Happy Sumo 2

Enter At Your Own Risk
One of the most horrible dinning experiences we have had as a family. Awful food, horrible service and the rest rooms were nastier than an old porta potty!

Worst meal ever– service was terrible– she was even rude– they forced us to pay a 20% tip– DONT GO HERE

Sushi here was outstanding! We visited this place on our way out of town and really enjoyed the authenticity of the décor and ambience. We ate their Dunwoody roll and their sashimi, which was so good I was upset when I realized it was all gone! I’d definitely order those two again.
We washed down our meals with some Japanese beer — although I found mine to be made by Heineken so that was a bit of a let down (it tastes alright but I wanted authentic Japanese beer).
I’d love to revisit when we are back in the Sandy Springs area for more delicious sushi and to try out their hibachi grill as well.

The seating is weird, the quality of food is low quality. The pricing is over priced and the sushi taste like sushi you can get at target. I’m sorry just an honest review.

I like the Hibachi here. Very yummy! Nothing special just good olé chicken n steak with fried rice for me.

Food is good and we always like the hibachi chefs. However… the service here is horrible… almost always unpleasant. We’ve gotten into squabbles with them over the mechanics of splitting dinners for 3 year olds… and just tonight we were commanded «will you order now please» as we were distracted getting the kids settled.
Taki, just around the corner is way better but for some reason we pick this place and take our beatings. Taki is only like $ 1 more expensive. Why???
If dunwoody got another hibachi nearby… this place would fly into the abyss. I’m sure of it.

You can find Happy Sumo II near the corner of Abernathy Rd and Mt Vernon Hwy in the large shopping center anchored by Office Depot. The restaurant is on the Mt Vernon Hwy side of the «L» shape, close to the Chick-​fil-​A. Other places to eat in the same shopping center are Galla’s Pizza, Royal Oak Pub, Twisted Kilt and Atlanta Bread Company. Parking is in the lot immediately surrounding the restaurant or the larger lot closer to the main shopping center.
With the departure of the very popular Kobe Steakhouse at the Prado, I believe Happy Sumo II is the next closest alternative for the hibachi (sic) style Japanese restaurant in the area. It’s a large space with a decent-​sized sushi bar and multiple rooms, filled with teppanyaki griddles — flat stainless-​steel surfaces heated by gas flames, where the chefs ply their wares. And ply them they do, in the typical process made popular by Benihana and the local Nakato, the chefs here twirl utensils, season the food in a «show» at the table, and ignite various bits on fire to the delight of customers.
First regarding the sushi — I’ve always ordered and received good-​to-​exceptional sushi and sashimi at Happy Sumo — especially when ordered from the sushi part of the restaurant. I believe the chefs here are quite talented, however most of their talents are squandered making up rolls you can buy at Kroger or Publix. That being said, while the fish isn’t as fresh as what is served at Nakato or Hiyakawa, it’s still of better quality than most of the frozen crap you get at most of the local Sushi restaurants and buffets.
For dinner, the teppanyaki is very passable — I mean it is difficult to mess up this style of cooking — other than to over-​or-​under cook everything. Even with all the flailing about the seasoning is actually fairly sparse — if you’re worried about sodium tell the chef and he’ll adjust to keep it down. Also, I like the gochujang they serve here as their hot sauce — just make sure you ask for it as it’s not something they typically put out as one of their sauces they offer (traditionally it’s mustard sauce and ginger sauce — here they also ad a creamy sauce for the seafood).
For the cooking action, which really what most people come to a hibachi restaurant to experience, the chefs here are mediocre, displaying a minimum amount of skill culminating in a «volcano» and/​or a flambé of shrimp or similar. Sometimes they just squirt some oil, then alcohol to use as an accelerant to maximize the whoosh of a big fire (the oil acts as a sustaining fuel). Other than flipping a few shrimp tails and beating on the table with a utensil, the chefs tend to play down the show here.
To wrap things up — the service here is above average. The sushi is good but not great. The teppanyaki is good while the show is mediocre.

This is one of my favorite sushi spots. Comfortable and family feeling here. The ladies are always nice & friendly. The sushi is super! Fresh and soothing to the tummy. You can never go wrong with their Shrimp Tempura. The ginger salad is great also. I look forward to my next dinner night here.

Family owned business that offers classic sushi rolls and more creative rolls at an affordable price. The lunch offer is by far the best!

We’ve been many, many times before and the food and service have always been pretty good.
This past Friday night though, everything changed for us. We were there to celebrate our son’s birthday (his choice) and the evening began with an incredibly unpleasant server. She wasn’t mean necessarily, but certainly not friendly by any stretch. Once our «chef» came to prepare the food, you would have thought that his compensation was based on how quickly he cooked the food. He engaged very little with us — including the birthday boy — and finished cooking in record time. This was even more apparent when we noticed that the chef at the table behind us was doing all the cutesy things (flinging shrimp into people’s mouths, spinning eggs, etc.) that one would expect to see at a Hibachi restaurant.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, when our chef cleaned the cooking surface… he scorched both me and my husband with steaming water. It was so bad that the chef could even notice a red mark directly below my eye. He apologized profusely which was the right thing to do but I would have expected some sort of break on our overall bill — which came out to well over $ 100. We received absolutely nothing.
Upon walking out of the restaurant, I approached the Hostess to let her know what happened and her only response was, «I’m so sorry.» Really??? Your chef burned us and the best you can do is apologize. Perhaps a gift card for a future visit would have done two things… made us feel as if you truly understood what had happened and actually cared about how your customers felt as they leave your establishment AND provided us with a good reason to come back and give them another chance. Opportunity lost.

Horrible food & service shrimp were gross, sauces bland… rude server… will not go back.

Few indicators that something has changed on the ownership of this restaurant. Service, quality of the ingredients, the nigiri salmon has also changed from being cut for each order to being pre sliced, the ginger dressing that was usually on the house salad is not the same anymore. The sapporo beers are now served into a metallic can rather than in glass bottle like before. Overall what a disappointment !
The service was horrible too!
We were surprised how little the traffic was, that probably could explain the difference on the quality of the food. Everything was fresh before but it is not the case
anymore. Be aware ! We have been eating there for almost 10 years and our recent visit was our last…

Right by our apartment, so the location is awesome. The food is just OK, definitely not the best Japanese food in Atlanta and for sure not worth the price. We never use the hibachi, but service in the dining area is adequate. You can order sushi or hibachi in the dining area which is nice. Sushi is fair, fresh, but not terribly complicated. They always seem very busy and understaffed. Service crew is constantly running, anxious and hurried. At times there is yelling back and forth among the staff which is a definite deterrent to an enjoyable meal.

I made the mistake of walking into this restaurant without checking Unilocal first. As a result, I ordered some miso soup that tasted like it came straight out of a box and sub par sushi with may too much mayo (why is there mayo in the salmon skin roll?). It cost me about $ 15 for a lunch that nauseated me for the rest of the day. I was even more disappointed to realize there are so many great eateries in that neighborhood. I only give two stars because my benefit of the doubt hopes the hibachi options taste better.

I come here several times a month for lunch with coworkers since we work nearby and Happy Sumo hasn’t disappointed us yet. The wait times are short to nonexistent which is a Good Thing when you have limited time.
I think the lunch menu provides ample value given the included salad and amount of food. The $ 2.25 upcharge for fried rice stings, but if you order the current lunch special, fried rice and a beverage are included. The entertainment value varies depending on the hibachi chef you get, though most of them do try to add a bit of flair and engage the table with friendly banter.
There’s certainly better hibachi in the city, but as long as Happy Sumo stays convenient and affordable it will remain our lunch staple.

I had been craving sushi and was hoping this would hit the spot. It did not. I had the eel roll and the spicy tuna. I’ve definitely had better elsewhere.

We got some take out from Happy Sumo, and everything was A-​OK. Nothing fantastic, but nothing was bad, either. The rolls were totally edible and hit the spot for our sushi craving.
The prices were pretty fair, too. Our only complaint was that we ordered enough sushi for four people (9 – 10 rolls) and they only gave us two salads and two sets of chop sticks. It was kind of a bummer, but not the end of the world.

This was *almost* a terrible experience. We took our almost-​5 year old nephew here because we wanted sort of «adult» food (sit down dinner, not fast food) with something a little fun for him. The hibachi is like an old joke that is always funny. You know all the punch lines but you can enjoy it anyway.
This was not our first choice but when the place up the road had an hour wait, I called over here and they said there was no wait. We got in and were behind a few other people, so we did wait maybe 15 minutes. Not a huge deal. We were asked to wait in the bar area to be out of the way. Three other parties walked back there with us. Even though I gave them my name and it was written down, the woman came back and said «party of 5 and party of 3? Who was next?» We were not the only party of 3 there. And I’m pretty sure we were in front of one of those other groups, but we couldn’t figure which one, so we let the others go, and waited a little longer. .but I was a bit perturbed.
The bar area might as well have been a back room. It didn’t look like anyone was ever sat there, and there was garbage on the tables. We were offered drinks from the bar but declined, hoping to be sat soon. We were hungry and nephew was getting antsy. If you’ve ever been out with a kid, you know, he gets antsy, you get antsier.
A woman finally called us and we walked up to the counter waiting. Since the hibachi tables need to be filled with multiple parties, they tried to call another two parties. An older couple stood with us and waited. Then «Chelsey» was called like 18 times. When the guy finally moved on to the next on the list, some teenager who was standing right next to the guy yelling, I swear, was like «wait, did you call Chelsey?» Sorry Chelsey and friends. You lose.
So, they’re sitting two sides of the hibachi at one time. I followed the people in front of me to the far side, and then was told to go back to the other side. The older couple is put at the end, so I sit next to the woman at the corner. Her husband is obviously annoyed at the whole waiting thing already and then decides he does not want to sit on the end because he doesn’t want to get hit in the head by people walking by. We start to move down to the left so they can move away from the end and the host says no no, have to fit a party of 4 still and our move only leaves 2 on that side and another 2 separate. So, they move to two random seats on the other side. This becomes comical. The host asked us to move down more, closer to the older couples new seats. We do that but then the older couple gets pissed and leaves.
Sigh. Thank goodness we are in good spirits with the kid, because this sort of awkwardness doesn’t always go over well. The host fills in the last 6 seats with a party of 2 dudes who looked angry, and then a pair of grandparents with two grand kids. Finally we can start ordering.
At that point, things start to smooth out. We order with no issues, grandparents are very friendly and chit chat with us, miso soup and ginger salad come out, and then the fun begins. Nephew literally declares «Best day ever.»
We thought the food was good and exactly how we expected it. Hibachi is always pricey but if you’re hungry enough and you like that sort of thing you’ll be satisfied.
Normally, I’d give the food/​entertainment portion of the evening 3.5−4 stars, but the disorganization on a regular (non-​holiday) Friday night is unacceptable and deserves 1 – 2 stars. You need to seat one party at a time, and quickly, so you don’t have 12 people following you around like idiots. C’mon, make a game plan here. The host did not look like a newb but certainly acted like it.
I am going to give them 3 down the middle as a benefit of the doubt. I probably won’t be back to this location unless original first choice closer to home is terrible, which I don’t expect since they had the hour wait…

I like Happy Sumo! It really makes me HAPPY! I’ve come here a number of times and had the Chicken Hibachi which includes soup, salad, and a rainbow sorbet dessert. It is always delicious but I wouldn’t say it’s out-​of-​this-​world good! It’s an average hibachi/​sushi restaurant with pretty low prices, in my opinion. It’s just a local restaurant. It’s not abnormally popular either especially with Taki right down the street (which is absolutely amazing!).
They have a great cocktail menu/​bar area as well. When it gets really crowded, the employees recommend their customers to hang out in the bar area… good thinking! They also have TVs in each room with the latest sports and entertainment. It’s in a great location right off of 400. I like it but don’t love it.

4 words: look at my picture
that picture sums up basically all you need to know about this location. now, I’ve never been to any other happy sumo locations, but this one is marked as «never again» and still stands today.
the service was awful overall. staff were all over the place, slow, and just unorganized. water, appetizers, and food came out in huge wait gaps. when they sushi did arrive, it looked like it’s been sitting out for 3 days before serving. I’ve never seen what old fish looks like ’til this place popped my cherry. the color & aroma was way off. just look at the pic for yourself! have you ever seen tuna with a purple-​ish grey tint? not only was the raw fish (sashimi) cuts an issue, but the cooked stuff like my unagi roll (BBQ eel) looked like it got killed twice.
sorry, but I haven’t gone to this place for like 5 yrs. and I will continue to avoid this particular happy sumo …