Sapporo 2

Sapporo 2 just made my horrible day better. At the level of horrible it was, that took some serious sushi power.
I came in for happy hour. If you haven’t been, you should go. The prices, which are reasonable already, are ridiculously reasonable at happy hour. I ordered 2 salmon, 2 tuna, and 2 shrimp nigiri, a spicy salmon, TNT, and a St Louis roll (neither the TNT or StL are on the happy hour menu) and got out for just under $ 30. All the fish they use is of high quality, which shows in the rolls, but especially the nigiri. The salmon texture was almost buttery. I could eat nigiri here all day. At happy hour prices, I could actually afford to do that.
The rolls were perfect, as always. The St Louis and TNT are delicious. The spicy salmon can be taken up a heat notch by adding fresh jalepeno (something the waiter suggested). So good that way.
As a regular, I’ve noticed a few things here that never change. I never leave disappointed. The service is among the best in the area. Even though happy hour was busy today, my water glass was always full, and my check came right when I needed it. I didn’t feel rushed, which I hate. I had time to finish my tea and digest before moving on. The sushi is exactly what I want, fresh and tasty and without frills. The taste of the fish isn’t buried in a sea of mystery sauce. Good fish doesn’t have to be.
Still love this place and happy to be a regular.

Great décor, wonderful service and wide range of menu. But who wants to eat doctored up Maruchan ramen noodles at a restaurant!!! On the other hand, the sushi Happy Hour deserves a chance!!!

Visited for the first time tonight and will definitely be coming back. By far the best sushi I’ve had in St. Louis and in the top of anywhere I’ve visited. All the rolls were very fresh and had tons of flavor. Be sure to try the off menu rolls. Service was top notch as well and the chef even made a substitution for one of our nigiri the one he thought was better quality tonight.

Sapporo 2 is Making Sushi Great Again
They have it all — great food, excellent service, good prices, and a nice atmosphere.
The miso soup ($ 1.50) and vegetable tempura ($ 4.50) are both fantastic and inexpensive.
The sushi is tasty on the eyes and the palette. I suggest the White Tiger roll.
Our server was super cool and passionate about good sushi. He taught us a couple things about certain types of fish. Food came out quickly. Water glasses were filled regularly.
They have a killer happy hour from 4 – 6 where you can get certain nigiri and maki rolls for half-​price. I definitely plan on hitting this up soon.

My new sushi place! There are a lot of hip and social places in STL for sushi, but this is a great place to go for fresh product, great service, and tasty food. Perhaps if more people start coming, it would be more of a ‘Drunken Fish’ feel, but I like how it is.
We started with the edamame and miso soup. Both were great, what you expect with those items. The miso soup had some surprise elements like a few mushrooms and root vegetable (not sure the name) so that was a welcome change. Oh and the green tea is also great and they keep it hot.
Next, we had their shrimp tempura. Yum! 4 pieces of shrimp and various tempura veggies. Mushroom, zucchini, potato, broccoli, pepper, squash. So many things to try! Batter was perfectly crisp. The dipping sauce was a bit bland but I always think tempura dipping sauce is bland.
Finally, the delicious sushi arrived. We got the Hana Roll (basically a California roll inside with seared salmon on top), the Amigo’s Roll (yellowtail, cream cheese, and jalapeño inside and whole thing fried), and the chirashi donburi (10 pieces of sashimi). Everything was tasty and incredibly fresh. I made a point to smell every piece of sashimi in the donburi bowl and nothing smelled fishy at all. When we were all done, they brought out a cute pineapple dessert for us!
This place is so delicious and such a great deal, go now. For allllll of the above, our total bill came to $ 50. So inexpensive! They also have great lunch specials and happy hour, so come here before it becomes too mainstream. Enjoy!

*Good service
*Fresh fish with wide variety of rolls.
*convenient parking
*great atmosphere
*reasonable price

This is my new favorite sushi place in STL! I decided to try this place after seeing the good reviews and I’m so glad I did. Prices are very reasonable and the food is delicious. Veggie tempura appetizer is a great 10 piece item. The miso soup and house salad are also excellent and my avocado rolls were perfect. We also got a free pineapple dessert shaped like a boat! Wait staff is very friendly. I can’t wait to return for my next sushi trip!

Leave your expectations at home, and just enjoy the food for what it’s worth. I learned the hard way, walking into a 4.5-rated sushi restaurant and expecting to be amazed with the small sushi boat and sundubu I shared with a friend. Ultimately, expectation was the downfall of my experience.
Let’s get this right: the sundubu was not traditional and lacked a lot of the classic savory potpourri of flavors. Instead, the broth was milder and more one-​note. I would have enjoyed this more not knowing what this was on the menu, since it tasted fine in lieu of its menu listing. It just wasn’t what I wanted.
The sushi seemed to have a good ratio of filling to rice, and it was better than what you’ll find at most places here. Good, tender, fresh fish for the most part. But there was something slightly off about the sushi, with my friend finding that the rice was too hard.
This was some of the better sushi I’ve had in St. Louis, and they offer great service in a particularly clean environment. But don’t come here from the coasts or Japan and expect to be taken back home.

+ Friendly, attentive service
+ Reasonably priced
+ Easy street parking
+ Beautiful plating presentation
In land-​locked Saint Louis, you won’t find «west coast quality» sushi but this place hits the spot. Located just across the street from Pappy’s and around the corner from The Fountain, Sapporo 2 is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. We’ve all been to sushi places where the rolls sound good enough on the menu but end up tasting all the same (questionable quality fish drenched in spicy mayo, over filled with imitation crab meat) but the rolls here are fresh, distinctly flavored and presented beautifully.
My favorite rolls were the TNT roll and the Cherry Blossom Roll. They also served us with a complimentary slice of pineapple carved to look like a fish, which was a much appreciated as a fruit dessert after our meal.
The waiter we had gave us some of the best service I’ve had in all of Saint Louis. It’s kind of rare to find someone who is just the right amount of attentive without being overbearing. He was kind and helpful and very polite. Great attitude.

A great place for a date, outing with friends or even an after-​work meal. Good ambiance. Good food. Good portions. Good presentation. Not overpriced. Friendly and helpful staff. We ordered the tonkatsu dinner box that comes with shrimp tempura, dipping sauce, side dishes, rice, salad and miso soup. Tonkatsu is pretty right on. We also had the beef bbq which is your standard bulgogi tasting steak cut bulgogi that comes with rice and side dishes. Together with a cold Sapporo beer was all in all a great deal of a meal. They also have us a complimentary cuts of pineapple — the best end. I recommend this place.

Honestly, what do I know about sushi? I’m a midwestern fish, for god’s sake. Ok, but I know about fresh. I know a lot about flavor.
Generally I avoid sushi places out of fear that a) it won’t be perfectly 100% fresh (and then it’s just very blah or even kinda icky) and b) there will be super pretentious, annoying people wearing blahniks on their head or something, and talking about their kids’ private school and how it’s actually so much more liberal and diverse than that OTHER private school.
Ok, I get distracted easily. The point: Excellent sushi. Soup that was aromatic and flavorful. Artful combinations of this and that. Perfectly nice atmosphere for lunch with my bud.

Pro: Good quality sushi FOR THE PRICE from a StL sushi bar (excluding all-​you-​can-​eat options, of course). The Nigiri was well-​constructed, while the hand rolls were crisp and well-​balanced (I hate a rice roll with a hint of fish. Don’t you?). Compared to other places I’ve visited in Midtown, Central West End, and Wash Ave, Sapporo 2 has the most customer-​friendly pricing I’ve seen. Mind you, I usually abstain from buffet sushi, so maybe I’m missing a gem out there. Nonetheless, definitely good bang for the buck. Also, the service was attentive and courteous.
Con: I’d call this a good lunch option due to the sketchiness of the surrounding area at night. While I recognize that this isn’t the fault of the business itself, I must mention this simply out of honesty and courtesy to future patrons.
Bottom Line: While I wasn’t disappointed with S2, I wasn’t floored either. Maybe the large influx of 5-​star ratings raised my hopes. Pretty good, just not stellar. To be fair though, I’ll visit again and adjust my review as needed.

I went there for lunch today around 12:30 on a Thursday with my girlfriend. The first thing I noticed when we got in was the staff. They seemed very nice and welcoming. The restaurant itself was pretty empty, but it is a newcomer to the area and it was during lunch time. The feel of this restaurant is very rustic with wooden furniture comprising most of the décor.
After looking over the menu we asked our server about the «Korean Ramen» on the menu. We asked if it was made with fried instant ramen noodles, but she didn’t seem to be too knowledgeable about this particular item on the menu. However, she tried her best to explain it and was very pleasant. I decided to take the risk and order the beef ramen, knowing that it was most likely made with some kind of Korean instant noodles considering that it was only $ 9.
My girlfriend was a little less adventurous and decided to go with one of their lunch specials which is a roll of your choice + 4 piece nigiri + miso soup or house salad. The price of the special was the standard price of the roll you choose +$ 4.
The food came out very fast. The ramen was as I expected, made with instant noodles. It’s made with «Shin Ramyun» (the popular Korean Ramen) noodles and base, and has the beef, some vegetables, and an egg added. It was good for what it was as I wasn’t expecting homemade noodles and base.
The sushi and nigiri were good, but nothing special. I guess it’s typical sushi that you would expect from this kind of place. However, considering we only tried one roll and 4 nigiri pieces, I can’t judge it as honestly. It was presented very cleanly on a sushi board.
I can’t forget to mention the best part. The staff were nice enough to offer us a complimentary house salad and pineapples (presented beautifully) for dessert.
Overall, this was a good first visit. I may consider coming back to try some of their other options if I’m in the area, if Pappy’s and Southern across the street don’t lure me in instead.

This place. So good.
It has satisfied primal hunger 2 consecutive days now. Guess what? Yes, I’m going again today.
The seaweed is fragrant, and fills the throat and mouth with timeless umami.
The dollops of wasabi are modest, yet when observed closely, they present an artful texture and shape not unlike a tiny, intoxicating sculpture.
I am a vegetarian, I must admit.
I anoint with potent soy/​wasabi, and I place the crispy avocado hand roll in my mouth. Crunch. Crunch. I tear into the soft treasure inside.
My mouth is watering.
The interior is clean and light; It all seems pragmatically handmade by the cheerful staff, though there are kitschy allusions to a whimsical side of the ancient warrior culture that forged the mighty sushi.
Keep the jumbo sapporos coming, because the server is as cute as a button, and has a sparkle in her eye.
I recommend fasting and going on a brutal midday jog, bathing, then stopping here for an epic meal on the way to your favorite Merrimack swim hole to watch the sunset and float bag, if you catch my meaning.
First sushi place I’ve eaten at in St. Louis proper since moving here, and quite possibly the only.

First time here. Great mix of Japanese & Korean. They offer Bibimbap & Bulgogi, but it’s not on the menu.
We ordered Beef Bibimbap, Teriyaki Chicken, Seafood Soondooboo, a California Roll, & a Spicy Tuna.
Everything was wonderful, minus the teriyaki chicken. The sauce was lacking in flavor. Will try the Katsu net time.
Restaurant wasn’t very busy, and the food took a very long time to arrive. The waitress was running around though… I suppose she was helping in kitchen as well?

Absolutely amazing sushi. I’m kind of a sushi snob so this place was a very nice surprise from the rest of the garbage sushi places downtown. The service was fantastic and again, the food was wonderful. The salmon that I had in one of my rolls literally melted in my mouth. Do yourself a favor and try some real sushi in Stl! You know you’re in a great place when the sushi chef (owner) is filleting the entire whole fish himself.
The reviews don’t lie, this place deserves all 5 stars it has!

A welcome addition to the Asian food scene in STL. Some of the nicest people serving absolutely fantastic food. The Katsu (pork) is excellent and a stand out. The pineapple dessert is a nice fresh ending to the meal as well
Easy parking, great location, cool people… And on the casual side too. Just grab a seat at the bar and order away.

Now we hanh out every Saturday night.
5 weeks in a row!
Do I need explain more?
P. S. Price is unbeatable !

What can I say. Sapporo was my favorite restaurant when it was in Manchester Ballwin area. I was upset that they were gone.
Suddenly I heard they opened up a new place near SLU. I came here 3 times already past 2weeks.
Still the best service and great food. I am happy that they are back to business. Two thumbs up.
It was easy to find because Pappy’s bbq smoke house is right across the street. I will be her everyweek.

This sushi restaurant was perfect for a mid-​week dinner. I recently read about the renaming of «Sushi & ?» to Sapporo 2 in Feast magazine. Here is an excerpt of that article to give you an idea of the menu:
«The menu begins with appetizers including tempura, spicy teriyaki-​chicken wings and gyoza, followed by a selection of salad and soup such as seaweed mussel. Korean barbecued meats including beef, pork, chicken and stir-​fried spicy squid follow, each served with some rice and a couple of vegetable side dishes.
Rice and noodle dishes include fried rice, stir-​fried yaki udon noodles, Japanese tempura udon soup, stir-​fried yaki soba noodles, ramyun (Korean noodle soup), chopchae (Korean stir fried sweet-​potato noodles) and soondooboo (Korean silken tofu soup). Each is cooked with your choice of protein such as beef, chicken, pork or shrimp.
Lunch and dinner boxes are also available and feature main courses including pork katsu and grilled salmon. Each is served with soup, rice, salad and a side dish. The extensive sushi list includes nigiri, sashimi, sushi boats, hand rolls and specialty rolls such as the Sapporo Roll with fried shrimp, crab meat, avocado and baked scallops. Sake, beer, wine, martinis and cocktails are also available.»
The restaurant is located directly across the street from Pappy’s in Midtown and there is metered parking readily available. The owners are from South Korea with previous restaurant experience (Little Tokyo in St. Peters and the original Sapporo in Ballwin). The Feast article pointed out that there was more than just sushi, namely Korean barbequed beef. I was excited to try Korean in a «fast-​casual» atmosphere instead of heading to Seoul Taco or further west on Olive. The menu did have Korean beef mentioned, but since it was not described at all, I was not really pushed into ordering it.
We started with shumai– the order is 6 small bites for $ 5. Full of flavor, nothing fancy, you don’t need to go out of your way to order them. We also had 4 rolls served in a «boat.» The TNT roll was the only memorable roll– nice heat but not overpowering.
The restaurant is obviously young– the server was a young white guy, super nervous, and very attentive. I was asked how my meal was no less than 5 times. My water was never less than half full. We were given the check while still finishing our last roll without being asked for dessert (weird to get the check while still eating, but he was nothing if not efficient). We were given a «dessert» on the house after we had paid. It was a well-​carved pineapple «boat.» Wonderful pallet cleanser and very much appreciated!