j-pop Lounge

OVERPRiCED!
SLOW SERViCE!!!
it look just like regular rolls nothing special and not even alot. very small portion.
only good thing they let my cousin change drinks when she didnt like the one they picked out for her.1 star thats it

Say what? $ 14.99 for a bento box lunch special? Ok. I’ll give it a try.
Was it worth it? Meh, not so much.
It took 5 days to get our food and the waitress just seemed to be in her own world. WTF?
My friend ordered a $ 5 cucumber salad and it was the smallest salad I’ve ever seen. It was the size of half a rice bowl and we both looked at it like WTF.
My bento box came with 4 pieces of california roll, 4 pieces of spicy tuna roll, 1 piece tuna sushi, 1 piece salmon sushi, 1 pice shrimp sushi, seaweed salad and edamame.
It was alright. I was stuffed. But, really, the wait made it just ridiculous.
And the $ 5 small ass cucumber salad was also insane. Blah.

OMG, this place dunt even deserve a single star!!!
We ordered a $ 21 roll that came in miniature sized, like the ones they sell at bel air. I expected a nice creative looking fancy roll, NOT! We were so dissapointed, 4 girls, 2 rolls, 4 drinks, 2 miso soup, 1 edamame (sp?), came out to $ 98!!! So not worth it, ughhhh…
DO NOT COME HERE… THEYRE WHACK!

Ok, you’re in Mandalay Bay and trying to figure out what to eat tonight. Plenty of choices but j-​pop was one of the few that didn’t looked packed and there was a reason why! While the sushi was good but service was slow, seating was limited and prices were, well, pricey!
Let’s face it you’re going to shell out some dough in Las Vegas but I’m pretty sure there are better sushi options in the area. A maybe if you’re staying in Mandalay Bay but can’t really recommend it if you need to make a trip!

I had drinks here for a couple of long, long hours. Each drink will set you back $ 15. And it’s a total douche factory. End of story.

This review is not for the restaurant. Seriously, sushi in LAS VEGAS?! Don’t be ridiculous, unless you want explosive diarrhea. If you’re not within a 100 miles of the coastline, FORGET IT!
JPop was our go-​to spot for post-​conference drinks and a quick wind-​down this week. Solid/​well-​priced-​for-​Las-​Vegas drinks, smoking permitted. Sounds pretty damn good after 16-​hour workdays, right? A band played every night, but not so loud that it would keep you from carrying on a conversation.
They pour Hennessy from a gun. Beat that.

As you can see from my other reviews, I have a serious problem with sushi restaurants without real Japanese roots. This restaurant is a perfect example of that. There are no Japanese wait staff, and when looking at the menu options, I cannot believe any self-​respecting Japanese restaurant would serve these «fake» sushi items. I understand the clientele they are going after, and they are mostly not hard-​core sushi experts, but when I pay $ 150 for a sushi dinner, I expect much more than rolls and sticky sashimi. The nigiri was poorly made; I couldn’t see the sushi chefs so I cannot speak of their authenticity, but the rice was too hard, and the fish tasted sticky. This is a sign of bad fish. Yes, we are in the middle of desert, what’s the big deal? A restaurant should know factors working for and against them. Opening a sushi restaurant in the middle of desert (not a good idea), provide not fresh fish (even worse idea). On the other hand, I have visited other Japanese restaurants outside of the strip which were amazingly good, so I know good, fresh sushi is doable even in Vegas. It was not a busy evening, but I waited over 40 minutes for my meal to arrive, what are they doing? Catching fish out in the sand or something? Yes, I did pay for $ 150 for my dinner here, and I even brought a menu home just so I can share the ridiculous prices with my family and friends.
I will probably frame it and put it on my wall of shame as the most ridiculous Japanese restaurants I have been to.

The food is terrible and wayy overpriced! We were staying at theHotel and Mandalay and decided to grab some sushi to go since we were running late.
Spent $ 30 on 6 pieces of some not very delicious sushi.

For the uninitiated, this bar is patterned off of Japanese ‘cosplay’ subculture, where ordinary folk dress up in Japanese animé-​oriented costumes for cocktails, dining, traditional socializing, or even cuddle parties. Except, J-​Pop lacks any actual CosPlay costumes, the authenticity of any real Japanese food, any actual enjoyable socializing, & anything resembling a cuddle party. (much less anyone I’d actually be interested in cuddling for that matter)
IT’S RAININ’ MEN!
Because ultimately, this place is SAUSAGEFEST 2009. Yep. Kielbasa City. It’s basically nothing more than a drive-​by pitstop for guys leaving conferences being held at the Mandalay Bay convention center. Christ — I’ve seen more guys holding deal negotiations over cocktail tables here than I have at the damned Rhino. Not surprising being that J-​Pop has all the allure & excitement of a United Airlines Red Carpet Club.
OKAY. SO THE SCENE BLOWS. WHAT ABOUT THE SUSHI?
I’d like to hack Mandalay’s web site to rename J-​Pop to «California-Rock-&-Roll-Mayo-Avocado-Spicy-Tuna-Philidelphia-Crème-Cheese-Roll-Bar» because it’s so far from being authentic, it doesn’t even deserve the right to use the letter ‘J’ in its name. I kept finding myself looking for the «all-​you-​can-​eat» deal I suspected they advertised during ‘happy hour’ along with 2-​for-​1 sake bombs. Looking at the chef’s technique, this is clearly the Junior Varsity team. I wouldn’t be surprised if they served better Kim Chee & Bulgogi than sushi.
WHAT ABOUT THE SERVICE?
I tipped the waitress $ 10 saying that I was in a hurry, because I’d been there once before & knew from past experience that J-​Pop had slower-​than-​banana-​slug service so I thought I’d accelerate things. Wellllll, they sure showed me. It turns out $ 10 doesn’t do jacksh-​t for service speed at J-​Pop, leading me to believe the slow service is an aspect of having inexperienced sushi chefs, less so their wait staff.
AND HERE IT COMES.
But all that aside, what blows me away are the prices relative to the quality. Highway robbery doesn’t even begin to describe it so I must assume that they think Mandalay Bay patrons are all effing idiots. And, well, meanwhile all these 4-​Star reviews do sort of prove that most jackasses visiting J-​Pop are willing to consume sub-​par sushi & still be willing to bend over & take it up the butt when the check arrives.
I mean, this is the only joint in Las Vegas that’s failed EVERY BASIC SUSHI TASTE TEST I threw at them:
— Toro: Bricks. Each piece = SOLID. Yet it was $ 25. FAIL.
— Uni: Bitter & barely a solid. Usually a sign that it’s old. FAIL.
— Mirugai: Tough. Nearly shoe leather. FAIL.
— Yellowtail: Fishy & in need of serious chewing. Astounding considering how much Yellowtail most restaurants serve. FAIL.
— Tamago: Didn’t have any that day. Big surprise. FAIL.
For the record, I’ve been here twice to try different days during the week in the event fish deliveries are made only once a week. And it didn’t even remotely matter. And I’m not even going to go over the utterly pathetic selection of sake. Anyone that buys this rotgut deserves whatever bill they get.
WERE THE PRICES REALLY THAT BAD?
How about $ 4-​$ 7 for 1 piece? Look — I really don’t give a damn if the meal is $ 800 for 2 people. I’ve signed credit slips like that more times than I can remember in Vegas, LA, NY, & Seattle. No — this is about principle: If someone served me the Holy-​Grail-​of-​Lobster, I’ll pay them Jeezus-​Christ-​Mother-​of-​God prices. But when some tool serves me a McDonalds hamburger at Bradley Ogden’s like it’s a gotdamned Folgers Crystals coffee taste test switch «just to see if I’ll notice», then has the audacity to ask me to turn over my 401k to pay for the meal, y’damn right I’m gonna speak up.
CONCLUSION:
I really want to know where it is that all of these other reviewers ate at that allowed them to liberally give this place 4-​Stars. This isn’t even 3-​Star sushi. Pile on the horrifically slow service & you’ve got yourself one of the weakest sushi restaurants in Las Vegas.
1-​Star.
— — — — —
WHY? WHY 4-​STARS?
Is anyone else getting as puzzled as I am by reviews that stamp a place like J-​Pop with inflated & celebratory «OMGTHISPLACEISAWESOMEWEGOTSODRUNK!» reviews only because it’s obviously better than their neighborhood «Spicy Sushi, Sake Bombs, & Sapporos R’ Us» old standby, thus inflating J-Pop’s summary rating? I almost think people ought to list where they believe they have the «best» sushi just to establish a baseline of a reviewer’s experience/​tastes.
Otherwise, there’s some folks that apparently will eat whatever food fills their stomach & as long as they serve booze & the meal doesn’t give them food poisoning, hey, it’s «5-​STARS ALL NIGHT LONG BABY!» (They remind me of those guys on eBay that reply with thoughtless feedback that reads, «Great Communication A++++!!!»)

I was craving some fresh sushi after all the fried foods and drinks we were having in Vegas and happened upon J-​Pop Lounge. I don’t know if it was my intense hangover, or if my palate was craving anything non greasy, but I thought the sushi here was awesome. Mmm. I used to be a waitress in a sushi restaurant so I learned a thing or two about fish quality and the quality here was great.
I had a cucumber salad which I would highly recommend, and then we got a tuna cut roll, yellowtail cut roll, and scallop cut roll. The tuna was incredibly fresh and almost slightly creamy like toro, the yellowtail melted on my tongue, and the scallop had the best texture.
But I can’t give it the 4 or 5 stars that I want to because of the pricing and service. It’s totally overpriced for what it is. You’d think they’d compensate with service or décor but no. The service was okay, and it definitely wasn’t what I’d consider a nice restaurant.
So sushi, yes, prices, no.

After going to Shark Reef Aquarium, i was in the mood for some sushi. Saw J-​pop walking back and tried to satisfy my craving for raw fishies. Nice open feel to it, in the center of the hotel.
You mark your order on the menu. Kinda cool, i wrote in some of the order to custom make my rolls. Such as Unagi hand roll to add some topiko and avocado. California roll with some spicy sauce mayonnaise, that actually was a hit.
I recommend you try the Cucumber salad. It had some type of vinegar which made it taste sour but yet tart. Also try the Screaming Orgasm, seared tuna with miso dressing. Sauce made me scream orgasm with each bite i took.
Sushi was pretty good nice and fresh. Salmon and Yellow-​tail melts in your mouth. Kinda disappointed when they didnt have Toro… It was a bit pricey but your in Vegas. Everything is always more expensive inside Vegas hotels.

This place has decent sushi, but the price makes it tastes awful. I had 5 pieces of sushi and it cost me just under $ 50! Thats like $ 10 per piece of sushi!
Bleh no thx!

I had the distinct pleasure of spending a weekend in Vegas with a bunch of guys who were a little more health conscious than the regular «let’s party like we’re 21 even though we’re not!» crowd. I have never partied so well, had so much fun, and felt so good. A lot of it had to do with being pressured to stay totally hydrated so we wouldn’t fade at 4am. A lot more had to do with just eating healthy, rather than pigging out on junk.
One of our meals was at j-​pop — we were staying in the Mandalay, it was easy and convenient. We sat at the sushi bar, as it was easy for 8 guys to sit down, order for themselves, pay for themselves, and get rapid, attentive service. Which we did.
I ordered mostly Nigiri. My bro ordered a roll I think. I also had green tea. The fish was good; fresh and flavorful. The chefs made it promptly, and the presentation was excellent. I was hungry from hanging out on the Mandalay Bay Beach, body surfing in their wave pool, and talking to random people, so it was nice to get served up quickly.
It may have been a bit pricey, I don’t remember, but seriously what now isn’t pricey in LV? Hard to find good food for cheap anymore.

SCARED by the name, but when we got there, the Japanese Pop Star décor was PROMISING.
SERVICE is BEYOND sluggish.
Note: They only have ONE menu, you know, the ones that are on a grid and you mark yourself.
Drinks:
Pot of green tea, not tea LEAVES, BAG!!! $ 5
An 8oz carafe of sake $ 26
FIRST out:
Lobster Soup $ 6.50, super quick, basically MISO soup w/​lobster at the bottom, the soup portion was like SEAWATER, it was that salty.
TWENTY minutes pass.
FINALLY we get the rest:
–Toro Sashimi (5 pcs) $ 50, are you kidding!!! It was decent, but not worth $ 50, they should definitely give the option of ordering LESS.
–Salmon Sashimi (5 pcs) $ 16, fishy.
–Spicy Yellowtail roll $ 9.25, bland and NOT spicy, cucumber should be julienned, the pieces were rough on the roof of the mouth.
–Red Dragon roll $ 21, bland rolled terribly, fell apart & the rice was off
–Ultimate roll $ 22, again bland, the presentation of the spicy yellowtail on top was less than pleasing, as it was mashed on top. Looked like ground meat.
Total bill excluding tip: $ 167.82
That’s how much I expect to pay for GREAT sushi and ambiance. JPOP is open, in the middle of the Mandalay casino, TERRIBLE.
Feel totally gypped: no live entertainment when we dined there, only flat screens, but they did allow us to change the channel to watch the US Open.
I would have to say this is the WORST sushi experience I have had based on service, price and quality.

This place has some great live entertainment… girls singing, guys rapping and pole dancers in the background. Awesome~!
While waiting for our friends to arrive in Vegas… we chilled at Mandalay Bay at this bar. Ummm… we had a bit too much to drink… shots, beer, cranberry Goose. Yeah~! When our friends arrived we had more. Mainly Don Julio Anejo shots. Eeek~! Don’t want that for awhile. As our intoxication progressed… the entertainment got better and better. They can really sing… those girls~!! The service was pretty good. I’d go back for the free entertainment… not for the Don Julio shots…

This place is great when you don’t want to wait your time in line trying to get into an overrated Vegas club. This place turns intp The Kitty Club and they have a live band who perform on Fridays and Saturdays — all for free. The act is similar to The PCD you find at Cesears.
Believe me when I say you can’t find anyplace with a great vibe and for free anywhere else along The Strip. I had to delete a star because one of the singers from Friday was absent on Saturday. I think she held fhe group together vocally.

After a long day at the pool we were in the mood for a little late afternoon snack to tide us over until dinner. j-​pop was the perfect choice-​super fresh sushi, and by Vegas standards, not horribly over priced. After a little spicy tuna and some sake we were ready to start our night. Thanks j-​pop!