Sakura Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar

Good food. Cooked in front of you as you’ve requested. Happy hour sushi isn’t fresh. Staff not very vocal. Compared to Japan Inn… Japan Inn wins.

This place was good. Got the dinner for two and everything was cooked and seasoned well. The chef was great, everything you come to expect from this type of place. The service was on point. The sake menu is a little larger than others. Didn’t try the sushi but will be back to try it. Prices are slightly high for the area but worth it.

Great food and cool décor. We have been to many hibachi restaurants, and this one tops the list. The service was great, there was always someone checking on you. Food was seasoned well, and the chef was funny. Looking forward to trying their sushi. Prices were slightly higher than other places in the area, but you are paying for the experience as well. Will definitely be back!

I would like to say this place was good, but we were not able to try it out. We were out on Saturday and looking to have a late lunch. The sign said they were open until 3PM ( Unilocal had put 11am-​11pm) but when we arrived at 2:40pm they told us they were no longer serving. If you advertise 3pm then you should serve your customers.
Uodate: Finally went back and because of some of the other reviews on Unilocal I was surprised because the food was not that great compared to other places. It was so so at best. Sushi was not good. The grill was okay.

Was heading to a restaurant for our anniversary however, it was closed on Monday’s, as we were riding we noticed this Gem. Stopped in and was happily surprised. Greeted as we first walked in immediately, service was great. Food was good as well. Will certainly come back with friends.

Love this place. In my opinion it is better than Osaka. Not just because of the food but because of the cleanliness and the tentative behavior of the servers. I recommend this place to anyone trying to decide between the two.

Half off sushi last night was awesome! I’ve also had the hibachi and it was wonderful. And the prices are great!

4 of us are there last night. 2 had the chicken dinner & 2 had the filet & shrimp. The chef was awesome, funny, charming & skilled. Helping were very generous & flavorful. The dinners came with soup, which was an extremely tasty «broth with a mushroom», and a refreshing salad with good dressing. The grill sizzled as he skillfully spun & made an egg dance as it joined other eggs and rice & then noodles. He cooked the filets cut up in bite sized pieces, then other meats. Next the very fresh vibrant looking veggies went on the grill & playfully were tossed in your mouth from a spatula! You could choose 2 sauces to top off your mouthwatering plate of rice, noodles, veggies & meat. We all took home doggie boxes– enough for a small meal!
We each had 2 alcoholic beverages and still our talley was an average of $ 30 per person & that included a 20% tip. That’s very reasonable for an evening of entertainment, great food, a couple of drinks & great company!

Food was very fresh and cooked exactly to order. Very friendly staff. Love this place. Check out the Tepannyaki for 2 at $ 30, Monday through Thursday 4:00 — 6:00. Great deal.

Had a great meal at the hibachi table. Chef worked the table well and food was Delish; family of 4 was $ 66.00 which I thought was well priced for the amount of food we ate: walked in no reservations and was out in under an hour
Check them out for solid meal

Went to Sakura for dinner last night for the first time. The food was a bit pricy for what you got. I had the salmon cooked in front of me and the volcano roll for an appetizer and fried cheesecake for dessert. It was all just average nothing memorable. The cook and waitress looked and acted as if they wished they were somewhere else. Cooks at other tables had their people laughing and they were putting on a show. We were rushed through dinner & given our bill of $ 200.00 and the waitress didn’t even ask if we wanted dessert. Of course we wanted to try the fried cheesecake & fried ice cream. Again nothing special. It’s just an ok place were you will spend more then the average amount for dinner out

Great Happy Hour prices Monday-​Thursday 4pm-​6pm
All of the appetizers and sushi was excellent along with half price glasses of wine.
Staff did a great job serving our table, Thanks

AWESOME food and service! Atmosphere is totally up to date and has a very comfortable setting!

Great food, great service, great pricing and great atmosphere. Took the family to celebrate my nieces 15^th birthday and the experience was overall great.

The husband and I went here for our anniversary, and it was really nice. The place gets PACKED, butt know that you can make a reservation to make sure you have a spot at the hibachi.
We were seated right away (we did make a reservation) and our drink orders were taken immediately. We never had to wait for a refill or to be asked if we wanted another drink. The service is FAST from start to finish. Our chef was fun, entertaining and the food was DELISH! I ordered the steak & chicken combo. The meal includes soup, (a clear broth) a salad (simply lettuce with dressing), fried rice, noodles, veggies (broccoli, onion & zucchini) and your choice of meat or seafood. (there is a vegetarian option also)
The chef did his tricks on the grill and served us as each item was finished. After the meal, we had the fried ice cream for dessert… it is very good! (and big enough to serve two)
Sakura may be a little pricier than other local restaurants, but this is a LOT of food and a show to boot. I would have given it five stars, but the high noise level was a little distracting for me. We’ll definitely be back!

I had a much better experience at Sakura than other Japanese steakhouse in the area. I made a reservation for my birthday. We waited five minutes upon arrival, but that wasn’t a huge deal. I can’t say I liked the twist added to the ginger salad. I’m not sure what it was, but it threw me off. The rest of the meal was incredible. I got chicken and salmon. The jokes were funny and the guy did some nice tricks. The chicken was pretty good, but the salmon took the cake. The salmon was juicy and flavorful. I also received generous portions of vegetables, rice, and noodles. I’ll definitely be going back.

Went for the half off sushi bar on Thursday. Choices were ok. Wish there were more options. I did like feel for the place.

Really good sushi! Went with my nephew and we were seated quickly. Server took our drink order as we sat and it just kept getting better. We ordered sweet green teas and edamame and 5 sushi rolls. EVERYTHING was fresh and perfect. The interior décor is sort of pop disco meets old world Japan which we really liked. They have a hibachi area also but we opted for booth service so that we could talk and enjoy a private meal. This place is a gem that sticks out among the other neighboring restaurants. We will be back!

A bit of a foreword before reading this review. I may be a little hard on places like this since I grew up in SoCal, spent 6 years in Japan, and then spent another 3 in SoCal. It may be good to keep that in mind while reading the following:
So the usual members of my crew and I found ourselves in Auburndale for the night in order to get a jump on our trip to Legoland tomorrow. After consulting Unilocal like I always do in a foreign land, we decided on this place for steak and sushi. We had the kamikaze roll (spicy tuna & spicy salmon with avocado), the out of control roll (a bunch of fish inside with something seared on top), the California roll, salmon, tuna, & whitefish nigiri sushi, chicken yakisoba, a side of filet mignon, and a side of ribeye.
The Good: My wife (who happens to be Japanese) liked her nigiri sushi and her ribeye. She said the sushi was fresh and really good, and her steak was seasoned and delicious. We also liked the atmosphere, as it seems like a fun place, and there were lots of families and kids. There were lots of creative sushi choices to choose from. It was full with lots of people waiting, but there was room at a non hibachi table and you could order the hibachi/​teppanyaki stuff from there too. I also thought it was cool that you could get a side order of steak. The staff was very busy, but very attentive to everyone.
The not as good: I wasn’t wowed or impressed with either of my rolls. They weren’t nasty, but I wouldn’t order them again (like I’ve done to my favorites at Loveboat in Oceanside, CA). My filet was very soft and tender, but not seasoned (which is actually standard at Japanese steakhouses in Japan, as they give you several sauces to eat it with) and I didn’t really care for their sauce. Again, read my opening statement at the beginning of this review, as it may explain my dislikes. Also, the chicken in the yakisoba wasn’t seasoned, but it was good when you ate it together with the noodles and veggies.
Our total came to $ 75 pre tip, and it was a lot of food. There was soup and salad at the beginning, we had soft drinks, and we were full with leftovers to go. So will I return? Probably not. With all of the other places in this area, this one wasn’t good enough to keep me from wanting to try somewhere else, but it wasn’t bad enough to make me tell others not to come here. I say stop on in and decide for yourself.

My friend and I came here the other evening and had a great experience. First off, it was really nice to be somewhere that, frankly, didn’t feel like central Florida. It was a nice change of pace and atmosphere from what I’m used to here. We were asked if we wanted to sit at a booth or at the hibachi (I didn’t even realize they had that there) and the booths were nice and spacious. There were times when it became difficult to hear my friend across the table due to the very loud kniving and cleavering going on beyond our partition, but it certainly could have been worse. The seaweed salad was good and just like I’m used to elsewhere, and my friend ordered the shrimp shumai, which was fantastic.
Our waitress was very patient with us while we made our decisions and asked if she could put our rolls on the same plate. We said sure. We’d both ordered green tea, and I was pleased that instead of leaving the pot on the table where it eventually gets cold, the waitress came frequently to refill our cups with fresh hot tea. When the sushi came out, it was a thing to behold, with one of the rolls arranged in an oversized martini glass with a parasol. Although it was completely gorgeous, it was unfortunately a bit high and therefore cumbersome to get the rolls out of. Nonetheless, all four rolls were wonderful. We were tempted by the mochi ice cream dessert (first time I’ve seen that outside a Trader Joe’s!), but decided to pass until next time.
Of note: they open half an hour before Tsunami. Maybe that wouldn’t matter to many, but for those of us who work very early hours and like to get dinner right after work, this one trait alone will likely keep me coming back for more.