Waraku Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Virginia

Update from post Covid times! Feb 19, 2023! I ordered again from them (few times before, now yesterday) and feel I want to update the review, they’re amazing even with inflation the quality and portion size has been very fair. My favorite has always been salmon avocado hand roll or just plain salmon handroll (as I don’t like meat I try to eat more fish for protein) I ordered with extra salmon for each handroll—it’s about $5 more for each extra salmon for each roll, but I think it’s worth it. They gave such generous portions and the salmon looks so fresh and tastes so fresh. As long as you make it clear to them you want to order extra salmon each hand roll of salmon or salmon avocado roll so instead of about $6 it’s $11-12, they do give a very very substantial fair amount of salmon. Best for me is they’re fresh, and I don’t have to worry about upset stomach (some other restaurants the salmon looks pale pink and you can barely see the white stripes (means old) instead of the orange pink with white strips you can see clearly (see pics, very fresh). I highly recommend them if you have a sensitive stomach and want to be safe on the fresh salmon/fish side or you’re scared about eating raw fish because I’ve never had problems with them (I can speak for the salmon at least being so fresh, been to many restaurants or delivery orders, and waraku salmon looks and tastes VERY fresh, pink orange with clear white stripes), and their portions so generous as far as fish to rice ratio, esp if you get the extra salmon although the price goes from about $6 to $12 it’s worth it for each roll, esp if you want to catch up on proteins and don’t like eating red/pork meat like me. But, I would just make it VERY clear to the person taking orders you want extra salmon just about $5 more per roll (one time they didn’t understand me and just gave me regular rolls without the extra salmon that was paying about $12 for per roll, but I called and let them know and they gave me credit for next time, and next order they gave me extra rolls and a discount so i was impressed they remembered me and honored making it up for the order being wrong wrong last time. 👍🙏) anyway extra salmon is a good option if you want/need protein in your diet esp if you want fresh fish, the extra salmon option—it’s not an option on Uber eats but it is if you call them or order through their website.

Old review:——- This sushi place has really fresh salmon avocado eel rolls, my go to is the salmon avocado hand roll. I always go to them for delivery when I want fresh sushi. You can see from the pics how fresh the sushi ingredients are. Generous large portions of salmon and avocado and seaweed salad. I highly recommend this place if you’re a sushi lover but also want to make sure your raw...

Our favorite sushi place.

CONTEXT:

We live close to Waraku and have ordered takeout from here at least six times a year since they opened. For comparison, we also occasionally get sushi from other local places (Ariake on 236 and Blue Ocean), dining in.

PRICE/VALUE:

We order by phone, always getting the 3-roll lunch special, and pick up in store. Doing it this way, three generous rolls, a pint of miso soup and a small salad run $17 per person, which is a screaming deal in the DMV. Waraku also has run a fantastic gift card deal in the past where you buy one card for $300 and get a second $300 card for free! We are a large family so we took advantage of this and used up the balance over the course of one year. [I have noticed that a lot of the negative reviews complaining about value for price are from people who ordered through a meal delivery service, which jacks up the prices considerably. So take that into account.]

QUALITY:

The fish is always fresh. The ratio of filling to rice is large. The fish won't always be a single cut of tuna or salmon, but for the price I think that's totally reasonable. In the easily 20+ times we have ordered from Waraku, we have never had a bad experience.

ATMOSPHERE:

Some reviewers have noted that the in-restaurant experience isn't the best. We've only eaten in store once, and it's true that it's not as upscale an experience as we get at Ariake or Blue Ocean ... but the price is correspondingly lower so we appreciate it. I'd rather continue to get affordable takeout from Waraku than see its dining room upgraded.

BOTTOM LINE: 100% recommend for takeout. Call them and order over the phone for the best price (the online services tack on fees even if you pick...

I went to Waraku with a group of friends for dinner. A few of us had some complaints and issues with the restaurant, including myself.

The negatives: Their table we sat at was very sticky and so were the menus. One of the chairs was very unbalanced due to one of the legs presumably broken. Service was "acceptable". Nothing noteworthy.

The rolls were personally unacceptable for me. Some of them were mushy, and most of them just fell apart on their own. At some point I thought to myself that using a spoon would be easier. The taste was acceptable but I really wouldn't come here for "good" sushi/sashimi/rolls. I ordered the Chirashi which involved an assortment of fish and sushi rice. As mentioned earlier the fish was alright. Chirashi also came with a complementary 'salad' and miso soup. The salad consisted of what seemed to be iceberg lettuce, a singular slice of cucumber, and a small strand of a carrot. The miso soup was personally very bland and consisted of a singular tiny square of tofu.

I also had the absolute worst stomachache of 2022 later that night. It was so painful and sudden. I struggled so much that night.

The positives: Within the Chirashi contained a bed of sushi rice. The sushi rice was very delicious and I considered it the best part of the Chirashi. The food was arranged beautifully on plates. Their prices are fairly reasonable - for...