Osaka Japanese Steak House

Good Asian food is hard to find in the area. Expensive Asian food, however, is not very hard to find. This is an unfortunate combination.

Underwhelming and obscenely not Japanese in any way, Osaka is a strange collection of presumptions on what a "Sushi and Hibachi" place should be.

The waitresses walk around in novelty kimono (or a traditional Thai garb) that feel more like borderline offensive Halloween costumes than actual uniforms.

Sushi menu is on par with most other alternatives, which is to say that it's not very stellar.

Really wish the owners of these restaurants would be truer to their specialties and open restaurants that serve the food they know how to make: if you specialize in Thai food, open a THAI restaurant. No need to put up the illusion that you're a Japanese restaurant and then serve nothing that fits that description.

Also, the name Osaka alone implies some very specific types of Japanese dishes. It would be like opening a restaurant called "New York City" and serving Philly cheese steaks.

I give Osaka 4 stars but it might be a shade closer to 3.5.  We went for an early dinner on a Monday evening and sat on the hibachi side.  We ordered fried shrimp shumai and a spicy crab crunch roll for appetizers off of the happy hour specials menu for our appetizers.  Both kids ordered the hibachi chicken from the kids menu and my bf and myself ordered the filet and shrimp hibachi.  The shumai was fabulous and devoured quickly with pleas for more from the kids.  The crunch roll was good but not outstanding.  I snagged a little more than my share.  Our chef was a little delayed getting to our table.  While we waited we enjoyed the chicken broth based soup which was good and picked at the salad.  The dressing on the salad was too mayonnaisey and oniony for our tastes and missed the hefty dose of ginger that most other hibachi places use.  Once our chef arrived he was great and thoroughly entertained both the kids and us.  He made adjustments on our food preferences easily and chatted with us the whole time.  All of our food was cooked very well including the steak, which at many hibachi joints tends to be overcooked or chewy.  Instead we had a perfect medium and it was melt in your mouth delicious.  Also a pleasant change was the flavorings used to cook... not just soy sauce but some lemon juice for brightness and a quick pinch of sesame seeds.  Very good!  For sauces they had a great selection including the sweet and delicious yum yum sauce, a nice light teriyaki/soy/ginger sauce, a citrusy seafood sauce, and a very garlicky spicy garlic sauce (that we kicked up with some siracha).  Prices were about average for a hibachi grill, and ran us about $100 including tax and tip for dinner.  There was not a two person "feast" as many have or shrimp appetizer included or the delicious egg yolk sauce but fried rice was included with all of the meals.  We will definitely return when we are back in Ft. Myers Beach.  (We also got lucky and had great table companions.  Small sakes were buy one get one for happy hour and they generously shared with us!)

Excellent sushi! We love sushi, and this was tender and fresh and generous with the fish. One of us has a sesame seed allergy, so they rolled the Cali roll in tobiko. The nigiri hamachi, the maguro and the salmon were butter-soft and thick large slices atop the rice. One of us had chicken katsu, loved it (large serving, comes with soup and salad), another had Pad Thai (another huge serving). Although the people at the next table were complimenting the desserts, we had no room at all left! They have a simplified sushi pricing schedule, so check the sushi menu to find out about that. I've never seen salmon and hamachi at the same price anywhere else. The restaurant's decor is also appealing. You can eat on the Thai side or over at the Teppan Tables. There's also a very enthusiastic bar...