Hanami Express

Pretty good! The building is a little sketchy looking, but the food is good and the staff is friendly

Food is decent
Not a cat to be seen…

Very clean, pleasant service and delicious food. When we are in town it is one of the first places we stop.

I absolutely love this place for take out! You get so much DELICIOUS food for a reasonable price, the staff is friendly, and they run incredible specials! We have ordered the chicken Hibatchi, Hibatchi noodles, and various sushi rolls on multiple occasions. This has become one of our most frequented runs when we don’t feel like cooking. We have never eaten in dining area, because we always get take out from the drive through. It seems to be family owned, which is a plus! It’s so easy to order on the Beyond Menu app, too! I can’t say enough about how much I love this place!

After all the great reviews on here I was expecting a lot more. Perhaps that was the problem. But I didn’t enjoy my experience here at all and won’t be going back. It started out weird, went to good, and then crashed and burned rather quickly.
The place suffered from a major identity crisis. It was supposed to be a Japanese restaurant but there were some Chinese menu items and basically all of the décor was Chinese as well. It was also very kitschy– lots of blinking/​flashing lights, cheap paper lanterns, etc. Just wasn’t a comfortable atmosphere. I was given the impression from other reviews that it was this nice serene place that transported you to Japan. Yeeeah, so not the case in the least. It transported me to every other cheap Chinese restaurant I’ve been to.
Service. It was lacking. We had to repeat our order back after each item. My husband told her at least two or three times how he wanted his steak cooked and she came back out AGAIN to ask. I didn’t think our order was so hard and weren’t you writing it down? Then after our food came she never once came to check on us. Also as we were looking over the sushi I asked if she had any recommendations. She was clearly talking out of her ass and had NO idea. She then proceeded to read us the rolls on the specials board (which was blinking on and off and made it basically impossible to read), and said «some kind of sauce» to describe the one.
Speaking of recommendations, there were plenty for the Black Dragon roll but I gotta say I wasn’t all that impressed. It was just so-​so in my opinion. My husband liked it though, which is saying something as he’s not one for sushi. It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but I was disappointed it wasn’t something more than it was. Again, it could be because it was talked up so much, I don’t know.
What they got right was the crab rangoon (again, why the mixed in Chinese?) which was amazing. The soup and salad for the Hibachi was also good. The hibachi itself? It left something to be desired. It was a little cheaper than other places around here, but also wasn’t as good. The chicken was a bit dry and didn’t have much flavor, and the fried rice just seemed off. I also had some of my husband’s steak and again, the flavor just wasn’t there. I don’t know. It was alright but just nothing to write home about. That seemed to be the overall experience.
Also, it may be minor but needs to be mentioned. In the bathroom there are no hooks on the back of the door or wall for coats/​purses. Do you think I want to set my stuff on the dirty floor? Also the trash can does me no good all the way on the other side of the bathroom from the door. And why the hell are there a bunch of cleaning supplies and chemicals just sitting there under the sink? They should be put away somewhere. Sure, those are minor details, but things that need to be addressed.
It doesn’t matter how pretty the food is, and great crab rangoon, soup, and salad does not a restaurant make. No wonder the place was empty the whole time we were there at prime dinner hours. I’ll stick with Mizu in Niles, and if I really want the crab rangoon, I’ll just do take out.

The best Japanese restaurant around here. Fresh food. Family restaurant. They also have lunch special.

I agree w other review– don’t let the outside deter you from coming in. Very nice inside. Excellent food with beautiful presentation!

First off… Don’t let the appearance of the outside scare you, the inside is totally remodeled and very nice. My wife and I had the chicken and steak hibachi dinners. They were good. Our only complaints would be that the rice is not fried, it is steamed. and they charged us extra for a little side of the shrimp (yummy) sauce. With those being the only issues… we will be sure to come back.

Best sushi in Youngstown. Food quality is great and presentation is out of this world

The best Japanese food! My favorite! I am a repeat customer, and every time I have gone, everything was excellent! I have tried many different Sushi rolls (Shrimp roll, California Roll, Happy Roll). They are all so good! Especially the Shrimp roll… my new favorite! Chicken & Steak Hibachi so good too! If you haven’t tried this restaurant, you should. We love it!

Our third visit and everything is excellent! We loved everything we tried. The best Japanese food we have had.

Great food nice atmosphere. Service could be a lite better but overall great experience

New Restaurant Hanami is a very nice new place in Austintown. I had the Black Dragon Roll & was great! Owners did a great job decorating the old Restaurant.

Above all else, the atmosphere is perfect; the interior is beautiful, even the upholstery transports the customer to the Meiji Jidai and the walls, decorated with good luck charms and Shinto idols, for a moment takes us out of Austintown and creates a really homey air. As a whole, the restaurant does a really good job of blending Japanese culture with the owner’s own Chinese heritage, which is important because most restaurants in the area which are owned by Chinese people don’t attempt to make a distinction between the two. The food, also, is by far the the best sushi in our area (at least in Boardman and Austintown). I, similarly to the previous reviewer, highly recommend the Black Dragon Roll; the Rocky Roll and fried green tea ice cream are also worthy of checking out. Also worth noting that the staff are probably the most friendly, happy people I’ve ever met, like seriously great service, our waitress was even teaching the little kids at the table next to us Mandarin, which was absolutely adorable. I only wish I could give ⁶⁄₅ stars.