Kobe

A group of us visited the Japanese steakhouse Kobe a few weeks ago for Chris’s birthday.  I had never been to this Shockoe Slip restaurant so was eager to check it out.  Tim and I met Chris and John early and enjoyed a drink from their ground floor bar.  The decor on the ground floor was modern and well-lit.  Jenn and Ray arrived soon after, and we headed down into the basement to eat.

The basement was more dimly lit and full of scattered grills surrounded by seats.  The six of us were seated at one grill.  Another couple was soon seated at our table.  We were quickly brought miso soup by our waitress and then settled in for a wait.  The soup was good, but was very onion-y.  Our waitress took our food orders (because we were downstairs, our choices were limited to steak, chicken, scallops, shrimp, filet mignon, or some combination of these items).  After taking our order, we were each served a small salad, comprised of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and a delicious ginger peanut dressing.

After eating our salad, we settled in for a wait until our chef arrived.  Finally he did and started his performance.  If you have not been to a Japanese steakhouse before, the chef cooks at your table, flipping the meat, eggs, veggies, etc. with some prowess.  One of our chef’’s tricks was to saute shrimp and then flip one to each person seated at the table.  Only Chris and John had the skills to catch the shrimp in their mouths.  This was a typical experience for a Japanese steakhouse, although John was disappointed – he had recently been to other steakhouses and thought that the chefs showed more skill.

After the show, we were served our food.  I had the chicken with vegetables and it was delicious.  The meat was tender and moist.  I loved the spicy mustard/soy sauce combination we were each served with our dish, and dumped most of it on top of my meat and veggies. 

I enjoyed Kobe, except for the atmosphere.  It was difficult to hold a conversation with your table-mates due to the open layout and all the chefs cooking in front of you.  It was also quite warm due to all the open grills.  Kobe was satisfactory, but nothing particularly special (except that mustard/soy sauce).

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