Sakura

Love love love this place! The food is fresh, the sake is warm and the beer is cold! Loved my experience here picking and choosing things I would never have dreamt of, def worth a visit!

Great location and friendly staff. Worth going to if you want to try something different in Belfast. Try the Octopi for something different! Its on the starter menu the last time I went.

Sushi is really nice but quite expensive. Their asparagus wrapped in Ribeye but doesn’t contend with Zens same dish. Staff are friendly and attentive and they do a good mojito. For me it’s more a casual dining restaurant.

Possibly the best sushi in Belfast. We need more Japanese restaurants!

Sushi is good and well priced for lunch. The train always seems a bit scarce in the evenings though without much selection but you can order from menu. The hot dishes aren’t great, stick to sushi. The staff are always attentive and it’s a nice venue. Try to book upstairs as its lovely.

I visited Sakura, a Japanese restaurant located in Botanic Avenue over the weekend. This was only my second visit and since starting a vegetarian lifestyle this year I wanted to find out how their food fared for vegetarians.
Being a sushi bar the vegetarian options did initially appear a little limited and sadly Sakura do not have a separate, dedicated vegetarian menu which is unfortunate. However, our waiter did advise us that the Chefs could do any dish on the menu as vegetarian, so that was a huge bonus. Nonetheless, clearer ‘suitable for vegetarian’ labelling on the menu would help.
We opted for deep fried avocado and tofu tempura roll starters and mains of stir fried ramen noodles with mixed vegetables. The food as absolutely delicious and fresh tasting, wine (pinot grigio) lovely and service impeccable. I did notice a ‘Chinese Kitchen’ section towards the back of the main menu which included options of mixed vegetables with black bean, Szechuan, satay and salt and chilli sauces.
I’m looking forward to a return visit and to trying out Sakura’s lunch and take away menus as the food was scrumptious. Plus the restaurant itself is beautiful with Japanese décor, relaxed atmosphere and reasonable prices.

Excellent sushi de très bonne qualité et service très agréable.Prix un peu fort mais cela va avec la qualité et la diversité originale des produits proposés. Je recommande fortement pour les fans de gastronomie japonaise.

I tried Sakura for the first time today for lunch with work colleagues, and now I’m not sure why I didn’t try it earlier! The food was just lovely and great value too. They have a lunch deal where you get a starter for only £2 if bought with a main course (Monday-​Friday 12−3pm). The main courses are £5.95. There are a good range of choices on the menu. They also have a ‘sushi train’ where the dishes go around on a conveyor belt and you can purchase them for a set price. The atmosphere was nice and the staff were efficient. They also serve cocktails which is always good in my opinion! A lovely little Japanese restaurant that I will return to.

Never been here before but had my first experience today. Had an authentic feel to the restaurant and the food was lovely. Could have spent all day there tasting and enjoying a few beers but unfortunately work took priority! If you get a chance and like sushi take a few hours and enjoy yourself.

Such a great restaurant. An incredibly diverse menu and at a great price. Japanese dumplings are a given get them every starter. Currently working through their mains. They’re all amazing!

Our go-​to place for sushi and Asian cuisine at reasonable prices. The staff is nice and the food is generous and served promptly.

I bloody love Sakura! Enough said… No, go on? Oh ok then…
When I set foot in the place about 7 years ago I loved it and when I visited last week for the first time in ages, it was nice to see nothing had changed. The lay-​out and feel is, to me anyway, very welcoming and what I imagine an authentic Japanese restaurant to be like. The staff are always very friendly and welcoming and if you are a sushi/​Japanese restaurant virgin they tell you the lay of the land. I like to sit at the sushi train to eat so you get the dishes right as they come out of the kitchen and you also get a better view of the Japanese chefs preparing the food in the kitchen!
Basically, the idea is that there are 4 different colours of plates whizzing, well, crawling rather slowly so you can make your selection, along on a sushi train and you lift any that tickle your fancy and mix them with a splash of soy and a large lump of Wasabi on your plate and keep the coloured bit of the sushi plate which you later use as a type of receipt for what you ate!!!
Sakura opens at midday (1pm at the weekend with a 10.30pm close) and from then until 5pm during the week the sushi is cheaper, a type of Lunchtime happy «hour» deal with the blue, red and yellow dishes (not sure if the colours actually mean anything besides price) are £1.90 each and the green £2 each which is very reasonable for the quality of food you get. My personal favourites are the chef’s maki roll, spicy tuna hand-​roll and the Red Dragon rolls (prawn and crab).
After I have had some sushi I usually like to get a hot course too and here you really can pick almost anything on the menu and you will like it and the staff are also good with explaining what is in all the dishes. The menu is very expansive with more options available in the evening and choosing really is a chore for me but you can’t really ever go wrong with chicken in Teriyaki sauce and noodle or a good prawn kimchi. A main course will usually be about £8-£10 with the seafood dishes being a little more expensive but trust me it’s worth it…
Can’t speak more highly of the place and if you speak to the chef he can also prepare gluten-​free options and they also have a takeaway service. Will be a customer for as long as it stays open which will be for a long time.

Well I have been there a lot. But last time it was a little bit weird and really disappointing. Tuna makis were not good and too spicy. Not really good for the tummy. I have also had rainbow rolls and hoisin duck rolls. They were not bad but not as usual. I still recommend this restaurant as they usually doing a very good cooking!

Very yummy sushi and great deals. I subracted two stars though because once I was there with a friend, and she was paying by card. My friend then moved to withdraw the card, but the lady at the till thought it was withdrawn too early, so she immediately grabbed my friend’s wrist to stop her taking the card out! Physical contact between a staff member and a customer is an absolute nono.

Regular visiter at this restaurant:
Good quality Japanese food at a very reasonable price!

When I was here last week it was my first taste of Japanese food, quite why it ever took me this long to go in is beyond me. But go in I did, at last. I wasn’t disappointed. I had seen the little conveyor belt with the pots of sushi going round on it through the window when passing and thought it seemed like a novel way to be served your food. Having said that I didn’t actually use it, instead going with the more traditional way of just picking something off the menu and ordering. I tried to pick the more Japanese sounding things as I’m already a fan of Asian foods, Indian, Tai and Chinese and so was hoping for something a bit distinctively different. I wasn’t disappointed at all. The sushi starter was great and was obviously very very fresh, which I’m guessing sushi in particular really has to be. The main was delicious too, I had chicken in Kimchi sauce. It reminded me a bit of the Chinese Kung Po chicken, but the sauce was a little less sweet and much lighter and less glary which was a winner. The price was quite reasonable too. All in all great, but for that full 5* the staff would need to be just that little bit more approachable and friendly. There was no real problem there as such and they certainly weren’t rude, but there was a noticeable affability missing sadly.

I’m not a huge Japanese food fan, but from time to time I like a bit of sushi in my belly. That is my girlfriends influence I think because she simply can’t get enough of the stuff. Because of that I am a bit of a snob when it comes to sushi and kinda hate the places that you pick the stuff off the conveyor belt. My lady says that they shouldn’t do that because it doesn’t keep the sushi fresh and that really put me off.
The service and prices here are both pretty good. You will be able to pick up a decent bite to eat for about £10 which is pretty good for how much you’ll get. Also, the staff are really dead on and friendly and always able to help if you have any problems with the food you’re not quite used to.
If you have the cash you might as well go to Zen to be honest.

Yumz! Sakura is a great spot to hot in Belfast if you’re feeling Japanese! (oh dear, wharra bad joke). Erm, anyway they offer a fabulous range of fresh sushi and a wide range of Japanese dishes.
I looooove sushi and used to go to sushi joints in Dublin all the time like Yamamori. Mmmmm.
Belfasts version is located on the hotbed of activity that is Botanic. It’s really fun picking out what type of Sushi you fancy from the production line thingy. Even if you’re not feeling adventurous, there will be something to suit your taste.
Picking sushi up using chopsticks usually ends in disaster for me. It usually ends in me dropping it and splattering myself with soy, or only being able to eat it one grain of rice at a bloody time. I always get frustrated and just ask for a fork. The last time I ate sushi I actually took to skewering the sushi on the chopstick and scoffing it that way. How uncooth!
All in all, Sakura is an interesting place to eat with reasonably priced food.

What I love about Sakura is that they not only serve excellent sushi, but offer a great variety of Japanese food too. As not all my friends are sushi lovers like myself, this still makes a great place for a grand night out.
The last time I was here we were a group of 12 and had one big table upstairs. With such a big group of people it a can be tricky at times to get all orders on the table at once, this was definitely not the case at Sakura. The staff did a brilliant job as the timing of all our starters, mains and deserts arrived couldn’t have been better, nor did we have to wait long to have our glasses topped up.
The food looked and tasted amazing and with a selection of sushi, seafood, duck, beef and chicken served in a variety of Japanese sauces, anyone should be able to have the most enjoyable evening here. They offer set menus at £15.00 or £20.00 per person, so it doesn’t need to break the bank either.

Sushi at it’s finest is the only way to describe this place. Sakura’s main selling point for me is the sushi train where you can plonk yourself down, order a drink and pick and chooses at whatever comes your way. The tuna rolls are great as are the prawns and octopus! Prices start at just £2 and it’s a great way to get your foot on the sushi craze sampling bits here and there! Sakura also offers main meals and these include the non raw king. I love their black bean stirfry! Its served sizzling and full of flavour! The staff are great and you can also get take away boxes of such — 8, 12 or 16 pieces. This place offers it all and more and situated in the heartland of student ville– it’s a winner all round!

I loved this restaurant. It has a nice simple atmosphere and the staff smile and make you very welcome.
The service is excellent. The food is delicious. The Plum wine is to be highly recommended and the lunch special of miso soup, four plates from the sushi conveyer and green tea is excellent value and very healthy. What’s not to like. Even if sushi’s not your thing, there is plenty else to choose from. Enjoy!