At Hana Japanese Steakhouse, flavor and fun are the common language
When Ed Tice returned to Hana Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar with his business degree in hand, he was amazed and delighted by what he found. “It was always cool,” said Tice, who’d been a server there while going to college. “But whatever it was before, Jay Gao just put it over the top, into the stratosphere. And I got to come back and reap all the benefits.”
Tice had always loved watching the hibachi chefs, knives and spatulas flashing as they broiled food to perfection on the teppanyaki grills and customers looked on in wonder. Hibachi cooking, for those who have never experienced it, is part cuisine, part performance; chefs master all kinds of tricks to perform at the grill, all while creating a mouthwatering meal. And Gao had found some of the best.
“The talent he’s brought in is incredible,” says Tice. “Not everyone is a fluent English speaker, but they do understand it very well -- and everyone, I don’t care where you were born, understands the look of delight in a child’s eyes when they see that flame flare up.” Besides the hibachi tables, Hana offers an extensive menu of sushi, teriyaki dishes, bento boxes and other Japanese-style favorites. But it’s the blend of entertainment and flavor that is hibachi that steals the show.
“When our chef came out I wasn’t ready for all the fun headed our way, they’re very interactive,” writes a Yelp reviewer of his first hibachi experience at Hana.. “They throw food, squirt sake into everyone at the table’s mouth and say quirky little things as they cook your food. My table and the one next to us were roaring with laughter. It was a lot of fun…Aside from the antics, the food was great, it was cooked well, the portions were large,”
Those antics, says Tice,make Hana the perfect spot for a family night out. “Even for a niche restaurant like us, if you can get the kids, you’ve got the parents,” he says. “And our chefs go above and beyond, not just cooking -- they’ll make balloon animals, balloon crowns. It’s much more than just food, and kids don’t get bored -- which makes it wonderful for the parents too.” There’s a little kid in all of us, and Tice says he marvels at the way a hibachi meal delights guests of all sorts. “You see so many different kinds of families who out on the street might never interact, and here they are laughing and feasting together. It’s magical the way it draws people together.”
Capital Region diners obviously love the food as much of the show -- Hana thrived even during the pandemic with the use of their own delivery service and online delivery platforms. “The community kept thinking of us,” says Tice.