• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Shop
  • About
    • Contact
    • Press

Honey, Whats Cooking logo

January 31, 2011 2 Comments

Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi Bar | Parlin, NJ (central NJ)

Saturday night my family and I went out for Hibachi to celebrate my sis-in-law and niece’s (Sar) birthdays.  We went to Arirang Hibachi Steakhouse which has a total of 5 locations in NJ, NY, and PA.  It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately my husband and I got there 45 minutes early which meant a whole lot of waiting!      

LOCATION
986 Route 9 South
Parlin, NJ 08879
732.525.3551
(Central NJ)

AMBIENCE
Arirang is a slightly upscale Hibachi Steakhouse.  

As you enter through the French doors you are surrounded by votive candles sitting on these rock shaped walls.  

 

All the way down on your right is the Sushi Bar.  

The Lounge/Bar area is also towards your right.

Towards the left is the Hibachi area. 

RECOMMENDED TO
Casual Dining, Groups, Kid Friendly, Romantic Dining.

CUISINE
Japanese, Sushi Bar, Bar Scene.

MENU – $$
Arirang Menu.  Cocktails here are reasonable starting at about $6.50 to $9.  The Hand Rolls range from $4.50 to $7.  Sushi pieces comes in at an affordable price of $2 to $4.25 for 2 pieces an order.  Sushi Rolls are more expensive at $8 to $14 each.  Hibachi ranges from $16 to $39, it depends on what you order and if you opt for a combination Hibachi order.  Hibachi dinners offer a lot of food which include… 3 pieces of Shrimp Appetizer, Soup, House Salad with your choice of dressing, Asian Vegetables, White/Fried Rice (at an extra charge), your meal, and Ice Cream.   
If dining here for Hibachi, estimate about $25 per person including tax & tip.

RECOMMENDED HEALTHY EATS… choices below are based on my knowledge of food and nutrition.  If you are looking to eat healthy at a Hibachi/Sushi Bar, in general, avoid fried foods, steak, beef, and pork.  Opt for grilled veggies, grilled chicken, or grilled fish.  In addition, if you do go for hibachi, do not overeat since they tend to serve you a lot of food.  There is no online nutritional information available for Arirang, please use your own discretion when making a decision.

HEALTHY EATS
SOUPS/SALADS
Traditional Soup
Miso Soup
Chuka Salad
Sashimi Salad w/dressing on side
Chopped Salad w/dressing on side (chicken/shrimp)
APPETIZERS
Edamame
SIDES
Sauteed Baby Bok Choy
ROLLS & HAND ROLLS
Tuna Roll
Spicy Tuna Roll
Avocado Roll
Salmon Skin Roll
Cucumber Roll
SUSHI ROLLS
Rainbow Roll
Naruto Roll
Crazy Dragon Roll
Sashimi Roll
New York Roll
ENTREES
Sapporo Roasted Chicken
Pan Seared Scallops
Soy Marinated Chilean Sea Bass
Sesame Tuna
Pan Roasted Duck Breast
HIBACHI (eat in moderation; skip ice cream)
Chicken
Salmon
Shrimp
Scallops
Tuna

MY REVIEW
While my husband and I were waiting for the gang, we hung out at the bar and ordered drinks.  I got the Lychee Martini which was made with Lychee Juice, Sake and Vodka.  This drink was super strong and honestly, there wasn’t any of that “lychee” flavor I was looking for.  Although the bartender was nice enough to throw in 3 lychees, I still wasn’t able to taste any “lychee” flavor, perhaps the lychees were old.  Who knows?  This drink was not good and flavorless.  Most martinis here run about $8 each.

My husband ordered a Margherita which was pretty good and came at a bargain price of $6.50.  It was a nice change to pay less than $11 bucks for a drink.  

Once my family arrived at 8 PM, we had to wait an additional 1 hour and 15 minutes for our table despite having reservations for 8 PM.  We were all STARVING!  My nieces were begging me to take them to the Taco Bell across the street; I have to admit that I was tempted since I do love Mexican food.  🙂

Here is another shot of the Hibachi room.  

We all started off with a Traditional Soup.  The soup was really good made with mushrooms, scallions, and hints of fried onion in a light chicken broth.  The soup tasted slightly buttery to me which I loved.  I ate half my soup.

We were then served a House Salad and I opted for the Creamy Ginger Dressing.  The salad was good, but wasn’t extraordinary.  Again, I ate half my salad and saved room for the real deal.

While eating our salads, our chef put on a show for us and made us some Grilled Asian Vegetables with some butter and garlic.  

The veggies were good, but I’m not a huge fan of zucchini.  

I love it when they do that with rings of onion slices.

The entertainment at Arirang was fun and our chef made funny jokes.  He referred to each one of us as, “baby,” which I thought was really cute.  Here our chef was playing around and making a snowman that he later mentioned looked like Lady Gaga – HAHA. 

What he was really making was Chicken Fried Rice – YUM!  Now the BIGGEST surprise was the fried rice & noodles were not included as part of the Hibachi meal.  This was the FIRST time I have been to a Hibachi restaurant where we were charged extra for Hibachi Fried Rice at $3 per person – TOTAL RIPOFF!  

Although we paid extra, the fried rice was delicious and the best thing I ate the entire evening.  There was a strong taste of butter and garlic. 

DELISH!  I couldn’t get enough of it!

Next up were the Shrimp Appetizers.  These were good, but I felt they lacked butter and garlic and tasted a bit fishy to me.

I ordered the Salmon Hibachi, while my husband ordered the Chicken Hibachi.  Most members of my family ordered Chicken and the remaining ordered Vegetarian.  I did feel bad for my parents who were watching the chef cook raw meat in front of them – they are STRICT vegetarians and let it be known by having the chef cook their vegetarian portion first before any meat was put on the grill.  When I was younger it was embarrassing, but now it’s quite amusing, actually!

Here is my meal, Salmon with some butter and LOTS & LOTS of garlic as per my request with sauteed mushrooms on the side.  My salmon was tender and moist, however it too tasted fishy to me.  Yes, I know salmon is a fish, 🙂  but I have eaten salmon where it hasn’t tasted as fishy.  He probably could have grilled my fish a little more and slapped on more garlic.

I forgot to take a picture of the Chicken Hibachi.  The chicken was good, but not amazing.  

We ended our meals with Ice Cream.  There were lots of flavors to choose from and I had Green Tea.  This was good, but subtle in taste.  The other 2 flavors are vanilla and chocolate, obviously.

VERDICT – 3 / 5
Arirang Hibachi‘s food was certainly good, but I didn’t think it was anything special.  Besides the Chicken Fried Rice, I didn’t think anything else was amazing.  The long wait really made us all impatient and extremely hungry.  The wait was despite us having 8 PM reservations which was a HUGE negative.  I’ve eaten at better Hibachi restaurants where there wasn’t a charge for the Hibachi Fried Rice, like Teppan in Jersey City, NJ which has better food and better ambiance at a LOWER cost.

Having said that, I do believe the chefs here were entertaining with their jokes and getting the crowd involved.  Initially, the chef tossed a zucchini in every single person’s mouth; most of us failed at catching the zucchini.  Although the food was good and satisfying, it really was the entertainment which made the evening a fun experience for all of us.  

TELL ME: What’s your favorite Hibachi Steakhouse?

Previous Post: « Gooey & Delicious Banana Blondies (Reduced Fat & 139 Calories)
Next Post: Spinach & Black Bean Quesadillas »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pam says

    February 1, 2011 at 4:15 PM

    I can't imagine having to wait an additional hour and a half for a table when you have reservations. At least you get a good show at these type of restaurants.

    Reply
  2. Fast says

    May 26, 2011 at 6:45 PM

    I agree that the up-charge for fried rice isn't called for, especially for what they charge for their hibachi meals.
    i also felt that one of our waitresses wasn't very friendly. Either she didn't want to be there, or she was just a rude person. This was in scotch plains.

    I don't think i could be sugary sweet all the time, and that's why I'm not in the service industry!

    We dropped $90 for 2 people. The food was tasty, but overpriced.

    Shogun down the road is a better value.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar





Subscribe

Don't miss a single post!

Trending

  • Mexican Pizza Taco Bell (vegetarian)
  • Bombay Grilled Sandwich (vegetarian, gf option)
  • Indian Afternoon Tea
  • Tikka Masala Pasta (vegetarian, whole wheat/gluten...
  • Baked Falafel (healthy, dairy free)
  • Rava Uttapam (vegetarian)
  • Lavash Bread Pizza (vegetarian, healthyish, 8 ingr...
  • World’s BEST Spaghetti RAO’s Homemade Marina...

Footer

About Me

A foodie who is passionate about living a healthy-ish lifestyle, cooking, and traveling. You'll find a mix of everything here and lots of seasonal content. I moved from Jersey City leaving behind my family & friends to beautiful Southern California for love. I'm adjusting to the laid-back SoCal lifestyle and learning a lot about myself along the way. Come join me on a soul searching journey and I'll tell YOU "what's cooking" through my love for food, fashion, and travel.

Birthday celebration at Bestia with my bestie 🥰 Birthday celebration at Bestia with my bestie 🥰. Made my own reservations a month ago and dragged Sanjiv all the way to LA. Anyone else?

Had a wonderful birthday celebrating with Krish, Sanjiv, and my MIL (swipe👈🏽). Thank you all for the bday wishes over DM. 🙏🏼 So grateful for all the love in my life. Cheers to health, happiness, and another year around the sun! 🧿

📍@bestiadtla in DTLA. 4.75 / 5 ⭐️ 
👏🏽 Outstanding service!
✨ Favorites: wine / burrata pizza / ricotta tortelli / torpedo onion & potato agnolotti / panna cotta

.
.
#birthdaycelebration #bestiadtla #loveofmylife #happybirthday #birthdaymemories #expressyou #madisonreed
Heaven in a bowl. I can’t tell you how easy it i Heaven in a bowl. I can’t tell you how easy it is to make TOFU THAI RED CURRY - even if you can’t find kaffir lime leaves. There is no ginger and garlic in this recipe, and there is no need to sauté the veggies. Simply add raw veggies to a simmering coconut gravy and cook the veggies for a few minutes. Flavor the sauce and garnish. Tofu Thai Red Curry is a classic and is the perfect combo of sweet, spicy, and salty flavors. ⁠
⁠
✔️ dairy-free / gluten-free / vegan option / quick & easy meal⁠
✔️ healthier than Thai takeout / tips on making Thai red curry⁠
⁠
✅ Recipe on the blog. Link in bio. [recipe & photos updated]⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
#tofuthaicurry #thairedcurry #whatveganseat #thaifood #easydinner #tofurecipes
No Cooking SUMMER QUESADILLAS (aka Black Bean Corn No Cooking SUMMER QUESADILLAS (aka Black Bean Corn Quesadillas). Aside from grilling up your quesadillas, the mix involves zero cooking. These quesadillas are mouthwatering and packed with so much flavor. They're perfect for meal prepping and so versatile - add other veggies/protein of your choice. Serve them up with your favorite salsa or in my case - mango salsa.⁠
⁠
✔️ 27g protein / 10 ingredients / quick & easy / vegetarian / mealprep ideas / whole wheat tortillas⁠
⁠
✅ Recipe on the blog. Link in bio!⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
⁠
#quesadillas #vegetarianquesadilla #mexicanfood #mealprepideas #10ingredientrecipes #easydinner
Who needs beef when you can make a juicy Veggie Bu Who needs beef when you can make a juicy Veggie Burger with my special sauce? #HeinzPartner Here’s a Veggie Burger Masterpiece using @Heinz Ketchup. It’s thick and rich with the perfect amount of sweetness. This appetizing burger is made with the most simple ingredients - lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, avocado, veggie burger, and my special sauce. Click my link in bio to add these Heinz products to your @Walmart cart and create your own burger masterpiece.⁠
⁠
#HEINZARTBURGER #Walmart⁠
⁠
➡️ Special Sauce Recipe:⁠
1/4 cup Heinz Ketchup⁠
2 tbsp Greek yogurt⁠
2 tbsp cilantro⁠
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper⁠
1 tsp garlic powder⁠
1/8 tsp black pepper⁠
1 tbsp water⁠
⁠
Top sauce over a burger and enjoy! 🍔⁠
Hello, 50K!!!! 🎉 Hit a milestone and celebrated Hello, 50K!!!! 🎉 Hit a milestone and celebrated with a donut… gotta celebrate those milestones no matter how big or small. My journey on Instagram has been slow and steady, but this is exactly where I’m meant to be at this very moment.

To every single person who has ever made a recipe of mine, thank you for your tags/mentions/feedback. You inspire me to create more and more content every single day and give me a purpose. To every person who has left me a blog comment, thank you so much. To you it may not seem like a big deal, but for me your comments have made my day. And to each of you who has liked, commented, saved, and shared my content, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Your support has enabled me to grow! I am so grateful to all of you and this IG community! ❤️

#50k #50000followers #milestone #instagramjourney
Follow Me On Instagram
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Shop
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy

Subscribe for free recipes & monthly newsletter!

Don't miss a single post!

Recent Posts

  • Rava Uttapam (vegetarian)
  • Baked Falafel (healthy, dairy free)
  • Bombay Grilled Sandwich (vegetarian, gf option)
  • Tofu Thai Red Curry (gluten-free, vegan option)
  • Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas (vegetarian)
  • Manchurian Noodles (vegan, gluten-free option)

© 2022 Honey, What's Cooking.