Wasabi Sushi & Asian Grill

I’ve been to wasabi several times. In the past it was solid, but it seems to have taken a turn for the worse. I’m giving two stars instead of one because I have had decent experiences in the past. The rolls were wet (strange, I know) and didn’t taste fresh at all.
I don’t want to seem unreasonable by giving two stars, after all, it could have just been an off night. My issue was not only the food but the bathroom was disgusting. Disgusting like they haven’t cleaned them in over a week. My three year old had to go, but it was so nasty I wouldn’t let them go in there.
I won’t go back!

I went here Thursday night. I got the tuna sashimi which was very fresh and good. The wine and Black and Gold sake were flowing. I am a fan and the bartender Joe is fabulous!!!

I love this place, good food but prices are slightly higher than some other places…

I’m not a sushi connoisseur, and admittedly my taste in the Japanese food craze is waning lately. But, the food here is reasonably priced and tastes good. Generally when my wife and I go here, we get a handful of rolls along with a full meal.
Pro’s:
1) Food: Good and reasonably priced.
2) Atmosphere: Very nice inside, but usually quite empty.
3) Wait staff: Friendly and no problems with order.
4) Parking: Easy.
Con’s:
None really.

I have only been for lunch. Walking in, you have to walk back to the back where you are directed to a table. It is dimly lit. The restaurant is very neat and clean. The wait staff are prompt and attentive. They are also quick with the beverage refills.
Most of the time, I order a teriyaki rice bowl of some sort. Today, I ordered the mango fresh roll. Oh. My. Goodness. It was delicious. I look forward to coming back!

I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to sifting through my numerous Wasabi adventures. I used to come here all the time for their lunch and happy hour specials and the sushi has always been consistently good. There is a woman who works the sushi bar (I think she is the manager?) and she makes some BOMB sushi! She is possibly one of the best sushi chefs I’ve ever met. I actually used to get really excited when I came and saw she was working because I knew it would be a great experience. Joe, the bartender/​owner is a super nice guy and he’s great for a fun chat if you are feeling social and want to sit at the bar and make small talk. All in all… you would think I would have no issue with this place since I am clearly a repeating customer… HOWEVER…this place has a LOT of inconsistencies with their service. So many inconsistencies, in fact, that it makes it really hard for me to really endorse this restaurant in good faith.
Ordinarily I would say the food quality at this place is 4 stars, but the service is consistently a definite 1 – 2 depending on the night. I haven’t been to their other locations so I can’t speak for them, but I might have just had one too many bad experiences here to come back in recent days.
We came in on a Saturday evening with a group of 4. My group rallied and ranked many nearby restaurant possibilities before leaving a nearby bar and I was actually the one who encourage them to come and try Wasabi. I hadn’t been back there in awhile, but I was nearly certain they would enjoy themselves and at least love the food even if the service happened to be slow (as usual).
We sat down and it took them 10 minutes before acknowledging us (ok fair enough, seems like business as usual), and then another 10 minute for waters to arrive and then the server promptly left before we could give him our order, then another 10 minutes went by and he finally came to take our order, then 20 minutes went by just to produce 2 sushi rolls. We wanted to order more but our server NEVER came back to our table. He didn’t refill our waters or ask us how we were doing or anything, he just dropped off the food and never came back. We finally just walked over to the sushi bar and told the sushi chef that we wanted more rolls, which his response was «ok I get your server soon» (the woman sushi chef that I previously mentioned was not working on this night). I kid you not, we were there for about an hour and half and all we could get out of this place were 2 rolls… and we were absolutely starving! Wasabi’s service has always been pretty slow and unimpressive… but this was just ridiculous.
We waited and waited to close out our tab but he never acknowledged us again. Finally, we physically chased him down in an effort to pay our tab so we could just leave. Having worked in service industry jobs in my younger days, I would never condone a «dine and dash» method, but we were literally running after them with our money and trying to force them to take it so we could leave in good conscience. Quite honestly, I think anyone else with less bother than I would have just gotten up and left.
In our server’s defense, the dining room was packed and there was only ONE SERVER in the whole restaurant (which is actually typical for this location but I guess I hadn’t been during a packed dinner before to see how bad it could really get). Our server looked like he was sweating profusely and about to have a nervous breakdown so I didn’t take it personally. But I DID feel totally embarrassed that I had convinced my whole group to go there and then they all had this absolutely atrocious experience.
I don’t want to totally discourage anyone from giving this place a try because for lunch or happy hour the service certainly seems much more tolerable, but avoid Wasabi at all cost if you have a group during peak dinner hours.

Service was a little strange. The sushi was ok, but definitely overpriced so the groupon made up for that. Didn’t care for the softshell crab sushi… the eel was ok. Probably the best thing was the teriyaki combo plate with shrimp and veggie tempura, which is something I usually don’t care for. Beer prices were reasonable. If I lived in the area I might buy a groupon and try it again…

The sushi was very plain and basic, it’s come in small portion for high price. They need jazz it up.

Very fresh sushi. The food and service are very consistent, the saki is always hot, and Sapporo is ice cold.

The Wasabi Poppers were delicious, warm, spicy, sweet and beautifully presented, and the Money Roll was a complex combination of simple flavors in a unique arrangement. Great food, no wait!

Wasabi is a solid 3 to 4 stars for sushi.
I live really close Wasabi and I swear, they must do a big lunch business because I don’t know how they stay open… there never seems to be anyone here at night. We came a couple times about 2 years ago and weren’t really impressed in any way, but recently we’ve been coming back after being lured in with a Groupon and have been pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of their sushi. We’re experiencing a Wasabi revival and I do recommend that you give it a try.
We love the LSU roll, Mango Sweet roll, and Firecracker roll with jalapeño all up in it.
Wasabi has a really nice atmosphere and good service. One side is the restaurant and the other side is a full service bar. I just wish it were more lively when we come in here.

This place has wonderful ambience and moreover really fresh fish. I was told to go to the Lakeview location as opposed to the French Quarter because it’s bigger and cleaner. The prices are pretty reasonable. We got food enough to fill us for under $ 60. Definitely try the salmon sashimi. The only thing I found weird is that most rolls have asparagus and I’m not a fan of asparagus.

We went twice with a Groupon. Free soup if you sit at the sushi bar. Fresh sushi with good selection. The crawfish did not taste fresh which is sad considering you are in Nola. Big portion of fresh tuna and well constructed rolls. Not as good Kyoto in Uptown but good value with a Groupon.

I had lunch at Wasabi a couple of times when they were new and had good experiences. The food was OK and the service was above average. I had dinner there recently and ordered snow crab rolls. They had a sour taste which led me to believe that the snow crab had spoiled. The service had gone downhill also. I doubt that I’ll be back.

I’ve been here several times, and I think the food is delicious! It often looks like it’s closed and dead. Don’t let this deter you– walk around to the back dining area where the sushi bar (not the regular bar) is.
I’m surprised this place isn’t more busy, which is what everyone I go with says. The food and service has been consistently well executed. I don’t eat raw fish, but anyone that’s eaten with me and had sushi said it was delicious. I usually get the Wasabi Honey Shrimp (crispy with a yummy slightly sweet sauce) either as an appetizer or entrée, and I’ve had their Yaki Udon noodle dish (also really flavorful and filling) a few times as well. Their gyozas were good too. I tried the curry mussels once– I suggest you order rice with it to suck up the curry sauce. The service has always been attentive and friendly. They also seem to have decent lunch specials. The décor in the dining area is pretty nice too. I will definitely be back again and recommend it to others.

I lived in Japan for close to 3 years, and this is the best sushi in the city! Everything is fresh and as authentic as you can find outside of Japan.

Went here with some coworkers and were awkwardly informed that we couldn’t split the check beyond 3 checks. Also, when asked when lunch ends, the waiter couldn’t even say a time, just that it had ended.
The waiter made 6 people write down their orders on a blank piece of paper. When he would bring us a beverage or plate, he would only acknowledge one person at a time– take an order, process, return. Never did he address the table as a group to ask if we had any more requests.
At the end, I took it upon myself to split the check based on each persons order to determine how much we individually owed. After 10 min, the waiter impatiently said that he can now split it up into different checks. I had just finished and asked him to charge each card based on my calculations, even going so far as to writing down the last 4 digits of each card to be associated win each amount. He returned with individual receipts that were wrong. Each person was charged the wrong amount, and when added up, was different than the original total!
Terrible customer service!

We enjoy Wasabi for their fresh rolls and fish.
I love sushi that is simple. Not drenched in creamy sauce, and Wasabi has a good selection of simple rolls not drenched with teriyaki sauce or cream sauce.
The Beef Tataki is amazing. I love how it’s slightly seared and sits on a bed of white onion so you’ll get aroma of fresh onions on top of the beef.
I also enjoyed the Special Crab Salad appetizer as well. A good combination of avocado, crab meat, fish, squid salad, lemon slices, and tobiko makes this appetizer so light and refreshing.
Various special chef rolls were good too!
Wasabi gets 3 stars from me. Food is great! 4 stars on food. But because of the décor and environment inside (sorta dreary inside) I had to take off a star. But we’ll definitely be back bc we love their sushi!

I always have a great time at Wasabi. Go in, get a bottle of Sake, the Money Roll and the Yellow Dragon Roll. The clear soup is solid, and I’ve never gone wrong here.

Thanks to a Groupon that was about to expire, we had a late lunch at the Wasabi near the lakefront today. I hadn’t been to this location yet and we had a delightful time.
The décor was fun and modern. This place is pretty big with multiple dining areas and a huge bar in addition to the sushi bar area. Our server was very nice and attentive.
We ordered a sushi lunch combo, the Lake Ponchartrain roll and some dumplings. The clear soup that comes with the combo was very flavorful and the sushi was great! We got some shrimp shumai to start and those were OK, but nothing remarkable. Overall, it was a good experience and we will be back!