I was so happy when my friend told me she wanted to take the drive from northern Palm Beach County to my new home in Broward County to take me out to dinner for my birthday. Now all we had to do was find a great place to eat. I'm new in town and haven't had a chance to try out the local eateries.

My friend wanted me to choose something I love but haven't had in a long time. After some deliberation, we settled on Japanese hibachi, or teppanyaki. She found Japan Inn's two locations on line; we decided to meet at the one in Plantation.

The great thing about good friends is that it doesn’t matter where you go or what you do; you always have a great time in good company. But good company at a good restaurant is hard to beat, and that is exactly what we had at Japan Inn.

Of course, the anxiety of hibachi is this. Will we have good table neighbors? Hibachi is often advertised as "dinner and a show," but it is always best if you share it with fun people. On this particular night we got the best table ever. Our table mates were two young couples who cheered for everything as it went on the grill (even the butter) and asked us to do a sake bomb with them. Now, I don't care for either beer or sake, but the sake bomb was crazy fun!

Our chef was terrific, and the food was wonderful. Everything was fresh and plentiful. The service was good, and the atmosphere managed to be both urban chic and relaxed at the same time. I've enjoyed a number of hibachi restaurants up and down the East Coast; Japan Inn is one of the best.