Yamato Sushi Train & Grill — Restaurant in Omaha

I didn’t want to leave a bad review because I had hoped they were just having an off day but after looking at previous bad reviews, I see that our experience is nothing new. Our regular spot is closed between lunch and dinner (Sakura in CB) and we were just in between that sweet spot and craving sushi. The good reviews swayed us and I wished I had filtered the reviews to see the complaints. My first complaint is that they do not have physical menus and you have to connect to your phone to look it over - I understand that this is actually becoming popular but it’s so impersonal. We ordered and got our drinks, well, some of them. Our daughter noticed the Japanese pop drinks upon arrival and we requested those for our kids but were told we had to wait for those to come by on the train. You couldn’t just bring them out with our other drinks? That took a good 15-20, and then there were only 2 so our eldest had to wait another 10 for one to appear on this train. Waitress seemed to disappear or pass by us quickly. It took 30 minutes before I could get a refill and that’s after stopping her. Then again, she was the only one working the place so I’m sure she was busy. Bathrooms were gross. I won’t even go further on that subject. But, the part that threw us completely off was that the conveyor belt ‘train’ was NOT refrigerated. No cold air was blowing in, the belt was not cold, drinks and sushi we got off of it were room temp at best. This is food poisoning waiting to happen - we actually stopped grabbing plates because we were afraid things weren’t up to code. We purchased two large bowls of ramen because it’s our fave anywhere we go and it was the absolute worst ramen flavor I’ve ever had. The best way I could describe it is it smelled/tasted like a porta potty - if you can imagine that. It was not normal. Between the 5 of us, our bill came out to $160 and we tipped our waitress well - quality of food was not her problem, and she was pleasant when we did see her. I think the experience/atmosphere is what we paid for over anything. Im hoping the restaurant does better and fixes things because I could really see this being successful if done right. Unfortunately, we will not...

I finally found the best sushi experience in Omaha, hands down. Come for the train, but come back because the sushi is off the charts amazing!

The quality of the fish is truly on point with any coastal restaurant.

I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in Hawaii, LA, San Francisco, Houston, NYC, & Seattle. And this is on level with the best sushi I've ever had in Seattle.

Interestingly, I found out why after talking to the owner. They receive WHOLE fish the same day they're caught, shipped in from ... Seattle. Most sushi restaurants in the midwest get their sushi in steak form, pre processed. This makes a noticeable difference!

The tuna melts in your mouth, no chewing required. The squid was pan seared to tender perfection. Even the octopus sashimi was amazingly delicate.

My 4 & 7 year old daughters loved grabbing plates from the train, and actually found food they loved! Very rare outside of pizza or mac & cheese. My oldest daughter even ate her first piece of sashimi - white tuna, and didn't even know it was fish.

They also have some very uniquely served dishes, like mini sashimi tacos, and coconut fried shrimp served in a martini glass.

The decor is beautiful, and all of the staff was super friendly.

And the prices are incredibly CHEAP for what they are serving!

This place deserves Omaha's full support. 6...

I was debating between a 3 and 4 star review. I ended up going with 4 stars because of the great service and unique concept. The restaurant is pretty small, so if you have a large group I would be sure to call for availability, especially if you want to sit at the train.

The reason I was really leaning towards 3 stars was the food being average. I had a few different sushi rolls and all of them were “fine”. The sushi train is good if you’re not sure what you like, but it can get expensive quick if you’re not careful. You’re allowed to go up to the sushi train and grab plates if you’re at one of the tables off to the side, but there isn’t any good places to do this when it’s busy as the whole “train” is surrounded by seating.

Specialty rolls and Normal rolls off the menu were priced about middle of the road (menu pic from 04/01/2023) for the amount received. Our server was fantastic, very helpful and made sure we had everything we needed.

Overall I’d say to visit at least once. It’s a cool concept and definitely lets you explore the menu a bit. Once you figure out what you like, though, I found it did get old...