Ruyi

We wanted a quick, good meal before an early movie and stopped in for hibachi grill. They said there’d be no problem serving us in time, and they made good on that. It was a quiet evening, but they sat us at a table by ourselves, not with another group. We ordered right away and were promptly served the soup and salad that came with the meal. Our chef was pleasant and engaging, but he sensed that we wanted to talk with each other and watch the show, so he didn’t overdo the chatter. Other staff were courteous – and they remembered our time constraint and asked if we wanted the check.
Ingredients were fresh, cooked the way we like them, very tasty, and a generous portion. I can’t agree with those who complain about the prices. It costs more to have multiple chefs available to do the hibachi cooking (plus chefs in the kitchen for the other meals). $ 27 seems quite reasonable to me for a complete meal with soup, salad, meats, vegetables, and rice, all freshly cooked – with live entertainment!
It was quiet for a Friday evening, but we ate early and it’s a summer Friday with great weather – people are outside enjoying that or going to the Cape or Maine. And it is a spacious place, so it seemed empty. Unlike some, I do not automatically assume a small crowd signifies a bad restaurant. Plenty of decent restaurants have folded simply because so many people crave novelty and want to go to the latest «hot» new place instead of a reliable old one. We’ll bring the whole family here next month for our 7-year-old’s birthday.
There was definitely ventilation – you could hear it sucking. It was at the edge of the grill, not overhead. True, the décor isn’t inspiring, but the dullness stems more from paint choices than from dirtiness that others claimed. If you’re having a fun time with other diners and watching the chef, it doesn’t matter much.

A good friend of mine chose this venue for her birthday outing last night. I was eager to cross Ruyi off my food bucket list and also love that it’s conveniently located in nearby Lexington Center. I was surprised to discover the interior of this restaurant was roomier than expected. It appears to be a little «hole in the wall» from the outside, but is actually quite deceiving. There is a small bar with about ten seats, a dining room with a few hibachi tables, and a room full of traditional dining tables towards the rear.
The dining room with the hibachi tables is low key with simple décor. I would have liked to have seen a little more ambiance and style. If your party is small you will be seated with other diners, as is typical with hibachi restaurants, so keep this in mind on date night if you prefer privacy. We were a group of three seated with a very young couple on a date. We exchanged a few awkward glances throughout dinner, but they warmed up a bit near the end.
I found the entrees to be a little pricey here. The menu includes sushi, but the last time I had sushi at a hibachi restaurant (not Ruyi) I became very sick. I’m much more particular about where I eat sushi now, so I chose the hibachi chicken with fried rice and veggies. The menu offers typical hibachi combos including steak, chicken, or seafood with rice or noodles on the side. Onion soup and a tiny salad smothered (yuck) in a ginger dressing is included. The food was decent, but certainly not worth it’s price tag. Honestly, I am not sure I have ever had hibachi food worth the price tag. I find it all pretty average and sometimes a little dry/​overcooked. Perhaps I need to set a goal– find some hibachi that stands out above the others. I was also a little disappointed that the menu states your entrée comes with a shrimp appetizer. The four little pieces of shrimp off the grill is more like an appe-​teaser.
Service was decent last night and most of the staff we interacted with was pleasant and friendly, some more than others. We were seated quickly and started with a plate of crab rangoons. Were they good? Well, have you ever had a bad crab rangoon? The restaurant was not busy which concerned me a little as it was peak dining hours on a Saturday night. There were two chefs working last night and a low volume of diners, yet the wait for our chef to arrive table side was a little long.
Our chef was very pleasant. He made conversation with us, had a friendly smile, and knew how to play with fire. He lit the oil on the grill and sent the flames pretty high into the air. For a split second I prepared to stop, drop, and roll. I was hoping for a little more entertainment however; juggling eggs, tossing knives, sake in a squirt bottle, and cheesy jokes, but we did get to see the onion volcano so not a total loss.
I mentioned it was my friends birthday so the staff brought out a gong, ice cream with a candle, and the entire room sang Happy Birthday. Not a bad night out. Would I return? Well, if a friend wanted to give it a try I might tag along, but I probably will not be rushing back here anytime soon.

I have been dining here for a while, always 20+% tips.
Last Tuesday though, I got severe food poisoning with their sashimi!
Thinking to file an official complaint to the Town of Lexington and may be somewhere in Massachusetts government.

Excellent service, sushi and orange chicken. Watch out though, the red peppers are hotttt!

This place is good and I have been here multiple times. It really depends on who you go with though and if you want to pay the expensive price.
Usually at cooking in front of you places there are big enough tables and if you come with a small party then you may be sharing a table. When it comes to reservations, its usually not too busy and you can just walk in and they should hopefully seat you.
If you want to go out to a nice romantic dinner with your girlfriend/​boyfriend then I don’t suggest here. Like I said about the sharing a table thing, this place really isn’t private. They are sitting right there so save the kissing and conversations for a more private place. But if you don’t mind then its great.
This place is especially good for kids. The people who cook always act excited and try to entertain the kids. Also the kids find this kind of stuff fun usually. If it is someones birthday you will get like ice cream.
If you have decided to take a large party of people I do think this is a good place, but the prices are a little high. I know they cook in front of you and all but it’s a little too much money if you bring too many people. This was always the place I took little kids as a fun and once and a while thing, and it is pretty good for that.

My family and I have gone to Ruyi for as long as it’s been open, and it never disappoints. Henry is always happy to see us and his staff is extremely friendly and efficient. I absolutely love this place, it’s my favorite restaurant around and if I could eat here every day I would (I basically do when I’m home from college). I’ll always spend top dollar on this place, the quality of the food is incredible. I also enjoy sitting down and having it cooked in front of me and how friendly and funny the chefs are. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Typical Chinese-​owned Japanese impostor hibachi grill. Looks dirty. Not your typical grill smoke exhaust system above the grills and you will leave smelling like a mix of salty grilled vegetables and meats. If you’ve been to any other hibachi restaurant then you’ve been here as they’ll all pretty much identical and use exactly the same ingredients and the hibachi cooks all do the same tricks on the grill. I have seen prepared raw chicken and raw meat on the same plate prior to grilling. That’s a big NOOOOO.

Ruyi is absolutely amazing! We have had hibachi, Chinese and sushi and not a single complaint. Since we found Ruyi we have not gone anywhere else. I highly recommend!

I have been to this restaurant numerous times every time I go their it gets worse. I will not be going back over priced for the dirty rugs and sub par food. Horrible sushi it was old and fishy. If you enjoy the hibachi experience like I do go anyplace else this is a waste of money.

Dined here with business colleagues. We all had miso soup and sushi. One ordered the vegetarian combination, and two of us shared an assortment of sushi and maki rolls. We also had Kirin Ichiban. No beers on tap, which does not please me, anyone can stock bottled beer. The service was ok, nothing special. Miso soup was excellent, sushi was good but nothing to write home about. Large restaurant space broken up into small rooms, all have a slight dingy/​worn look about them. Sushi bar similarly looks closed and uninviting. With many alternatives that are brighter and more fun, I would seek sushi elsewhere before returning here.

Food was great. Chef made it fun for the kids. Place smelt, not sure what it was. Expensive but Would return

I’m obsessed with the spicy dumplings, don’t try them, or you will be too.

Amazing hibachi! However I find that it is a little ridiculous to charge refills on soda.

Just came in to have lunch and I wasn’t expecting it to be so good! I got the beef with broccoli and it comes with a soup, rice and another side, I chose the spring roll that is delicious! All for 7,95… I’ll definitely be back and try the sushi bar! Great environment too!

The hibachi is really good and a really fun time to watch. I got the chicken. Definitely get the pork fried rice. Found the place on groupon which was a good deal and seems like they have them often!
Only getting a 3 because the hibachi performance wasn’t anything special. I’ve been more impressed at other places with tricks and incorporating the customers. Also there were only two chefs so we waited for probably an hour for a chef to come to our table to start cooking.

I loved every minute of my latest visit here. I ordered the sesame chicken with rice, scallion pancakes, and shumai. It was delicious. The chicken was moist in all the right places, and all the right ways. It was perfectly seasoned and heavenly. The scallion pancakes were probably the best I’ve ever had, and I have them quite often, all over the place. The shumai were crunchy and divine.
This is a fantastic restaurant, and definitely worth a visit. A real diamond in the rough around here, lots of East Asian cuisine around here that hardly deserves mentioning in the same sentence.

We tried the miso soup and it was so bad that we had to send it back. We ordered the Chinese spicy dumplings and specifically asked the server if they were steamed, she said yes but forgot to mention that they were drenched in oil. We also tried the Sushi and it was decent.
The server seemed like she was mad about something and never smiled. When we got the checked an 18% gratuity was already included in it. Not going back again even though we live 5 mins away from here.

They only have two chefs. So we waited for about half an hour for the table, then another hour for the chefs to finish other tables. Waitress was not attentive either. No refill of either water or tea in this whole waiting time. When we sat down in the bar while waiting for the table to grab a drink, no greetings from any one, just watched them finishing up mixing several drinks before we got a hi.
The chef was nice, food was mediocre. Not much flavor in either fried rice or noodle. Meat quality was fine, but quantity was smaller compared to most other hibachi place.

We came during lunch and it was pretty quiet but still had fun with the hibachi grill and all the fire tricks. Their sushi and drinks were decent. It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t that bad either. The food could be more flavorful

There’s carbon build-​up over the hibachi grills, and there are still no vents installed since I’d come here last. You can physically feel the heat coming from the grills whenever the chefs entertain guests with the oil smiley face and the onion volcano while you’re waiting to be seated.
That’s gotta be a building code violation.
I had the foresight to make a reservation for my group of 4 on a Saturday evening at 7, and still had to wait a good half hour before we were seated. What’s worse is that there were three birthday dinners going on simultaneously — one for a child around the age of 8, one for a teenager, and one for an adult. It would have been fine had the children not been running around the restaurant like wild animals (I’m surprised the restaurant manager didn’t speak to the parents about their behavior). Oh, the gong is a nice authentic touch, but it gets old after one birthday song.
The food wasn’t too bad, and our chef was highly entertaining. But even before our meal was prepared, the waitress left a horrible taste in my mouth. Even before she took our orders, she had the expression of a pouty child on her face. Then, even after she confirmed our orders, she got four orders at our table section wrong (2 from my group and 2 from another group), and misunderstood my friend’s request not to have spicy mayo on his avocado-​cucumber salad (which was more cucumber than avocado). When he sent it back to the kitchen, our waitress rolled her eyes and stormed off. It took more than 10 minutes at a time for our water to be refilled, and not once did she ask us if we were satisfied.
I proceeded to notice that there was only one waitress serving the entire hibachi area, while two other waitresses were milling around in the sushi dining area. Perhaps this could be an explanation for her crankiness, but it’s still no excuse for poor service. When we got our check, our waitress blatantly told me to tip on the full cost of the meal rather than the discounted amount (I’d used a Unilocal voucher). Why would I tip well if the service was crap?
I thought I could give this place another chance, but they failed me yet again.