Yosaku — Restaurant in Portland

Extremely disappointed with tonights lackluster service, which really bums me out... When we arrived the host wasnt even able to even give us an estimated time to seat our party (4 people), so we just had to kind of stand around and hope for the best, so the communication was poor from the start. When we sat down and started to order, the menus were on plain 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and seemingly minimized to the point they had no real descriptions on much of the menu items. When it came to the wait staff, they seemed flustered, disorganized, and unproductive. Our food delivery times were so staggered it felt awkward receiving the food, some of us getting both our apps and main meals nearly 20 minutes before others got their meals. Additionally, not sure if this is just the type of hot tea they have on hand, but the tea we received had barely any flavor, and lacked almost all color while only really tasting like a cup of hot water. Our waitress seemed too busy to help us, but also found plenty of time to use her phone. It was hard getting anyone's attention, but when we did it still didn't help much. We had asked one of the wait staff if we could get the check, he affirmed that he would get on that for us and walked off -- walking right by our waitress several times after that, no check in sight. Eventually when we were able to get our waitresses attention, we got the check that way, she proceeded to hand us a self-serve remote terminal, which would be totally fine if it allowed us to itemize our bill.. which it didn't. It only let us split it up down the middle, which would have also been fine if the assigned seats and food ordered matched what each person actually ordered. According to the terminal, basically each of our seats had things assigned that that person didn't actually order. So it was incredibly difficult to figure out the billing so we could pay each other back. I think the most heartbreaking part about this was my excitement to go here was the reason we had chosen it. I had gone here a few times before and the service was great and the food was excellent. In the end I was embarrassed by my own recommendation, talking up this restaurant to my friends as we walked up. The food was still great, even though it took quite some time to receive. All in all, from the wait, to walking out the door with leftovers in hand, I'd say we were there for a little over 2 and a half hours, which is rather stressful when you have dogs waiting for you at home, so this sort of random time expenditure doesn't feel good.. like I said, the food for the most part was excellent, Im just disappointed, and I wish that I didn't feel the need to apologize to my friends after what would have been...

Sad, Sad experience It's too easy to dump on Yosaku these days, but I had to write something.

Two orders ago (same simple order as below), there were pieces of crab shell in half of the rolls and it took several trips to get a new order sorted out. "But covid", I thought, and stayed loyal...

I have food allergies and yet seem to be OK with basic rolls from Yosaku, so I thought "Hey! How many problems could they have this time?" The guy on the phone sounded overloaded and I probably should have known better. I put in an amazingly-simple order: Maine crab & avocado roll + yasai (vegetable) roll. Could not get any easier. 30 minutes for two rolls? OK, because covid.

The tray seemed ready and waiting on the kitchen pass when I arrived, but the bar guy swept it away before handing it to me. Apparently there was something wrong with the yasai roll? Who knows. The sushi chef was acting like a clown when the order came back - I suspect they only care about larger orders.

After another wait, the same guy grabbed the tray again, handed it to me, and acted like everything was all set. I stepped outside and looked at the order up close. Hilarious - This time the crab & avo roll had only slimy cucumber sticks!! The pieces looked so sad and deflated with no filling - How do you not notice this before it goes out???

So now I go back and I want a refund. I'm not waiting for them to play musical rolls with the same food as they get sloppier and sloppier. $18 for slimy, messy rolls with no seafood. Maybe $1 worth of ingredients? Tourists have been very good to yosaku!

Money could not be refunded because it was "in the banking system". Guy said I "should have used cash" but the card machine looked like it was the only payment method. They act like they are still careful because of covid, so I thought they didn't even take cash. What about a gift certificate for the amount? Couldn't do that, nope. I did get the money returned to my card, so thanks for that.

Please don't give them your...

My friend and I stopped in Portland, ME on our way to Boston and decided to try Yosaku because of the good reviews. Unfortunately, this place was a complete waste of money.

The restaurant itself has a nice ambiance, but that’s about where the positives end. We had reservations and still waited 5–10 minutes to be seated. Our server came to take our drink order and it was immediately clear she was sick, she had a stuffy nose and a phlegmy cough. She kept going into this hallway that leads into the kitchen to cough…..I sympathize that she probably couldn’t afford to miss a shift, but in 2025 servers should not be working while that ill. It’s not sanitary and it made the experience uncomfortable from the start.

When I asked if the sauce in the Ohitashi (“Chilled steamed spinach with light sauce”) was spicy, she flatly said “oh I don’t know” and nothing else. She didn’t even offer to check. When we asked for sushi roll recommendations, she said she didn’t have any!!!!! I think she could tell we were a little taken a back so she then followed up with “they’re all good,” then basically started reading the sushi menu to us. Very weird service overall.

The miso soup was the only thing I enjoyed, it was flavorful and well done. The sushi, however, was mediocre at best. The rolls were oversized making them difficult to eat in one bites and had no taste. We ordered three rolls and none of them stood out.

For the price and reputation, this was a major disappointment. I wouldn’t recommend Yosaku, there are plenty of better dining options in Portland where you won’t feel like your money (and...