Daruma Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi

The concept of the Japanese Steakhouse has been used a lot, but this restaurant goes out of their way to make their customers feel good. As there was only 3 of us, and usually they don’t put out the chef until every seat around the grill is full, they’ll do smaller groups which I feel is the way to go as it reduces the time spent for dinner. Everyone from the hostess, waitress, to chef were unbelievably friendly and helpful. From my observations, anyone within the restaurant was approached by a staff member to offer assistance. This simple item makes the dinner experience for many a truly remarkable and memorable adventure. We’ll definitely return once again. As for the chef, this guy was great and had a lot of showmanship. He even did something I’ve never seen before, he was launching shrimp to the three of us to catch it in our mouths. It appears to be something consistent with all the chefs as we watched tables with children as they walked several yards from the table and they were sending the shrimp pretty far. Most folks missed them, naturally, but everyone had a great time.

SO I FINALLY GOT A RESPONSE FROM THE RESTAURANT…
Jenna B. (who has 0 Unilocal reviews and 0 Unilocal friends) sent me a Unilocal «compliment» that says «Your review sucked. Get over yourself and book somewhere else. Stop trolling on a business that goes out of their way daily to satisfy people.»
No «hey, I’m the manager…» or I’m the owner… or gosh, we blew it and we’re so very very sorry… Not a peep.
Instead I get someone who is probably the teenager who screwed up our reservation in the first place, sending an insult to my very legitimate (albeit deliberately harsh) outing of their screwup.
«Get over yourself and book somewhere else. Stop trolling on a business…»
Yep, Jenna B., that’s EXACTLY what I’m going to do.
Never pick a fight with a customer, Jenna B.
In the end, the customers vote with their feet, and customers always win…

Went to this place based off reviews and I was very happy I did! I encourage you to do the same if you are debating, the food portions were excellent and very fair. The service was very warm and employees seemed passionate about there job as well. Prices also were very fair and agreeable, I will most definitely be going back here sooner than later

Have had sushi take out which is always exactly on time. The hostess is super nice. Dined in once with a large group and everything was perfectly set up and the chef was very entertaining. The food was fantastic!

Great sushi. Fantastic owners and servers. Definitely one of my favorite restaurants on the west side of Columbus.

Great place.
Ordered the shrimp hibachi meal, and it was very very good. The pricing was reasonable.
The hibachi chef was entertaining, creative and outgoing.
On our next visit, we will try the sushi.

If you are looking for a great spot to grab some sushi and a margarita (I know, I know, but I was craving BOTH things, you know?)…this is the place to do it. It has a hibachi side and a bar/​sushi side. We got margarita’s (patron is liquor of choice), sushi and edamame and gyoza. It came with a very tasty salad and soup. We will be back often because not only is it a rare and yummy treat to be able to enjoy well done margaritas with our sushi, it is near the neighborhood. Yum!

Stopped in for a quick lunch. Had a very nice plate of sashimi. Service was great and the sushi chef even gave me an extra yummy treat. Best squid I’ve had in a long time.

Great service. Beautiful atmosphere. Happy hour apps and rolls. Fresh and beautiful. Can’t wait to come back.

My first time here. Great food… Great service. Delicious yum yum sauce. Not too sweet! Their ginger sauce is also quite good! Only complaint is they should dry their lettuce off before pouring the salad dressing on. My salad was swimming in water.
But overall great! I live on the other side of town but have a love affair with hibachi. I will be back for sure!

I’ve been to Daruma twice, I have also been to other Japenese Steakhouses in the CBus area. But, this thing is something else.
First thing — I am vegetarian, been so the whole life. These folks are always accommodating. I try to go with a group of others like me so we get the whole table.
Contrary to the word Steak — they are very accommodating. They give us a special table, give us a tofu on the grill, no eggs, and make it with Jalepenos, sarachi. Make it spicy enough for us Indians.
KUDOS to our chef for two times Chao awesome artist.
BTW — the service is so good that I felt like I owe it to them to write a review. For years and years I’ve been troller. I thank you Daruma for breaking my silence to write a review! KUDOS.

Excellent sushi! We got the spicy tuna roll, the dragon roll and a yummy roll; all were fantastic. Every single person on that staff is attentive, warm and friendly. So far, they have offered the best customer service out of all the restaurants we have visited in Hilliard! Thank you Daruma, we will be back.

My husband and I decided to come here for our anniversary. He loves hibachi and I love sushi so it was a win for both of us.
We arrived as soon as they opened for dinner hours on a Thursday. There was no wait and they actually started dinner before the table was full.
The interior of the restaurant was very nice. I would have liked to sit on the other side if we weren’t getting hibachi. I will probably do that next time since they have some pretty good happy hour specials.
I wanted to try both hibachi and sushi so I went with the hibachi vegetable special with fried tofu and a spicy tuna roll. Everything was great! The spicy tuna was not too dry and had a decent amount of spice. The tofu and hibachi tasted pretty typical. Maybe a little more flavor than some of the other hibachi places I’ve been too. The portions were pretty big as well. I had tons of leftovers.
Since we had a great time here I will definitely be back. I look forward to trying different items on the menu.

Great hibachi and sushi! Japanese steakhouse hibachi dinner was great. Actual Grilled veggies (zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, & onions) not just sprouts. Food was not salty like most places. Their garlic butter was tasty! Nice chefs, host, and wait staff. Couldn’t be more please with this place! I didn’t like their salad dressing. It was just plain oil salt and pepper. I wanted more ginger dressing taste. Overall great experience my daughter loved it and the chef entertained us and her requests to make whatever she wanted.

This place has become my FAVORITE go-​to for hibachi! They also have really good sushi. They start you off with your basic soup and salad that somehow demolishes that of other hibachi places. So simple, yet so yummy! They have a ton of entrée options.
The service is fast and friendly… A great atmosphere for a dinner with Fam and friends, or a date night out.
To top it all off, they have a full bar and saki options. This place is really a hidden treasure in my opinion!

I did not come here to experience the Hibachi as I detest Hibachi shows. I have no interest to sit around the table and watch so we sat near the bar. They have a very nice area for people like me. This area is near the bar but doesn’t feel like the bar area.
We came here during Happy Hour times and they have a few decent Happy Hour deals. They have a selection of about 15 rolls for Happy Hour that range from $ 1.50−3 cheaper than normal prices. They also have drinks discounted $ 1 – 2. I ordered some saki and we grabbed four rolls.
They have caviar on some of their rolls which was different from most of my prior experiences at Sushi places. I didn’t think caviar changed much of the taste of the rolls but it added alittle savory taste to the roll. I learned something else, I can’t eat rolls with eel sauce. We ordered one roll with eel sauce and I barely could swallow it even with tons of wasabi on it. It didn’t help that the seaweed wrap on it was really chewy. I actually spit it out. The other three rolls were good but not crazy good to make me wanting to come back here. In Hilliard this is a nice option as the sushi here is better than Kroger or the Supreme Buffet. In Hilliard, I would head to Wild Ginger before coming to Daruma especially for the Happy Hour deals.

We came here for dinner Sat night based on the great Unilocal reviews. They reopen for dinner at 4:30 and we arrived shortly after. We chose hibachi seating and were seated on one end. There was a family of 4 at the other end of the grill. Our hostess was sweet, our server was nice and attentive. The chef was friendly and cool. He did a couple of tricks without going overboard. My husband had the steak and calamari combo, while I chose the King Salmon. The food is really good. It includes a salad, soup, and shrimp appetizer (which was grilled and served last for some reason).
We each had a large bottled Japanese beer, which was a mistake because I couldn’t finish it or my meal. The noodles were grilled first and they were fantastic. The fried rice and the vegetables were great, as well as the salmon. The yum yum sauce was a nice alternative to sakura sauce that I love at another place in town. Everything was cooked really well and we enjoyed it enough to return.
For $ 20 you get a large, delicious meal. By the time we left, the hibachi seats were filling up so I’m glad we went early. It’s a nice addition to Hilliard and I wish them success.

The food here is pretty solid (really good hibachi for Columbus, although more of a 3.5 star if you really think about it), but I’m rounding up my rating because I was thoroughly impressed with their service. Our waitress was a bit slow and ditzy, but our interactions with the manager (unrelated to our server or the food quality) left a great impression on me.
Backstory — we’d originally made a reservation to come in on a Tuesday night for dinner, but when we arrived, we found a sign that said the restaurant was closed due to a busted pipe. We were pretty miffed that we hadn’t received any notification, but I’d bought a Groupon for this place and was intent on actually using it, so we made another reservation for Thursday night.
For the price you pay, you do get a good amount of food (I ended up splitting the Filet Mignon, Scallop, and Shrimp special with my friend), and let me say that they really do know how to put on a show while cooking everything! That entertainment alone made me pretty happy that I decided to still give this place a chance, but I was completely sold when the manager came over and asked me if I’d originally made a reservation on Tuesday.
When I confirmed that we had, she profusely apologized for the unexpected cancellation and closing of the restaurant, and promptly offered us free drinks/​dessert on the house. That moment really stood out to me because not only did she offer, unsolicited, to compensate for an unfortunate incident that was out of her control, but she even took the time to actually look back at whose dinner plans were disturbed and seek us out to try to make it up to us.
Speaking of dessert — shameless plug for their tempura cheesecake! Normally, I automatically zero in on the tempura ice cream, but I’d never heard of someone applying the same idea to cheesecake (and I do love cheesecake…) so I figured «hey, it’s free — might as well!» BEST IDEA OF THE NIGHT. I’m not even sure how it turned out so good, but the cheesecake just melts in your mouth and the tempura perfectly compliments that nice, soft, creamy texture. Furthermore, you get the added benefit of not having it melting on you after 3 minutes, which tends to happen with the ice cream.
Highly recommend, it’s a fun experience whether you go with a date, family, or friends, and their service is amazing. Be sure to make a reservation, because you’ll probably not get seating otherwise, and you will have to wait a bit after you get there even with the reservation, but they have tables and a bar waiting area where you can sit, relax, and have a drink to prepare yourself for an exciting performance.

In my opinion, Daruma easily deserves their 5 star rating. It took me awhile, but I was finally able to visit last weekend for lunch, and everything was excellent. While the sushi isn’t leaps and bounds above other great sushi places in Columbus, the service was outstanding. The hostess was very sweet, and we requested being sat at the sushi bar, which was empty. The chef seemed to be glad someone had finally come in for sushi, because it looked like everyone else there was getting hibachi.
We ordered some sushi rolls, along with gyoza and soft shell crab. Apparently the sushi came with salad and soup as well, because they brought those out to us right away. The manager was awesome and chatted with us a bit, and let us know we wouldn’t be leaving there hungry.
The sushi roll I had was great, but the soft shell crab was killer. It was a pretty big crab, and the meat tasted so fresh.
The sushi chef was a great guy to talk to as well and at the end of our meal surprised us with a plate of seared tuna, on the house. The tuna was served in a light sauce and was fantastic. That’s all she wrote. The girlfriend and I agreed we’d be back often, because everything was outstanding.
From the outside the place doesn’t look like much, but don’t let that deter you. If you want a great meal with great atmosphere, you have to check it out. I was told it gets really busy at night on the weekends and making a reservation is your best bet. There’s a reason why this place has 5 stars on here, so get over to Hilliard.

I didn’t make it here when it was Ajisai; their hours just didn’t work with mine. Daruma is open a bit longer in the afternoon, so I was able to stop in. And I’m glad I did.
The décor is nice– classy and calming, lots of wood and warmth. The service was impeccable– efficient, genuinely friendly, and fast. And the food? Supergood.
I had a piece of unagi, one of the better ones I’ve had. Somehow it disappeared before I could take a picture, but it was one of the more attractively presented ones I’ve seen too. I wanted more sushi, but also wanted to try the hibachi and wasn’t sure how big the lunch portion would be. Lots of interesting rolls.
Almost at random, I picked the chicken/​shrimp combo. It is, of course, your standard Japanese steakhouse fare. The salad was the low point of the meal– the usual generic, watery, iceberg with house dressing. Meh. The soup was quite good– a thicker broth, with more goodies floating in it, than most places. The entrée arrived and was huge. Pretty typical chicken, tasty, tender. Shrimp done just right, not overcooked. Fried rice that wasn’t the buttery greasy pile that you sometimes get. Sauteed vegetables that were better than most, and really made me want to eat my veggies. Plus lo mein-​type noodles, in a tasty oil. Plenty of food, all of it delicious.
I’ll go back for more sushi, and probably hibachi too. Glad I finally made it in. Hope they do well.