Sakura Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Chesapeake

Usually great service, however something about yesterday felt a bit off. It all became apparent that the owner wasn't on site, when the kitchen staff/server staff were relaxing, playing loud music, and chatting with customers, while ignoring others. One particular server seemed to take a special interest in the couple sitting at the table across the room from us, and every chance he got, he chatted them up, and had a good time, while we waited to be seen again. It was at one point, I had to actually interrupt their conversation, call him over to take our next order, and clear the empty plates from our table. He seemed to flustered, or annoyed, that he went to quickly grab our sushi plate, that he knocked over my drink, and spilled everywhere. Luckily it was water, but still a lap full of ice water is never pleasant. He quickly came back with a towel to clean everything up, but he never thought to offer to refill my drink after everything was cleaned up. Later during our experience, I went to use the restroom, and caught him sleeping on the other side of the restaurant. I understand that being a sever isn't easy, but at least ensure that your zone is good before "checking out".

This however, is a isolated incident. Every other time but this time, this establishment has offered 5+ star service. The prices are unbeatable, the food is great, and the team working is usually on their game, especially when the...

First time here. Came on the suggestion of a friend. Came specifically to check out their all you can eat lunch. Two of us with a coke and green tea was about $42. Really hard to beat that for a sit down lunch. Place is in a strip mall right near Walmart. Clean when you walk in. Booths have dividers in between, staff wears masks and gloves and masks are required to walk in. So if you're concerned with the Covid stuff there you have it. On to the food. We had Odom and miso soup. HOT like burned my mouth hot (usually soup at AUC places is luke warm at best). Soup was flavorful and delicious! Shrimp shumai, gyoza and spring roll appetizers hot flavorful as well. Had several different rolls and pieces. I put names on the pictures below to make it easier to identify. All the raw fish was amazing! Not tough like some but creamy like it should be almost melt in your mouth. The rice was sticky and not dry. I even enjoyed the fried rolls. I'm normally not a fan because they come out like a big piece of tempura with no flavor. This place managed to keep the taste and flavor of the roll with just the right amount of tempura to give it the extra kick and flavor. The sauces on top of the rolls was good too. I am generally a pretty liberal star giver because I take into account where I'm eating and what I'm paying for it. I'd give this place a solid 6 out of 5 stars for the AUC sushi option. It has taken my #1 spot for...

To put this in perspective, this is an all you can eat sushi place in a strip mall in the Walmart parking lot. Having said that, I couldn’t be more impressed. I’ve been in Norfolk almost a month, coming from San Diego, where sushi places are on every corner. I stayed away from sushi because I didn’t think it could stand up against my standards. This place definitely tried to impress. The real reason I was willing to try this place is because of everybody’s review saying how nice the staff was, they couldn’t be more right. Everybody I met was genuinely a nice person. They really tried hard with the decor, it reminded me of some of the little sushi places I used to go to in Japan. I opted for the all you can eat lunch menu, it wasn’t huge in terms of raw fish but they did have a lot of options. As far as I could tell the only raw fish was salmon, tuna and red snapper. We made these work the best we could. I tried the salmon and the tuna as well as the spicy salmon and spicy tuna, no spicy red snapper but the red snapper nigiri was good. I also tried various roles that were all very good. Some of the reviews mentioned $26 all you can eat, which isn’t bad, that is what you pay in San Diego for lunch, $32+ for dinner. When I got my bill, my lunch was $16.95. I ordered 12 things off the sushi menu and only paid $17. Not only did I walk out of there stuffed, I was so impressed with the price. I...