Sakura Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Burlington

I would like to preface this with the fact that I am a trained and Red Seal Certified Chef from Vancouver, Canada and I rarely leave reviews after negative dining experiences due to wanting to give the cooks the benefit of the doubt on them maybe having an off day.

Appetizers: We were initially trying to figure out our order for appetizers and the server asked if we had decided but we told them we needed just a couple minutes and we would be ready. 5 minutes go by and our server had also been off looking after a party at the Hibachi but after taking their drink orders bypassed us and went over behind the bar to make their drinks which took another 10 minutes. When they finally returned to take our order we told them that we would like our appetizers first to which they acknowledged. We ordered some Egg rolls, gyoza, and edamame as well as some miso soup. Most of which came out either with or after our entree’s.

The egg rolls lacked flavour and tasted mostly of oil which was not horrible but definitely not good either and the sauce was this mildly sweet but mostly flavourless and a very bright red and obviously artificial in colour. 2/5

The Gyoza were all in all pretty good and one of the highlights of all the food we tasted. They still could have used more seasoning on the filling and the sauce was good but could have been improved by better balancing of the flavour. 4/5

Edamame is pretty simple, it didn’t taste or look bad so no major complaints there. Maybe more salt but that’s it. 4/5

Miso Soup came out on time with no issues. The flavour of it was good but overall not very special. 3/5

Entrees: Our Entrees came out is a reasonable amount of time after our server put our orders in. We ordered chicken teriyaki, pork teriyaki, and sushi rolls.

The pork teriyaki was decent. The port was definitely overcooked but was cut thin enough to somewhat disguise it. The sauce was very underwhelming. It was this strange mix of too salty but not seasoned well while also tasting like it was burnt. I made the assumption that the sauce is pre-made and heated up in a thin bottomed pot which caused it to burn and no one in the back noticed or didn’t care. There was almost no flavour to tell me what it was, it certainly didn’t taste like teriyaki. 3/5

Sushi rolls were also not bad. The imitation crab mixture was well seasoned and had that nice creamy texture that you would want from a California roll. The crunch california roll was good as well though I would probably opt for a higher heat for less time in the fryer so that it doesn’t heat the roll all the way through as imitation crab gets a weird texture when it’s warm. Spicy tuna was also done well, maybe chopped up a bit too much because it was almost like a paste which isn’t the most pleasant texture but the flavour was good. All in all for sushi, it was decent and I would have it again in a pinch. 4/5

Now the worst of all, the teriyaki chicken. This was not good in the slightest. The chicken was dry as a bone, completely devoid of seasoning, and covered with the same sad teriyaki sauce. It honestly gave me the impression that the cooks had given up and were only there for a pay cheque. I understand that it’s not a Michelin starred restaurant but you’ve got to take a little bit of pride in the food you put out. That is the level of food that I expect from someone who doesn’t know how to cook and is honestly embarrassing to me as a chef. I would HIGHLY recommend some changes be made to this dish. 0/5

Service: The Service was slow and pretty uninspired. There are not many tables in there and the work load was poorly handled by the servers. A general cold and uninterested feeling came from the waitstaff. Having worked along side servers for most of my adult life I can understand how you are tired towards the end of your shift but you have to at least try. They weren’t very interested in us since there was a %20 gratuity applied to our bill no matter the service.

Environment: The environment was not great. Confused and noisy....

I'm so disappointed in our recent experience here. I made reservations for 5 people for my husbands birthday. Our party showed up 15 min early (I did not expect to get seated until our reservation time). During those 15 minutes I see all the hibachi tables are full and only ONE chef. In fact this chef got finished up at one table and moved right to the next. I approached the hostess stand and spoke to what appeared to be a manager and asked her "Do you have more than one chef tonight?" She replied with a stern "yes" and went back to what she was doing. She eventually called our name, as we were walking over to the table (mind you this is 10 minutes after our reservation time, so a total of 25 min in the restaurant) I asked again, "I know you said there were more hibachi chef's but I don't see any of them" She RUDELY replied with "they're probably in the back". She walked to our table, picked up a glass and continued to walk to the back. Umm okay, I guess this is our table. What happened to "Here's your table your server will be right with you". I was so confused I kept following her because...duh, until my husband shouted at me to come back and tell me that this was our table. She said nothing to us. We waited another 10 minutes at our table, was not greeted, still did not see any other chef's. I looked around and saw that only one table had food and the rest were still waiting to order. We ended up walking out. I know the food is good which is why I made a reservation for my husbands birthday but the customer service this night was absolutely awful and made for a bad...

This place is the most disgustingly dirty restaurant I have ever been to!!

I love their food.. but I rarely come because I'm afraid I will get sick each time.

Today on our visit there was a wash rag on the floor by our table that we saw when we were seated. About 10 people walked over to pick up (prefilled) waters and always ignored it. It was never picked up.

There was so much grime on our wooden seats that I was grossed out to touch the chair with my bare hands. 🤮

There was dried on crusty food on our menu because they obviously never wipe them down.

The floor was disgusting with built up grime every where I looked.

There were cobwebs on an old Sapporo dispenser that has been sitting there and is never used. 🤢

There was a disgusting rolodex (who even uses these things anymore) on the bar counter.

The stairs and railing leading up to storage (or employee break room) was practically black with dirt. 🤮

And this is what I could just see from my table!

And, it's not a cleanliness thing, but there sushi never has a time stamp on it. So you honestly never know if that particular sushi plate has been circulating for 5 minutes or 3 hours.

I know from prior visits that the hibachi area is super gross as well. There is grime and dirt all up the walls.

This place must never get cleaned!!

Now don't get me, their food is great, but just understand that you are always taking a chance that you will get sick after eating there.

Me personally... I have reached my breaking point with today's visit. I will not be returning until it is cleaned. And I advise you...