Japanese Village

This was my lunch go to place with my gal pal before she transferred to Edmonton. I’d never been before and she’d frequented it a lot with her coworkers, so one day I joined them.
We got seated at the teppanyaki table and watched as our meals were prepared. I got the salmon and shrimp and it was amusing to chat and watch the show. I’ve been told the ginger steak sauce is the best part of the meal, and they must know it here because they ask you if you want the sauce drizzled on your rice AND if you’d like a side dish of it. Obviously I said yes to both!
For just over $ 10, you’re quite full, slightly thirsty (the food’s salty!) and you smell like food. If the last two don’t really bother you, head over to JV and try it out!
I’ve been told if you make resos, they won’t seat you till everyone’s arrived — so keep that in mind!

Service a bit slow as people noted, but not poor to the point it would prevent me from coming back. Food was good, and for what you get in terms of food/​entertainment I would definitely go back.

Came here with a large group and we were all completely disrespected. It felt like the automatic 18% gratuity they were getting made it so they couldn’t care less about us. We were told that if we were late they would give our table away. So we all arrived between 6:25−632pm and our reservation was for 6:30pm. At 6:32pm we were told that they were just about to give our table away. We then all had to wait for 20 minutes on top of that because they weren’t ready for us.
The billing afterwards was a disaster. They only had calculators and the poor girl working the cashier had to use a pen and paper to deal with the billing. The whole process took 30min+ alone.
The only saving grace for this place is that the chefs cooking for the food in front of us was very nice. The food was also pretty tasty.
DEFINITELY not recommended for groups.

Came for a graduation celebration, Very friendly service. Staff was amazing! Food was great as well. Thanks again.

Service is so bad… I just don’t get it? You would think the owners would just spend the time to teach or coach their staff. I mean it’s the only outfit in town?! Honestly save your money and take your family out to Edo. AND they charge for hot sauce… lol…jokes!

It is unbelievable how bad the service is here, its actually special. You barley have your coat off and they’re asking what you want for dinner, then your dinner comes and within seconds they’re asking what you want for desert, and if you take more than 20 seconds to think about it or swallow your meat, they rudely ask again. They unnecessarily and rudely rush you in and out, and god forbid you’re 30 seconds late for your reservation, you will be yelled at and told you’re paying for the late party. The ONLY reason this place is still open is because the steak sauce is as addicting as a narcotic.

This isn’t the type of place you go for great service, it is where you go for entertainment. The food was good, not outstanding. We went with a large group, one of which is on crutches, it was difficult to get up the stairs and sit at a squished table. The service felt very rushed, I was asked to order before I had opened my menu because I sat down after everyone because I had to drop off the person on crutches and then go find a place to park. I understand they are quite busy but a little time for a table with someone who has trouble getting around would have been appreciated. A group of 9 of us was in and out in an hour, perhaps a good indicator of how they rushed us. Paying the bill was very difficult, surprised they don’t have a better system for a place that clearly has large groups and has to split bills often. We were celebrating a few birthdays and they offered to do some sort of thing were they out costumes on the birthday people but we declined because we were told there was a cost of $ 3.50 to do it, which isn’t a lot but if that’s part of the experience it should not cost extra, build it into the cost of food. Probably wouldn’t rush back, but a nice thing to do once.

This place is a lot of fun! The food is tasty but the ‘show’ is really what you are there for. It is a great place for a celebration. My six year old LOVED it! The service was wonderful.

* GO HERE FOR LUNCH AND NOT FOR SUPPER *
The price of lunch is half the cost of the evening dishes and is the amount you should be paying to eat here. For $ 12/​person you can get a combination teriyaki chicken and beef entrée with vegetables (and grab a side of mushrooms). With the meal you will also be served rice (you can get multiple bowls and add the steak sauce on top of it) and either a small soup or salad to start. The meal is cooked in front of you on an open grill but because lunch is much faster and less for entertainment, the cooks do not spend as much time yelling and unnecessarily flipping things. They will pack you in tight here to fit as many people as possible with communal seating. If this sounds worth it to you, the food is quite good.
The steak sauce alone makes this place awesome and great value at lunch!

Japanese village has been the restaurant I’ve been going to for the longest out of my restaurant eating career. I love the food, I mean LOVE it. I’m the type of person I hate waiting for food, so the idea of being served something new (rice, soup, salad) one at a time while watching your meal being cooked appeases the fat person in me. I’m in love with their steak sauce aswell, to the point I’m dipping my chop sticks in and essentially eating the sauce by itself until I have a juicy filet minion to dip in it.
Alright now to the downsides, there’s a few and the only reason I didn’t go with a 3 star is the food has strong appeal to me. No restaurant would ever get away with the shit Japanese village has pulled with me if they didn’t have such delicious food damnit!
The servers like to ignore special orders outside of the norm of their routines. I’m a saucy girl, I love sauce. I sauce the crap out of everything I eat, prob too much. I’m sure you gathered that by my eating steak sauce without steak. Any who I always ask for extra dressing on the salad, and without fail every single damn time I get one tiny splooge. Nothing works to get their attention, from subtle desperate gestures to full on flagging them down hand fully in the air like a kid wanting the teacher to just pick you for once. Yeah I love my sauce. I end up waiting till they are en route with rice before I can make my second request for more sauce.
Next downside, their routines are played out, every chef since the time I first went there when I was 19 (I’m 27 now) still do this same shit. Yeah haha magic mushrooms in your basement. –_​– get some new routines!
On to number 3, the fuck is with them charging for a damn song and picture now, that shit used to be free ! They don’t even tell you they’re charging for that now, just a nice little surprise nugget on your bill.
On to my last negative, when their staff do something wrong they don’t compensate for it. I had some dumb chef mix all the steaks together, I was devastated when he just piled all our steaks into one giant chopped up lump instead of keeping them speerated. Like the dude next to me got more pieces of steak, he’s eating MY damn steak. Try and explain to them when you’re dissatisfied, I dare you, all of a sudden no one speaks English. Just pay and begrudge them with no tip.
Any who, I still go back. Can’t be that bad, right? ;)

Food is consistently good here. I Usually order the steak and shrimp combo. Food is plentiful and flavorful. You start with soup, salad, they gradually fill your plate with rice, shrimp, grilled veggies and steak cooked to your preference throughout the evening, and end it off with some ice cream. Plus the cook entertains you, some say it’s cheesy, but it’s still a good time regardless!

A very frustrating experiance.
We made a reservation for 12 people at 6:00 for my niece’s birthday. There were 6 adults and 6 kids. They told us that they would only seat a full table and that we needed to wait for another reservation of 6 to show before they would seat us. At 6:30 we asked if we could be seated at the table and have a drink while we were waiting for the 6 strangers to show up. They refused. The restaurant was less than half full so our request should have been easy to comply to and they were making us wait for other people who were late for their reservation. The ‘manager’ was one of the most condescending people I have ever met, I can see why this place has been going steadily downhill.
The ceilings are dirty and tattered, and the whole place looks grimy and made me question if this place has recently passed a food inspection. It is a sad shadow of the place it used to be. Much better Japanese food in the area, give this place a miss.
We decided to leave as we were hungry and they still were refusing to seat us by 6:45, we went to the place downstairs, Briggs I think, and after confirming they were not associated with JV, we ate there and it was wonderful.
We asked for the managers name and he refused to give it to us, he also refused to give us the owners name.

Great place for lunch! If you want to go on weekdays I recommend making reservations for the teppan table. As it is always very busy… The food was great and at a good value… I definitely recommend this place!

Japanese Village is a great place for a larger get-​together. Except you won’t be having much of a conversation at your table because you’re sat around the teppan in a row. Japanese Village is the only teppanyaki in Calgary that isn’t from the food court. The chefs here are also performers and if they offer you some «Japanese BBQ sauce» for the rice, do accept and accept in plentiful. That sauce is bombtastic.
Do come for birthdays, just not your own. Unless you enjoy the humilation of being taunted in front of all of your friends.
Alternatively you can also sit in the non-​teppanyaki section and just order some food from the same menu and be served quickly.

I agree with some other previous reviews that it’s an ‘ok’ place for experiencing Teppanyaki style food. I’ve been to other similar restaurants in USA. The show here doesn’t have a variety of knife or fire games.
I liked the soup and green-​tea ice-​cream. The steak could have been better and I (also the other group in our table) didn’t like the veggies. The cook didn’t put any salt to it !
IMO, you can go there once to experience the style if you’ve never been to such a restaurant. Otherwise, you can pass.

Ordered the Oyser Panzu as takeout. It was brought fast and service was great. I give 4 stars because I only got 4 oysters which weren’t very big, for $ 8.40.
I’ll have to go another time for a better review.

Me and my boyfriend used to go to Japaneese Village once a week when we started dating. He got sick of the food becuase its the same food/​show everytime. Me on the other hand can not get enough. Their steak sauce is yum yum (they even sell it in a bottle to take home!) They do claim their mushrooms are «magic mushrooms» grown in the basement and they use motor oil instead of cooking oil. but its all in good fun. Hard to get a reservation and if your 5 minutes late they will give it away.

The lunch menu is slightly different than the dinner one. Better value during lunch time. I have been going here for a couple of years and love it. Sometimes you will get a very entertaining chef who will set onions on fire. You do have to be on time for your reservation, and they won’t seat you until everyone if your party has arrived.
I love the steak and ginger sauce!

Since Calgary really only has one hibachi grill it is quite good. However, going to other hibachis elsewhere, I’ve realized that Japanese Village isn’t too great. The staff is hasty and the chefs aren’t as skilled as other hibachi chefs I’ve seen.
The food though is still outstanding, and the Japanese Village sauce is free flowing and delicious.

I don’t know why I came here considering last year was overkill for me. My work is close by and they LOVE doing welcome lunches here. I hadn’t been here before until I came here with my co-​workers. They love it because, if requested, can make the servers dress you up into traditional Japanese costumes and make you dance as they sing a song in celebration of your event. It’s pure entertainment for those that don’t get chosen to dress up and dance.
Anyway, the service is terrible. They treat you like sheep. And they definitely don’t encourage you to stay around and converse with your party because they have another reservation and want to kick you out right away.
So why did I come back this time on my own? I was craving the salty sea same ginger steak sauce thing they put over your rice! It’s probably very terrible for you but the taste is so unique to Japanese village that I was craving it.
This time I went to the dining side (not the teppanyaki tables) for a quick lunch. Note: they deep fry their teppanyaki chicken teriyaki! I know it doesn’t make sense considering teppanyaki means fry-​on-​griddle or something right?
Anyway, to sum it up. Sauces are good (I think they are all house made) and the rest was bad. Terrible customer service or lack there of. So I guess if you have a craving it’s good otherwise I’m sure you can get teppanyaki at a better place that will treat you like a person — not sheep.