Sakura Japanese Steak House

I’ve been to several Japanese steakhouses… the food was decent. The cook was very entertaining for my family as usual, the server not so much. I asked 4 times for a family member to have the «birthday» celebration, 10 minutes after we got our checks it still hadn’t happened so we decided to leave. The dongs began to play as we were walking out the door so I made the birthday guy come back inside. After we sang him happy birthday I followed the waitress to get the ice cream in a box and got to over hear her speaking badly of me that I asked for a birthday celebrations but then I just got up and walked out, which couldn’t be more un-​true. We asked as soon as we walked in and then 3 more times during dinner and still waited 10 minutes after a our checks were payed and completed before deciding to leave.

This was my first hibachi experience, and it was certainly fun and quite tasty
I came here on a Wednesday evening with some friends for dinner. Much to my surprise, the place was almost empty. We were seated immediately, and just mere seconds later I had a menu in my hands.
They have a large selection of alcoholic beverages on the menu, ranging from beers to wine to mixed drinks. There’s something for every taste bud.
The food menu is quite large too. If you leave this place hungry it’s your own fault. I split a cucumber and avocado roll as an appetizer with a friend. The roll was freshly prepared and very yummy. I think I’d return just for the roll. For my main course I ordered the hibachi chicken with fried rice.
With the meal, a bowl of Clear Soup and a salad is also included. Personally, I didn’t care much for the soup, as it was very salty, but I know many of my friends enjoyed it. The salad tasted fresh, but the ginger dressing they put on it was a little overpowering for my taste.
The chef put on quite a show, and was very engaging. I earned bragging rights as one of the few that caught broccoli in my mouth that was tossed by the chef. :-) It was really a fun experience watching him whip up all the fried rice, chicken, steak, and noodles. The portions were huge. The meal was also accompanied by a white «yum-​yum» sauce, which was quite tasty, although I’m not entirely sure what was all in it, as well as a ginger sauce, which I didn’t care for all that much. Like I said earlier, if you leave hungry it’s your own fault. ll of my friends, myself included, left with a full stomach and a to-​go box.
Our waitress was also wonderful. She was very attentive and very sweet. I never had to request a refill of my drink. Kudos to her!

Excellent restaurant for hibachi, though my favorite is their many types of sushi rolls.

Stopped in here on our way through town. I am a HUGE hibachi aficionado and any time there is one that looks decent I will swing by. Had a roll, a hibachi meal, and a beer.
ATMOSPHERE: The place is located in a rundown shopping plaza that is past its prime — just a heads up in case you are looking for some ritzy place. Honestly, when we rolled up, it looked closed — weren’t many people in the parking lot — looked shut down etc.
STAFF: We were greeted and sat quickly — mainly because we were the first people in the place at 5:30PM on a Thursday.
FOOD: Okay, here’s the part where I try to be informative and not close-​minded and judgmental. Bear with —- The meal came with salad and soup (as most do). The salad dressing was very LOUD — very in your face flavor, that may have needed to be diluted a bit — almost overpowering. The soup was the type in hibachis that is more beefy and uses a beef stock. Not my favorite type BUT still not too bad. The roll wasn’t my favorite part but was done well and was tasty.
The main course came with a good amount of rice, and the chicken was well done and the chef gave a good show. The condiments they offered was a white sauce (a little too thick– more mayonnaise based) and another type that I didn’t give a chance. I am strictly a white sauce guy. Theirs was a lot closer to what I like than other places, but not quite right.
PROMOTIONS: The best part was a promotion where if you LIKE them on Facebook you get 20% off your bill — took advantage of that immediately and they gave us a card to redeem the same deal next time.
Overall, it was good, but some of the parts of the meal were a little too much or not done right.
³⁄₅ I would be back and try it again!

This was the first time I’ve ever been at a Japanese Steak House and I have to say, we will be back.
From the second we arrived, they were all extremely friendly and welcoming. We were all served Miso (?) soup, a salty broth with mushrooms and onion. It had almost a smoky flavor that was very appetizing. Then we had small house salads that had a ginger dressing.
The chef came and verified everyone’s order and then began his show. The next few minutes were filled with utensil gymnastics, tricks and Fire!
Over the next 30 minutes he cooked everybody’s food at the same time but served in order. All the while the server continued to make sure we were all okay.
Through the course of the meal, I sampled steak, chicken, shrimp, and scallops, and I would eat every one of them again.
As we left, the gave us coupons that never expired, and were never taken, so we have 25% off forever.
All in all this was a wonderful experience I can’t wait to try again!

Nice atmosphere!!! Friendly service!!!
I ordered steak and shrimp hibachi.
Flavorful but a lot of garlic!!!
Reasonable prices.

I’ve been to several Japanese hibachi restaurants over several years. The food was okay. The hibachi artist was pretty good, but not the best I’ve ever seen. However her was quite friendly and answered all of my questions. The volume level was up and down from very Lord to quite conversational. It is located in a rundown strip mall. But the place is clean. Cost a bit more than we had expected.

Portion size was decent as for the hibachi but the rice was a bit overcooked. The hibachi chef was entertaining as they usually are, making my family laugh and smile.
Shrimp tempura roll was delicious and California roll was just ok.
Server was probably the biggest disappointment because even though we received our food timely she was notnproactive and gave the impression she did not want to be there.
Bathrooms pretty dirty.

Is there any break from the chain restaurant land that is the Plank Road and Pleasant Valley Boulevard corridor. Hey, I like chain restaurants too, folks, but sometimes I’ve got to take a break! Well, Sakura is a chain, but it seems less franchise-​y than other places hereabouts.
We decided to have the Hibachi style dinners in which the chef prepares dinner at the table. Rick went for the steak whereas I went for the swordfish. I can’t vouch for Rick’s steak, but my fish was very good. The Hibachi dinners also come with soup, house salad, shrimp appetizer, a choice of rice (white or fried) & vegetables. The only thing is you can’t make any substitutions. I really wanted miso soup because, well, I loves me a good miso.
Sakura is a welcome break from all the burger, chicken, and bar & grill franchises. If you’re in the area, try it sometime. I know that if I’m ever back, I’ll stop in for lunch so I can get me some miso.

Let me begin by saying I take word of mouth referrals very seriously! I have no agenda in giving my honest, unbiased reviews other than to share my thoughts from my experiences… hopefully passionate restaurateurs will use this information for good of mankind :-)
This place has the sushi and tempera cooking market in Altoona cornered! The hibachi table is somewhat hit/​miss as I have had 5 star meals there and nights that I swore I wouldn’t come go back. Especially, with the prices. But, the hibachi experience with friends is like pizza at 2am, even when it is bad it is good!
The sushi has always been top notch. In fact, that is what keeps me coming back weekly! I don’t even cross over to the hibachi anymore. You actually get better quality/​quantity of the hibachi meals if you order from a regular table. The owner (who can be smug) knows it, and is just waiting for you to use an expired coupon. Good thing his wife’s cute smile makes up for his pseudo angry attitude.
So, grab a Saparo and a sushi boat… just make sure and grab the 15% off coupon on of the paper. And what ever you do, don’t look the owner directly in the eye or tell them you didn’t get bread…“NEXT!”

This place was recommended by most of my friends and co-​workers. I admit that the service was prompt and entertaining, but I was there for the sushi. I am from Los Angeles, and lived many years in NYC as well… the sushi was very sub-​par. I read from others that this is the best around, and that makes me not want to eat sushi anywhere around here. The appetizers were good, but when I order a roll, I expect a nice sized roll. I ordered a spider roll and was sitting asking the age old question :” where’s the soft-​shell crab”. They really skimped on the rolls, which was disturbing.

Went to this spot with a group of four and a baby. we immediately sat down and waited 10 minutes for a highchair. That was annoying… I got the chicken hibachi dinner for $ 17.95 and I got my daughter the children’s chicken hibachi for $ 10.95.. the soup and salad were very good both had nice flavor… the child’s hibachi was the SAME SIZE AS THE ADULTS! If I would have known I could of ordered that instead and saved my self $ 7.00! I couldn’t even finish mine… But it was really good hibachi… the chicken was very juicy and the fried rice was pretty good… id go back!

I live in California. There is a sushi spot on every corner in California. There are even more Japanese steakhouses. I have actually never been to one out here. When I came to visit my parents in July, I went to dinner with my Daddy and step-​mother to this Japanese steakhouse. They were really excited to take me because they absolutely love it. After my visit, I can totally see why! The chef puts on a show right in front of you and it’s wonderful. Everything was cooked to perfection and they have this yummy white sauce that I couldn’t get enough of. The ginger sauce was good, too! I had the shrimp and chicken. The portions are huge. I had enough to take home to snack on later (which I did about two hours later). Definitely a good experience. I highly recommend it!

I was very skeptical about getting sushi because I was in PA a week earlier and tried a different Sakura and absolutly hated it. A guy I was working with wanted sushi so I gave in and I am happy we did. We were greeted by people wearing the authentic Japanese dresses (a komota I believe) which was nice but the sushi is what shined. We ordered 5 rolls and everything was great, the plate was clean by the time we were done. I had a roll with cream cheese that blew me away, much like a crab ragoon. Hopefully I do not need to go back to Altoona again, but if I do this would be a place I would go back to. Did not try the hibachi

I decided to take my mom here because I felt that she needed to experience hibachi. I had been here once, yeaaaaaaaars ago when it first opened (2005 if I recall correctly) so I didn’t know what to expect from this particular hibachi restaurant.
The restaurant was really clean and not very busy, two things that I enjoy immensely. The hostess/​waitress wasn’t nice or mean, she was just kind of there. Neither of us were super hungry so we asked if we could split a hibachi dinner and we were denied — rudely. This ended up being a good thing though. Based on the high price of the dinners, we expected a lot more food than what we were served so we did in fact eat most of our food!
Now, I expect a good show to be put on by the chef. I like it when they’re funny and engaging. That’s how I explained it to my mom. Our chef, well, wasn’t. He basically played with his knives then cooked the food. Maybe it was his first time or something, I don’t know.
The food… eh. I’ve had better elsewhere. We didn’t have sushi — just the hibachi chicken dinners. All in all, it was okay though. If I went back, I’d probably just order the veggie hibachi dinner and save myself a few bucks because the chicken was nothing special. Everything could have used more garlic and sauce.
I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it.
Oh, and I think my mom was disappointed. I doubt that she’d ever return.

You have to expect a hibachi restaurant to be greasy and over salted, and in this regard, Sakura did not disappoint. The food was satisfactory and the chef and waitress were both very nice. The hostess and the person who led is to our table were less than friendly. If you are at the Altoona Mall and are in the mood for hibachi, the place is serviceable. They were not serving sushi when we went, so I cannot speak to the quality of the sushi, about which other Unilocalers have spoken relatively well.

First off the food tasted ok. Not the best and not the worst. The rice needed a little more flavor. I ordered 2 sushi rolls and fried rice like I normally do at Japanese steak houses, and have a couple pieces of sushi left over but not here I was really disappointed on serving size. The price/​serving size ratio was really horrible. The prices were really really high for what you get, I have been to other Japanese steak houses and this one was by far the most stingy on portion size.
I don’t have a problem paying $ 15-​$ 25 for a good meal but here it wasn’t good or worth the amount spent.
Bottom line I would not recommend to a friend nor go back. And I do understand it is in central PA.

I really liked this place. The sushi was great — great value, big fresh pieces on the sashimi plate I ordered. I didn’t order the hibachi but tried some of my bf’s and it also was quite tasty.
Was a little crowded on a Friday night, but that is to be expected.
Overall, I recommend it and will definitely go back in the near future.

So it’s hard to judge the sushi here because compared to other sushi places, the sushi is just average. But from what I hear, there aren’t many good sushi places in State College so compared to those places, Sakura’s sushi is good.
I think the owners have done a good job decorating the inside of the restaurant but I feel like there isn’t much privacy. We were sitting at one of the tables and I felt like I was eating dinner with the people sitting at the table next to me. I could hear their conversation as if they were talking to me. I don’t remember music, so maybe it’s because there was no music playing? Not sure what it was exactly, but it was distracting.
I thought it was interesting that they served Thai and sushi so we tried both. The pad thai was more like sweet and sour noodles than pad thai. It was very sweet. Not bad, but if you’re expecting actual pad thai, I wouldn’t really recommend it. But if you like sweet dishes, then go ahead and try it.
The sushi was good but like I said, pretty average. The salmon in the salmon crunch roll was soggy (for lack of a better word). And the shrimp tempura roll kept falling apart when you picked up a piece, which to me indicates that it wasn’t well put together.
Overall, if I had to compare it to my favorite sushi places, I would give it a 2 star rating. But since there aren’t any other good sushi places in the area, I gave it a 3 star.

Anyone with half a brain can tell there’s a serious lack of decent Japanese eats in the Centre County general region. State College provides the worst of the absolute worst while the smaller areas sprinkled throughout are totally Chinese happy. How surprised I was when we decided to check this place out on a Friday night’s whim. The interior is clean, dimly lit (perfect for a romantic evening date) and the service was A+, our waiter checking on us several times to see if we needed anything. Other than another couple sitting across from us it was dead that late evening but believe me, we kept it lively. Two words. Plum Yum. With a complete bar and a nice assortment of mixed cocktails and beers, I went absolutely wild for the drink of choice (sake + plum liquor = heaven). Three appetizers, soup, salad, rice and two beef-​tastic entrees later, we were stuffed and totally happy.
Overall the food was good and tasty. Obviously not the «authentic» that food snobs would be a’searchin for, but certainly of way higher quality and generally convincing compared to a certain someplace in the 16 801 zip code. Their eel was delish while the miso soup flavourable. The steak I ordered was cooked to perfection. With reasonable prices and healthy, fresh eats Sakura’s is the best experience you’ll have in the area. I would definitely recommend it to anyone especially the JP food beginner for its accessible dishes and bright sauces. Nice price too.
Note to all you music guru. They were playing Ayumi Hamasaki on replay. Double ugh. I couldn’t tell if it was the booze or her awful, shrieking voice that was inspiring my migraines that evening. Bring on some Kumi Koda!