Sakana — Restaurant in Westminster

I thought for weeks about putting this review since I've loved Sakana even when it was only half the size. Been coming here for over 10 years and I'm so sad the older blond sushi chef is retired. (Best of luck to him because we'll really miss his amazing skills!) Unfortunately, sushi has gone way down with his absence. I had a new server who swore all the sushi was still as good or better than before but the quality nor the skills were there. I was dining with other friends & filled out a separate sushi sheet since I wanted my own platter & a separate check. Service was mediocre and the server flat out told me I couldn't get my own platter and put everyone's sushi order on 1 plate and blamed it on the sushi chefs. Strange since I've never had this issue for the last 10 years. I was also missing some of my sushi order even though the server supposedly put the whole order in at the same time. These somehow didn't have an issue coming out on a separate plate by themselves later on and when I checked my bill, I could tell the server forgot & added them last minute since they were llisted last on the bill. So... if the server wanted to put my sushi on a separate platter, he could have just put in my friend's order first, then put in another for my order. SMH!

The shake hama was terrible where the cuts of fish literally showed almost white/silver strips of the fatty skin even though it was seared. All the cuts of fish on top of the sushi rice were irregularly shaped which showed amateur cutting skills. My mackeral was actually tearing/falling apart sitting on the rice. The sushi also used to come with small dabs of perfectly placed wasabi underneath each fish but these were non-existent. They also used to have the best scratch made tamago in all of Colorado, maybe even the best I've tasted compared to sushi places in Chicago, LA or Vegas. Sadly, the tamago was beyond disappointing. The flavor was still there but the texture & shape blatantly showcased the lack of skill by the new chef and the seaweed wrapped around each piece was falling apart as well as the sushi rice underneath.

The only saving grace seemed to be their appetizers but my friends who have also been coming here for years said they felt like it wasn't the same. The agedashi tofu and the geso-age seemed fine but the kara-age was overcooked & the chicken dry.

To top it off, the server who split our checks made a mistake and put one of my items on my friend's check. When he initially gave me my check, I told him it was missing an item & he told me it was comped because some of my items came out late. My friends & I paid our bills but then my friend noticed that my missing item was on her check. I asked the server to fix our checks & charge me and he said he can't issue a credit card refund for my friend so he just grabbed cash from the register to refund her. The lies from the server all night long was totally unprofessional. I understand mistakes happen but I would rather someone admit it & fix the situation then to lie or blame someone else for their incompetency. I'm super sad to lose a great restaurant that I've recommended to so many people without ever doubting the...

So I suppose it's up to the manager of a restaurant whether to replace a returned entree at no extra charge the customer for the uneaten food. Whatever the policy at Sakana (we didn't ask when we saw the item in question added to our bill, we didn't feel like getting into an argument), we still found the attitude of the server when my girlfriend didn't enjoy her spicy miso ramen to be unacceptable. Instead of simply offering a replacement when my girlfriend explained that she couldn't taste any miso in the broth, the lady server told us that the miso ramen tasted as intended and that adding more paste to the broth would make it too salty. It still didn't taste very good, but whatever. Fine. My gf orders the curry ramen instead. It's pretty decent, nothing to write home about. At the end of the meal, we get charged full price for the spicy miso even tho all she ate of it was the egg added at additional cost. Did not mention this before the bill came out. We probably would've moved on without complaint if we hadn't been talked down to when trying to replace the order or had the return policy more clearly explained to us. Will not be coming back due to this experience. I've been to better and more expensive restaurants that return and replace an entree, no questions asked, especially when -you didn't eat it-. I've had $50 steaks taken back without being charged, but you're gonna die on the hill of your watery $15 ramen? No thx.

The food, for the most part, is okay. My tonkutsu ramen broth was acceptable, tho my pork was overcooked. My gf's replacement curry ramen was better than the spicy miso, but it was not great. It did have tasty fried chicken, but very few other ingredients besides noodles and spinach. She wasn't so into it. Where the cuisine shines is the sushi. The fish tastes like it's well sourced and is adequately competitive for the price range. We didn't love the ramen experience, but we were actually considering coming back just for the sushi before we saw that they'd charged us for the returned food. The shrimp shumai appetizer was tasty but a little skimpy on the portions, four tiny dumplings for $8 or $9.

Ultimately, Sakana is worth going to if you just want sushi and don't mind a somewhat cramped and loud atmosphere during peak hours and a snooty attitude from the staff. I'd have added more stars if not for the...

I like this place I’m not sure how I never noticed it before but we went on a random week night because we had an errand nearby. The food is good and we had an array of selections among our table. They had Uni on their specials that night which immediately set them apart. Their sushi was pretty good but if your ordering other entrees be prepared for a truly a Japanese portion size. I got the beef curry and should have ordered the pork cutlet on top. Not doing this, I was still hungry and ordered the chicken appetizer. The kids had dessert and one had lychee ice cream and the other two had mango mochi ice cream, all raved of how good it was. Please note they love ice cream and I did not sample their dessert myself. The service was good, our waitress was attentive and was knowledgeable about the various menu items. I will say though, I’m not Japanese I don’t know the names of food in Japanese but there are staple dishes you can find anywhere and order them by using a generic name like Japanese fried chicken. The server made it a point to complicate the ordering process bringing the menu back so that I could tell her the names as they appeared on the menu. This was my only issue with the service considering I frequent restaurants serving food from all over the world and infrequently face issues ordering like this. * price person sushi is $40-60 if not eating...