaurant from various people around town and it totally lived up to its reputation! Thank you so much! I will be back!

If you're looking for classic tepanyaki flavors then look no further. The bacon fried rice is to die! Everyone raves about it. The food is well worth the price because they give very generous portions. The service is normally friendly. They are usually pretty busy especially on the weekends. This is a good place to celebrate a birthday or achievement. The place is clean and lovely. Ambiance is quite loud with all the big parties coming in to get tapanyaki. I haven't tried anything else on the menu but I fully intend to next time we come. Really good food!

I came here with a group of about 10 and we had an absolute blast!! I haven't been to a proper hibachi restaurant in what feels like over 15 years. Our chef was absolutely hilarious and also quite entertaining during the entire dinner. As he was cooking, we shared some stories back and forth.. turns out he lives over 4 hours away and only goes home to his wife and family on the weekends.. talk about dedication! I ordered vegetable tempura, spicy chicken teriyaki and fried rice. The veggie tempura was our appetizer and I could not get enough of it. I had to catch myself and slow down so that there would be enough to share with everyone else. The portions here are HUGE - The amount of food they give you in literally insane. I was only able to eat about 1/3rd of the chicken and rice, I kid you not. I read some mixed reviews about a lack of taste but to me, everything was very flavorful and hit the spot. It might of helped that our Chef was extremely attentive and was constantly asking how the seasoning was and how we liked out dishes. Overall, great spot for families or large groups - I'd definitely come back!

I waited for them to open for dinner & when I get their on the door their's a sign saying sorry for the inconvenience we are closed but you can go to any other location to eat. Why can't they have this information online so people will know their closed until further notice

I ordered the New York steak and shrimp! So delicious! We had a reservation so it didn't take long to get a table. Our chef was very friendly and entertaining. I will let you know that the place is a but loud with people "ooing and ahhing" from watching the flames go up. I loved it. It's not something I do often but I already know what to expect from a restaurant like this and I think it's a really good restaurant.

We arrived last Sunday about 1:30PM for lunch. We all knew what we wanted and sat down at a table. Our waitress who was in her 70's took forever to even greet our table. When she got there we told her our drink orders and told her we were ready to order also. She ignored us and walked away to the kitchen. When she brought our drinks, we again told her that we were ready to order and she looked flustered, like she wasn't ready to take our order. She took our orders. 2 of us ordered from the sushi bar and 1 of us ordered from the kitchen. The kitchen order was delivered by our waitress fairly fast. We waited and waited for our sushi orders to no avail. Our waitress was literally delivering kitchen orders to tables that were not even her tables as we continued to wait. When she wasn't delivering other orders to tables that were not hers, she hid in the kitchen. When I was finally able to catch a glimpse at her, I tried to flag her down, she ignored me. I finally got up from our table to speak to her, the one person who ordered from the kitchen was finishing her meal, and we still did not receive our meal from the sushi side. Our waitress yelled something to the sushi guys, they yelled back at her, it was very intense. I finally got up again and told her to cancel our whole sushi order. We paid for the one meal and left. The inside and outside ambience has really gone down hill. They need an update badly.

Our go to place for lunch for Teppanyaki great prices great food great Teppanyaki chefs, prices are reasonable

Made a last min reservation for 2, at 8:30 right before closing. Everything was going great, food was yummy. Until the very end, when a roach crawled over the plate. My wife and I were apalled, disgusted. Her face turned red and stomach turned over. The roach crawled on the table, we informed the waitress as it was crawling, she then picked it up, dropped it, and smushed it on the table. Wiped it up, and took the check with our money. Came back; and said sorry, but We had to call the manager ourselves to get our money back. The whole table advocated for us to receive, at the minimum, reimbursement. I guess they close at 9, because that's when the roaches shifts start

Sushi is BOMB we come here about once a week for sushi it's always fresh and it's always fast seating for the dine in! Service is okay ! But the sushi is the bestttttttt 10/10

Did lunch takeout on a Saturday so can't speak to dining-in service. We put in a large and complicated order, and were impressed they got the order perfect. When we arrived, they volunteered to help and two of them (Barto and Janice) loaded up the car for us. Very efficient, friendly, and fast service. Food was great too, very large portions which is really rare for Japanese restaurants. We liked the chicken teriyaki and broiled mackerel lunch combos and the caterpillar and california rolls. The included sides were quite good - generous portions of tempura and noodle salad. The baked green mussels were a stand-out. Great meal overall, and the reasonable price for large portions pushes it over the top. Wish I could give an extra star for the excellent take-out service. Will definitely be ordering again.

To hot to enjoy the meal. They are keeping the place at over 85 degrees inside. Will wait to fall to return.

Have been to so many Teppanyaki restaurants and Japanese Kitchen never fails! It's always top notch, the customer service is great, the chefs are awesome and the food is always delicious!

Food was good but bad service. It took C**** forever to come back with our drinks and food. No one cleared our soup and salad bowls from the table. We had no room to put our large dinner plates on the table. I brought the dirty dishes to the nice sushi bar staff. Very disappointing. Maybe next time we can sit at the sushi bar. We noticed they got better service. We usually don't sit in the dinning room

First off the sushi and food here is always good when we come in. The reason for 2 stars today is the inconsistency with the kitchen. Certain chefs are willing to do certain items (that may not be on menu but made regularly) while others refuse to do so. "Juan and Jordan" seem to be the chefs willing to make those items. We had an awesome lunch Tuesday and returned (today) Wednesday only to find that the chefs working refuse to make the same meal we had yesterday. Maybe mgmt should give direction to the chefs, or replace them what can and can't be done since what he had was available one day but not the next because the chefs "didn't feel like it"

This was my first time with teppanyaki here and the chef was an artist at work in preparing our delicious meal. I ordered the Filet Mignon and Lobster which did not disappoint. The volcano onion erupted spewing a plume of smoke but the chef's humor was a little dry and non existent. My complaint's were that the seating was a bit tight with 8 adults and two children in a table that seats 7 comfortably, we were celebrating my son's birthday and we called ahead and ordered a surprise dessert and when we finished they forgot and gave us the bill without offering anyone dessert. And lastly I texted my son during the meal and said. " I'm here, look up." I miss the days when they only had land lines and we spoke to each other at dinner. I have issues with technology, sorry !

Kevin at the sushi bar is the greatest! The only problem is that the way he prepares his sushi will ruin you if you go somewhere else so my wife and I do not even try!

Japanese kitchen is really good. I've been coming here for as long as I can remember and a good place. The teppanyaki hot and spicy sauce is really good. I like the miso and salads. The teriyaki salmon is good too

Place is starting to get a but dirty but the sushi bar and teppan r still great. Staff is always kind.

I asked my friend to order me a roll of sushi, it turned out so badly because the whole crab meat thing still had plastic wrap on it. How disgusting I went to talk to manager and asked for a different roll but she said that I have to pay the difference if the roll is more expensive or get something or refund. Who want to same roll that you got plastic wrap in there . She said that's all she can do. I walked out because I don't need to refund or the same disgusting roll. Lucky it won't happen to children . Please be careful and double check before you eat . Im so disappointed with this management .

This is the worst service I got from them! EVER! The chef guy from teppanyaki came out and cooked for us and less then 20 mins he's done cooking for us and left. Then the waitress girl came out with the tabs and boxes like she's rushing us to eat and get out. Then 10 mins later after we had cut our cakes to eat this chick comes out and told us to leave saying "okay I'm sorry if you guys want to continue talking to each other there's another room out there but we had to leave the teppanyaki table for the next group " when we were only in there for 40 mins. I will never step foot in there again. The food is very nasty it was not good at all. Everything is disgusting and bad service. Don't go there if you don't want to enjoy your food and not be rushed. You'll be disappointed!!