Joto Japanese Steak House, Sarasota, Florida, Japanese Restaurant Details

Food:

I made reservations for my birthday was there 20 min early and me and my family had to sit at two separate tables and didn't even get to eat at the same time. Food was great but messed up my night. And if u make reservations why would they give your table away!!!

Food:

Three of us went on 4/16/15. Two of us selected a drink off of their drink menu. Terrible tasting watered down drinks.

The chef for our table was blah. No personality, did nothing special. Food was ok, but nothing great. Probably would not go back.

Food:

The food was ok, it was nothing to brag about. It was nice sitting with people I did not know, and conversation was good. I left my Boss Bluetooth on the table and I called and they said they could not find it, I called on Sunday and no one had seen it, I call today and I guess it’s gone.

Food:

I gave Joto two stars because I actually didn't really have a problem with it. The food was decent. I definitely have had better hibachi, but it was fine. The cook had no sense of humor/personality, but the entertainment doesn't ever really make or break my hibachi experience. We were seated with a group of people (of whom we had never met before). Two of the people had never been to a hibachi before. The girl was allergic to shellfish and told the server this immediately and asked for hers to be cooked separately. The server took her plate and said that they would cook hers in the back. She received her plate of food after we were all almost done. She didn't even have rice! They brought her white rice, when she politely asked her to have fried rice. They complied and brought her out the TINIEST bowl of fried rice, even though you normally get a larger portion if you are sitting at the hibachi getting the rice divied up among the table. She took two bites of her chicken and happened across an undercooked piece and spit it into her napkin. Extremely grossed out, she did not continue eating, and just ate her small bowl of rice. She was very quiet and polite about it, just whispering to her boyfriend what had happened. Her boyfriend told the manager that her food was undercooked. At this point, everyone was finished with their meal because she had received hers so much later anyways. The server was apologetic and told the cooks/manager. The server came back out to grab her plate. At this time, I whispered to my boyfriend, "Wow, I think they took her plate in the back to inspect it." He thought I was crazy and said, "No, they took her plate because she was done with it." Sure enough, the manager came back and proceeded to tell her that her chicken was cooked all the way through as they checked each piece individually. She was a quiet and shy girl, but her boyfriend spoke up for her and told the woman that there was a raw piece of chicken in her napkin because she spit it out. The manager took the napkin and started pulling the piece of chicken apart AT THE TABLE ( yes the same chewed up piece of chicken the girl spit out in her napkin). I literally can't make this up people. I was not emotionally attached to the situation, because I had never met these people, but if that were me, there is no way I would pay for that meal. The manager back out and said, "That is just how we cook our chicken, if you want it cooked more, you have to ask. I'm sorry, though and will give you $2.00 off your meal or I can have the cook make you half an order of chicken. Instead of offering to replace her now contaminated plate of raw chicken, they offered to give her HALF and order of just the chicken. WHAT!? Her alternative was TWO DOLLARS. Off a meal she didn't even touch. These people were NOT just looking for a free meal. She paid $20 for a half a cup of rice. (oh $18, my bad, they gave her a $2 discount after she politely declined their chicken offer as she was already grossed out) We tipped the server because it was NOT her fault, and again this experience wasn't directly affecting my party, but I told the other couple that I would not blame them for refusing to tip. Although it wasn't the server's fault, the management of that establishment is completely at fault and unfortunately sometimes that trickles down to other parties associated. I will not come back to this restaurant. There are plenty more hibachi restaurants that value the health and safety of their customers, and believe them when something is wrong with their meal.