Yukiyama Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Went on a slow weekend afternoon. Nobody but myself, my partner, and another couple there. Not the worst sushi experience I've had, but not great either.

I'll cut this place a little bit of slack since there was only one guy running the entire restaurant, but the service was still very slow. For whatever reason, the server/chef brought me my entree before my appetizer.

The food is mediocre. My partner got the squid salad which was incredibly salty, and the salmon maki. I ordered the tuna nigiri and karaage, but was instead served tuna maki and gigantic fried chicken drumsticks. The maki was fine, if not a bit bland. Regarding the chicken, it is written on the physical menu "唐揚げ" which is NOT fried chicken drumsticks, but boneless chicken cutlets, so if you're expecting karaage, be prepared for a surprise. I didn't eat it, although I tried a bite and it tasted peculiar. The server/chef tried to get me to take it to go (he didn't ask, he insisted), to which I declined. Please don't beg your customers to take their food to go if they don't want it.

Anyways, if I was charged maybe half the price for what I paid for this food, I would've left feeling fine, but $21 to not get a single thing I asked for is a bit crazy. Please don't trust anyone calling this place "authentic" in the reviews, plastering pictures of food with Japanese descriptions all over the walls is not a sign of authenticity. And please, owner, fix your menu. Not even the prices are...

We went on a Sunday at around 4:45 pm, and the restaurant was completely empty except for us. Nonetheless, the server (the ONLY server) took a while to come take our orders. The server gave our 1 year old and 3 year old kids glass cups of ice water, and I had to ask for straws. These cups did not have lids. I asked for my kids to share one pork katsu special from their whiteboard, but they served two instead. This whiteboard didn't even list what the prices were. Thankfully they did not charge us for two, but it took an extremely long time of waiting for the server to come back to check on us. They never came back with a receipt, so I had to get up and ring a bell and wait for a receipt. There are signs posted everywhere about how short-staffed they are, and how you can kindly leave if you don't want to wait. I considered leaving without paying for our meal. I thought that would be horrible and decided to wait even longer. Finally a person came to ring me out but they didn't even tell me the total or give me a breakdown of the receipt before taking my card and charging me. All the while, I was asking for the total, and he just said he would give me money back if it's wrong. Overall, the service and atmosphere are really bad, 1/5. However, the food was decent and would be a 4/5 for the sushi and a 3/5 for the hot foods/appetizers we ordered. The prices are pretty high for the overall experience. Not...

We got back from Japan a week ago and were missing the amazing food. Thankfully, my husband found Yukiyama. Wow! It was super authentic and we loved it.

We ordered way too much food not thinking the portions would be Americanized. No matter. I’m happy to have leftovers for lunch this week. We loved the gyoza (dumplings). They were so soft, delicate and flavorful. They didn’t need the sauce but the sauce was terrific. The pictures of their sushi looked good so I wanted to try it. The tuna roll was delicious and only $6. My husband loved his chashu (pork that tastes just like bacon) ramen. There were tons of noodles, huge pieces of pork and mushrooms. He really enjoyed it and was in the mood for ramen since we loved it so much in Japan. I got the chicken katsu (basically a cut up fried chicken cutlet or breast). It was so krispy, tender and flavorful. The portion was giant. It came with white rice, miso soup and the sweet and delicious katsu sauce that I love.

We wi definitely be back to try other things when we come back out to Squirrel Hill. The man who brought out the food was so sweet. We miss Japan and found an...