Restaurant Review of Nakashima's in Green Bay, Wi

Nakashima's atmosphere and décor has a Japanese flair and smooth clean lines. Hanging on the walls are colorful painted pictures of Japanese woman of long ago and in the background soft soothing Asian flute music plays. Each of the hostesses wears a kimono which adds to the charm and ambience of the restaurant. The hostess stand is in the middle of the restaurant with a huge bar lounge room on the left and the sushi and hibachi dining rooms on the right. Upon entering I was asked if I would be eating sushi or if I was there for the hibachi style of dining. I chose the hibachi style of dining. I was then seated at one of the hibachi dining tables, each of which seats eight people and has a massive grill that is directly in front of the diners. In the hibachi dining room adorning the walls are replicas of different ancient warrior masks with lit up eyes and long cloth scrolls with Japanese writing.

After being seated a server came to take our orders, I ordered one of the combination hibachi dinners. It was $24.95 and included a house salad, Japanese clear soup, flaming shrimp appetizer, vegetable appetizer, white rice, shrimp, filet mignon and finished off with oolong tea, vanilla ice cream, or sherbet. The salad was brought out first. It was a small freshly chilled iceberg lettuce salad with the dressing on top. The dressing had a pungent fresh ginger flavor and was very pleasing. Next our soup was brought out to us. It was a clear chicken and beef broth soup which had a salty good flavor.

Then the hibachi chef arrived at the table. He was dressed in white with a tall chef's hat and wearing his sharp knives on a belt around his hips. He rolled a cart which contained all the fresh ingredients, supplies and condiments for preparing everyone's meal. He bowed and greeted everyone with a smile and then asked everyone at the table about their order and how they would like their steak done for those who ordered it. Then the fun and entertainment began. All the entrees and appetizers were cooked with lightning speed, precision and flair. He did fun tricks like flipping the shrimp tails into the top of his tall hat. He got the diners involved in the fun by flipping shrimp tails in their water glasses or quickly refilling a water glass artistically with a plastic squirt bottle. He also made explosively high flames on the grill and played out a drum tune with his wooden salt and pepper shakers. Using sliced onions he dramatically created a steaming volcano with flames that resembled lava. The entire meal was great fun and very entertaining. After the soup arrived, the grilled shrimp appetizer was served it had a good sweet fresh flavor. Next the chef served the vegetable which was thinly sliced zucchini with fresh bean sprouts. We were also served a small side bowl of white rice. The chef then proceeded to individually grill the meat and seafood and slid a portion off of his large metal spatula to the person who ordered that particular food. After the entire meal was finished the chef politely bowed and said good bye. Our server then cleared the plates away and took our ice cream orders. I truly had a delightful dinner and must go back soon to try some of their scrumptious looking sushi.