Boru Asia Bistro & Sake Bar

amazing service and tasty food. I would def recommend it

Please do not give this restaurant any more business until it can understand how to handle weekend crowds.
We purchases a Groupon for sushi and arrived at 6pm the Sunday before President’s day (a Federal Holiday in the DC area… so, basically a Saturday night). From the beginning I was unimpressed. The entrance is not clearly marked, there is no waiting area or really any «hostess table», and the restaurant appeared to be EXTREMELY understaffed.
Now what I am about to say didn’t really affect our dinner because we were eating sushi, but it bears explaining. Hibachi is extremely popular in this area and 20 minutes into our dining experience there were about 50 people waiting in the front of the restaurant. The LONE hostess clearly had no idea how to manage a crowd that big, was not answering customer questions well, was giving people false information about wait times, etc, etc. There were groups who had clearly made reservations and they were told to sit in the sushi area and wait. Yes, I know it’s a Sunday, but management has to realize and prepare for a Sunday before a Federal Holiday and treat it like any other weekend, because that’s how packed it got. One family sat at the tables next to us, waited about 20 minutes and walked out in disgust. There wasn’t even anyone at the bar to entertain people or provide people drinks while they waited. It was just chaos. From what I could also tell, there were only two hibachi chefs on duty, and all five or six hibachi tables were seated. It just screamed poor management and blatant disregard for the customer.
ANYWAY. Read on if you care to hear about the sushi side of Boru.
Food: the sushi was nothing to write home about; not TERRIBLE, but not the best, and not worth the awkward environment we were swimming in because of the growing crowd for hibachi and the flustered waitstaff. We ordered a roll with spicy mayo, which was flavorless and runny. The spicy tuna roll was watery and weird. And the salmon nigri was two meager pieces on top of gross-​looking lumps of rice. We wanted to order more nigri, but forget that. The waitstaff was too busy doing poor damage control for the hibachi madness. Which brings me to…
Waitstaff: Meh. I’m not one to complain about waiters and waitresses, especially when a restaurant is this busy. But our waitress was a piece of work. She was rude, inattentive, distant, and I could tell she was mocking the customer complaints and did not take her job seriously. She was also really slow and forgetful. Again, I can excuse that on a busy night, but she didn’t even pretend to care.
Restaurant/​ambiance: The restaurant itself is pretty nice. Albeit freezing. And the lighting in the sushi area is pretty poor. Again, not TERRIBLE, but nothing worth revisiting.
Overall: Two stars for effort, because the food was pretty okay. But knock off the three stars for the poor management and horrible waitstaff. If we hadn’t bought the Groupon, though, this place would probably only squeak by with one.

ROACHES!!! ROACHES!!! Just left this place after seeing SEVERAL ROACHES ON HIBACHI TABLE!!! We saw minimum of 4 on hibachi table and when my husband looked under the table, he saw way more squirming near the table!!! OMG. Seriously, GROSSEST thing we’ve ever seen! There were others eating sushi there. I warned them before I left and I hope they don’t finish their meal there! If dining area is that gross, you can just imagine how nasty inside kitchen is. Wow. Just unbelievable how these people have absolutely no regard for public’s health!!! And when one of the waitresses noticed what was going on, she just asked «do u want to move to a different table?» ARE YOU SERIOUS?

I just ordered from here and it was horrible. The sushi was not edible and I now feel horribly nauseous. I called Eat 24 to complain and was told that nothing could be done until the manager came in tomorrow. I spend $ 60 on this order and I’m really unhappy. Avoid this place at all cost

Horrible. Ordered a hot dish that came out 80% uncooked. Sent it back to the kitchen, who basically acknowledged that they did not cook it long enough. Both myself and my dining partner were ill — luckily we didn’t eat too much so our symptoms were not as severe as it could have been.

If Sushi Spots were hotels, this would be the Ritz Carlton in NYC. I mean, an unlimited sushi bar (yes, a bar chock full ‘o sushi goodness) for $ 15?! Yes please. I loaded up not one, but TWO plates full of various sushi gold (they’ve gotta have nearly 20 different types of sushi).
You bet both your bottom dollars I’ll be back here for lunch again soon. SUSHIII AHHHH!

In my quest to finding the best place for HH food specials, I came across this place. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMG 50% sushi for HH PLUS drink specials! My friend and I came here and walked out with a $ 25 tab!!! The sushi was delicious and they definitely did not skimp on ingredients. Warm sake was only $ 3, some beers were $ 2, house wine $ 4.
I also frequent this place for lunch. They have one of the best sushi buffet I’ve ever been to. Good quality food, low price. It generally gets pretty packed here during lunch time. But becuase of the fast service, you get to sit down and load up your dish right away.

I come here every once in a while for Happy Hour (M-​F 3−7pm): half off sushi and $ 4 house wines. Can’t say no to that!
I love their Hawaiian, shrimp tempura, and spicy tuna sushi.
They lose one star because service is always so terribly slow, even if my party is the only group there, the help is nowhere to be found. They lose the other star because they always used to allow us to take our leftover sushi from happy hour home. We were informed last time that we wouldn’t be able to do that from now on.
Oh well, I don’t think we’ll be coming here for happy hour as much anymore.

To put it simply, Boru is awesome. Not only is the sushi fantastic, but it is by far the best deal out there. During happy hour, 3 – 7 on weekdays (which is pretty generous), sushi is 50% off and beers are $ 2. They have a large variety of rolls from which to choose, and the food is always delicious. The hibachi is great too. The portions are large, the show is good, and the meat /​shrimp (I highly recommend the filet and shrimp) are cooked perfectly. I have always found the hibachi to be a great way to go out and have a fun meal with friends.
On top of the food, the staff is great. All of the waitresses are friendly and provide prompt service. The bartenders are great as well. I think that bar is one of the most underrated venues in Ballston. Great bar to go and have a drink after work or to go with friends to pre-​game before heading out to the other bars around town.
Try the lunch buffet as well. Quite good.

The buffet for lunch hits the spot every time…

I only come for the sushi buffet during lunch and always satisfied. I will say that when it was named Matsutake, the options may not have been as «pretty» or varied but the food was definitely better.
Points lost on service — Servers are always hovering and can be a bit intrusive and they keep asking you if you’re done if you are there at the end of the buffet time. I realized they do this because they allow the staff to eat the left overs. I’m paying good money to eat, don’t rush me.

Not impressed! Sign outside says Matsutake, signs inside say Boru Asia Bistro Sake Bar, receipt says Evergreen Korean Restaurant and the credit card slip says Matsutake. What is this place???
What it isn’t is a great restaurant. We walked in to a fairly empty restaurant at 8:30 on a Saturday evening and waited a few minutes for someone to greet us. We were then seated and waited about 10 minutes to be greeted by our server. We ordered chicken and pork gyoza to share which were decent, followed by a shrimp and beef combo and a chicken dish from the grill. The show was lame, proteins were ok and the veg was limp and flavorless. The veg definitely could have benefitted from some garlic. The entrees came with a light broth which was good, and a watery iceberg lettuce salad with tomato and cucumber with a creamy dressing. Either the dressing was watery or the lettuce wasn’t drained.
We won’t be back.

I love this location. Monday-​Friday they have their sushi buffet which is awesome, full of variety, and delicious. I know that I am not a expert; however, I do not think there is any issue with the freshness of the sushi. The fact that the buffet is usually packed shows the popularity and the great deal for it. I love the fact that it is so close to my place. I have yet to try the location’s menu after the buffet.
The staff are so-​so. I am definitely not a fan of them placing my bill down right when I sit down to eat (I think it is not professional and just straight up rude). Other than that it is a nice sushi buffet deal.
Everything is great except the customer service.

Need a quick dinner? Keep walking… Slow, ok sushi, sloooow service.

Never. Ever. Again.
I confess that I used to eat here as often as once a week, because I live nearby, the buffet is convenient if mediocre, and I was willing to overlook the inept but seemingly well-​meaning service, the inexplicable English pop music playing at distracting levels. Something has happened the last couple of months, however (new manager, maybe? staff cutbacks?) and the place has spiralled down to hell. Today was the last straw: flavorless sushi that must have been prepared and shrink-​wrapped well in advance; long gaps in refilling the buffet, and staff who shoved me and other patrons into a corner of the bar in the back room — a bar that was piled high with dirty plates — and acted like it was an imposition to clear away some of the debris and bring water to guests. Never. Ever. Again.

2.5 Stars for cheap price and rotating fully loaded sushi bar
Atmosphere: Trendy and quick
Service: Not good, pretty much seat yourself for lunch
Food: All you can eat sushi bar was ok but fully stocked
Price: Good price for all you can eat sushi
Overall experience: If you want cheap simple sushi check it out but don’t expect good service anywhere at the restaurant.

I’ve been here twice so far, and I still haven’t figured this place out yet. It’s probably better than the other sushi restaurant in the area, but even so it could step things up a bit.
The service is slow. At times, I felt forgotten.
The music is odd — new agey, enya stuff. It’s not jarring, and it’s not flagrantly objectionable like some places, but it’s just odd.
The sushi is… I’m not sure. So far so good. Nothing stunning, but nothing horrific. A little sauce-​heavy on the spicy tuna roll.
But here’s what’s good: The ambience, and the happy hour specials.
It’s a spacious place, which is very relaxing. And it’s decorated tastefully. And on weekdays between 3 and 6, sushi prices are dramatically reduced, as are drinks.
I hope this place sticks around long enough for me to figure out if I like it or not. All the pieces are there. It’s just how it comes together.

My favorite thing about this place is it took over the previous hibachi joint ‘Mastutake’ a couple years ago yet it hasn’t taken down the Mastutake sign nor has it changed the menu as all the menus still say Mastutake. I didn’t even know Mastutake had closed, apparently neither did the owners of Boru.
I went in here the other night for a birthday dinner with some friends. We had our own table/​grill area and the waitress came out and took our orders. My girlfriend (who by the way is so damn lucky to have me in her life it’s ridiculous) ordered some sushi sampler to split. Last time I got sushi there I asked for extra wasabi and they gave me the regular little dinky portion so this time I said «can I have extra wasabi please? And I mean extra. I need a lot.» The lady laughed and went to place the order. A little bit later this platter comes out with two little drops of wasabi on it and she said «let me know if you need more» and I immediately said «Yes. I need way more than this please.» She then seemed annoyed, got me a little dish of wasabi and said «You’re going to die» which I took as a challenge to annihilate that stuff. Challenge accepted little one.
All 7 of us went for the $ 2 upgrade to fried rice over steamed white rice. The chef then came out and started doing his thing, which was pretty cool to watch though I couldn’t hear the witty comments he was making, he was pretty soft spoken. He then started portioning out the rice and the first 4 people at the table got some and that was it. The rest of us just assumed he was making more but no he went on to cook the rest of our meals and portioned them onto all of our plates then said «Thanks, good night» and took off. The three of us without rice were just plain confused. I mean, it’s not like they messed up and gave us white rice, no they didn’t give us any rice whatsoever. There was a gaping hole in our plates. It was pretty obvious something should’ve been there.
Later the waitress came to drop the check, which she somehow did without any of us noticing otherwise we would have stopped her and asked her to split it up a bit. After dropping the check she disappeared for a good long while as we just sat there waiting for someone to come help us and either take the check or split it up for us.
The food, aside from the lack of rice, was pretty darn good, and the company was great fun. When it came time to cut the cake some fella came out with a samurai sword and gave it to the birthday girl to cut the cake with. That was neat. But overall the service was pretty terrible and I think it’s safe to say that I AM NEVER GOING THERE AGAIN (unless of course I get to use the sword).

This is pretty much my go-​to sushi place with my boyfriend, being so close to his apartment. I’m a pretty frequent customer, and I have never had a bad experience.
The staff here is quite pleasant. Unfortunately, if you’re sitting in dining, the service is very slow. If you’re expecting to come in for a quick bite to eat, they definitely won’t get you in and out. Every time we sit in dining, it takes us a long time to get our drinks and even to put in our order. One time, I think our waitress even disappeared and we had a new one 20 minutes later. Whoops!
However, my four stars come from the fabulous sushi chefs. Now we always sit at the sushi bar and are treated with such respect by the chefs! We don’t even order from the menu anymore — we just let the chefs know what we do and don’t like and they create fantastic dishes for us. The sushi has been fresh, flavorful, and has a nice presentation too. The chefs are hilarious and entertaining, and they keep us coming back almost weekly. Basically, we figured out how to eat here. Sit at the sushi bar!
As for being «overrun» like a previous Unilocaler had mentioned, I’ve never been here during lunchtime so I can’t speak for that time during the day. I’ve only been here on weekend nights between 6−8pm, and it is never really crowded. The hibachi bar can be pretty happenin’, but we are usually the only ones at the sushi bar and there seems to be plenty of tables open in dining.

I noticed the business was new but did hibachi and sushi like the previous tenant. We ordered the Nabeyaki Udon Noodles and the Sashimi Sampler. The Nabeyaki Udon Noodles were just average. The broth was tasty and the noodles were cooked great. The shrimp tempura wasn’t the best and when they placed it in the soup it made the tempura soggy and mushy. I’ve had it where the tempura is crunchy and held in place when submerged in soup so I’m thinking there was some mediocre frying going on here. The sashimi satisfied my craving. The tuna wasn’t the freshest but it was still delicious. The salmon and other sashimi was fresh and melted in the mouth. I enjoyed my meal and it’s a safe place to get soups and sushi. I’m going to have to try their hibachi so I can add to the best Japanese steakhouse thread.