Nara Sushi

Stopped in for lunch, was greeted with a somewhat unfriendly woman who gave me the strangest look I’ve ever been given at a restaurant when I asked if they knew how to make a sunrise roll. My sushi was soggy and fell apart. I also found the menu was quite limited in selection. Overall, I don’t believe this is a place I would go back to given that there are so many options in the area.

A friend and I showed up for lunch on 11÷18÷15, we arrived at 1:50 according to Nara’s clock. We were informed that they close at 2:30. We said we could eat and be done by then. We were seated and she took our drink order. When she brought the drinks, a couple minutes later, she asked for our order, we asked for another minute, she again said that they close at 2:30. We said we would not trouble her again, and we left. In that time she shooed two other parties totaling 6 people off.
If you close at 2:30, then serve until 1:30, and have a notice to that effect on the window. We have eaten there before and the food is good, but the restaurant needs a good cleaning and refurbishing.
Sadly, she turned away at least $ 200 in business with her rush to be out of there at 2:30. If I were the owner, I would be furious. If she was the owner, she should be embarrassed. I will think long and hard before I return.

We were disappointed. We ordered our meal on the phone and then picked it up 20 minutes later. The only thing that made our meal tolerable was the other stop we made on the way there, for vodka at the nearby Hannaford’s.

The grilled seafood sushi was something different… service is awful though… Waitress was rude… didn’t even tell me that what they were serving was a very hot bowl

This is an ok place for sushi. Like most 3-​star places. This place has an equal roster of good things and bad things. Decent. Poor. Great. Awkward.
Before you enter the area. You see the strange mix of plain exterior and nice decorations. Which has an ok fare for exterior design.
And when you enter the area. It’s pretty casual! And even has an upstairs eating area! Nice touch! But the place is pretty plain. With not much decoration and plain but not ugly wallpapers. And the staff is pretty good! With a constant can-​do personality! But it’s strange that they call it Nara SUSHI when the sushi is outnumbered 4:1.
One of the big downfalls of Nara sushi is that all of the condiments except for the the soy sauce taste like horseradish ²⁴⁄₇! So it was strange when the Katsu sauce lacked that genuine spicy. Thai taste. Just horseradish.
Overall. This is an ok place for getting sushi. If you want an solid experience and quality taste. Go here!

Abysmal.
Did call-​in/​takeout, Tofu Gyoza were Okay and I appreciate them having a non pork option. However, the Maine Crab California Roll and Alligator roll were terrible, the sushi rice was so bland and horribly overcooked it was just like a dense white mush around the other ingredients. I ended up trying a couple bites of each roll then promptly threw the rest of it in the garbage. Unhappy to spend over forty dollars on food and most of it be completely inedible. Will not be trying again.

Pretty much any rolls you pick; it will be delicious. I’ve been here multiple times and keep coming back for more. All of their food is crisp, fresh, and beautifully presented. I highly recommend coming here for lunch or dinner.

Giving this two stars based on the fact that the people I was with, their food looked delicious. Arrived at noon with a baby, and the restaurant was clearly understaffed with one waitress, who didn’t greet us at the door, no offer any assistance with getting a high chair for my baby. Went 20 minutes waiting for the others in my party to arrive and received dirty looks from the waitress who couldn’t even come over and take my drink order, and she never offered to refill water or drinks even when walking next to our table and seeing they were empty. Nor did she return until the end to see how our meal was or offer us anything. Had the pad thai– it was bland and had bean sprouts as the only vegetable. Could have stayed home and made a better one myself.
Not to mention two out of the three dishes came out 10 minutes before our other persons dish arrived.
I’ve been in the restaurant business my whole life so I understand busy stressful days, but this utter lack of hospitality was ridiculous.

I moved in Maine from South Korea almost two years ago.
I was looking for Korean restaurant, but I could’t find until yesterday.
I know that Portland has many amazing restaurants.
It was hard to believe that Portland doesn’t know the taste of Korea yet :(
I miss Korean food so much!
Thanks to God! and my lovely husband, we found this place yesterday and visited today!
We ordered Gopdol Bibimbab, and Soft Tofu Chi Ge!
IT WAS AWESOME!
Bibimbab was authentic enough and very delicious.
We chose Beef and it was delish!
I’m home and I already miss the food from Nara sushi.
I’ll definitely visit this place again in the future!
Banchan was cute and yummy!
The server was nice and the service was good.
One thing to keep in mind!
They close between lunch and dinner time that is 2:30~4:30!
We arrived there at 4:25 and they were closed.
Anyway, thanks to Nara Sushi I love Portland more than before!

Great family run restaurant that’s delicious sushi without breaking the bank. I love it here, very friendly and nice folks run this place. I’ve been going here for years and never once had an issue with the service or food. That says a lot! I own a family business too and know how hard it is. These folks do a great job, and the when they are busy things can take longer, but that’s true for any place. They get busy because the food is really good and authentic. Go during the week if you want fast service, because weekends here are BUSY in my experience. Best of Luck Nara keep up the good work!

I lived in Korea for a while, and just recently moved back to Portland. Was missing Korean food and found this place. Ordered the Bulgogi for takeout. It was delicious. Though hard to spend $ 16 when I’m used to less than $ 5. Was sad there were no banchan with the takeout, but it was delicious. I thought kimchi would come with it but I looked back at the menu and you have to pay for that separately.
A lot of people said that the service is slow. That’s moreso because if you want something you have to ask for it. It’s different than American waiters.

Had items exclusively off the Korean menu. It was delicious, but flawed.
First of all, the rumors of the place are true: service is ungodly erratic. I’m not sure if it’s a server or kitchen issue.
Secondly, the banchan, the side dishes, were incredibly lacking. And the bibimbap in stone pot had burnt rice when served.
Aside from that, the udon with seafood was delicious. I probably won’t go back for Korean, but maybe I will give the sushi a try.

I loved the little Korean Side dish apps, but the nori in my sushi was very tough. The food all tasted good though! I will definitely go back for lunch!

Nara: The slow food movement needs to end here.
I hate giving places bad reviews but the service was so bad. Granted why did we go out on Valentine’s day. Arrived a Nara at 6:15 on Friday night. Promptly seat at one of the few tables remaining (no reservation). Handed menu’s (no greeting or hi or anything). 10 – 15 minutes later waitress comes by takes our order, slings us some water. Less than 5 minutes, bam! Miso soup comes out for GF. Taste’s fine, like pretty much every miso soup every made in the world. 5 minutes after that fried spring rolls. Small but tasty but again nothing amazing. 20 minutes later GF’s teriyaki stir fry comes out. She takes a bite but goes «I want to wait for you to get your sushi» (Take note, Foreshadowing) .
Time stamp we are around 7:10 now. People are clearing out, a few tables are still there. But there seems to be a crowd of people at the front waiting for take out.
I tell the GF go on eat you don’t want to wait for your food to get cold. She say’s it is okay. Then she offers me some as I was getting slightly hungry. Bland as hell. Are you sure there was teriyaki on this?16 dollars for zero flavor?! Sarku at the Maine Mall has more flavor for half the price. Wow disappointing. But it is 7:30, I must be getting close to getting my sushi.
More waiting.
Also no check up from the waitress. Start of Rant — (I would be a terrible waiter, I would be a sweaty mess and not very friendly, but I would at least stop of and ask you if the food is alright, 9 times out of 10 you would lie to me. And then the 10^th time when you complained about the food and I would bring it back, I would mutter under my breath and think about spitting in your food, but I would at least stop by and ask how your food is)
7:45. waitress stops by. Takes dirty dishes. Say’s sushi is on it’s way (no apology, «sorry we wear very busy tonight? «). 5 minutes later it is here. I am eating it, angry but eating.
1 hour and 15 minutes to get 3 sushi rolls. I ordered a spicy tuna and a spicy tuna and shrimp roll. GF order a cucumber roll. Sushi should only take and hour and half if the chef is going online, getting a fishing license, driving to a store to purchase a fishing rod and bait, driving down to the water, fishing for an hour and then coming back and making your god damn sushi.
I want to give them a break, there was only one guy making sushi. I am sure he just wanted to go home and drink an entire handle of Jack Daniels and forget about that night, but why not have one other person there to help him. There was only two waitress who did a very poor job of the basic job of interacting with the customers. And I am pretty sure there was one guy cooking in the back making the non flavored teriyaki beef and washing dishes.
The the outside décor is something out of a 70’s porn film. I might give it one more try just to see if they can drop to one star, but I will most likely never venture out on Valentine’s Day.

Absolutely loved it here. Great service and great price. Saki was amazing. Highly recommend!

I love Korean AND Japanese food, so this is my go-​to place when I’m in the mood for both. Their kopdol bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables and beef) is served in a hot stone bowl that sizzles for a few minutes, and its way better to others I’ve tried in Portland. Other Korean dishes I’ve tried were the Kalbi (marinated short ribs), tangsooyook (sweet and sour pork), and yook ge gang (spicy beef soup with noodles and vegetables) — all were great. Their sushi is well priced and delicious– I’ve had their Rock n’ Roll, Jetport, and Portland, which were all came with a really tasty sauce.
The restaurant is modestly sized so there is usually only 1 server, but it’s clean, allows for intimate or social dinners, and we’re always greeted by a friendly staff. I don’t mind that the food takes a little longer for service/​food during busy hours, because I know they’re not rushing their orders. I highly recommend this place if you’re in the SoPo area.

Decent sushi, cute interior, and plenty of parking. I came by for lunch on a weekday and while it looks deserted from outside, the small interior was filled up by people meeting up with friends and coworkers.
They offer both Japanese and Korean food, and although there’s a decent lunch special menu, we decided to try out three different rolls: Portland, Cherry Blossom, and New California. The Portland roll was fried so it was nice and warm for a cold, winter day without feeling too artery-​clogging. The Cherry Blossom came with a nice seaweed salad in the center, and the New California was piled high with tobiko (aka flying fish roe!).
While it was cute that they served the Korean banchan (side dishes), I probably would’ve preferred Miso soup. I have no complaints, but I’ll probably try more sushi options in town before returning.

Portland, Me… yeah this is a yummy place for sushi. Sure some of the fish is frozen, where the heck do you think we are? I had the volcano roll, it was excellent. I will agree, the service was slow but overall I am happy and I will return.

A little slow with the service, but the food was delicious with no complaints.

Fabulous! We had their New *California roll… it had white tuna instead of crab and since we do not eat crab it was delicious :-9 We will certainly be dining here often. I have missed sushi since we moved to Maine from So. California, Nara will be our local hang-​out for sushi.