Yama Izakaya & Sushi — Restaurant in Dallas

The sushi chef, Shigi, bought this restaurant from the former owner this year. May want to consider that if you are reading the older reviews. I had already eaten at another Japanese restaurant for the evening (not content with the food and thought they had ramen), and the sushi chef at that restaurant actually recommended Yama Sushi for good ramen. I loved it. Chef Shigi-san suggested the off menu shoyu chicken broth ramen for me. One would think on my second dinner of the night I would be too stuffed to eat anything more, but this bowl of ramen was worth it and the eventual stomach ache I'm sure to have in about an hour. The broth was what made it stand out. You could taste the slow simmered broth, the skill at the individual ingredients, and the comprehensive flavor that worked together. I think that's the hardest part of great ramen as the ingredients are generally the same. The favors were traditional shoyu, yet additionally special with whatever magic he did to make it so I ate the whole thing in seconds. Ashitama (spelling?) egg was cooked perfectly, and I ordered an extra one to compliment the rest of my ramen-heaven. The tonkatsu pork was thinly sliced with just enough fat to make you wanting to savor each bite to save with a bite of noodles. Also, they serve "ippin" or Japanese "tapas" (small plate sized menu items), and I tried the tontoro, or pork cheek. Absolutely delicious. May not sound good to traditional western cuisined appetites, but it tastes like pork belly which tastes like awesome. I've eaten tons of ramen in Japan and also thru out the Texas metro areas like Dallas, Austin, and Houston, and the total genuine Japanese sushi and bar experience at this place makes it one of my favorites. Absolutely recommended. Sit at the bar and chat with the chefs if it's a slower night! Now, I came on a Monday night where it is slower, so my service, conversation, and food time were great. I know there is an incredible Tuesday night sushi special, so it's very busy then per Shigi-san. Probably coming back tomorrow with a...

It's not easy finding great Sushi 🍥 after hours around Dallas, so when I stumbled upon Yama Sushi on Yelp, with high ratings and a 2am close I was excited.

Now I will hold off full judgment, as it could have been a bit of an off night, or the end of a very long day.

The Yellow Tail Nigiri was nearly amazing; the quality of the fish, the texture, were both sublime. But there was a bit too much Wasabi IMO and overpowered the light flavor of the yellowtail for me. Next was the California roll, and again the quality of their ingredients showed through. The Krab was so flavorful, as was the other ingredients. The roll was a bit on the small side, but Ok for the price, but the cucumber was not prepared well.

It had a bit too much bite, to the point I had to spit out a piece and discovered what was almost all skin. The flavor was awesome but that was a problem with every piece.

Next up was my personal favorite roll, and the yardstick I use to measure places, the Philadelphia Roll. This was my favorite of the night, only suffering from being a it anemic. The salmon was amazing, and the balance of flavors was extremely well done.

Finally I had a Sundae roll; long one of my favorite rolls from Bluefish. This one again had good ingredients and only was a bit loose. Otherwise a good rendition of this awesome roll. I still prefer the slightly sweeter version from Bluefish, but worth trying nonetheless.

Again, it could have been the late hour, or a long day, short staff, who knows. The service was a bit hands off, but the rest of the place was full so again, I'll let it slide this time. For the price it was well worth it, and I will be back to give it another go...

I come here several times and the food was always good, but tonight the noodle soup was too salty. The service is not good. Why I meant not good? I saw all the employees included servers and chefs were drinking alcohol, either drinking in their stations or with their friends or regular customers at the tables. That might explain why my sever was forgetting everything. My girlfriend already showed her ID, yet the server came back and asked for it again. She also forgot one of the dish we ordered. The table behind us came after us but got the same meal before us. That what happened to us, but here are few things could possibly go wrong when you let your employees drinking alcohol in service business especially food service: What if one of your employee was a hot-tempered person or has mental illness and he/she drinks alcohol. What happen next everybody knows. What if after few sips of liquor, your chef got buzz and during cutting sushi he accidently cuts his fingers and spills his blood into the food and serve them out without noticing. What if servers got buzz during making salad or prepare other food, they could possibly spill or put in wrong thing in the food such as bleach, or sanitizer. Or they could drop or spill hot water or hot soup over customers. I don't know either you,the owner, is lack of business experiences or don't care about it. However, you are put us, all customers, and yourself in extremely high risk. You could lose money or your reputation or worst case scenario your life behind bars if those...