Yamato

Hands down the best place in town. The salad dressing is to die for. Literally. Like I would kill for this stuff. (Jk) But seriously, this place is amazing. I come as often as I can. I usually order the hibachi chicken, but sometimes I get the orange chicken. Both are good. And I’ve tried the chicken sticks and shrimp dumplings off the appetizers, and they’re good too. I’ve gotten a noodle hibachi chicken type thing before– I forgot what it’s called but it’s basically just chicken and noodles– and it is really good too, but sometimes the sesame seeds get stuck in my teeth because I have braces, but it’s totally worth it.

Very unassuming from the outside. But the atmosphere and food are wonderful. I do prefer when they cook in front of you but the closest place that does that is over an hour away.

My fiancé and I ate here this Friday night after I had recommended it to him, because when I had been here with friends a few months ago, I had a great experience. I don’t know what happened this visit. It was pretty busy when we walked in but then several big parties left soon after we sat down. My fiancé has a gluten allergy, and so when our server, Angel, took our orders, he asked her specifically if the spicy tuna roll he wanted would have tempura flakes, which contain gluten. Instead of doublechecking with the kitchen, she told him it did not and we should be fine. We then waited… and waited… and waited… with no reassurance from Angel of when our food would arrive. We finally got our sushi, and my fiancé looks at the spicy tuna roll and it has tempura flakes in it. Our waitress at first denied it, and then didn’t even apologize for her slight. While the remaining food was delicious, the slow service, lack of attention, and the blatant disregard to allergy sensitivities was inexcusable. The restaurant made no gesture to give us a discount on our meal or anything remotely like an apology on behalf of the management. Being in customer service myself, I could think of several better ways this could have been handled. We will not be going back.

Lazy service and very small portions. There were only two people in the restaurant for lunch today, including myself and it still took 25 min for my filet hibachi to reach my table, cooked at medium rare! And don’t bother ordering the salad. It comes in a tiny dish and you get 3 bites at best. Unfortunately there aren’t many hibachi options around here. I won’t be back.

We finally tried Yamato after ignoring it for a long time. Wow! We were pleasantly surprised with the quality. We usually drive an hour when we want hibachi or sushi. This has quickly become one of our favorite local restaurants. I love sushi /​sashimi, although I am definitely not a sushi snob, I have enjoyed Yamato every time. My wife loves the vegetable fried rice as well. This location is small and intimate, but it is usually un crowded. Don’t let that deceive you, many locals either have not discovered it or are afraid to venture away from the standard Mexican, Steakhouse, or Chinese.

I have driven by this place several times and finally gave it a try. It was clean, the staff was very pleasant, food was yummy. The edamame was perfect then i had bento chicken teriyaki. It comes with rice, sushi and an egg roll. I will definitely go back. Try it out!

Drove by Decherd on a recent trip and decided to try this Japanese spot. Definitely blew away my expectations. Had the hibachi steak and it was better than most I’ve had in the past. Gf got the sushi and had no complaints. Will definitely drop by again if we’re ever around the area.

Stopped by for a quick lunch but had a hard time finding something I like. Their maki selection is very small and all the rolls vary very little from one to the next. Most are either tempura, fried, or a combination of spicy tuna/​salmon. I ended up ordering their 10 pieces sashimi lunch and it was decent. It came with 3 pieces of salmon, 3 pieces of tuna, 2 pieces of white tuna, shrimp and crab stick. The presentation is nice… I was surprised to see the sushi rice come in the form of onigiri!

I’ve eaten at Yamato twice and have had a nice experience both times. The hibachi steak was well cooked and tasty both times and hubby said he enjoyed his hibachi shrimp. I was utterly shocked the second time when we went to eat with my extremely picky eight year old because he actually liked and ate his orange chicken. I tried a bit as well and thought it was quite good. My only complaint is that the veggies that come with the hibachi meals tend to be a bit overcooked and I’d prefer if it was just zucchini and onions instead of having other things like broccoli included.

As someone who frequently dines on Japanese food, I was rather impressed with this little restaurant. The size of their menu rivals larger Japanese restaurants. Yamato’s has a nice little sushi menu and great bento box lunches. Their lunch menu is a particularly good deal, with large portions of good food for a low price. Everything I have ever ordered here has been quite yummy, and I have never felt that I over paid for a meal here. The restaurant as a whole has always been quite clean, from their dishware to their tables and especially their restroom. My only complaint about this restaurant is that the service can sometimes be a bit lacking. For instance, there have been several occasions in which I have ordered soup with a meal and never received it. While the wait staff has been great to try and correct the problem by removing the soup from my bill, it’s a little frustrating to order something and never get it. Other than that, Yamato’s is a good little restaurant with yummy, moderately priced food.

I would like to thank Yamato for providing us with a truly dreadful dining experience from start to finish.
Maybe because we’ve lived in cities and have eaten great Japanese food, our expectations for the fare in our new small-​town home were too high. Regardless, at least two of the things I’m about to tell you are unforgivable no matter where you’re eating.
Unforgivable occurrence No. 1: We ordered glasses with our beers. When the glasses came (unchilled, by the way), mine had lipstick residue all over the rim. After waiting several minutes for our server to come to the table so I could tell her, I carried the glass to the front of the restaurant, where the hostess approached me. I explained the problem and – AFTER DEBATING WHETHER IT WAS LIPSTICK OR MERELY FINGERPRINTS (she said fingerprints) – she went into the kitchen to get me another glass. My server emerged from the kitchen with the new glass, which I inspected immediately. This one clearly had greasy fingerprints all over it, including all over the rim. So I guess at the end of the day the hostess and I were both right – LIPSTICK AND FINGERPRINTS! Needless to say, I opted to drink my beer from the bottle.
Unforgivable occurrence No. 2: We ordered a tempura-​breaded appetizer from the menu. Tempura batter is supposed to be crisp and cooked through. When our item arrived, it was doughy, soggy, soft, and disgusting. It was obvious that it simply hadn’t been fried long enough… by a long shot. Vegetable and shrimp tempura are Japanese staples. I’ve gotten awesome tempura at some pretty bad Japanese restaurants; In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had horrific tempura until now. Getting underdone tempura at a Japanese restaurant is like getting a pile of raw julienned potatoes at a restaurant called French Fry Factory… or even McDonald’s. If anyone has been plagued with the question of whether thick, undercooked tempura would be disgusting (I wasn’t plagued with this question, for the record), the answer is a resounding YES, it’s inedible.
Aside from these things, the food was also generally bad (teriyaki chicken tasted more like black pepper than teriyaki, rice on sushi rolls was undercooked, and don’t even ask about the «Yum Yum sauce» (yes, I’m serious)). The service was a joke, and our server’s inexperience manifested itself in every aspect of the meal, from her lack of base knowledge about the menu and Japanese food in general to the order she brought our dishes (our soggy tempura appetizer arrived LAST, after our entrees) to general confusion about common aspects of food service.
If you’re a masochist and think you deserve only the worst, go to Yamato. If there’s someone in your life who you hate a lot, send them to Yamato. All others steer clear of this choose your own adventure of misery.