Samurai

Omg worst experience in the world ever, not knowing it was ½ prices Tuesday we stumbled in there looking to get a quick dinner. We were both bitten by fleas that were all over the carpet, it took 2 hours to get our food, the chef brought it out and said «this is saba, this is cali roll, I’m not sure what this is» on top of all that everything was above room temp. I paid for it and left. Never going back to that dump. Make the trip to clinton and pay extra it’s worth not getting parasites or sick.

superb service and excellent quality for the price range. the hibachi is great and not over priced. i agree the outside whould look more like the inner décor but just for cosmetics, but the food and customer service make it a gem

I don’t know where to start. The waiter asked us what we wanted twice but still gave me son the wrong food. The tea was a tea bag in water. I eat at Asian restaurants often and was surprised at the fried rice. It was terrible. It looked like they took cooked white rice and mixed it with soy sauce… and they didn’t mix it well. The place was clean but I won’t be going back.

There are a number of issues I have.
The first is the accommodations, the seats in the booths are beyond tired, you’re lucky if your chin clears the table top because the cushions are so worn down. We quickly opted for a table & chairs — problem solved.
Second, we got there on «two for tuesday» or whatever night where a separate menu listed 50% off sushi for 2 pieces. Good prices, I wasn’t expecting that, but OK I’ll take advantage of my fortune. Each piece was priced at $ 4.00 for example, so two pieces would be $ 8.00. Take half off & you get $ 4.00 — no problem. Going to the regular menu, however, each piece was priced at $ 3.50 each or $ 7.00. Are we getting a bargain or getting «zoomed»? Oldest trick in the book is to raise your list price & have a larger «discount». Please get your prices in order. Naturally, each piece was about 50% the size of a normal piece of sushi & the rolls were more like half the diameter of a normal roll (which equates to about 30% the amount in the roll — PI R Squared & all that rot).
Please — don’t lure anyone in with false bargains, your reputation will be poor in the long run.
They did have hamachi kama to their credit & it was very tasty.
The sushi was adequate, not a criticism — it was exactly what I expected. The fish was proper.
The décor was left over Italian restaurant with some bamboo added. It does cost major bucks for a redo, so again, no pretenses. I do remember eating in the Italian restaurant that was there about 25 years ago, vaguely.
If you go there with no aspirations or pretenses just to have a sushi fix, it is just fine. That said — in the Yuppie land of Old Saybrook/​Westbrook, there are probably better places with a commensurate price point.

My waitress was super friendly and accommodating from the moment we walked in to the second we left. If it wasn’t for her, this review would have been two stars, border-​lining a one star.
The food was not pleasant at all. The Samurai fried rice is nothing special at all and tasted extremely bland. I also had a tempura udon which was very salty and too small to be worth $ 15. And this was one of the cheaper udons… If I didn’t split dishes with my brother, I don’t think I would have been able to finish one whole dish due to the bad flavor.
I didn’t get hibachi, so maybe my experience is incomplete, but I don’t think that is an excuse to make the food as unappetizing as mine was.

The place blows 45+ min and no food. They said they were working on it. We had to bail.
Don’t know if the food is any good. I will say it was busy when we got there. If you go there when it’s busy plan on 1hr before you get your order

Typical experience of «Asian Fusion», poor quality sushi and bland chewy beef dish. Not sure if I will come back.

Not the best, but my 15 year old loves it!
So I give them four stars. Hibachi is excellent and fun. Fried rice is de-​lish.
Sushi is good. Fresh. Building reminds me of an ihop w/​Asian décor. Place could use a make-​over. Decent food overrides ambiance. Staff is über friendly, what I love, is that there has been reggae playing there the last few times I’ve been. Just FUNky!
I’ve never seen it crazy busy here, so service is stellar. There are better places, but this place works!

Very pleasant service… Kani salad was awesome! Sushi was not too bad. Good for the price. Nice and quick late lunch… 3:30 on Sunday, the place was empty.

Very good food, great prices, lots of parking, friendly staff, and comfortable seating make this place my go to sushi restaurant in Old Saybrook … oh and it’s right down the street from where I live :)
Check out Tuesdays ½ price sushi night!

My mother and I stumbled upon this friendly sushi restaurant on a cold December night in search of some tasty sushi. Upon our arrival, we were delighted when we found out that we actually happened to choose to eat at Samurai on Tuesday night — their half-​priced sushi night! I have nothing but good things to say about the delicious sushi rolls — especially the Alaskan and Boston roll. These rolls tasted very fresh and were delightful with a a touch of the usual wasabi and ginger. Samurai’s service was slightly slow, which is understandable and probably to be expected on their most popular night of the week, but the kindness of our server certainly made up for any short wait time (a helpful, dark-​haired young man).
There are two issues, however that changed my review from a 5-​Star review to a 3-​Star review. Firstly, the Miso Soup that I ordered didn’t taste as «fresh» as other sushi restaurants that I have been to. In all honesty, I’ve had powder-​based Miso Soup out of a package that I’ve made for myself many times before and Samurai’s Miso Soup did taste similar to that same powder-​based Miso Soup compared to what most «fresh» Miso Soups taste like at other restaurants. Although likely unnoticeable to the typical restaurant goer, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the difference in taste at all had my soup been a little hotter when it was served to me. If I don’t have to blow on my spoon before tasting my soup, that’s usually not a good sign of prompt service.
Secondly, most sushi restaurants offer green tea free of charge if you ask for it — although I usually always expect to pay a few dollars for it it, «just in case.» The green tea that we ordered and were served was delicious and tasted like good green tea, but upon receiving our check I was very surprised and rather upset to see a $ 5.00 charge for a green tea pot that was brewed with two tea bags rather than actual tea leaves, like most sushi restaurants provide you with. Furthermore, the fact that we only got three cups of actual tea out of the tea pot for a $ 5.00 charge is almost inexcusable. For that price I could have ordered another two half-​priced sushi rolls.
All in all, I do recommend this restaurant for anyone wishing to satisfy a food craving and, if you can, try to go on a Tuesday night when you can take advantage of their half-​priced sushi specials — just don’t order the Miso Soup or the Green Tea!

I’ve only been once and the food was very good. Sweet potato roll was exceptional. Waitress was VERY nice. All around good experience.

I was so disappointed with my experience. It was half price Tuesday so it was busy, not crazy, but busy.
I was greeted with a fairly rude woman who looked at me like she was doing me a favor by handing me the menu and telling me to sit at sushi bar.
Waitress came over to take order, and sort of stood there without saying a word, like, yeah what do you want.
Sushi took an hour for three simple rolls. After 45 minutes the sushi chef noticed me looking around and said «1 more minute buddy, sorry very busy».
Waitress never checked on me or asked me how food was, or apologized for long wait, mor anything. There was NO SERVICE.
I don’t care what your business is, you don’t get to deal with customers like you are doing the favor.
I won’t be back, not even for warm half priced sushi.

For those that have never tried sushi, this place must be for you. Half price Tuesday, and thank god it was, because if I had to pay full price for that sh|/ I would have complained to high heavens. There is nothing fresh about this place. The only reason I gave it one star was that the drinks were reasonably priced and I don’t think you can leave zero stars ratings.

3.75 stars.
Boy is it cold in here! Really cold. The atmosphere is nothing to speak about but then again, the point is to eat good food. So how is the food? Not bad, not bad at all! Going on a Tuesday gets you your best value and bang for your buck, seeing as it is half off but I am sure quantity is a little smaller than normal price too. Oh well. I do not like the chopsticks, very cheap. But the actual food is quite good. Run of the mill miso and above average fried rice but the smoked salmon was really good and tasted fresh. Avocado roll is also one I would recommend. Tried 4 – 5 others that were good.
Yes there is a delay but that is to be expected during ½ off days, duh. The same people probably complain about price the other 6 days, you can’t win some times. Plus, the delay is the fact that the food, other than rice which is in a big barrel is MADE TO ORDER. I would rather have fresh made to order than them taking premade sushi that is store purchased/​packaged and doubling the price.
Overall, despite the downfalls, the sushi is good enough to make up for some of the downfalls (and I do not consider Tuesday wait time to be one of them, that is just common sense, otherwise go on a Monday). Fix those and you have a very solid 4.5 star place.

I came back to this restaurant after leaving the town for college. Still love the food here and love the Tuesday half price sushi.

I always enjoy Samurai, it’s our Tuesday tradition! (Tuesday is ½ price sushi). It’s also my go-​to sushi bar when I have a hankering, far better than Zhang’s down the road. The staff is always friendly though things can get a little backed up on ½ price night, even with two chefs. The hibachi is also available, but that seems more w birthday party /​Friday night event.
The tuna is fresh, and the summer color roll is delicious while the Mexican roll had a nice kick of heat. There’s a good selection of sake right in the bar, and this Japanese sodas with the marble for a stopper that fascinates the kids.
Honestly, the only quibbles I have are that the Tuesday chopsticks are the cheap pine ones while you get the bamboo one other times — and they microwave the green tea in the cup so it is unbearably hot until you are almost done with your meal.
All in all, it’s a solid experience for the sushi.

Best sushi roll I have ever had in America. Haven’t tried its Habachi yet, but I have heard it’s popular. Ken as the sushi chef make great sushi and rolls. Favorite rolls: Dynamite Roll (get it if you like deep fried rolls), Thunder roll is always good, and any roll with eel is always delicious.
Cons: if you want to avoid crowd, don’t come on Half Price sushi Tuesday. Sometimes there are too many people on Tuesday you have to wait longer for the food. But as I know, any other days are good.
Defiantly recommend this place.

Black magic roll is amazing… service sometimes slow but worth the wait!

Entertainment!
We were actually headed to another place for dinner when we happened to run into Samurai and couldn’t resist giving it a try. Very cute place. The chef knew how to entertain each table. Unfortunately we got a different chef who seemed to be a bit of a novice but was friendly nonetheless. We will be back on our next trip to Old Saybrook for sure.