If you like a great show along with a sumptuous meal, you don’t necessarily have to go the dinner-and-a-movie route. It turns out that you can get both at Tepanyaki Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar in Lehi.

We stopped in on a recent Saturday evening and were impressed with the restaurant’s size and stately decor. The main dining rooms were much larger inside than what we had anticipated from the outside. The dining rooms were filled with numerous large iron griddles, typical for Japanese restaurants of this nature, most surrounded by eight chairs. Patrons are seated around the griddles, place their orders and then settle in for an hour — or so — of entertainment and eating.

Our party of three was seated at a griddle with a middle-aged couple, and a younger couple with a young child. Ours was a relatively mellow group, which enjoyed the tricks of the trade deployed by our chef — but we were no equal for the boisterous enthusiasm displayed at a few other nearby grills where patrons seemed to treat the dining experience as if they were at an English soccer match. I kept waiting for someone to break out in a chant of, “Goooooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllllll!”

Then again, maybe that’s because our table proved entirely inept at executing one of the simple Tepanyaki routines of catching shrimp — flipped from our chef’s knife blade — in our mouths. The chef went round the whole grill twice, tossing shrimp to and fro, and our total tally was a single prawn landing in its intended location. We wanted to hang our heads in shame.

Glancing over the menu at first was a bit daunting, but the choices ended up being pretty easy. As for the grilled entrees, you select between chicken, steak or seafood options, or a combination thereof. You can add Hibachi Fried Rice and Hibachi Fried Noodles for $3 more — and we highly recommend ordering the latter. The grilled options are relatively pricey, but they certainly proved delicious.

A few minutes after the orders were placed, our chef arrived at the grill with all the meat and sundry side ingredients needed to complete everyone’s choices. That’s when the fun begins. Whether it is lighting the cooking oil with an extravagant burst of flame, twirling eggs on the grill or balancing them on a spatula, flipping food through the air or igniting an onion volcano, there’s enough to keep you entertained while sipping Japanese Onion Soup and finishing off a simple house salad.

As for our grilled orders, we sampled the Chicken Teriyaki, the New York Steak and the Tepanyaki Salmon. All three were tender, full of flavor and mouth-wateringly amazing. We especially enjoyed the teriyaki sauce with the chicken, which also fully complemented the steak and salmon. The noodles were a perfect, and some might say mandatory, addition as well.

We are not huge sushi connoisseurs, but it should be pointed out that Tepanyaki also includes a full-scale sushi bar with a bevy of options and combinations.

All in all, it was a great night out at the steakhouse and we would welcome a return visit.

Tepanyaki Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar

Where: 72 N. 850 East, Lehi

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3:30-9 p.m. Sunday.

Prices: Appetizers $2.95-$9.50, entrees $13.95-$45.95, sushi bar $3.95-$26.50

Info: (801) 653-2988, www.my-tepanyaki.com