Ambiance: This is a pretty large place with huge teppanyaki booths, a dedicated non-teppanyaki dining area, and fenced-in patio. There is tons of natural light and the place is tastefully designed although the ventilation system for the grills adds a low level of noise you'll have to talk over just slightly. The main problem we had was that, despite the ventilation system being audibly on, the entire restaurant was still smokey inside! Not enough to make us cough or anything but still somewhat off-putting. Our server was new but very friendly and professional. Food came out in a reasonable amount of time.
Food: We ordered a ton of food, here were my notes.
Poke appetizer - Had a nice spicy sear and great flavor, was one of our favorite things even though the frito-looking fried wonton wrappers were flavorless. Would order a rice bowl with just the fish if we could.
Takoyaki - They nailed the crispy exterior and had a nice meaty filling with a tender chunk of octopus. The inner batter was a little runny but not raw. I appreciate they were not too heavy-handed with the mayo, sauce, or bonito flakes.
Karaage (fried chicken) - Spot-on flavor, non-greasy, and tender dark meat. They use potato starch which creates a light crispy exterior but make sure to eat it quickly as it will soften as it sits on the table. It is served with yum yum sauce which is whatevs.
Tonkotsu ramen - Overall solid dish, but milder than others I've had. Could stand to have punchier flavor (e.g. by increasing the shoyu tare that goes into it). Otherwise, all the other ingredients were great. It had authentic ramen noodles and traditional toppings of seaweed, corn, narutomaki (the white swirls), soft-boiled egg, and bamboo shoots. The seared pork belly was tasty but not my preferred preparation compared to the traditional braised version.
Rolls - We got the sunshine and peppered tuna roll but they were by far the weakest thing on the menu. The biggest complaint is that the rolls were texturally mushy. The rice was overcooked and smashed during handling so there was no texture, they use minimal cucumber and use avocado instead so there no crunchy elements, many of the rolls are topped with either mashed spicy tuna , shredded imitation crab, and/or topped with copious sauces which just makes everything a creamy mush. They have "tempura salmon" in many rolls but the tempura batter is mushy after frying and the overcooked salmon just disintegrates in your mouth so be warned. Neither of the specialty rolls seemed to highlight the freshness of the fish or quality of the ingredients so we were pretty let down.
Fried ice cream - Was complimentary for my wife's b-day but very mushy fried batter even immediately on hitting the table. The French vanilla ice cream was good though, reminiscent of Breyers.
Overall: I think Harmony Steakhouse is a decent Japanese option. Their cooked dishes (e.g. apps and ramen) definitely seem stronger than their raw dishes. There is clearly some attention paid to authentic preparations and their presentation/plating is good. They seem to drop the ball on textures and cooking things to the perfect level of doneness. This texture problem is pervasive enough across most of their dishes that I ultimately gave them 3 instead of 4 stars. This place is good enough to scratch an itch but probably not one I'll be adding to the standard restaurant rotation. read more