Naru Japanese Restaurant

Delicious food! Great service! I will definitely go back to this place soon! If you like sushi and an array of Japanese dishes, this is your place!

Total disappointment. Under new management. Ordered Naru sashimi special ($ 150) Side dishes were mostly fried! Looked like they fried everything bc they went fresh. The level of food was not even close to a cheap sushi-​bar. Never going back!

Walked in around 9:00. They had 3 waitresses in total for over 20 tables, and yet even sitting at the sushi bar it took 5 mins to get a menu.
My complaint with this place doesn’t come from that. I ordered 2 pieces of sushi and 2 rolls. The rolls were extremely small portions, yet the prices ranged from 10 — 15 each. The sushi wasn’t cut properly and again, the portions were prepared beforehand to be small. The menu states the rolls were suppose to be crab meat and there was no crab or anything advertised. Everything about this places reeks of false advertisement. Much better sushi restaurants like in the area. These guys sushi passes as average, but for the price and portion sizes — it’s a rip off.
The only saving grace of this place is they have private tables in small rooms on the sides for groups. The atmosphere is nice, but the food and poor quality service with bad pricing makes this place horrible in the end. In fairness, I didn’t try the Korean dishes, but these guys advertisement themselves as a Japanese restaurant. Wont be coming back.

Naru is a decent Korean-​owned/​operated Japanese restaurant in Duluth known mainly for its sushi. They serve Korean food too. While I think this restaurant is more along the lines of 3.5 stars, I’m rounding up to 4 because I’ve enjoyed most everything I’ve tried and I think the service is very good. This place should satisfy your basic sushi cravings.
Naru is located in McDaniel Square, the same shopping center as Honey Pig and other Korean restaurants. I believe Naru opened around the same time as Honey Pig, circa 2008, and these are the two oldest restaurants in what’s become a popular plaza for coffee, bubble tea, wings, Korean tacos, traditional Korean food, Korean BBQ, sushi, and even Mexican food.
In terms of food, menu, atmosphere, décor, and service, Naru reminds me of Kang Nam, another Korean-​owned sushi restaurant, on Buford Highway and, to a lesser extent, Chung Dam in the Super H Mart shopping plaza on Pleasant Hill Rd (no Korean BBQ here though). The restaurant is spacious and elegant featuring a long sushi bar with multiple chefs, lots of dark wood, semi-​private booths, and private rooms each seating roughly 6 – 10 people. It’s casual, low-​key, and comfortable.
The restaurant’s ~$ 12 and up lunch specials are popular and include many options including nigiri, sashimi, and sushi rolls; teriyaki, bulgogi, ramen, seafood soup, bibimbap, tonkatsu, and grilled fish. The dinner menu offers that plus much more including tempura, various salads such as octopus salad and jellyfish salad, Korean stews, Korean and Japanese rice bowls, fried rice, and udon noodles. Most appetizers are priced under $ 10 each, most non-​sushi entrees are in the $ 15 and up range, most 2-​piece nigiri and single hand rolls are $ 6 and up, and most sushi rolls $ 10 and up.
Where this place excels is in their sushi and sashimi platters. The presentation of these platters is eye-​popping. Like Kang Nam and Chung Dam, Naru offers huge, impressive, colorful sushi and sashimi platters for large groups that can cost as much as $ 200, $ 300, and even upwards of $ 400 a platter. Expect to spend roughly $ 20 – 80 each for individually sized chef’s choice platters.
Here’s a rundown of items I’ve tried:
* Ankimo — marinated monkfish liver ($ 6.99)
* Tuna Takaki [sic] ($ 9.99)
* Uni (sea urchin) hand roll ($ 7.50)
* Assorted nigiri and sashimi
* Chirashi Don — assorted sashimi over a bed of rice ($ 19.99)
* Hwe Dup Bab — assorted fish and vegetables over rice ($ 15.99)
I love ankimo, but was disappointed with the ankimo here. Maybe it was the batch we got, but it wasn’t as appetizing as most other ankimo I’ve had. The monkfish liver’s texture wasn’t as rich and creamy. Instead, it was more dense with a pasty chew. Also, instead of a clean, subtly fishy taste, it had a straight up sharper fishy taste to it. Perhaps it was old? I’m not sure. The ankimo was served the traditional way with grated daikon, thinly sliced scallions, and a small bowl of vinegary ponzu sauce. Ultimately, it wasn’t bad and I’d order it again assuming this was just a poor batch.
The tuna tataki is tasty. About a half-​dozen thin slices of seared raw tuna are served over a bed of iceberg lettuce with sliced radishes. The tuna is sprinkled with sesame seeds and a bit of ponzu sauce is poured on top. The outside of the tuna is nicely seared, leaving the majority of the meat on the inside a succulent dark red.
I really like the uni hand roll. It’s delicious. The uni is fresh, soft, smooth, buttery, and custard-​like. It almost melts in your mouth. In hand roll form, the uni is wrapped with sushi rice in a seaweed cone with julienned cucumber and sesame seeds. I’m sure the uni nigiri is equally as yummy.
In general, I think the quality of the nigiri and sashimi is fine. The selection is standard (e.g. salmon, tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, fluke). This isn’t a high-​end sushi house, so you’re not going to find any unique fish on the sushi menu. Along with uni, they’ve also got mirugai (geoduck clam), awabi (abalone), ikura (salmon roe), and toro (fatty tuna). The toro costs about $ 12 for two pieces, so temper your expectations.
Both the chirashi don (chirashizushi) and hwe dup bap are good stuff. Both are presented beautifully, containing an assortment of fish and other ingredients. If you can’t decide what sushi to order, then order a chirashi don. You’ll get a chef’s choice selection of sashimi over sushi rice. The chirashi don I tried came with most of the fish listed in the paragraph above plus octopus, squid, eel, imitation crab, clam, and ikura.
I sort of think of hwe dup bap (also spelled hoedeopbap) as the Korean version of chirashi or chirashi in the style of bibimbap (Korean mixed rice). The hwe dup bap comes in a huge bowl which you use to mix the steamed white rice and various fish and veggie ingredients yourself. A couple big differences between hwe dup bap and chirashi is hwe dup bap is prepared with sesame oil and comes with lots of greens and a side of gochujang sauce.

I like this authentic Japanese sushi restaurant.
Sushi plates are great ! I enjoy raw fish sashimi course and lunch rice bowl with sushi. Price is reasonable.
This place is one of few Japanese restaurant you can eat at convenient location at comfortable clean and neat ambience.

I like this place.
They have these sashimi sets where it’s $ 29.99 for two.
It’s a Korean sushi place which means there’s a lot of Korean dishes.
These sashimi sets come with sashimi and variety of Korean dishes.
I think they have really really good maewoontang (fish stew or fish soup). It comes in that sashimi set. It’s so good but if you’re not Korean, you may not like it since there’s pieces of fish bone in it… but that’s what makes it so good.
I’m not sure if sashimi is good because I don’t like sashimi, I’ve had their hwedukbap (kind of like bibimbap but with raw fish and lots of lettuce)
I think you can’t go wrong for lunch combos.
Service is good. Attentive but not overdone.

Came here with friends and got the naru sashimi course deal for 4 people. Very impressed with the food. Will come again!

Naru actually wasn’t where we were planning to eat, but after a last second change of plans, we found ourselves at Naru for dinner.
Sushi plays a huge part of Naru’s cuisine, but since i’m allergic to all of life’s sea creatures, this review wont focus on sushi, but instead the dish I ordered.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a pretty nice list of non-​sushi/​seafood meals, from teriyaki chicken to cutlet «katsu» dishes.
I ordered the Chickenkatsu dinner ($ 12.99), which came with a side salad with ginger dressing, soup, steamed rice and two HUGE cutlets of chicken, with sauce on the side.
I loved their ginger dressing, but wasn’t too much of a fan of their miso, which was super salty to me.
The chicken cutlets were thin, extra crispy, and went well with the dipping sauce that i’m not quite sure what it was, but it was slightly sweet and creamy. The meal was filling, but they were more than happy to pull out menus again if you wanted something else to order.
Customer service wasn’t bad either. They put us in a small private room with a curtain covering the entrance. Keep an eye out on where you are though, because if you go to the restroom, you’ll be passing a lot of identical rooms, and may get lost!
Cook time isn’t super quick, but they get the appetizers out in a timely fashion, so you don’t notice the delay so much. Parking is shared with the fine folks in the restaurant strip that houses Honey Pig, MJ’s Korean Tacos, etc, so you should be able to find a spot.
All in all, I was happy with my order, which we visited last minute with no reservation on the weekend. I like this place, and I hope you get a chance to check it out.

I had my birthday party here for the first time. Food and the scenario was amazing!!! I love everything here by far! Service was amazing too!

One of my favorite sushi spot in Gwinnett. I usually order like a king. I only order sashimi from here. You get a lot of extra side dishes. Service is sometimes a bit slow, but what do you expect when they are busy. I love that they have fresh live lobster sashimi. A great place, even better if you know Korean lol.

I’ve been to Naru twice for lunch and I haven’t been terribly impressed either time sadly. I’ve gotten the volcano roll, the tuna roll, spicy tuna roll and one of their specialty rolls (I don’t remember the name). I’ve also gotten some of their sashimi and nigiri — unfortunately both were a bit stringy and I got shrimp even though I specifically asked for them not to include shrimp). When I placed a go-​to order, it took 45 minutes for them to fulfill it –and it was not a large order. There a lot better places in this part of town that I would rather go to.

It’s been a long long time since I have been back to Naru. After my last experience I thought I wouldn’t be coming back. But my fellow elite bestie changed my mind when she mention Naru’s lunch menu. She said it was affordable and their portion is very generous. So since I am a sashimi lover… I had to come back and try it again.
I recently stopped by with a guy friend and we ordered the following:
–J2.which is 15 piece of assorted sashimi consisting of yellow tail, tuna, white tuna, salmon, flounder and eel. Beside that… they also give you side dishes.
–Sashimi salad with spicy fish soup
All of the sashimi was fresh and very big slice. They were definitely generous. We both left happy and full. Also… as a side note… the Sashimi for 2 isn’t assorted and only comes with flounder. Don’t order that unless you really love flounder.
I will deff. be coming back!

Whenever I’m craving sushi, this is my to go place. I usually order deluxe sashimi plate it is not cheap its around $ 80(for 2). But if you see all the side dishes comes out, it is definitely worth the money.
It usually start with a small bowl of soup, then different salad dishes, tempura, baked fish… Tacoyaki… grilled shrimp… fish cake soup… Eel… Sweet and sour fish… It is a lot of food.
Then sashimi comes out. Very fresh, top quality. Then they serve a spicy fish soup with fish egg rice.
It is #1 place for korean style Japanese food in duluth area. Sams sushi is ok, but I stopped going there after I saw I got less side dishes than usual when I went there with American friends instead of korean ppl. Highly recommend Naru sushi!

So my wife and I came here on our 5^th anniversary expecting the usual good service/​food we get. When we ordered the Sashimi special and got our first appetizer sides, it was bit underwhelming. This place have changed a little I thought, then we received the main course of sashimi and the quality wasn’t as good as we used to get. It may have been a bad day with the selections, but it was not appetizing at all. I don’t know what happened as the chefs are the sames ones that I know, maybe the owner decided to skimp out on quality because the restaurant is getting busier?
I don’t know but I’ll be on a lookout on quality whenever I get back.

This place really went down the tubes over the past couple of years. It never was awesome, but what we experienced last night was horrible. There are so many other places in Gwinnett where you can get your Korean sushi fix.
Typically, we get the «Naru» special which is ~$ 120 course. You get a bunch of starters, followed by sashimi, finished with maeuntang (spicy fish soup) and al bap (rice with the little fish eggs).
The starters that came out not very good. The waitress asked us if we weren’t eating everything because it didn’t taste good, and we told her we just had too much food. I don’t think I’ve ever used the too much food excuse in my life.
Starters consistent of a wilted lettuce and old chicken salad (I hate old meat taste!), fried frozen fish sticks, frozen ravioli, frozen corn/​peas/​carrot junk with cheese, steamed squid, several varieties of whole fish (one over-​fried, off-​puttingly sweet fish and one grilled one), grilled shrimp on a skewer, sashimi salad (this was good), and weird hamburger thing (dduk galbi). Needless to say, the starters truly sucked. The steamed squid was ok and the sashimi salad was decent. Why they used so much frozen food is a wonder to me. We asked them to replace the salad, but they just ended up dousing a bunch of salad dressing on the same batch. Sick…
Sashimi course had a variety of seashell meat, clams, tuna (regular and white), hamachi, makeral with roe, salmon, and that filler white fish (can’t remember the name). The fish thankfully was not old but not really good either. And they were unevenly cut as if a 5 year old was working at the sushi bar! All of us at the table looked at each other and made a face almost as if on cue. They also placed the fish on top of used garnishes. Usually, the fish comes sitting on top of thinly shredded radish, and that radish was yellow/​brown. We told the waitress that they reused old stuff, and she didn’t even acknowledge our comment! Gross…
I was hoping the maeuntang (spicy fish soup) would at least redeem the meal, but we were too disappointed to enjoy it. The soup was ok, but the roe rice they brought out was not good. For some reason that weird corn/​pea/​carrot medley made another appearance.
I get it if you use tons of frozen food if you’re a cheap restaurant, but to shell out that much money and have a meal like his is awful. In addition, wilted lettuce, old chicken, and reusing garnishes is never ok.
This is the last time I go here, and I suggest you stay away.

Most of my friends have told me how much they hate this place and that they have the nastiest sushi rolls ever. That might be true but I decided not to find out. You might be wondering why I am giving them 5 stars then. Normally, I would not even consider eating here, but one of my Korean friends recommend this place. I was like why not? I am so glad I did since Naru has an amazing selection of lunch specials!
We shared a J2 lunch special, which consists of lots of korean side dishes, 15 piece sashimi, 5 piece sushi, udon soup, fish egg with rice, steamed egg, grilled fish, and tempura. I was super full after all of this. We barely even touched the fish egg rice or udon. They also offered us Toro pieces of sashimi. I usually love Toro, but it was a special cut of Toro. It was too chewy for me. & they also offered a piece of uni nigiri. The sushi and sashimi was very fresh. Service was also amazing. I will def be stopping here instead of Sushi Mito since it is closer to my house.

Ummmmm… get the Omakase period! No need to get rolls or anything else.
Ok, to start out this was my first time having Omakase at a Korean/​Japanese restaurant, and actually it was enjoyable. If you really like sashimi and dont mind all those funky slimy textures then you’re in for a treat.
They served me probably over 20 different types of items. Not like other places I have tried Omakase where they try to add so many fillers such as rolls, steamed veggies, flour filled items, etc., the chefs at Naru served mostly items you should be getting when having Omakase. Very fresh fish, mollusks, and shellfish. Being a korean owned restaurant they added some soup, and 1 or 2 korean side dishes. The presentation was great, each dish had its own personality and flare. The only downside was that they served everything to quick and my small table (bar) ended up running out of space. Also I wish the chef would give a brief description on certain dishes since some of them were my first time having. But i did asked on a certain dish and both Chefs explained with no problem. Also they served a lot of items that most Sushi bars wont serve normally, so that was a plus.
So far I think this was one of the most pleasant experiences at a sushi bar in Duluth/​Suwanee area.
From paying over $ 120 per Omakase in Manhattan I was like WHAT when I got my bill, only $ 50 for lunch and of course add 20% tip since the chef has to put in a lot of time on your dishes.
I will definitely be coming back more often and if any of you reading this wants to join me next time let me know! Hahaha.
(Tip: when asking for Omakase always sit at the bar, never sit at a table or booth. Trust me on this one.)

I went to Naru for lunch last week with my boyfriend and I had one of those I-can’t-believe-I-didn’t-know-about-this-place-before moment! I mean, I have practically lived around this neighborhood for years and used to run at McDaniel’s farm park several times a week. And I have passed this place so many times! But I’m so glad we discovered this place from Unilocal.
That day we went there little late around 2 pm for lunch. Naru is located at the end of the strip mall. If you are driving on old norcross rd from pleasant hill, make sure you turn on the entrance you see first. Because there isn’t another one closer to Naru. I did the mistake of hoping there would be two entry/​exit for such a long strip mall.
Though they call themselves Japanese restaurant, they have more korean elements than Japanese. Sure, they serve some sushi and Sashimi but they also give complimentary banchan with meals and they have lot of korean dishes and soups as well. I am not pointing it out as negative, but just something to set the expectation right.
I have read some reviews about wait staff being rude to non-​koreans, but my experience has been very different (I am a FOB Indian with thick accent and all). In fact, I thought the wait staff were extremely nice to me. Patiently explaining all the courses and my questions on food they served.
They have nice lunch menu with bento boxes and lunch combos. But other than the menu is mostly in Korean. Some items has descriptions in english, but others just has name. But I don’t put anything in my mouth without knowing what it is. So I have asked questions before ordering and they explained as needed.
So we ordered lunch combo for 2 — Hwal Uh Jungsik (for 2). It came with Sashimi, nigri sushi, shrimp tempura, grilled fish, spicy soup, spicy squid and roe rice.
Also, the complimentary banchan and complimentary ride porridge bowl each.
Banchan was simple and one item in the banchan was made with egg plant — we loved it. This was the first time I have had eggplant in banchan at any Korean place. Also rice porridge was tasty but before such a meal like ours it could fill you up easily.
Strangely, the nigri sushi and sashimi is of same fish — I think pollock. I have seen pictures of the same dish in Unilocal with variety of fishes. I would have appreciated at least having different fishes for sushi and sushi. Nevertheless, the fish was tasty and presentation was good. Moving on.
Spicy squid was a rock solid dish! It was very spicy with the hint of sweetness. Definitely worth ordering it ala carte. Roe rice was just colorful roe on top or white rice. And shrimp tempura was crunchy but was bit oily. The grilled fish was mackerel — perfectly cooked and tender inside.
Also the spicy soup was quite spicy — at this place, when they say spicy, they weren’t kidding around. One thing to note though — the soup has fish with some serious bones. Just watch out.
So as you see, by the time we finished the meal we were quite stuffed. It was a good deal at $ 29.99 for two, considering how much food we get for it.
They also have number of semi-​private booths for large groups.
Overall, I like this place and will definitely go back.
4 stars.

The lunch specials. WOW. I got the sushi and sashimi special, and it was phenomenal. The banchan wasn’t a huge variety (had a few pickled items and the egg soufflé looking dish), but the lunch itself was extremely filling. I had 6 thick pieces of sashimi and 6 pieces of sushi along with a bowl of udon. After eating the udon and the sashimi, I didn’t even finish my sushi b/​c I was full.
This is hands down my new favorite sushi place in Duluth. The atmosphere is very chic. Service was great as well.

I’d mostly stayed away from here b/​c the reviews were mediocre but when I recently found out they served jungsik (multi-​course meal) and lunch specials applied during the wknds, why not and so glad we did! Love 7-​day lunch specials (11 – 3:30pm)!
Naru has an entire menu of lunch specials incl. several kinds of jungsik starting at $ 18.99 (or 2 for $ 29.99). Didn’t do jungsik since we did Kang Nam’s jungsik just two nights before — it’s definitely bookmarked though!
NARU SUSHI O’BENTO — $ 10.99
Corny name but awesome bento selection — best surprise was the buttery tasting white tuna sashimi. Bento included sushi (4 pcs — shrimp, salmon, tuna, white tuna), sashimi (6 pcs — 2 salmon, 2 tuna, 2 white tuna), tempura (shrimp & sweet potato), California roll (4 pcs — surprise was the spicy tuna topping), salad and miso soup. Sushi & tempura were great, salad was blah (boo iceberg & didn’t like the dressing), and miso soup was very salty. Except for the soup, I’d still get this again.
HWE DUP BAB & SPICY FISH SOUP — $ 10.99
FYI — Hwe Dup Bab is sashimi, veggies and hot sauce mixed together like a salad. Both the salad & soup tasted good. Portion was huge.
CHICKEN TERIYAKI BOX — $ 9.99
Chicken was dry and the teriyaki sauce wasn’t that flavorful. Bento also included fried rice, fried spring roll (didn’t like the filling), fried dumpling, California roll (4 pcs), salad and miso soup. I’d skip the chicken bento here.
Overall positive experience. Food was good esp. sushi & sashimi dishes. Great lunch specials available every day of the week, lots of choices and reasonable prices. Also got six different banchan incl. the steamed egg (which I love) and served really yummy jjuk for each person. Ambience was very nice, private booths are available and their space is pretty big. We’ll definitely come back to try their jungsik.
FYI they’re located next to Honey Pig.