Nakato Express — Restaurant in Cary

Nakato Express is an absolute gem of Japanese cuisine in Cary. My boyfriend and I stopped here on a whim while passing by playing Pokémon GO.

When we entered and we both were blown away by the decor. The dining area was clean, organized, and looked amazing. Plants, statues, and a torii gate pulls the space together in a way only Japanese decorations can.

We ordered the steak and shrimp soba, chicken and steak hibachi, an order of steamed dumplings, a side of fried rice (I was rather hungry), and finally two bottled soft drinks. They have a fountain drink machine, but that was out of service when we came. Had they not had other drink options, this would have been worse, but they provide bottled and canned drinks as well.

The dumplings were amazing! They came with a side sauce that had a kick to it. I personally am not fond of spicy anything, but the sauce was great. The chicken was great, well cooked and seasoned, and the chicken didn't taste dry at all. The steak was perfectly marinated and cooked, just the way steak should be for a Japanese dish. The shrimp was phenomenal and well cooked and seasoned as well. My only complaint with the food is that the sauce the soba was cooked in got overwhelming near the end. A minor complaint when you consider the serving size to price. And I almost forgot, we dined in, and the woman behind the counter came and brought us our food to the table. I was not expecting that at all. A very pleasant surprise!

Overall, Nakato Express is the perfect place for high-quality Japanese food on a budget. We spent about $40 between the two of us, and that's with one super hungry person.

Thank you for an amazing experience! We can't wait...

The wife stopped there last night and spent almost a half hour waiting for 2 hibachi dinners. Tasteless, tasteless, tasteless!! There must not have been any seasonings on the chicken, shrimp or veggies whatsoever. The food was also extremely dry and the sauces were terrible. Couldn't even dip it to make it taste better. Then I ordered fried rice, which is also tasteless. Looks like their version is just some white rice with a little brown food coloring sprinkled in. No soy sauce, no veggies, no salt, nothing. Yuck. Horrible food. I wouldn't go there again. Reading the reviews below I have no idea how you guys could think this crap is actually good?? Y'all need to go have some real Japanese hibachi. Go over to Red Bowl, their food is more expensive but it's night and day. I'll also add that the wife mentioned they were really strict about how much of their crappy sauce you're allowed to take. They can...

Upon entrance I had high expectations for this place. Unfortunately I was let down.

I ordered the ginger salad w/ entree as steak and chicken hibachi, maybe I should have tried the Sushi???

The Hibachi was very bland and the salad was one of the worst I've ever had from a Japanese restaurant. The ginger dressing was milky, seemingly watered down and it had an extra little sweet aftertaste. I like my Ginger to have a little kick, this one was very disappointing.

The cashier was nice but it seemed to be painful for him. I felt he was being nice just because I was, as with my every sentence I received a 'bare minimum' response.

They also had a large sign up above the counter that read the amounts of their sauce you are allowed to take per order size. Maybe if the food wasnt so bland, people wouldn't need as much sauce...