Sakura Teppan Steak & Sushi — Restaurant in Tucson

Overall - VERY GOOD! Restaurant has great foundation with awesome food but with things that can be improved upon. (Also I was only on the sushi side so I can't say anything about the Teppanyaki side even though I heard positive commotion!)

Little things to improve - Lighting and atmosphere can be improved a bit with a more even temp as some spots are hotter and colder than others. Too many different menus that have some organization, but I think it could definitely be done better with everything being compacted into one menu with different subcategories. There are some rolls that are very similar to each other that should be maybe classified into certain groups of similarity in case someone wants different rolls of variety or all rolls to be the same. (All of them tasted great though.) Server was nice, and provided good service. Pricing is a little more expensive than I want it to be but the quality of food is in the same boat as the price. Last thing is presentation for 2 of my rolls. Nice and standard! Nothing wrong but they looked the same. It would be cool to see all the rolls have something that only that 1 roll has for it to be itself. But that is just my perception.

Things I LOVED - Taste! Anyone fans of masago? (Small fish eggs) me and my mom are a little crazy for them and they definitely deliver! Great amount for the rolls that have them and the quality of the food again is awesome! Some foods show the quality of the ingredients and their taste balances nicely! Wasn't crowded but still welcomed to sit right away and was eager for us to dine. Great attitude and staff. Now the star of the show - The Sunrise Roll. Holy cow I don't know if the chef like us or something but damn that roll was NICE. Excellent presentation and very satisfying colors of the fish and nice pleasant sauce on the bottom! Anyone who likes sashimi but wants sushi would LOVE this roll! Nice mellow spring onions with nicely layered fish on top of the sushi and was truly worth more than it's price. And it looked like it was made with lots of love behind it more than the others! Appetizers were great and I recommend them too! (Had the squid salad and it is better than other places that I have had.)

Overall... GREAT dining experience that I highly recommend! Obviously some improvements can and maybe should be made but, that's with every restaurant! Definitely not an everyday spending type of restaurant and is a once on occasion type, but you are going to remember those occasions! Great food and taste and slightly higher than my optimal spending prices match the quality of the food! Please don't let any of my small critiques discourage you from this fine restaurant as it is great and you should judge it for yourself! 😉 Overall...

Been going to Sakura for years we were very loyal customers, but after tonight’s experience we won’t be back. Tonight our cook started off by saying he didn’t want to be there, our rice was undercooked, all meats were over cooked, scallops and shrimp were burnet and rubbery, and veggies were undercooked. He didn’t divide the portions properly so some got all the veggies and as it went along the table the last person just got sprouts. Not only was the food flat and poorly seasoned, but normally they make it fun and throw food for you to catch my kids were extremely disappointed as there was no interaction at all including the shrimp toss. He attempted the train and failed and actually burnt my 7 year old with some of the oil popping. At the end I decided to let the manager know how flat tonight was as we have never experienced that before. Our bill was over $200 so feeding a family of four there is not cheap. Perhaps they would take care of us and let the kids do a shrimp toss or take something off the bill. His response was that the cook was new and he didn’t know how to do the job yet. We went there for the my sons birthday and it was ruined entirely. Staff should be well trained and the customer experience should not suffer. He left and came back 10 minutes later with a $25 certificate to come back. We told him to keep it. In my opinion the bare minimum management could do to take care of a loyal customer. In conclusion unfortunately we got unlucky with inexperienced cook, where we won’t be back though is how poorly management did with righting the wrong. Avoid this place, as the manager did not care about the customer...

I have never been as confused or insulted as I was here in my whole life. This establishment truly believes in punishing those under the legal drinking age. Me and my wife heard about their happy hour sushi and decided to give it a go. Upon arriving in the early night we thought a patio dinner would fit quite well. After the regular steps of taking a table the hostess asked us for our ID's after ordering two waters. Soon after she had told us we were not allowed to sit there and had to leave because the patio is there "sports bar". I looked around and not seeing a bar short of the one inside the building I assumed she was confused or new on the job. I asked to speak to the manager and after what seemed like a wait of the ages the manager arrived. She had told us that there was no confusion and that we were unable to sit there do to my wife's age. At this point we asked to have our order transfered to a inside table. Unfortunately we were informed that the happy hour sushi prices only apply to the sports bar area despite the fact that the sushi comes from the same kitchen. At this point I asked the manager what my options were and I quote " This is our policy. You can eat inside off of our regular menu, or you can stay here and she can eat inside away from the patio if I wanted the sushi." Despite all reasoning or questioning we had given up once the conversion led to "This is the law and we can get in trouble if the cop came and ID everyone in the restaurant." If you respect sanity or just hate plane stupidity with tacky Japanese decor I...