Takumi Cuisine — Restaurant in Decatur

I had one of the most unpleasant sashimi experiences of my life at Takumi.

In 2024, after spending a month in Asia indulging in fresh, high-quality sushi, I returned to Atlanta still craving the exceptional flavors I'd grown accustomed to. After searching on Yelp, Takumi came up as a highly recommended spot. Excited, I brought my partner along and ordered their omakase sushi and nigiri—both touted as signature items on their menu.

I recall the sashimi plate being priced around $65. However, the moment we tried the tuna, we immediately regretted it. The texture was disturbingly similar to tofu, and the fishy odor was overwhelming. Shocked, we decided to try other pieces, hoping for better quality. While the salmon was passable, the rest of the sashimi was equally subpar and clearly not fresh. Concerned about potential food poisoning, we stopped eating and asked for the check.

When the waiter came, I mentioned that the sashimi wasn’t fresh. He appeared surprised and went to check with the chef. Upon returning, he defensively claimed in a condescending tone that all their fish was imported from Japan. I didn’t want to make a scene, so I paid for the meal and left, but the experience was incredibly disappointing.

One detail that stood out during the visit: I noticed I was the only Asian customer in the restaurant. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying rolls drenched in soy sauce, which might explain the rave reviews this place gets.

To Takumi: Perhaps you do import fish from Japan, but freshness is key when serving sashimi, and your offerings failed on every level. Judging by my experience, it seems like your understanding of sashimi is severely lacking.

To those who frequently recommend Takumi on ATL Asian Eats whenever someone asks for sushi recommendations: Please keep this place to yourselves. If your idea of sushi is a Philly roll dunked in soy sauce, this might be the spot for you. But for those who genuinely appreciate quality sushi and sashimi, I urge you to look elsewhere.

Thanks, Takumi, for giving me the worst sushi experience of my life after an entire month of enjoying amazing...

We walked in about an hour and a half before close on a Friday night. A lady sat us down but was not a server and we immediately asked for drinks and the person cleaning tables went and mentioned us to the server. There were about 2 full dirty tables as well as a fully loaded dirty bar when we walked in. We saw all the amazing reviews and pictures of delicious looking food and we're local so we'd really love a good sushi and ramen spot 5 minutes away, but I have to say we were very disappointed with the experience. We waited about 10 minutes before my girlfriend told us we should bail. It was her birthday so I of course was going to listen to her whim. I told her the reviews were great, they were clearly understaffed, and we should give it at least 15 minutes. There seemed to be no actual waiters and just the owner and someone cleaning tables. We gave 18 minutes before we walked out. I'd really love to give this a try again, but it left a sour taste in my mouth being ignored for almost 20 minutes.. No drinks. No food. Just disappointment.

UPDATE 8.17.23 - In response to the owners message. You were at about 20% capacity when I came in. Only two other tables which I believe were two tops. I understand how busy it gets in restaurants. Especially if you're understaffed on a prime business day. I worked in the industry for 15 years. However, most customers when not given the option to order a drink or at least something after 20 minutes will walk out and never come back again. And most won't say a word about it or provide any feedback. Simply dropping by the table once to take our order for food and drinks would have solved our issue. Instead it seemed the only person was cleaning the bar and running back and forth in the back. Please let me know if there's anything you can do to turn our experience around or if you have an email or phone number I could contact to discuss further. I really would like to give you all...

We got in around 5:40 and the place was pretty empty. We were maybe the fourth or fifth table sat since they opened at 5. We perused the menu and after a bit ordered our starter-takoyaki. About 20 minutes went by. No starter, but we got asked if we wanted to order mains. We ordered a roll apiece and each ordered sushi off of the “flown in from Japan” menu: scallop and sea bream. Takoyaki arrived about 5-10 mins later. It was fine. Octopus was a little chewy but plenty of bonito and not overly battered or sauced.

We then waited about another 30-40 minutes with no check in and no mains. Seated for over an hour and we had not gotten anything more than an app and one jug of water-no refill. By this time the place is pretty full. We noticed several people who had arrived after us were receiving food while we still had no mains. To go orders are being picked up every so often. Still nothing. After checking in with the staff it was apparent they’d never sent our order to the kitchen or lost it somehow. That was enough to know it was time to go elsewhere. We offered to pay for the Takoyaki and were told to not worry about it. However we didn't really receive any kind of apology. If anything it seemed like we were guilted into staying even longer with nothing to eat because suddenly they were working on our order "right now". This was despite other rolls coming out to neighboring tables who had arrived long after us.

All I’ll say is this: I know I’m in the minority here as the only negative review so y’all must be doing something right. Would love to give y’all another shot but it really felt like a bad first impression. Appreciate comping the app, and I’d love to pay for a full meal-just need it to actually show...