Sushi Sake Hollywood — Restaurant in Hollywood

Updated 7/2025 review:

I came back a second time (which I regret) because the first meal, although very below average, wasn't sushi-focused. I thought perhaps the sushi would be better. It wasn't. It was worse.

The good: Only one thing was good - the salmon skin handroll. The skin was super crispy. The roll was balanced and tasty.

The bad and the worst: Sushi: This was the worst nigiri I've had, anywhere. Including supermarket sushi. Why? The rice was like hard glue. And lots of it per piece. The fish was meh, but combined with the shameful rice it was flat-out awful. Awful. We manually changed over to sashimi. Anyone who says that this is the best sushi they’ve ever had which you can read in many of the reviews – ask yourself: is that plausible at all? I mean come on, trust me, it’s bad. At least the nigiri is, for anyone who’s had a decent amount of sushi in their life.

Service: if you like your server sitting at the sushi bar for 30 minutes playing on his phone while you're hungry this is a place for you. For the rest of us make a hard pass and find something down the street, like the delightful ramen sushi restaurant go bistro.

AVOID!!!!

9/2024 review

Avoid.

You know that feeling when you meet someone and they’re just …. off? You can’t put your finger on it, but there’s something wrong and it doesn’t bode well.

As soon as you walk into Sushi Sake you get that feeling. It looks like a Japanese restaurant, but there is something off about the vibe — it’s lacking the feeling of a real Japanese restaurant. And appearances are only the beginning. It’s way downhill from there.

The first thing you notice is a huge “No Apple Pay / No Google Pay” sign. Not a deal breaker, but not exactly customer-centric either.

Let’s talk food. Not good, not good at all. In detail:

Gyoza: the frozen Korean mandu I air fry are much better. These were just meh. They’re served not with soy or with ponzu, but with a thick sickeningly sweet teriyaki sauce that itself tastes like cheap store bought fare. Barely above room temp. Shrimp shumai. Also tepidly warm. Served with a thick tartar-like sauce (not Japanese mayo by any stretch). Not fresh, starchy, about 10% of what you’d get from Din Tai Fung. Also, Chinese not Japanese. My bad for giving into a craving Beef negimaki. Awful. Dry chewy and yet oddly flavorless. Covered in a thick sweet not-Japanese-at-all sauce

Entrees: Vegetable roll. I’ve never had a roll that’s so dry you need to drink in between bites. But this one was dry dry dry and not too fresh. Small as well. Seafood noodles: $37 noodle dish that features chewy not fresh calamari rings, a few frozen chewy small scallops, and some frozen shrimp, with about 1.5 cups of noodles in a basic sauce that was sweet, bland, and totally unsatisfying

Service: They tried, but the price point punches much higher than the service quality. Food was served before old dishes were cleared, but they have an 18% auto gratuity for the pleasure of clearing your own plates. All-in-all a poor unsatisfying meal for two no drinks for $120.

This is Japanese in name only. It’s an echo of reality, and if you haven’t had good Japanese before, you might leave wondering what all the fuss is about this cuisine. A poor representation of the category.

Avoid and spend your $$$ where good Japanese food is served, you can do much much better for...

UPDATE: Gave this location another try now that it's been open a few weeks and time enough to get things right....it did not disappoint this time! Brian and bartender Iesha (not sure if I spelled right) completely made my experience. The service from Brian was wonderful, he was attentive, friendly, and fast. The drinks were presented beautifully, were refreshing and made just right :) and the food was delicious, seasoned and cooked perfectly! Glad I gave this location another try. Will be my go to Sushi Sake from now on.

I would not recommend this sushi sake if you are familiar with Sushi Sake. Service and food was not on par with other locations, but I understand because it's still new so they have a lot of kinks to work out. However, 1st impressions matter and I was left disappointed. First, the waitress seemed uninterested. While I was ordering she wasn't even looking at us but looking away at other tables and punching in on her pad as we ordered, never once made eye contact or even suggestion like in other Sushi Sakes. She wasn't paying attention because when she came back later to take my partners drink order I asked her if she had put in mine and surprise surprise she did not because she didn't even hear when I ordered it. Of course not she was paying attention to everything else except us as we ordered. Secondly the food and drinks were not on par either. We got a half serving of our appetizer and had to question why it came out like that, sauces were thick, and cocktails were not fully served either. There was a sizeable amount missing in each drink (picture of 1 drink for reference). All in all I suggest a different location till they work out their kinks. I tried to give them a chance but too much went wrong progressively through...

Sushi Saki- There’s no signs posted showing 18% gratuity automatically added to the check. Especially for a party of two (1) adult and (1)child. For (3) sushi rolls and (1) Habachi Rice. Total $85.68. Sad to say the waiter couldn’t get a tip which would have been larger than the gratuity amount. The restaurant is in violation of the customers rights. YOU DO NOT have to pay gratuity automatically added into your check if there’s no signs posted. I am a food critic. I go to every restaurant in Dade Broward and Palm Beach. Rating the food. Although the sushi was good their policy is not. I visit the location all the time in the City of Miami (employee) never have we been charged gratuity. It’s no wonder there were lot of empty tables. Post your signs Sushi Saki you are in violation. Not even the police can make you pay that outrageous gratuity. For two persons! Can you imagine a larger party. You’re ruining it for your waiters. They can’t make money. A secret shopper will be visiting you.

Florida statue 509.214 Notification of Automatic Gratuity Charge - Every public food service establishment which includes an automatic gratuity or service charge in the price of the meal shall include on the food menu and on the face of the bill provided to the customer notice that an automatic gratuity is included.

Sushi Sake you owe me a refund. There’s no sign posted nor was I aware of the gratuity until the waiter brought the check. It’s no wonder he place the check on the table and walked away.

Order Hibachi / Chicken Rice to go this is what I received for $24. Sushi Saki You need to do better if you plan to survive in this current market. Very...