Though the Great Wall of China has won the accolades of history, the Great Backscratcher of Japan, built to reach any itchy corner across the nation, saved more lives than can be counted on a single hand. Feast upon equally ingenious Japanese creations with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of Japanese cuisine and drinks at Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse in Warwick.
Fresh ingredients fancily flung by skillful, tableside hibachi chefs satisfy hungerers at Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse. Dine on a portion of wok-stirred chicken mango, which includes sautéed chicken tenders, mango, red peppers, red onion, asparagus, and snow peas ($16). Fill a dinner-sized stomach hole with sea-salted edamame ($4) and shumai steamed shrimp dumplings ($5) before occupying your hands with eel avocado rolls ($5), flying fish eggs ($4.50), or salmon caviar ($4.50). Though people have been taught it's wrong to play with food, guests can delegate that behavior to the venue's grill gurus, who toss together rib-eye steak hibachi dinners right in front of you, mixing it up with deft motions, showy sizzles, and appetizing firebombs ($20+).
Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse plans to entertain late-night guests with karaoke, live jazz, and DJed tunes soon. Revelers can down plum sake ($8/glass), Harbor Town pinot noir ($8.75/glass), or a Japanese Slipper, which fits your mouth like only Midori, triple sec, and lemon juice can ($7).
Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse
A piece of food soars through the air, landing squarely in the open mouth of a patron. The other 19 guests at the table cheer. Then an egg pops up high above their heads. During its descent, a man standing before the seated crowd pulls open his breast pocket, and the egg lands snugly inside. Without pause, the chef continues chopping, flipping, and grilling in swashbuckling style.
This show repeats at Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse’s five large hibachi tables—each crowned with an enormous grill—every day of the week. The restaurant also serves up less theatrical but no less authentic teriyaki, tempura, udon, and wok-stirred fare, as well as traditional and contemporary sushi rolls. In the dining room, the gurgling of water in an indoor pond mingles with the murmur of Sirius satellite radio and the purring of stomachs curled up for postprandial naps.