Okinawa Restaurant

Japanese food in Ellijay? Yes, you heard it right!
In all seriousness, it was pretty darn good — we enjoyed the meat quality and portions at Okinawa as well as the kind /​attentive staff.
The service was prompt, and the food + drinks were great.
We were surprised to find this gem in a small town like Ellijay — will return anytime we’re in town.
Good Japanese food recommendation!

Very disappointing. Salt and Pepper Calamari was terrible… So bad we sent it back. Tony had the steak and noodles which he found tasteless even with their yum yum sauce. I ordered the Lemon and Ocean roll. The rolls were small and sushi grade was sub par. Overpriced and barely deserving of 1 star.

This is a decent Japanese establishment for the area. I’ve had pretty good sushi here twice and tonight was my first hot table here.
My daughter enjoyed her sushi again and shared my salmon and scallop meal. Monday nights has 9.95 deal for the hibachi tables. The cook was very very late coming to the table and we waited a half hour to start. The cook also cooked rice and noodles first. Then we waited for the meat or protein to be cooked. My scallops were ok and my salmon was decent. Very skinny prices sliced thin. My dad is vegetarian so waiting til the end to cook veggies kept him waiting to eat what he ordered. My daughter waited until the end to see a in show that never happened. No flipping, diving, jokes or tricks at all. ZERO! Not even the famous volcano or Choo Choo train!
Mediocre food, good sushi, and a boring prep of an expensive meal on a Sat night.
Three stars is fair!
Maybe our cook was new and not trained yet. Oh and he is not Asian at all.

Good sushi, terrible service. Our waitress was unfriendly and flustered, and not helpful at all. Apparently Tuesday at 6 – 7 is Amateur Hour at Okinawa. Sure they were busy, but you put your head down and do your best, you don’t take it out on the customers. That said, the sushi itself was very nice, and the chefs who prepared it were friendly and professional… hence the 2 stars, just for them. Not sure if I’ll be back…

Yes, hibachi in Ellijay. Not exactly what you’d expect to find, but we had a delightful time. I’d forgotten how much fun hibachi can be. Can’t complain about the portions; frankly the steak/​chicken portions were so generous after soup and salad, that I really couldn’t even eat the sides.
Steak and chicken were both prepared well and to order, service was pleasant. I suspect we’ll be back

Foods not good 9.95 it not good every think extra tremble Monday night

Worst service. This is the third times they got my order wrong. WTF??? And I don’t get a fork just cuz I’m Asian? I still need a napkin. Then I have to wait 20 mins for the rest if my food!!! Not coming back ever.

After living in Annapolis, MD for six years, I was accustomed to really fresh, delicious sushi whenever I liked. When my husband and I moved to Ellijay, I just assumed my sushi cravings would have to wait for visits to bigger and more «coastal» cities.
Fast forward one year, and I’m both loving life in Ellijay and enjoying totally passable sushi a couple of times a month.
Okinawa doesn’t have a huge sushi menu, but what they have they do very well. You can’t really go wrong with any of the tempura/​fried rolls, but also try the simpler offerings, like the «crazy crab» and classics like an avocado roll or salmon roll.
No, it’s not the absolute freshest or best sushi in the world, but it will satisfy any sushi craving you may have and the service is pretty consistently good. For a small town like Ellijay, it’s pretty amazing that there’s a decent sushi option at all.

My country boy guilty pleasure is «Japanese» food. How does that make sense? Well food in the mountains is different from food in the city. For example, it’s all covered in butter and grease and makes you wonder if you will die from heart disease before the age of 50. Oh and don’t forget, it’s delicious.
With all that being said, Okinawa does not disappoint. Imagine your Hibachi style food except super fattening. That is what you get here. The sushi here is just «meh.» I mean who drives to Ellijay to eat sushi? Instead, order Hibachi because everything is covered in butter. You also get a large amount of food for a reasonable price. If you sit at the grill, you have the option of order hibachi at the grill or at one of the sit down tables away from the grill, you get more food, but it is up to you if you want the cook to be all annoying. You know what I’m talking about.

I give this place 4 stars due to the great quality of the food. The sushi and rolls are terrific– try the Florida roll It is fantastic! Also good are the Fantasy Roll and the House Special Roll. Tempura is fine. The service is pretty bad though and if you do take out, DON’T do it on the $ 1 sushi night or you will literally wait an hour or more for your order. So, it’s a mixed bag but we keep going because the food is really wonderful.

Maybe I’m spoiled with so many solid Hibachi/​Teppanyaki restaurants in my home town (Kobe, Japan Inn, Nami, etc.), but Okinawa was terrible. The Monday night $ 9.95 special is intriguing, but it doesn’t include a lot! They say «add this for $ 1» or «add that for $ 4, and then it started to add up (extra for soup, extra for fried rice, extra for a different kind of meats/​fish) — before you know it, you’re eating bad quality food at the same price as the aforementioned name brands.
Our server was obviously new, and very confused by the menu — she couldn’t answer questions, and didn’t seem happy to be working there either. The hibachi chef did some fun fire tricks (better than my last trip to Benihana), but the food did not quite measure up. The amount of butter placed on every item made my jaw drop! I am all for the occasional «butter-​fly» hibachi trick, but we’re talking like a stick of butter for rice, half a stick of butter for the chicken, half a stick for the salmon, etc. The chicken, fried rice, and noodles tasted fine — but the salmon was ATROCIOUS. Possibly the worst salmon I have ever had in a restaurant — fishy tasting, hard, and lots of brown spots. No amount of butter could fix that salmon. Another hibachi staple for me is «yum yum sauce» (also known as Sakura sauce or white sauce), and I was happy to hear that they had it (also missing from my latest Benihana experience), but it was pink, a bit too sweat, and almost artificial tasting — the prepackaged squeeze bottle in the Ethnic aisle at my local Publix tastes much better.
When it came time for the check, all three parties at our table were charged incorrectly. Our server had to correct our bill THREE times — so make sure you check your receipt before paying.
We won’t be back.

I go to Okinawa every time I’m in town and it is always perfect. I love the hibachi and even the sushi is really good. Definitely my favorite place in Ellijay to eat.

We had dinner here on Christmas Eve. The food was very good. Not much of a sushi menu, but the roll I had was very good.
We ate at the hibachi grill, had shrimp and filet, it was very good. The bill was about half of what we normally would spend having a comparable meal in Florida. We will be back the next time we go up to the cabin.

The food was flavorful, but, unfortunately since we didn’t in the hibachi area, it was cold. If we had been in the other area, it would have been different.

Great place. Had a few beers at the bar before enjoying hibachi dinner. Had sushi as an appetizer, the green dragon roll, which was terrific, followed by hibachi. I ordered the «favorite» which is filet, shrimp and chicken. De freakin licious! Great value for the cost. I fully endorse Okinawa!

Very decent Hibachi grill. Prices were a bit deceiving since they charged $ 2 extra for fried rice. Facility needed some upgrades (I hate carpet in Japanese restaurants) but overall our dinning experience was good.

This is a surprisingly good restaurant for the north Georgia mountain area. Sushi is exceptional and prepared perfectly. Hibachi is second to none. You can always get a great meal here!

Let me start off by saying the food was really good! There is a nice variety of rolls and everything we ordered was really yummy. Staff was friendly and prompt.
The atmosphere was not as good. It’s located in a strip mall. My husband and I sat at a regular table, although a hibachi table was offered. The lighting in the regular table room was flickering. Every light! That was a bit annoying.
I’d recommend Okinawa and would return if I’m in the area again.

This is quite possibly the best restaurant in Ellijay, no joke. If you’re a sushi snob, you’ll hate it. However, if you’re dying for a spicy tuna roll or inari zushi while you are up in the mountains, it’ll do the trick. Great miso (the mellow, white-​ish kind. Not dark and ultra-​fermented.) Hibachi grill is pretty average and basically identical to every hibachi grill you’ve ever been to. What I’d LOVE to see are more traditional ramen and udon noodle bowls. I’d eat here exclusively if I couldn’t get a pretty amazing noodle bowl from Happy Family II (Protip: ask for it! It’s not on the menu.)

Great food, great price. great sushi bar. Tim from Herron Farms in Dawsonville goes here often.