Osaka Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Lynchburg

TL;DR: Osaka’s new location on Ward’s Rd delivers a solid Japanese dining experience in a casual setting. Food was fresh and tasty, service was good and about as expected, and the remodeled Wendy’s space works surprisingly well.

Why My Rating (4/5 stars) Food: Portions were generous and everything came out hot. The Teryaki chicken had good flavor. The rest of the fam had food that was fresh and nicely presented. Rice was a good. Overall the food was solid.

Atmosphere: The old Wendy’s building has been given a facelift—bright, clean, and welcoming. It doesn’t have the “show” of a traditional hibachi grill experience, but it works well for a casual meal. Parking is easy since it’s right on Ward’s Rd.

Staff: Very friendly and polite. Our server checked on us regularly, but food did take longer than expected to arrive.

Cleanliness: Excellent. Tables, floor, and restrooms all looked spotless.

Price: About what you’d expect for Japanese in Lynchburg. A little more than fast-casual but fair for portion sizes.

Final Thought: Glad to see Osaka back open in their new spot. Right now, it’s my favorite Japanese restaurant in Lynchburg. Food: 5 | Service: 4 |...

I have been a faithful customer of Osakas for over 15 years, since they were on Old Forest Rd. I have always enjoyed their food and the staff, and have dined with them at least once a week. However, once Michael retired and his brother took over, his brother has systematically destroyed the restaurant and their reputation. He is no where near as friendly as Michael was/is, half of the staff that used to work there and knew what they were doing, are gone now. The food quality has extremely diminished. Twice in the past 3 weeks I have received the wrong order and when I called to complain, after asking to speak with a manager 3 times in a row, I was told by the employee that she was not allowed to let customers speak with the/a manager. Excuse me, what?? What kind of customer service is that? Sad to say that after over 15 years of being a very loyal customer to Osakas, that I will no longer be a customer of theirs, or recommend them to anyone. I'm so sad that Michael retired and handed his hard earned business and reputation over to someone that cares...

Just got off the phone with manager, I went into the restaurant yesterday to order fresh food. The cashier gave me food that was under someone else’s name sitting there. I said “that’s not mine, I’d like it fresh preferred since I’m taking it home” he said it just came out and it was the same order. The food was in fact not fresh, the rice was extremely soggy, and a few bites in I got sick, I called today and the owner wanted me to save the food from yesterday. I took pictures of it but since we were moving and throwing stuff out (which is why we did take out instead of cooking) I was not going to preserve food that was disgusting while busy. They won’t make my food or refund money though the cashier gave me something that wasn’t mine. Horrible food and horrible customer service for the first time ever. Used to be my fav spot but...