Hokkaibo Japanese Steak House

 4217 Crossings Blvd

Prince George, VA 23875

            A couple of months ago a new restaurant opened in the Crossings Shopping Center in Prince George. In an extremely ballsy move, Hokkaibo Japanese Steak House opened directly across from long time Japanese hibachi steakhouse, Kanpai.  Because of its location in the shopping center I really didn’t expect too much from Hokkaibo but stepping inside I was actually blown away. The place has been transformed into a very nice Japanese restaurant with Asian decor and beautiful wood walls.  It was extremely clean and welcoming.

Unlike Kanpai, Hokkaibo has an extensive sushi dishes and very reasonabll priced lunch and dinner entrees for times when you don’t feel like spending the time or money on a sit down hibachi “show”.  I believe that this is where Hokkaibo will make most of its money. Amanda and I decided to go with the bento box. For under $9 you get your choice of meat, sushi, fried rice, fried vegetables, soup and a salad.  What a deal. I chose teriyaki chicken with a tuna roll. 

As soon was we ordered we were brought our soup and salad. I’m not in love with miso soup but it was cold outside and it definitely warmed me up and it was actually pretty good for miso soup.  The salad, while simple, was very good mainly because of the delicious Japanese salad dressing on it.  Not long after we finished our soup and salad our bento boxes arrived. I had a good amount of chicken and rice, a couple fried vegetables and 2 pieces of sushi. I put the teriyaki chicken and mixed it up with the rice. The rice was very good, extremely fresh and flavorful. The chicken was cooked well but the teriyaki sauce was not my favorite in the world. I was not bad by any means it just did not have the flavor that other teriyaki sauces I’ve tried had.  Tempura fried vegetables are always delicious; there is nothing like a deep fried slice of sweet potato. The sushi was a little plain but I asked for some eel sauce and that really brought out the flavor.

Overall, I really enjoyed Hokkaibo. I don’t know how its hibachi compares to Kanpai, all I know is that their prices are very similar which means neither of them can hold a stick to Hibachi Ichiban in Chester (still one of the best restaurants I’ve reviewed).  I feel that where Hokkaibo shines is lunch. It is quick, decently priced and tasty.  It is very similar to Seol Fusion in Petersburg but it looks much cleaner and more inviting.