Kobé Japanese Steakhouse - St. Petersburg

Nemo and Elvis were so amazing!!!! Great service and even better food! I went here with a gluten allergy and it was handled so so well! Great experience overall!!!!

Worst experience I’ve had. I’ve never been targeted by a wait staff member for my medical condition before. I usually love Kobe because I have Celiac’s and they carry gluten free soy sauce and will cook things gluten free. We got sat and the place was full, which we expected and did not mind- except my friend and I had to yell to talk to one another, and the chef and the server both talked too low to hear. I didn’t mind any of this until our server Ante asked if we had any allergies and I said I had one to gluten (Celiacs) I went to order my food and he clarified with me- (incorrect items written by him but that’s okay, I understand things like that). However, I went to order the fried rice and he told me they didn’t carry gluten free soy. I explained I had it last time and he told me it wasn’t around anymore. So he said I could get all vegetables and I asked for white rice instead with my vegetables. Soups come out. He told me the clear soup had gluten so he’d grab me the miso soup. I asked for an iced tea to come with it when he had a moment. 10 minutes pass by and everyone’s finished their soup. He comes up to me with the salad and goes, “yeah. So the miso soup has gluten. I thought I could just tell you now and It’s why I never came back”. I asked if I could have my iced tea though. He passes the salads, goes to get tea. 5 minutes later- he brings the tea out and it’s lukewarm/ hot. Feeling like I’m a bother at this point and wanting to walk out- I just drink it and shut up. I was embarrassed by the constant stopping and targeting because of something I can not control. Chef comes out and asks me about my order- which was still incorrect due to the server despite my clarification and him CONFIRMING it. The chef ended up telling me they DID have the gluten free soy sauce and he could make it gluten free. I was thrilled to get my food all gluten free…. Which was then burnt. Ended up taking it to throw it away on the way out. As was my friend’s food. Chef was nice overall. Server brought to-go boxes over and we asked for the bill so we could catch our movie. He handed out the boxes to the table except for my friend and I and set the boxes for my friend and I on the hot counter… where we couldn’t reach. He goes “I’ll be back in a minute”. Originally, he said could pull the bull up on his Toast POC and began to pull it up before stopping and saying he’d be back. A person at the same table was nice enough to get up and hand me the box- apologizing for how I was treated. We quickly paid and left- not having time to stop and talk to a manager before we left for a movie we were seeing. 1.5 hours and worst experience at Kobe I’ve had. This whole thing soured my experience and definitely made me not want to go back to what was my favorite restaurant

What a fun place and they were wonderful to accommodate GLUTEN FREE hibachi meal, and cooked that first so there was no cross contamination.