Sakura Bowl Restaurant — Restaurant in North Township

UPDATE 5/25/2020: Was looking forward to some sushi rolls after the long Covid-19 closures. I decided to order online, which was a very easy process. The text message stated my food would be ready in about 25-30 minutes, so I headed there and waited at the front in a parking space. Didn't receive a text that it was ready so I walked in and picked up my order that was ready. When I got home less than 10 minutes after picking up my food, I opened up the bags to find everything neatly packaged. I got 3 rolls, 2 packaged in 1 bento box and the other packaged in a separate bento box, and an entre of Beef Lo Mein.

Last time I came to visit, the Chicken Fried Rice was very bland. I thought perhaps they forgot to season the dish. We didn't complain or say anything. But the Beef Lo Mein we ordered today was the same. It needed Salt. It was very unseasoned and just... bland.

The worst part were the rolls this time. I opened the bento boxes and the rolls literally smelled like a sour smelling dirty towel. I know the process of making the rolls and can guess how this might have happened. Needless to say, I ended up tossing them. Paid close to $50 for our order and my food ended up having to get trashed.

I dont think ill be returning after this. I don't see how anyone couldn't have smelled what I did when I opened the bento boxes.

Review below is from 2 months prior:

Was super excited to try this place out. I was born and raised in Japan and I always frequent asian restaurants. I feel like it was a pretty cool, modern, space and it wasnt busy at all when my boyfriend and I went during the lunch hour. I ordered 2 rolls (dragon and caterpillar) and my boyfriend had chicken fried rice, pot stickers (gyoza) and the firecracker roll. I feel like 2 rolls is a good amount of food for one person. If I would have ordered more, I dont think I would have finished. The bowl of chicken fried rice was huge! The only issue we had was the rice was so bland. Like BLAND. The chicken wasnt even seasoned at all. You can add soysauce to it or request salt, but for the price, I expected more. I believe it was over $10, but I cant remember exactly. Might be a good choice for a couple small kids. The gyoza had a very strong taste as well. And the smell was very strong. Maybe we're just a bit picky, but the food was still good. Next time we want to try the Mongolian/Hibachi. There were a variety of sauces, meats, and veggies. We will definitely be coming...

Sakura Bowl in Highland was the destination for this evening.

Their main focus is sushi. Rolls, Special Rolls and appetizer options are astounding, more than I think I've ever seen. Prices were equally astoundingly low, especially in comparison to many other such restaurants in the area.

As all their dinner bowls (get back to that in a few) include a side salad (cucumbers and iceberg with a light ginger dressing) and mushroom and onion soup, my wife decided to skip any appetizer.

I, however, have never seen or heard of Tuna Tatare so of course, I ordered some. Not what I was expecting, though I must have checked out temporarily as I know that tatare is the same as ground, ground raw tuna is what I had ordered. It came to the table, and as described on the menu, was mixed with a light and crispy bread crumb. It was also much larger than expected (a good thing from a value perspective) sat on top of a soy based sauce, zucchini or cucumber strips and topped with avacado. Mixed with the sauce it was most enjoyable, and even good on its own.

Back to the bowls. It seems that all the dinner entrées are based on the bowl concept (hence the name 😉, yeah I know, I'm smart😜🤪) My wife picked the Signature Bowl, it was a VERY large portion, packed full of meat, beef and shrimp, and a wide variety of vegetables, the only thing it was missing... to her... flavor kick. It wasn't bad, she was just hoping for something a bit richer than it ended up being.

I went for the Spicy Thai Shrimp, with brown rice instead of the wide noodles, and mine was excellent, the Mrs. agreed! Hot, but not painfully so, enough to light the sinuses up properly. I think I also had more shrimp than veggies (save the brown rice). Good to...

So there’s a slim chance I will go back (but may give a second chance after they’ve been open a bit longer). So when my hubby and I went, it wasn’t very busy, there were several open tables. We placed our orders, to which the server couldn’t really understand us well (I asked about one of the noodle options). Nevertheless, we ordered. My hubby got sushi, which he enjoyed (hence giving 2 stars), the gyoza we ordered tasted like the frozen ones we had in our freezer and came out warm, not hot.

Then I waited, and waited, and waited (I had one of the bowl options). My food eventually came out by one of the cooks, so I’m assuming it was completely forgotten about by the server. By this time I was ready for a check. I told the server it’s fine, it came out late, I won’t take it. He smiled and left to another table (again, he didn’t understand me). I ended up just packing it then, it was not hot anymore and we were ready to leave. They discounted a whole 10%. Well, later on at home I reheated it and was even more mad that I ended up taking it home. No flavor at all. They gave different noodles than I asked (which I saw in restaurant but was ready to go so I just brushed that part off too), and they were so overcooked! I was so disappointed.

They definitely need more servers, especially ones who can communicate with us more easily. I know it’s early in the game for them, which is why if I do decide to give a 2nd chance, it’ll be in a few more months. For now, I...