Yuki Steakhouse - Cleawater, FL

**Update: Restaurant.com gave me credit for both unused Yuki Gift Certificates***

Date: August 20, 2011
Time: Dinner
Type: Restaurant
Where: 13505 Icot Boulevard Suite #207, Clearwater, FL 33760-3730
Party: 20 adults (2 birthdays)

Immediate Impression:
Saturday night and the place is pretty much empty....


Service:
Our server was really nice, however, she was extremely overwhelmed by the size of our group; she tried to make us all comfortable, even offering to put all 20 of us at 1 table (eventually we split up 16 in one area, 4 at another table)

As for the Teppanyaki cooks....we had a HUGE issue! First, they only had two cooks on staff, so the small table of 4 was served first, they were already on their main entrees when we just received our soups, they had no issues with their cook or their food; that was definitely not the case with our cook!

First - our cook could not get the order correct...we cut him some slack because it was confusing (no rice here, no vegetables there, shellfish allergy, etc, etc) but that was only the beginning.

Second - he NEVER turned on the exhaust fan; three members of our party spent the evening inhaling smoke and were covered in a thin layer of grim when it was done.

However, all of the above was tolerable until this.....

One of the birthday girls had ordered STEAK & Chicken, the cook accidentally put FILET MIGNON on her plate; when he discovered his error, he grabbed her plate out of her hands (mid bite), scrapped the filet OFF her plate back onto the grill, then re-scooped the filet from the grill and put it on someone else's PLATE! I was in shock..completely unheard of and I am sure violates multiple restaurant rules and regulations.

Then, the poor guy who was given USED food, was also shafted when the shrimp was finally cooked. The chef was short 5 pieces of shrimp, they brought out frozen shrimp and cooked it on the grill then threw it on his plate! YUCKY!


Menu/Food:
Overall the texture and taste of the food was fair; the portion sizes for the cheaper meals is pretty large, but if you order the Filet, Lobster or Shrimp, your order is TINY!

Allegren Info: If you can't eat butter, make sure they know, they put butter on everything. For those with a gluten allergy, they use soy in the rice and the noddles, but you could ask for it to be left off any meats, but tell them before they start cooking. Crohn's & people with digestive issues, they use regular vegetable oil. Everyone else, if you can't eat sesame seeds, make sure they know that and again, get specification on the vegetables.

Price: Starts at $13.95 for Vegetable Teppanyaki and goes up to $28.95. Its equitable to other Teppanyaki restaurants in the area. Drinks are pricey, they only have bottled soda, and the ice tea comes with only 3 refills.

Final thought: Unfortunately, because they wouldn't let us use all the gift certificates we had (Had $150 they let us use $75), I still have 2 $25 gift certificates. Hopefully, I will be able to give those to someone because I have NO intention of going back there!