100% recommend this restaurant to anyone. For starters, the restaurant is always sparkling clean. The service is wonderful, it's always an experience since they guide you through each component on the menu. The food - out of this world. I cannot begin to tell you the type of eater I am, very picky - so to know that I can thoroughly enjoy every single thing they serve me, is amazing. You cannot go wrong with anything you order - the servers really take their time to explain how to best eat the dish, etc. It's really quite the experience & I always cannot wait to go back in! read more

This is the my # 1 go to spot for sushi and drinks !! I love the staff here they make you feel like family Ami , Tam , Jasmine and Ethan are exceptional . I work in the service industry and like to get taken care of when i go out and their staff does just that . I can sit at the bar alone and by the time I leave I have met all the patrons at the bar and they love the staff and food as much as me !! Did I mention besides the bar they have a dining area and 5 or 6 hibachi tables (that's for when I go w my whole family that may not have my love for sushi but they love the Hibachi.) Also I'm recently on a special diet for health reasons and bc they are so attentive they added gluten free soy and make special rolls for me without the rice so I can eat what I always enjoyed before the diet . In other wards they go above and beyond and Ill continue to praise them by saying it's the best sushi ,sashimi & hibachi I've had in all of Houston I promise !! read more

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I've been to this place a few years ago and remember it being really good. My husband and I decided to return last night and it wasn't the same. Our waitress claimed they were really busy and kept forgetting what we actually ordered. The waitresses looked flustered and kept getting our orders confused. Our drinks were never refilled without us asking and we kept having to put plates on other tables to make more room because the waitress never took our empty plates. The food was good but not as good as it used to be. The cleanliness of the restaurant also wasn't very good. I almost didn't even feel comfortable eating there with the surrounding areas. read more

I know the owners and they are great! Hard working, good sushi, good drinks, great management to make the business run smooth. Good friends and people to work/visit their restaurant. read more

This place is alright, just like any other Japanese hibachi restaurant. However they have Halal meats and my friends and family only eat halal meats. This was a good experience for them. As for me like I mentioned above it's just another Japanese hibachi restaurant. The sushi was decent but could be better because they lack flavor and all the rolls seems to taste alike. The hibachi is good and has good flavors , you could always ask for extra sauces as well. As for customer service they were fast and friendly. read more

I usually don't give one star reviews, especially not to restaurants I love, and I do love Bonsai, but I think there has been a change in management. As a result it would seem that the legitimacy of the restaurant has gone down. For the past couple months I've been a little bit of a regular at the establishment, and I loved it. The food was delicious and the service was friendly and fast, especially with the two lovely sushi chefs behind the bar. But I came back today and things seemed different. Amy and the other chef weren't behind the bar and the new Asian hibachi chef seemed... lacking and rushed. Moreover there was construction going on at both the bar and in the hibachi room. The whole place also smelled so strongly of gas, which was worrying. read more

I eat here all the time and it's always great. I ordered for pickup for 15 people and it was more than enough. The food was fresh and delicious and the staff was wonderful. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for hibachi or even just sushi. Totally worth the price! read more

Bonsai - Hibachi and sushi - Teppanyaki Near Me - Houston, Texas

I was in Houston for one night only for work this past week. I was staying at the Hyatt Regency Downtown and wanted to grab dinner nearby so I didn't have to move my car from the parking garage! Craving sushi, I asked Guest Services for a close recommendation and I was pointed in the direction of Bonsai. After a quick 5 minute walk, I got to Bonsai and headed to the bar because...well, that's what I do. Immediately my eyes saw my two favorite words "Happy Hour". Super great deals...$4/select wines, $3 well drinks, $2.50 domestics and $3.50 Sapporo (though not the big ones.) HH wasn't just limited to alcohol but included sushi and appetizers as well...$1.50 & $2 pieces of sushi, $4 rolls, $7 specialty rolls, $3 edamame...the list keeps going on and on. The bar area was pretty busy...it's obvious quite a few people know about this rocking Happy Hour. I ordered 6 different pieces of sushi and 2 rolls (with those prices, I couldn't resist going a little overboard!) along with a bowl of Miso. The sushi came out superfast and I did have to remind the bartender about my Miso...he apologized and brought it out immediately. The sushi was really good and I enjoyed every bite! Ladies next to me ordered a Crunchy Roll and Spider Roll (both on HH for $7) and they looked delish! The bar crowd thinned out around 7, just as the specials were ending. I got the chance to chat with the bartender and another customer for a bit longer before heading back to the hotel. Great experience...great sushi...super hot deals! read more

I absolutely love this place. I always take family and friends to this restaurant and everyone enjoys it. The thing I love about this place is that most of the items are Hibachi, and they are all halal. The waiting staff are very friendly, and the cooks are funny. Definitely a place you should try out. read more

I was here not too long ago and I enjoyed the food and the whole experience. I think they have one of the friendliest staff I've ever encountered. Great food and service. I would definitely recommend this place. read more

I don't understand all the bad reviews of this place. We come here at least once every two weeks we would come every day if we could afford it haha! I have never been dissatisfied with my food or the service they have great sushi, awesome happy hour prices and great entrees. And their prices are as good or better than any other hibachi place (I've been to many) and I think they are twice as good! The fried rice is especially good!!! read more

I love this place! They have a happy hour with 1-1.50 sushi and $1 hot sake (my fave). The teriyaki steak is delicious, and the onion soup is the best I've had. The staff is really friendly. :) Good for dates, meeting up with friends, and I've seen people with small children (I don't have kids, so I don't know how easy it is to bring them, lol). I'll be back frequently! Definitely a great place! read more

Looking for good sushi? Well Bonsai isn't going to offer you that nor even decent sushi at least. I would say grocery store sushi offerings would be better compared to what Bonsai serves. I came here based on HH offering and the positive yelp reviews, but it wasn't a good meal. The rice they used for the sushi was over cooked and super soggy. Soggy rice and sushi roll are not a good combo: the rolls fell apart and caused the nori to be soggy as well resulting in a mouth full of mush with every bite. The fish they served looked as if they were aged by air exposure bc they had an appearance of a hardened crust on the top as if they were pre-made and left on a counter to air. The sauce they used to dress the rolls also had the appearance as if it wasn't fresh. To the touch the sauce had a gelatinous feel not wet as fresh sauce would indicate. So I believe the sauce is either old or the rolls were pre-made and left on the counter as well. I thought ok, maybe it's just a bad batch but this sad serving of rolls kept coming with every order we had. The server was nice but she definitely was not a very good server. Overall just be warned. Bonsai doesn't seem to care for quality for food nor service. read more

Something bad happened here. I'm not sure if this place changed hands or what, but a sushi/hibachi place that used to be ok is now... not ok. Over the last couple of years I never did see this place busy, but it was at least fairly dependable for a hibachi grill and maybe some sushi. The happy hour specials were definitely an attraction. However, over the last couple of times we went, the menu had changed, the food wasn't good, and the place had gotten downright grubby. The very last time we went (we went a couple times after whatever changed because we were trying to give benefit of the doubt) the sushi was pretty much disgusting. Slimy and fishy. Not fresh at all. Then looking at the rest of the food... yeah, that killed the night for us. The waitress was sweet and removed the major suspect sushi roll from the tab, but even still, we didn't eat most of our food after that. We spent a good chunk of that night waiting to see if we would get sick or not, no kidding. Afterward, we realized that the place looked like it was being run by some folks from the Middle East, as opposed to the Asian folks that seemed to be running it when we first moved to the area. That, combined with the menu change, and the very noticeable drop in the quality of the food, made us pretty sure it has changed hands. I doubt we will ever be back. read more

This review is not based on their food at all. My fiancé and I just left here. We walked in to someone singing karaoke very quietly and awkwardly. He wasn't great, but please don't hire someone to sing if they're not going to put on a relatively good performance. Regardless of their talent. We were seated immediately and then that was it. I have 3 aquariums at home and could instantly tell this poor fish has ich (disease) and his face was literally rotting away. Like... Some of his face was missing. After 10 minutes of not ONE person asking us if we wanted anything to drink or if someone had helped us, even though all the tables around us were being helped, we left. I won't be returning again. read more

Went with my mother and sister on a Thursday during happy hour. Drink specials are great!!! We had Habachi with a great chef that was funny and did lots of good tricks. The menu was large and we will be back to try the suchi and fusion items. A hidden gem in the NW part of town. read more

Great food. Hibachi style.. Good portion and fresh sushi. Top it off with excellent service. Definitely will be back.

This is a nice place. Went with the fam for lunch on a Saturday. They have a huge variety to choose from, def a must go....esp for anyone living in the NW/Cypress part of town :) *OH! and a bonus. They serve Halal meat. Halal meat is regular meat, just cut differently and more clean than your regular everyday meat. read more

A friend took me here & I loved it. It's halal hibachi with excellent service. I had a coconut soup & chicken katsu from the kitchen. Then the master chef, who appeared to be buddies with our hibachi table sharers, cooked up some mean fried rice, veggies, shrimp & steak & filet mignon. The meat was cooked just right, a little less than medium so it's still pinkish, but not dripping red juices (aka bleeding). The manager came by severL times to check on out table, maybe because it wasn't too busy, maybe cause I was a picky orderer & maybe cause the folks we sat with were regulars. No matter what, excellent place to eat. Also the only halal Japanese place I've ever heard of. read more

Went there on a busy night as a group of 6 and was surprised to be seated and served promptly. Portions were good sized and the food was delicious. Great ambience and laudable service. Recently I made reservations for my parents for a surprise date night. The staff was terrific in helping me set everything up. They executed the surprise beautifully and my parents were delighted - with the food, the service, and the small personal touches. I appreciate this attentiveness towards their customers. read more

Granddaughters 24th birthday celebration. Ben and MARIO our chef were amazing. Food was best we have ever had! Chefs special was delicious and everyone was pleased. Will definitely be back read more

Bonsai - Teppanyaki Near Me - Houston, Texas

Loved this place! A family friend took us on superbowl sunday after the game, and I thought the food was very good. They are fully halal as well so that is a bonus. We ordered hibachi and had couple of steaks, chicken breast, Fried Rice and veggies. The cook was very funny and also did couple of neat tricks while cooking the food. I recommended it to a friend and he took his date there for valentines day and they both loved it as well. Will be going back there soon. read more

The worst experience I've had in a while. Overpriced and small portion. I took a client for lunch and was embarrassed... read more

Bonsai - Teppanyaki Near Me - Houston, Texas

Great hibachi close to home. No need to drive across town when there is a gem in my neighborhood!

Great place, I always recommend it to friends. Its Halal too, which makes it so much more enjoyable. I always have the Hibachi Steak and its always perfect. Friendly Staff, and always a great cook. Only con I can think of is that the wait was sometimes a little bit longer than expected. It took 25 minutes just to bring the food to the grill and another 10-15 to prepare it. Overall, good experience. Edit: 2/4/2011 Sadly, this place seems to have gone downhill. Have had some horrible experiences as of late going to them. Excessive wait times as well as wrong orders taken. Food remained good, just the service has gone to crap. read more

100% will be back ! Loved the decor and friendly atmosphere of the restaurant. Saw the chief come out many times to chat with customers which I thought was personal and enjoyed. Not to mention the sushi was fantastic! read more

This place is a great example of awesome customer service! For to-go orders! I haven't had the pleasure of eating inside yet, but it'll be soon ! They can customize pretty anything on the menu, don't want eggs in your fried rice?! Consider it done! Most places won't do that! So good and the price is good too. It's got a different flavor that I love. Been back twice already and plan to go to dine in soon! read more

So I wrote a review on here before stating that the hibachi wasn't good and bland but deleted to re-write this giving them 3 stars instead because I wanted to give them a chance and try some more food but I was wrong When I first stepped in, nobody was at the front. There was only one waitress working and the bartenders and bus boys had to take turns bringing customers to tables as they came. So anyways, I sat in a booth and for the longest time I kept smelling a stank a** stench. I then realized that it was mop water. The whole time the smell was bothering me so bad I could barely eat. The smell was disgusting Egg drop soup: 1/5- pretty terrible. I literally used up half a pepper shaker to make it more edible. Wasn't eggy at all and was way watered down. I've had better else where House salad: 2/5- salad was ok but I probably wouldn't get it again. I didn't like the dressing much, tasted diff from the ones at other japanese restaurants and not as good Crab puffs: 5/5- very good, crunchy and hot with the right amount of cream cheese. I really liked this dish Crunchy roll: 2/5- not good at all, I forgot to look at what type of fish was inside but it was very chewy, tough, dry and tasted old. I almost choked on it. Very little crunchy flakes on top. The crunchy roll is my fav at sushi restaurants and i always get it, but at Bonsai it would have to be the worst crunchy roll I've ever had Bakery roll: 5/5- came out very hot and crunchy. I really liked this roll, maybe because I love fried food hehe it was super crunchy Overall I probably wouldn't come back. Even though it was HH and the food was cheap. Service was ok, waitress was nice but really slow. She did check on us once but it took a really long time to get my food and get the check. I left here unsatisfied read more

As a person who have tried a variety of sushi restaurants in Houston, stay away from this restaurant if you want fresh, quality sushi! The sushi was definitely off. It didn't taste fresh in my opinion and the rolls weren't that great either. We ordered basic rolls such as a tuna roll and I don't know how you can mess up a tuna roll but it tasted off. Not only that, there was a small roach crawling on the wall and the service was pretty slow. I don't know why because it wasn't crowded in there. I have nothing to say about the hibachi because I have never tried it. Maybe that is the thing to get at this restaurant and not the sushi. If this is your first time trying sushi, do not eat it here! It will ruin your sushi experience!! read more

This place was fun. Of course the company could have been a good part of the entertainment as well. The chef/cook/hibachini? guy (Dwayne) was really nice and did a great job being both entertaining when we were paying attention to him and scaling it back if we started talking amongst ourselves. People praised the sushi and I enjoyed the food with a show. We went for lunch and it was quiet and not very busy. I could imagine this place could get pretty noisy on a busy night. Lots of menu items so if you don't like Sushi or beef there are other options. I would imagine this place would seem "magical" to children. Our waiter was pretty new to the job, and we didn't see much of him, but he must have been keeping an eye on us as he was always there when our drinks got low. Didn't pay the bill so I can't speak to the overall price, but it's easily going to end up being more than 15 bucks a person I can imagine. It was fun, give it a try! read more

So I came here with a friend for their all-day happy hour on sundays... when we arrived there was no one there, which didnt bother me, so I figured the service would be Impeccable but it was ok, food was ok... so lets break it all down FOOD: their happy menu consists of appetizers, food, and drinks. They also have shashimi up for grabs. I ordered the bakery roll which consisted of salmon, cream cheese, avocado, wrapped and lightly tempura fried. Didnt realize it was fried but it was fine. Also, had the usual spider roll because I love crab. Also shared an order of cream puffs which were good too. Overall not super impressed with the sushi but it wasnt the grossest either. DRINKS: let me just say the lychee champagne was amazing and delicious and im the biggest champagne drinker. Also had a sake bomb which was typical. SERVICE: the waitress was a little absent minded lol and I dont think she understood half of what my friend asked her but that's alright. The only gripe I had was that since my friend and I ordered the same thing they put it all on one plate and granted we werent paying attention to that...so im sitting...and sitting...and yep sitting. Lol finally I asked the waitor about my order and he had the deer in headlights look and apologized for not being more clear. He ended up giving us 2 more pieces of shashimi. But I gave that to my friend to eat. So overall 3 stars for the champagne and the ok food. But cant say ill be running back anytime soon. read more

Been coming here for a while and always loved it but this time I had such an ugly experience. The manager is extreme rude and not at all courteous. The chef that came to prepare food at the hibachi did not adhere to a simple request to which he initially agreed upon. The presentation wasn't the same like he usually does. Maybe it's one of their bad days but shouldn't be that bad to spoil the experience of the guests whom I brought along for the first time to try it out. Zero *** all the way!! read more

I'm giving this place a two star for: good food and entertaining cook. Everything else sucked. When we first came into here, we waited a long time before we got greeted. Finally we were led to the table and sat down, it took them 15 mins to get our drink order, and another 20 mins before our waitress showed up and took our food order. And they were not even busy at that time. After we ate, we just sat there for 30 mins with empty plates in front of us and nobody even took a look at us. I also forgot to say the hibachi was good, but the onion soup came with it was terrible: it's just plain hot water with green onions and super skinny mushroom pieces, literally no any flavor at all. I finally decided to tip the cook separately with cash and $2 for the server. If the servers didn't care about me, why should I care what they feel? read more

Excellent food and service, far exceeded my expectations. Also, the presentation of each dish is unique and different right down to how the wasabi and ginger is decorated on your sushi plate. The alcohol is not watered down either :) read more

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This place is delicious! I highly recommend it! The food portions are decent and the ingredients are high quality. Everything tastes delicious. Our party tried the chicken, steak, scallops and shrimp, and all 4 options were bursting with flavor! Our chef was very friendly and engaging. Will definitely be back! read more

Bonsai - Hibachi 2 Item Combo - Teppanyaki Near Me - Houston, Texas

Absolutely love this place! I was craving hibachi and it was fortunate that they serve halal meat here. Service and taste were beyond my expectations... Overall the meal was a little more expensive than I would have liked and that's the reason I gave them 4 stars. Definitely will go back but not as often as I like due to the price of course. I recommend this place to everyone. read more

Tonight was our first time trying this restaurant and we will definitely be returning. It was delicious. We only do take-out once a week on Friday night. We keep saying this was the best we have had in months. We had teriyaki chicken and steak. Both were delicious! Strongly recommend! read more

Love their sushi...they have awesome happy hour specials for sushi and sake (which is when we normally go). You can spend a little bit during happy hour or a lot with some of their specialty sushi rolls. I like the atmosphere for date nights. I've also seen several families here. I haven't tried it, but they also have a hibachi grill where they cook in front of you. read more

I have been to this place for a few times now and I think I know them enough to write something about the place. Personally, Bonsai is a fun place for me to enjoy an evening. The ambient is friendly and inviting to sit down and have a couple drinks. With a great variety of items on their menu and creativity of the brains behind all those innovative recipes, it is always exciting for me to try new things during every visit. Staffs both who are serving and cooking are friendly and welcoming. I do not want to brag much about this place, but rather encourage anyone who lives near by or happens to be in this area to stop and explore. Bonsai is highly recommended!!!! read more

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Plus one in the star rating. We keep coming back so they must be doing something right. Could it be the service? Definitely. Cuts of fish are very generous and they have my daughter's 6 pieces of salmon nigiri ready almost as soon as we sit down. read more

Bonsai - My other Bonsai regulars - Teppanyaki Near Me - Houston, Texas