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    The Rice Wagon

    4.8 (44 reviews)
    Open 11:30 am - 8:00 pm

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    Chicken Katsu
    Stacie B.

    Loved my visit to the Rice Wagon! The food was excellent, service was prompt and friendly making it an overall great experience. We were able to have our dog on the patio with us as we were driving through. This will probably be a repeat stop for us when in the area, so excited to have found it.

    Ricardo S.

    The food was very salty. Pork was gamey and smelly. The service was very good. Cool music/vibe also.

    Erica S.

    I would've never expected to find such a wonderful Hawaiian restaurant in Cherokee, NC. The authenticity of the food was truly spectacular. I had the chicken Katsu sandwich with Mac salad and it brought me right back to being in Hawaii. We took friends who had never eaten Hawaiian food before and they were shocked at how good it was. We will definitely visit this restaurant the next time we're in Cherokee.

    Shoyu Chicken and the Chicken Katsu

    We were passing through Cherokee and decided to try the rice wagon. When we arrived, Peyton welcomed us, gave us her recommendations, and helped us order. The food was delicious. I was full before I ate half of my plate. My husband got some of the sauces from the chicken katsu to put on the shoyu chicken since he liked it so much. The environment was very clean and welcoming. It was a modern restaurant with outdoor seating available.

    The Big Kanaka

    Great service, very clean establishment and awesome food! Highly recommended! The Big Kanaka was amazing!

    Bankai Chicken

    The best Hawaiian food I have ever had!!!! Service and staff were incredible, helped me navigate the menu items! 20/10 would recommend

    Chicken katsu (foreground); kalua pork (background)
    Stephanie B.

    I LOVED my chicken katsu. Nicely breaded and cooked; the chicken was moist. The sauce was great. It got spicy after several bites. The Asian-inspired slaw was delicious -- lightly flavored purple cabbage. I want the recipe! And I want to go back. It's easily the best meal we've had in Cherokee. Spouse had the kalua pork, which he enjoyed (though he thought it was similar to NC pulled pork).

    Ahí Tuna
    Heather W.

    The food here was spot on! Delicious, fresh. I had Ahi Tuna and my husband loco moco. Don't miss out

    Hurricane chicken
    Kasey M.

    We had to wait 40 minutes for our food because they ran out of cooked rice but its ok because the food was fire . I had the full plate of hurricane chicken and it came with mac salad and 2 scoops of rice. Just as good as some of the places i had on big island.

    Yellowfin Ahi Tuna

    I can never get enough of this place!!! The seared Tuna in a mountain town being THIS AMAZING is mind blowing!! So fresh, so good, best quality tuna everrrrr!!

    Chicken Katsu plate
    Sai S.

    Outstanding Chicken Katsu! We tried both the Bankai Chicken Katsu and the Chicken Katsu plate. All of it was incredible. We are new fans of the Rice Wagon and can't wait to come back. With friendly service, quick food preparation - and very reasonable prices - nothing but 5 stars here!

    Kulua pork and musubi

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    1 year ago

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    1 year ago

    So good! Nice lunch, chicken katsu was delicious! 10/10 recommend. Service was fast, convenient location.

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    2 years ago

    Wow! What a pleasant find, so good could eat here every day. Keep up the amazing work, fantastic food.

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    Huli Sue’s - nicely plated & above all very tasty!

    Huli Sue’s

    4.7(402 reviews)
    42.6 mi
    $$

    Huli Sue's is a cool and creative little spot on the outer side of businesses at Grove Arcade…read more Menu selection was sizable with some really cool creative dishes. Everything was made perfectly and tasted even better. Service was outstanding. Everyone was close by and checked in often. Very friendly, helpful, courteous, and truly customer driven. Loved my time at Huli Sue's! Most certainly will be back!

    After a day of hellish travel, we decided to get into a car and travel more. Everyone told us to go…read moreto Ashville and it was a great decision. We found Hulu Sue's and there was a parking spot right in front so we decided to come in for lunch. The ambiance was friendly and inviting. Although it was really busy, we were immediately seated at the last indoor table. We ordered the Poke bowl and the combination bowl and a spam appetizer. The started was simple and delicious. I was never on the spam bandwagon, but this simple preparation was fantastic. The poke bowl was delicious. It was a little heavy on the mayo, but all the components were great. I loved the macaroni salad. It was the reason I wanted to come in and I was happy! I sampled some shrimp and chicken from my guy's dish and they were both great-well seasoned and well prepared. I wasn't a fan of the pork, it felt on the dry side. We also noticed that NC likes their sauces. I mean, I like sauces, but I never expect 4-6 options on the table. We tried a little of each and the curry based option and the mustard were my favorites! This is a great find. I didn't realize that small towns still close up shop early on Sundays. So unfortunately we didn't get to spend a lot of time exploring. Nonetheless, this was a great place to stop into.

    Photos
    Huli Sue’s - Cute decor

    Cute decor

    Huli Sue’s - Green Chile Cornbread

    Green Chile Cornbread

    Huli Sue’s - Bar was very nicely colorful and open, they were making mai tais & blender cocktails

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    Bar was very nicely colorful and open, they were making mai tais & blender cocktails

    Captain Jim's Seafood Buffet - Variety platter. Hush puppies were terrible, crab cakes not much better.

    Captain Jim's Seafood Buffet

    2.2(519 reviews)
    23.4 mi
    $$

    If you like all you can eat seafood buffets great place to visit! Our waitress was super friendly…read moreand the young woman that took our picture was pleasant and very sweet. We had no wait and we're quickly seated. It's definitely got a tourist vibe to it but we are tourists so we fit right in.

    My husband is usually great at picking restaurants, so I'm not sure why I didn't check the Yelp…read morereviews before we chose this one--big mistake. The buffet was around $60 for all-you-can-eat crab legs, which sounded promising. Unfortunately, like many others have mentioned, the crab legs were cold when we first got them. They were overcooked and lacked flavor. We did manage to get a fresher batch later, which was better, but still not great. The promotional video online clearly had some Hollywood magic--what we experienced was far from what was advertised. Overall, the buffet was a letdown. Much of the food wasn't fresh, most dishes were bland, and a few were downright inedible. The crab cakes looked like sausage patties and were just as tough. The fried oysters were slimy and mushy--not the kind of texture you expect, even for oysters. I love fried oysters, but these were a hard pass. The crab-stuffed flounder was bland, though the stuffing tasted more like what a crab cake should taste like. The frog legs were surprisingly decent and did taste like chicken. Mussels and clams were a disappointment. Green beans tasted like they came straight from a can, and the mac and cheese reminded me of frozen Stouffer's. The peel-and-eat shrimp were good, but the raw oysters were a disaster--visually unappealing and smelled off. And yes, September is an "R" month, so they should've been fine. We asked for fresher ones, and what we got still didn't pass the sniff test. I love raw oysters, but I wasn't about to risk it. Vegetable options were limited: mushrooms (which were good), canned green beans, corn on the cob, and fried okra. Service from our waitress, was hit-or-miss and didn't leave a lasting impression. The atmosphere was awkward--no music, just the hum of kitchen staff talking. It felt more like a quiet cafeteria than a lively restaurant. While that made it easy to chat with our party, it also made the overall vibe feel stale. On the plus side, the restaurant was clean. But for the price, it wasn't worth it--and we won't be returning.

    Photos
    Captain Jim's Seafood Buffet - Stuffed flounder, pretty good

    Stuffed flounder, pretty good

    Captain Jim's Seafood Buffet - Fried clam strips salmon Mac and cheese

    Fried clam strips salmon Mac and cheese

    Captain Jim's Seafood Buffet

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    Poke Bros - Knoxville - OMG this was so good.  We were not disappointed.  This was bringing Hawaiian food to the mainland.

    Poke Bros - Knoxville

    3.1(20 reviews)
    47.3 mi

    Great food, friendly staff but the online ordering needs fixed. Wouldn't let my order go through…read morewith multiple tries.

    The first thing we noticed upon entering was the foul smell. We couldn't pinpoint it, but it was…read morean immediate red flag. We reluctantly ordered, against our better judgment, and I'll say up front that it was a mistake. Service was weird. The guy just stared at us with a blank expression. There was no greeting, small talk, or chitchat. I wasn't sure where to order, so I just walked back and forth around the counter, depending on where on the menu I was looking. He didn't make a peep until telling me the total. I've never had the silent treatment from someone on customer service before, lol. I ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen with Chashu Pork protein. The broth was lukewarm, flavorless, and didn't taste like any tonkatsu I've ever had. Was very disappointed. The egg was cold, and overly salty. It's as if they used preserved eggs, soaked them in soy sauce for years, then slated it again before adding it to the broth straight from the fridge. The other toppings didn't seem fresh at all. Half the bowl was spinach, but is wasn't fresh, and was extremely bitter. This is the first time I've ever seen spinach as a ramen ingredient, and it ruined this dish (note: I love spinach, but this was obviously bad). Overall, the did was bad. Nothing seemed to work together, and it seemed to be ill prepared. Lots of flying bugs, and with the majority the food open air... not gonna try the poke. We were the only customers during the entire lunch "rush". That was the final red flag that determines we will not return. I don't think this was an off-day, I think this place is just not good. Our experience was terrible.

    Photos
    Poke Bros - Knoxville
    Poke Bros - Knoxville - Mochi Ice Cream !

    Mochi Ice Cream !

    Poke Bros - Knoxville - Tonkotsu Ramen with Chashu Pork

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    Tonkotsu Ramen with Chashu Pork

    The Rice Wagon - hawaiian - Updated May 2026

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