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Hiro's doubles your dining pleasure

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Hiro's features teppanyaki-style dining and one of the more extensive and authentic sushi bars in the area, with more than 30 different kinds of sake.

By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 9, 2009

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ST. PETERSBURG - Perhaps the best way to think about Hiro's Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar is to consider it two restaurants - both very much worth trying.

On one hand, Hiro's features the popular teppanyaki-style dining made famous at places such as Benihana. On the other, you'll find one of the more extensive and authentic sushi bars in the area, with more than 30 different kinds of sake, traditionally made soba noodles and other treats to delight even the most sophisticated aficionados of all things Japanese.

This new location, which opened in November, joins others in Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey, with smaller locations at BayWalk and in Largo that don't include table-side hibachi dining. With sleek and modern decor, wonderful food and prices that beat most other Japanese steakhouses, it's little wonder the Hiro's empire is expanding.

Let's start with the hibachi. Sure it's cliche, but if done well, the grand show of a teppanyaki chef chopping up and cooking your dinner tableside can be a lot of fun. Invariably, kids love it.

And for this, Hiro's has everything you could want: Fun chefs chopping away at the meat, spinning eggs on the grill, going ding-ding-ding with the salt shaker and joking with customers while tossing tiny shrimp up into their tall chef's toques.

When a hibachi-style dinner consists of quality ingredients prepared by a skilled chef, it tastes really, really good. At Hiro's, our freshly fried rice, hot-grilled steak and plenty of special sauce were just plain terrific.

Of course, there's also the onion volcano with onion rings stacked up high and filled with alcohol, then set aflame. It's like getting a hot dog at the ballpark or falafels from a sidewalk cart in New York: You enjoy it because it's classic.

We also laud Hiro's for its tri-level menu. Too many other Japanese steakhouses use a flat rate just to sit down.

If the whole tableside experience (and potentially sitting next to strangers) isn't your thing, Hiro's will prepare any entree for traditional table seating.

Or there's always the sushi bar.

Hiro's sushi and sashimi are clean and fresh. We liked the Flaming Hamachi, yellowtail fish with thin slices of jalapenos served with ponzu sauce. Creative maki rolls include the fanciful Philly Steak & Cheese and the Caterpillar Roll with eel, cream cheese, asparagus and avocado.

For some fun, try the Lollipop Roll, with crab, asparagus, salmon and tuna wrapped in a thinly peeled cucumber rather than the traditional seaweed nori. It comes sliced into thin circles with a long skewer, so it looks like a lollipop, garnished with strawberry slices. It sounds cheesy, but it's a great, light summer meal.

Heartier appetites might try the Zosa Soba, cold buckwheat noodles with a soy dipping sauce, or consider the seven different kinds of sushi-sashimi combination dinners.

Unlike many Japanese steakhouses, Hiro's serves lunch, with bento boxes and other specials.

Sake fans will appreciate a staggering variety, including the Bunraku "Forgotten Japanese Spirit." Varieties also shift, so it's worth asking the staff what's new or special that night.

Soon, the restaurant will have special events like sake-tasting nights, and an all-you-can eat gourmet sushi night to truly celebrate Japanese cuisine. However, almost any night is worth trying, whether you're looking for raw eel or a flaming onion.