Nami

Awesome sushi! Friendly staff! The sushi chef Chi was very knowledgeable and friendly! I will come back if I am in the area.

Our experience was mediocre, especially for the$ 100+ bill. The service was not good at all. When taking our initial order, I ordered a pork Katsu for my two young children to split (as there is no way a 3 and 7 year old could eat the entirety of the meal consisting of two pork cutlets, a large portion of rice and a large portion of vegtables on their own) and instead of simply taking my order, the waitress interrupted me to rudely inform me that if we were not going to order from the hibachi, we needed to move. I don’t know why she assumed that only my children would be eating and not the adults in our party, or perhaps she thought that since my children were not being wasteful and ordering separate meals that we couldn’t afford to order from the grill. I’m not sure, either way I found myself having to reassure her that, yes, my husband and I wanted to eat as well and that I was not finished ordering. Then, we had to ask for a drinks menu and the waitress left before taking our drinks order, we later had to flag her down to order.
I ordered the filet minon and shrimp hibachi and a dragon roll of sushi, my husband ordered the steak and chicken hibachi and a salmon and shrimp roll of sushi. This was in addition to our children’s katsu and two cocktails, as well as a glass of wine. All together we order quite a lot of food and spent quite a lot of money.
When our miso soup came out, the waitress brought only one for the children, forcing my husband to give my daughter his soup. Miso soup is very, very cheap. I have eaten in many different hibachi restaurants in many different states and two different countries and never before has a restaurant refused to provide a small extra cup of, essentially, broth for my children. This was very poor customer service and the waitress, instead of being apologetic or even asking us if we’d like to purchase another cup of soup upon noticing my daughter get upset, simply said «You only get one soup, you only ordered one meal,» and walked off.
The miso soup itself was not good at all, it tasted like they had added far too much salt. The salads came absolutely smothered in dressing. I could only eat the top bits, the bottom prices of lettuce were drowning I’m dressing and a lost cause.
The worst part of the meal was my children’s katsu which I’m sure they only ate because they are too young to know better. It was one of the worst things I’ve eaten in a very long time. The pork was dry, compact and squishy, the breading was thin and had a very bad flavor and the sauce was sour. I am genuinely surprised my children ate it, I wouldn’t have. At $ 10 they really should change their recipe.
The most redeeming part of the meal (and the reaso. I’m giving 3 stars instead of 2) was the chef, he was entertaining, very punny and cheerful. The food from the hibachi was very good, especially the vegtables. My shrimp was well cooked and I ordered my filet medium rare and found it cooked to my liking and well seasoned. My husband greatly enjoyed his meal as well, the only complaint he had was that the steamed rice was cheap and flavorless, which was masked in my rice since mine was fried.
Our sushi tasted quite good, especially the eel, which is my go to sushi choice. My only criticism was that it was clearly sliced quite small on purpose. It had a good flavor but the pieces were much smaller than I am used to from my sushi, especially since the prices are on the high side of average.
Our drinks were a disappointment, my husband didn’t finish his «bamboo» since the taste of canned pineapple juice was too overwhelming. My sakura was ok, though oversweet and no effort had been made at all to make the drinks look attractive.
All in all a disappointment and I doubt we’ll be back.

Loved it!!! It was fun, new, exciting, and kind of expensive.!! You might have to wait a little while if you just show up, so my advice is to try and reserve a table. It is definitely a place to check out if you are in the mood (and your wallet is fat that week!) for FOOD THAT IS ACTUALLY HOT!!! 5 stars hands down!

The food is ok and the sushi taste like it comes from HEB. My main complaint is that it’s over priced. If it was 25% less my review would be higher.
So far Seoul Garden in Temple is the best japanese steak house in central Texas.

Best sushi around, always fresh. Hibachi is always good! Sometimes there is a long wait, so go early!

good and fresh food. the best roll is the crunchy roll. brother had a near death experience because he forgot to chew his steak but the manager responded promptly, called an ambulance and we all got free ice cream afterwards.

Went again for dinner. Am absolutely happier when I go for sushi than hibachi. I still think it’s the best in the area, but it’s not perfect.
They don’t use the best cut of steak for the price and they over cook the seafood badly. I still enjoy it for the overall experience, but there are better places in other cities.
This last time I went they added a 20% gratuity (they called it a service charge) for 5 of us. I would tip that at least, unless the service was horrendous, but I didn’t appreciate the forced grat. It’s not advertised in their menu or anything either. I didn’t mention it, because as I said, I was planning on a 20% tip anyway for our mediocre service. Moving forward I will still go for sushi and maybe very occasionally for the hibachi. The 20% thing really bothers me about the hibachi though.

Worse experience ever at Namis. Only got 2 stars for the sashimi. All staff tonight seemed like zombies. Dirty martini was olive juice with splash of vodka, retuned to bar and next wasn’t much better. But the topper was my tasteless rubber scallops. This place was my favorite for the flavor of their food and butteriness of scallops. Well not today – no flavor at all! Steak was a grilled no seasoned chewy piece of beef. Not sure if new staff, chef or management but definitely bad for business. Sad thing was they were packed and could really have doubled their future business. Mama fu’s this past week had better flavor (not to put down mama fu’s). Whatever you changed is not working — sad, sad, sad, been going here for years – don’t plan to return unless someone makes a change.

We have tried many of places in the area hoping to find good sushi, and while we understand we shouldn’t have high expectations in central Texas, Nami in Belton is the best we have found in the area. We even tried Habachi once and really enjoyed it (not big habachi eaters). Bottom line– when we have a sushi craving, this is the best we have found in the area.

Went for sushi bar, the sushi bar was empty not one person at bar.
Asked to eat at sushi bar was told 30 minute wait.
WTF!

Belton is an area that makes you feel lucky just to find a restaurant other than a McDonald’s, so it almost feels like a pure miracle when you find a sushi/​Japanese restaurant that’s not terribly boring. I only came for lunch one day and kept myself constrained to the lunch specials menu, so I can’t speak to most of the sushi rolls and other goodies. I got the sashimi and ½ roll plate, which was okay but kind of disappointing because the sashimi wasn’t super fresh or flavorful.
Service was definitely not spectacular and I often felt like my server expected me to conform to her needs, rather than mine. When I didn’t know what I wanted soon enough, she didn’t come by for a good long while, even when I made it clear by putting aside my menu that I had decided. I had the bare minimum of my needs throughout the meal, but I didn’t feel particularly cared for in the sense that, if I had needed something, she would have been there to assist me. So EH on the service end of things.
Otherwise, Nami also has the Japanese steakhouse food side of things and that makes for a very interesting dinner if you ever have the chance! Definitely skip the BBQ and the Tex-​Mex for a lunch/​dinner here sometime; a little variety is good for the soul.

Despite the fact that the food was good and the portions were huge, this restaurant is in a worn out building in a terrible location. The vents in the ceiling were covered with dust and who-​knows-​what else — gross to look at while eating. The carpet needs replacement, as do the tables and chairs. Didn’t like to watch the servers make your house salad outside the kitchen either. It’s in a terrible location, too. Hard to get to and poorly marked. It’d be great if they just tore this old haunt down, refurbished one of the old buildings in downtown Belton and brought some more life to downtown instead of being in the middle of nowhere. The only reason I’d go back would be the fact they have one of the few full bars in Belton… except it’s so far away I’d have to drive home. Pass.

Good sushi at a fair price. Not the best I’ve ever had, but certainly not the worst.

Lunch boxes are a great price. And their sushi is quality. I recommend going here but be ready to smell like a hibachi grill afterwards.

This was an unexpected treasure. We are traveling back to New Braunfels and stopped here because of the Unilocal review. We never (ever) would have thought it was a good restaurant based on the exterior. We ordered sushi and our son ordered a lunch bento. Everything was amazing. We will definitely be back on our next trip through town! Great find!

The food here is good, usually. Some chefs are better than others. I really like their sushi too, it always tastes fresh and delicious. I love the volcano roll, and they have some sampler platters that are great.
I’m giving it 3 stars though since it is hit and miss. Sometimes I go, get seated quickly, and the food is great. Yesterday I went and was told «20 minutes» wait– we waited over an hour, closer to an hour and a half. And people who arrived AFTER us were seated FIRST. They say their policy is to only seat full parties, but they sat a partial party while our whole party was already waiting.
Sushi was great, as usual, but then the food was burned. The chef burned my shrimp and the vegetables, which was not great. And in recent years the décor has gotten kind of run-​down. It is sort of greasy and dusty, and the smoke from the hibachis is not venting out well. Carpet in there looks terrible. Light fixtures are hanging off the wall in the entry and covered with cobwebs. Plates are chipped, dishes don’t match, salt shakers are these ugly plastic grinders, etc.
Other times I have gone, the chefs were funny, the food was good, and service was fast. But I was very unhappy yesterday with the treatment, food, and service. And the 1.5 hour wait time gave me plenty of opportunity to examine the worn-​out décor.

Wish I could give it 0 stars. Went to the bar to meet the worlds worst bartender. Waited 1 hr and 30 minutes to not get sat and skipped by other people. I’ll never go back

I can’t speak for the hibachi, but holy mackerel (pun intended) is their sushi good. No, not just good — great. I’m a pretty big fan of sushi and I’ve eaten a large variety in Houston and Austin, but damn it if this little place off the highway in Belton isn’t THE freshest sashimi I’ve ever had.
I’ve been here several times during my lunch break and always get a sashimi combo. (This says a lot — I usually like trying new dishes at new places.) For $ 10-​$ 12 it’s the best value I’ve come across, and presented beautifully. A well-​made roll and 6 pieces of sashimi, of 3 different types. The first time I went the salmon was legitimately the best I have ever eaten, hands down. Nice and fatty and melted in my mouth. I know that’s a sushi cliché but it seriously did. The next time it was the yellowtail. The third time, the tuna. I can’t stress enough how incredibly delicious it is. I wouldn’t be writing such a glowing review if I wasn’t really, truly impressed.
Ambiance and service wise, Nami is pretty average. Nothing to write home about.
The only drawback is that I can’t really bring my Austin friends here. I will continue to come ~once a week for as long as I’m in Belton!

Great food, LARGE portions, delicious drinks. We will be back, but order much less next time!

Wow! I don’t understand how anyone could give Nami anything but 5 stars!!! Just had a fantastic Sashimi platter