Sam’s Sushi Bar & Grill

It was my colleague’s last day at our company, and to send him off we decided to go for lunch together along with a new hire. Colleague’s choice for lunch was Sam’s Sushi, and I was thrilled to try it. My only other experience with sushi in Ballard is the little food truck (also good) over by Swedish, so I was excited to visit an actual sit down sushi joint.
We arrived just after 12pm to a relatively quiet restaurant, and got seated at a lovely booth over by the window. Service was friendly and prompt right off the bat; we were given menus and 3 cups of toasty green tea. The menu is limited, but the choices are pretty good; with my mind set on a bento, I got to work on selecting which bento to order. Ultimately, I decided on Bento Box C — tuna and ebi sushi, tempura, salmon teriyaki.
A deliciously salty bowl of miso soup (flecked with fried tofu, seaweed, and scallions) started off the meal, which couldn’t have been any tastier or more delicious on that rainy day.
Our bentos came out quickly thereafter and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of food. A dome-​shaped portion of white rice, a fine selection of veg and shrimp tempura (along with a flavorless dipping sauce), salmon teriyaki, as well as tuna/​ebi sushi and avocado rolls. Not sure if the avocado roll was a bonus or not, but it was delish! The salmon filet was lightly battered and fried, then tossed in a teriyaki sauce. I’ve had cravings for tempura before only to be disappointed by limp, soggy batter, but Sam’s did the tempura justice.
Price was decent ($ 12.95), but not inexpensive. It’s worthy of a visit, and I’ll most l likely return.

I arrived right at the end of lunch service, but the staff still welcomed me in with a hot cup of tea! They were very willing to accommodate my allergy and my sushi was made fresh and served in 5 minutes! The sushi was so delicious! What I really loved was that the whole staff sat down and had lunch together like a family. The vibe here was great and the food was superb, I will definitely be back!

The only thing this sushi place has going for it is proximity. I can’t believe that a restaurant dishing indifferently-​constructed sushi can stay in business in this town. I have eaten here a lot because my wife likes it. Every experience has been more disappointing than the last. The sushi here is not even up to conveyor belt standard. The last straw was a plate of mushy fish, carelessly perched on some dry rice. Sushi is supposed to be art, not leftovers. Don’t bother.

Wonderful food and service and reasonable prices for sushi. Can get a little crowded during regular lunch/​dinner times, but is a great place for a late lunch/​early dinner as it will be no problem to get a seat.

Ended back here with the father because he doesn’t like sushi, and they have more izakaya options than neighboring sushi places. Still don’t care for their sushi (the roll fell apart really easily again, the sushi rice was a little too hard and the fish was nothing to write home about), but the yakisoba was good and I really liked the katsudon! I’d come here again for non-​sushi items, and it’s nice that they offer free tea.

Stopped in for lunch. The lunch options were not a lot and nothing that got me excited. I had more interest during happy hours at other places. I decided to not go with a meal and did the California crunch roll. I must say, that was yummy and will probably go down as a favorite in my tummy journal. My friend selected one of the bentos. It was huge but there was a lot of space, so they could have filled it with more sushi. We wouldn’t go out of our way to eat there again. Although I would have the Cali crunch roll to go. The restaurant itself is very clean and tidy as any well run Japanese restaurant should be. Just wish they had more of a selection & especially one for lunch.

5 stars, why? Not the food. Kids! At 5 on a Friday every table was full and every table included at least 1 person 10 years old. Our 3 year old enjoys the avocado roll… and how quickly it appears. We like Bento box a and some nigiri. Nothing fancy but that’s why we go.

Food tasted good but cramps started 30 minutes later and everything was uncomfortable. Won’t be going back. I don’t trust tuna that tastes frozen.

My boyfriend and I ended up at Sam’s a few nights ago because the wait for Billy Beach was 30 minutes and I was starving. If I had known what I was in for, I would have waited to satisfy my sushi craving.
The unagi was overly salty and otherwise flavorless, with a disgusting, soggy, texture. I’d never had unagi like this. This roll still had a bit of plastic wrap on it that we luckily noticed and removed before consuming. The baked salmon had a «fish» rather than «salmon» flavor. The sweet potato tasted fine at first, but after a few pieces (this is what I ended up eating, because I judged that the fish rolls were potentially hazardous) I realized was under-​cooked. I was so disappointed. Regardless, I pushed myself to eat a polite amount of food, since my boyfriend seemed to find it acceptable and I didn’t want to complain when three nice waitresses were busting their tails hosting/​serving a full house. I’ve never sent food back or asked for anything to be removed from a bill, but if I were alone, I think I would have had to do just that.
On the plus side: no food poisoning to report!

This place is delish! Got the red dragon, house, and the Astroid roll. They were all amazing. Pretty good cheap sushi place. Try it out.

My favorite spot in Ballard for Japanese food. Their rolls are delicious and generous portions. Always fresh, quality fish. I usually come for lunch and they are attentive and prompt.

Solid sushi spot in Ballard. Not as fancy as some of the other places in the area, so you get more bang for your buck! Came here at 9pm on a Saturday, it was busy but we were seated immediately and the service was great — got our food super quickly, and we were in-​and-​out in 30 minutes. The spinach salad wasn’t anything special, but the seaweed salad, the tempura appetizer, and the tiger roll were all amazing. Perfect spot to get a bite before catching a movie at Majestic Bay. (or pub crawling around Ballard.)

Glad this place opens up for an early lunch! Whoever thinks sushi is a dinner item only is nuts.
I had the Sushi C Lunch Special, it came with six different types of sushi and an avocado roll. All were good, but the salmon, tuna, and unagi really stood out. I also got a rainbow roll for dessert, it’s much larger than you’d expect, really larger cuts of fish. You definitely get your money’s worth here.
All of the fish was fresh and delicious, the service was great, and I left full.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would come here again.

I have eaten at Sam’s at least 3 times in the last month and it is easily one of the best sushi places in all of Seattle. It’s delicious and never disappoints in fresh raw fish. I especially recommend the chef’s plates and the dragon roll. Will come again

I love this place. It’s not fancy, it’s not mind-​blowing, but it’s been good every single time. I’ve been to other sushi places in Ballard and been not impressed, despite fancy-​ness and premium pricing.
Sam’s gets my thumbs way up!

Great lunch specials (my favorite is sushi C and my bf loves bento box A) and for dinner try the Ballard plate; I love the variety of fish at a reasonable price. Sam’s has great miso soup! It’s casual and quick sushi.

Friday night is a total bust due to their inability to bring us food. We waited over 1 hour, never saw from the wait staff after getting our drinks, watched more than ten to-​go orders leave and finally saw tables that arrived after us get their food. Looking around there were a lot of tables unhappily looking at the kitchen waiting for anything to eat.
First time canceling an order, paying for the drinks and just leaving. Night ruined.
Never again.

A little bit confusing. The fish does not look like sushi salmon. The owner insisted that they are. White and red salmon. Hmmm… I have been to many Japanese restaurants. I have to say, this type of salmon is new to me. By the way, they taste like tuna — my opinion.
Yes, Safeway does sell red and white salmon, but the salmon can NEVER be used for sushi.
I thought SUSHI SALMON IS ORANGE.
They also wrapped sushi in cucumbers. New experience as well.
The waitress was fairly nice.
My friend liked his food — Tempura.

So I have been checking this place out for about a month now and this has been my fifth time here and I have tried the lunch Chirashi bowl with both Sushi Chefs.
By far my favorite is Sushi Chef Michael. His Chirashi bowls are very presentable and complete. You can tell he actually took his time in building the bowl and making sure the set up was visually appetizing. I understand each chef has his style of the Chirashi bowl but the comparison between the two chefs is like night and day. Over all chef Michaels bowl is very good.
As for the other chef might need to adjust the presentation of the bowl yet alone his people skills. It doesn’t hurt to smile every so often and not look like someone robbed your house. Times when this chef was around made me hesitant to ask for another order. It really felt like he just wanted me to eat my food and leave.
So chef Michael works Wednesday, Friday and Saturday if you wanna catch the good stuff from him. He is very approachable and informative about the food he serves everyone. Thats why I sit at the bar.
I strongly recommend this Sushi Bar and Grill if you are in the Ballard Area.
…and I will be coming back here for lunch again!
Happy Eats everyone!

Service: Standard.
Food: Not a fan. Besides for the miso, everything we had was sub-​par. The rolls, nigiri, all of it.
Don’t see any reason to go back. This might have been a ³⁄₅ for a place like where I live, but for seattle (and that I gave Shiku Sushi ³⁄₅ on a bad night there) I gave this place ²⁄₅.