Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.
Remember all those science fiction movies where the monster Gyoza tramples the Japanese city of Kyoto? No? Maybe it was the monster Godzilla trampling the city of Tokyo…Oh well, whatever it was, Gyoza is an appetizer and Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar is a restaurant in Crystal Lake.
Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar
5690 Northwest Highway
Crystal Lake 60014
(815)477-8300
www.kyotosteakandsushi.com
Directions: Take 47 North to Algonquin Road East to Pyott (turn left) to Northwest Highway East to restaurant.
Estimated Travel Time: 24 minutes
It took us by surprise when we walked into the restaurant and didn’t see the usual bar. Instead, directly in front of us were two glass doors that opened up to the Sushi Bar. The hostess asked us where we’d like to be seated: hibachi or sushi. We must have looked confused. I said we came for hibachi, but my husband also likes sushi. He said no worries, we serve sushi at the hibachi tables also.
Kyoto is a modern, beautifully decorated restaurant that has 12 hibachi tables, which can each seat 9 to 10 people comfortably. The sushi bar has almost as many tables and is an entity in itself.
For our appetizer this evening, we chose the Gyoza: (5) Japanese style dumplings ($5.50). These delicious meat-filled potstickers were pan fried golden brown and served with a dipping sauce.
All hibachi dinners come with your own personal chef providing a show as he cooks your dinner courses. We started off having chicken noodle soup with crunchy tempura floating on top. Next was our salad with ginger dressing and then on to the show.
The flaming grill starts our Hibachi Shrimp Appetizer (3). Then, while the veggies (carrots, broccoli, bean sprouts, zucchini and onions) are cooking, the food fight begins. The chef has broccoli bits flying in the air to be caught, mostly unsuccessfully, by the mouths of the diners. This is culminated by the ever-popular onion ring volcano, which doubles as a steaming choo-choo train. Dinner comes with white rice, but we opted for the fried rice ($1.95 up-charge). This started off a barrage of rice bowls flying into the chef’s hat, eggs spinning around on the grill, and diced carrots being tossed in the general direction of the diners open mouths.
Nancy loves her seafood and decided on the Seafood Combination ($25). She had her choice of two from the following items: shrimp, scallops, salmon or calamari. She decided on scallops and shrimp with a spicy garlic topping. Come to think of it, I can’t remember when Nancy didn’t order something containing garlic at a restaurant. Oh lucky me…
Tonight Jim ordered the Steak and Seafood Combination ($31.50). This included a New York Strip Steak, and for his choice of seafood he also went with the spicy garlic shrimp to counteract mine. If we both smell from garlic, it’s okay because neither person notices it.
Last, but certainly not least, is dessert. You get your choice from a variety of ice cream flavors. We both went with the mint chip to cover up our garlic breath. It didn’t work.
Having a hard time getting the grandchildren to sit still in a restaurant? The antics of the chef will keep the little ones busy the entire meal. The food is good, the portions are huge, the service is impeccable, and a fun time can be had by all.
The price for our samurai supper was $74.78. The show, priceless.
Jim’s take: The tempura crunch on top of the soup was something new and tasty. The buttery shrimp appetizer was fantastic!
Nancy’s take: I really enjoyed the amount of salad and veggies that you get. I had so many veggies leftover that they went with Jim’s leftovers for his Monday lunch. That soup was awesome, and the tempura crunchy topping was what made it so good.
Have comments or restaurant sug- gestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at thediningduo@ gmail.com.
