Volcano Japanese Steak House

My friends and I used to love to come to The Volcano for lunch about once a month. The food was great and the staff was friendly. However they closed their doors last year for a few months saying they were going to be under new management. We finally were able to make it back today. And what a disappointment it was. Let’s start off with the service. We were greeted at the door by a gentleman who spoke very quietly, and couldn’t speak very good English. (no big deal, we figured everything out) We were sat at a table and about 5 minutes later he came out to get our order. One of my friends had hibachi chicken, and my other friend and I had hibachi steak. After we placed our order, along with our drink order. He brought out our soda’s which were warm and flat. Almost like they were poured from a two liter bottle that was sitting out for a few days. This gentleman wasn’t seen again for another half hour. He comes back and asks us if we want soup OR a salad with our meal. Soup or Salad? We asked. In the past when we ordered at the hibachi table, we were served both. Soup would come first, and the salad would follow, with delicious ginger dressing. Well the salad came finally, with some other ginger dressing that tasted like a heavy mayonnaise dressing. (we are about 45 minutes into our lunch now, and the chef still hasn’t come out to start cooking our meal) The chef finally came out to cook our lunch. He is one of the chef’s that worked there before they changed management. He said that he hasn’t seen us there in a while and we told him why. (um, it’s been closed) He then explained that the old owners no longer lived there. So that was the reasoning for the management change. Ok. So now on to the food. The chicken was a full chicken breast. The steak (if you could call it that) was um, a strip of beef (I think). It reminded me of one of those boneless country style ribs that you would buy at the grocery store. But not as thick. The vegetables consisted of mostly onions, a zucchini, and one or two mushrooms. It was about half of what it used to be. After the chef was done cooking, and we started eating, I got my money out, knowing full well, that it would be a while before we would see our “waiter” again. Well he brings out the bills. We put our money in the holder. We wait a little while, and wait some more. (we are now into one hour and 15 minutes of our lunch, which is only an hour long) We put on our coats and wait for him to come back. One of my friends and I needed change, and my other friend didn’t, otherwise we would of just left. The “waiter” couldn’t understand why we needed change. It kind of confused him. After seeing the hard time he was having, I figured I would dig out the amount I needed and not ask for change. So now we have ½ the vegetables, soup OR salad, warm flat soda, and half of a “steak”. One would think that if they are cutting the quantity, and quality of the food they would cut the price a little. NOPE. Still the same price. (over priced) And unfortunately, We will not be back.
Jul 3rd, 2014

best place to eat !!!
Jun 20th, 2014

I have been to volcanoes many times and havent had a bad experience yet! I ve had both the hibachi and sushi bar. cjohnson596's review is shocking and unfortunate, but dont let that discourage you from trying this place out.
Jun 22nd, 2012

My boyfriend had frequented this place a few years ago. He and co-workers would go often for lunch & loved the food (& owner Jenny). So when we saw the Groupon we thought we would check it out since the new ownership. it was my first, and last, visit. To sum it up: service was terrible. They were obviously very short staffed. So I felt kind of bad for the server, at first (quickly changed). He mentioned he was just asked to come over to help from another restaurant they own. But he never once apologized for the painfully slow or very forgetful service. They were trying to run the place on a Friday night with 4 people. No manager around. If you are short staffed, managers have to be there to jump in to help. Bottom line. You would think if you just opened under "new management" you would definitely be around. We waited 45 mins for the salads (which we all know are small and pre-made) then 15 mins after that for soups is ridiculous. Other tables were experiencing the same problems. He downplayed how long it was taking just to get starters and almost acted like it was our fault. After 1.5 hours the sushi guy came to make our food. He didn't do any of the funny hibachi things they usually do. 4 people left from our table after the salads, no sorry to them either. Server told them "life's too short" and when we were saying how much better Izakaya was, he had walked up to our table in the mean time and chimed in that "it is better, what can I even say". It got to the point where it was comical how horrible this place is. It took 2.5 hours to eat there and there wasn't even a wait when we arrived. I was glad another couple was with us to relieve the tension. Boyfriend said the ginger dressing was definitely different than previous owners, and not as good. For some people the dressing is one of your favorite things about hibachi places. Very little vegetables given. Lots of rice and noodles. Pretty sure we got the other 4 people that left portions of rice though. Our hibachi grill and grease catcher above our table was dirty. Letting us sit there and wait this long just gave us time to look around and notice all the things wrong/dirty with this place. Don't want your money OR TIME and go to Izakaya instead. This place cant stay in business much longer. Only positive was domestic bottles were $2.
Dec 16th, 2013

I took a date here last night. The menu didn't offer much variety so we ordered the tackily labeled "love boat" which is $50 for 10 peices of sashimi, 10 peices of sushi, and 2 special rolls. The sushi, as another reviewer said, is grocery quality at best. If you've ever had notable sushi in your life, this is reproachable in comparison. The service was abysmal, there was not a wait - we were sat at the sushi bar right away as the place was half empty on a Friday night. Yet it was 10 minutes to get our drinks ordered, 25 minutes to get our food, then 25 minutes of waiting after we ate to get our check. The two waitresses stressed me out just watching them frantically run around the place tripping over customers and each other while awkwardly serving things. If you enjoy a quiet, adult (as in, a place to take a date) atmosphere then keep driving. The place smells like pizza. The hibachi grill area is in an adjacent room, but not closed off from the sushi bar/dining area. This means you get to hear all the banging, flaring, and horn honking (litterally the hibachi chef honks a horn over and over again that sounds like a horn on a clown's bike) from the next room over. At the sushi bar there is a small flat panel TV mounted near the ceiling that was on a cable channel playing obnoxious infomercials and commercials; it's not ideal to overhear or see commercials demonstrating pest-control products for animals such as rats, mice, fleas, ants, etc. while you are trying to eat an overpriced dinner.
Dec 26th, 2010