ENTERTAINMENT

‘Watts for Dinner’: East Naples’ Saki Japanese Kitchen a welcome addition

Will Watts
Correspondent
A side salad with ginger dressing from Saki Japanese Kitchen, East Naples.

Saki Japanese Kitchen is one of the newer food options at Stock Plaza in Lely Resort, opening in April. We arrived at a clean, modern, cozy restaurant with friendly service.

We decided to start with sushi. Classic rolls, cooked or raw, range from $3.25 for a cucumber roll to $8.50 for one with the works. The restaurant features nearly 30 specialty rolls from $8 to $14.99, including Mango Tango with mango and salmon.

To start, my partner in dine and I had picked the King Cobra roll ($12.50) – shrimp, cream cheese and cucumber topped with spicy crab, avocado and eel sauce. What an amazing way to kick off your meal. All the ingredients were fresh; the roll was gigantic – plenty enough for two.

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The King Cobra roll from Saki Japanese Kitchen, East Naples.

Other appetizers range from $3.99 to $7.95 and include favorites like edamame and soft-shell crab.

They also have miso and clear soup ($2) and numerous salads ($2.99 to $10.50). We both had salad, with an amazing ginger dressing.

For my main dish, I selected the shrimp fried rice ($11.99). The shrimp was beautiful to the eye as well as the tummy, with grill marks and all. And I counted more than 10 shrimps (!). That’s more generous than your average restaurant or someone’s getting fired after the owner reads this. And no, no one knew I was there to review the restaurant, per policy.

The shrimp fried rice from Saki Japanese Kitchen, East Naples.

As for the fried rice, nobody likes it too dry or too oily; and as that goes, this one reeks of perfection. There was nothing – beyond the amount and taste of the shrimp – extraordinary about the fried rice, but there wasn’t anything to complain about either.

My dining companion order the chicken and vegetable tempura ($13.99) with comes with either brown, white or fried rice. He chose the fried. I know, one’s heart tightens up when you overuse the word fried.

The tempura comes with both a soy and a creamy-based dipping sauce and the entire dish was met with enthusiasm.

The portion size (!) – just look at the photo. Huge! So, we skipped on dessert, which (from $4.50 to $5.99) include cheesecake tempura and mocha or tempura ice cream.

Saki Japanese Kitchen is great quality, priced right.

This newspaper pays for all meals related to dining reviews. We do not solicit or accept free food.

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If you go

Saki Japanese Kitchen

The chicken and vegetable tempura from Saki Japanese Kitchen, East Naples.