Daruma Sushi

Now called Raku Sushi and it’s yummy all you can eat made to order sushi buffet.

I’d have to fully concur with the review below by Prentiss C.
Apparently the ownership and chefs have completely changed; if you’ve gone here as the previous establishment, please try this amazing Sushi restaurant once more.
We go here every Wednesday due to the insanely fresh from the north coast UNI, which is topped with a cold raw quail egg, muy fabuloso!!!
Everything is fresh, the rice is perfectly cooked and still slightly warm, and the hand rolls are too die for!
We always tip at least $ 15 to the staff too…
A real hidden treasure and delight.
Go here now!
So worth it…

Closed, reborn as Raku.

I was happy to see someone new took over this place. I thought Daruma was great when it first opened, but went downhill quick. The new place Raku Sushi has the same concept but with very good food. For $ 14.95 for dinner, you get all you can eat sushi that’s made to order. The rolls are fresh and different. We also ordered a side of the sashimi that was surprisingly fresh. The waiter was very efficient and accommodating. I asked him about the leftover charge and he said that’s rarely applied, only for people who leave an excessive amount of food, which makes sense to me.
I live kind of far from this place, but will definitely go back when in the area. The other 3 in my group really enjoyed it too. I think it’s a great deal for the price, especially when everything else is so expensive and I’m trying to budget, it’s nice to know I can still eat great sushi!

This place is now called Raku and has new owners/​sushi chefs. We’ve been here a couple of times since it’s opening earlier this month and I have to say that the sushi rolls are delicious! $ 14.95 for «all-​you-​can-​eat» dinner. There’s a little self-​serve salad area where you can find the cucumber salad stuff and salad (of course), both of which are yummy. Other standout items include the Capitol Roll and #64 (roll topped w/​seared tuna w/​garlic). The fried bananas and donuts are awesome too. There are a few things though that you need to keep in mind:
1). As others has mention, you do pay for any leftovers (it says so in fine print at the bottom of the menu). Knowing this, we have to pace ourselves and have had no problems w/​leftovers. We also know how to eat so that helps =)
2) The menu does say that you’ll receive 3 sushi pieces w/​each order but sometimes you’ll get like 6 or 8 rolls, so be careful! Hmm, another conspiracy to get us to have leftovers?
3) The numbering on the menu is not in sequential order. No biggie, but I get annoyed by those kind of things hehe.
4) The waiter was really nice but he’s brought out a couple of rolls that we didn’t order. We were able to return it w/​o any additional fees. They will also try to offer you «free test samples» and offer additional rolls even though you’ve developed a few stomach rolls yourself.
Anyway, despite the few discrepancies, we will definitely come back!

new place is called raku sushi, and no idea whether it’s still ayce or not. they re-​opened last friday.

Décor sucks, frying the food always make things taste better.

I need to update this review due to I didn’t like my experience the last time I went. I went last week with my family and it SUCK!!!
We got there at 230 pm. I guess that’s when lunch ended. So, they told us to order everything at once because they are closing… So, we did. But when all the food came out, it wasn’t enough. I asked if we can just 4 more items. The waitress took a deep breath and said she has to asked due to it was already closed. She came back and said ok what do you want. We ordered more food and she asked if we are sure now. I was like «whatever»…
The service sucks!!! We wait 15 mins for the chicken sticks to come out. My boyfriend loves them. I think he is crazy. The chicken sticks are so tiny. He orders six of them. Tiny chicken pieces on the stick. We waited another 10 mins for the tempura which included 1 shrimp on each order and no yams or sweet potatoes included. URG!
The spicy tuna was gross… The salmon was dark color, I don’t even think it was salmon. Yuck!
The only thing I like was dragon roll and deep fried sugar donuts. We asked for 5 donuts. They gave us five exactly. AND, still no Green Tea ice cream.
I don’t think I’m going back any time soon. It just SUCKS!!!

Whoever rated over 2 stars are not sushi eating experts. Their sushi is blah… the only good thing there are the fried bananas. Go to Nishiki’s for real sushi and spend a little extra.

I’ve waited a short while to write this review to make sure I wasn’t jumping the gun on writing what I’m about to write… But… Needless to say… The feelings about the «experience» didn’t subside, so here I sit. I put «experience» in quotation marks because I believe that dining out is as much about the experience as it is about the food. So with that said, I will break it down into two categories.
The Food:
Bleh… There is nothing really overly exciting about the sushi. I liked the Miso soup, and the tempura wasn’t bad. I didn’t try the doughnut or the fried banana because by the time the my appetite was ruined (which I will get into later), and the imitation crab would have done better standing next to the Michael Jackson impersonator on Hollywood Blvd.
All in all, I would say that it’s a good amount of food for a reasonable price, BUT… It’s not…
To me, sushi is a dish that you don’t skimp on. It’s not like going to the grocery store and buying the Fruity O’s instead of the Fruit Loops. Sometimes, you have to get the real thing. I understand that some people may not be able to go to the higher priced places and spend $ 10-​$ 12 on one roll. To be honest with you, I have to save to splurge like that (and it only happens once a month).
But the point is: there are always options if you open to looking for them. For example, there is a place in Natomas (about 7 miles away) called Mizu (I will Unilocal about that later) that provides you with waaaaaay more options /​choices. Plus… It is only $ 8.95 for an adult lunch.
The Experience:
Well… What can I say… Simply put, Daruma is another case of «Good Concept, Bad Execution».
The servers and the people behind the bar are nice. This review isn’t a strike against them as people. They were helpful and smiled the whole time. As a matter of fact, I think she smiled even when telling my table, «If you don’t eat all the rice, we will have to charge you extra.»
Don’t worry, I already know what you’re thinking… W… T… F… Right?
Yeah…
I had the same thought when I heard this shenanigans…
So this is what happened…
About half way through the meal, I start to get full. I wasn’t close to stuffed, but I was headed that way. I still wanted to try a couple of rolls, so instead of filling myself with rice, I took the salmon off of the nigiri I had ordered.
This is where the server walks up to my table and says:
«Oooh… Was there something wrong with the rice?»
And I say, (in a reassuring tone) «Oh no, everything is fine. I just didn’t want that fill up on rice.»
And this is where she says, «Ooooh… Because if you don’t eat all the rice, we will have to charge you extra. It’s okay this time.
And she takes our order and walks away…
At this point, I’m kinda trying not to laugh or show disgust at the sheer audacity of the statement. I don’t know about you, but I go to «All You Can Eat» places to enjoy the freedom of picking through or testing food without feeling obligated to finish all of my food. Some people may call me a glutton for uttering that statement, but whatever, it’s an ALL YOU CAN EAT restaurant! It’s kind of assumed…
I tried to brush it off as one of those moments in life that you will look back on and laugh. I look down at the menu to regain composure, and that’s when the following statement (in fine print) at the bottom of the menu hits me:
«Please order as much as you like, but the cost of leftovers will be passed on to you.»
At this point, we stuck ‘s full with about 6 rolls (three pieces per roll) and 6 pieces of nigiri still coming to the table, and at that moment, I felt like a little kid sitting at the dinner table again. I even thought I heard my mom’s voice echo in the back of my head: «You will not get up from this table until you eat all of your food young man.»
Needless to say… We spent the rest of our «experience» hiding the remaining pieces of sushi and feeling like children hiding the unwanted broccoli from their parents.
We stuffed a couple pieces under a plate, while a few went in the miso bowl. I think one ended up wrapped in a napkin, and another on the floor. I even thought of stuffing my mouth and walking to the bathroom to get rid of the rest.
*Soorry for the long review… I guess it still kind of gets to me…

We went hoping we’d found a close choice for sushi. Sadly, we barely made it through two orders of our all-​you-​can-​eat feast before we called it a day.
Your crab choices are bad crab salad or crab logs. The rainbow roll gets drizzled with mayo. The edamame was still frozen. The «seared albacore» was cooked through. The spicy tuna was all spice and a little tiny bit of tuna. Our nigri salmon and yellowtail were decent, but the ebi was much too sweet.
In all, it was a sub-​par experience and I’d much rather spend $ 50 for two to be full of great sushi than $ 35 for leaving a place hungry and thirsty (from needed to drown sushi in soy sauce).

it has reopened with the name of RAKU.
Four adults and a child at dinner time cost us 90 dollars. Not $ 14.95 a person plus tax. You have to pay 15 percent tip that they stick on the bill at the end of the night for group of five. You have to also pay for hot tea, miso soup and something else they scribble on the tab. Wait it get’s worse. Most buffets charge you once for a soda. I’ll be damned but four sodas cost us seven something. Now mind you the sodas were for the children. Both had two sodas. Ahha are you figuring it out?
Stepping in to the place is like entering Alice in Wonderland. Don’t follow the white rabbit. Whatever you do. Don’t follow.
Now the waittress leave you dumb-​founded as soon as you get there. You get to go to any booth. But I assure you that they treat you aloof for a very long time. You wonder if this is hospitality at it’s best there. It’s very nerve wrecking to figure out the first move to get started on ordering. It takes trail and error before you get the system down. The waittress is to come to you. Okay after thirty minutes of waiting I got just a bit brazen and would have done the ordering at the sushi bar. Let one of those ladies tell me NO. LOL. But my companion decided to take it out of my hand.
The salad and fruit bar is by the sushi bar. Serve yourself. When you order the sushi on the menu you get small orders unless you double it. But that’s okay because it’s delicious.
Take your time For the cost you really want tooooo enjoy yourself. My family will go there once again when we think it’s a good idea. But then again maybe we won’t.
Word of advice. Bring a notebook and put down everything you ordered as you do.
One: because you don’t want to repeat the rolls you don’t like.
Two: so that you know the ones you like.
Three: so you can figure out the hidden cost that they scribble on your bill.
IT’s great sushi. But the cost. OUCH.

Good value, but the sushi is just a solid «OK». This place is awesome if you’re lookin for quantity over quality.

Well, I think that this place is pretty good. Not great– but good. For lunch you can pay a flat rate and then pick from a menu for all you can eat. They bring you three pieces from each selection you make. Its nice because then you can try different things. Its also nice because you can mix it up a bit and have some non-​sushi items like salad and/​or miso soup, some chicken and lots of other stuff.
Not the most amazing sushi ever– but I was pleased with the service and think its a place I’ll go back to now and then.

For $ 10 at lunch or $ 14 for dinner, Daruma is an all-​you-​can-​eat Japanese restaurant (the menu extends beyond just sushi). The quality of the fish is what you can expect for all-​you-​can-​eat but there are three reasons I will probably be back. 1) The rolls are prepared when you order them and not sitting out on a buffett. 2) The have a nice selection of nigiri which is actually pretty good. 3) The fried bananas dessert, the one dish that does not scream all-​you-​can-​eat. The fried bananas alone would bring me back, yum!

NASTY!!!
The service sucks!!! Rude owner!!!
Menu says «made to order»…yeah…not so much!!!
The rolls tasted like the fried shrimp/​soft shell crab were fried last week. You know… the chewy/​stale texture of old deep fried food?
We ordered two salmon skin hand rolls, one without cabbage, and our rolls without avocado and the response we got from the owner is «NO! the chef’s make it this way everyday, it’s easy to make mistake.»
I have to say… they have some awesome sushi chefs. The fish on the nigiri are all so THIN, i can almost see through it. That takes some massive skills…
There’s ONE thing… and only ONE thing that I think it delicious… donuts…and that’s what the one star is for.

Well I have been here three times. I live in Natomas so this was a very short drive out to West Sacramento.
Let me start off by saying, I think people’s opinion on this place will depend on their sushi experience, more specifically sushi buffet experience. If you were a frequent eater at Homai or Fujis, then right off the bat, I don’t think you will find this place up to par. The price is definately right though, which leaves some room for error.
Let me be straight though, I like this place, however I am just saying that Homai and Fujis, which were/​are also made to order sushi buffets were/​are better.
Personally, I think the rolls themselves are the weakpoint of Daruma. They don’t offer enough of a variety and they don’t have the fresh fish taste to them that other sushi places have.
I think Daruma does excep at the Nigiri. They have quite a wide selection of this, and as a person who loves this stuff. I definately rate this as their high point.
In my earlier days of sushi eating I was definately a sushi roll person, but now I have a lot more appreciation for the fish itself, without the gobs of maynoaise sauce and everything else toppled on.
I do like all the stuff on the side you get. Gyoza, fried bananas, various chicken types, Miso soup. Also, staff is very attentative.
I do recommend this place. However if you go to Sushi places specifically for rolls, then I think you will be a little underwhelmed.

UPDATE 02÷10÷08: So last week I was fiending for some sushi, big time. I didn’t want to drive anywhere far so I decided that perhaps we should give Daruma a second chance because maybe… just maybe… they were having an off day the first time we went. WRONGO. First, the rice still had theODD taste to it. The best I can come up with is that the pot they cook it in discharges this foul taste. Second, I order a rainbow roll and a california. The california comes first — its gross. Tasted like it had been pre-​made and waiting for someone like me to order it. Then the rainbow roll comes — its swimming, no, scratch that, DROWNING in 3 different colored sauces. I’m a sushi purist. I dont like things like cream cheese and sauces on my rolls. And I understand some people need that but if your going to drown something like a rainbow roll (which is generally a sauceless roll) at least warn me on the menu. I didn’t want to be «that» customer, so I start wiping it off with a napkin. The waitress happens to see and asks «Oh, you dont like sauce?» I tell her that No, I like it when they are plain. 5 minutes pass and I’m done wiping off the warm mayonnaise from my roll and she brings over another highly sauced roll and places it in front of us. I start to tell her that we didn’t order this roll and she cuts in to tell us that its their «special roll» and there’s no charge since I didnt like the other one. Now, thats a lovely gesture but to make up for the fact that I did not like the saucy roll, you bring me another saucy roll?
All in all, I was still highly disappointed once again. _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​
I feel like I shouldn’t write a review, purely because my opinion I think is severly skewed due to the fact that I was a loyal Homai in Roseville aficionado for close to 5 years until they closed (tear!) and to me this place is just a bad rip off.
The good: a moderate array of choices (although again, when Homai had close to 100 items on their menu, the measely 30 something on this menu doesnt stack up). Service was pretty quick and they were constantly checking on you to make sure you were satisfied and if you wanted something else. Prices are good: 9.95 for all you can eat lunch and 13.95 for all you can eat dinner. Now generally I am a straight sushi kind of girl. Rolls with lots of sauces, cream cheese and things that generally are not typical sushi don’t appeal to me but I will say that the Buffalo Beef roll was very very good. The fried bananas were also heaven. just a little bit of sugar cinammon on top made them perfect. Also, the Pink Lady roll (something they had at Homai too which made me happy to see somewhere else) is delish. It sounds weird but just try it. You will be glad you did (its avocado and strawberry with strawberry sauce ontop and really should be your last roll since its more a desert roll). Also the gyoza was really delicious.
The bad: The quality of sushi in my mind was just not up to par. I can’t place my finger on it but both my husband and I felt that everything we were served just had an odd flavor to it. Not sure what it was but I grew more disdain for each roll. The «salad bar» had an odd assortment of items such as seaweed salad, fried tofu and cold korean bean salad. I tried a little of each and almost gagged. Again, not sure what it was but it was not good.
The ugly: Funny story but the gal who used to be a server up at Homai since day one that I had been going there, was at this place. Small world. It was weird because for all the years we went to Homai she never spoke more than a word. We always thought she was mad or something. But last night, she was so nice, polite, happy and talking. We didnt know she could speak! We were so happy with her service that we wanted to make sure she got her tip. My husband wanted to leave it on the table, but for some reason I got a funny feeling from the owner (alhtough he was equally attentive and provided great service, I still got an odd vibe from him) I told my husband to hold on and just make eye contact with the girl and show her he was leaving the tip on the table. She nodded and as soon as he got up, she rushed over to the table, at the same time I saw the owner DART over and he tries to grab the money right out from under her hand. I couldn’t believe it!!!
All in all, I wasn’t impressed with this place enough to come back. I always say that a good indicator of quality is the size of the avocado in the rolls and this place it was non-​existent. like a smudge of avocado. Its a funny rule but it hasn’t proven me wrong yet.

Sushi buffet for $ 10. This sushi buffet is a little unusual. You order everything and they bring it to your table instead of going up to a «bar». The good thing is that everything is made fresh. Though you have to wait a little bit sometimes. The sushi isn’t the greatest but what do you expect for $ 10. They have a TON of rolls so if you’re not really looking for nigiri sushi, then go here. Their side dishes are really good. But this place is more of a place to just get full. Great deal for $ 10

All you can eat sushi for $ 9.95 (lunch, dinner is $ 4 more) — sounds too good to be true. And they make it fresh to order? Impossible? It’s not impossible, it’s right there in West Sac. Okay, it doesn’t compare with Mikuni or NIshiki but it’s a great deal. The selection is limited (a one page menu) and probably not a great place for true vegetarians but fish-​itarians will be pleased. Your meal inludes all the extras (edamame, miso, etc) and then some (I ate too much sushi to check out the other stuff). Try the Buffalo Beef Handroll! The staff is friendly and the service fast. Four stars for such a great value!
Update after a second visit: Love, love, love the extras. I was REALLY hungry this time. The tempura is nice, not fabulous but nice. The gyoza were gingery and yummy. Some of the rolls I ordered seemed llike they weren’t freshly made but still tasty.