Nakato Japanese Restaurant

Sachiyo (“Sachi”) Nakato Takahara is the third generation of the Nakato women to run Nakato Japanese Restaurant, which was founded by her grandmother in 1972. Born in Atlanta, Sachi worked at her family-owned restaurant from the time she was in middle school. At the age of 24, Sachi mastered every aspect of the restaurant from dishwasher, busboy, server, bartender, and cashier, before being named General Manager of Nakato. During the past two decades as General Manager, Sachi has made her own mark on Atlanta’s quintessential Japanese Restaurant. Prior to the pandemic, she travelled to Japan several times a year to bring back the latest culinary trends and unique plateware. A constant presence at Nakato, Sachi has not only built a strong relationship with generations of guests and her surrounding community of Piedmont Heights, but she also acts as a conduit of Japanese culture to the Atlanta community at large. While Sachi has updated many aspects of Nakato, from taking the handwritten book of reservations that she inherited to an online reservation system, and updating the design of the restaurant, she is always doing it with an eye to the past and the decades of familial heritage that set the foundation of the restaurant. Sachi’s ingenuity and marketing prowess was put to the test during the tumultuous years during the pandemic. During this time, Sachi created wildly popular “Sunday Suppers With Sachi” where she connected with long-time guests over Zoom, as they enjoyed themed dinners that they would pick up at Nakato. Additionally, she created a series of online Origami classes for families, developed special “family meals” which included an array of Nakato’s most popular offerings, and developed many other innovative tools to maintain a constant connection to the community.