Naru Restaurant — Restaurant in Franklin Lakes

The menu is far more varied than most small Japanese restaurants in the area - a lot of places are like, here's the sushi, and then here's a few random teriyaki and tempura dishes. But Naru is going for a real "triple threat" here - they've got the sushi bar, they have a hibachi section... so you might think anything else would be neglected in favor of those flashier options, but they don't slack off at all in the "kitchen entrees" section of the menu.

It's great to have a place nearby that makes a lot of simple standards of hearty Japanese food, like gyu don, katsu curry, yaki udon, which are often overlooked. And don't miss a few other entree options that are listed in the sushi section - there are sashimi rice bowls, but also, my personal favorite: unagi don, grilled eel over rice, with that particular Japanese sauce that was made just for grilled eel. I feel like it's overlooked by a lot of people, but I highly recommend giving it a try.

The presentation isn't lacking on these items, either, with simple, attractive tableware (though the udon soups come in a big pot) and an eye towards how everything is arranged on your plate. The whole restaurant has a relaxing look, with dark, modern decor - but the atmosphere won't be so relaxing if the hibachi section is busy. On this Saturday night, the place was LOUD, with most of the tables full, and several families with children who were very excited by the hibachi service. There were some slight delays in service, but nothing I'd consider a big deal. Still, if you expect every restaurant to be perfect, politely quiet and running like clockwork, you might want to calm down and resolve not to be a jerk to the waitstaff before coming here.

Back to the food... the appetizers are excellent, based on what I've sampled. You definitely get your money's worth with the grilled scallops, sea scallops perfectly seared. The beef kushiyaki skewers surprised me, with attention clearly being paid to what cuts of beef would be most pleasing in these small pieces (unlike more haphazard izakaya-style offerings).

There's also a few dessert options - ice cream mochi and ice cream tempura, with vanilla or green tea ice cream. The mochi is just as you'd expect if you're a fan. The breading on the ice cream tempura is excellent, thick and sweet and perfectly browned, but perhaps it's too thick - even with the ice cream pretty well frozen in there, it's quite difficult to cut this softball-sized confection cleanly. If you don't mind ending up with a "deconstructed" bowl of chunks of dessert tempura stuck in a bunch of ice cream, just go wild and smash it instead of...

This menu is extensive! I really appreciated the pictures and clear descriptions of each roll. We ordered the fantastic roll, the shooting star, the route 208 roll, the hearthwood and the Franklin. The waitress pointed out the 5 roll special which saved us a few dollars. The rolls were really tasty, warm rice, and generally very well put together. My only complaint is they did not really stay together when we picked them up. The rolls themselves were very good, however when you pick up the sushi, the ingredients were too heavy and fell out. Fairly priced , and fresh ingredients. I would to try the hibachi, and more rolls. I would recommend Naru!

UPDATE: 12/27/2022 we went for hibachi. It is a world of a difference from the sushi side. I will keep the four stars for Naru because the sushi is really that good. The hibachi side only would be a lower rating. The food…. Not great. The chef was entertaining and very nice. However, nothing was prepared to our requests in terms of meat ( medium vs well done) , we were asked, and confirmed but we all got the same level of readiness for the steak. The rice was on the crunchier side and a bit dry. The vegetables were great. The noodles were a bit boring. Overall the hibachi was just okay. I will be back at Naru for...

Our experience was highly disappointing. To start there is nowhere advertised that this is a BYOB restaurant. After sitting down we felt very rushed right off the bat. The staff was running around and by running, I mean actually tripping and falling because of it. A waitress dropped a whole stack of menus on our table cause of soy sauce, utensils, and our appetizers to go flying and never came back to help clean up the mess they created. Finally we were asked to leave after an hour and a half of sitting at the table because they needed it for another reservation. We spent over $100 in food alone so I hardly felt it was appropriate to kick us out after already such a poor experience. As a former waitress and recent college grad I constantly try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I’ve never been treated this poorly in an environment where I’m paying to be a guest. Not to mention it’s the worst Hibachi I’ve ever tasted in my life. No flavor at all. Will not be back. To top it off we witnessed a full plate of food being taken off of the table next to us and when the customer exclaimed “wait wait!!” the employees just continued on and threw it in the garbage. No doubt that was good money down the drain and by no faulted of...