Little Ari's Japanese Kitchen

Located at 4129 Spring Garden St. in Greensboro, Little Ari’s Japanese Kitchen serves Japanese cuisine for lunch and dinner. The establishment is open from 11-9 Monday-Saturday and 11:30-9 on Sunday.

Greensboro is home to several hibachi restaurants that serve largely interchangeable meat/veggie/rice plates for under $10. Little Ari’s has them too, but this casual offshoot of the more upscale Arigato’s Japanese Steak and Seafood House offers more than a few novel touches as well. It’s an ambitious attempt to bridge the gap between hole-in-the-wall hibachi joints and full-on Japanese restaurants albeit not an entirely successful one.

Outside and in, Little Ari’s is deceptively spacious. The large lot offers plenty of parking, and the clean, modern interior plenty of seating. Little Ari’s operates on counter service: place your order at the register, receive a pager, and pick up when it buzzes. There were plenty of orange-shirted staff on hand at the time of our visit, and they seemed accommodating and concerned with diner satisfaction, a definite plus.

Little Ari’s menu both encompasses and transcends hibachi norms. The requisite hibachi bowls are accounted for, featuring your choice of chicken, shrimp, salmon, steak, tofu, or different combinations thereof as well as a few katsu (breaded) options. You can then choose between steamed or fried rice and pick from among four different sauces. While edamame and gyoza are expected finds, Little Ari also boasts ramen (chicken, soy, or tonkotsu/pork), onigiri (rice balls), and beef curry, options that help distinguish it from other establishments of this type.

For our first visit, my wife and I opted for a chicken katsu hibachi, a pork tonkatsu ramen, and an onigiri (tuna mayo and shrimp katsu) apiece. We didn’t have too long to wait before our pager started buzzing though not everything was ready all at once. The food had both hits and misses. On the plus side, the katsu chicken was cooked well - it held its breading without being dried out – and there was plenty of it. The ramen was a generous portion as well, and the broth, though understated (next time, I’ll opt for spicy), had the right flavor profile. Both onigiri were satisfying too. Though billed as rice balls, they are more akin to hot sushi pockets, seaweed-wrapped envelopes of tastiness that proved the highlights of the meal. On the other hand, the hibachi vegetables, listed as zucchini and onions, contained far more of the latter than the former, the ramen was a bit light on meat, and the katsu’s tonkatsu sauce lacked the expected hints of sweetness.

Little Ari’s pricing is similarly a mixed bag. $10 for a heaping bowl of ramen is a good deal even if it isn’t up to Tampopo’s standards. Hibachi entrees range from $8.50 to the teens for a regular/full portion depending on the proteins, and while it isn’t a meager portion, it is also priced slightly higher than what hibachi places usually charge. Two sauces are free with a hibachi purchase while any additional are $1.25 each for a small cup thereof. I understand the need to cut down on wastefulness, but this comes across as unduly stingy.

Ultimately, Little Ari represents both the best and the worst of the two worlds it inhabits. It offers more customization and more options than the typical hibachi joint and lets patrons get their ramen fix in a convenient fast casual environment, but it is also a bit pricier than said hibachi joints without matching the quality of a Tampopo or a Don. Friendly service and the presence of onigiri, however, make it worth at least a try.