iKook Hibachi restaurant opening Friday

February 3, 2021 by G. Chambers Williams III

The new iKook Hibachi Steak & Sushi restaurant on Oak Ridge Highway will open its doors to customers on Friday, and hold its grand opening on Saturday, the owners said this week.

Serving a variety of Japanese and Vietnamese dishes, the new eatery will open in the former location of the River View Grill, which closed late last year.

Along with traditional Japanese hibachi and sushi menu items, the restaurant will offer Vietnamese noodle soups and sandwiches.

The restaurant is offering 15 percent off on orders over $50 and 10 percent off on orders over $35 during the opening weekend, according to its Facebook page.

The full menu also is posted on Facebook.

It will open each day at 11 a.m. and will close at 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The address is 1625 Oak Ridge Highway, Clinton.

Owners are Donny Truong and his wife, Vuong Hoa, natives of Vietnam who have been operating a takeout Japanese food business from their Clinton home since last fall. Truong said Monday that their business had been doing so well that they wanted to move it into a location where they could also offer in-house dining.

“We heard about the River View Grill building being available, and some of our customers told us we should rent it and open our business there,” he said. “We’re getting the building ready now, doing some painting and cleaning, and we hope to open on Feb. 6. We want to be sure to open before Valentine’s Day.”

Truong, 39, has been a professional hibachi and sushi chef since he was 18, and will be doing most of the cooking, he said. His wife aunt will be preparing the Vietnamese dishes, which include the traditional banh-mi sandwiches with fresh bread that will be made in-house every day, he said.

“When we moved to Clinton last year, we saw that there was no Japanese restaurant, so we thought that was a good opportunity for us,” Truong said. “We started cooking at home and taking orders on Facebook, and our business really began to grow.”

He said he and his wife jumped at the chance to rent the River View Grill building. The most-recent owners of the River View Grill were from India, and recently had to return home, Truong said.

IKook will have a full menu of Asian foods, focusing on Japanese and Vietnamese dishes, but also including egg rolls, dumplings, rice, chicken, shrimp and other items. The restaurant’s current menu can be found on its Facebook page.

It will keep its same business phone number, 865-463-8550.