Edamame-171 Watertown Street, Watertown, MA

I grew up eating Hibachi at Bisuteki in Revere, MA (with to die for virgin shirley temples), so it has always been very close to my heart. But I hadn't seen a hibachi place nearby since I moved to Watertown...UNTIL about 6 months ago, when I noticed them building one down the street from me.

Edamame in Watertown, MA is in kind of an awkward spot in town for a restaurant, located on the Newton line in a plaza with a Stop and Shop, Gym, Dentist, Papa Gino's and CVS. While its not the best place for marketing purposes, its FANTASTIC for me, because I could walk there (notice that its next to the gym, which I will never walk to). Anyway, they opened in November and have been bumpin ever since. Unfortunately the first time I went, I was not a blogger, so I figured I would write about my SECOND experience there!

The restaurant is a good size with 6 hibachi grills (8 seats on each side) about 15 booths and a sushi bar. We got there at  7:30 without a reservation (I was feeling risky) and were told we would have to wait about 30 min. for the next hibachi table. Fine with us! To the bar we go!

Another great thing about hibachi restaurants- the drinks! This place has scorpion bowls (they call them Flaming Volcanos-hence the flame) for $11, which is just what the doctor ordered. We also got a black dragon sushi roll to tie us over until it was time to be seated. The roll was pretty good, wasn't a huge fan of the eel, but it was satisfying.



Spicy crunchy tuna, cucumber wrapped in eel and avacado

 It's time to be seated! We take two seats along the side of one of the hibachi tables, and are joined by a party of 6. Another thing about hibachi restaurants, don't be those weird people who keep to yourselves and don't want to socialize. It makes everything so much more fun if you are friendly with your table mates! The menu has quite the variety with regular entrees, sushi or the reason why you just sat at this table- hibachi. I chose the steak "special" hibachi for $19.95. This includes a salad with ginger dressing, miso soup, shrimp app, fried or white rice, steak and veggies. Um if you didn't notice- THATS A TON OF FOOD FOR $20!

 

 

And now the showmaster appears- . He started off with some lovely spatula tricks (which sounds lame but is actually mesmerizing)

 

Next,  the Sake in the squirt bottle, which I have never experienced before. He actually squirted sake into each of our mouths to see how long we could drink it for. This can become quite dangerous when you have egotistical men at your table (Jake) that need to beat eachother. Everyone counts the seconds to see who will win, as the  Japanese rice wine is foaming from their mouths. If that doesn't sound like fun, I don't know what does!

 

 

Now- the cooking begins! I like this part because you get your food in stages, building up to the main course. First the rice, then the shrimp, then the meat and veggies. They also give you some fun sauces to dip the meat in! YUM!

 

 

 

 

Everything was super flavorful and delicious. I was really full, but wanted to keep going (my constant inner struggle), so I brought home leftovers. This is such a fun place to go with a group of 8. It is reasonably priced, fun and the food is really good!

 

I am happy to say it looks like this place is doing pretty well since it opened! And I really hope it stays that way because it was would be really cruel to build something so magical so close to me and then rip it away! It will make me ugly cry, and no one likes an ugly crier. http://edamamenewton.com/index.html