Nakato

Inspirational Thoughts By Maxine Billings

WOW this restaurant is so awesome!!! I have so many wonderful things to share about it, and I just don't know where to start, so I'll start from the beginning. This was my and a dear friend's first time eating here. I had made our reservation for 4 pm, and since we live about an hour west of Atlanta and you never know how traffic will be, we got on the road before 2 pm and arrived around 3:15 pm 45 minutes before our reservation and them opening at 4. We also arrived before the valet parking staff arrived. Since the only parking they have is valet, when we saw a young lady arrive who started to enter the restaurant from the back, we assumed she was an employee asked her about where we could park until our reservation time of 4:00. She was so nice and told us we were welcome to just park in a space and wait for the valet staff to arrive. Several minutes before 4, two nice, young gentlemen arrived. They, too, told us we could stay parked where we were, and when it was time for our reservation, we could come back to their check-in area which was right there beside us. It was as simple as that. Once we stepped inside the restaurant, we were totally mesmerized by the interior and it's charming, clean, tidy and colorful decor! The staff greeted us promptly and nicely. I asked if we could take pictures inside the restaurant, and they happily allowed us to do so. We did not have to wait long before they took us to the hibachi area. Our hostess Martina arrived quickly. She was very welcoming and pleasant and took our drink orders. When she came back, she let us ask questions and also let us sample the sweet, iced tea to see if it was to our liking, and it went above and beyond our expectations--sweet with that delicious, strong tea flavored not watered down with very little sugar like a lot of other restaurants serve. After finally deciding what we wanted (it was hard because everything sounded so delicious), we placed our orders. After a short while, our very friendly and funny chef Shawn (Sean--not sure how his name is spelled) came to the hibachi and entertained us from the time he arrived until he finished preparing our food. He had us laughing so hard we were about to fall out of our chairs. He made us feel like we had known each other forever. And to top it off, we learned he lives in an area not far from where we live, and even though he is from Malaysia in the Philippines, he is very familiar with a lot of other areas near us. One other thing--he has only been working at this restaurant for a month, but because he was so personable and so good at his job I had just assumed he had been there a lot longer. Okay, now to the food--everything we had was so delicious, and we had so much food! My friend Dianne ordered the classic salmon, and I ordered lobster, and there was so much other delicious food that came with it--soup, salad, fried rice, shrimp, sauteed veggies and noodles. Shawn had us laughing so hard, I could hardly eat, but what I did eat was filling, and I had a pile of food to take home (enough for at two or three more meals). As I'm writing this longgggggg review, I'm hoping I will be allowed to post some pics so you can see for yourself because by now, you're probably exhausted from reading it. Sorry--I can't help it--I'm long-winded. Oh, I would like to share the reasons I chose Nakota for my friend and I to eat. I searched online reviews for so many restaurants of this type that I lost count, and the major two reasons I chose them are: (1) They have the best reviews; (2) Of the few reviews that were not as favorable, when responding to them, the manager was very specific and mentioned the things that did not go over well with each and every customer. This tells me the manager deeply cares about their customers. Other restaurants who had more bad reviews than good, when responding, always gave the same generic response and did not address the customers' complaints. So, finally, there you have it. Stay tuned for my next review when, hopefully soon, I will return with two more of my friends.

Marissa Plaza

Delicious! Loved our chef and everything was perfect! I recommend to make a reservation because it gets busy! Annd try to get the room with the lower tables, such an amazing experience!

Haley Masenthin

Great atmosphere, fantastic food, and one of the best espresso martinis that I've had in a minute. Service brought the bill a little early but, once we expressed that we wanted to stay for drinks and dessert, they gave us a little more space. Definitely want to come back soon.

Q C

Date night with the wife. This was a first time for us. Food was amazing. Waitress was amazing very attentive. The atmosphere was inviting and pleasant. I was expecting a little more upscale furnishing.