Emma's Asian 1 — Restaurant in Morristown

We decided to try Emma’s Asian 1 Restaurant in Morristown after seeing lots of positive online sushi reviews, but our experience was a bit of a mixed bag.

It started with a scary moment when we ordered our drinks. I had the pink lemonade (which was good), and my partner ordered hot tea. The presentation was lovely, they brought a mini tea kettle for him to pour his tea himself. However, when he poured the tea into the provided plastic cup, it cracked down the middle and spilled hot tea everywhere! Thankfully, nothing got on him, but it did make a mess on the booth and floor. The server was super attentive and quickly cleaned it up, bringing a new cup, but I’d definitely suggest checking the age of the cups or maybe simmering the tea down to avoid this. Honestly, it felt like something out of a cartoon!

As a sushi lover, I had to try it. I got the shrimp tempura roll ($6.99 for 5 pieces), which had shrimp, avocado, and spicy mayo. It was decent, but the rice was overcooked and mushy, as you can see in the pictures. For the price, it wasn’t the best sushi I’ve had, especially when you break it down to about $1.40 per piece.

We also ordered entrees, steak hibachi ($12.99) and chicken hibachi ($11.99), both served with rice, veggies, and an egg roll. The egg rolls were full of veggies and were solid. The steak was cooked medium well, and my partner really enjoyed it. My chicken hibachi was alright, but we both noticed something with the rice. There were rice balls that made us think it was reheated rather than freshly made. The portions were generous, though, and we both had to take leftovers home.

Overall, Emma’s A1 Asian Restaurant has potential, but there were a few bumps in the road during our visit. The food was good, but there’s room for improvement in terms of quality and consistency. In total we spent $41 for...

Atmosphere Bright, vibrant, and calm. Decor is modern. While it was a somewhat busy time there were plenty of seating. It was lunch time so things were picking up, however, all seemed to be working like a well oiled machine. It speaks volumes of the management.

Food house fried rice I ordered the house fried rice (large) without the shrimp. I have to say it was delicious! The meat was cooked to perfection, seasoning was perfect! Vegetables were perfectly cooked. The only critique is subjective and based on my own palette desire. It is simply that I wanted a touch more of flavor, and the onions to be just slightly more caramelized. All in all though, it was PERFECT! Honestly, I would pay double the price for fried rice this good! I would double check to see if the soy sauce is gluten free.

Spring rolls These too were delicious! I know I am not suppose to eat gluten but I went for it! Let’s just say I am glad that I did! Spring rolls were hot and fresh. If I am not mistaken they are made by hand as well. The outside was just the right amount of crisp, not too greasy and flavorful! The veggies inside were tenderly cooked and felt like it melted in your mouth.

Cleanliness Overall the restaurant is very well maintained and not only looks clean, but is clean. Bathroom was clean as well. I’d give it a 9/10 for cleanliness.

Staff Very friendly, as I walked in the door I was greeted and seated. Staff checked in on me periodically. I saw that the other patrons were also being well...

Nothing was wrong or bad about the service, and in the short time I was there picking up the takeout, the place looked nice enough and the cashier was nice so I left a tip even though it was takeout.

The food though, something was off. Maybe it is because I went at 3pm on a Wednesday, I dont know.

The fried rice was really chewy, clumpy, sort off off white, with no discernible taste beyond a slight chemical tang.

The crab rangoon was thick and chewy, very hard to eat and chew. The filling was good but I could not get over the outside.

The hot and sour soup was pretty good though it was 99% liquid with maybe 3 strings of cabbage or tofu or other things.

The lo mein was passable but again I kept tasting some odd chemical type taste. It wasn't sesame seed oil or msg or oyster sauce, nor was it a soy sauce flavor. Idk what it was.

I can't think of the name of the other thing I got, but it was alright. It had a bunch of kind of chewy chicken, beef, and veggies with extremely light flavor.

I'm sure half of this is due to the delicate palate some of my fellow Tennesseans have leading them to complain that the food is too salty, but in my case it came off as really bland, oddly chemical, and just kind of off.

I see it has potential and a lot of good reviews so maybe like I said I caught it at a bad time so I'll come another day and give it another shot during dinner to be fair.

Take this with a grain of salt as it was my first and only experience and taste...