Sakanaya Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Fresno

We’ve been here once for our wedding rehearsal dinner and it was pretty good. We had a reservation and it still took them a while to figure seating out even though we were the first ones in the restaurant when they opened for dinner and had the reservation but the food was good and the chef was amazing. This second time around we went for Valentines Day which is a hectic holiday for the food industry, totally understandable, which is why my husband and I made reservations via google assistant. We got a confirmation email AND a confirmation call from the restaurant where the hostess double checked it the time, for 2 people and hibachi, which I confirmed. When we got to the restaurant 15 minutes early to check in, the hostess said the reservation was for SIX people for DINING, I showed her the email and told her I even got a call to confirm and she told us we would have to wait an hour and a half to be seated for hibachi at 8:30. We didn’t get seated till 8:50. Our server didn’t take our drink orders until almost 20 minutes after us. The chef didn’t come till almost 25-27 minutes after that. And then we saw our server 4 times during dinner. Everyone at the table had to wait forever for any refills, our chef had to clear our soup and salad bowls because she took so long, and we all had to just get up and grab our own to go containers and walk out to get our check and the meal came with ice cream and she didn’t even bring it. Now we were the second to last table sat and there was no more hibachi after that. The table sat after us waited 35 minutes for their server and almost an hour for their chef. They were super understaffed for an expected busy holiday. And they were so unorganized. The main hostess we were talking to was very overwhelmed when every hostess was talking to her at once and not communicating about who they were seating. The only reason I’m giving them 2 stars was because the chef, Suza (Im guessing on the spelling) was incredible and hilarious and engaging. And also because I thought for the stress the main hostess was going through I felt she handled everything as best...

Skip to third paragraph for my opinion on the food.

The aesthetic of the restaurant is modern and what you come to expect from a Japanese cuisine restaurant. I sat across from the sushi bar. The chairs in that area fit the design and would have been aesthetically pleasing and comfortable were it not for them mildly peeling and being slightly scratched up.

The service was good. The waiter was attentive until it came time to pay the check. He was accommodating in attempting to create a strawberry lemonade for me. He offered so I accepted, otherwise regular lemonade would have been fine.

The food was lack luster for the price. I had calamari rings. The crust was fairly greasy and fell off so much that it became a bother. They maybe should have allowed the rings to rest a bit before bringing them out. I appreciate them making it to order, but the flaky crust and grease was less than appetizing. The flavor was meh. I should be able to eat the rings with or without sauce. I had to use sauce to save the meal. Fortunately, the sweet and sour chili sauce was great! The Mayo-like dip was awful 🤢.I wanted to try the vegetarian roll with yam but after the unappealing calamari, I just wanted to leave.

My friend had a vegetarian sushi roll with avocado and asparagus. He said it was fine but nothing to write home about. He had a glad of basic red wine that cost $10. His roll cost approximately $13 and my calamari approximately $14.

I wouldn't return to this restaurant again. It's over priced. I think with tip the meal was $40-$50. It was the most disappointing birthday meal I have ever had. I've only had a few, thank God and this one takes the cake.

*Sorry I failed to take food pics prior to eating. Reviewing this restaurant was not my plan until I...

AN OK Teppanyaki place. We went there on a Saturday evening to celebrate the March birthdays in our family (3). There were six in our party and we were seated at our own Teppanyaki table; we did not have to share our table with strangers although there was room for several more.

The chef was skilled at handling his knives and put on a reasonable Teppanyaki Show. The exhaust fan over the flattop grill was quite loud -- enough so to be distracting. I had the steak & scallop combination and a Philadelphia sushi roll. My steak was tasteful but the scallops were dry & tasteless and the salmon in the sushi roll was tasteless. I opted for steamed (sticky) rice and the others in the party had fried rice. My wife commented that the fried rice was the best part of her meal.

The three birthday "kids" (we are all in our 70s) were given complementary ice cream sundaes.

The bill for the six of us was over $300. An 18% gratuity was automatically added. The waitress was not very attentive after she took our order. Three of us asked for chopsticks (twice) but she never brought them; finally, I saw where they were kept at the servers" station and went to get the chopsticks. We had to "flag" her down to order a second round of drinks.

Overall, an average...