Sakura Bistro Sushi & Sake Bar — Restaurant in Oakland

I really wanted to love this place. I was in Oakland for a work trip and I came in by myself and the host directed me to the sushi bar. There were only a few seats left so I took a middle seat near the middle. Despite having 4 or 5 members of the staff reach over me to grab sushi for other from the top of the bar, it took 25 minutes for someone to acknowledge that they hadn't even taken my drink order. Once I ordered my drinks and got them, no one took my food order for almost another 30 minutes, despite more staff reaching over me again to grab plates from the top of the display case and taking someone's order 2 places over. I had to flag someone down after they dropped off food at a table behind me to tell them that I hadn't ordered yet. I put in an order for some sashimi and a Black and White Pearl roll. So now I'm over an hour into this dinner with my beer empty and a little bit of sake left and I get the Black and White Pearl... no sashimi. Again, no one checks back in. No one says anything. I finish the roll, finish my sake, and leave. I would give this place 1 star for the service but the roll was actually pretty delicious. Not delicious enough to fix a terrible dining experience but enough to nudge me up to 2 stars. They need to come up with a better wait staff system than "everyone on staff deals with everyone" because even the people next to me only got spoken to once the entire time we were there. I would love to try more of the food if that first roll was any indication but I'm not willing to spend another 2...

I walked into Sakura Bistro today expecting a decent sushi experience, especially since it’s located in a prime spot in Chinatown. It was my first time here, and I even brought my coworkers because the place looked spacious and promising. Big mistake.

No one greeted us when we walked in — not a single hello or acknowledgment — except for the kind sushi chef behind the counter (the only person who seemed to care). We waited about 10 minutes just to be seated.

Allegedly the owner, lady with long black hair tied up had absolutely no smile and the worst attitude I’ve seen in a restaurant owner. If having customers makes you “too busy,” maybe running a restaurant isn’t the right job.

You’d think a business owner would at least appreciate people choosing to dine at her place — especially when there are plenty of better options nearby. Honestly, 90% of restaurants in Chinatown taste better and treat their guests with actual kindness.

To top it off, we waited over an hour (yes, 60+ minutes!) before a single dish came out. And when it finally did, it was wrong — not once, but twice.

If you value your time, money, and sanity, skip Sakura Bistro. This was one of the most disappointing dining...

This has been our favorite place to go once a week. My tab is usally $100.00+ and tip. Normally I would never write a review. Our last experience took the cake! The last few times we have had our entree’s served to us at separate times not together. I specifically asked our waitress to please bring our entrees togeher so we can enjoy our meal together. And then it happened again. Our second entree never showed up causing my meal to go completely cold. When I finally called our waiter to the and explained to him and her where is the food we have been waiting for over 15 minutes? My waiters then realized our order not coming out so they offered me a discount. I was offered a free cup of miso soup and a free salad. I wanted my dinner not a discount on soup & salad. I was charged my full entree that I did not touch and charged full price for our lamb entree that NEVER was brought out to us. Our dinner was never brought out but they still charged me because they expected us to wait longer to cook our entree. So we will never come here again, sorry. Yes I paid in full but you’ll won’t see my $100.00 per...