"What a difference shows these days from a walk into what was once Mark's Bar-B-Q restaurant, complete with picnic tables, drinks in mason jars, ball caps hanging from the ceiling and an open floor plan. On top of that, imagine it all covered in bright red paint! Fortunately, all that changed when Hananoki opened two years ago, with the infamous dècor and floor plan severely altered. The setting features a sushi bar and three hibachi grill rooms. There is a calm flowing from the interior ambience to the skillful servers and chefs.
One of my goals with these reviews is finding restaurants that offer a good setting for a business meeting. There are two distinct ways to accomplish this at Hananoki. For a large group, you can reserve a private hibachi grill room. Along with the privacy to hold the meeting session before or after lunch, you have the element of entertainment with the showmanship of one of their chefs. I will admit that the calm I previously alluded to is gone during the flying knifes and spinning eggs on the oiled hot grill.
For the first visit, my guest and I chose to try the hibachi grill. At one grill there was seating for nine, and there were eight of us — another twosome and a foursome. The latter was a vendor meeting over lunch with three representatives from a neighboring company. They sat two on one side and two along the front of the hibachi. The sales vendor was within easy view and earshot of his clients.
After receiving a chicken broth mushroom soup or house salad of fresh greens with the house dressing made of sesame oil and soy, the chef prepared the fried rice, with two guests asking for double helpings. They ate one bowl between the soup and the entré, and then the other with the entré. For the eight orders the chef was preparing simultaneously, five different items were grilled. I had shrimp and my guest had salmon. Scallops, chicken and beef were also on the grill.
The entrees were very flavorful coming off the hot grill. We left feeling satisfied with the entire experience, including the reasonable price.
On the return trip, it was sushi day. My guest knows good sushi, though he had not been to Hananoki. We ordered four items representing a good combination of tastes. The soft shell crab in the spider roll was both crisp and crunchy, while the sweet shrimp, avocado and cucumber rolls were fine, but not up to par with the spider roll. All in all, had it not been for the spider roll, we would have been somewhat disappointed over the sushi luncheon. There is lots of great sushi in town, but the angle of having your business meeting around a hibachi grill is the best bet.
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