Sawa Asian Cuisine & Lounge — Restaurant in Gardner

update - May 9, 2025 Came back to try more delicious food.

New pictures show Fantastic 4, Salmon on Fire, Rainbow Deluxe, and a mystery dish from possibly the owner?

Everything here is so good!

Wifey and I were craving sushi, and I remembered this restaurant had recently opened, so we decided to give it a try.

Parking was easy, as the restaurant has its own spacious lot with plenty of available spots.

The interior design is impressive, thoughtfully decorated to evoke a peaceful, Zen-like atmosphere. A small Zen garden feature is centered prominently in the main dining area, and the walls showcase beautiful "ukiyo-e" style artwork--you'll certainly recognize the iconic "Great Wave off Kanagawa." The restaurant itself is quite large, easily accommodating groups of six or more. When we arrived around 8:30 PM, a large birthday party of over ten people was comfortably seated and barely took up any space.

Given that the restaurant is new with few reviews available, we decided to splurge and order more items than usual:

Amazing Salmon ($15) A beautiful appetizer presented in stacked, layered squares rather than the traditional maki rolls. The sauces drizzled on top made it look almost like a dessert--and it tasted as wonderful as it looked.

Honey Chicken ($15) I saw another person comment how amazing this was. Umm, it's definitely the most "honey" chicken I've ever tasted. I suppose it's weird to complain that something tastes exactly like its namesake, but it was a little overwhelming to eat. The crispiness of the chicken was superb! It was still crispy when I got home later and ate a few more pieces as a super late night meal.

Simple Box ($40) This was our splurge, and we were utterly delighted. Beautifully presented, every piece of sushi tasted fresh, flavorful, and exactly as we'd hoped.

Pistachio Coppa A lovely finish to our dinner. We shared one since we were pretty full. It was delicious--what more can I say?

Overall, we were thoroughly satisfied with our experience and definitely plan on...

Sad that Southside Grille had to close. Pleased that it’s being repurposed for another dining location for friends and family.

When you enter the restaurant - it’s like you’re entering a whole new world.

Very high end & nicely decorated. Love the Asian decor - starting with the rock wall when you walk in, to a bonsai tree, and additional art pieces.

Continued this “fine dining” experience with a Pineapple Passion ($9.50) which tasted like a vacation.

My siblings and I split some dumplings as an appetizer and those were good!

Great lunch special. For about $15 - you get a soup, appetizer, sushi, and main entree.

The won ton soup kinda tasted like Ramen but I still enjoyed it. I don’t like sushi so I swapped my appetizer with my sister . If you order the crab rangoons as your appetizer you will get 2 and they’re tasty. Primarily cream cheese (which is how I like them, I don’t like them too crabby).

When I first went to Sawa (original location), I got the coconut shrimp. My mom recommended this dish and it’s so yummy! I don’t think I’ll ever change my order up. Happy both times.

Only recommendation is to improve online website - especially with having two locations, can cause some confusion.

Me & my sister were getting different information and had to clarify locations a few times. Brother stated there was confusion with delivery orders in the past.

Bathroom space was unique but convenient. There’s a space to change babies and sinks outside the restroom area - which could be nice for those who just want to wash hands before/after a meal.

They have a spot for suggestive and custom tips at the bottom of your receipt - which are accurate! Often I find that other businesses lie with those numbers, so they get points for that too!

Overall, very impressed! They’ve mastered the ability for casual dining to feel upscale at...

I've never actually been inside sawa, I always just gotten take out and the sushi is always great. I took my son there tonight for a sit down dinner. They had a little menu on the table that was hand written with specials. One was an oyster "platter." 16$. When I got my order it was two blue point oysters and two jumbo shrimp. Far from being a platter. I paid 4 dollars per oyster and per shrimp. This was crazy so I asked the waitress how much they usually charge for each oyster and she had to go ask the manager. This guy came over and tried to tell me that the blue point oysters were very expensive and the shrimp were very special and from a ln expensive part of the world, lol. Blue point oysters are pretty standard and don't cost 4 dollars per oyster ANYWHERE. I was severely disappointed, but I didn't put up a fuss, it was just really disappointing. The guy was talking to me like I was stupid, but oh well, I left a tip paid the bill and won't order their...