Nakato Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Pineville

A FES up with Liz...

F(ood): very standard Japanese hibachi fare. The soup much tastier than others with more sustenance in form of fried(?) onions. Salad on the watery side but this typical I've found in these spots and ginger dressing good. I like that they provide noodles and rice- I mean if I'm going to engorge I go all out. Good flavor for both. Glaze a bit much on chicken but steak cooked to appropriate request and yummy shrimp. Sauces - shrimp and steak both good. This food was good - not salivating by any means.

E(nvironment)- I like the darker aspect of lighting and that the sushi bar with the floating boats right at entrance. Appropriate decor.

S(ervice)- Greeted with a genuine smile and immediately sat. Granted we were the 5pmers on a Friday (#parentlife). Our server was wonderful and friendly to the kids (not always the case). Went out of way to meet our needs (extra forks, cleaning rice explosion from toddler, etc). Only somewhat negative was that the chef did less 'tricks' than I've experience elsewhere- no catching of the shrimp, beating rice heart, juggling, peeing boy water object. I wouldn't have cared except my kids first experience and we only got the fire onion and egg shells in the hat. Mr. True and I split our dinners with the kids. ...

Typically this is one of our favorite places to eat. We made a reservation for my husband’s birthday. When we arrived, a very rude hostess informed me our reservation had not been recorded and that I should have remembered who I talked to, because they always give their names on the phone. I asked if we could be accommodated, and she said I could talk to a manager- to stand by the bar. I told her indeed I wanted to speak with a manager. After about 10 minutes I asked the bar tender to please get the manager for me. He checked and came back and told me the manager was busy in the back and would come up when he could. We got called to go to a table (thankfully) and the bartender told me he would ask the manager to come to my table. Fast forward, that never happened. The food was also lacking, my chicken was chewy and I didn’t eat it. My husband ordered filet. When the cook cut up what I know for a fact was a NY strip and placed it on his plate, I told him he ordered filet. He claimed it was filet, and at this point I was just done. But then he finished cooking what was a filet, placed it in a rice bowl, and put it on the bottom of his cart!! I can honestly say I doubt we will go back to this location. If the manager doesn’t even care to address issues, I do not foresee...

They go strictly by reservation and door stays locked until your time. Not a problem for our family as we waited in our car. As the door unlocked our family was greeted by a friendly young woman. After being seated we were asked if we wanted drinks. I would not say the waitress was rude but more robot like through dinner with her questions and answers. She shuffled from table to table in a busy manner. You watch the chef assigned to your table cook your food on a grill. As he fired up the grill he was only slightly entertaining. A few minutes after being served salad the waitress came and asked if we were finished. I could tell they needed to keep us moving to our next course. No complaints with the food other then the only rice offered was white or fried which is made before you with white rice and egg. I prefer brown but ate the white. The meat was cooked well. Sodium content high as they add salt and soy sauce as the food is grilled. Do expect to drink lots of water the remainder of the night. I would say this is a good one time experience for children and adults. You hear music playing lightly in the background as you hear laughter and tools hitting on the grill throughout the room to...