Nakato Atlanta — Restaurant in Atlanta

WOW this restaurant is so awesome!!! I have so many wonderful things to share about it, and I just don't know where to start, so I'll start from the beginning. This was my and a dear friend's first time eating here. I had made our reservation for 4 pm, and since we live about an hour west of Atlanta and you never know how traffic will be, we got on the road before 2 pm and arrived around 3:15 pm 45 minutes before our reservation and them opening at 4. We also arrived before the valet parking staff arrived. Since the only parking they have is valet, when we saw a young lady arrive who started to enter the restaurant from the back, we assumed she was an employee asked her about where we could park until our reservation time of 4:00. She was so nice and told us we were welcome to just park in a space and wait for the valet staff to arrive. Several minutes before 4, two nice, young gentlemen arrived. They, too, told us we could stay parked where we were, and when it was time for our reservation, we could come back to their check-in area which was right there beside us. It was as simple as that.

Once we stepped inside the restaurant, we were totally mesmerized by the interior and it's charming, clean, tidy and colorful decor! The staff greeted us promptly and nicely. I asked if we could take pictures inside the restaurant, and they happily allowed us to do so. We did not have to wait long before they took us to the hibachi area.

Our hostess Martina arrived quickly. She was very welcoming and pleasant and took our drink orders. When she came back, she let us ask questions and also let us sample the sweet, iced tea to see if it was to our liking, and it went above and beyond our expectations--sweet with that delicious, strong tea flavored not watered down with very little sugar like a lot of other restaurants serve.

After finally deciding what we wanted (it was hard because everything sounded so delicious), we placed our orders. After a short while, our very friendly and funny chef Shawn (Sean--not sure how his name is spelled) came to the hibachi and entertained us from the time he arrived until he finished preparing our food. He had us laughing so hard we were about to fall out of our chairs. He made us feel like we had known each other forever. And to top it off, we learned he lives in an area not far from where we live, and even though he is from Malaysia in the Philippines, he is very familiar with a lot of other areas near us. One other thing--he has only been working at this restaurant for a month, but because he was so personable and so good at his job I had just assumed he had been there a lot longer.

Okay, now to the food--everything we had was so delicious, and we had so much food! My friend Dianne ordered the classic salmon, and I ordered lobster, and there was so much other delicious food that came with it--soup, salad, fried rice, shrimp, sauteed veggies and noodles. Shawn had us laughing so hard, I could hardly eat, but what I did eat was filling, and I had a pile of food to take home (enough for at two or three more meals).

As I'm writing this longgggggg review, I'm hoping I will be allowed to post some pics so you can see for yourself because by now, you're probably exhausted from reading it. Sorry--I can't help it--I'm long-winded.

Oh, I would like to share the reasons I chose Nakota for my friend and I to eat. I searched online reviews for so many restaurants of this type that I lost count, and the major two reasons I chose them are:

(1) They have the best reviews;

(2) Of the few reviews that were not as favorable, when responding to them, the manager was very specific and mentioned the things that did not go over well with each and every customer. This tells me the manager deeply cares about their customers. Other restaurants who had more bad reviews than good, when responding, always gave the same generic response and did not address the customers' complaints.

So, finally, there you have it. Stay tuned for my next review when, hopefully soon, I will return with two more...

I’ve dined in the main dining room previously but this review is specifically for the hibachi side.

3.5 stars: food taste 3 stars: misleading/dishonest extra fees for kids sharing plates not posted anywhere 2 stars: service style

First point: the food was fine. It was sufficient for hibachi taste, but nothing I would dream about. I would’ve come back for the food if it weren’t for the next two problems.

Second point: I am all for transparent pricing, and I am fine paying upcharges as long as they are clearly listed on the menu. Nowhere on the kids’ menu did it say that an extra $5 surcharge would be added if two kids are sharing one hibachi meal, which makes sense for us since we have little kids. When I first saw that they would allow two kids to share a meal, I asked my server about the details but he did not disclose the surcharge at that time. It was only when he was taking our order that he said it would be an extra $5. I’m fine with the upcharge for sharing but make it transparent on the menu. It was a misleading and dishonest business practice to not disclose this anywhere on the kids’ menu.

Third point: our server was polite enough when taking our order and I totally understand that they need to turn tables around quickly due to the high volume of customers, but the bus boys took my kids’ forks away that they put down for a moment while they were still eating and actually chewing food. I said they weren’t finished eating yet, and we just got a shrug but the utensils were still taken away. Also, literally 3-4 minutes after the chef finished cleaning the grill, the server arrived with to-go boxes and the check. For reference, we had a 5pm reservation so we came before the peak dinner rush. I didn’t even have time to eat 10% of my plate. This left a really bad impression. I understand the need for a quick turnaround but please do better with your service, let your customers actually eat their meals, and don’t take utensils away while customere are actively eating and chewing food. Perhaps management needs to rethink the time between reservations or make it clearly posted on the menu and website that each reservation sitting will be xx minutes, but don’t rush people out when they haven’t eaten a quarter of their meals. This and the dishonest upcharge issue are the reasons I will likely not come back to this restaurant. This was my kids’ first time at a hibachi experience and it was...

We have been coming to Nakato for three years to celebrate three birthdays that all fall in one week in July, but unfortunately this will be our last time. The first year was amazing, and after trying several hibachi restaurants around ATL this was our favorite. But then last year the food was great, but service was not. Then finally this year, it was our worst experience.

When we arrived with our party of 7 which we had a reservation for they sat another group at our table, which pushed two of our members so far over, our chef thought they were part of the other table, and forgot to serve her.

The table we sat at clearly had some stove connection issues, b/c the heat was so hot a third of the way onto the table surface it melted a crayon they gave us and a toy that my kid had brought ,and burned my hand when I moved a glass. The server we had was great, but the chef was the least interactive one we've had. He dropped one of his utensils on the floor and instead of going and getting a new one, he just squirted some alcohol on it, and wiped it off.

Then when all was said and done, after telling them what we were there celebrating (at time of making the reservation & when we sat down) they completely forgot the ice cream & singing. Now, for me... I couldn't care less, but it did make my 4 yo and 8 yo really sad, as they saw every other table celebrated.

Lastly when they brought us our bill, they charged us $5 for my kids to share a meal (which was already $21), which on the menu clearly stated up to two kids can share if under 12.

When we were leaving I asked the hostess if she could give me a card for the GM, because I felt like they should know. I made zero scene, didn't get upset with anyone. But the response I received was "ummm, we don't have one. Here is a number to the restaurant". I asked for his name, and then she said it quickly and went back to doing whatever she was doing behind the counter.

I'm not trying to be a Karen with this review at all, but when you go somewhere, and spend almost $500 between food and beverage, it was a really disappointing experience when you know it could have been so...