Sakura

I left Richmond kind of late and by the time I got into Charleston it was almost 10PM, so I was just looking for a place that was still open for dinner. I Unilocaled and found that Sakura was open until 10:30PM and was relatively close to my hotel.
The interior was quite large and very clean and well-​decorated. They were already cleaning up the teppanyaki area so it was too late to eat on that side of the restaurant (what east coasters refer to as «hibachi;» in Japanese, «hibachi» refers to the cooking utensil, and «teppanyaki» to the grill/​cooking style).
My waitress was very friendly and attentive, so service actually deserves four stars.
My reason for a three-​star rating overall was because of the food. It was just average/​mediocre food. I guess I should give Sakura the benefit of the doubt since this is Charleston, WV (actually several miles outside the downtown area), but the miso soup was really watery and just didn’t taste like miso soup. The salad dressing was also a bit creamier and more ranch-​like than expected.
However, I will say that the dinner bento for $ 19.99 comes with A LOT of food. In addition to soup, salad, and rice, you get a full six pieces of California roll, a full order of tempura with two pieces of shrimp (this wasn’t a combo of meat + tempura, all bentos just come with tempura), four fried shumai, and steamed vegetables under your choice of protein. My teriyaki steak was actually a nice, thick, steak-​cut and was actually cooked to medium as ordered, maybe even medium-​rare. The shumai, California roll, and tempura were not bad, but not amazing. Oh, and the steamed white rice was surprisingly good.
Sakura has a fairly extensive menu and they are running a 15% off special through the end of May 2016, so it’s worth coming just for something different, but for those of you who have had better Japanese in big cities or in Japan, don’t come with high expectations.
P. S. There was a mix of Japanese and Korean music playing during my meal, and I’m pretty sure many of the employees were Chinese, which was amusing.

Loved it always a good option and fun as well. Ask for wan wan if you get the habachi it will be fun no doubt

Great food and friendly staff. My husband and I consider this the best hibachi in the area. The portion sizes are huge, which is typical of hibachi style restaurants, and the prices are reasonable.

I’ve been boycotting Hibachi in Huntington because I loathe my tip being automatically factored in. Sometimes if my service is bad I like the power to show my disapproval.
This place better not do that to me.
Both my daughters have got addicted to gambling at the dog tracks in Crosslanes. They are also addicted to hibachi dinners. My eldest daughter had the bright idea of coming here before our Sunday evening at the Dog tracks.
I got my usual, steak and chicken. Both were good. I didn’t like their «yum-​yum» sauce as much as Huntington original hibachi. I just hope they don’t hit me up for the obligatory mandatory tip.
My family seemed to like the meal.
They never refilled my water so I had to double straw my wife’s drink.
Btw. If it’s a party of SIX an automatic 16% gratuity. It was about $ 20 cheaper than our other place.

Hate to sound like the snobby prick from out of town but this was pretty bad sushi… I will concede that I got it to go so maybe that factors into it. Also, maybe I just chose poorly but the rolls were bland and didn’t seem fresh. I ate one of my rolls but let the other to go to waste. Also seems slightly overpriced.
Service was good and very friendly but product was about what you would expect for sushi in Charleston, WV.

Excellent service, food and very clean well priced. Will be going back. Sushi was very good.

Great lunch deals, nice service, fresh sushi and a habachi option.
The menu is extensive and good food.

Sakura is a very fine establishment. I’ve always enjoyed sushi and this place definitely has some of the best I’ve every tasted. The hibachi, too, is very tasty. I loved my chef who cracked jokes and doubled the awesomeness of the experience. I’ve been there many times and only got the noodles once because, in my opinion, the rice is better. I recommend this restaurant and hope everyone else enjoys it too. (Just to say, while it was being built I would drive by thinking «Man, I can’t wait!» and let me say, this place exceeded my expectations.)

We’ve eaten pretty regularly since it opened. The food has always been very good. We always eat hibachi style. Ate here Thursday, Dec. 17^th.
As usual the food was good, but our waitress left a bad taste in our mouths. They have always brought the soup and then the salad. We got our salads & then the chef comes out & starts preparing our entrees. I asked him if they had stopped serving the soup, and he was surprised we hadn’t rec’d it. The waitress comes over & says, «well, some people don’t want it, so I just didn’t bring it»!!! She finally brings it. She should have asked if we wanted soup, not make the decision herself!!! We had to ask for drink refills also. But the real kicker was when she stood at our table, & probably for almost 10 minutes, went on & on about how she would like to go home to Korea for Christmas, but the ticket was $ 2500.00, blah, blah, blah. I think everyone at our table thought it was an inappropriate attempt at getting a bigger tip. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect for us.

Very nice staff, good service. Sushi menu oddly light on raw options — almost all rolls (including speciality rolls) were cooked items — tempura, fried, steamed. I got Charleston roll and Spider roll. Charleston roll was pretty good, with extra eel sauce on the side. Spider roll was tasty, but rice was not sticky enough to hold shape. Decent, not mind-​blowing. Perhaps cooked rolls appeals locally, but this city girl is used to good fresh raw sushi.

Delicious! Came here for dinner and it was some of the better sushi I’ve had! Service was amazing and the atmosphere was lovely. Very clean. Fish was fresh tasting and specialty rolls were unique and exciting. We WILL be back!

I had several types of sushi here– it was good and reasonably priced (maybe a touch high). Clean, quiet, and good service. Will eat here again!

The best around! This place is very clean, has excellent service, and their food is fresh and delicious! Highly recommended!

Outstanding. My wife and I ate here today. She had Hibachi chicken, house soup and salad. I had seaweed salad and spider roll sushi which is soft shell crab and it was amazing. I cannot recommend this place any higher. The price was reasonable. Our waiter was Jimmy. Great service.