Tsubaki Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Lufkin

Three major problems. 1.Very overly priced food compare to it's quality. I know that Japanese food can be expensive and mostly it is known quite expensive.. but this one has no reason to be when it literally has almost the same quality as some ordinary chinese restaurant that you can just find in the middle of the street. Please understand that japanese foods are expensive because of their fancy, fresh and clean quality. 2.The basic food quality. Again.. I been here like three times and ordered rolls twice. Both times it was falling apart when i grabbed one each time. You guys can't even make a decent roll that can maintain it's own? It was very disappointing considering roll is one of the easiest dish you guys can make out of all those menus and to see you guys even struggle with that. Even some of the grocery store that has some side corner that makes sushi or rolls can come up with better rolls than that. You guys had one job which was to make a decent roll that would at least represent Japan at least as half or even close to a half.. Was not very glad to see you failed miserably... 3.the menue.. So I saw one of the menu was called "Korean style calamari" and i ordered it then it was just a fried squid comes with regular chili sauce. So why was it korean style? Who confirmed that it was korean style? Did you guys have like one half korean kid says it's their hometown food or what? I literally asked all my Korean friends or anyone that's lived in korea for a long time and see if they recognize any dish like that as their own style. Not a single one had a clue. So did you guys just claim that it is Korean style just to be "unique"? And even if it WAS actually a korean style, Why are you guys selling it in Japanese restaurant? Your concept is focused on Japanese food, "TSUBAKI". I wasn't mad or disappointed i was literally wondering why are you guys calling it a "korean style calamari" it was just a fried squid. Nothing korean or had a style. Anyways, there you have it. Very overly priced compare to a quality that you guys can offer. Can't even make a decent roll. Doesn't even know or care about the menus you guys put out. I don't run any business myself but you guys should take this more seriously. Customers are not all that stupid after all. Business shouldn't be a joke and I will be expecting a change if you guys still...

I am giving this place 2 stars because the place was clean, we got our food fast and there was more than just Japanese beer to be had. It goes down hill from there.

Have you ever been car shopping from dealership to dealership? After a while you start to notice that the salesmen are like those seagulls on Finding Nemo, "Mine! Mine!"... That's how this place was. There were four waiters leaning on the bar watching a Marvel movie when we walked in, and they all perked up to see which table my wife and I were going to be at. Three exhales and one "Mine!" And we were seated.

We always pick a booth, and this one was more worn out than my dad jokes. And I have a lot of dad jokes. The seats were hard and it wasn't until we sat down that we could tell that the table cloths were replaceable butcher paper like you might find at a crab joint.

The selection is what you might expect from a place with a sushi bar... Rolls and sashimi, nagiri. We ordered our standby, spicy tuna roll and spicy salmon roll, with a yellowtail and jalapeno appetizer. The yellowtail was edible, with most of the flavor coming from the jalapeno. I have no idea what sauce was under the fish because it tasted like distilled water with a pinch of salt.

The spicy tuna roll, or was it the spicy salmon roll?... Tasted the same. The fish was blended in a food processor until it had the consistency of baby food, and they tried to make up for that by putting Penko bread crumbs in the rolls. It might have worked if the nori (seaweed layer) wasn't as limp as a boiled piece of spinach, and just as chewy.

It wasn't until after we we're halfway through with our meals that we looked over at the sushi bar and saw they kept their fish and other ingredients in Tupperware containers, inside the glass display cases that usually have them laying out for all to see. Which is probably why the food was room temperature after just a few minutes on our warm plates. Good sushi places will chill the plates to keep the fish cold to the last bite.

I would've been happier with a bowl of rice and a beer. Never again will I go to, what was this place called again? Exactly. We had to flag our waiter down to pay the check, so a dollar was subtracted from his otherwise...

We were not greeted when we walked in, that should have been my first clue of what to expect ahead. When it was our turn to be seated the hostess/waitress looked at us and said "Yes" as if we were there for anything else other than eat. I said "Yes we are here to eat, there are 4 of us." She walked us to our table and never introduced herself. After getting our drink orders she disappeared and I guess the sous chef saw me looking around for our waitress/ hostess (not sure what she was at this point) and he was the one who found her and sent her back to our table. I ordered a drink (was not ID'd) and when she brought it to the table, tried to give it to my daughters friend. And when we asked her questions about the menu she seemed annoyed. My daughter was asking a question about some of the rolls and she told her flip the page back on the menu instead of just answering. You should know your menu up and down especially if charging people that much. Food was nothing special, portion sizes are WAY TOO SMALL for the price. She NEVER asked if we needed anything, or check to see if we were satisfied with everything. We only got refills if she came to drop something off at the table and we had to ask for them. She never gave updates on our orders, only took 2 salad bowls so we had dirty dishes crowding the table the entire time. When we needed to-go boxes a random person came to help while the girl was over at the bar laughing and talking to another waitress. I really hated to leave her a tip but there is such a stigma about ceftain races not tipping I did anyway. Wish my daughter had a better sweet...