Sakura Sushi & Teppan Grill

A coworker introduced me to this little gem. Set in a residential area downtown, this is a classic small business restaurant that has been around a long time. Their miso is absolutely the best around with a rich, complex, satisfying broth and absolutely fresh tofu.
The service is adequate and personable. They appear to have a very small staff which is understandable as this restaurant is not near any others and probably gets little foot traffic.
The restaurant is clean, quiet and uncrowded. You can have a conversation without annoying people nearby. Portions are good, and the fish is fresh and beautiful. I’ve eaten there a number of times and the quality, taste and presentation of the food are consistently good.
The clientele is largely office workers from downtown and there are a few «regulars» that are known to the owner. If I lived near there I would be a regular too. People used to Mikuni or the other flashy bars/​restaurants downtown may not find this to their liking.

Food was a 7 out of ten, the fish was very fresh, and the place was clean and inviting. The waitress was not very attentive though.

This place is now closed down.

Decent place for lunch. The tea is free and bottomless (a little too hot for my liking). The Sashimi bento plate is good, not the best but for $ 10 you get your fill. The quality is good too, I don’t smell fish which tells me it’s somehow fresh. I have tried their Chirashi bowl (my favorite), it’s not bad but it’s not as good as Zen Sushi.

Friends and I have affectionately deemed this place ‘Butter Steak’ because of the delicious hibachi filet mignon that will run you a slim $ 10.50 at lunch. I’ve been going to this place for years, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it is still open considering its deep-​downtown location. Prices run easily half at lunch so don’t ever go here for dinner, same food half price, like a strip club: same boobies, half price. Also think it is odd that filet mignon is only $ 1 more than NY steak, but soooo much more buttery and tender. Spring the extra buck for the filet and also spring for the fried rice as an upgrade to your meal, WAAAAY better than the regular steamed rice.
Oh, as a side note, they always try to seat you by the door. I think this is because doorways are the place to be in Japan (bad earthquake joke), but just ask them and they are always open to letting you sit wherever you want.

Mediocre at Best. Sakura is close to many government office buildings in downtown Sac. So they are certainly convenient. However, I will not be going back for a long time after today’s lunch:
1. I sent back the BBQ Tuna. It was grey and smelled bad. They still tried to charge me for it as well. Bad tuna? Seriously? That’s like a health code violation or something, isn’t it?
2. My friend’s order was not brought until after I finished my lunch. Once it was discovered the order was not put in… they didn’t even move it to the head of the line.
3. The roll I ordered was just plain bad. The eel was slimey and the DF shrimp was soggy. I just picked out the middle of the shrimp and some rice.
I am a sushi hound. I have never not eaten a roll or sent food back. This lunch was so bad I just wanted to get out of there and slam a few Snickers bars. I have been to Sakura before and always order the Bento box for lunch… which has previously been fine. Not great… but good enough.
However, after today… getting just plain bad and old food, I won’t be going back. So, be warned, if you want convenient Japanese food, you could try Sakura if you stick to the Bento box & don’t stray off the reservation, but if you do & order something else… there may be quite the downside.
As for me, I’m going back to Mikuni even though I have to get in the car.
UPDATE — They have since closed there doors and are out of business. Just sayin…

why is this place always crowded at lunch? i walk by sometimes and it’s usually at least 75% full. maybe it’s because there are no real sushi options ’round here???
my 2 cents: it is not good (1 cent); it is not horrible (2 cents). i’ve given this place 3 tries (1 hibachi bento and 2 sushi orders) over the past few years, with about a half-​year span in between each time. yes, you will not get sick. but is that how you should measure a japanese restaurant? no, i say!
if i was trapped in the desert for 9 months, crawled my way to sacramento and this was the only sushi place open, then it would make do and i would love every bite. but when i have a multitude of options by driving 5 minutes, sakura falls to the bottom of the list.

I wish I was able to give 3 ½ stars, it was a little better than a 3 but not quite a 4.
I ordered the Bento Box lunch which came with 4 pieces veggie tempura, 4 pieces california roll, beef teriyaki, rice, an orange and miso soup. Not bad for under $ 10. I also ordered a sushi roll which came out great but was a little on the expensive side.
I still prefer Tamaya over this place any day.
The prices were average for your typical sushi bar, the quality was ok, service was good… they were quick. The restaurant was clean which is also a plus.
There was just nothing spectacular about it.
Overall… it was ok… not bad at all, but also not amazing.

This place is not memorable… nor delicious. it was just… eh… yeah. I came here on a friday hoping to smash on my sushi and satisfy my stomuch’s hunger for food. but the food wasn’t that exciting nor delicious. I wouldn’t recommend going here when there are other places that are better. but the staff was friendly
Pros: Staff
Cons: Not memorable.
Stars: 1.75

I can definitely say that I am not a fan of this place. I have had 2 experiences here and not one was pleasant. I should probably preface by saying I love Japanese food. I will eat it from anywhere and 9 times outa 10 I will love it. Hell sushi from a Bel-​air counter ranked higher than this place for me.
First time around, I tried a Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box. Simple and easy baseline item that I could gauge this restaurant with. No brainer, and it cannot really be messed up, Right? The bento box got out to me and the chicken looked as if it was a day old, microwaved and drenched with sauce. Rice was cold and the vegetable tempura was cold and soggy. And the 3 pieces of california roll that was included was a disaster. Very little to no filling and the cucumber that was inside was dry. I dunno how you dry out cucumber. I ate it anyways because I had already sat and waited for 20 minutes in a pretty empty restaurant and was starving.
Second time around, I sat at the sushi bar and got a couple of pieces of sushi and sashimi. The «sushi chefs» butchered the pieces of fish for my sashimi. It looked like they literally hacked up the slices of fish with a rusty knife. The spicy tuna roll I got was not any better. The spicy tuna mix had pieces of skin. The clincher for me was when I ate a piece and experience the webby fatty pieces of the tuna. You know the piece you don’t eat!
They did have a few redeeming qualities:
1) They know how to boil edimame
2) They did not mess up on making miso soup
That is all.

Great food. Love the bento box at lunch. You get a lot of food for cheap.(miso soup to start, 4 CA rolls, rice, beef teriyaki, 4 tempura $ 8 – 11)Theyve just added a new menu with lots of more tasty food. Mostly sushi. Havent ever had a problem like other reviews and i come here at least once to twice a month for the past 6 months. Must try. ogh and free wifi!

I loved my meal at Sakura Sushi. It’s clean and open and allows one to rest after a busy day in the urban jungle. The tea was very tastey and more unusual than in other Japanese restaurants. I think they put seasame seeds in it too add a little kick. The downtown location is convenient and easy to find parking. It’s in a modern building with plants and 2 big screen tv’s. One is never out of touch with what’s going on in the world but able to have a respite from the city sound. The salmon and tuna were of a higher grade and the difference was noticable.

We stopped at this place today, after going to the library. Figured it was convenient enough. The fact that there was only 1 person in there just before 6pm didn’t discourage us… we figured «Yay, we’ll be done before our parking expires!»
Foodwise, I was pretty happy. I had their shrimp crunchy roll, with no sauce (one of the first times a place has actually listened to this request). While it was not a «traditional» roll, it was super-​yummy. The tempura on the outside was just right, veggies and shrimp were plentiful… overall a happy roll for my tummy. Enjoyed the miso soup (it was strong and had plenty of seaweed and tofu). My husband got their Las Vegas roll, which I think was a salmon roll with jalapeño and jalapeño sauce on top… he seemed pleased. It definitely lived up to his spicy requirements! We also ordered the fried rice, but filled up on the rolls, so that’s tomorrow’s lunch. What I tasted of it was good… except I found it a little odd that they put garlic in it.
The only caveats about the food were that the gyoza was just fried, and not steamed/​fried as I like, and the sauce was overly sweet; also, they only bring one cup of hot green tea at a time as opposed to bringing the small pot I’m accustomed to.
Service was okay. I agree with another poster that everyone seems to have their hands in the pot when it comes to serving… it wasn’t an issue overall, except that my husband only got 1 refill on his iced tea (did I mention his roll was super-​spicy?), and I was never offered one for my hot tea; also, everyone but the sushi chef would disappear to the back for stretches at a time.
Overall, we’d probably stop there again if we were *right* in the area and didn’t have time to go elsewhere… prices were on par with anywhere else ($ 29+ before tip). Not a terrible place, but not outstanding either.

This place is ok…
I’ve only tried their lunch special and it comes up to about $ 9.15 including tax (I THINK that’s the correct price)
Their servings are a good size. It’s just enough.

An okay little sushi place downtown. I go for lunch and can’t imagine making a special trip for dinner.
MY ADVICE
The key is to order off of the HIBACHI MENU! Think Benihana style food without the habachi grill in front of you, with no mustard sauce, and a sushi bar atmosphere. Like Benihana, it’s cheap at lunch. Unfortunately, like Benihana, it is about twice the price at dinner.
EVERYTHING ELSE
Everything else — the fried rice, the bento box entress, and the sushi is mediocre. The waitresses do their job, but they’re not particularly friendly or engaging.
STORY
I went with a group once, and a girl I was with ordered the seared ahi appetizer, then wanted to send it back when it was served very rare. The waitress kept pointing to the description on the menu to prove that it should have been clear that it was served rare. I deduct one point from the waitress for being a little rude. Then I’ll give half a point back because it seemed like it was probably a culture difference in service and there was a language barrier. I deduct two points from the girl who ordered seared tuna at a sushi restaurant and expected it to be fully cooked. Then I’ll give one back because, to her credit, I think she just wanted it cooked a little more.
I give three points to the poor ahi who give his life to be seared, chopped up, and made the subject of great controversy.

The place has been really busy every time I’ve been, and the staff have considerable hustle, always quick, always moving, seemingly working very hard.
But here’s the weird part — when you look around at the customers, everyone is pissed, tapping feet, angry glances at watches, desperate attempts at eye contact with wait staff. The few empty tables there are un-​bussed, there are long lines to pay, to be seated, to get into the bathroom.
Could be a staff to patron ratio problem, but doesn’t seem like it. For example, today I got take out, and after waiting 20 minutes for my food, I asked what the deal was. Turns out, my order had been ready and sitting there for 15 minutes, but no one saw fit to tell me or bring it to me. (They made me a new order when I complained that it had gotten cold, so props for that.)
Also, every staff plays some small role in serving the meals. One person gets menus, another brings drinks, another takes orders, another brings food, another for the check, etc etc. There’s a lot of complaining about wrong orders, confusion about who ordered the diet vs the regular soda, what check goes to what table. And no wonder, right?
I’ve never worked in a restaurant, but it just seems cluster-​fuckish.
I think they’ve got potential, but they need to work on running a tighter ship. Points for the food, points for graciously making it right when they f’ed up on my order. I’ll be back, just not on a day I’m strapped for time.

My husband and I ordered Sakura for a take out dinner tonight and it was delicious! Based on previous reviews it seems as though the service isn’t so great, but since my order was take out I can’t really say.
Our order was prepared with no errors, we had:
Salmon Teriyaki — served with miso soup, salad, and grilled veggies
Shrimp Tempura — cooked to perfection; not soggy
Vegetable Tempura — again, not soggy and a nice assortment of vegetables was included
About the miso soup, I have to say that I LOVE the fact that there was a more than adequate amount of tofu and seaweed included. I’ve gone to Mikuni too many times and had a bowl of miso with 1 or 2 pieces of tofu just to look at my husband’s bowl to see that he had like 7 or 8 pieces! Ugh, that just annoys me!!!
So, anyway, I really enjoyed my meal and will definitely eat there again.

Sakura (cherry blossom in Japanese) was oook.
A group of ten friends came here on our way back from Chico. It was a Saturday evening @ 6pm and the place was empty! Hmm… is this a bad sign?
We stay and expect to receive grreat service, after all we were the only patrons in the place! After the 10 minutes it took to get our tea and water served, other customers start trickling in.
I guess the workers got over whelmed because they messed up ALOT.
The food came out really slow and ironically the dishes that didn’t need cooking (chirashi) came out last?
Despite the lag in service and the sparse sushi selection, the fish was for the most part good. And they did accommodate our large and loud group to the best of their ability. Thankfully, they recognized their crappy service and took off the 18% gratuity that should have been included in the bill.

I second Lily D’s review almost word for word. I intern at the same building that houses Sakura. The attorney that I intern for decided to get everyone some food from the place. While placing the order over the phone the person taking the order did not recognize some of the items we were asking for i.e. tekka maki. I had to let the attorney know to just say tuna roll, and that identification was recognized.
Most of the items were ready to go when I got down to pick them up, however the spider hand roll was made into a roll so they redid that one. I stood around for about 10 minutes while things were getting packed into bags and the receptionist opened every carton (about 8 of them) to check if they were the correct order. I was then told that if we were going to order something this large again, call two hours in advanced since it gets so busy… though I’m certain that there were only approximately 13 people sitting in the restaurant.
The food itself was simply satisfactory. The fish didn’t taste very fresh, and the rolls were a tad small.
I was not overly bothered by the wait or the food. I was also appreciative of them helping me bring the food up since I probably would not have been able to handle 4 bags and three sodas.

In restaurant service — EXTREMELY bad
I’ve sat in the restaurant twice, and service is incredibly slow. When I was picking up my takeout today, a customer walked up to a waitress to ask where his food was. He and his companion had been waiting for ½ an hour and hadn’t seen one piece of food.
Take-​out service — EXTREMELY bad
The hostess always seems very confused when I call down there to place my order. She can never get my name right. LILY. not LALI or RARI. Whatever. As long as my food is right, right?
There’s always a lot of confusion about which order you’re picking up. And the lady always wants to open the bag and take everything out to make sure everything is right. Well, there have been a few mix ups with my order, but by the time they finally get to giving me the food, I’m too annoyed to argue with them and I want to just get out of there. Today it took 15 minutes of standing in the restaurant to pick up my meal and pay.
Food — well my takeout vegetable tempura today was soggy. It hasn’t been soggy before, so maybe it was a one time thing. I got a bento box take-​out once, but my food was placed sideways into a plastic bag, so that all the food, including teriyaki sauce, went sloshing to the side of a leaky box. Yum… not.
The only reason I’m giving Sakura 2 stars is because their rolls are ok. I’ve had a couple of them for lunch, and they’ve been satisfactory. I keep going there because I work in the building and it’s convenient, and not too expensive. But every time I go, I’m so frustrated with the service that it’ll be a few weeks before I go down there again.
I agree with Alisha K — why aren’t there noodle houses???