Sakura Japanese Sushi in Elsmere — Restaurant in Elsmere

Tldr; if you have any dietary preferences or needs, steer clear. They dumped pork broth into my meal to make some kind of a point.

I gave this place 5 stars a few years ago, and I've been a regular customer, but a recent experience changed my perception and I'm never going back or ordering from here again.

I'm veg and I usually get the veg sushi combo or veg yakisoba (which has fish sauce, but I'm pescatarian when necessary). I thought I'd mix it up and got a mushroom soup with anchovy base-- it had a strange smell, and halfway through started getting a bad stomach ache and slight nausea and took a closer look-- that's when I noticed bits of pork. The menu said nothing about pork, just mushroom and anchovy.

I asked the waiter, and he said yes, this is primarily a pork soup. I don't like to make a scene, so I just gently advised they should update the menu to reflect that, and that we'd pay for it anyway. He and let the owner know what was going on, and she looked visibly upset and all but spit on the ground. The very kind waiter returned to explain to me that this was a traditional Korean pork soup, and I shouldn't have ordered it if I didn't like pork. I just reminded him that the menu doesn't mention pork once. We paid and left and I dealt with my stomach pain and nausea.

I went back a few days later with my son and ordered the veg yakisoba, which I've ordered plenty of times. I even asked first if this was vegetarian, waiter advised about fish sauce, I said that's cool. I noticed the owner giving me dark looks and looking upset. I figured she was having a bad day. Then my yakisoba came out reeking of pork broth. Smelling it made me nauseous. I just pushed it aside and waited for my son to finish his dinner. I packaged it up because my son could eat it, paid, and left without saying anything.

She had the cook dump pork broth into my order to make some kind of petty point to get back to me when all I did was advise they update their menu. Very strange behavior. This is one of the first restaurants I visited after over 2 years of covid isolation, and I had stayed a regular customer through delivery. Never ordering from or...

The service is always top notch; whenever I dine in there is never a problem getting seated in a time fashion; the atmosphere is always relaxing; I've never felt rushed whenever I dine in unlike other restaurants which have made me feel like I'm on a time limit to order, eat & get out; Sakura always makes me (and my guest if I bring one) like I'm right at home and that it's ok to take my time with my meal/visit; the food is fantastic especially the sushi bar; you can tell everything is fresh, and that the sushi chefs take pride when preparing sushi orders plus the presentation is always beautiful; my meals are always brought out in a timely manner; I love that I'm given plenty of time to enjoy & finish my soup & salad before my sushi is brought out to me; I've never had any problem with getting my appetizer and then my meal coming out before I've even had 2 bites...the servers and kitchen staff are excellent with the timing of all the course of the meals; Sakura has byfar the best sushi bar in Delaware, and their prices are very reasonable; I've eaten at many Japanese restaurants and to me none of them even come close which is ashame bc a majority of them are extremely over priced for their sushi; I've also gotten take out from Sakura and not only is their food still excellent, but the wait is never very long to make my order; even their takeout presentation of their sushi is beautiful; I refuse to go to any other sushi restaurant within the tri-state area bc to me none of them even come close to Sakura; I always recommend them whenever I'm asked by people for a good sushi restaurant; keep up the fantastic...

It used to be better. Our family has been loyal customers for many years ever since they opened but their quality of sashimi have declined since covid. I understand it could be very hard to manage freshness of seafood with reduced customer flow. Even though I’ve been an avid supporter of family owned small businesses, I had to think of my families well bing first. One day we ordered scallops sashimi and along with other sashimi and they were not eatable. It was dried and discolored. Scallop sashimi could be an upmost guideline of talented sushi/sashimi chef and Sakura have failed it horribly. The worst part was when we politely pointed out our concerns about freshness of sashimi they were kept coming up with excuses after excuses. One of their excuses was they have purchased a special refrigerator for scallop sashimi so the owner said it is impossible for them to serve bad quality of sashimi. Finally, since we have been a regular customer there they said they will not charge for the drinks but they still charged for sashimi orders that we could not even eat. I felt dumbfound of their response and can’t manage to go see their faces ever since. We used to order party trays for birthdays and Christmas parties from Sakura but not anymore. We are back with Mikimotos for better sushi and sashimi. *Sakura is still a great place for lunch special for well cooked Korean dishes like spicy pork or bulgogi bento boxes. *I wish all the best for Sakura and hope they will improve their customer services with better controlled fresh...