Teppanyaki - Should we go??

[mjkaferle5]

I was all excited about getting ADR's for Teppanyaki. But now with all the changes that have happened there (limited choices for dining plan, small portions), I am a little leary. Should we still eat there?

 

[Forever42]

If you can go to a Japanese steakhouse / teppan restaurant at home, then just skip Teppanyaki. There are too many other great restaurants in and around Epcot to be wasting time at Teppanyaki, IMO. :/

(Edit: my reasons have nothing to do with the dining plan, since we'll never be on it. It's about the [lack of] quality of the restaurant)

 

[DisneyFreq]

I asked myself the same question BUT we're still going. And this is why:

Gripe one: Sushi is no longer allowed as an appy. Well, my husband probably would have been the only one to order it but I know he will be just as happy with a salad.

Gripe two: Lobster is no longer on the menu OR its listed as an addition so not allowed on DDP. Big whoop. My family had no plans for ordering lobster. My kids will be jumping for joy over the shrimp. My husband is not a big lobster fan and would have probably ordered the scallop/shrimp combo anyhow. I don't eat seafood....however, I hear the sirloin they serve is out of this world...so you know what I'm eating.

Gripe three: limited desserts. Well...they were always pretty limited. Cake or ice cream. I read on a thread that the chestnut cake is either removed from the menu or not permitted on the DDP. Well, I'm not a big cake fan so I guess I'll live. In fact, my whole family is big on ice cream.

Gripe four: The chefs aren't performing that much. HMMM. Thats very subjective. Since we've never done "hibatche dining" I think any act will be thrilling. I don't expect superhuman cooking feats. Just something to keep the kids occupied. At least I know we'll be served our food when its ready and it WONT BE ROOM TEMP!!

I'm slightly perturbed by the recent complaints but what it comes down to is that none of them really effect my family much. Since we're on the DDP (which we PAID for by the way), we have a chance to experience many resturants we wouldn't have normally been willing to pay for. We tend to stick to character breakfast and rainforest cafe (ugh, I hate that place!) If we don't like it, nothing really lost. We have eaten at a TS for much less OOP than we would have normally paid and at least next time, (whether I'm on the DDP or not) I'll know not to go back!

Besides, our evening at Teppanyaki has added value. We were able to get it combined in a CP package using our dining credits. So we get up front seats! Thats a $49 value per adult and we only paid $35....so as long as everyone is cordial and I don't get food poisoning....we'll live. Besides we may acutally have fun *gasp*

 

[missypie]

I think the chefs at Teppanyaki do a really good job of cooking the meat and shellfish to order...then it is put on your plate the minute it is done...no warming lights.

The shrimp at Cape May and Ohana was WAY overcooked. The steak at Brown Derby was dry. The steak at Ohana was dry and overcooked. The food I had at Teppanyaki was perfectly cooked.

 

[denman007]

We ate there Sunday and thought the food was excellent. Just be aware that there was no A/C felt while dining. It was hot!

 

[Rustyflwr3]

We ate there during our August trip and it was great! We had the dining plan which made it even better! It seems as if this was before the dining plan changes. Could someone inform me of any changes to the dining plan? I haven't heard this yet!

Jess!

 

[denman007]

The menu currently only has 4 apps and Sushi isn't one of them. That was $7 extra.

But there are plenty of combos...I had the Shrimp and Scallops..awesome

 

[DisneyFreq]

What are the four appys? I was under the impression that you could get a salad and that was it? I was going to ask for edamame since its a similar price. Sheesh, its only soybeans. But I'll live with a salad. It has a ginger dressing, right?

 

[moxiecola]

My family was down there--wife, 3 boys aged 8, 6, & 16 months early October. We had ADR for Teppenyaki and my boys and wife are still talking about it. They absolutely loved it. My 8 year old who is a picky eater listed it as his third favorite thing in our whole trip behing the Buzz Lightyear ride and Kali River Rapids--high praise indeed.
I think it was their favorite meal from our whole time there and that includes California Grille, Whispering Canyon, Boma, etc.
The only food I would stay away from was the steak because I got it and it was overcooked.
The chicken was great as was the shrimp.
I didn't feel that it was too hot at all, and it must have been 95+ the day we were there--scorching outside but refreshing inside.
We did have a short wait even with the ADR, but my family loved it.
Hope that helps.

 

[Cara]

We had dinner there Oct. 3, and I certainly did not feel the portions were small! I had the steak/shrimp combo, and there was so much meat I couldn't finish it all. The appetizer choices were two types of soup, a salad, and something made with sea

 

[Stephres]

DH and I ate there one trip but I would be too afraid to take the kids there. There were some loosely supervised boys darting between the tables and it made me so nervous. Maybe I am super paranoid but I'm going to wait until the kids (3 and 6 years old) are a little older.

We thought the food was good, but no better than the local Japanese place. Our cook was very entertaining. She dropped her knife on the floor and the other cooks laughed at her. She pretended to cry and we all felt bad for her.

 

[Luv4Disney]

DBF and I go every time since discovering it. We love it there. 1. Neither one of us eats sushi, so no problems there 2. We go for lunch, so we don't spend the extra money for lobster and stuff 3. Since we go for lunch, we're usually too stuffed for dessert anyway. Plus, it's cheaper at lunch time. The chefs have always been excellent. We had the same chef this past May as we did in 2004. He remembered us! LoL. Talk about a good memory. The heat is probably because you're sitting right by the grill. I say give it a whirl.

 

[Ardenne]

We loved it. I don't eat sushi anyway, and I'm sure the kids wouldn't, so that wasn't a problem for us. I loved the salad with ginger dressing, and I didn't think the portion sizes were small at all. In fact, I couldn't finish quite all of the veggies and rice with my entree (I had the scallops and shrimp), even though I shared some of it with DS, and could only find room for a couple of bites of my dessert (which DS happily finished for me!) The shrimp were just incredibly delicious, the scallops very good, too, and I liked that everything was fresh and cooked precisely to order, with the sauces on the side so we could use the ones we liked best, in the quantities we preferred. I don't remember what the dessert choices were, but it seemed to me that there were several, though at least 3 were different kinds of ice cream -- but we love ice cream, so that was what we all ordered, anyway. Our chef was VERY entertaining, and the staff helped DD learn to eat with chopsticks, and overall we just had a great time.

 

[LiteBrite]

What are the four appys? I was under the impression that you could get a salad and that was it? I was going to ask for edamame since its a similar price. Sheesh, its only soybeans. But I'll live with a salad. It has a ginger dressing, right?

You can still get edamame on the DP as an appetizer - hubby did when we were there on 10/4. Yes, the salad does have ginger dressing, and it was wonderful.

 

[Hopefully]

This is a must for us on each trip. We would choose to eat here even if it was not on the dining plan and we were paying for the dining plan (It wasn't when the first list of restaurants was released.)
We are not sushi fans, so no problem for us.
We find the portions so large, that desert is often an after thought.
I have read the recent negative reviews with skepticism. I have seen unfulfilled (?reasonable) expectations, rather than a less enjoyable dining experience. JMHO.

 

[MOMOFMNM]

it always amuses me how someones "review" can perturb or upset anyone reading them...
they are infact, opinion and it is a free board where we can come here and relate our experiences.
We paid for the plan too BTW...by changing dates and paying premium prices for a deluxe resort after having booked a moderate AND btw will probably ONLY do deluxe again due to our great "FIRST" Disney trip, get my point here??
I personally DID NOT like our experience. I said we have a hibatchi style place here at home that I would prefer to go to before going to Tepanyaki...I also stated that I think in EPCOT there are serveral other ethnic places to go around the world seeing as though Tepanyaki is really american food, served a little bit Japanese... edamame is a regular snack around my house, we like to roast it with salt...

I would not tell anyone not to go but I would share my experiencce with others so they can then relate their experiences and so on and so forth...hence the term "message board."

It did bother me that ice cream was the only option for desert since they did have another option on the menu and I was told NO...(it is not like I really ate much of the tough steak and small chewy scallops) so some cake would have been nice
I also would like the chef to have some interaction with the guests, otherwise COOK IN THE KITCHEN!!!
and I have been to places where the chef would juggle something or make jokes or TALK to you...
this was just one chef and I did see others getting loud round of applauses and laughs all around BTW...
try it and decide for yourself...
and let us know what you thought!

 

[TommyTutone]

The common theme, and I am sure there are exceptions, is that the people who really enjoy it have no similar restaurant at home, while those don't care for it as much do have a Japanese steakhouse nearby.

I've been to Tepanaki twice and enjoyed it well enough (in large part to our last trip meeting a Canadian couple that were animators for Tarzan), but the food and 'show' are very much run-of-the-mill for any Japanese steakhouse. That said, we probably won't be going our next time through since we have a few Japanese steakhouse options near our house and go get our 'fix' every couple of months or so.

Of course living in the metro Atlanta area we have great choices for Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, Greek and just about every other ethnicity out there, so we're spoiled

 

[robinb]

I think that as long as you don't mind skipping sushi and lobster, you should be fine. I love Teppanyaki . The scallops are quite good and I love green tea ice cream.

 

[kajohn]

I'm not one to jump on the complaining bandwagon, (we're still going to O'hanas after all that menu uproar), but we are cancelling our Teppanyaki reservation becuase my whole family was looking forward to the sushi. As soon as my 9 year old found out we couldn't get sushi he said he didn't want to go there! We have two different japanese steakhouses near our house, so we can go anytime, the sushi was the big draw for us.

 

[denman007]

I'm not one to jump on the complaining bandwagon, (we're still going to O'hanas after all that menu uproar), but we are cancelling our Teppanyaki reservation becuase my whole family was looking forward to the sushi. As soon as my 9 year old found out we couldn't get sushi he said he didn't want to go there! We have two different japanese steakhouses near our house, so we can go anytime, the sushi was the big draw for us.

Who says you can't get the sushi? You can get anything you want to.