Asuka Sushi & Hibachi — Restaurant in Fort Smith

I’m new to town and we went here for my birthday because I felt like sushi and the place had such great reviews. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the food or the experience. The floors were sticky throughout the restaurant. The ladies room sink had something less than appealing in the handles of the faucets. Something green and lumpy and looked like it could be cleaned out but had maybe been there for a while. The sushi prices were high for the quality in my opinion, but according to the reviews I understand people disagree with me on that. The miso soup was very watery and bland. The gyoza was apparently fried gyoza which I wasn’t expecting, but I suppose I should have asked. I was not a fan but my son liked it, so that’s good.

The vegetable tempura had the oddest batter I’ve had on tempura from a japanese restaurant. Almost an onion ring batter maybe? The vegetables were very thick slices of mushrooms, very thin slices of carrots, zucchini I think, lots of onion, and asparagus I think it was? An odd assortment of vegetables. The zucchini was great. The mushrooms were great without the batter. The asparagus was interesting. The onions and carrots I could do without and there was a lot of onion.

I got some sashimi and the white tuna was actually pretty good but on the thin side. It came with lemon on it which permeated the fish, so if you don’t like lemon make sure to take that off straight-away so you can taste the fish.

For the sushi roll, the fish was not fresh and the slices were very thin and sparingly placed on the roll I got. The rice was not cooked well and the avocado was over-ripe, so I couldn’t even bring myself to eat more than one piece of the sushi as-is. I ended up dissecting it for the fish, but that wasn’t great either.

I kept wondering why people rated this place so highly and thought to myself it reminded me of getting sushi at a grocery store in college because that’s all I could afford. Then I looked around me at the full restaurant and realized everyone around me was about that age. So maybe it has something to do with what’s available in town or with young taste buds or affordability??

But this is obviously just me sharing my own experience. Apparently people like this place, so do what you will with this. We will not be going...

After having tried the sushi at Fuji (numerous times), Saga (a few times), and Ninja Express (once), my wife and I decided to give Asuka a try. The prices were very reasonable and the speed of service was very good. Perhaps most importantly, the quality of the sushi was also very good. We felt like it was right up there with the sushi that we've gotten at Fuji and Saga (as of late) in terms of its size, flavor, and freshness, and it was also much better than what we got at Ninja Express. So, if it's sushi that's most important to you, definitely give them a try!

My only criticisms of the experience as a whole (and the biggest reason I'm giving Asuka four stars) was that the dining area is pretty run-down and seems a bit dirty; plus, there was no music playing at all in the background, so it seemed like every word we were saying was pretty much being blasted throughout the restaurant. Not really the best environment for a date, in that sense. Also, the whole restaurant smelled very strongly of what I think was sandalwood incense when we came in, so I also felt like I smelled like sandalwood all day after that.

That being said, the sushi was very good and our waitress was also very attentive and brought us our food quickly, so I would recommend you give them a try, if those things are most...

**As of today, 1/2/2022, I feel the need to amend with a warning. I'm not currently taking any stars, bc one horrible experience doesn't deserve to negate years of good. However, I don't know if there are new owners, this was just a BAD day, or what tf, but the waitress was AWFUL. She literally seemed angry from the moment we walked in the door, at which time there was no one else inside. It was my son's 21st birthday, and there were seven of us. We were extremely patient, but she WOULD NOT provide service, at all, wouldn't give refills, wouldn't take our damn orders even. Kept walking off while we tried to talk to her... And the older man also there have zero craps, saw/heard it all, did not care. It was horrid. We were there for almost two hours and legit left hungry and went to Thai Garden next door to finish eating 😐

THE HOLY GRAIL OF SUSHI, a trifecta of perfection: excellent sushi, friendly staff, and unbelievably cheap prices. And they don't skimp you on portion to balance that, either. This is the best sushi place in the fort for sure. If you're in Fort Smith, skip everywhere else and hit this tiny but amazing hole in the wall of...