Hokkaido Restaurant — Restaurant in Harrisonburg

EDIT: As of March 2022, the menu is a la carte, and finite, meaning you only get so much for the same price. They have options, but they removed what made this restaurant good for a lot of people, all you can eat. I understand lack of staff, prices for supplies, etc. But the establishment was operating just fine during when COVID was at its peak. Increasing the price and limiting the menu would have even been fine with me, but this change is for the worst. The quality is no different, but unfortunately, this change has made the appeal this establishment once had for me, one price for all you can eat, become non existent. When they resume this, I will come back, but for now, I can't justify the cost for limited items at this time.

As a person who has tasted and critiqued authentic Japanese sushi, I think my review is qualified enough.

Presentation wise, the sushi is wonderful, everything looks nice, and doesn't fall apart. The ingredients are good quality, but one criticism I have is that the sushi has too much rice, probably designed as a cost saver, it really hinders the tastes masked by the rice, and I wish they would care more of taste, rather than profit. Everything I've ever ordered, lunch and dinner, has been fresh, and tastes as such, the service is also good, but yet again, they always don't get around to you fast, probably yet another way to make profit by letting the rice swell up in the stomach.

The lunch price is $10.99, not too expendive for an all you can eat a la carte sushi place, and even their dinner price, $17.99 is justifiable to a point because they add items that you can't get in the lunch menu, and it would be what you paid for at a nice restaurant, All the sushi is available any time of the day, no matter if it's lunch or dinner. Do be warned though, if you have a group of six or more, a 18% Gratituity charge will be added to your bill. I do hate any restaurant that does this, as gratituity (tip), should only be added if the server did good, if you add it to the bill, it's part of the price, which defeats the purpose of a tip.

Overall, good value, good lunch price, if the servers would be more attentive and the sushi had less rice, it would make a perfect sushi restaurant, such as...

Went for our daughter’s birthday and I really wanted to enjoy my experience, because it was a special day for her and I deeply love her.

—- Unfortunately, I found the food ultimately disappointing. While they did have gluten free options, they were VERY THIN pieces of fish on LARGE portions of rice. The majority of the food was rice with fish rather than fish with rice.

I mentioned this to the waitress and she said they were unable to lessen the load of rice because it was all you can eat… so rice went in napkins.

As well, the ability to get more food once we completed the portions given was very slow. So we didn’t eat much of a variety because we were hesitant to order a larger quantity and not be able to consume it - there is a stipulation about charging for unfinished food. It took us over an hour and a half to receive and eat four simple rolls with a hint of fish, four rice filled hand rolls, a small amount of hibachi rice and vegetables, and avocado “salad” which is sliced avocado over pieces of cucumber. That is not much for that price.

For a five year old, a nine year old, and two healthy but not large appetited adults it cost us $75 all in. I want to appreciate the experience with our family there, and appreciate that we can easily afford that, however we will not return again.

Consequently, I ended up repeating the food for nearly an hour after. I ate a reasonable portion and am a lean, healthy individual - possibly the oil used.

FYI- we love sushi. Genuinely real sushi and took a punt on bringing our kids here based on reviews. The staff was nice and the atmosphere was kid friendly. The hibachi was able to be ordered without added rice and the shrimp were pretty good. Though we went there for the sushi experience and only got that because the sushi wasn’t particularly fulfilling.

Usually, I only post when we like the food and rarely when we don’t.

Cannot...

I tried this restaurant on someone's suggestion and boy do I regret it. I will start off by saying the sushi was edible, but on the day I went it was not seasoned properly. Sushi rice is supposed to have vinegar, salt, and sugar but I could not detect these subule flavors and instead only tasted rice. Not horrible but not ideal either.

I was also severely disappointed by the fact that you could only order 10 pieces of nigiri at a time. I do not like rolls and typically only eat nigiri sushi. Due to the fact that everyone in my party was hungry we ordered a mix of rolls and nigiri. The sushi rolls were comprised of way too much rice and not pleasant on the palette. I have never experienced this "limit" at any other all you can eat sushi establishments and it was very surprising.

Now on to the kitchen entrees... They were not edible at all. Chicken was over cooked and dry, the fried rice had no flavor, and even my child said the onion rings and French fries were "really gross". He enjoyed the chicken nuggets however. The takoyaki was not thoroughly cooked and had raw dough in the middle along with a minuscule piece of octopus that was approximately the size of a single piece of shredded carrot. Once I pointed this out to the waitress she got defensive and said "that's how it's supposed to be". I have eaten at many Japanese restaurants and takoyaki is supposed to be light and fluffy...not gummy, dense, and full of raw dough.

Very dissatisfied with this experience and I will not return to this establishment. If you choose to go here I hope your experience is much better than mine. Sushi king in Charlottesville is much better (and cheaper) so that will continue to remain my favorite spot and top recommendation for an exceptional all you can eat...