Samurai Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Philadelphia

It took me a couple days to really process what this experience was in order to leave this review. If I could leave 0 stars I would, they ruined my birthday celebration. But I’ll let you come to your own conclusion.

(TL;DR - everything was terrible, I’ll never come back, and you should have extremely low expectations here)

With 2 weeks notice, I called ahead to make a dinner reservation for myself and 5 of my friends who were coming from out of state. I confirmed over this call if they have hibachi tables, as we were looking for the show as a part of the celebration. They confirmed and we really looked forward to the event.

We arrived right on time for the reservation and were approached by a man who didn’t seem to know or even care that we had a reservation. He had us follow him to this weird side room away from the main dining area. This room was completely white walled with zero decor, no music playing, 3 empty tables, and no place settings. “Ya know, the lack of ambiance is really a choice” one of my friends pointed out.

Our server seemed ill prepared for the shift let alone even for our table. This is when we found out they don’t even have hibachi tables, and if we did want entree’s, they would only come from the kitchen. We were pushed to get the All You Can Eat sushi special however “it needs to be unanimous, or everyone pays a la cart”. I’ve been to so many All You Can Eats in the city, and forcing “all or none” is such an outdated service policy. But whatever.

We were never offered drinks despite all of us very much wanting alcohol because again, it was my birthday. They only sold wine and champagne by the bottle (?) and their sake and beer menus were extremely minimal. We were never even offered drinks at all. We had to ask for even just water. Our food came and nobody was impressed. It was obvious the fish was not fresh and even more obvious that some rolls were premade. The entire experience was so entirely disappointing.

We were there for 2 hours despite hardly any other tables being in the restaurant. It took over 45 minutes for our sushi to even come out, and at one point we could tell our server forgot about us in this weird little side room.

All in all, I’ll never come back. Sorry this review is so long but it’s absolutely a detailed warning if you plan on hosting a group here. My friends were from out of state and I was so excited to take them to a nice Japanese restaurant in center city. This experience was embarrassing and I’ll never forget how they ruined my birthday dinner. Do...

Amazing and underrated sushi restaurant! Came here with friends on a whim and ordered the sushi boat for three. We weren't expecting a literal boat so when it arrived, we were shocked and impressed by the presentation. The sushi pieces looked and tasted fresh, with the sashimi being a particular standout. It didn't have any of the "just thawed" taste or feel you have at other sushi places.

Overall value was great too, coming out to around 25 bucks a person for a very good portion of high-quality sushi. Restaurant was clean and the staff were very attentive and friendly as well. We also enjoyed the salad and miso soup starters; they were both very flavorful.

Will definitely have to return again and try more of the menu. Couldn't recommend this place more, you're missing out if you're in Philly and haven't gone...

Loved Samurai! We dined privately in our very own 360-degree video room. We were given a private room. Our table was surrounded by beautiful reef fish and sharks. It was something you might experience at Disney World. It was a very cool concept. Watch out! The Sushi chef will overfeed you with amazing sushi roll after amazing sushi roll. The sashimi was super fresh. We tried the steak too, and it was delicious. The owner is a sushi distributor who hand-picks whatever is served, which is the equivalent to Charlie from the Chocolate factory handing you just the right candy bar! This restaurant will end up being one of the next great places to eat in Center city, Philadelphia. Go before everybody finds out about it, or you won’t get in, and you will be waiting outside. Trust me,...