Kyoto Japanese Steak House’s teppanyaki is dinner and show in one

Kyoto Japanese Steak House is another one of those restaurants that you really have to look for to find. In the back corner of a large strip mall on Everett Mall Way, it is not easy to spot. Inside, a small foyer with bench seats leads to a large dining area. The dining room’s purposeful layout, filled with huge metal grills surrounded by seats for up to 10 people each, is clearly for teppanyaki.

Teppanyaki is the Japanese style of cooking using an iron griddle. Teppan translates to iron plate and yaki means grilled, broiled or pan-fried. This is dining and theater rolled into one, suitable for celebrations, groups or an out-of-the-ordinary experience.

If you arrive with a group of fewer than nine friends, you are likely to be seated with other people. When I ate at Kyoto the other night, we were three, and seated with three people we didn’t know. Boisterous tables are common, even with a mix of strangers. At least a couple of times during our meal, a loud Japanese gong rang out, a tambourine was played and two servers sang “Happy Birthday” in Japanese.

It was a hoot.

The menu, while offering several choices, is simple. Dinners are all-inclusive and range from the veggie plate ($13) to the Imperial, with lobster, steak and chicken ($37). There are also hibachi chicken, steak, shrimp and calamari, steak and shrimp; 15 options in all. You get salad, soup, steamed or seasoned rice, a shrimp appetizer, vegetables, your entree and dessert.

Dinner started with the soup, a hot cup of a delicious simple broth with mushroom and green onion. An iceberg lettuce and tomato salad were next with a choice of ginger or ranch dressing. The ginger dressing appeared to be homemade and was chunky with a strong ginger flavor and a bit of vinegary tang. It showed up later as an accompaniment to the rice and meat.

Soon after soup and salad, the chef arrived at the grill with a cart of his tools and our food. He said hello and asked if this was a first visit for us; once someone said it was, he said it was his first time, too. This began the entertaining banter and shtick that continued throughout the meal. He poured oil on the middle of the grill, in a happy face shape and lit it on fire. A giant burst of flame leaped up, heated our faces and got our attention. He then cooked sliced zucchini, mushrooms and onions with a well-practiced display of spatula, fork and knife skills. First time? Yeah, sure!

He stirred, sliced, flipped and spread the large mound of vegetables across the grill. Seasoning was added with fancy spins of salt and pepper shakers, flourished squirts of soy sauce and oil and generous chunks of butter smacked onto the grill with his flat spatula. There was a lot of spatula slapping and utensil clanking.

Keep in mind as this is going on at our table, it is also taking place at every other table. The sounds of sizzling, oohs and ahhs, spatula slaps and the occasional gong made for a lively dining room. It would be hard to come here and not have a good time.

Shrimp followed the meat and chicken onto the grill. Fried rice ($3 extra) was worth the cost, just to see the chef’s preparation. This included spinning whole eggs, tossing them between spatula and fork and flipping one in the air and catching it in his hat.

Another one went into his pocket. They were scrambled and mixed with bean sprouts and cabbage and combined with the rice. At one point, chicken, steaks, fried rice and vegetables covered the grill. The chef’s hands and tools moved quickly from one end to the other cooking and then portioning food into plates with his big spatula. I am not going to tell you what happened when he grabbed a squirt bottle of teriyaki sauce, aimed it at my head and squeezed.

Everything was tasty: the rice, the vegetables, the shrimp and our meat. I could have had an entire plate of those vegetables. My filet mignon ($27) was melt-in-your-mouth tender and flavorful; the regular steak, a New York strip steak, ($21) was flavorful but not quite as tender.

It was a fun bit of entertainment, a good meal and nice to have this different style of dining in our own back yard.

Kyoto Japanese Steak House

1205 SE Everett Mall Way, Everett; 425-438-8683.

Specialty: Teppanyaki.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday through Sunday; 4:30 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 5 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

Vegetarian options: Yes.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

The Moonlight Swing Orchestra will play classic sounds of the Big Band Era on April 21 in Everett. (submitted photo)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Relive the Big Band Era at the Port Gardner Music Society’s final concert of the season in Everett.

2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD (Honda)
2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport AWD

Honda cedes big boy pickup trucks to the likes of Ford, Dodge… Continue reading

Would you want to give something as elaborate as this a name as mundane as “bread box”? A French Provincial piece practically demands the French name panetiere.
A panetiere isn’t your modern bread box. It’s a treasure of French culture

This elaborately carved French antique may be old, but it’s still capable of keeping its leavened contents perfectly fresh.

(Judy Newton / Great Plant Picks)
Great Plant Pick: Mouse plant

What: Arisarum proboscideum, also known as mouse plant, is an herbaceous woodland… Continue reading

Bright green Japanese maple leaves are illuminated by spring sunlight. (Getty Images)
Confessions of a ‘plantophile’: I’m a bit of a junky for Japanese maples

In fact, my addiction to these glorious, all-season specimens seems to be contagious. Fortunately, there’s no known cure.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited (Hyundai)
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited is a sporty, all-electric, all-wheel drive sedan that will quickly win your heart.

The 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T hybrid’s face has the twin red lines signifying the brand’s focus on performance. (Dodge)
2024 Hornet R/T is first electrified performance vehicle from Dodge

The all-new compact SUV travels 32 miles on pure electric power, and up to 360 miles in hybrid mode.

Don’t blow a bundle on glass supposedly made by the Henry William Stiegel

Why? Faked signatures, reused molds and imitated styles can make it unclear who actually made any given piece of glass.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.