SaWa's Donburi — Restaurant in Forest Grove

We arrived before the dinner rush around 4p and watched the place fill up. The service was excellent and friendly. The food was very tasty. We sampled the HH menu and a bowl of tempura udon with an extra side of tempura. Everything was delicious. The poke was very flavorful without being fishy or too heavily dressed. The rolls were nice, though I typically prefer nigiri/sashimi. Points for real crab & no Krab 🙌 The udon was perfectly chewy with a light broth.

I can't wait to go back!

Edit: less than a week later, we're back with friends. Unfortunately, the service was severely lacking from our first visit & server. The food was still excellent but I'm glad I didn't receive this service the first time--i doubt I would have returned.

The Salmon (sashimi) donburi was very good. I'm picky about my salmon and it was perfect. The rice, however, was the start of the meal. They made the most perfect and delicious sushi rice I've had in years. It was...

I feel like the experience and message is a little lost. Donburi or a sushi place?

My main disappointment comes from nearly frozen tuna sashimi slices in the Chirashi. Bummer! Couldn't get any flavor out of the fish with it not being fully thawed. Next time I will stick with a salmon donburi instead, since the salmon was really nice.

The negihama maki roll wasn't done correctly ( didn't mince up the hamachi together with the scallions ) with large chunks of hamachi stuffed in. It doesn't give you the true mouth feel and flavor you expect.

On a positive note: we had the snow crab & mushroom croquettes which were really tasty!

It was a good hour and 20 minute drive to get here, so we were a little let down from the experience.

Definitely a lot happier with the setup, feel and quality of food from...

I walked by plenty of times and it looks so chic, beautiful lighting, and cute atmosphere. I never went in until I heard that they were the same owners as Sushi Izakaya in Hillsboro. If you haven’t been so Sushi Izakaya I cannot recommend it enough (over 2k reviews on Google 4.6 stars - try it).

So I came in here expecting that level of sushi but just here in our little town of Forest Grove. Win win. Well - it was fine at best. The sushi wasn’t rolled properly and fell all over the place. The bowls were okay. Atmosphere was what it looked like from the street so still very cute and comfy but just wanted more from the food.

Here’s the best way to put it - after I went there someone said “yeah it’s like they give them all their old fish and cooks...