Review of Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse in Jacksonville, FL

Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse

10206 River Coast Dr
Jacksonville, FL 32246

(904) 997-6528

www.wasabi-steakhouse.com 

Wasabi

There are so many Japanese steakhouses in Jacksonville that are named Wasabi; it’s hard to keep straight who is who.  It turns out that most of the Wasabi restaurants are not related.  This was my first time at this Wasabi restaurant on the outskirts of the St. John’s Town Center.  We arrived at 5pm on a Friday night.  The restaurant didn’t open until 5 according to their signs, so the place wasn’t crowded at all and we had great parking.  We were seated in a dining room around the sushi bar.  There were 2 other parties seated in our area when we arrived.   

Salad

Our waiter quickly took our drink order and gave us our menus.  Looking around, we saw that they had a “Specials” board and ESPN was on the flat screen tv in the corner.  I ordered a hot tea and started to look at the menu.  Most of the dinner entrees I was interested in were close to $20 and above.  I like to order the hibachi meal, but I usually get a sushi roll too.  Pie pointed out that there was an “Early Bird Special” for the hibachi meal that just happened to apply to the time of our visit.  Instead of $20 for the steak & shrimp hibachi, it was $14.50 and came with clear soup, salad, grilled veggies and fried rice.  Perfect!  The sushi was moderately priced, about $6 for your average roll.  There were some definitions missing for some of the sushi rolls and when I asked the waiter what some of them where, he gave me a list of rolls and definitions that was in his pocket.  I would have liked to have seen these attached to the menu, not in his pocket.  I also noticed that our waiter didn’t mention the specials that were on the board and failed to tell us his name.  Anyhoo, I ordered the Early Bird Steak & Shrimp Hibachi and a caterpillar roll. 

Clear Soup

Our salad’s came right away.  Nothing fantastic, just some iceberg lettuce and carrots with ranch dressing.  Then our clear soup came out.  I had one mushroom slice in mine, kinda skimpy I thought.  The broth…I’ve had better; this tasted like it came out of a packet.  Then they brought out my caterpillar roll.  I thought this would be an interesting choice.  It has eel, which I love, cream cheese and avocado.  The avocado was on the outside of the sushi roll.  You can see from the picture below how it resembles a caterpillar, Aha! we will name it caterpillar roll.  Anyone who likes avocado knows that it is, well…a little slippery, which made it very difficult to pick up if not hold on to long enough to dunk it into the shrimp sauce and into my mouth.  So I picked off the avocado and ate what was left. 

Caterpillar Roll

Our meals started to come out of the kitchen, mine came first.  The steak was done perfectly and so were the shrimp.  I find that so many times the shrimp is overcooked.  Dear Restaurants:  If the shrimp is shaped like an ‘O’ it is overcooked, if the shrimp is shaped like a ‘C’ it is cooked to perfection.  Pie’s came out next and he asked for some more shrimp sauce.  They came out with a couple of bowls and filled them right up.  Now that is what I’m talking about!  Don’t skimp on the shrimp (sauce)!  We finished our dinners and there was absolutely no room for dessert.  They promptly brought us our check, we paid our bill and out the door we went.  Hey, wait a minute; I just realized they didn’t give us a mint with our bill!  Japanese restaurants always give you a mint, right?

Steak & Shrimp Hibachi

The restaurant and the parking lot were starting to fill up with the Friday night crowd.  Wasabi also has the Japanese chefs that slice and dice at the table.  I think I want to go see that on my next visit.  If you are looking for a great Japanese meal, check out Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse in the St. John’s Town Center.  However, go early so you can take advantage of the “Early Bird Specials”. 

Review by Rhonette, email:  rhonette@piesplate.com