Sushi Masa Lakeland — Restaurant in Mulberry

I don't know how they got 4.7 reviews. I would have thought It's been last after our experience. We were in a couple days ago and we're excited to eat some sushi. The first part that we all complained about was being able to read the menus. Black font on a dark busy background made it hard for us to read, Even the teenagers. Feels like they're just working the kinks out still. Ginger salad was possibly the worst ginger salad dressing I ever had. The salad itself was wonderful The dressing was garbage. Super sweet unlike normal ginger dressing. It lacked the ginger. Clear bra soup with the mushrooms and it was wonderful. Probably best I ever had. Sesame balls were great and flavor but just super greasy. I have traveled too many places in Eaton many different sesame balls and these are possibly the greasy I've ever had. I took my second order home and cooked it the next day after soaking it in paper towels and put it in the convection oven and cook the grease out of it and They were wonderful. They need to cook them a little bit longer and drain them. There's just way too much grease in them and they were a little doughy. I started off with the tuna tataki and it was possibly the worst I ever had. Had barely any flavor of sauce and was fishy. I left several pieces on the platter. Everybody tried a piece and I tried to eat a few, drowned in soy sauce. The boys had the dumplings and liked them. I tried the salmon skin sushi roll and it was good. I'd never had that before. My husband got the asparagus roll I think and something with sweet potato tempura sushi roll and they were great. The sweet potato was the lucky Buddha or I think it was called. That was the star of the show. Boys got hibachi. The fried rice taste of nothing but egg. Probably the worst fried rice I ever had. I said their meals were okay. Oh my husband also got that crispy chicken that's made with the panko breading and it was bland. He didn't need it. We took it home And I ended up throwing it to the birds. He was pretty full for his sushi anyways. This wasn't the best Japanese meal we've ever had and we travel all over and eat from different states and countries. So we have a lot to compare it to. All in all I think it's going to be a great place they just have some things to work on. For starters, ditch that ginger dressing and get a proper ginger dressing for your salads. None of us ate our salads It was a total waste. Your fried rice you should not taste like eggs. I love eggs and I couldn't stand it. With this said I would come back for a few things but I know what not to do next time and what not to get. Our waiter Damien I think it was, was very helpful. My husband has a lot of questions sometimes and he was very patient with him. We had a couple items that were brought to us that weren't ours and they had to swap it because they took it to wrong tables. Like I said I think you're still working the kinks out. I usually take pictures but I have my phone on charge and did not bring it in. I will take...

First, let me say we will try again in a few months, and I'll update the review as the restaurant is new and just opened. They still have some kinks to work out.

Party of 4 - 3 adults, one child

Our order: California Roll, Rainbow Roll, Shaggy Roll, and Boston Roll 4x salad, 3x Clear Soup, and Mitso Soup Entree's 2x Steak and Shrimp Hibachi, Chicken Hibachi and Childs Teriyaki Chicken, side of combination fried rice and a side of scallops.

Service was ok. In the beginning, it started off good and then became a train wreck. Drinks, sushi, and entree order done quickly. Then, it all fell apart.

Sushi came out in 5 and 10 min clips instead of all at one time. One had no Wasabi, and no one brought soy sauce dip plates, had to ask three times, and 12 minutes later, finally got soy dip sauce plates . The sushi was good. The Rainbow Roll Avocado was a little old(see pictures). Rolls were loose and difficult to control with chop sticks and would fall apart. Sushi rating if 6 out of 10.

Salads and soups were good 7 out of 10 rating.

Entrees were shockingly under seasoned and fairly bland for a Hibachi style restaurant. Once again, half the order came out, and the other 2 plates 10 minutes later, one of those being the childs plate. Half of our party was done eating by the time the other got their food. The Noodles were sweet, which is a little different and odd for us personally. The side of Combination Rice was bland, literally no flavor what so ever. The scallops were the best flavored dish. Entrees rating 3 out of 10.

Our server disappeared, and 3 out of 4 in the party got one drink with no refills. I had to go to the sushi bar and ask for silverware 10 minutes after asking the waiter for silverware. There were many different servers bringing food from the kitchen with no follow-through or follow-up to make sure everything was good or if anything was incorrect. Our waiter was not seen for 30 minutes until we were ready for the check.

Atmosphere: Open concept and is very loud in the back left of the restaurant. There is an attempt to break the noise, but it still needs some work. Very clean inside and out. The sushi bar was very clean and organized, with 8 to 10 men making rolls. All you can eat sushi seemed very popular. The sushi team was pounding out plates of sushi steady for over an hour. Atmosphere rating is 7 out of 10. This can be improved with soundproofing element changes.

I was very disappointed, to say the least, as this is my local restaurant and was so looking forward to their opening. I will do a follow-up and update this review in 3...

Update 3 months later: We've been back nearly every week since my initial review. I love sushi, and Sushi Masa does it well.

I'm very pleased to confirm that we have had good-to-excellent service on every single subsequent visit. Thus, our first experience was an aberration. Rating has been updated.

Our most recent visit was Mothers' Day. We got there right before they opened and there was a line waiting. We were seated after a very short wait.

Service was excellent despite the large influx of people.

The food was awesome as usual. Portions are generous and flavourful. Loved the gyoza especially. Our unsweetened iced tea was freshly brewed.

Sushi Masa is an excellent addition to Lakeland's restaurant collection.

Original review Feb 2024: A lot of good, a bit of not-quite-as-good.

Plenty of parking (we arrived on a Saturday at 4:30pm) and had no trouble getting a good spot. We were seated quickly.

We found the dining room to be uncomfortably cold. Not a problem; we'll bring jackets when we return.

The service was not-so-good. I suspect our server was new - not just to this particular restaurant, but to waiting tables in general. They were unfamiliar with the menu - we ordered the Sushi for Two, and the server attempted to tell us that it came with one soup and salad (it comes with two). The server was also unaware that they have bottled green tea available.

When the soups and salads arrived, the server asked if we wanted utensils. We said yes. The utensils never arrived - we ended up eating the salad with chopsticks.

We never received straws for our drinks.

When the sushi arrived, there were no bowls for the soy sauce. They did bring these quickly.

These are basic things that would not have happened with an experienced server.

The food... the food was excellent. The clear soup was light and flavourful. The salad crisp, with a tangy ginger dressing. The Sushi for Two has several varieties of sushi - well presented, and very tasty. There's wasabi and fresh ginger included. The rainbow roll was particularly excellent.

And the price was quite reasonable.

Five stars over-all. I believe the service to be an aberration and will return in hopes of being...