Karen Thai & Sushi Restaurant — Restaurant in Smyrna

Every once in a while there's a restaurant that I wish I could have given a sixth star. This is one of those places. I've eaten at many Thai and sushi places in the Nashville area, and this is as good as it gets. The ambiance is clean and pleasant. The layout is very welcoming, as are the staff. The staff were very helpful and attentive over the course of our visit. The food was fantastic! The presentation of all of the food was also gorgeous: just like you'll see in the pictures. We ordered a few different sushi rolls, all of which were marvelous. Two regular sushi rolls (one shrimp, one crab) with tempura were perfect! I was a little surprised as so often I see the tempura just on top of the sushi however the tempura was folded into the sushi here, which was a nice surprise. The temperature was just right. We also ordered one of the fried sushi rolls (crab with cream cheese) and that was just exceptional. Definitely exceeded our expectations. Like I mentioned, I've been to many Thai and sushi places in the area and this one is just superb. I had ordered the pad Thai which was also wonderful. The flavor was delicious and everything was proportioned beautifully. So it was early yet, and a bit quiet, so Karen the owner came to talk to us for a bit. She is a TREASURE. Go, eat, talk to her if you get a chance. Everyone there is very friendly and pleasant to talk to. After talking for a bit I let her know it was my son's birthday. She brought him a nice dessert of mango and sweet rice. OMG it was so scrumptious! I will order that next time for sure. Lastly, the prices here are also very reasonable. Oh and I noticed they have a decent beer selection, though I only ordered a water for this visit. Anyhow we will definitely be back to try the other dishes. I've just found my new spot for both Thai...

Karen Thai and Sushi is a small place on the corner of Sam Ridley and Weakly Road. I popped in here for a late lunch after the other sushi place would not serve me. The hours said they opened at 12 moon so when I got there they said the dining room didn’t open until three. That information was not on the door and it was not on any of their online pages that I saw. I was pretty disappointed. So I looked around to find another place nearby to get sushi. That’s what I really wanted and that’s what I was going to have. What is the listings I found with Karen Thai and Sushi. It was pretty close by and had very good reviews so I decided to give it a try. I’m very glad I did!!

I am so happy I gave it a try! Everything i ordered was very good and the people that work here are smiling and happy and eager to please. I did order too much food though and now I got a fat stomach. Well maybe I have a fat stomach most of the time but it’s a little bit fatter now. I ordered a spicy tuna roll and while it was very good it wasn’t exactly what I expected. I can’t put my finger on what was the difference other than it was spicier than I expected but it was good. I’m not complaining; it was very good and I ate every bite I ordered a bowl of miso soup. I should’ve ordered a cup because that bowl was so big that I could not finish it all and I love miso soup. I also ordered an appetizer order of tempura shrimp. I think that’s what I enjoyed the most. The shrimp was perfectly fried, big and crunchy. The sauce it came with was perfect and I absolutely enjoyed every bite of it. If you’ve got a taste for sushi and you’re in the Smyrna area I highly recommend dropping into Karen Thai and Sushi and giving it a try. I bet you won’t be...

Multiple Thai places around the Smyrna and Lavergne area so competition is fierce with this food. I liked this place and wanted to like it more. I thought it was okay. It was comfortable, clean, friendly. That was the strong points. Realize that I didn't go there for sushi, I went there for Thai food. This place may rock as a sushi restaurant, I don't know.

Drunken noodles was ok, but just too sweet and oil heavy. I couldn't taste much else but sweet oily noodles. No depth, and barely noticed the vegetables at all. You'd think that this was an easy dish but you try cooking with a wok. It's not a beginner tool and takes proper oil heat prep, portion sizes, knowledge, skill, timing and experience to get all the veggies and flavors constantly in action to culminate just at the right time without burning. If you don't know these things and play it safe then the dish served reflects that.

The red curry was just average at best, very thin and watery with over dominanation flavor of coconut milk and a not so generous portion of vegetables. Too heavy on cabbage. I managed to locate 2 mushroom pieces and 3 slices of bamboo shoots. Overall just not much care put into the final product. I made red curry at home once just to try my hand at it and mine was just as good. You want to taste real red curry, go to Chon Tong.

So I have this theory that serving sushi in a Thai restaurant makes it less authentic and creates an identity crises and the Thai food suffers. Now I'm making excuses for Karen. Maybe it should be called Karen sushi & Thai, instead? Try the Thai menu out, it's an okay Thai place that wont go off-the-rails bad for you... Or maybe just...