Sushi at Nakato

Friday evening, I tell Justin that I want sushi for supper. When I get to the house, we immediately leave and drive to RuSan's. They are packed! The atmosphere is fine, but they were so crowded and the service isn't always good. We ordered, quickly ate, and left. The food was good, but Justin has been telling me for a while that he wants me to try some "good" sushi.

Saturday evening, I ask Justin if he's up for sushi again and he says he is. He wants to try a different restaurant. I'm a little hesitant, but eventually agree.

We head to Nakato on Cheshire Bridge Road. Note: their main parking lot is valet only (free, but you are expected to tip), however, they have another lot around the corner on Monroe that is self park. We parked in the self park lot and walked to the entrance through the Japanese garden. After experiencing that, I can't imagine why anyone would want to miss that little treat.

We entered and were seated at a table in the sushi bar. Their sushi menu wasn't as large as RuSan's, but I did find some rolls that were appealing. Their prices were a little higher, too. We ordered and waited for our food.

The rolls started arriving in pairs within a few minutes. My first one was an asparagus roll. It was a cooked piece of asparagus, drizzled with some kind of spicy sauce, wrapped in rice, and then wrapped in Nori. Justin's first roll was something with tuna, I think.

My second one was Shrimp 101. I can assure you it was VERY delicious. It was a piece of tempura fried shrimp drizzled with Japanese aioli, wrapped in a Shiso leaf, and then wrapped in rice. My mouth is watering. I stopped paying attention to Justin's rolls at this point.

My third and final roll was a King Shrimp Roll. It was similar to the Shrimp 101 Roll. Heaven on a plate! I think I could have eaten 10 of those rolls. It was a piece of shrimp tempura with avacado wrapped in rice and then drizzled with a spicy aioli sauce and dusted with sesame seeds. Yumm-o!

If you haven't tried good sushi, you don't know what you are missing. It is wonderful! Please do yourself a favor and try some. Nakato also has a hibachi menu and hibachi grills. Since we didn't order from this menu, we have no idea what that food is like. The valet parking lot was full and there were only 3 people in the sushi section, so I'm assuming the other people were at the hibachi grills.

The atmosphere of this restaurant was so relaxing. The ceilings were tall and the decor was somewhat simple and minimal. We were fortunate enough to sit near a large window that overlooked the Japanese garden. Fabulous!

Justin and I highly recommend this restaurant. Like I said, it is a little pricy. We paid $38 before tip, but it was well worth every penny.