Kiku Sushi and Hibachi is a small Japanese restaurant located in a strip mall. To our surprise, it was actually three restaurants in one! It has hibachi grill tables (where they cook in front of you), a sushi bar (with adjoining booths), and a section for âkitchen entreesâ (with tables and chairs).
This enables you to enjoy any type of Japanese cuisine you could desire. The only thing missing is a Geisha girl to serve it to you. Nancy was getting into the ambiance and used one of the two Japanese words she knows, âKon’nichiwa,â which means hello. The hostess was not impressed.
The Dining Duo’s diet took a break this weekend and we went all out. We started with the Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura appetizer for $7.20, which consisted of 2 shrimp, 1 sweet potato slice, 1 broccoli floret, and 2 zucchini slices. It was good (we’ve had better), and it was a little greasy for our taste.
Now for the âSamurai Deal of the Dayâ… While looking through the menu, my âfrugalâ husband said,
âLook Nanc, two for one!â From Sunday through Thursday if you order while at the Hibachi Table either the Hibachi chicken ($15.95), shrimp ($19.95), or steak ($20.95), it’s buy one, get one free (equal value or less). Cha-Ching!
Jim ordered the steak (naturally) and he asked to have it teriyaki style. I, of course, ordered the shrimp and a side of ânoodleâ ($4.20) for Jim and me to share. Yes, noodle, that’s what the menu said. The dinners came with mushroom soup (clear beef stock with a hint of mushroom) and Jim loved it. I tolerated the âhintâ of mushroom, since I detest fungi. A salad with a tasty ginger dressing was also included with the meal.
When the chef arrived at our table, he did all the tricks, like tossing an egg into his hat and the ever popular onion volcano. Despite all of his antics, he cooked a superb meal for us. He noticed Nancy picking out the mushrooms in her vegetables and said we should have told him and he would have left them out of her portion. Now we know. Our side of noodles was cooked with various seasonings and garlic (oooh…aaahhh), but of course, not enough for Nancy and he humored her by adding more. A large portion of fried rice came with our meal, and watching Nancy try to eat it with cheater chopsticks was priceless!
Since we received a free meal, of course we had to order dessert. Jim spotted the âFried Dragon Bananaâ ($3.95) on the menu and couldn’t pass it up. Believe it or not, it was a tempura-fried banana with whipped cream on top with a chocolate drizzle. We both agreed (OMG!) that some caramel topping with a cherry on top would have been picÂŹture perfect and yummy.
The bill for all of the above food, hit the âgongâ please, was $46.51. Not bad for dinner and a show!
A nice feature of Kiku is if one person orders hibachi and another person wants sushi or any other meal, they can sit together at the hibachi grill table.
For years we drove past Kiku never giving it a second thought. To our surprise, it is a wonderful Japanese restaurant and from Sunday through Thursday a phenomenal deal.
He said/she said:
Jimâs take: I loved it! Food, service, and pricing were great. The steak was so good that Nancy said she would order it next time. The Fried Dragon Banana could have been sweeter, since it is a dessert.
Nancyâs take: Great place, great value, and I couldnât believe my eyes when I saw the shrimp. There were ten large, meaty shrimp on my plate and for FREE, since mine was the lesser price. SAYONARA (my other JapÂŹanese word), Iâm so proud of myself!!!
