Sakura Sushi

I love the help here and the sushi is fantastic. I have never had a bad meal here and I have tried the whole menu. I come here at least twice per month. Great prices and awesome rolls. Try the lucky pink of colorful roll. You will be glad u came

Absolutely love this place and dine here every other week. Extremely friendly staff and excellent sushi options. The Spicy Girl and Mango Roll are my go-​to but you seriously can’t go wrong with any of their specialty rolls. Awesome Filet Mignon Hibachi as well.

Surprised to see a 3 star average rating for Sakura based on our experience there for lunch today. While I might wait to eat there again before posting a review, I figured it was a fair thing to write one now given the only «A-​OK» average doesn’t synch up with our very good experience. There was a lot to like here. A welcoming vibe, gracious service, good food, broad menu and fair prices and what seems as if it might be a family owned business. We’re glad we went in and we’ll go back — 4 stars.
WELCOMING VIBE
Light, bright setting and everything was sparkling clean. Sushi bar with seating at same as one of the options and the fish in the case seemed very fresh. Seating is standard height at the sushi bar and at tables throughout the restaurant. Additional seating at teppanyaki tables in the back of the restaurant for dinner service. This is not ‘high style’ ambiance, but a welcoming, un-​pretentious setting that to me suggests family ownership. We liked it.
GRACIOUS SERVICE
We were welcomed and seated promptly by a friendly woman who provided menus. Our orders were taken after a while by a gracious server who helped us decipher the things we didn’t know on the menu. My husband and I are pretty savvy food folks but sushi specifically and Japanese food in general is not often a choice for us so we’re babes in the woods for many menu items. Our server didn’t make us feel one bit like country bumpkins for asking questions and he was happy to answer them and direct us to choices he thought we’d enjoy. For example, I learned the little orange fish roe I detest on sushi is called tobiko and he happily offered to leave it off the roll we wanted. (I know… I dislike Beluga caviar too… call me a hick. :-))
GOOD FOOD
Based on our lunch, the food is very good. We enjoyed the Panda roll and the sweet potato tempura. The Panda roll ingredients all tasting distinctly flavored and fresh and the texture of the sushi rice was just right. That you can order sweet potatoes as tempura on their own; we like veggie tempura too but the sweet potatoes are our fav part, is ‘thumbs up’ from us. The presentation was a unique one for that the sweet potato pieces were cut large. The tempura coating was just enough but not too thick and was perfectly cooked to be crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The serving size was generous and served piping hot to the table.
BROAD MENU & FAIR PRICES
The menu included soups, salads, appetizers, sushi, sashimi, nigri, rolls, rice bowls, noodle options in both udon and yakisoba presentations, bento boxes at lunch (only about $ 8) and entrees. The man who took our order was setting plates at the teppanyaki tables right about the time we were finishing up lunch at 2:00 so it suggests to me teppanyaki menu is available at dinner. Our roll was $ 12.95, the tempura was $ 4.50 and green tea only $ 1 each with our tea mug kept filled. Lunch for two for less than $ 20 before tax seemed a good deal to us.
READ BEYOND THE HEADLINE TO SEE ALL THE DATA…
…is advice I always give to folks trying to figure out what is really going on in anything. Yet I didn’t take my own advice here. We delayed going in for the year we’ve lived near by and driven maybe hundreds because I never looked beyond the 3 star average in Unilocal to read the reviews. Which goes to show you need to read the reviews and I find it best to do that in sort order of «newest first». If you take a look at chronology here you’ll see the average stars are dragged down to a spate of poor reviews relative to service in 2013 to the mid 2014 era. Which don’t necessarily apply today but do lower the overall rating. More recent reviews trend higher.
Also since one reviewer in a negative review dinged the restaurant for not having Japanese speaking people working there somehow suggesting inauthenticity, I’ll share that during our lunch time there were many service people front of house, including sushi chefs behind the counter and some of the kitchen staff eating their meals at a back table and every person was Japanese heritage and they were speaking Japanese with each other and English with their guests. For what it’s worth to whom that matters.
THIS N THAT:
1) PARKING: Private lot.
2) ACCESSIBILITY: Accessible parking in the lot. Level in the door and all on one level. All seating is standard height.
3) NEXT TIME: We noted that all of the kitchen staff were enjoying rice bowl menu options for lunch. That sounds like a pretty darned good idea to us to try next time too!
4) TAKE OUT MENU: We noticed a take out menu on our way out the door. That sounds like a great idea after a busy day.

We had such an amazing time last night! Service was outstanding, food was amazing and prices were beyond reasonable. We will be back for sure. Thanks for bringing something GREAT to Garden City!

One of my favorite places to have lunch and my favorite Japanese restaurant in town! The price can be reasonable to a little high depending on what you get. m for lunch. The lunch maki combo is $ 7.95, which is great. But lunch sushi specials can be $ 8.50 to $ 13.95 depending on what you get. If you substitute something for salmon, they do charge extra $ 1 each substitute, which seems a bit high. But overall the food is never disappointing. And lunch specials come with miso soup and a great salad.
My favorite is Salmon Skin + Cucumber hand roll. This place makes the best one in town in my opinion. The roll is tight enough to keep all the ingredients perfectly while you eat it. Other places I tried in the past can’t seem to do this for some reason, and they often fall apart or get loose while you eat. And their sushi and rolls are pretty good. Try volcano (oh dinner menu) if you like eel. I like their spider and ever green rolls too! Check this place out! Great place for lunch.

Fun and creative presentation of a Fired Dragon roll and a very Tasty New York Roll. Sushi chef friendly and accommodated requests.

My boyfriend and I have been here multiple times, the service is always bad and the fish never tastes fresh. I will admit I lived in orange County California so I have been able to eat good sushi. I can tell you this is not good sushi. Nothing ever tastes fresh, and most notably on our last visit 4 nights ago we both got sick. I am still sick 4 days later. Needless to say we will never return.

People from my work office come hang in here a lot for lunch. I like to eat here with my team. Not for personal affaires.

Nice place, but not all that it could be.
This restaurant features both Sush Bar and Teppanyaki option. My group opted for just sushi at our table. For the 7:00 dinner hour not very many folks seemed interested in the teppanyaki. Most tables in the dining room were full. Very clean. Simple beer and wine bar at the entrance in case you want a beverage while waiting. Tonight wasn’t an issue.
I started with a Tempura Shrimp appetizer. I was disappointed that it only came with 2 shrimp, but several pices of vegetables. If i had ordered the Tempura Vegetable appetizer would I have gotten more shrimp?
Several sushi roll options. Entrees are not priced much more than other options plus you get a choice of miso soup or a salad. The menu didn’t appear to be well marked to aide the patron in choosing what would be spicy. I gravitate toward the really spicy rolls when marked. There were no pictures on the menu to aide in knowing what you are ordering. Table card did show Sashimi options.
Since I ordered an appetizer I decided to stick with a simple 18 piece spicy tuna maki combo. The others in my party ordered the fancy rolls.
My plate didn’t look any more impressive than grocery store sushi, nor did it taste any more fresh.
The others who spent $ 3 — $ 4 more on their rolls had more impressive presentstions, and what they shared with me was very fresh tasting.
Sakura does not overload their rolls with rice. And they do use generous portions of fish. Average roll prices on the entrée menu were $ 14 — $ 19.
Plenty of non sushi items available also.
Service could have been more attentive. I was never offered a 2^nd beverage or refill of water. No offer for dessert either. For my ticket they missed out on at least another $ 15 + tip.
With all the other sushi options in the Boise area, Sakura just didn’t impress me enough to say it’s worth the 10 mile drive. I will not refuse a future return trip, but I will make other suggestions.
I didn’t take any pictures, but check out the other reviews to see what presentations look like.

*****five star café***** very delicious sushi with superb presentation. The décor is simple and bright, as a lovely café ought to be. Efficient service staff and focused chefs. Both dote on swift accuracy, which is more important than tap dancing to entertain a smile from me. I ordered the Angel roll and the rainbow roll while my guests had teraki chicken and the other had a triple combo rolls of sorts.

Absolutely disappointing. The building is very visually displeasing… There is NO energy or character, the service was very impersonal no one speaks English… And employees are spread across the dining area on computers or collected around the sushi bar. The sushi is extremely expensive and distasteful we paid $ 15 for one roll and it tasted bland and dry. The pot stickers tasted like they were from Costco and microwaved. Seriously a huge waste of money I would have rather ate at jack in the box… I’m gonna go throw up now.

I don’t know why this place doesn’t have more stars! I’ve been going to this place ever since I was little. Love their sushi! The Green Dragon is my favorite. Everything is made fresh and tastes amazing. The only downside to this place is that I get full soooooooooooo quickly because everything is awesome!
They also have beer imported from Japan. Two thumbs up!

I have NO idea how this place has bad reviews i am such a picky bitch when it comes to sushi … this is my number one sushi place! everything tastes so flavorful and staff is usually very friend … they also dont speak much english which only makes idaho republicans uncomfortable but i love it. We go in with two kids one 2 years old and somewhat psycho and they never make us feel uncomfortable or do we get those looks. We love it!

We had three of their rolls, and thoroughly enjoyed them, especially the «fiery.» Great food, good service, fun to watch the sushi chefs work. Ambience (especially lighting — which were harsh fluorescents) could use improvement. But, We will be back. Total bill was $ 49 + tip for three rolls, two soups, and one non-​alc beverage.

Good not great. Our favorite Japanese place is Kyoto, my favorite sushi place is Happy Fish. so I guess this falls behind those in my book.

After living in Boise for a little over a year my wife and I have not eaten due to only 3.5 stars. We have had sushi and Hibachi in other places in town, but this is by far the best. We decided to sit at the grill and had excellent customer service and great food.
We did not have Sushi this trip but we will the next time we visit.
If you are looking for a fun date night or with a group, this is a great place.

Why this isn’t the highest rated sushi place in Boise is beyond me. Much less, this ridiculous 2.5 star rating. The sushi is delicious, with super fresh ingredients, the servers are great, and it is impeccably clean and there’s no «sushi smell» (which is a really good way to know if the sushi is fresh/​if the restaurant is kept clean). The waitresses all know us by this point and are extremely sweet and accommodating with our toddler son and even know that he likes no seaweed and extra tofu in his miso soup without us even asking. I think it’s safe to say this is our favorite restaurant in Boise.
I’m an LA native (a veritable mecca of good sushi), from a sushi loving family, and liberally and regularly partook of some of the highest quality stuff before moving here. Since moving here about 3 years ago, I went on the hunt for a good sushi place and I’ve been to Shige, Fujiyama, Sakana, Maru, Dharma and this place, and this place is my favorite. I’ve been here probably 2 dozen times, taken several rounds of friends and family, and everyone we brought has come back. The entire selection is great, the sushi rolls are always well formed and tasty, the sashimi selection is beautiful, they have lots of other options for people who are scared of sushi, the tempura is some of the best I’ve had (and my kid loves it)…you really can’t go wrong. We’ve tried different things almost every time and haven’t been anything other than happy so far. Let me break it down by lunch and then dinner.
Lunch: the best thing about lunch is the price — it’s stupid cheap. Especially the bento boxes, where you get soup, salad, california roll, melon and whatever entrée you chose. It’s like $ 6 – 7 and a completely satisfying portion. Yum and yum. This is when we come the most and are very friendly with the lunchtime waitstaff. If you love a good bargain and want good quality healthy stuff for the cost of an extra value meal, do yourself a favor and check them out at lunchtime.
Dinner: markedly more expensive at dinner, but the portion sizes are appropriate for lumberjacks. It is nuts. Two people could easily share one entrée, or satisfy one hungry competitive eater. I’ve not had the teppanyaki but I’ve watched it happen and it looked like it was done really well. One day, for sure. The only downside about dinner is there are no bento box specials, which means that it’s basically a la carte prices for everything. Still worth it, but spendier.
And it’s worth mentioning, it’s a completely comfortable atmosphere to come as you are. One of our favorite things to do during the spring/​summer/​fall is to ride bikes from our house (about a 20 minute bike ride), stop by the park and play with our son, and then head on over for a delicious affordable sushi lunch. No one ever blanched at us walking in with a toddler in tow and in sweaty workout clothes, but it is also still nice enough to go for your birthday dinner. It’s a casual, comfortable and nice place to go.

Definitely would not return.
Calamari batter is like onion ring batter.
Not really sure what was on top of my sushi roll.
It was like minced salmon out of a can.
Dynamite roll seemed like it was prerolled hours earlier (maybe a day or two) and then deep fried.
Just not a good experience. :-/

Low fish to rice ratio. Nothing special about this place and service is so-​so. Will not return.

Tomadachi to hiru gohan iku, shucho shimashita. Maguro to Unage suki desu. Alaska roll o tabemashita. Totemo oshikatta desu… It’s always nice to drop by here for lunch, for a one day biz trip, right before visiting the big customer up the road. Yummy!!!