Foods from Sakura
Comments
2012 Mar 10
Just have to jump in here - I've been going to AYCE around here for a while and out of 1000 sushi islands, Sushi Kan east and sushi kan merivale and Banc Sushi, Sakura is my favourite.
First off, it's AYCE - every place I've gone has had varying quality and service. I wouldn't say any one has consistently been better than the others.
So what keeps me going from Orleans all the way to Nepean for sushi?
Their menu is the best!
Sushi kan has second best selection, but Sakura just includes the same and a few tasty additions.
A few fav picks from their menu are the delicious and generous octopus sushi, the exquisitely grilled salmon belly (not breaded! Why would it be breaded!?), the seafood pancake (kind of bland honestly but it's more of a comfort food, and the dancing fish flake presentation is a showstopper), and the salmon neck (seeing a pattern here?).
FWIW, every time I have been there the service has been decent to good, fast refills on tea and the price doesn't hurt either.
When I go with my friends they judge the quality of the sushi on how much their bellies hurt after, which I suppose is a fair metric - they have a finely tuned pain scale, and after Sakura it's always way into the "call an ambulance and roll me in" end. Anywyas all that to say we order a LOT, so when they forget a roll or two we forgive it and just order more. It happens, and it's not exclusive to there either.
Overall I like that they have the standards and the fantastic fish, their rolls aren't drenched in sauce (one of their biggest selling points vs other AYCE) and all their ingredients are good. If I was looking for great, I'd go to genji, but if I'm looking for quantity, I get my money's worth and then some here.
Oh and free ice cream's always a treat :)
First off, it's AYCE - every place I've gone has had varying quality and service. I wouldn't say any one has consistently been better than the others.
So what keeps me going from Orleans all the way to Nepean for sushi?
Their menu is the best!
Sushi kan has second best selection, but Sakura just includes the same and a few tasty additions.
A few fav picks from their menu are the delicious and generous octopus sushi, the exquisitely grilled salmon belly (not breaded! Why would it be breaded!?), the seafood pancake (kind of bland honestly but it's more of a comfort food, and the dancing fish flake presentation is a showstopper), and the salmon neck (seeing a pattern here?).
FWIW, every time I have been there the service has been decent to good, fast refills on tea and the price doesn't hurt either.
When I go with my friends they judge the quality of the sushi on how much their bellies hurt after, which I suppose is a fair metric - they have a finely tuned pain scale, and after Sakura it's always way into the "call an ambulance and roll me in" end. Anywyas all that to say we order a LOT, so when they forget a roll or two we forgive it and just order more. It happens, and it's not exclusive to there either.
Overall I like that they have the standards and the fantastic fish, their rolls aren't drenched in sauce (one of their biggest selling points vs other AYCE) and all their ingredients are good. If I was looking for great, I'd go to genji, but if I'm looking for quantity, I get my money's worth and then some here.
Oh and free ice cream's always a treat :)
2011 Jan 8
Had dinner at Sakura last weekend. What a dismal failure.
The good:
- the table soya sauce is light and less salty
- servers were nice
The bad:
- service was terrible
- 3 of us had the AYCE, one ordered from the menu (she was never given her soup that was part of the meal)
- veggie tempura was cold
- rice used for the rolls was the worst I've had (thick and gooey)
- no ginger on the plates
- meager portions of fish on the rolls
- had to ask for one roll three times before it finally came
- screw-up with the bill
It was my second time at Sakura but it had been a long while between visits. I don't have grand expectations of AYCEs but at the very least, I expect the food to be decent. I will not be returning.
The good:
- the table soya sauce is light and less salty
- servers were nice
The bad:
- service was terrible
- 3 of us had the AYCE, one ordered from the menu (she was never given her soup that was part of the meal)
- veggie tempura was cold
- rice used for the rolls was the worst I've had (thick and gooey)
- no ginger on the plates
- meager portions of fish on the rolls
- had to ask for one roll three times before it finally came
- screw-up with the bill
It was my second time at Sakura but it had been a long while between visits. I don't have grand expectations of AYCEs but at the very least, I expect the food to be decent. I will not be returning.
2010 Mar 7
I had a horrible experience last night with 6 people.
The place was packed around 7:30 pm. We noticed only 2 sushi chefs were serving 50+ people. Not a good sign, no.
Out of the first 3 full order papers we handed out, we only received handful of dishes. I felt they were messing with orders on purpose, just to keep up the speed for 2 chefs. Even ordering directly to a server did not help at all. They kept reducing the numbers of orders; we got 7 pieces of sashimi when 30 was ordered. Who takes 40 minutes to bring a seaweed salad?
Ebi (shrimp) sushi was the worst I've seen my life, almost at fishing bate quality. The others were ok at best - we've not seen many for the 2 hours anyway.
The place was packed around 7:30 pm. We noticed only 2 sushi chefs were serving 50+ people. Not a good sign, no.
Out of the first 3 full order papers we handed out, we only received handful of dishes. I felt they were messing with orders on purpose, just to keep up the speed for 2 chefs. Even ordering directly to a server did not help at all. They kept reducing the numbers of orders; we got 7 pieces of sashimi when 30 was ordered. Who takes 40 minutes to bring a seaweed salad?
Ebi (shrimp) sushi was the worst I've seen my life, almost at fishing bate quality. The others were ok at best - we've not seen many for the 2 hours anyway.
2009 Dec 22
If you are looking specifically for sushi, I'd suggest going someplace else, at least that's the experience I've had with their all you can eat menu.
It's not that their sushi is bad, but it's kind of bland, and for what you are paying for all you can eat, you could get a decent portion of much better sushi someplace else.
However, as an all you can eat place, what it does excel at is giving you a wide choice of other Asian dishes, and I would recommend it on that basis, with an endless parade of small dishes you might not normally try. They do have a warning about charging you extra for uneaten food however.
I've gone four times in the past year. Service can sometimes be a bit spotty.
It's not that their sushi is bad, but it's kind of bland, and for what you are paying for all you can eat, you could get a decent portion of much better sushi someplace else.
However, as an all you can eat place, what it does excel at is giving you a wide choice of other Asian dishes, and I would recommend it on that basis, with an endless parade of small dishes you might not normally try. They do have a warning about charging you extra for uneaten food however.
I've gone four times in the past year. Service can sometimes be a bit spotty.
2009 Nov 28
I had a ho-hum experience here last week when I went for lunch with a friend.
I am not a fan of "all you can eat" anything. Unfortunately, I was dining with someone who is hungry half an hour after eating. We had originally tried going to Sushi Kan, a place which my friend was familiar with but I wanted to order a la carte because I prefer sashimi. The service at Sushi Kan was rather off putting. We asked if we could order and they said no, all you can eat only and then argued that it was cheap, only $12.99. Sure, it's cheap but it's a waste of money they don't offer what I want.
I suggested that we head over to Sakura on Merivale, where they confirmed that I could order a la carte while my friend ordered all you can eat.
Service seemed somewhat inexperienced but friendly.
The decor was minimal with a very commercial feel to it. The booths seemed rather strange- I felt I was too far from the table.
I ordered a tuna sashimi($5), one salmon($1) and one scallop ($1.50) nigiri sushi. The nigiri sushi were veru reasonable for the price. The amount of fish was adequate but had the non descript flavor that you'd expect from supermarket sushi. The rice, was of much better quality though.
The tuna sashimi looked nothing like the pictures from previous posts. Although pleasantly arranged as a rose, the pieces were extremely thin. Almost as though they were precut for AYCE orders.
My friend ordered 4 types of rolls: salmon, spicy salmon crunch, california and New York roll. He said that he thought the flavor of these rolls was superior to Sushi Kan but I can not comment on that.
Not a bad experience but not a great one.
I am not a fan of "all you can eat" anything. Unfortunately, I was dining with someone who is hungry half an hour after eating. We had originally tried going to Sushi Kan, a place which my friend was familiar with but I wanted to order a la carte because I prefer sashimi. The service at Sushi Kan was rather off putting. We asked if we could order and they said no, all you can eat only and then argued that it was cheap, only $12.99. Sure, it's cheap but it's a waste of money they don't offer what I want.
I suggested that we head over to Sakura on Merivale, where they confirmed that I could order a la carte while my friend ordered all you can eat.
Service seemed somewhat inexperienced but friendly.
The decor was minimal with a very commercial feel to it. The booths seemed rather strange- I felt I was too far from the table.
I ordered a tuna sashimi($5), one salmon($1) and one scallop ($1.50) nigiri sushi. The nigiri sushi were veru reasonable for the price. The amount of fish was adequate but had the non descript flavor that you'd expect from supermarket sushi. The rice, was of much better quality though.
The tuna sashimi looked nothing like the pictures from previous posts. Although pleasantly arranged as a rose, the pieces were extremely thin. Almost as though they were precut for AYCE orders.
My friend ordered 4 types of rolls: salmon, spicy salmon crunch, california and New York roll. He said that he thought the flavor of these rolls was superior to Sushi Kan but I can not comment on that.
Not a bad experience but not a great one.
2009 Apr 6
We went here for lunch, expecting great things. Out of all the AYCE sushi in Ottawa, this was my least favourite.
Firstly, the waitresses are very rude. When we asked for two sushi pizzas, she gave us a look and kind of hesitated for us to order. It seemed like she did NOT want to be there at all. Thankfully, the nicer waitress served us too and was prompt to give us our tea and water.
We ordered:
- Miso soup. Nothing interesting about miso soup.
- Deep fried scallops. Nothing bad to say about these. You can't really screw up deep fried scallops.
- Fried agedashi tofu. Again, same comment with scallops.
- Sushi pizza. It was good, fresh (cause it was piping hot) and had a generous topping of fish.
- The nigiri was meh. The fish was not that all fresh, but ate it anyway. We ordered surf clam, snapper, salmon and spicy salmon.
- Spicy salmon roll. It was meh. Just tempura bits with mayo and sriracha. I couldn't even distinguish if it had fish.
- Unagi roll was same as most AYCE places. Too much cucumber.
- Volcano roll was decent. It was salmon skin, some crunchy stuff and spicy sauce on top. Best roll out of the meal.
This place put too much rice and not enough stuffing, but I guess you get what you paid for.
Firstly, the waitresses are very rude. When we asked for two sushi pizzas, she gave us a look and kind of hesitated for us to order. It seemed like she did NOT want to be there at all. Thankfully, the nicer waitress served us too and was prompt to give us our tea and water.
We ordered:
- Miso soup. Nothing interesting about miso soup.
- Deep fried scallops. Nothing bad to say about these. You can't really screw up deep fried scallops.
- Fried agedashi tofu. Again, same comment with scallops.
- Sushi pizza. It was good, fresh (cause it was piping hot) and had a generous topping of fish.
- The nigiri was meh. The fish was not that all fresh, but ate it anyway. We ordered surf clam, snapper, salmon and spicy salmon.
- Spicy salmon roll. It was meh. Just tempura bits with mayo and sriracha. I couldn't even distinguish if it had fish.
- Unagi roll was same as most AYCE places. Too much cucumber.
- Volcano roll was decent. It was salmon skin, some crunchy stuff and spicy sauce on top. Best roll out of the meal.
This place put too much rice and not enough stuffing, but I guess you get what you paid for.
2008 Aug 25
I went for lunch at Sakura for the first time yesterday. It was my first time and I didn't have any expectations. We opted to get the all-you-can-eat and I surely ate-I-could!
Rundown of what I recall eating (the number of exclamation points indicate my yumminess rating -- out of three):
- salmon teriyaki (delicious!!!)
- seafood pancake
- fried scallops (!!!)
- seaweed sushi (!!)
- spicy salmon sushi (!)
- spicy salmon handroll (!)
- seafood pizza (!)
- edamame (!)
- udon seafood stir-fry (!)
- small red roe (forget name) sushi (!!)
- tempura
- ice cream: all three types (!!)
The service was good. The food was quick and fresh and, for what it was, it was quite good and satisfying.
Rundown of what I recall eating (the number of exclamation points indicate my yumminess rating -- out of three):
- salmon teriyaki (delicious!!!)
- seafood pancake
- fried scallops (!!!)
- seaweed sushi (!!)
- spicy salmon sushi (!)
- spicy salmon handroll (!)
- seafood pizza (!)
- edamame (!)
- udon seafood stir-fry (!)
- small red roe (forget name) sushi (!!)
- tempura
- ice cream: all three types (!!)
The service was good. The food was quick and fresh and, for what it was, it was quite good and satisfying.
Older
2008 Oct 22
Out of all the restaurants (sushi and otherwise)I've been to in Ottawa this has to be my least favorite. Everything negative I read about it online (but gave Sakura the benefit of the doubt and tried it anyway)was completely true.
The service left alot to be desired. They just dropped everything they served to us on the table without a word. They brought out our food at completely different times. I received and finished my first dish before my boyfriend even got his food and he had already finished all of his (over 20 minutes later) by the time they gave me the rest of what i had ordered. I would have asked them what the hold up was but they never even back to our table. There were only 2 other people in the restaurant so I can't imagine they were very busy.
The food didn't even make up for the lack of service. My shrimp tempura roll was soggy and pre-soaked in soy sauce, and the green salad i ordered was TINY and had nothing but a few pieces of lettuce, one slice of pepper and a few carrot shavings maybe. The sushi my boyfriend had was chewy and not fresh at all. The miso soup was powdery and tasteless. The only decent thing about it was the low price. Needless to say I was very disappointed and will not be going back and recommend people stay away from this place.
The service left alot to be desired. They just dropped everything they served to us on the table without a word. They brought out our food at completely different times. I received and finished my first dish before my boyfriend even got his food and he had already finished all of his (over 20 minutes later) by the time they gave me the rest of what i had ordered. I would have asked them what the hold up was but they never even back to our table. There were only 2 other people in the restaurant so I can't imagine they were very busy.
The food didn't even make up for the lack of service. My shrimp tempura roll was soggy and pre-soaked in soy sauce, and the green salad i ordered was TINY and had nothing but a few pieces of lettuce, one slice of pepper and a few carrot shavings maybe. The sushi my boyfriend had was chewy and not fresh at all. The miso soup was powdery and tasteless. The only decent thing about it was the low price. Needless to say I was very disappointed and will not be going back and recommend people stay away from this place.
2007 Sep 18
Went with large group of colleagues for the dinner AYCE. We didn't order anything too adventurous so we filled up on spicy salmon/crispy salmon rolls, soft shell crab rolls, and lots of sashimi. Everything was fresh. The rolls could use a little less rice and more filling in some cases.
Service was great, not one dish was missed the entire evening and we weren't rushed out or made to feel like we were intruding. At my time of visiting this restaurant didn't have a liquor license so we were confined to soda and ice water which was too bad.
Overall a decent 'all you can eat' experience, I would return.
Service was great, not one dish was missed the entire evening and we weren't rushed out or made to feel like we were intruding. At my time of visiting this restaurant didn't have a liquor license so we were confined to soda and ice water which was too bad.
Overall a decent 'all you can eat' experience, I would return.
itchy feet