Saisaki Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Poquoson

(TLDR at bottom) Our family of 4 went on a Sunday afternoon about 5pm. It was fairly empty. The business happening was mostly to go orders. By the time we left closer to 6:30pm more were trickling in to the dining room. There are plenty of seats, it would take a lot for this place to feel crowded. The place was clean and for a place serving sushi and fish dishes I'm happy to say there was no fish aroma. We only got water to drink and the server was good at keeping the glasses filled up. Lemons were provided in a bowl so those who wanted could use them. We got the tempura and veggie shrimp as well as the fried pork dumplings for appetizers. Both were excellent. The pork dumplings had a flavorful filling and could be eaten on their own. But the sauce adds just the extra punch of umami flavor. The tempura shrimp and veg definitely needed the dipping sauce. I found them a touch bland. And I found the veg to be a bit soft. This was not bad, but the softer veg especially the sweet potato was a bit less pleasing to eat, texturally. But we ate it all and no leftovers were going home. If you're looking to introduce new foods this is a fun way to do it. My son got the chicken lo mein. This is a basic dish. I would recommend it for those who don't know what to get and aren't very adventurous. There aren't any strong flavors or any unfamiliar ingredients. The portion size is big. It could be easily split among a couple of kids. The noodles are very soft as well as the chicken. If you have a very young child it could be easily cut up to feed them. This was the only dish we took anything home for leftovers. My daughter got Salmon. It was a lovely opaque pink and tender enough to break bites with chopsticks. It must have been good bc she didn't share a single bite. She usually doesn't eat much but we didn't bring any leftovers home. Again, this is a tribute to how good it was. She did comment that the only flavor for the asparagus was from the sauce it was laying in, but that it was perfectly cooked. I got the spicy crispy chicken breast. And for me, it's just ok. The only flavor on the dish is in the bowl of "sauce" which is like a very mild spicy chutney. But slightly runnier. I wouldn't call this "spicy", it does have a mild heat. Pleasant bit not hot. The veg were cooked crisp tender and pleasing texturally but almost no flavor. The chicken was well coated in panko and crisp. Very nice in that regard. But they had zero spice without the sauce. So, there you go either put this all over your plate or dip your stuff in the bowl. If you're one who for whatever reason needs to avoid spice, you could safely order this. Just don't apply the sauce and you have crispy chicken and veg. Hubs ordered a maki combo (b) that has spicy tuna roll, Alaska roll, and yellow tail roll. You also get a house salad and miso soup. (Not pictured) you could smell the ginger in the house dressing so you know it was fresh. And the miso soup was piping hot and very fresh. As far as the combo platter, you get nice portions but in easy to eat pieces. Everything was fresh and tasty and no leftovers. We had a very enjoyable dinner. The atmosphere is quiet. And we could easily hear ourselves talk. The only downside really was that we had our appetizers and dinner virtually at the same time. I would have preferred a bit better pacing to the meal. The tables are small and plates are big, so the table became crowded quickly. With the table crowded, we then felt a bit rushed to eat to get some of the dishes cleared off instead of lingering over the flavors and enjoying the food. As far as pricing goes, I feel it's about average for today's economy. I don't remember the exact price for each dish but our bill was about $90ish for everything we ordered not including tip. On a side note, the napkins are thick and nice. TLDR- I think Saisaki really excel in some of their dishes. In other areas, I think some of the flavors are lacking just a bit. However, they are worth a try if you haven't been or it's...

Dinner with our Mom, and three of us siblings, to celebrate the life of our older brother, Jess, 😢😢😢 who passed away here in Norfolk last week, and who also served for 21 years with the Air Force and another 20 years as a Civilian in Norfolk, VA. He was our parents' first-born and will be missed. We all flew in from California for the viewing and it was wonderful to share stories & hear good memories from his coworkers in the military. R.I.P. our dear big brother. 🕯🇺🇸🕯✝️🕯🇺🇸🕯

I ordered Japanese Hibachi Steak & Shrimp with Steamed Rice, my younger sister & sister-in-law both ordered Japanese Hibachi Chicken & Shrimp with Steamed Rice. My brother-in-law ordered the Angry Dragon Roll (from the Chef's Special Rolls list - it wasn't as spicy as I expected, considering the name & arriving to the table on fire 🔥😂👍🏼🔥 - I've had spicier dragon rolls) and General Tso's Chicken (definitely one of the best I've eaten), & California Roll for our nephew. My younger brother ordered the combination Tempura Shrimp & Vegetables dinner. We also ordered to share House Special Lo Mein Noodles and House Special Fried Rice.

We enjoyed our dinner very much, not overly pricey (especially after we just spent over a thousand dollars each to fly here - definitely a 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼 for United Airlines for not offering Bereavement Discount for a family who has served USA for over 20 years!), & no military discount for dinner as the restaurant was not informed & I forgot to ask for AAA or Senior Discount, other than that, everything was just right -- we like to say, nothing worse than bad Asian food! Who likes greasy or dry noodles or dry fried rice? Or a filthy bathroom? 😂🤪 I don't!!! The variety of Mochi Ice Cream we ordered (Green Tea, Red Bean, Strawberry, & Vanilla) were a hit and so good, perfect dessert after a lot of food. Also, last, but not least, a shout-out 👍🏼👏🏼 to "Jing", who politely & pleasantly served us, "Thank you!" We definitely recommend this place to anyone traveling to Newport News/Norfolk area....

Was our first time dining here. Not too long after we sat down a waitress came and rudely asked what drinks we wanted. No greeting or anything, and her tone was super off. She didn’t give us more time to look at the drinks either. We both felt super rushed and I felt so pressured I ordered a random drink. We just assumed she was having a really bad day. She comes around with the drinks while we’re still looking at the menu and we ask for more time. Not even two minutes later she comes back AGAIN and asks us if we’re ready now. I still say we need more time. She then starts deliberately ignoring us just to be petty. She starts tending to the customers sitting beside us in a friendly manner, completely different from the way she initially addressed us. She even handed us a takeout box that was meant for the customer beside us by mistake but STILL didn’t ask us if we’re ready. I watched her in the background and she didn’t look busy at all. She would stand there with her back turned toward us, just waiting for something to do. A couple times we made eye contact but she still didn’t come over. Eventually we got fed up and asked for a check for our drinks. Only them did she come over and ask us if we were ready but at that point, we both wanted to leave. I don’t want to pull this card, but I’m going to call racism. It seemed like we were the only black people there, and there was no reason for us to be treated that way as soon as we sat down. Awful experience all around and such a shame because the food actually looked...