Sakai Japanese Bistro — Restaurant in Troy

As mentioned by other reviewers, Sakai has new ownership as of April 2017. Sakai was truly a fantastic authentic Japanese restaurant under the previous ownership and was known far and wide as the go to for excellent sushi and Japanese cuisine. The new owners do deserve a grace period as they have very big shoes to fill. As recent reviews indicate, there seems to be some hiccups in the transition; however, our experience seems to indicate that things are heading in the right direction for Sakai. We ordered sushi as an appetizer (Rock n' Roll- salmon, tempura, and caviar with rice paper wrap and a philadelphia roll). Both rolls tasted fresh and were delicious. Our only criticism was that it was rolled a little sloppy for sushi. My rock 'n roll was at least 3 in. across making it difficult to eat without it falling apart, but the taste more than made up for the awkward presentation. The other roll was more on par with normal sushi. The sushi was very good, not the best ever, but it seemed to use quality ingredients. Dinner included miso soup and a salad with house ginger dressing. The soup was superb, with a decent amount of tofu and a full flavor thick broth. The whole table emptied their bowl. Best miso I've had. The salad was standard fare but the dressing was very good. We ordered steak and scallops for the our entrees including a shrimp appetizer, spouts and mushrooms, mixed veggies, and fried rice. Previous reviews stated that portion was small, I disagree. We certainly had plenty on our plates (I couldn't finish it all) and the steak and scallops was similar in size to the many other hibachis I've been to. No one at our table ordered fish, so I cannot speak to that portion size. Our chef was nice but did not interact with the diners beyond taking order details. Certainly not a show off type chef, no flipping of spatulas :). This was fine as hibachi is about the food. The shrimp was cooked perfectly, tasted fresh and included a butter cream sauce. I wish there was more because it was stunningly good. The mixed grilled veggies were excellent and each diner got a healthy portion. The spouts and mushrooms were okay, our chef got a little sauce happy and, while good, the saltiness of the soy sauce overpowered the spouts. The rice was good, but again, our chef overseasoned them with tons of sauce and salt. It still tasted good, but required a drink of water. The highlight of the meal was the scallops. These had just a tad of butter/salt/pepper and were grilled perfectly. They were fresh and melt in your mouth, no overcooked rubbery disk that many hibachi grills serve. These were on par with some of the best scallops I've ever eaten. Kudos to the chef. Finally the steak. I ordered medium rare but the chef left it on a bit long after slicing and it made it to medium pretty quickly. No harm. What did harm the steak is that he absolutely obliterated it with a sweet type sauce. I could tell there was a halfway decent steak underneath, but the sauce was overpowering. I'm okay with a bit of flavor added to my steak but most people prefer that the steak be the main flavor. This is something that I think the chef can easily remedy, someone just needs to tell him not to be so sauce happy with the meat. Overall, my wife and I had a pleasant and enjoyable meal. The food was very good. It would have been nice to include a simple dessert (ie. scoop green tea ice cream) with such an expensive meal, but that's not a deal breaker. We think the quality, amount, and flavor of the meal was worth the price. I truly think the transition to new management can account for some of the issues mentioned by other reviews. Let's hope the new owners continue on that path, as I know good quality Asian options are few in the Troy area. We were concerned as some recent reviews were not so positive, but we will eat at...

Took my fiancee there for her birthday dinner tonight.We were both served at the same time.Her meal was fine and she enjoyed it.Everything I had.....soup was luke warm,rice was cold,broccoli and carrots were cold,my steak that was served pre sliced(?) was cold towards the end of the plate and luke warm in the middle.After about 5 mins (they did a very poor job of checking on us...too busy looking at cell phones)the waiter came and ask how everything was.I explained everything of mine was cold.He could obviously cared less or didnt understand the english language.Im going with both.Then an unknown lady that seemed to work there appeared.Hard to tell as they all wear street clothes.She said she was sorry and offered to make me another meal.Well it was cold when I got it and at this point another 5-7 mins had gone by.I declined.My fiancee was already eating.So the lady then says shell give me a discount as all my food was carried away.So my time there was spent watching my fiancee eat.The bill came and they took 10 bucks off my meal.A $25 meal that I ate 3 pieces of cold meat off of and they took off 10 bucks?Unreal.....our visit there totally trashed my fiancees birthday dinner.All they wanted was the...

2025 update: Even more disappointing than before. Still no show during the cooking other than two fire balls. The shrimp was burned. We didn't get shipping sauces. We weren't offered chopsticks. The waitress was too busy taking pictures with the other waitress to pay any attention to us. The steak was good but the other foods were just plain salty. I left food on my plate for the first time in my life. It just wasn't good and it sure wasn't worth $89 without drinks other than water. Truly disappointing.

The dinner tonight wasn't much of a show. He cooked at the grill but there was no banging of the forks etc. The little volcano fire was more like a wet match. They were really trying to rush us out the door. For example they brought the check just after we started eating. She kept coming back to pick it up while we're were eating. If you let go of a dish it was gone, even if you still had food in it. They were just rushing all the way. That isn't what I expect for...