Blue Sushi Sake Grill — Restaurant in Birmingham

Getting started with this review will be easy.... sort of. Me and my wife were very excited to eat here, since we both enjoy a good bite of sushi. Living in a small town in NC, we don't have many choices for food, so every time we have an opportunity to eat out and have sushi, we go for it. We arrived at the location, only to find that they were short-staffed and the wait was going to be around 30 mins. A few minutes later we were informed that it was going to be about 45 mins. In the end, we ended up waiting little over 1 hour. It was roughly 2 or 3 minutes over the hour, but who's counting. It was 1 hour!

When we finally sat down, the waiter seemed a bit, um, stressed. I told her that we're easy customers and that she can be cool, but that didn't seemed to work. Me an my wife tried cracking a few joke with her and smiled and tried to be nice, but she simply wasn't up for smile because she was... somewhere else (🧠up here). She wasn't rude or bad, but service just wasn't there. Kindness, smiles, attention, conversation, etc. it just wasn't there.

We ordered our appetizers, sushi, and drinks. The wontons were... OK. The sauce was really, but the wontons themselves were, meh. The miso soup was, again, OK. Nothing different. It wasn't bad, but it was not great. After Then we received the Bluetinis, which honestly was the show of the table were very good and tasty. However, they were not blue at all. The had a more purple-ish color than the name suggested, but it was good. Then, what was supposed to be the star of the table, became the talk of the moment. And to be completely honest, it wasn't pretty.

Our sushi arrived long after my appetizer arrived. The presentation was, pretty good, but not great as some other reviewers raved and showed pictures. I mean, this place was supposed to be a 4.6 Star average of almost 2k people. Nope, not for us. Sushi, was bland, with a taste lacking freshness. The shrimp felt rubbery and the salmon tasted somewhat different.

What was even weirder, was the fact that there were so many empty tables inside, and we did count over 4 waiters. It did not make sense the ratio of tables closed to waiters (I.M.O.). I really didn't see anyone enjoying themselves there. Overall, not a bad place to go, but unfortunately for me, it didn't struck me as a memorable experience paying almost $100 and leaving with a bad taste. I've gone to far cheaper sushi places and have left with a memorable taste in my mouth and in my heart. This place left me with a bad taste and...

Wow, this place is the best place I have ever had sushi. The prices are fair, the sushi is even better quality than I thought it would be (and I already had high hopes), and you can tell it's made with quality ingredients. The atmosphere is very cool, with an amazing hanging lanterns display sprawling across the ceiling and down the side of a decorative wall. The customer service was superb, with the wait staff being very attentive to us, and very friendly and kind to our children as well. And speaking of children, this place is indeed very child-friendly. They have high chairs, booster seats, a kids' menu, and crayons. If you are worried your child under 12 won't like sushi, you can get them the kids bento box which has both Asian cuisine they can try, as well as the option to get chicken tenders. It also comes with fresh fruit and one side, besides the entree, such as French fries if your kid doesn't like rice or noodles. My 1-year-old had the chicken tenders and fries with fresh fruit and my 3-year-old had the pan-seared salmon and the sesame noodles. And she liked the noodles. We thought the salmon tasted fine but kids being kids, well, she didn't eat it. But anyway, the sushi was amazing, I had the Cloud Nine 2.0 and it was the most amazing sushi I have had in a long time. My husband had the tidal wave and liked it a lot, and we all shared some mango crab rangoons which we delicious as well. Top-notch service, top-notch food. 5 out of 5 stars, would eat there again. Thank you Blue Sushi Sake Grill for being such a family-friendly restaurant as well as trendy and cutting-edge for everyone else! (Seemed very popular with college students, there were a lot of...

Had heard about this place from friends, went to try it and was pleasantly surprised. The servers are very knowledgeable and Kail was amazing! She gave the best recommendations she went as far to ask my flavor profiles and helped me pick out rolls that would be enjoyable to my specific palette. I got the river rock beef as an appetizer, followed with the specialty Nigir, ‘itchy seabass’, and she also sold me on the Tuna Tataki; for my rolls I ordered the Godzilla Bomb and the Cowgirl. The flavor profiles are amazing. Cowgirl tasted just like a cheeseburger (Its a vegan roll) and the Godzilla bomb had a nice hit of spice packed in it but was cooled down by the Blue Kani inside along with the Tuna and Yellowtail. Itchy seabass was like nothing I have ever had before, I can’t describe how amazing it was. Best I can describe is fresh, savory with a bit of heat! Tuna Tataki followed the river rock beef well, river rock beef was extremely tender and had a nice hint of spice from the jalapeño ponzu! Tuna Tataki was just so fresh and had lots of flavor, and had a nice crunch from the garlic chip. Will definitely be visiting again. Blue Sushi and Sake Grill is a MUST go to. I ate the itchy seabass before getting a picture… and may have taken a bit out of the river rock and Godzilla bomb before the...