Robokyo

One of my coworkers recently had dinner at the Robokyo Japanese Steakhouse and Lounge in Westmoreland County and raved about it at work. Having never been to a hibachi restaurant I added it to my list of things to try during my 34th year.

Today I had the opportunity to have lunch at Robokyo and was not disappointed. What a fun dining experience.



Robokyo is located in a building that was once an inn dating back to 1790 and a stagecoach stop. The Water Room, where we were seated, accommodates up to sixty two-people on seven smokeless Hibachi tables.

In Asian cultures, hibachi were portable stoves traditionally used to heat the homes of nobility and aristocrats, but were eventually adopted by ordinary people. In American culture it's taken on a different meaning.

“Hibachi-Style” is a North American term for Japanese teppanyaki cooking, in which gas-heated hotplates are integrated into tables around which many people (often multiple parties) can sit and eat at once. The chef performs the cooking in front of the diners, typically with theatrical flair — flipping shrimp tails into his hat, for example, or lighting a volcano of onions on fire with his fingers.

We were seated with a mother/daughter duo at the opposite end of the table. They are regulars at Robokyo and we enjoyed talking to them throughout the meal.

Our hibachi chef tossed a squeezed lemon into his hat and set a volcano of onions on fire. It was an experience and not something I expected, knowing pretty much nothing about hibachi-style restaurants beforehand.

The first course was either onion soup or a salad. The soup was delicious although there was nothing "French" about it. I'm not sure how I felt about the dressing on the salad, but it was fun to try new flavors. For my entree I ordered teriyaki chicken topped with sesame seeds. There's just something about watching your food being being prepared in a setting like Robokyo that makes it just that much better. It would have been delicious either way though. The vegetable fried rice was not unlike the vegetable fried rice I've had elsewhere and there certainly was plenty of it. Fresh mixed vegetables, also prepared on the hibachi, rounded out the meal. I am not a vegetable eater. There are a few I will tolerate. These vegetables were phenomenal. I would go back to Robokyo just for the vegetables.

Caught up in the experience, it was impossible to skip dessert so we shared a dish of fried ice cream. Other restaurants serve fried ice cream, but this was the first time for me. YUM.

Long story short, if you're in the area, I highly recommend enjoying a meal at Robokyo.