Sakura Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Statesville

Been here a few times now. The food is what you would expect out of a cookie-cutter Japanese restaurant; nothing particularly remarkable about it, but sufficient for what you pay. For what they lack in culinary proficiency, you would think they would make up for in service, but they have little to no sense for serving etiquette.

Here, you can expect to dine with company and be served separately, despite ordering at the same time. You can also expect to stay parched, as your server will likely be inattentive and/or eating at the sushi bar between waiting on tables.

I am not one to expect much at restaurants, but at this rate we may as well order our food to-go and eat it at home; at least then the food will (hopefully) arrive at the same time.

Part of dining out is the experience in itself -- and when that experience is repeatedly a poor one, you would be hard pressed to continue to put yourself through that at a premium.

Overall: ★★☆☆☆

UPDATE, 1/17/2025: Came here recently on a whim, and I can say with certainty that they have either stepped up their game overall since August, or it was just a perfect fluke; where I had complained before, they checked all the boxes this time around. I can give credit where credit is due.

They were prompt, courteous, and table service was attentive enough. The food was good, and was served sensibly. No apparent change in staff, but a clear change in detail. I’ll leave us a star for...

I was really disappointed with the sushi quality of this place. This was my husband and I's first time trying this restaurant and were really looking forward to trying their ramen and sushi. While the miso ramen was decent the sushi tasted absolutely awful. Before anyone thinks we just ordered the wrong thing I can promise that wasn't it. My husband and I love sushi and always try different kinds anytime we go to a Japanese restaurant and are no strangers to the different flavors and textures. However, the sea dragon roll and double trouble roll we tried here nearly made us gag trying to swallow it down. The taste of the fish inside tasted really gross and old, as if it had been sitting out for a minute. I politely asked our waitress to remove the two rolls from our bill since we both only tried one piece of each, but the manager only gave us a discount. After we left, it had us both feeling really sick when we got home. All in all, service was polite and quick, the ramen was alright, but I wouldn't dare try their sushi again. So for safety reasons, we definitely won't come back...

Food:

I ordered Pork Gyoza and Chicken Udon. My mother ordered Tempura green beans and Tempura Shrimp. We split the Statesville Roll. My mother ate all of her food and half of the Statesville roll. This is a feat becuase my mother usually refuses to eat sushi and is very picky about Asian food. My gyoza could have been warmer, but my udon excellent. The Statesville Roll is excellent as well.

Service:

I feel our waitress was inexperienced and very nervous, but she kept our glasses full and our order was correct, both of these are important to me. Also, I didn't see a sushi bar covered with sushi, this leads me to beleive that the sushi is prepared and plated to order, this takes time people!

Overall:

This is an excellent restaurant and I am glad to see a serious sushi restaurant in Statesville! I will be...