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    NAO Japanese Grill

    2.9 (209 reviews)
    ModerateJapanese, Sushi Bars
    Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

    NAO Japanese Grill Photos

    Business Info

    NAO JAPANESE GRILL ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Classy
    Outdoor seating

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    Hibachi

    Hibachi was so rich in flavor!!! Steak and salmon 10/10. Big portions! Stephanie was very welcoming and attentive since the moment we walked in. You will not be disappointed.

    Although the restaurant was empty and the sushi menus weren't available. The food was absolutely extraordinary and the service was amazing! The lady at the front is very nice. I definitely think this place is worth it.

    menus on the wall
    Donald P.

    Just keep driving on. This place is a hard pass. 40 minutes of waiting from the time I got in line, to receiving our food. This is not even close to being fast food. I have NO IDEA why anyone would utilize the drive-thru. Other customers waiting for their food were growing vocally impatient. And also....no one wearing a mask except for a little girl. Chicken Katsu ($14) was not too bad, but not great either. There was way too much rice. The veggies were limp and overcooked. The hibachi entrees were very similar. Overloaded with rice, very little protein, and mushy veggies. The carrots were so sweet, they tasted like yams! If you must come here, get the kids meal ($6). With all the rice they give you, it's good enough for an adults except for the lack of protein.

    Nao Japanese Grill

    They should change the name to Nao Grill. We walked in to an almost empty establishment and after they stated they only have appetizers and habachi grill items quoted us an hour wait on even that. Did I say the place was empty. So no sushi and no Japanese items and an hour wait for walk up service. Don't waste your time here.

    The food we left without eating

    Please do not eat here. If I could give it a 0 I would. This place along with the food is bland. The staff is in pajamas on a Thursday night there's 0 people most of the time I don't listen to reviews as traveling tourists are rough. But my goodness the staff came over and asked how it was I expressed my concern for the bland food and she said they have an award I should talk to the cook. An award for what I asked she said best food in pigeon forge. Please don't eat here if you like food at all. And apparently they don't use salt?

    Daniel V.

    Amazing food and great service. They were great all the way around, would definitely recommend it again. The staff was really friendly and professional.

    Chicken teriyaki
    Sherry T.

    People super nice. Food was fresh , hot and very delicious. Fast service no waiting. Food came out quickly and sup

    Kathy R.

    We thoroughly enjoyed this place!! It was very clean too!! We come up here every year and saw this place last year, but wasn't sure about it from the outside but decided to try it, THIS year. We Got chicken and shrimp and filet and shrimp combo, fried rice and 3 veggie choices! It was so good. The person at the front said we are set up as fast food but we are not, it takes a bit to cooked. So don't be in a rush! Jazzy, calming music we will come back! We went at 4 before the rush !

    Hibachi chicken with fried rice and sweet carrots
    Porter M.

    The food was and service was amazing. Was out of town visiting Pigeon Forge and was craving Japanese food so I decided to give this place a try and it didn't disappoint.

    Arrived at 3p today, lobby was closed. Went through the drive-thru w/ the intent of buying hibachi and sushi. Upon arriving at the speaker, we noticed a handwritten "sorry not serving sushi" sign. We ordered 1 chicken hibachi w veg., and 1 w/o. The order was $40. The portions were sufficient. Halfway into one of the meals we found a hair, one we hope was of the beard variety. Nonetheless, what remained of the order went in the garbage, hair or not.

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    3 months ago

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    3 months ago

    Rice tastes like plastic and the way they store the silverware is very unsanitary, but other than that it is good. I like the asparagus

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    3 months ago

    Hibachi was good! They are short staffed so sushi wasn't available. What we had was well made, tasty and prompt. Would go here again.

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    2 years ago

    Food was good. Portions were plenty. Food tasted good. wish they offered more vegetables but overall a good experience.

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    3 years ago

    Way overpriced and not very good. Go to little Tokyo if you want good Japanese food and the best sushi.

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    7 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Showed up. Took 10 minutes before they took our order. No sushi. Terrible customer service.

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    Sakura Japanese Buffet

    Sakura Japanese Buffet

    3.2
    (220 reviews)
    5.4 mi
    $$

    I've driven by Sakura for years. The lil' missus wanted sushi yesterday. She googled sushi- says…read moreSakura has 4 stars and it's a buffet. Ok let's try it. Parking is tight. 2:30 Sunday afternoon and there is a line. It's dark. It's old. It's cramped. It's packed. Pay as you enter at some booth that looks like a fortune teller would be sitting in it. If the fortune teller was indeed there- they would say you are about to be forever changed. We paid- got seated- and headed to the buffet. Holy guacamole Batman. It's tight and crowded. They had prawns or maybe crawfish- missus loved them. They had shrimp. Fried fish looked rough. They had everything you can find in a Chinese food place. They had miles of noodles, piles of egg rolls and dumplings and spring rolls. They had ice cream and cookies and desserts. They had cakes and puddings and yes- a salad or three. If you got to a buffet and eat a salad- you got issues I can't fix. The final test: missus says she didn't see red jello. It isn't a real buffet without the red jello. I went looking. Yes- three kinds of jello. How did everything taste? Missus liked it all and really liked the potatoes ( why, just, why.) I thought the place was absolutely terrific. Old and a bit tired but the food was so very good. The service from our waits was good. She would say to people "I see you" and smile as she took the empty plates or refilled glasses. We paid $12.99 per person, plus $3 per person for drinks. With tip is was like $38 ish bucks. I can spend that at Freddy's or Burger King for two people. So- if ya haven't been there, try it. If ya have- you hopefully had the same great experience we did. Ive included a photo of the jello, just to prove how authentic Sakura is.

    Very good food and clean!!! Customer service was awesome and the food is amazing!!! I can't wait…read moreto go back!

    Photos
    One of many hot food bar options.
    One of many hot food bar options.
    Chicken, cheese Rangoon, noodles, calamari
    Chicken, cheese Rangoon, noodles, calamari
    Desserts

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    Desserts
    Publix

    Publix

    4.1
    (80 reviews)
    2.0 mi
    $$

    We were staying in Gatlinburg and decided we wanted to take a picnic lunch into our adventures in…read morethe Great Smoky Mountain National Park one of the days we were there. I saw that there was a Publix in Pigeon Forge and knew that's where we'd need to go to get our picnic supplies! Because we had flown in (and didn't have picnic basket on our pack list), I knew that we needed to get a small cooler to keep our drinks and sandwiches cool on the warm spring day. Fortunately, Publix had a nice variety of small lunch box size coolers and we found one for a reasonable price that was perfect for what we needed and would collapse down for easy packing to bring it home. We then made our way to the deli and got fresh, deli made sandwiches made with boar's head meats and cheeses. They're fully customizable and we very much enjoyed them! We were also able to grab some fruit, pretzel crisps, boar's head hummus, and bottled beverages to round out our picnic. Everything was great, prices were reasonable, and we enjoyed a beautiful picnic in this beautiful area. One note would be that the deli does get busy. We were there in the ease of spring (ie: no big National Park crowds) and we still had to wait in a bit of a line for our deli sandwiches. So, just something to factor into scheduling. That said, we didn't mind a bit and the sandwiches were worth the wait. Get to it!

    This is my first time visiting this Publix, and I have to say, even though it was incredibly busy,…read moreeveryone was so nice, and the employees were very helpful. I went on the recommendation of some family that was also vacationing in the area and was definitely pleased with how well kept it was, and how even with a crowd everything was clean and neat. We had some of their baked goods, which were fantastic as well. Will definitely go again when I'm up in this area!

    Photos
    Self Checkout
    Self Checkout
    Snowman at Publix
    Snowman at Publix
    Receipt

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    Receipt

    NAO Japanese Grill - japanese - Updated July 2026

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