Sakura Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Urbana

Last night my husband and I had the pleasure to dine at Sakura! Such a pleasant, relaxing space. The waiters were very attentive, anticipating our needs. Even the plates and bowls are noteworthy -- unique, irregular shapes led to a gorgeous table setting. For appetizers we really enjoyed the lightly coated tempura squid - beautiful presentation, too -- and the fried goyza (steamed is also available). Both were very tasty. I had to try the Urbana Roll -- which also had a tempura coating on the outside so it had a bit of crunch. It was delicious with tuna, salmon, and escolar (look it up!). My mate ordered the Chirasi dinner (dinner means it included soup and salad; also available without) -- wow! When this arrived we were so impressed by it's appearance --really gorgeous! On a bed of sushi rice were 2 slender pieces each of fresh mackerel, salmon, tuna, seared escolar?, octopus, 3 types of roe, and tamago (egg), as well as assorted crisp vegetables and seaweed. Everything was tasty and fresh; we felt honored to have experienced this place. Thanks to Smile Politely for their review, which drew us here! ...

Sakura is a great addition to the Urbana restaurant scene. While Sakanaya and KoFusion dominate the Champaign Japanese food scene, among others, Sakura fills the void on the east side of town. Additionally, while the two aforementioned restaurants mostly focus sushi/rolls/sashimi, Sakura has a well rounded menu of other entrees that differentiate it from the other restaurants. We visited during the soft opening, and the service was great considering it was their third day of operation. In particular, the soy sauce seemed more flavorful and delicious than anywhere I've had before. Prices are reasonable for what you get, and we left feeling quite full. The bento boxes were a great way to try a variety of items. The tempura was great, and the rolls decent. All in all, a pleasant Japanese culinary experience in Urbana. I must admit I prefer Sakanaya's raw fish and rolls, but I look forward to coming back and trying other menu items including the ramen and katsu at Sakura. I would recommend giving...

This was our first and last visit. The restaurant was empty on Thursday at lunch time, and we saw why. They also had at least 6 health violations on their November report. The atmosphere was fine, a bit dark, but the service was quite slow considering we were the only table present for our entire visit. The server was scrolling on his phone behind the empty bar.

The water served was tepid and tasted odd. My husband got the chicken katsu which was tough and flavorless. He only ate half. I had the sushi combo. The salmon was pretty ok and everything else was not very good. Having a krab stick on a sushi combo tray is a cop out. The tamago was not good and the white fish was poorly cut. It’s hard to mess up a California roll, but it too was a bit too mayonnaisey and had a fridge taste. The wasabi was definitely the cheap horseradish paste and the ginger did not taste very fresh either.

In summary, nothing was particularly fresh or of quality to justify the prices. The food...