Kids in Teppanyaki

[rjm11]

Although we've been on a bunch of NCL cruises, I've never done the Teppanyaki. I decided that this trip it would be fun to do all together (kids are 7 and 8). We've been to similar teppanyaki restaurants at home, and the kids really enjoy them, but typically they only last about 45 min.

 

I'm looking for reviews of people who have done this with kids before.... are the chefs engaging with the kids? Did your kids enjoy it? Or were they bored? I have one who doesn't eat much meat- can he just get the fried rice? We will be on the Sun if that makes a difference....

[Mom2B&Z]

We went to Teppanyaki on Breakaway with our boys when they were 6&9 yrs. They were 2 of 3 children in the group of 12. The chef didn't pay any special attention to them, but they enjoyed the show and jokes. Dinner took about 1.5 hrs, but my boys are used to longer dinners. It would be fairly easy to take them out into a lobby area between courses if they were getting rambunctious, but IMHO it would be hard to get dinner to go if they couldn't handle waiting.

 

 

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[SuiteTraveler]

Here is the Teppanyaki menu:

http://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/18372__Teppanyaki%20web%20Epic.pdf

 

For the child that doesn't each much meat, there is a vegetarian offering. Notice some of the offerings include Udon noodles?

 

However, it will take at least 1.5 hours to eat dinner and you will be at a table with other guests. So think long and hard about if your kids will behave themselves for this amount of time.

Edited November 8, 2014 by SuiteTraveler

[cb at sea]

There is more to this than eating....the cooking process is entertainment! Only the worst behaved kids won't be fine for the length of the dinner!

 

It's a typical "Japanese Steakhouse" experience....plenty land-based ones to try and see if you like it!

Edited November 8, 2014 by cb at sea

[johnsak123]

Sorry to be a downer but I Hated Teppanyaki

Food was over salted, and the "show" was boring

I thought of all the premium restaurants you can do better than this one in terms of taste, flavor and fun

[LrgPizza]

My son, age 11, loves this type of restaurant. He loved it on the ship, and he's been enjoying them on land for many, many years. He's not big on the food - only eating the meat itself and none of the accompaniments, but he often picks these places for birthdays, etc. We were finished and out of there in an hour. Since these restaurants have limited seating, they really move you right through. Had it taken longer, that would have been even better, since it is so entertaining. My son ordered from the regular menu and was charged $12.50 (half price).

[AlaskaAtLast]

Our kids were 8 and 10 when we went to the Teppenyaki dinner on the Sun last year. They liked it and were kept entertained by the chef's and the little origami you could make out of your menu. Dinner took about 1.5 hours as others have said. It's a really small area on the Sun, one table that seats 12 if I remember correctly. Towards the end the kids wanted to leave to meet their friends at the kid's club but they aren't big on dessert.

Hope that helps.

[Shawnino]

Is there a way to ask for a table-without-children at it? I've booked my reservation online (UDP) and would happily move my reservation time an hour, or switch to a different day, if it meant my dining partners were all adults.

[JMHAM1]

I have always been anti-Teppanyaki since we have several of these types of restaurants near our home. Plus eating in the pay restaurants with six kids is really a budget buster BUT on our Christmas cruise last year on the Jewel, we had one kid having a birthday. He LOVES the Japanese type steakhouses so off we went. Since a pic is worth a 1000 words, I will post a couple here. All the kids loved it. We got a good chef who did lots of stuff for the kids. In the group of four tables back there, we were having the best time. As you can see, our littlest ordered spaghetti off the kids menu for free. We have a mix of ages, some were half price and others were full adult prices. We had no issues with our bill at all. I would say that we would not do it with just the two of us but the kids have all mentioned wanting to go back next time. Our youngest does NOT sit well in restaurants and he was GREAT there. He enjoyed watching the action. I say, go for it!!!

 

 

The boys trying to fold their oragami swans.....

 

Hey there's no shame enjoying spaghetti at a Japanese steak house!

[rjm11]

Thanks everyone (except the poster responding that they specifically do NOT want to eat with kids....)... I've booked it for our first night. The kids really enjoy these "on land" so I think it will be hit. I loved seeing the pictures especially!

 

One question- since I booked online, I paid 4 adult fees... how does that get refunded to the child cost? as OBC? or back to my credit card?

[Captain'sgirl]

Cute pictures

[BuffetPantsPls]

I wouldn't worry about the kids unless your kids were in just a really bad mood.

 

the chef IS engaging, the chef IS entertaining and I would say the show is longer than what i see at benihana's.

 

The show portion is probably like 40 minutes, the eating takes longer. I fed my antsy one first and wolfed down some food then took him outside and we went for a walk. Dessert was ready by the time we got back and he sat down and enjoyed.

 

oh and i found the food salty too, but i asked if they could make the next few dishes less salty and the chef did.

 

on the breakaway, the only guy i really got annoyed at was the waiter who incessantly tried to bang the cook top as loud as he could whenever he wanted to ask something.

Edited November 9, 2014 by BuffetPantsPls

[LrgPizza]

Is there a way to ask for a table-without-children at it? I've booked my reservation online (UDP) and would happily move my reservation time an hour, or switch to a different day, if it meant my dining partners were all adults.

Reminds me of this:

"I smell children!!"

[rajones007]

...pics...

Very nice photos. Thank you for sharing. It's always nice to see children smiling and laughing.

[Shawnino]

@LrgPizza: perhaps, indeed! Dining with children isn't what I'm after on vacation I confess. When I go to a restaurant I'm not especially interested in just how much food my stablemates can stuff in their mouths, nor in how loud a sound they can make by banging the fork against the plate.

 

Perhaps that makes me a bad guy. Particularly in the 2010s when parents seem to think that the noisier their children are, the cuter they are.

[Cruisin&Relaxin]

Although we've been on a bunch of NCL cruises, I've never done the Teppanyaki. I decided that this trip it would be fun to do all together (kids are 7 and 8). We've been to similar teppanyaki restaurants at home, and the kids really enjoy them, but typically they only last about 45 min.

 

I'm looking for reviews of people who have done this with kids before.... are the chefs engaging with the kids? Did your kids enjoy it? Or were they bored? I have one who doesn't eat much meat- can he just get the fried rice? We will be on the Sun if that makes a difference....

 

I don't understand why you are only looking for reviews from people who have done this with kids.

 

I have don't have kids but after doing Teppanyaki a dozen or so times, I have plenty of observational experience.

 

There typically isn't much aisle space for kids to play in once everyone is seated and the chefs are cooking. What space is available is needed by the waiters/waitresses. If your children are capable of staying seated during the meal and don't require your constant attention to keep them relatively quiet and calm, you should be fine.

 

As someone mentioned previously, the meal tends to be heavily salted. When we go, we ask the chef where possible to cut down on the salt for our portions of the meal. They have been very accommodating of our request. Sometimes the entire Table will agree with our request which makes the job even easier for the Chef to cut back on the salt.

[KweezyCruiser]

I think this is a great venue for kids. The "show" is engaging, but not overstimulating. The same is true of the room as it is relatively small and people are seated through your scheduled meal. The portions are all pre-cut and relatively kid friendly. There are chopsticks to play with (ask for a rubber band to connect them for they littles) and origami. I've never seen any unruly kid behavior there.

Edited November 9, 2014 by KweezyCruiser

[rjm11]

I don't understand why you are only looking for reviews from people who have done this with kids.

 

I have don't have kids but after doing Teppanyaki a dozen or so times, I have plenty of observational experience.

 

There typically isn't much aisle space for kids to play in once everyone is seated and the chefs are cooking. What space is available is needed by the waiters/waitresses. If your children are capable of staying seated during the meal and don't require your constant attention to keep them relatively quiet and calm, you should be fine.

 

As someone mentioned previously, the meal tends to be heavily salted. When we go, we ask the chef where possible to cut down on the salt for our portions of the meal. They have been very accommodating of our request. Sometimes the entire Table will agree with our request which makes the job even easier for the Chef to cut back on the salt.

 

Thanks for your response. I was looking specifically for people who have tried it with kids because I don't have concerns about my husband and I enjoying it....I know WE will..... I had questions specifically about whether it was enjoyable for kids.

[jackson bernard]

Bring the kids. I think they would have fun.

[dexddd]

You will get the kids price back as OBC once you dine.

 

We've done Teppanyaki many times with our kids and while they don't entertain kids per se, they entertain the whole group.

 

The food is salty and loaded with garlic.

 

On the BA our chef was horrible - dropped most of the eggs on the floor instead of catching in hat but the Sun only as the one table so you should get a good chef.

 

As far as little kids, we did have one experience with a couple who brought kids maybe 2 and 4 and sat at our table. The kids made a mess of the place, mixing food in water glass, etc. Parents thought it was cute - I thought parents are in for trouble later on in life so I can see times that people may not want to be with kids that are not parented well.

[LrgPizza]

There typically isn't much aisle space for kids to play in once everyone is seated and the chefs are cooking. What space is available is needed by the waiters/waitresses. If your children are capable of staying seated during the meal and don't require your constant attention to keep them relatively quiet and calm, you should be fine.

Who the heck allows their kids to play in aisles in restaurants?

[rjm11]

no reasonable parent!

[Shawnino]

Who the heck allows their kids to play in aisles in restaurants?

 

People who can't smell children :)

[LrgPizza]

People who can't smell children :)

Ha! Do you remember that movie? I used to have terrible nightmares when I was a kid...

 

Slightly off topic, but... You would have gone crazy if you'd been us in Cagney's on the Getaway when we were dining. Halfway through our meal, the empty large round table beside us was seated with about 6 children, all under the age of 10, and no adults (who were all seated elsewhere.) They had been to Senor Frogs and gotten gigantic complex balloon animals, and all were playing with them at the table. Haha! It didn't bother us at all, because I was impressed that they were all bilingual, and all remained seated, and were well-behaved. But you just can't help balloon animals bonking others, lying on the floor in the way, and making lots of squeaking noises. :D

[ilovetotravel1977]

It would be easier to put up with unruly kids rather than unruly adults. I have an 18 year old and a 6 year old and sometimes I'm not sure who is the youngest LOL