Hanami Sushi

I traveled to Virginia for work and was pleasantly surprised to find a good sushi place within walking distance of my hotel (The Hyatt). Since sushi is one of my favorite foods, and being from the Bay Area, I have high expectations for what I would consider to be good sushi. Everything I tried was really good and I would definitely go back again if I’m ever in the area. I actually went there with my coworker twice in one week so I was able to try several rolls (McArthur, Halloween, Ocean View, Power, Angel, Spicy, NY, and submarine). All were good choices.

Wow. This was my second time getting take out, and I am impressed. The really took time to not only prep the sushi properly, but to make sure it looked presentable as well. I’ve gotten a couple different varieties of sushi here, and all of them were exquisite. Would highly recommend. Although for lunch they don’t always look so busy inside, but don’t be fooled. If your into sushi, don’t let this place go unnoticed.

Without a doubt the best sushi in Richmond! Relaxing, low key atmosphere, very similar to my experience in Japan. The chef is incredibly skillful and dedicated to his work, and the ingredients are top notch. The fish was simply gorgeous: the texture, the shine, fresh AF.
The rice… fluffy, with a heavenly flavor, beautifully pearly.
I have been dreaming of good sushi for some time now, and I have finally found it, I’m so happy!

The best sushi in Richmond period. The homemade soy sauce is the perfect compliment to the speciality rolls. My personal favorite is the power roll. Nothing like seared beef, shrimp and lobster sauce! I would recommend this place to any friends or family looking for top quality sushi!

First time here. I ordered take out. Sushi was fresh but way too much sauce covering the sushi. Next I will order no sauce! Or sauce on the side.

I am not sure why this place gets 4 stars. This is NOT good sushi. The spicy crunchy tuna roll was about 50 percent crunchy. Some of the crunchy stuff was very hard, like biting into bone. It was not pleasant. I have never seen so much crunchy put into a roll. The Spider roll was fishy. My friend spit it out, I kept eating it but it was not good. I have had a lot of Spider rolls in my life and rarely have I had a bad one. Spider rolls are like pizza, even when they are bad they are still good but not this one. It did not taste right, very fishy. If the prices were better I might give it 3 stars but it is more expensive then some of the other run of the mill spots like Tokyo Sushi. I will not go back there, I will stick with UMI from now on.

The best by far that I have had in Richmond. New go to place in Innsbrook. Outstanding.

Amazing sushi! By far some of the best that I have had. I’ve been here about 5 times throughout a 4 year time span and every single time it has been amazing.

This was very very bad sushi. I’m giving this review 2 stars because I received prompt and friendly service from the woman that served me. Possibly because I was one of two guests in the entire restaurant. The food was very bad quality. Please do yourself a favor and eat somewhere else.

I’ve been putting this off for a very long time, because frankly I am selfish and wasn’t sure I wanted to share my favorite place to get sushi. So here it goes — Hanami is wonderful! I have been a lunch regular for years now and though they may not know my name, they know my order and always help me to get back to work within my hour break. Everything is so fresh and well rolled. For lunch, you cannot beat the price for the amount of food! A small bowl of miso soup, house salad, and 2 rolls for less than $ 10 — and everything is great! Their miso soup is above average. I believe they make their own ginger dressing for the house salad. I know for certain the soy sauce is homemade, and fantastic. If you’re in the area and you like sushi, do NOT pass up Hanami!

Great sashimi! The white/​red tuna and salmon are so soft and tender, would melt in mouth. The egg and crabmeat are also tasty. However, the yellowtail pieces are hard to bite.
The waitress seems not good at English. Their tea is not recommended, no flavor and expensive.
It seems a little pricy for me.

Don’t go in there on your lunch break if it is an hour only. 2 people, a couple of rolls each for the lunch special and didn’t get the sushi within 50 minutes. Had to change it to go. Food good, service not so much.

We enjoyed it bc the sushi seemed really fresh. The Wasabi seemed to have more kick & flavor than other places, which is good.

Tried Hanami for the first time tonight. Took the family — hubby and two teenage daughters. Actually daughter number 1 texted me asking if we could go eat sushi tonight. Yep, I’m a softy so I said yes if we could try somewhere different A quick Unilocal search and voila, Hanami.
Daughter 2 had the chicken katsu and liked it for the most part. She wanted fried rice instead of white rice and was told they don’t do side orders of fried rice. They did offer brown rice, so that was an improvement. The katsu came with broccoli, rice and a barbecue sauce. She gives it 3.5 stars… tasted pretty good but could have used more flavor. She also had the cucumber roll, which was pretty standard.
Daughter 1 had the tempura udon soup. She loves udon but said she prefers udon that had more mushrooms/​earthy flavors with the balance of sweet, salty flavors. She normally would eat the entire bowl and left half of it behind.
I had udon but made a special request to have it made with chicken instead of seafood (I don’t care for fake crab sticks or fried stuff). I appreciate that they were willing to accommodate my request, so kudos to them. As for the udon it was just okay… the broth was missing the deep richness that I’ve grown to expect.
My husband got the spicy tuna and McArthur role. He let me do a food swap and I found where this restaurant shines. The sushi was spectacular. The soy sauce, which is homemade has a ponzu quality but a little sweetness. I should also mention that the salads that come with the meal were drenched with a ginger dressing that is sweet and I swear has mayo in it. They also put waaaay too much on the salad.
So this was definitely an enjoyable meal and we will probably visit again for the sushi. The staff/​family were very nice and service was good. I like supporting a local business, too.

I can not believe we are just discovering this gem! My husband and I dined here for the first time tonight and were blown away by the quality of the food and the service. I ordered my usual Chirashi (sashimi over rice) and my husband tried the Eel Don box.
The Miso Soup was so tasty… the dressing on our salad was seriously the best I’ve ever had.
My Chirashi was beautifully presented on a plate, I’m used to it coming in a bow, but it was a a different touch, It came with a scoop of rice with seaweed seasoning. My husband loved the taste of his Eel Don.
We also ordered a roll to split and can not remember the name. but it was delicious with fried Soft Shell Crab inside and a plum dressing.
They make their own Soy Sauce and it is less salty and a bit sweeter than regular soy sauce. It REALLY enhanced the flavor of the finish instead of covering it with salt flavor. The should bottle and sell the soy sauce!
The Manager Jennifer came over to check on things which as a nice touch. You can tell its a quaint, family owned place… very friendly.
We will be bringing our children back sometime very very soon and might try it for lunch during the week sometime.

Great dinner, great service. Will be back.
I sat at the sushi bar, was quickly waited on. Menu offered a good selection of beer and sakis, large selection of dinners and rolls. I settled on a very tasty seaweed salad, and the chefs choice of sashimi. The chef prepared some beautifully tasty cuts of fish with an artistic presentation. Wonderfully fresh and melt in your mouth, served with a side of rice. The soy sauce is homemade and has great flavor.
The green tea ice cream was also very flavorful, with no bitterness like some.
Server was attentive and friendly.

I passed by Hanami Sushi many times but did not get a chance to try it out until this weekend. The place was very quiet for a Friday night since there was only two other tables occupied when we arrived. The host was quickly showed us to our table.
My sister ordered the salmon teriyaki and my brother in law ordered the steak teriyaki. Both dishes were really good and the teriyaki sauce was just right, not salty like some of the other Japanese restaurants we’ve been to. I ordered the sashimi special and was very disappointed as some of the pieces of fish were still frozen. All of the entrees came with a soup and salad. The soup was great — it came out piping hot and was very flavorful. I wasn’t too fond of the salad — You could tell the salad was pre-​made, stuck in the fridge for who knows how long. The dressing wasn’t that great either. We also ordered the spider roll and Chesapeake roll, both were pretty good.
Overall, I’d say this place was average. Their entrees were flavorful but not salty and their service was alright. However, I probably will not come back here if I’m craving sashimi or raw sushi as it’s not the freshest I’ve had and because parts of it was still frozen. I’ve been trying to find a good sashimi in Richmond and sadly this place was not it.

Overall good experience waiter was attentive and always made sure your glass was full. Had the Kani salad which was light and refreshing. Soy sauce was a major plus being homemade! Ordered chirashi as main entrée and it was colorful and tasted good wished there was a little more fish. But will be back to try more!

What a nice find. The room is not much to look at. Nor a place to «be seen», but they can count me as a fan. I sat at the sushi bar and watched and watched. Very entertaining.
Very pleasant service — efficient without hovering. The rolls I had were fantastic. Very satisfied when I walked out.
As MacArthur once said, «I will return». Me too.

I really wanted to give this place another 5 star review but on my most recent visit, it did not match my standards on previous visits.
There is always two waitresses working the entire restaurant so the service can be a little on the slow side. We came on a Friday night for a late dinner around 8PM and this restaurant was about 75% full. There is only ONE sushi Chef here and in the past, the rolls I have gotten have been spectacular. I decided to get something different this time and only get Sashimi as my entrée.
I got the miso soup it was actually very flavorful and tasted home made and not with MSG. It actually took awhile for that to come out which I thought would be pre made or something. For my entrée, I got the Sashimi Deluxe (dinner portion) which came with salmon, tuna, and I think red Snapper and yellow tail. Three generous slices for each kind of fish. some of the fish was actually still cold/​slight icy on the inside unfortunately. I prefer to have mine served at room temperature or slightly colder. The cold sashimi was an instant turn off for me. The salmon tasted great but the other cuts were just average.
Price is a little on the higher side compared to other sushi spots in town but I think you’re paying for a better quality but on my recent visit, the quality was lacking. I’ll definitely come back again but will stick to the hand rolls for sure.