Welcome to NAO Japanese Grill – Hibachi & Sushi Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, TN
We’re located at 3676 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863. Get directions here.
Hours of operation:
Fri-Sat 11AM-11PM
Christmas & New Years Eve 11AM-11:30PM
Welcoming guests for dine in, take out, and drive through.
We specialize in Hibachi and Sushi dishes!
Click here for the Full Menu
What is Hibachi style cooking?
If you’ve never had it at NAO Japanese restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Hibachi-style grilling is a traditional Japanese way of cooking. The word hibachi means “fire bowl.” Even though it has older meanings in Japanese culture, today it’s been popularized as a specific type of cooking featured in many Japanese restaurants.
This type of grill looks kind of like a giant hot plate – round, flat, and heated underneath by fire. If you’re Japanese, you’d probably call this kind of cooking teppanyaki instead of hibachi. But for most Americans, hibachi is a catch-all term for Japanese style grilling. People across the world love meat, seafood, rice, eggs, vegetables, noodles, and all kinds of dishes cooked hibachi style.
What is sushi?
Most people think of raw fish when they hear the word “sushi,” but that’s exactly what it is. The most important ingredient in sushi is actually rice! It’s a type of Japanese cuisine that has cooked rice flavored with vinegar. It often does include raw fish, but can also have eggs, vegetables, toppings, spices, and even cooked fish.
There are two main kinds of sushi and maki is the most iconic. It’s the familiar sushi roll most people have seen. It’s rice rolled in seaweed and stuffed with ingredients. The other type of sushi is nigiri. It’s a bed of vinegar rice topped with a piece of fish or seafood.
What is sashimi?
A lot of people see sashimi and assume it’s sushi! When most people think of sushi, they think of raw fish – but that’s actually sashimi. Sushi actually refers to vinegar flavored rice and sashimi is a small piece of raw food. Most often it’s raw fish or seafood, but sashimi can also be other types of meat.
The most common fish used for sashimi are salmon and tuna. Sashimi can also be made with mackerel, scallops, octopus and many other raw seafood. Nigiri is similar to sashimi but instead of a plain slice of raw fish, it’s served on a small bed of sushi rice.