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JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times

Hibachi chef Sine Gien prepares seafood and steak at Kabuki.

Kudos to Kabuki! It's always a good time when I come here for dinner. There's exceptional food and fantastic entertainment from chefs who cook my meal right in front of my eyes.

Located on a knoll overlooking Franklin Road in Roanoke, Kabuki has provided top-notch Japanese food to a steady stream of patrons seven nights a week for the past 27 years.

But the restaurant recently underwent a 5,000-square-foot addition, expanding the clean, well-lit and handsomely appointed dining room to allow for plenty of space around 18 granite teppanyaki grill tables.

Along with the refurbishing, the spacious lobby features entry into a separate sushi bar furnished in smart, modern Japanese furniture. To the right, a huge plate-glass window offers a view of the koi pond built of rocks selected by owner Akio Koeda, where small and large fish swim about and dart into hiding.

The vibe

Combined with its refined appointments and with waitresses in kimonos and waiters in happi coats, Kabuki Japanese Steak and Seafood House captures the essence of an authentic Japanese restaurant and transplants it to Roanoke.

The name "Kabuki" derives from the traditional Japanese dramas begun in the 17th century featuring singing, dancing and acting performed in a highly stylized manner. At the restaurant, chefs amuse patrons with their culinary techniques as they dazzle with flaming onion towers while preparing entrees on sizzling hot grills.

In between tossing and turning ingredients, the chef flicks pieces of food off his spatula with a goal of getting it into individual mouths. It's the best of an open kitchen with orchestrated theater.

Even when I come for dinner alone, there's company and steady conversation from several others at the table surrounding the center grill. But it's best to come with friends so you can order and taste different dishes.

If it's a birthday celebration, everyone at the table gets a slip of paper with the Happy Birthday song typed in phonetic Japanese. On cue, the singing starts as the cake comes to the table and one of the staff takes a photo of the birthday person. The frosted birthday cake ($8.95; $10.95 with photo) is delicious and large enough to serve a small piece to everyone at the 10-person table.

The menu

Featuring an assortment of appetizers ($5.95-$7.95), combination and tempura dinners ($14-$33.45), children's specials ($7.95-$14.25) and desserts ($2.75-$10.95), the menu categories provide something for everyone, including vegetarians. Whichever dishes are ordered, expect very good food, tender beef and typically abundant portions.

The most popular dishes, Mikado and the Kabuki special, are combination dinners accompanied by chicken soup, salad with a choice of dressing, fried rice and vegetables. Mikado consists of filet mignon and shrimp and the Kabuki special is a pairing of chicken and steak.

What we tried

A bowl of steaming hot chicken broth followed by a green salad pave the way to the entrees, which typically come with fried rice and an assortment of listed vegetables: zucchini, onions, mushrooms and bean sprouts. On my first visit, I ordered lobster with filet mignon and a glass of Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon ($5.50). After grilling the fat lobster tail, the chef removed the meat from the shell, cut it into pieces and placed them in a ramekin of lemon butter sauce. It was excellent. The filet mignon garners high praise, too, as it was perfectly cooked to medium, tender and tasty. My partner had chicken with scallops and a bottle of O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer ($3.25).

For dessert, I relished the golf ball-sized green tea ice cream balls called mochi (mochee), a frozen treat I hadn't had since my last trip to Japan two years ago. I was surprised to find them at Kabuki, where the green tea or red bean ice cream balls are covered with a thin, tender, marshmallowy coat of steamed, sticky glutinous rice that has been pounded into smoothness ($3.50). This ended my meal on an indulgent note.

On my second visit, selecting once again from the "Combination Dinners" menu, I enjoyed flounder and filet mignon while my associate ordered seafood tempura. Tempura batter is typically light as a cloud, but he had a disappointing meal of heavily battered shrimp, scallops, flounder and vegetables.

Not to be picky, but ...

Consistency has been the long suit for years at Kabuki. Identical meals have been prepared nightly with flair and showmanship to satisfied patrons. But on the two visits I made for this review, discrepancies became apparent.

Instead of serving us (and the other guests at the table) the vegetables listed on the menu during the first meal, we received mounds of sliced onions with only a couple of pieces of zucchini. Neither mushrooms nor bean sprouts were hiding among the onions, but I noted the fried rice contained a few dots of yellow corn.

My companion's entree, although fully cooked, lacked flavor-bearing caramelization, a technique our second night's chef deftly put to work, producing luscious fish along with a complete complement of burnished vegetables. This was great food.

Service is usually gracious here, but on our second night, the server annoyed us, trying to remove dishes we weren't finished with, rushing us and others at the table.

The bottom line

Kabuki stands out for its freshly prepared, high quality food, dollar value and the incomparable entertaining chefs. The beautiful, comfortable dining room and entrance enhance the experience, making this place well worth many visits.