Sakura Sushi & Steak & Hot Pot — Restaurant in San Marcos

Im giving a review of this place after eating here several more than 7 times and leaving another bad review a year ago. The first bad review was based on the waitress weighing our noodles and broth with NO MEAT btw and charging us a “waste” fee for not finishing our food. That experience was absolutely ridiculous to have to sit there why she fished out soggy noodles that had been soaking up all the broth for 50 mins and she weighed it right in front of us never telling us why she was doing. I can totally understand charging for meat. Wasted meat is a travesty and should be charged but noodles????I wrote a bad review that time and the owner/manager was gracious enough to give us the money back in gift cards plus two free sushi rolls. I included the cards and as you can see I have to buy something in order to use them. Fast forward to today after using the gift cards last year I still had the free sushi coupons. Today I walked in and asked if I could just get hot pot by itself and then could I use the free roll coupons. The girl at the front said sure no problem after I showed her the cards. Then she must have told another gentlemen in management about my cards so he came over and showed me a different menu with the special rolls that I could order different from the sushi train. I was told later that the lunch special 16.95 and that every roll I was trying to order off the specialty roll list was included and came around on the sushi train so I ended up putting the coupons back in my wallet and then I was presented with a bill for 38.95 all you can eat sushi and hot pot. Make it make sense. I had to purchase something to use the roll coupons. The owner/manager walked in for her shift to be faced with this dilemma. I’m sure this isn’t how she wants her day to start. She gives me $9discount and tells me to keep the cards. At this point I’m just sick of the nonsense. I live in new Braunfels so I made the drive to come up here. The staff should be clearer about the menu and if I was quoted 16.95 coming back with 38.95 is outrageous. Food is always good and sometimes great but I just can’t with the drama. I was basically tricked and finessed by the second guy into spending more money and never even got to use my cards. And after reading some of these other reviews they are just all about the money grab clearly in my opinion. Quality and customer service...

Went here for the hotpot, they price everything ala carte: no AYCE sadly.

Spicy soup base is decently spicy, but it’s nothing eye watering for most. You’ll notice it’s there but most people who aren’t completely spice adverse should be able to handle it.

Vegetable quality and QA is a little suspect: my white mushrooms were soggy, and brown / black on several spots, and the bokchoy didn’t have a good rinse, would recc if you get the bokchoy to do a wipe down if the grit yourself.

Meat quality was better, the standard beef offering was 4.25 a plate, but they also have higher end steaks avail which looks to be fresh sliced actual steak, however the price began at $15 for what seemed to be a 6oz NY strip graded Choice, if that. Honestly would stick to the 4.25 plates.

The sauces were good, and good portion size. Got the “Meat Sauce”: a sesame forward sauce some garlic and spice. I added some eel sauce that was on the table to have a bit of sweet and savory.

Seating for the booths is very hard plastic, not great for long term sitting or for those with little back padding.

Service was friendly if a bit slow, and depending on who you get the knowledge varies greatly: one lady did not know the difference between chicken and beef, another gave wrong instructions for turning on the hot pot, luckily asking someone else fixed this or I would have warm pot instead.

Ended up paying around $45 per person for hot pot, a bit more than some AYCE places and the quality was decent but nothing to rave about. For the areas lack of hot pot and competition this was decent, but not great ROI on expectations, which is why it’s a 4 instead of a 5. It scratches an itch you may have and aside from some vegetable quality control, it’s not bad. I’d come here again if I was...

I arrived with my family at 7:20 pm. We were immediately seated in the all you can eat section, very small tables next to a conveyor belt. I asked the manager if the hibachi was open and he said yes, he opened the menu and said everything on the menu is a-la-cart and that the show would include the fire and everything, I asked this because I have a 7 and a 5 year old who I wanted to entertain.

The chef, clearly annoyed and not dressed as a chef, couldn't start the hibachi grill so the manager came over and started it. As it was heating up, the vent was making a very loud noise and they told me it would stop soon. (It didn't).

I could go on about every little detail but the short of it is at 8:00 pm I gathered my family and we left. Not ONE thing had been done on the hibachi grill... it was taking so long and my kids were starving after a long day on the river so I ordered some sushi, then we got push back from the waitress how about ordering sushi, she wanted to move us back to the all you can eat table. It was like they did not want to do anything hibachi for us at all.

Additionally, when I was complaining, I'm pretty sure that one of the girls took my picture. I didn't say anything but I'm pretty confident that I saw her do it, this was the girl who threw my 8 year old daughter's sushi roll down on top of the menu instead of placing it on her charger (service plate).

If you Google the name of this restaurant you'll immediately see a huge flame fire tower, but this is absolutely misleading.

Oh, and they did charge me the $42 for two drinks and two appetizers that took 40 minutes...