Nakato Japanese Restaurant

Not a particularly huge fan of the neighborhood it’s in, but I ate here last week and really enjoyed it. Much less costly than I thought it would be. Service was attentive and pleasant, without being annoying. Would definitely go back.

First time visitor, nice spot. Our server was nice, but I didn’t get her name. We ordered the super crunch roll, spider roll, scottish something roll and all of it was super delish! As a group the consensus was that we’d likely be back.

Omg I loved the food at Nakato. Service was a bit iffy at times because I couldn’t figure out who was my server through out the meal. Also we had to wait much longer than the time of our reservation to be seated.
But, the food. Lord, I never thought I’d find a sushi place in Atlanta I’d love. However Nakato is it. The sushi is fresh, varied, and reasonably priced.
Décor wise Nakato could use an upgrade, but if the prices stay reasonable because of the outdated décor I won’t complain.

I ordered the steak and shrimp hibachi togo and was pleased with the service received and the quality and quantity of the food. I’ll definitely go back to experience the dine-​in.

Since the early 70’s, we have enjoyed our Christmas Eve at Nakato. We started in the «old» building behind the current place. Our meal has always been great but their noodles could use a little seasoning of some kind. The fried rice is too expensive so we pass on that. We’ll always remember the time Mr. Nakato cooked for us since they were short on chefs that night.
We started our tradition before our granddaughter was born but as soon as she could sit in a high chair we took her along and started teaching her how to use the the chopsticks. Now HER daughter is along and learning the chopsticks too. We were there this past Dec. 24^th and the great granddaughter was 20 months old. She had a big time watching the «show» and trying to use the sticks. She’ll do just fine with them next time.
We had reservations for 6:00 and had to wait almost an hour! Not good with a 20 month old child! The hostess kept telling us she was waiting to seat us where we wouldn’t be too crowded. Oh my — a seat is a seat — always others at the table.
We are in our 80’s and have to have handicapped parking. Luckily, for us, a spot came open just as we were waiting for the valet. It’s a tight squeeze but somehow there needs to be more handicapped parking – only 2 spots now. Years ago, when we could walk, we would park in the back lot and walk to the restaurant. Sure can’t do that anymore.
In addition to Christmas Eve we celebrate birthdays there too. It is by far our favorite Japanese Restaurant but is a little too pricy for the old folks to go there as often as we would like. In addition, it is a «drive» for us from Stone Mountain. No, not far, for the younger folks, but wait until you are in your 80“s!
In the early 70’s, when we first started the tradition, we went to Benihanas. It was OK – no complaints. Last year (not for an occasion) we tried to go there and found it completely different — so we left and drove over to Nakato. Coincidentally, I sat next to a lady and her husband who had done the very same thing that night. No comparison. in the two restaurants. The Nakato family has done well for us all these years.

Food was pretty good. Customer service was good, the staff was friendly and accommodating. They have some strict policies with large parties so make sure everyone is present on time if you have a special occasion. Grill show was average compared to other places I’ve been to but they were nice. Overall good experience.

I am only giving Nakato 3 stars due to the amazingly bad parking/​valet. We waited about 15 minutes for the valet to get to us. The line was amazingly long. Then after our meal the valet guys misplaced our key and several others. We spent 25 minutes digging around for our own key at the valet booth. It was an unorganized tangle of keys! The valet team simply had no clue where many people’s keys were because they did not have the keys assigned to the proper valet tickets. Customers were backed up 20 – 30 deep out front waiting on cars, many unhappy wondering what the heck was going on. The valet kept bringing out random cars that no one was waiting on and then had to re-​park them. It was the biggest valet mess we had seen. They kept apologizing, which was good, but it did not help anyone get out any quicker. We will only über to this place! Everyone should find parking elsewhere or Über/​taxi here on busy nights.
The food was quite good. Miso soup, shrimp shumai, tuna and amberjack Sashimi were all good. Our sushi rolls were of good quality, served cold, and quite tasty. My only complaint would be that the rolls were wrapped in a bit too much rice. I personally thought the Japanese mushrooms was the best dish we ordered. We will definitely get them again. Every thing we ordered was reasonably priced.
We did not have hibachi. I will update the review after trying to hibachi food.
The atmosphere was nice and we found service to be quick and friendly. We will definitely come back but only via über.

This review is to set the record straight after reading many other older reviews before dining here…
Yes, the fried rice costs an additional $ 3.75 to switch it out. Ok, that stinks, but it shouldn’t be a deal breaker. It isn’t plain fried rice as someone stated previously, there are veggies and egg in it.
The vegetables that were included in the hibachi meal were onion, broccoli, AND zucchini (just like most places). This is also contradictory to a previous review.
The noodles that come with the meal were a little plain, but very good.
The miso soup was delicious and tasted just like any other hibachi restaurant.
I ordered the hibachi steak — HUGE portion of meat. Much more than I could eat.
You do have to wait for your entire party to get there before you are seated. It makes sense though. I was a part of a 29-​person party. We were seated and out of there well within an hour. Paying was a breeze.
Nice staff, attentive. Thank you!

We went to Nakato for a family outing to celebrate a special occasion. We made a reservation for 5:30 on a Saturday evening. WE as a family had a blast! The kids (3) were constantly entertained by the hibachi chef who was excellent with kids. They loved the fire spectacle and just watching the chef spin and twirl the spatula. Our chef had a plastic egg that would not crack that he landed on my son’s plate. My son was a little shocked but loved it. We will be back for an entertaining festive delicious meal at Nakato!

Even with the reservation wait & no brown rice, it still was a 4 star experience once seated!!! The food was great & the bar staff was complementary… I would recommend for a birthday, anniversary, or holiday experience… Unilocal check-​in gets bogo sushi!!!

For our first visit, I had called ahead to reserve a seat by the window with the garden view as my birthday bf is very fond Japanese gardens. After parking at an out of the way spot behind the restaurant, we had to make our way through their «garden». Now this garden didn’t have any flowers, but mostly trees, sprouts, and rocks that are purposefully placed. We’re used to seeing a small pond, but there wasn’t one here. We were seated by the garden window view as promised; however, the hour during sunset made it not an ideal spot to sit at as curtains were pulled down and we lost the garden view in order to preserve the comfort of our eyes.
Anyways, we ordered:
+Pork kakuni– best dish that night, so haute, so minuscule in portion, but so tender, it melted in our mouths
+Berkshire pork Cutlet — very crispy skin, but kinda dry
+Dragon roll and white kelp roll — we used a Unilocal deal for bogo sushi; and the white kelp one tasted 10x better than the dragon roll
For dessert, we got Green tea crème brûlée and since it was my bf’s bday, a bday candle was included with the dish.
On another visit, we came with a Groupon for 1 edamame, rainbow roll, sukiyaki hotpot, and red bean and ginger ice cream! The sushi tasted fresh as always, but we were still liking the white kelp roll much more from our previous visit. The edamame comes out warm, which is first anomaly. I was okay with it being warm, but my bf preferred it be cold instead. The sukiyaki hot pot is a first time experience for me, but not for my bf. It came a large plate of meats and vegetables. I’ve never had a sweet broth for hotpot before, and unfortunately, it became too sweet for me, so I ended up using the $ 1 egg wash to try to cover the sauce taste. My bf has had sukiyaki hotpot before and it was satisfactory in taste to him. When the ice cream dessert came out, we were familiar with the red bean flavor, but very skeptical of the ginger flavor. The ginger flavor turned out to be be surprisingly very good!
Although portions are small, their food are packed with flavor, great texture, and designed to be pleasing to the eye. The prices are steeper than what we normally pay for Japanese food, but this place is worth the special occasion.
Edit: Included the 2^nd visit experience.

Let’s start with the positive: Service was very good. We were pleasantly greeted, served, and said farewell to. We had hibachi and the chef was extra creative and energetic.
Then onto the negative: $ 3.75 extra for fried rice? That’s a LOT and the same up charge regardless of adult entrée or child. It’s half that price at other hibachi establishments. Speaking of establishment, it needs a cleaning. The hood vent was dripping grease onto a plate, the light was so covered in grease that it was dimly lit, and the Japanese style chairs we sat in were sticky to the touch.
I really wouldn’t come back mainly due to the pricing and cleanliness. Customer service is on point, I’ll give you that. But, it’s only ¹⁄₃ of what patrons look for and remember when they go out and spend $ 80+ for a meal. I hope management/​owners read this post as it can only benefit both them and future patrons.

I rarely left no tip at restaurant (may be 2 – 3 times in my life), tonight was one of them.
We had five people for dinner visiting from out of town. Sat down and server took our orders.
As we ordered our habachi dinner, the server also asked if we wanted fried rice. Thinking fried rice usually comes with, we all said yes. More on this later.
The chef came, started cooking. As I was finishing up my agadashi tofu appetizer, he was done cooking the noodles and decided to just throw it onto my plate, without acknowledging the fact that I was using the plate. And the noodles were all over my tofu!
Then he was done cooking the steak. And again, threw them onto my plate, and some flew past my plate and landed on my lap. And again, not even acknowledging that even happened! (If we weren’t with guests, I would have said something to him and the restaurant management).
The bill came, and we all found out they charged $ 3.75 extra per person for the fried rice. I am sure they had it on the menu somewhere hidden in small fonts, but $ 3.75 for a plain fried rice flavored by only soy sauce? Give me a break!
Honestly, the food was not even good. I had much better habachi at other places in town.

It’s been awhile since I’ve dined here but nothing seems to have changed as far as the good quality and quantity of food and great service. What I don’t miss is the extended wait time. There was also a little menu problem, or so we thought once we all began to order. At one point the waitress had returned to our table stating that they had run out of chicken. How does one simply run out of chicken?! People love chicken! I for one do.
After a few roundabout with the staff in the back Briana our wonderful and gracious waitress (even with the negative attitudes and nasty tones surrounding our side of the grill, managed to be professional) came back to say that there was a mix up and there was indeed chicken in the back. Great because my tastebuds were tuned up for their teriyaki chicken.
Chuck who was our chef for the night entertained us with jokes and some of the tricks he learned while training for the position to navigate the hibachi grill.
Overall an enjoyable night.

All the reviews said this was a great Japanese restaurant and it was great for slightly Americanized Japanese food. Got seated at the sushi bar and ordered a chirashi.
There were maybe only 4 selections of raw fish (salmon, tuna, octopus and himachi?) and the rest included egg, ikura, imitation crab! For $ 20 ish I guess its alright, but I really felt jipped in the fish department.
Should have gotten a clue that maybe the rolls would have better value since there was a check in offer for BOGO for the rolls.
Had constant refills of green tea though. Service came around often enough. Free valet in front. Overall ok.

For the love of sushi, this place definitely does it right. I really enjoyed my dinner here and I’ll definitely be back soon.
PARKING: If you drive up to the restaurant, they can valet your car. Or if you’re like me and don’t want to do valet, you can exit the lot, take a right at the light, and there’s a free parking lot on your right. There’s a garden path that leads you right to the restaurant!
SERVICE: Amazing! I had lovely conversations with the hostess and all the waiters and waitresses. Everyone was incredibly friendly, accommodating, and attentive. Our water was refilled quite a few times, and waiters would ask how our meal was as they would walk by. It wasn’t overbearing though, I enjoyed how attentive they were.
FOOD: They have an extensive menu. You can do sushi, noodles, or other food from the kitchen or you can do hibachi. I went with the chirashi bowl, which is always one of my favorites at sushi restaurants. It comes with a miso soup. All of the fish was very fresh and I enjoyed it all. It comes with eel too, which some places don’t. My friends got the Nabeyaki Udon, Rock and Roll (eel avocado roll), bagel roll, and fried rice. We all shared the spicy tuna roll — NOTE: if you check in on Unilocal,you get a BOGO sushi roll! We were all very satisfied with our meals. The udon soup was very tasty and comes with a lot of veggies and tempura.
OVERALL: The ambiance is great. It’s a nice restaurant either to go with friends or for date night. It’s casual with an edge of modern and classy, which I loved. I can’t wait to come back!

It’s really hard to beat the happy hour deal of $ 15 for FIVE (small) plates and a cocktail (even if I don’t drink). This was a great experience to try new items. I was so excited to see what will come out next. The pacing of bringing the food out was just right.
Seafood roll. Yes, it was a WHOLE roll with 8 pieces. It was generous with different types of seafood.
Spicy yellowtail roll. It was adequately and satisfactory spicy. This is good value.
Goma ae. Eating healthy feels and tastes good. There was a generous amount of spinach.
Seared white tuna. Nothing to write home about.
Salmon skin salad. The ginger dressing is separate so you are in control of how much you put in your salad. Salmon skin was scarce but good. This salad was fresh and the salmon skin was the cherry on top.
Gyoza. Very good. Skin has the right amount of chewy consistency.
Slowly cooked pork. It was a bit dry but roll it around the sauce for maximum flavor.
Panko shrimp. It was done right.
Ume shiso roll. Even though the overwhelming (plum?) flavor was too much for me, I was still distracted by the fishy seaweed paper. I don’t know how this can be improved.
Calamari tempura. It was ok.
I sipped on the cocktails and both tasted like medicine to my amateur drinking taste buds.
Service is friendly and competent.
Free parking is on the Piedmont side of the restaurant but there’s valet parking on the Chesire Bridge side, too.

I came here for dinner with my boyfriend on a Sunday night. You are forced to valet park so there was a line waiting for the valet.
This restaurant splits into two side, one is for teppanyaki and one is for the traditional dining (if you want sushi roles, tempura, etc.). Most people were waiting to be seated at the teppanyaki side so we were seated immediately since we just wanted the regular stuff.
You should check in on Unilocal and get BOGO sushi roll! You can do either a specialty sushi roll with a regular roll or two regular rolls. I ended getting the specialty roll with soft shelled crab and the rainbow roll. We also ordered the Chirashi. Everything was great! The chirashi comes out super pretty and there’s two pieces of almost everything (eel, salmon, tuna, egg, etc.) so it’s good for sharing between two people. The staff here were friendly and food was decent. Hope to come back here again!

Nakato continues to be my favorite Hibachi restaurant in Atlanta. I’ve never been a fan of Benihana, it seems too commercial and unauthentic in flavor but Nakato always hits the spot. Always make reservations, especially on weekends.
The first course of Soup with Mushroom and Ginger Salad tastes so fresh and prepares your palate for the filling dinner that you’re about to inhale. I’ve seen the show so many times that I could probably perform it myself if I wanted to, but the waiters at Nakato always add their own twist. After the signature fire starter, the Chef prepares the fried rice (YUM, Extra please?), vegetables and noodles! One of the best things about Nakato is that in addition to the standard Hibachi menu Nakato provides noodles with every Hibachi entrée. Beware of miscalculations because Nakato does add an extra $ 3.75 to their menu listed prices for friend rice instead of steamed rice.
I typically always go with Teryaki Chicken which never fails me. Always great flavor and fresh! My boyfriend tried the Shrimp and Steak which he thoroughly enjoyed. We always intend to save room to take some for leftovers but end up over indulging and having to roll each other out of the restaurant with no regrets.

Friday night plan — lay low with one of my girls and recharge after a difficult month. A day of reservation on OpenTable offered late dining options, so I called the restaurant and they fit us in at an earlier time for the sushi side of the house. Complimentary valet and nice touches from the start…“enjoy your meal” he says before driving off with my car. We’re guided to a spacious table near the window and settle in to the dimly lit dining room. The atmosphere was tranquil with the occasional birthday celebration and song.
I can eat tofu all ways. Agedashi tofu to start, lightly fried with ground radish and scallions in a tempura sauce. Next up: Dragon Roll (amaebi or shrimp tempura on the inside and eel/​sauce on the outside) and a White Kelp Roll (soft shell crab inside covered in white kelp). Gentle and fresh flavors with both rolls, and don’t overlook the fried shrimp heads on the plate. Crunch Crunch. My friend rounded out her meal with Chilean sea bass and mushrooms in a seaweed broth with ponzu sauce, served mini hot pot style over a flame. Hot Tea, Wine and a BOGO sushi offer on Unilocal.
Good night, guaranteed return.