Sam Sushi Art & Music — Restaurant in Framingham

If you like cream cheese in your sushi then this is the place for you, literally cream cheese in every roll. If you’re looking for an authentic sushi experience, then this is NOT the place for you. Here’s a run down of my experience here.

Seated at the way back corner when there was room elsewhere It took over 10 minutes for a simple order of coke to arrive at my table, add another 5 minutes and came my sake which btw mid. Two waitresses waiting on multiple tables and other waiters sitting around laughing or talking while they could have helped While the waitress was kind, you could tell she never tried any of the food there so that right there concerned me when I asked if she recommended the tuna or the salmon carpaccio - all she could respond with was “they look like the pictures, if you want all the foods will look like the pictures” Ended up ordering their tuna carpaccio - tuna tasted not fresh, it was drenched in olive oil and capers and that’s literally all you could taste. I tried eating a couple of pieces and just couldn’t do it. Now when I ordered their mains, everything in the description had cream cheese, so this was on me for not reading their menu and assuming that they had traditional sushi rolls or even special rolls WITHOUT cream cheese, you know… like any other restaurant would? But that’s okay. what really bugged me was it didn’t come with any ginger or wasabi, nothing to cleanse your palate We didn't have a small sauce bowl to put our soy sauce in (funny it’s a sushi place right..?) so I asked the server if they could kindly provide one, only for this guy to look at me like he’s doing a huge favor and the only word he gave me was “sure.”

I will say, their service, atmosphere, and quality of food needs improvement. I’ve never had to write a review like this but because I saw their ratings and their good reviews - I wanted to try this “awesome place” for myself. So here’s my...

📍 Location & Atmosphere Sam Sushi Art & Music offers a visually engaging and modern atmosphere, with live music on weekends that adds an energetic, upbeat element to the dining experience. The space is trendy and creative, ideal for a casual night out. However, the volume of the music can be quite loud, which may not be ideal for those looking to have in-depth conversations over dinner.

🍽️ Food & Drinks We began the meal with miso soup, which unfortunately lacked depth in flavor. The broth tasted watered down, and the large tofu chunks disrupted the balance of the dish rather than enhancing it.

The main sushi menu leans heavily into American-style fusion—featuring deep-fried rolls, salmon-forward combinations, cream cheese, and bold experimental flavors like Dorito seasoning. While the creativity is appreciated, the overall execution could use improvement. Many of the rolls shared similar textures and flavor profiles, dominated by fried elements and sauces, with limited freshness coming through.

The salmon was decent, but the tuna in a hand roll lacked freshness and was bland in taste. One hand roll was ultimately removed from the order due to dissatisfaction. Additionally, the rice in several dishes tasted dry, which impacted the overall quality and consistency.

👨‍🍳 Service & Hospitality Service was polite but minimal. There was a noticeable delay in getting our order taken, and we experienced limited follow-up from the staff throughout the meal. Greater attentiveness and engagement from the team would significantly enhance the dining experience.

💡 Unique Selling Point The fusion of sushi, visual art, and live music is the restaurant’s most distinctive feature. The creative concept has strong potential, especially for guests seeking an immersive and entertainment-driven evening. With stronger execution in both food and service, this concept could stand out even more in the local...

I wanted to share my recent experience at the restaurant. While they do serve up some delicious Asian cuisine, they really missed the mark when it comes to customer service. It felt like they weren't quite ready to take care of their customers and maybe more focused on making a quick buck, which left me a bit disappointed.

When compared to other establishments of the same category, I found this restaurant to be overpriced, especially considering the limited options available for the amount charged for the “all you can eat option”. Their explanation was that they couldn't keep up with demand due to the number of customers. If the service can't meet the standard, then at the very least, they should charge a more reasonable price.

They have a policy about food waste that sounds great on paper but didn't work well in practice. They considered any leftover food as waste, (we were charged extra for the oily fried seaweed of ONE hand roll, we had eaten all the contents inside and left the fried part) That was ridiculous. I’ve been to so many all you can eat restaurants with the same rules and none was so petty. Making customers eat something they don't like just to avoid extra charges doesn't sit right, and it happened even besides one of my orders was wrong with ingredients that I didn't like and I asked for it to be removed.

What also got me was that they included tips in the total bill without giving customers the choice to decide how much the service was worth. I'm all about exploring new places and trying different foods, but a big part of that is feeling welcomed and well-served. Unfortunately, after driving an hour from an area with plenty of good restaurants to try something new, I left feeling let down.

Good customer service is key to keeping folks coming back, and I hope they'll consider this feedback to make some...