Sakura Japanese Steak, Seafood House & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Maryland

I’m writing to express my deep disappointment with the service I received during my recent visit to Sakura Restaurant. I dined in today with a friend and what should have been an enjoyable Hibachi lunch turned into a frustrating and unpleasant experience due to poor handling by the staff and, more importantly, the manager.

We were seated at the Hibachi table at 12:15 PM. At around 12:40, another party of three joined our table, which was perfectly fine with us. However, just a few minutes later at 12:45, the host, Irbin, attempted to seat a third party of five at the same table and asked me to move to the end of the table. I politely declined, explaining that we had already been seated for over 20 minutes and I wanted to enjoy the experience with a proper view of the chef cooking—one of the main reasons people choose Hibachi dining.

Irbin then called over the manager, Lily. I calmly explained the situation to her and even offered a compromise: my friend and I could move to the middle of the table so the third party could still be seated on the other side. Surprisingly, Lily told me she would need to ask if the other party was okay with that—something that made me feel like my presence and experience didn’t matter. I told her that I wasn’t okay with being moved and reminded her that I, too, am a paying customer. She responded curtly, stating that this would be the only time they would accommodate me, and not in the future. Frankly, that was insulting. There won’t be a next time.

To add to the poor service, at the end of our meal, our server was too busy to take my check, so I walked it up to the front counter. Lily processed my payment without saying a word and tossed my receipt back at me before walking away. No thank you, no acknowledgment, nothing. I was shocked by the lack of professionalism and basic courtesy—especially coming from a manager.

Despite the experience, I still left an 18% tip out of respect for the industry. I have worked in restaurants for over 15 years, including at this very Sakura location as an assistant manager just four years ago. I know the standards of service this restaurant used to uphold, and it’s truly disheartening to see how far it has declined.

I strongly urge upper management to re-evaluate the customer service training at this location. Today’s visit was not only disappointing—it was disrespectful. It’s unfortunate to say this, but today was my last time dining at Sakura,...

Wish i could give a zero star! They just rob you blind in daylight with nothing to show for it.first, they made us wait for over 39 mins before the chef that was supposedly assigned to us came around, the annoyance started when they sat another couple on our table-i was wondering if im paying almost 70 dollars for just rice and vegetables they could at least have the decency to give us a table, as if that was not enough, the chef started his beautiful display of a combination of onion candle and dragon breath fire on tbe grill which was not bad,then the horror began! Making the rice, vegetable and shrimps and scallops took forever, i was willing to wait and damn was i hungry! In my mind i was wondering if he was going to start the other couples food after ours was ready, little did i know that they had lumped in 5 orders and a 6th obviously take away order in the little food being prepared on the grill, to cut the story short, we each were served aboht 10 tea spoons of fried rice a few flakes of vegetable and at this point i was hopping mad i had ordered shrimps, scallops and lobsters with satueed mushroom on the side,i watched in agony as this chef scooped the entire mushroom and shrimps which could barely make 2 servings and split it up between the couple and a stero foam plate into which a portion of everything made on that table was dumped-i couldn't hold my anger anymore and i demanded for the shrimps i orhidered but the chef insisted that i did not order shripms, the waiter who took our orders had to be called in and it was confirmed that i did indeed order shrimps at which point she offered to have them quickly boil some shrimps-boil-shrimps??? !!! Of course i said no! I couldnt wait to get out there. The food itself was bland and totally uninteresting .we parted with 70dollars all the while weeping inwardly and they had the efontry to ask for a tip! I simply cancelled it and wrote in capital letters NO TIP! So finally i went home from the big dinner still still very very very hungry , not wanting to risk anymore surprises, i respected myself by digging out some frozen biggels and butter and took it with a cup of tea -you bet my husband was scrambling over the bigels with me. Eating at the sakura was not a pleasant experience but it was one worth having otherwise i would have always felt like i was missing out on something - a word of advise please -dont...

Management and operations needs a lot work.

I am not sure how the manager trained their employees and ran the place. But the place is just depressing and nearly empty.We came to celebrate my brothers birthday cause he wanted Hibachi.

Our waitng time wasnt long. The place only had two tables filled up. The waiters and chiefs felt like they hate their jobs.

The biggest problem is that when it comes to ordering. We have been this retaurunt for the past 10 years. We usually order 4 entree orders for everyone and get sushis. This time we were suprised to hear a mandatory 6 orders must be made for 6 adults. (we had two kids). Thats over $150 plus 18% mandatory tip. Its fine, we came expected to celebrate familys BD, so 8 people is expected for $200.

However, money is not the issue. Its our servers attitude and how she handles our concerns. As a trainning manager with years of retail and government experience, I dont understand the thought process of our server. We ask our server why we must order 6 entress for the table. She said its retaurunt rules. Ok, no problem. But then the server asked us if we wanted to speak to the manager. We were just inquiring about the reason, and the serve went straight defensive with " would you like to speak to our manager?". As a STM, the employees are poorly trained handling customer concerns.

The biggest issue is that I tried to explain to my mother its their policy. The waitor decide to smart mouth my mother by adding "Yup, what he said. He is right."

I made a phone call to Zikis Hibachi in Gburg to inquire about any mandatory order numbers. They said there are no limitations. I was very disappointed and frustrated with Sakura. I got up, told our server this is a waste of our time and left.

We went to Zikis afterwards, the place was packed. Felt alive with friendily staff. They made my little brother truly felt happy ok his birthday. There was a completly different atomosphete at Zikis. Suprisingly, the prices were the same,we ordered 5 entress at Zikis anyway with nearly $300 check. But we were happy

Here are some advice for you from Manager to manager.If you want to thrive and make money. Place customer satiafaction ahead of profit. No manager bothered to talked to us at all inquiring about our concerns or issues for 10 mins during the conversation with our server.

Your 10 Year Old Ex...