Sakura Lofoten Leknes — Restaurant in Vestvågøy

NOT RECOMMENDED! Ordinary sushi, Very rude service with No Empathy.

We love Lofoten for the scenery, the people, the culture, our experience was amazing. Till we came to this restaurant on our last night before we departed Lofoten. When we arrived we were greeted by the waiter, and told we were only allocated 45 minutes. Oke. Just as I sat down and given the menu, I had not even finished reading the first page, I was asked: "What do u want to order? Because you only have limited time."

We are usually big spenders on restaurants with good service and food because we appreciate good hearty dishes. But since time allocated was very limited, we opted gyoza, karage, nigiri, sashimi. Simple dishes, yet it took more than half an hour to prepare. Food hasn't come out, the waiter said, you only have 15 minutes....what the....???? why are you telling us this? what are we supposed to do? Perhaps you should co-ordinate with your kitchen staff to prepare the food faster?

Food arrived and as I tried to eat few sushi, same waiter came again: "You only have 10 minutes...." Dude, I am trying to eat, is this is dining restaurant or fast food chain restaurant? But wait, even McDonald & Burger King are not like this. If you are an "Authentic" Japanese Restaurant, you would know how good Japanese Sushi Restaurants take sushi eating experience.

I complained to the other staff I presumed was the manager, telling him, let me eat in peace. He also said, because you only have limited time, you must finish in 5-10 minutes.

What is worse, he handed the bill. At this time I'm confused, with the limited time, of course I would try to finish the food quickly and settle the bill once we finish (I think that's normal in every restaurant to finish the food first, then the bill payment at the end). Not even 5 minutes later, that same staff came again, and said: "Please pay for the food." What a manner, poor service excellence with no empathy. At least let me finish my food that you hurry me, then I can go to cashier to pay, what's few minutes difference?

It's like they want your money but kick you out of the restaurant. I would appreciate it if you tell us at the very start, that your cooking is really very slow, and high probability we couldn't make it on time, then no problem, I could look for other good restaurants nearby.

and Let us teach you the proper etiquette of proper billing in restaurants. If you give customer the bill, then it is up to the customer to pay when customer finish the food first or go to cashier. You don't come back in less than 5 minutes to customer saying "Please pay the bill now", as if that customer will run away or cannot...

Very pleasant atmosphere with nice ambient music and not too crowded. Staff was extremely friendly and accommodating, plus free water was a great touch. The sushi was fresh and beautifully made, rice cooked perfectly. We also had a teriyaki dish and a chicken rice dish, both very tasty, just could have used a bit more sauce. Overall, a great experience :))

Would’ve loved to try their all-you-can-eat lunch menu, but we only stayed one day. Overall, a great experience! (Sushi,rice, teriyaki, fried sushi, edamame…)

Update (2 days later): We drove back to try the lunch buffet and it didn’t disappoint! 🍣 The sushi was absolutely amazing / crispy salmon cucumber rolls, inside-out rolls with fried shrimp, sushi mayo and salmon on top, plus nigiri and more salmon-cucumber rolls. Everything was super fresh, with delicious thick soy sauce and just the right amount of crunch.

We also tried one of the regular rice/soup dishes, but that tasted a bit watered down compared to the sushi.

Go for the sushi, 10/10 quality, so...

Went for the lunch buffet which was fantastic - high quality, lovingly prepared and very tasty. Great choice of different types of sushi, sides and some hot dishes too. Very reasonable price considering you can eat as much as you like. Service was friendly and...