Yum Yum Earns the Name During Opening Week in South Bryant

UPDATE Oct 5, 2018:

Yum Yum Hibachi has been open since Wednesday at 302 South Reynolds Road and they are living up to their name. I went with a big group from the Benton Area Chamber of Commerce for the official ribbon cutting Friday morning, but you know I needed to stay for lunch. This update is strictly to tell you the food is as wonderful as we’d hoped and I predict this restaurant will stick around.

If you know the property, you know that the dining area is small, so you might consider calling ahead for take-out, but for my experience, I like to stay and see all the people I know from the community. Julianty is part of the ownership at Yum Yum – you’ll see her in the photos below. She let me get some video of the huge bowl of rice they have continuously cooking in the kitchen. I would not want to arm wrestle with the cook who stirs this all day every day.

My parents, Roger and Thelma Poole joined me for lunch and we sampled one entree each of the chicken, steak and shrimp hibachi. We also had side orders of gyoza (dumplings) and crab rangoon. I’m going to be honest here in telling you that I’ve never had freshly made crab rangoon. It’s always been off a buffet. So there’s a first – and it was so delicious. If you didn’t know, these are fried wontons stuffed with cream cheese and crab meat. Also, if you’ve never had gyoza, you may know their cousin, the potstickers. They are similar to egg rolls, with mostly cabbage and pork inside, but they are a different shape and are cooked in a pan instead of deep fried.

The service was quick and friendly. I’ll be coming back again and again. They are open Mon – Sat, 11:00 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.- 9:30 p.m. Tell them you saw them on MySaline. See pictures below, and previous updates and related stories.

: Cutting the ribbon

: Steak Hibachi

: Shrimp Hibachi

: Chicken Hibachi

: Gyoza (dumplings)

: Crab Rangoon

: Menu

: Owners at the ribbon cutting for joining Benton Chamber

: Big crowd at the ribbon cutting

: More crowd

: Obligatory selfie

: 302 S Reynolds

UPDATE Sep 26, 2018

: Gyoza

: Noodles

: Fish

I just got the word from one of the owners, Garner Mitchell, that Yum Yum Hibachi is set for its opening on Wednesday October 3rd, 2018. Hours will be 11:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Photos above are from the restaurant’s Facebook page. There’s a menu in the thumbnails as well. Read below for the August 27th update and the August 5th original story with all the info.

UPDATE Aug 27, 2018:

If you look closely at the picture below (taken Wed., Aug. 22), you’ll see a man is there, painting the sign for the new restaurant to open. I spoke with part-owner Garner Mitchell, who said they are still doing remodeling at Yum Yum Hibachi Express so they can’t give an opening date just yet. See more details about this upcoming restaurant in the previous article below.

ORIGINAL AUG 6, 2018:

If you drive on South Reynolds Road any, you’ve probably seen the sign out in front of this property. Paula Lynn’s had been in this location for a few years, but closed the restaurant and but moved their line of sweets to inside Jordan’s BBQ. As soon as I put out the article about Paula Lynn’s, some folks contacted me to let me know they were looking at the building to start a new restaurant.

Garner Mitchell, a life-long resident of Bryant, is one of the partners. The other two partners prefer to be private. As you can see from the picture, the new restaurant will be called Yum Yum Hibachi.

“We will serve a hibachi express with the grill being in the kitchen. Grilled chicken, steak, shrimp and vegetables with fried rice. We will more than likely have appetizers such as fried spring rolls, dumplings, edamame and seaweed salad,” stated Mitchell.

You may know Mitchell as one of the partners of the popular new Hawaiian restaurant, Poke Cafe, across town by Academy Sports in Benton. If this is any indication of the quality we can expect, I for one am excited for Yum Yum to open.

Mitchell said the planned hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and closed on Sundays. They don’t yet have a date set for opening, since there is a lot of remodeling to do, but the goal is a couple of months from now.

“We have been looking for a place in Bryant for quite some time now, preferably on Reynolds Road,” stated Mitchell. “We kind of stopped looking in order to concentrate on Poke Cafe, but when Paula Lynn’s became available, we had to jump on it.”

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