Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet on Washtenaw 'closed until further notice'
Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet in Pittsfield Township is "closed until further notice."
Joseph Tobianski | AnnArbor.com
It's unclear when the Hibachi Grill restaurant on Washtenaw Avenue will reopen.
Joseph Tobianski | AnnArbor.com
The sign at Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet does not announce a reopening date, and information on the restaurant's plans were not available from shopping center landlord McKinley Inc. Calls to the restaurant were unanswered on Friday.
"I can confirm that they are currently not operating, beyond that I don't have any other comment," said McKinley's Tom Gritter.
Chen told AnnArbor.com in June that Hibachi Grill’s menu variety would help attract customers. The sushi and grill bar has more than 300 menu options, and it serves several types of cuisine, including Chinese, Japanese, Italian and American.
Chen opened the restaurant in the former Bistro Bar and Grill space, which closed in 2011 for renovations but then never reopened.
The first Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet opened in North Carolina in 2007 and there are now more than 50 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
Patricia Briggs
Fri, Jan 18, 2013 : 7:57 p.m.
I WISH there would clear up the problems, many many people enjoyed there food.
jjj
Tue, Jan 1, 2013 : 2:25 a.m.
I just came from Asia city. We only went there because I just found out Hibachi was closed. Big mistake. They just raised the prices today(new years eve) because there competition is gone. I can see why they dont do well on there health inspections. As you go to the buffet they were actually throwing the dirty plates and utensils in a box on the floor. Only problem was that there was 10 times as much food and plates as could fit in the box. So there was food and napkins and plates all over the floor in the corner. Also, this is where they keep the high chairs. The mens bathroom was out of soap. That says enough right there. My wife and daughter love crab legs. They both said they tasted funny and did not eat them. This is the first time I have reviewed anything ever. But I think this demanded my attention.
SueFo64
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 7:47 p.m.
So sorry to see this. I SO preferred their dishes and flavors to Asia City (will not go there any more). Ichiban is a different experience. I hope they re-open as I introduced a few friends to this place the Friday before Christmas and we were all looking forward to going back again.
MoreOutOfLife
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 1:57 p.m.
....then why do you still have a coupon for the place on your restaurant page??
jns131
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 3:20 p.m.
Because their computer tech is on vacation and isn't going to do anything about it until next year.
obviouscomment
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 5:15 a.m.
I guess we are in the minority because we thought Asia City was ridiculously overpriced for their selection and flavor. We went to Hibachi in November for the first time and loved it and tried to go back last week and found they were closed. We were very disappointed because their price and selection were excellent. We loved all the options and the grill.
Thinking over here
Mon, Dec 31, 2012 : 7:51 p.m.
I'm with you. I wanted to go there with family this weekend, but my mom passed along the sad news :(
kathy coles
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 3:34 a.m.
We received gift certificates for this place for Christmas which were bought a week before Christmas. We went to use them the day after Christmas and seen the sign. Makes me wonder how they could sell $50 in gift cards if they knew they were going out of business and where do I begin with getting my parents money back for this place.
jns131
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 3:19 p.m.
BBB and a lawyer. When a place closes like Borders did, there are places for refunds to go to when need be. Good luck Small Claims Court is the only option for this amount of money. But do check out BBB first and see what they say. I bet you are not alone in complaints. I also say this, buyer beware.
Anne Bruienne
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 1:32 a.m.
Wow, I'm surprised and disappointed. My family and I ate there just 2 weeks ago for the first time and were impressed. We last ate at Asia City around when it first opened, before we moved to the west side, and my biggest complaint was the price. Somehow we left with a monstrous bill, and after seeing how my kids mostly picked at their food (as is typical), I declined to go back. For Hibachi's prices, and the teriyaki steak they made for me in the back, I was really impressed and planned to go back. It seemed to be well-populated too. Perhaps Asia City caught on to the pricing issue as I see in the Clipper Mag that they are now running quite a special.
jns131
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 3:17 p.m.
I too have a picky eater. She goes for her favorite and then the fruit. That is about all except the ice cream I can get ours to eat. Otherwise, Asian City is our best choice for buffet and picky eaters.
Michigan Man
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 10:26 p.m.
Washtenaw County Health Department shut it down!
Al
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 10:23 p.m.
This is a lie. Check the inspections page http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgesearchresults.asp?County=28 And for those who like Asia City check their inspection too, I don't think I will be going back after reading it.
DBH
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 12:39 a.m.
Do you know this, or are you speculating?
Al
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 9:06 p.m.
The food there was great and the staff was very polite every time I went. I hope they reopen.
Patricia Briggs
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 8:56 p.m.
The Asian place further down from Hibachi is worthless. We ate there Christmas, pickles tasted watered down as well as the beats. Crab Ragoon was terrible., we didn't care for it, been there twice, never again.
Patricia Briggs
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 8:53 p.m.
will it reopen soon?
jns131
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 3:17 p.m.
I have a feeling it is closed indefinitely. Otherwise, Emerald City, Asian City and Hidden Dragon in Ypsilanti is the best by far.
Lou Perry
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 8:29 p.m.
It should be noted Asia City is owned by the massive Hua Xing Asia Market next store. Most of the employees at Hua Xing Asia Market do not speak English. Wait staff at Asian City are young gracious articulate helpers and they all speak Chinese because much of the clientele don't seem to speak English very well. I don't know the health violations but during these great prices I've been eating there a few times a week and the only thing I feel is full afterward. If I have one criticism it would be at slow times the chafing dishes should be covered to keep the heat in. As for so many Chinese restaurants I don't understand all the pizza places that are opening downtown one right next to each other.
Joel A. Levitt
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 5:41 p.m.
I've been to Asia City many times, always loved the foodand never gotten sick. Of course, I've always taken my immune system along, never go anywhere without it.
Greg
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 5:05 p.m.
When you open another Chinese food place in an area that is already quite well covered, what do you expect. Reality comes whether or not you choose to ignore it.
Annette Poole
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 4:43 p.m.
We were actually going to go here on Christmas Day but they were closed - ended up as Asia City.
Andy Frazier
Wed, Jan 2, 2013 : 4:09 p.m.
My wife and I had the same idea - Hibachi Grill on Christmas Day. We ended up at China Chef.
DBH
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 4:21 p.m.
The last report of the Health Dept. inspection of Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet is from 8/16/2012. At that time they had a total of 11 violations, 6 of which were Critical. http://www.swordsolutions.com/inspections/pgesearchresults.asp?County-28 . But, if you think that's bad, ... The Health Dept. Inspections report from October of Asia City Restaurant showed them having a total of 22 violations, 11 of which were Priority (formerly Critical), 7 of which were Priority Foundation (formerly either Critical or Noncritical) and 4 of which were Core (formerly Noncritical). And this inspection was scheduled in advance, meaning the restaurant KNEW when the inspection would happen, unlike most inspections when they occur unannounced. http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/food-drink/restaurant-inspections-for-washtenaw-county-in-october-2012/
slave2work
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 5:40 p.m.
My thoughts exactly M... 7 priority means the food and it's temps. and storage.. thats a lot
M-Wolverine
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 4:26 p.m.
Yeah, anyone eating at Asia City is taking their life in their own hands, no matter how "pretty" the building is.
jns131
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 3:48 p.m.
I am wondering if they are being sued. The reason being is that when we went last summer, due to the service or lacking there of, we left a shallow tip. Know what they did? They charged us 15% more on our bill and this was after we paid for it and after we had left the building. I noticed it on our on line banking thing. I was totally dumb founded that they would stoop so low as to do this to a customer. I am wondering who else they did this too. We called them on it and they removed the tip. Have not been back since. Asian City is much better and I like their buffet special pricing as well. Especially Emerald City. Love it. Glad to see they are closed.
AD
Tue, Jan 1, 2013 : 8:02 p.m.
Yeah, I'm real glad that all of their employees are out of a job unexpectedly. Good thing they closed, right?
johnnya2
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 11:47 p.m.
A restaurant does not do this, your server did. This is why the restaurant takes it off. There is no benefit for the restaurant to do this. It happens in almost EVERY restaurant when you have bad servers. You are lucky they only tried for 15%.
Rob MI
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 2:03 p.m.
I''d been to Hibachi several times. It seemed to do a fairly decent business during the dinner hour and was, for me at least, enjoyable. I'd not set foot in Asia City (which itself replaced Chinese Buffet II, some might recall) so can't compare the two.
hermhawk
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 1:55 p.m.
Shades of its predecessor, Bistro Bar and Grill, not to mention Wingstop, which lasted about the same time in 2005 in the same location. Keep in mind in this economy that is still recovering, many choose to eat extremely cheap, which means McDonalds and Burger King, both just south of Glencoe Crossing.
Iliketurtles
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 5:27 a.m.
I know many Chinese food restaurants that are now cheaper than McDonald's.
Lou Perry
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 1:45 p.m.
Asia City Buffet down the street in a beautiful Asian building put Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet out of business. If you have ever been to Hong Kong you get the same feeling. The food is better at Asian City. Approximately ½ or 1/3 of dinners are Asian and to me that's a strong indication of the quality of the food. Besides Chinese dishes they have a Sushi bar. The restaurant has been running a special - $6.00 for lunch and $8.00 for dinner that took all of Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet business away. Should be noted that prior there was a large footprint Chinese buffet in the shopping center that went out of business after Asian City opened. I understand the special pricing ends this Sunday. With the special prices, it was cheaper to eat at Asian City than at home. As an aside Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet was a franchise; never has there been a large scale Asian restaurant franchise been successful in metropolitan areas.
lorayn54
Sun, Dec 30, 2012 : 2:24 a.m.
i am always concerned about hot buffets, too many things can go wrong.
johnnya2
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 11:45 p.m.
" never has there been a large scale Asian restaurant franchise been successful in metropolitan areas." really? Pf Changs is not successful (204 locations)? How about Panda Express? (1500 locations) Pei Wei (168 locations) owned by Pf Changs? Kyoto Steakhouse? Benihana (78 locations) Don't let facts get int he way of your argument though.
seldon
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 6:49 p.m.
I'm not usually the guy to say this, but Asia City's health inspection record last time around was terrifying. I'm guessing it mostly applied to the buffet (i.e. the dim sum was safer), but it was one scary report.
Ariel
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 1:26 p.m.
The same message that Bistro left on their door a few months before they closed for good :(. Their buffet was okay, but I preferred Ichiban for the hibachi part and Asia City for the Chinese buffet part (which are all within a block of this place)
Jane
Wed, Jan 9, 2013 : 8:04 p.m.
Did you actually see the health inspection that Asia City JUST received. Sewer gnats and cockroaches, no soap in staff restrooms etc......I thought I liked it too until this came out in Nov/Dec 2012.
Billy
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 1:05 p.m.
"The sushi and grill bar has more than 300 menu options" And there-in lies the problem. When a restaurant has THIS many selections....only TWO thing will happen. Either they really don't have that many different things...just slight variations of multiple dishes so they can raise that number....and thus most everything still tastes the same.... OR..... you end up throwing away a ton of product that goes bad because you don't cycle it fast enough. There is a reason you NEVER see (successful) restaurants do this. I would LOVE a restaurant that offered such an extreme variety...but they just DON'T work in practice. Also.....that's a cursed location for restaurants....
johnnya2
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 11:35 p.m.
@ BillWIlson, If you believe anything you see on Kitchen Nightmares, i have a bridge I can sell you too. It is ENTERTAINMENT. For the most part having a huge menu IS a problem, but this is obviously a chain that has been successful with other operators. The Cheesecake Factory has a HUGE menu and averages $11 MILLION per location (the highest of any national chain) By comparison, a PF Changs does about half that amount with a higher check average. Poor management of food is the issue, NOT having them available. I work with restaurants on a daily basis and the 300 number is based on a lot of cross utilization of products. If you have a New York strip steak on your menu, you might use it 5 or 6 different ways. If you use chicken breast it could be used 10-15 different ways (different sauces, sandwiches etc). If you want to see possible menu variations, do the math for the combinations available at any local pizza joint.
Bill Wilson
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 6:25 p.m.
I'd wager he/she is correct johnny. If you watch shows like Kitchen Nightmares, and other copycats, you'd know that having excessive amounts of dishes confuses the customer, and is a logistical nightmare for the chefs. Invariably, only the popular items are actually available, as the owner quickly learns not to buy products no one orders, but it also has a negative affect on those who do order the less popular dishes: they rarely are return customers. We're all that way. Example: go into a sparsely stocked party store. After one or two times of their failure to have the items you need, you stat going elsewhere from the onset, as trip there becomes ingrained into your mind as nothing but a waste of time. Good restaurants have several choices, and concentrate on making them taste good. Those are the places that are successful.
tdw
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 2:05 p.m.
I've never been there so I really don't know.But how many of those options were the same ingredients but put together differently ? I'm not criticizing you I'm just curious. Now as a side note it seems places have a hard time there ever since Kroger left
johnnya2
Sat, Dec 29, 2012 : 1:24 p.m.
I doubt it is the location, Bistro did VERY well under the original management. Then a bad owner decided he knew better than his partners and bought them out. As for the variety, I would point out that Hibachi does well in FIFTY locations throughout the country, so your idea that the 300 items causes the problem can not be substantiated by facts.