Samurai Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi

I usually like to dine at a restaurant more than once before reviewing but I can’t with the Samurai since we won’t be back.
First the restaurant and rest rooms are clean and nicely appointed. The waitresses were very attentive and friendly, filled the drinks without having to ask etc. then the food came!
We ordered a shrimp dish with rice, veggies and noodle soup lunch combo and a spicy pork with the same sides.
The soup was equivalent to Lipton’s cup of soup in that is was a salty mess of broth with one dried mushroom slice and two tiny noodles. Then the very small portion of shrimp looked like tiny canned over cooked shrimp instead of the larger shrimp that we are accustomed to eating living on the Gulf. Plus the flavor was very bland. The fried rice was dry, tasteless with some grains of rice being crunchy. Then we get to the vegetables which were totally devoid of flavor. It was a mixture of tiny bits of broccoli, mushroom, onion and carrot.
The spicy pork left much to be desired too. Even after trying to bump up the flavor of the food with soy sauce it did nothing for it.
I was really looking forward to trying something different in the area since we have been at various Japanese restaurants but this particular one was extremely disappointing.
I believe their prices are also a tab over priced given the portion size and laying out well over $ 40 for lunch for two «specials» and two soft drinks.

The Samurai Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Restaurant is one of the best in Navarre. From the soup to the deserts the food is great. We have lunch or dinner at least twice a month. Everything we have tried is great. The staff is friendly and they go out of their way to make your dinning enjoyable.

Our party of 13 came here for a graduation dinner. Most of us ate hibachi. The chicken, spicy pork, shrimp and steak were cooked perfectly. The hibachi chef had a great show and all the waitresses were very attentive and polite. One of our party had the big belly roll. It was well made and tasted fine. The roll was big enough to share. Thank you Samurai, we will be back.

Stopped in for Lunch Specials! Delightful staff and delicious food! Prices were very reasonable. And the restaurant was clean and tidy with many locals in attendance and well known to the staff! I would say that bodes well for Samurai! Our order was taken quickly and filled in an adequate amount of time. *two thumbs up* from me!

Went here on mothers day. I’m impressed. Did the grill room got the steak and shrimp mom got scallops and shrimp. Was outstanding. Steve was the chef. Entertaining fun and the food had tons of flavor very filling. Yes the price is high for the area but very reasonable for what you get. I have been a chef and that job is hard but to entertain too makes it that much harder well worth it. If you are looking for great service and wonderful food come here. But if you are experiencing 5 dimond service at mcdonalds price stay away this is a place to treat yourself and relax. I will be going back a few times a year just due to the awesome food and the attention they gave me and my mother! Get reservations just in case they are busy it’s worth the 2 minutes for the phone call in and sat in 3 to 4 minutes drinks came right away food very quickly.

Have been a few times and have always like it. Friendly attentive staff. Food came out hot with a very nice variety. Love their box set. always a winner. Meats are tasty and delightful. Sticky rice is about as good as it can get.

For Southern Alabama I guess it’s good Japanese lots of birthday celebrations going on. No other reason to go there. I will try the regular menu and see how that works out, I never realized that I was a food snob from the SF area. The noodles were not very good but the rice was worse. The Chef & the waitress couldn’t get it together, we said we were going to eat as a group the chef gave each order to each individual no matter what we said which required us to pass the plates around and have everybody take something that they wanted off of them, same thing with dessert. I could go on. :(
PS 2 stars for décor.

I went here and I received really gross cold chicken. I loved our hibachi, the chef was great, but for the prices, the taste of the food definitely did not impress me. I got cold chicken, and the noodles were just too oily. I will not be coming here again.

The BEST hibachi within this area. The service is phenomenal, the food Nissan incredible and the chefs actually put on a show (like they enjoy they job or something). Well worth the drive from Fort Walton Beach, but I’d happily drive from Destin or Pensacola for this place.

The best sushi and Hibachi in town. The place is beautiful, the music and the service A-​1.

FUN and DELICIOUS!!! A great addition to the area. First time I tried sushi and if you’re looking to dive in to the experience, this is the place to do it. The ninja fried roll is delicious. We’ve gone a few times and the service is great and food fabulous! We’ll definitely be regulars

Won’t be back. Totally overpriced! Service was ok but for the amount of food and quality of food they should really review their prices. This placed is hyped up by locals but oishii right down the street is where you want to go for navarres best sushi

I absolutely give this place five stars specially for their bravery to open a quality restaurant in this kind of area!
Def must try if you’re on vacation

Without a doubt the BEST hibachi restaurant in Florida! The food is amazing– steak and shrimp is delicious. Full bar, gorgeous décor and a fabulous show! My husband and I are hibachi lovers and this place beats any place we’ve gone yet hands down! Worth the drive from Destin!!! Exceptional!

Meh…
Ordered dinner to go. We tried a volcano roll, chicken bento and beef teriyaki bento.
The sushi was alright. Not particularly unique or flavorful.
The bento boxes did not hit the spot either. The chicken lacked a flavorful sauce which made it well… just chicken. The tempura vegetable was a little greasy and it didn’t come with a good traditional tempura dipping sauce. The bright note was the fried rice.
We might come back for tepinyaki/​hibachi to enjoy the show, but probably won’t do take out.
My last knock is the price. For $ 12 I got a small serving of chicken so this is definitely a pricy option for mediocre food.

My initial impression of the place when walking in was dumb hostess and mean Asian lady.
But after passing those two, things got better.
Place was pretty cool! What made me give this place four stars is the cook! Mr. Young! One of maybe two Asian cooks. I would avoid the Hispanic cooks as I watched them just showing off vs cooking. My guy Mr. Young was freaking awesome!!! Best hibachi cook I’ve seen!!! Yes, the best!!! Master of his tools and not a show boating cooks like the others in this restaurant or other place I been. We had 4 kids with us and four other couple we came down here with and man, did he entertain!
Food was good. But he did mess up couple of times. But made it up at the end with some desserts.
Price is like other places I’ve been and food quality is about the same. But you don’t go to place like this for food, the cook makes it. So next time, request for Mr. Young when you go. Other cooks I wouldn’t recommend when I was watching others.

Let’s start with the positives!
The miso soup was wonderful. Great flavor, not too watery, lots of tofu and scallions.
The fried calamari was decent, soft texture and nice fluffy tempura batter.
Very clean bathrooms.
That’s pretty much it for the positives.
Our sushi was minuscule. Old rice, and way too much of it. Even the cooked rolls were ice cold. They gave me old and possibly previously used ginger! How disgusting can you get? The ginger was browned, hard, and crusted. The avocado on our rolls was mush.
They have us a tiny drop of dipping sauce for the calamari. Definitely scrimping once again.
They charged is for the miso soup which supposedly was included in the lunch price.
In short, if you like grocery store sushi, you may like this. Try not to get sick from old, used ginger though.

This place is right next door to our hotel and we heard it just opened up so being a Kobe’s and Benihana’s fan I had to try it. It was very decent and just about the same exact comparison to Benihana’s. I can’t remember why I like Kobe’s a bit more but maybe because it was in Hawaii lol. Anyway we had the hibachi grill chicken, a Las Vegas roll (excellent!) and some edamame ($ 4 and overpriced in my opinion) and three drinks. It came to $ 68 so pretty average on price. The chef was good but we had to wait a few times on drink refills. Overall really good. That was my splurge dinner at $ 75 with tip. Have a bunch more places to eat in the next few days
Can’t give five stars because I haven’t had a five star experience to often and I need to save that for the exception. Met some locals and it seems like this place is going to do well.
Enjoy

Okay. I don’t even know where to begin.
My hubby and I ordered take out from here one night. The place was not crowded. It was maybe a third full with customers.
We ordered:
1 chicken, steak and scallop combo hibachi dinner
1 side of steak
1 side of salad
1 Caribbean queen roll
First of all, they FORGOT the extra side salad that I PAID FOR and the soup that comes with the hibachi combo.
Second of all, I ordered all the steak to be cooked rare knowing that hibachi chefs typically overcook steak. All of the steak was was overcooked and chewy. It was well done.
Third of all, the scallops were like cut in half. They wrre sea scallops but I suppose they wanted to make it look like there was more scallop than there actually was. That was upsetting because I saw them cooling scallops on the hibachi grills when I went to pick up
the carry out and they were not halved at all. They looked juicy and plump. Not like my scallops):
Fourth of all, the salad that they DID give was like 4 pieces of lettuce. Seriously? They charged $ 3 for that salad! What a total rip off. I asked for them to give some yum yum sauce to go. it was literally a tiny tiny dollop.
Lastly, the sushi roll. While the flavors were decent it was a sad tiny excuse for sushi. Next time I’m craving sushi I’m going to head to the place across the street.
Also, the girl who picked up the phone and worked the hostess stand was not very helpful. I had to call back several times because she forgot to ask questions such as how do you want your steak done and she was confused half the time.
Not only is this place completely stingy with their food, they rob your money! I paid $ 65 for all of those items I ordered and didn’t receive all of what I ordered.
Check the photos if you don’t believe me!

Ok so let’s start, dinner tonight was a packed house, 30 minute wait on Hibachi but they navigated the wait well.
Plus– full bar and a great bar to have a seat and enjoy a cocktail. Waitstaff is very attentive, food was a little slow– but I’m not placing judgement– new location only opened a little over a week, they should get this straightened out.
Atmosphere was comfortable, price points outstanding–
Hold on… Food is AMAZING!!!
Naturo roll wrapped in cucumber WOW
Beef teriyaki– outstanding could have used a little more beef.
Seafood salad– incredible!
This is definitely a great place for Japanese in Navarre Florida