Dragonfly Sushi & Sake Company — Restaurant in Gainesville

Update 12.2023: Exceptional catering for the first holiday office party that I organized. The owner was extremely polite despite the holiday rush of catering orders. Very accommodating for UF events. Order pickup with Juel went smoothly - she was great 👍. Definitely recommend the Refreshing and Deluxe Platter for a smaller guest list (10 people max). I'd have other office events catered by Dragonfly again 😀.

11/10/2021: My husband and I decided to go here for lunch last Saturday since I was in the mood for a little sushi. We haven't tried any sushi places in Florida since we both moved from the northeast over a year ago, and we were skeptical of eating out during the height of the pandemic. I triple checked the reviews of the other potential sushi places in Gainesville before choosing Dragonfly.

Parking was a bit of a challenge since the street spots tend to fill up fast, but we were able to find a good one near the end of the short one-way street. We walked over to the nice corner location and decided to enjoy the outdoor seating looking out at the sidewalk since the indoor dining area was very crowded. It had just rained, but the sun was peeking out, so it was a nicer day than when it had started.

Matt was the guy behind the counter who took our order. Friendly, polite, and he made sure to ask the chef if the NY strip steak was lean (not fatty) before we finalized our menu selections. The employees are all wearing masks, even if the customers weren't. (We still wore our masks between eating, even if we were outside, but to each their own on that topic.)

The pricing is decent for the quality and quantity of what you get, especially if you're not super hungry. The dumplings were $6, beef tataki was $15, tuna tataki was $17, rice bowl $1, and the Japanese whiskey Suntory Toki (2 oz. in a scotch glass) was $10.

The meat and fish were tender and tasty. Lean and cut very well. The sauce for each was on the salty side, but we expected it from the ponzu (soy sauce with a citrus additive, usually lemon), so my order of the bowl of rice on the side was very important👍. The whisky was smooth and paired well with the meal. My husband is my designated driver so I enjoyed my drink on my own.

The entire meal was very satisfying 😌 and the Japanese whisky was a great palate cleanser to offset the strong tasting food. We decided to eat dessert at home since we don't go usually to Japanese restaurants for the dessert items 😅, so I don't have any opinion on those🤷.

We had a courteous server with red hair and a headband (worn Karate Kid style) that made sure we had our plates taken away and our meal was up to par. Overall, I would say that customer service is about 4.5 ⭐ since we had to wait about 7-10 min for Matt to finish making drinks for his bar customers before my husband was able to add my tuna tataki to our order. It was a busy Saturday afternoon, after all.

With the tip, the bill was about $65, which was about right considering how fresh the food was and this is around the same price we'd pay for a sushi date in the northeast. We would return to this restaurant for another special occasion, but not an every day thing.

[Sidenote: Since Gainesville has a population of homeless folks, chances are, if you're eating outdoors facing the street, you might be approached for change / money. During the middle of our meal, a shirtless and disheveled man, who was walking by asked us "yo, you have a few dollars?". We politely responded, "no, sorry", and he left. The restaurant workers shoo-ed him away as well, but customer be aware...outdoor seating has its dangers. There was also this one pesky fly that tried to divebomb my tuna and my husband's steak, but we were fast enough to wave it away while we...

What can I say…Dragonfly is so good. I’ve never left a review for them before, but I’ve been there many times visiting my daughter at college. They do not accept reservations on the weekends, but they don’t have to. It is always given as about an hour and a half (or more depending on the time of evening) for a wait, but, as a party of three, we generally never wait that long. Close, but usually under. We always get the same food. The calamari IS THE BEST EVER, ANYWHERE, HANDS DOWN! High end restaurants that don’t serve the tentacles! Adds a level of sophistication. I did order the miso soup and as a preference did not care for it, but the rest of the party loved it and it was very quality ingredients, so no poor marks just for my liking. We all three always get the mango sushi (my husband loves it and enjoys the sweet potato chips with it). My daughter loves whatever she gets…I can’t remember, and I always get the chief and it never disappoints! We also got the mochi as a dessert and the plate was excellent. So why not 5 stars? Well, the one thing, every single time we go, and this time it was really unacceptable, is the server never brings our bar drinks in a timely manner. Ever. We usually are seated right next to the bar and we always see our drinks just sitting up there, waiting for us. For a long, long time. The bartender knew those were ours and we kept looking up there and she would make eye contact with us, and I felt like she felt bad we weren’t getting our drinks. Just a piece of advice, you would make so much more money if you kept the drinks flowing and getting them to tables. Our table probably would have had another round or two if they would have been served immediately. The drinks are amazing! Bourbon old fashioned, craft beer, and the ginger lemon drop (I believe) is what we were drinking, but they just weren’t coming to the table. Sylvia R was our server and she just either is new or was busy (my husband said she was working tables behind me). She was friendly, but somewhat non existent at our table. As all adults and only a party of three, we do have a tendency to be forgotten about because we don’t make waves and don’t ask for much…except our drinks. Hopefully dragonfly will take this “drinks not making it from the bar to the table” and find a way someone could run them as soon as they get made. Nothing worse than sitting and sitting and holding off on eating your food waiting for your bar order. The restaurant has a great atmosphere and very clean every time we go. Again, amazing food! Total bill $203. Would’ve been more if the drinks...

I want to start by saying that if you’re looking for a low maintenance yet elegant place to gather with friends, reconnect with family, or impress potential business partners, you couldn’t choose a better spot than this restaurant. You could throw a dart at the menu and land on a dish that will have everyone raising their eyebrows and nodding in delighted silence as they savor each bite. I personally recommend the Tonkotsu ramen. It is so excellent, in fact, that it has unfortunately ruined all other casual ramen experiences for me. But this review isn’t even about the fresh, perfectly prepared fish, the savory umami-packed ramen, or the playfully crafted cocktails. It’s about Matthew (affectionately, Miguel). Matthew has unknowingly become part of two core family memories of mine. The first was over a year ago, when my father met my partner for the very first time. Matthew’s attentiveness, kindness, and knowledge tied the whole evening together with a bow. His warmth and humor brought ease to the moment, making it unforgettable. Fast forward to this past weekend: my parents were in town for the JJ Grey show, and we kicked off the visit with dinner at Dragonfly. In a twist of fate, Matthew was once again our server. Not only did he remember us after nearly a year, but he also recalled what we had loved from the menu and even followed up on topics from our last visit. We gave him free rein to choose dishes and a bottle of sake for us, and once again, he absolutely knocked it out of the park. His gentle cheekiness shone through as if we were catching up with an old friend. Sitting back and watching my parents and partner smile and laugh with him was truly the highlight of my night. While I suspect he would have preferred our gratitude to be expressed in a quieter way, rather than with the whole section clapping and chanting his name, he took it all with grace and a smile. Matthew is the kind of server any guest would be lucky to have. As for the Blais family, he is the one we trust and will continue to request to host our celebrations of life and love in Gainesville at Dragonfly for as long as we have...