Japanese Village has been one of my favourite restaurants for years now and, while the excitement of the juggling and spatula-flipping has lost some of its novelty, the food and service themselves are just so consistently amazing that I find myself craving the JV dining experience at least once a month. JV offers a number of options - seafood, chicken, beef, and combinations - but I will always recommend the steak. Any steak, since they offer New York Striploins, Filet Mignons, and Rib Eyes. If you've never had a steak cooked on a flattop, this is something you need to try; I prefer it to an open grate grill any day of the week. If you're feeling particularly rapacious, try the Shogun Special: grilled Caribbean lobster tail smothered with creamy Misonaise Sauce and a New York steak or a Filet Mignon. You will then be served your drinks, egg drop soup, and Japanese-style salad, without seeing even a hint of your main course. But don't worry - it's coming. The chef will arrive and start cooking up a selection of items on the grill, probably whilst making polite conversation and cracking an adorable joke or two. There will be a little show of culinary handling skills by the chef and, item by item, you'll be served your meal: zucchini and onions, pieces of shrimp, mushrooms, bean sprouts, rice, and your prior choice of protein. The restaurant also ensures that everyone receives servings of their Ginger Sauce (great with the vegetables) and their famous Sesame Sauce (to die for when eaten with steak and rice). The steak, cooked with green butter and a little bit of soy sauce, is tender and more flavourful than you can imagine. The vegetables are seasoned perfectly, and your shrimp samples are delicious bursts of heaven amidst a light gingery coating (if you choose to dip them in the Ginger Sauce, as I do). Be sure to ask for a ladle of Sesame Sauce on your rice; if you end up loving it (as everyone does), take note that Mt. Fuji sells a similar product in bottles for approximately $5-7. During my most recent visit to the Northgate location, we ended up being the only two diners at our table. The other couple had walked out after browsing the menu for a couple of minutes, likely due to the prices ($25 to $52 an entrée). Yes, JV isn't the cheapest restaurant out there. If you're looking for a quick, cheap meal, this isn't it. If you are, however, looking for a fabulous dining experience and the chance to be entertained whilst eating mouth-watering, freshly-prepared food, then this is the place for you. I've been an avid and loyal fan of Japanese Village for at least the past 5 years, and I'll continue to be a fan for many years to come, simply for the restaurant's sizzling succulence, gastronomic integrity, and delightfully sweet customer service. Kanpai! read more

Absolute disappointment. Extremely overpriced for what you get. As the matter of fact I don't remember when was the last time I was this disappointed at a restaurant. When you go to a teppanyaki, your chef's ability to entertain the crowd by creating an exciting atmosphere is absolutely crucial. That's why you pay the extra buck. Half of it is for the food quality and the other half is for the entertainment factor. Our chef was nothing more than the guy cooking in front of you at Edo Japan. This shows the lack of training provided by management and obviously they don't have much for standard. The whole time our chef gave me the impression that he was just here to do his hours and go home. Now the food. To sum it up, everything tasted the same. They were all cooked using the same sauce. I ordered the steak and lobster for a hefty $58. It did come with a couple shrimps for appetizer, as well as miso soup that they scoop up from the back, a cheap salad, some side veggies, bowl of plain rice, and some bean sprouts, oh an a cup of tea at the end, for $58 dollars. Five of us went,with drinks and gratuity, ended up to be around $360. I must say for that price, we could've went to a fine dining restaurant with top quality food and upscale service easily without a doubt. Instead we paid $360 to watch Edo Japan, except we got to sit down rather than standing in line. This was my first time and last time. read more

So this is the thing about Japanese Village...no sucker punches. The menu that existed 25 years ago is still the same menu that exists today. I order the exact same thing (shrimp and steak dinner) as I did 20 years ago. Japanese Village will not get any points for being innovative, interesting or dynamic. What it does get points for is being consistent and people pleasing since it opened. This is a great place to meet with your future in laws that you don't quite know yet. Great place to mingle for a business lunch. Great place if you are not sure what to eat, but you know what you like. Great place to bring your kids because the chefs put on a good show. Great place for picky eaters ( steak and plain rice is a staple). Décor is okay...same as it was 30 years ago when this place would have been considered exotic. I have always had great service. They treat my kids great and are friendly and helpful. As I said before I always get the steak and shrimp dinner. Comes with the pleasant but predictable miso soup and bean sprout salad. Really love the ginger sauce that accompanies the steak, and my kids could drink the sesame sauce. If I am ever feeling heart sick, home sick, or want to have a feel good meal I come here. And with the glass of green tea that they serve you at the end, it warms your spirit a little. Don't come here looking for a beautiful plate or a complex palate of flavours. But come here for the knowledge that 20 years from now your steak and shrimp will be served the exact same way and taste just how you remember it. (Which is pretty good by the way). read more

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Pretty good deal for lunch. Service was ok. It would have been nice I get sushi but the teppan cooking was well done and the food was really good. A little loud for a business lunch, but there are private rooms. Place was very clean and well taken care of. read more

Japanese Village - Cooking up on the grill - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

My boyfriend took me here for our anniversary. He had raved for as long as I have known him, about the Japanese Village and how amazing their food was. This was a Friday evening at 6pm and we had made reservations. We were seated at a table near the window and my boyfriend's first comment was "oh, they have TV's in here" explaining to me that the location he used to frequent in the downtown area had no such thing in their building. Other couples were seated around the large table and we were brought our first and subsequent courses. Our drink order was also taken when we ordered food and it took about 15 minutes for the drinks, bottled beer and a drink, a chocolate godiva, to arrive. additional foods showed and we were offered more rice if we wished. Both of us said we would like more, but that never did arrive. We had both ordered the chicken and steak. Medium well. The steak was okay but nothing to rave about. The chicken thou....where to begin? He cooked it first then set it to the side. It sat there on the grill. And sat and sat. He, in the meantime, cooked the shrimps for the rest of the table and the veggies/sprouts. The gentleman beside me cut open a shrimp and it was blue-raw! The cook proceeded to throw his food back onto the grill and the man told him how disgusting that was since it came off of his plate. The other people at the table who ordered shrimp all had half raw ones also. The cook left and returned after about 5 min with a plate of new shrimp for everyone. the first few people said their shrimp was okay but the poor guy next to me asked for his to be left on an extra minute and the cook turned them into blackened little hockey pucks. We got our cold and salty chicken and okay steak...and awful, flavourless sprouts. My boyfriend ate less than half his meal. I ate most of mine but I definitely did not enjoy it. I was just that hungry from waiting. We had ordered seconds on drinks and mine came within 10 minutes. After probably 20 minutes, my boyfriend asked the waitress assisting at the table adjacent for a beer which promptly came. After dinner my boyfriend asked me to go start the car and he proceeded to try to talk to someone who identified herself as the manager. He told her of our situation and how disappointed we were and she offered up a coupon. He laughed in her face and told her he would never be back so the coupon was irrelevant. She ended up discounting the bill something silly like $20 but for a meal that was $130 without tip (which we didn't leave a dime for, it was unwarranted) we will never go back. The cook we had was also apparently new. He wasn't just new, he was clueless and had no idea how to time dishes or anything. The only plus to the entire night was sitting next to a couple who were as disappointed as we were and we could share stories about places we loved to frequent for good meals. Definitely NOT this place. Note, the ONE star rating is ONLY for my chocolate godiva drink. It was amazing. That is it. read more

We took a friend to Japanese Village tonight and he was a JV virgin, never been before. In his words "I liked it all". It's just such an experience with the cooking show. The staff really go all out to give you the JV experience. We did something different tonight, one of us ordered the ribeye, one ordered the teriyaki chicken and I ordered the misonaise shrimp. When these were ready we signaled to the chef to serve some on each plate so we all got to try some of each. Own your dining experience! This was awesome, each bit was delicious and such variety. The tea at the end is a lovely digestive helper. All reasonably priced too. 4 people with a few beverages $150.00 read more

Good value, entertaining evening I had never been to a teppan-yaki restaurant before so this was a new experience for me. I asked my brother where he wanted to go for his birthday and this was his choice. I had not been here previously but knew that this local chain had been around for many years. So I figured they must be doing something right to have survived for several decades. We made a reservation for 7pm Friday night at the Northgate location. Whether it was the fact it was Good Friday or they were short staffed, we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table to be prepared for us to sit at. The cooking stations have seating for 8 and we were seated with another party of four. There is a small selection of starters and side dishes and entrees are served in a multi-course, complete meal format. The entrees all come with soup, salad and rice. You choose your type of meat from choices of cuts of beef, shrimp, salmon or lobster. Combinations are available as well. My brother and I opted for steak and lobster. My partner went with a rib eye and a side of shrimp. Sister in-law went with teriyaki chicken. After being given our drinks and having our soups and salads, our chef introduced himself. He did some demonstrations of juggling his cooking utensils which is of course all part of the show of your meal preparation. He first cooked vegetables [zucchini, onions and mushrooms] and also prepared a small portion of shrimp for everyone. Again, he demonstrated his knife and juggling skills throughout the preparation of the first round of grilled items. Next, our meats were prepared. Everyone's cut of beef was cooked to order. Chicken was first thing on the grill and last to come off to ensure proper cooking. After cooking, everything is cut up into bite sized pieces. The seafood is served with a misonaise sauce, a creamy hollandaise-like sauce. The lobster tails were cut up and put back into the shell for serving/presentation. You are given a couple sides of sauces to accompany your meal as seasoning during cooking was minimal. One was a sesame sauce for the steaks. The other was a ginger based sauce for vegetables. Rice is served with your meat course and a last round of cooking of bean sprouts is done at the end of the meal to serve with the meats. Food was good, portions are reasonably sized. I had a filet and a lobster tail and for the size of the cut of beef and the lobster, it was good value when compared to going to a steakhouse for steak and lobster tail. Tea and dessert were offered but we passed. The restaurant was busy throughout the evening and there were numerous families with children at the restaurant, reflective of the demographic of the neighbourhood. Due to the multiple courses served and all food being prepared tableside, you need to be prepared for a more leisurely meal than your average casual restaurant, dinner takes about 1.5 hours All in all, it was a good experience. I think that for me at least, this would be more of a "Special Occasion" type of a destination vs a regular dining choice but I certainly will be back in the future. read more

Way too much butter, so much it turned me off from the entire meal. Also, pretty pricey for what you get. Drinks were good, but ask for light in the ice. read more

Too pricey for the price of their menu it's not worth going in to this Japanese village. I've been to several chain of this restaurant and the food is overpriced, extremely small portions, poorly prepared food and not authentic. Definitely we will it return. read more

I used to go to Japanese Village many years ago, but I stopped going for the same reason I'm not going to go after my recent visit. We got in on short notice on Valentine's day which was nice & sat with strangers who were nice...the food was alright, but the thing that gets me is that if you are sitting on the end you always get whatever the dregs are - they don't seem to have enough. I was on the end and got a few measley sprouts, if I had wanted more on my plate, they didn't have anymore on the grill so, too bad, so sad I guess. Next, I'm allergic to shrimp. I did mention this but my food got cross contaminated with the stranger's food and I went straight home and drank my Benadryl! (Because my reaction is moderate, no life threatening - I usually don't mind, but I HAD mentioned it) I paid close to $40 bucks for my plate and got screwed on the portions. Sorry, I am doubting that I will be back. - Or I will sit in the middle, or near the beginning of the serving and make a big fuss over being deathly allergic to shrimp.....seems like a hassle when restaurants should know better. read more

I took my family for my sons birthday. There were eight of us. The food was good although very pricey. Our chef who prepared our meal was excellent and very funny. The kids loved him. The only downfall I would say the service was extremely slow. Considering we were probably the largest group that evening, I felt we should have been more of a priority. There were very long periods waiting for staff. If the service was better I would have rated higher. read more

I hadn't been here since I was a kid. And after a VERY bad experience at the downtown location several years ago (never ended up eating there), we decided to give the north side location a shot. We got there at about 7pm and were seated right away by the friendly hostess. We waited a bit for them to come take our drink orders - I actually thought we had to go to the bar to order ourselves as it was taking so long. But our waitress finally came to us and we ordered drinks and our food. Again, we had to wait a bit for a chef to come and cook our meal. The waitress informed us there would be a bit of a wait and we didn't mind. In the meantime she brought us our soup (good!) and a salad with a fantastic dressing. Shortly after our chef arrived and the show began. It was so cheesy, but we expected it. It actually made it fun and we enjoyed his performance and really bad jokes. The food we ordered was really good. Steak, shrimp, chicken.... all seemingly fresh and prepared perfectly. Price for the food was quite expensive and this isn't a place I would go to on a regular basis because of that. But if you want something different to do, with decent food, and an "experience" I would recommend this location. We both left with our bellies full (the portions are very generous) and we had big smiles on our faces. It was a good time and we both enjoyed ourselves - cheesy jokes and all. On a sidenote - something that really impressed me was that there was a family sitting at another table and it was their child's birthday. The staff came out and sang her happy birthday and this little kid was grinning from ear to ear. It was quite the spectacle and the staff were excellent and funny. Usually when this happens the staff are rushed and fake but they seemed to truly enjoy making that kid's birthday memorable. Cool stuff! read more

Been to both locations many times always fun and the food is great. The show the chef puts on whole he cooks makes for a fun night. The good is always great and the prices very reasonable. Great spot for birthdays. The special sauce on the rice is a must. read more

Worst and most overpriced meal ever. Bland mushrooms and bean sprouts, worst steak ever ! Had some horrible taste to it, not sure if it was starting to go bad or if it was the green butter they cooked it in. Everything was greasy. The service was extremely slow. Japanese village is a dive. Don't waste your money. read more

I've been to all of the Japanese Villages and they are a fun place to go. My kids love to go there for the show. They do a good job with allergies. Steaks - come for the show, not usually cooked to the right temp, seasoning hit or miss Tempura - very good, crispy, not too oily Hibachi shrimp - tasty sauce Wine - limited but for the environment it's fine read more

So amazing! The hostess was very nice, and the restaurant is very clean. I love how you can sit in front of the grill while they cook the food. The chef was very friendly and knew what he was doing. The steak was cooked to perfection. And it came with sesame seed sauce. Delicious. Our server was very efficient, even with how busy the restaurant was. Will definitely return! Another great bonus is that on Tuesday & Wednesday the sirloin steak combo is $17!! How can you say no to that. Cant wait to go back! read more

Went here twice about 7 or 8 years ago and really enjoyed the food & atmosphere... Staff were great too :)

It's rare that I go to JV, this time it would've been potential to have a possible regular customer with business partners in the future. Unfortunately this isn't the case as it was the worst service ever just for the server. The chef actually had to wave down the server to refill drinks...THREE times... or take the appetizer plates away. I actually had to get the server to refill my drink like four times. He never did till after we were done with our dinner and one person in my group never got the pressed coffee when she ordered it when the server first came and was asked three times. Know what's even worst, we weren't the only ones who are complaining, as another people at the table had the worst experience. He asked the server many times for his drink, he never got it. He actually had to get up to go up to the bar table to get his drink himself, which it is absolutely ridiculous!!! The chef had formally apologized to us, which it was much appreciated! But everything else, the food, the chef was awesome! Unfortunately, we didn't even stay for tea, we had to leave immediately because it was ridiculous with our server. Overall again, the server was the worst experience that we had to deal with. Unfortunately again, I won't be bringing my business partners at lunches just to make their experience worst for their sakes... Be ready to ask the server multiple times for your drinks or refills... read more

The hubby and I enjoyed an evening out with friends, I had not been to the Japanese Village since I was a kid, the entire layout is so different than what I remember but the atmosphere was great. We sat next to a couple that was celebrating their 10th year anniversary and I swear the guy was like 12! Our Chef Ed (I believe) was fantastic and a lot of fun! The food was AMAZZZING! It was very difficult to wait for the next serving! We will be going back for sure! read more

Hi expectations, very disappointing. 430 reservation after an hour and a half still no meal. Not sure what the issue was with the kitchen staff or service? Couldn't wait any longer had to leave. Not sure I'll ever go here again. This is very surprising, I've been to many of the other locations and this one just did not meet up to their standards. read more

Very disappointed tonight with this restaurant. They refused me from using a gift certificate for their restaurant as the meals weren't expensive enough. No where on the gift card or menu did it say that this would be an issue. Will be returning the gift cards that were purchased at Costco. Shaking my head that any business could refuse their own gift cards!!! read more

You share tables wit people u don't know, which is weird. Food is ok, price is high, service is good, they do the same tricks but dats ok. It's good if ur rich or willing to spend 20 bucks on a meal. The food is decent but it isn't the BEST IN THE WHOLE WORLD good. This is a good restaurant tho read more

This place was great. The food was phenomenal and the staff performances were amazing and they were incredibly kind. I'll be coming back definitely read more

Yum! I have been here a few times. I have never been dissapointed. Though I am not a fan of the soup the salad is awesome. The veggies are alwayd perfect and the mains are to die for. Though the drinks are slighty pricey they have a great bar. The "show" is always good and so are the chefs! I highly recommend going! read more