Yakuza House — Restaurant in Louisiana

It all started so well... and then it wasn't.

I bounced between 2 and 3 stars (wishing there was a 2.5 star option) for a minute. I settled on 2.

I'll preface this review with the fact that I have eaten at a LOT of top tier sushi bars across the country.. Places like MF Sushi, where Chef Kenjo consistently produces some of the best nigiri that I've eaten hands down.. or Handies Douzo, where the hand rolls feature warmed/crisped seaweed and flavor pairings that work. The crispness and crunch of the seaweed, the subtle hints of citrus, caviar, soy, sea salt, etc.. each pairing up perfectly with the protein inside. My wife and I seek out these places because we love the best Japanese cuisine that we can get our hands on.

Arriving at Yakuza on a Friday night at 8:30, dinner was in full swing. The hostess seemed stressed and the restaurant running behind. No big deal.. we had a seat at the bar and the bartender was friendly. We had some Japanese whiskey pairings/cocktails while waiting. They were all amazing and the bartender was super friendly.

We are seated, and our waitress greets us. She tosses the menus on the table, and doesn't spend 5 seconds talking to us. I don't even recall her asking if we wanted drinks. She said "I'll be back.. let me know if you want to order".. Seriously?

Ok, I look over the menu, and I'm excited by what I see.. Flown in from Japan, there's: fresh Madai, live Hokaido scallops, Anago, Uni, Kanpachi, multiple cuts of tuna (chutoro, otoro, akami). Their hand roll list is extensive, with 3, 4, and 5 roll sets, and about a dozen singles to chose from.

We order a 3 and 5 hand roll set, kanpachi, negi-toro, and scallop. We also order a bunch of nigiri, choosing to have it dressed out as the chef sees fit. We also ordered some pork steamed buns and ribs as appetizers. The ribs and buns were good.

The first set of "hand rolls" arrived, and it looked more like traditional maki that was chopped in large chunks. The seaweed was super chewy, making it impossible to take a bite without squeezing the contents of the roll all over the plate. There was ZERO crispness, and 2 tons of rice. Very little protein, and very little seasoning/flavor. We were shocked at how terrible these were. It was a HUGE letdown given the expectations of this "hand roll" forward sushi bar. We didn't even finish half of our order. If this is acceptable here, then I guess keep at it.. but this is not how handrolls are supposed to be served at all.

The nigiri was going to save the dinner experience, right? Nah.. It looked great! But the flavor pairings were terrible, the same mushy rice was used, and it just lacked creativity/flare. There was nothing exciting about it. Worst of all, the flavor pairings seemed to "counter" the natural flavor of the protein! How on earth do you ruin something as amazing as scallop nigiri with a pile of leeks and sweet sauce?! I would have had no idea that I was eating a scallop if I didn't know what I ordered. The Hirame was as chewy as shoe leather.. the cut was awful. The only tasty thing was the Ama Ebi, chutoro/otoro, and the aps/drinks.. The tuna dishes had truffle pate up top and it was pretty good. Everything else left us disappointed.

To drop 300 bucks on what you think is going to be a quality Sushi dinner, and have mediocre service AND food is extremely disappointing.. I would love to hear from management/owners, but I would probably never go back nor would I recommend Yakuza House to anyone looking for the real deal.. Sorry guys, I have been looking forward to to this for months, and it...

I just finished my second trip to Yakuza House and can happily report this experience was even better than last time.

Here's what you should know: the sushi is made right in front of you. Most of the rolls are prepared as handrolls (seaweed on the outside), but if you're sharing they cut them into four pieces. They have a standard menu and then about 10 specials on a chalkboard. You can choose a traditional roll or 'dressed'. Dressed means the chef will choose the garnish based on their imagination. For example, we had ikura dressed and the dressing was some coarse Japanese sea salt.

First, I went last November with a work colleague. She and I sampled a few things and were really impressed by the attention to detail the staff provided. We did not have a reservation, but the greeter squeezed us in with a gentle warning that was a reservation coming behind us. After we finished our meal, my colleague and I were gossiping and greeter reminded us about the next reservation kindly. This could have been a negative experience, but to us, it wasn't. The staff fit us in and we needed to go so they could feed another hungry stomach. I can't remember what we ordered precisely, but I know I had the pork tonkatsu sandwich and I found it to be very filling.

This evening, I took my wife. We both enjoy sushi and we've eaten at some of the best sushi places you can find on a fancy sushi restaurant list. Tonight, we sat at the counter and there was a big party in the rest of the restaurant. My wife and I ordered about 7 rolls, 3 piece of nigiri, the large squid salad, and the surprise tempura ice cream. Our server emphasized it was a surprise and wouldn't tell us the flavor. I was delighted when it was one of my favorite flavors from Creole Creamery.

If you've read this far, I want to tell you something: there's a secret menu so...

I’m from Baton Rouge and there’s no sushi restaurants here that serves hand rolls. I’ve heard of this place through Instagram and decided to make a reservation a week in advance for 4 people at 9:15 pm at a booth. We drove from BR to NOLA just to come try this restaurant. When we got there, we were given the choice to sit at the nigiri bar or wait 40 minutes for a booth. I was confused because the whole point of a reservation is to have your table ready for you right? We were hungry and didn’t want to wait 40 minutes because we drove an hour to get here so we just wanted to eat. We sat on the bench and waited to be seated at the nigiri bar. We waited for about 20 minutes and at least 3 other parties that came after us were seated before us. I asked the receptionist how long do we still have to wait for the bar and she said she wasn’t sure because the people at the bar are done eating but are still talking. A woman aggressively comes (supposedly the manager) to us and says “would you want us to kick you out if that was you.” She then told us we can sit at the Izakaya Bar instead. Honestly at this point I wanted to leave but I didn’t want to waste the hour drive for nothing. The two waiters at the bar made the night much better. They were very nice and attentive unlike the manager. The food was mediocre for the price. There was also a hair in the curry ramen we ordered but it was fixed for us. I will not come back and rather drive 4 hours to Houston to get better sushi and customer service. We work too hard to spend money at an establishment that doesn’t care about their customers. You know it’s bad if I just got home from BR and wanted to...