This Cherokee, North Carolina Restaurant Serves Crispy Chicken Katsu And Heaping Hawaiian Plate Lunches

The Smokies are not where most people expect to meet a plate lunch.

That is exactly why this little Cherokee stop is such a fun detour.

What began as a western North Carolina food-truck operation eventually found a permanent home, bringing island-style comfort food indoors without sanding off the casual personality that made it popular in the first place.

The menu has enough range to make choosing surprisingly difficult, but the real charm is how naturally everything fits the setting. A long mountain day can end with crispy chicken, rice, and macaroni salad instead of another predictable roadside meal.

That change of pace hits especially well after hours of hiking or driving.

You may arrive surrounded by Appalachian scenery.

Dinner has other travel plans.

Make Room For A Bankai Chicken Katsu That Turns Lunch Into The Main Event

The plate that immediately stands apart comes covered in sauce rather than hidden inside a sandwich. Bankai Chicken Katsu starts with the restaurant’s breaded chicken katsu and places it over furikake rice with tropical Asian slaw, then finishes everything with double dragon sauce and katsu sauce.

The result takes the familiar crunch of fried chicken in a more layered direction without losing the straightforward comfort-food appeal that makes katsu so easy to order.

The regular chicken katsu remains available as well, served with a sweet and tangy dipping sauce for anyone who prefers a simpler version.

Both use boneless chicken thighs coated in Japanese-style breadcrumbs, giving the exterior plenty of texture while keeping the meat substantial enough for a full plate lunch.

The specialty version is especially useful when you want one order that shows several sides of the kitchen at once, since rice, slaw, crispy chicken, and sauces all arrive together.

Nothing about it requires prior knowledge of Hawaiian food to enjoy. The Rice Wagon Cherokee simply starts with something recognizable and gives it enough extra personality to make the first visit considerably more interesting.

You Can Taste Sweet Savory And Smoky Flavors In Every Bite

Different sauces do much of the work of keeping this menu from feeling repetitive. Shoyu chicken is slow-braised with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, while kalua pork stays closer to the smoky and salty side of Hawaiian comfort food.

Garlic chicken takes another route, beginning with marinated popcorn chicken before it is fried and tossed in garlic sauce. Anyone wanting more heat can move toward Hurricane Chicken, where fried pieces are finished with fire dragon sauce and furikake.

Even the popcorn chicken can be ordered with several finishes, including Hot Hawaiian Honey and Hot Hawaiian Pineapple. Rice provides a neutral base underneath those stronger flavors, and macaroni salad brings a creamy counterpoint alongside many of the traditional plates.

The combination creates plenty of variety without requiring an enormous menu. One visit can lean toward slow-cooked pork, while another can revolve entirely around crisp chicken and brighter sauces.

Korean-style kalbi short ribs push the savory side further still, making it easy for two people to order completely different meals from the same counter.

That range is one of the restaurant’s strongest qualities because the basic plate-lunch format remains familiar while the proteins and seasonings keep changing.

Switch Things Up With Chicken Katsu On Your Next Visit

Crunch supplies the first clue that this plate is going in a different direction from the slow-braised choices nearby. The standard Chicken Katsu uses boneless, skinless chicken thighs coated in Japanese-style breadcrumbs and serves them with a sweet and tangy katsu dipping sauce.

Full plates come with two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and a full portion of protein, while mini plates reduce both the rice and meat for a smaller meal. That makes the same dish easy to fit around different appetites without changing what makes it appealing.

The Bankai version is there when extra sauce and slaw sound better, but the regular plate keeps the focus firmly on crisp chicken.

Katsu is also one of the clearest examples of how The Rice Wagon blends influences commonly found in Hawaiian plate-lunch cooking, where dishes with roots elsewhere in the Pacific and Asia have long shared space on the same menus.

Here in Cherokee, it sits comfortably beside kalua pork and loco moco without needing much explanation. Add the creamy macaroni salad on the side, and the plate quickly shows why this style of casual island-inspired meal travels so well.

Look Beyond The Plate Lunches Before Ordering

Thirty-eight items currently spread across appetizers, sandwiches, plates, specialty plates, sides, and drinks, so there is considerably more room to wander than the compact counter-service setup first suggests.

Nacho Daddy piles kalua pork over tortilla chips with tropical Asian slaw and cilantro-lime crema, while Nacho Chick swaps in shredded shoyu chicken.

The sandwich section heads in yet another direction. The Big Kanaka stacks garlic chicken katsu with slaw and cilantro-lime crema, while the Hawaiian 5-0 uses pulled pork with tropical Asian slaw and sriracha-lime crema.

Burgers appear beside those sandwiches, giving anyone traveling with a less adventurous eater something familiar to work with. Current menu listings can shift over time, which makes looking over the board before settling on a previous favorite worthwhile.

The restaurant has enough crossover between sauces, proteins, and sides that one ingredient often appears in several completely different forms. Kalua pork can become a plate one day and a sandwich another.

Chicken can arrive braised, breaded, or fried into bite-size pieces. That flexibility gives repeat visits more range than simply reordering the same combination of rice, macaroni salad, and protein every time.

Bring Someone Who Will Happily Trade Bites Across The Table

Sharing becomes particularly useful when the menu starts pulling in several directions at once. The combo plate lets one person choose two qualifying entrées and serves them with two scoops of rice plus macaroni salad, making it the simplest route to comparing flavors without ordering two complete meals.

A table can push the idea further by choosing different specialties. One person might take the blackened yellowfin ahi tuna, served rare with furikake rice and tropical Asian slaw, while someone else orders the Korean-style kalbi short ribs.

Loco moco brings another distinctly different plate, topping hamburger steak with an over-easy egg and gravy. Those choices cover enough ground that trading a few bites makes more sense than having everyone order the same thing.

Even appetizers can expand the spread without duplicating the mains, particularly the pork or chicken nachos.

The casual counter-service format suits that style of meal because nothing needs to arrive with formal ceremony or remain untouched on one person’s plate.

Outdoor seating is available in addition to the indoor dining area, so groups have more than one option once the food is ready. With several proteins and sauces competing for attention, bringing someone willing to share solves the hardest part of ordering.

Try A Hawaiian Plate When One Sandwich Is Not Enough

Rice and macaroni salad form the dependable backbone of the plate-lunch section. Full plates currently include two scoops of rice, one scoop of mac salad, and a full serving of the chosen protein, while mini plates cut the rice to one scoop and reduce the protein portion by half.

Kalua pork keeps things traditional with smoky, salty pulled pork, and shoyu chicken is slow-braised with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger.

Garlic Chicken and Hurricane Chicken bring fried options, while vegetarian stir fry gives the plate format a meat-free route through broccoli, mushrooms, and onions in black bean garlic sauce.

Loco moco takes the comfort-food factor even further with hamburger steak, gravy, and an egg over the top. These are substantial combinations without being complicated, which is part of the appeal after a morning spent exploring Cherokee or the surrounding mountains.

Nobody needs to assemble a collection of separate sides just to make lunch feel complete. The plate arrives already structured around protein, rice, and something creamy beside it.

For anyone new to this style of food, ordering one of the standard plates may be the easiest way to understand what The Rice Wagon does before moving toward the more elaborate specialty options.

Keep The Casual Vibe Going With A Laid-Back Meal In Cherokee

There is no complicated dining routine to learn before walking through the door. The restaurant operates as an informal counter-service spot with indoor seating and an outdoor area, making it well suited to travelers arriving in hiking clothes or families looking for an uncomplicated lunch.

Current hours run from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, which leaves a wide window for anything from an early midday meal to dinner after exploring the area.

The address at 35 Big Cove Rd, Cherokee, NC 28719 places it conveniently within town and only a short drive from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundary.

The restaurant’s compact setup also keeps the emphasis on ordering rather than lingering over a formal multicourse meal. Plates, specialty dishes, sandwiches, and appetizers all fit naturally into takeout as well as dine-in plans.

That can be useful when the day’s schedule still includes sightseeing or a drive farther into the mountains. The atmosphere does not try to compete with the food through elaborate décor.

Instead, the easygoing format lets a pile of crispy chicken or a plate of kalua pork do most of the work once lunch reaches the table.

Leave With A New Favorite Stop For Island-Style Comfort Food

The Rice Wagon’s roots extend beyond Cherokee, which explains why the menu already feels established despite this being the newer restaurant location.

Jeremiah and Jennifer Chatham were operating the Hawaiian BBQ and Asian-fusion business as a food-truck operation in western North Carolina before the Cherokee restaurant arrived.

Their Bryson City truck remains permanently based at 90 Everett Street, giving the business another foothold in the mountains.

The Cherokee location takes that casual food-truck spirit and gives it a permanent indoor home, with a broader menu that still revolves around generous plate lunches and bold sauces.

Ahi tuna, chicken katsu, kalua pork, kalbi, and loco moco make it possible to revisit without repeating the same order, while sandwiches and burgers offer an easier entry point for anyone new to the style.

Cherokee already draws travelers for the culture and landscapes surrounding the Qualla Boundary and Great Smoky Mountains, so finding Hawaiian-inspired comfort food in the middle of that trip is an unexpected bonus.

You may arrive looking for one reliable lunch. The menu makes it remarkably easy to start planning what you would order the next time through town.