Ginbu 401

We stopped by on a Friday night around 7pm for dinner. Parking spaces were tight and very limited (but I guess that’s the norm for this area of Charlotte). Once inside, it took a few minutes before someone acknowledged our presence and then instructed us to seat ourselves at any available table. The worst part of our dining experience at Ginbu was our waitress. Her name escapes me now, but she was a short, chubby Asian girl with glasses. She plopped the menus down on the table and scurried away without asking if we cared for something to drink while looking over the menu. After about 5 minutes or so, the waitress returned to get our orders. We ordered the Crunchy Roll and two other maki rolls, all of which were decent, but not memorable. Another person in our group ordered the General Tso chicken. The portion was plentiful, but the chicken itself was overly sweet. Our waitress was MIA for most of the meal. We had to flag down other staff members to refill our drinks. Not once during our dinner did she smile at us or displayed any warmth. Service with a smile is definitely not something they practice at Ginbu 401.
The whole experience with Ginbu 401 (parking, awkwardly seating ourselves, the poor lighting, and the unwelcoming waitstaff) was very unpleasant. I am unimpressed with this restaurant and doubt I would return in the future. My recommendation to Ginbu is to hire better wait staffs and train them on the importance of being friendly and courteous to customers.

Take another star off Ginbu’s previous review. Called with 20 minutes left before they closed for a quick takeout order. First call they didn’t even answer.
Thinking it was a mistake, I called back. They answered «Ginbu 401» and I said I’d like to place a takeout order. She says, «hold on», comes back to the phone and says they decided to close early due to lack of business. I should try again tomorrow.
Well…you sure aren’t encouraging any business by closing early when you are already closing early compared to all other Asian restaurants in the area.
Hopefully these issues can be fixed, otherwise I don’t see any reason to return here.

Average. Not bad but not great either. Had a sushi craving and it’s a few minutes from my house so it was convenient. A bit pricey for the quality of food. I ordered to go over the phone and it took longer than they initially told me. I have been to several different sushi spots in Charlotte and there are far more places you can get better sushi for the price you pay.

Went for Saturday lunch on our first visit because we had a Groupon. The food was really good. Ambiance lacking. Service was only fair despite the restaurant being less than half full.

Went here at 8pm on a Tuesday night. The food was good and the service was quick and friendly.
Items tried:
1) Pork & vegetable dumplings. Got them fried vs steamed. They were great and dipping sauce was delicious.
2) Fire Island Roll w/​o the aoili on top. This was fantastic! Will definitely order again.
3) Teriyaki beef entrée. Beef was a little dry but overall flavor was great. Just added some soy sauce and all was well.

Have come many times. Service getting worse. Never got saki. Dish had tufu when I did not order. Replacement dish had no flavor. Will not be back.

Great selection and the quality of the sushi rolls are always good. Can’t beat the prices and the staff is very friendly. Love this place!

Best sushi/​Chinese food in south Charlotte. They are quick, very well priced, and the food is always incredible.
The 401 Spicy (chicken) is incredible. Their sushi rolls (Haku roll and crunchy roll are my favorites) are so fresh and we’ll made. This is my favorite Oriental restaurant in south Charlotte.

I love ginbu for the apps. Chicken wings, crab wontons, and dumplings. Poppin. The entrees on the other hand. Hit or miss honestly. Sushi I would give 3.5 stars. 2 stars for the entrees. 4.5 for apps. Volcano salad is also awesome.

So good! They have an awesome sushi selection and usually some special rolls of the week. Today my friend and loved the Salmon Dream roll and the Cherry Blossom. The Cherry Blossom roll was wrapped in pink soybean paper, so it was pretty and pink like the flower. Girly looking, but delicious.
I’ve also had the Mixed Veggies with Chicken and it was great. Tons of veggies in a nice light sauce. I think it was a pretty healthy option.
Look for the $ 10 for $ 20 deal on the Unilocal app. Eat in only.

I am not impressed. I went tonight with my daughter. The food was mediocre as well as the service. We told the waitress to give us a minute to look over the menu and she sat at the bar over 10 minutes on her phone without looking back to see if we were ready. She finally got up when new customers came in. When she brought the food, I could not even ask for anything more before she walked off. She came back when our food was almost done. The staff was just not welcoming or friendly at all at this little place. The food was also just ok including the sushi. I will not be returning.

Easily one of my favorite sushi places around. The food is wonderful and the whole atmosphere is pretty laid back. I have only had about one entrée there so I’m solely a sushi review on food. My only complaints would be on service, the staff always seems bothered you’re there and the one time we ordered a sushi platter and the sushi and samishi was delicious, but the portion sizes were terrible. We would have been better off ordering separate rolls and pieces and paying almost the same amount.
Plus side, there is always a Unilocal or Groupon deal

We got a groupon to this place. They have good food and we got the lettuce wraps and sushi which were all delicious. The only reason I gave it 3 stars because the server did not seem like she cared me we were there. I feel like she gave us menus and walked away and took a while before she came back. Then she would serve food and not come back. She didn’t seem very interested in serving us and it wasn’t that busy. But overall the food was great and hopefully we will have a better experience next time

I’m still looking for the best Chinese restaurant in town. Ginbu’s menu looked good, with solid variety, and the lunch prices weren’t bad. I placed an order by phone and picked it up about 10 – 15 minutes later. The food was hot, ready and the check-​out was quick and easy.
The egg roll was ok. Nothing fantastic — pretty much your standard Chinese take-​out fare, though a bit skimpy on the filling.
I went for my old standby of cashew chicken. The portion was large, the balance of veggies to chicken was good. Flavor was good… not exciting, but it worked well for the meal. Good mix of veggies — zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, water chesnuts. The chicken was a bit soft and mushy — in chunks as opposed to slices or thin pieces.
It’s a big enough portion and enough flavor that I’d go back again and try some of the other dishes. I’m not a «fan» where I’d recommend it right away, but it’s good enough that I’ll try it again.

I am conflicted about this place. The food is great — love it! A great lunch sushi menu that gives you plenty of options for a very reasonable price. And the «regular» menu is very customizable. Pick your desired sauce and cooking style and then pick a protein. But…(you knew there had to be one, right)…the service is so bad. I mean, really bad. The final straw — and the reason I decided to write this review — happened last week. I walked in (they let you sit anywhere) and said hello to the folks at the counter. A guy came by with a menu after a minute or two. Truthfully, I go there often enough that I don’t need a menu and could have ordered right then but — he didn’t even give me the option, just dropped the menu and kept on walking. Okay. No problem… maybe he isn’t the server. But then several minutes ticked by with no one coming to the table. Two more tables of folks came in… no one waited on them either. TEN MINUTES later the guy comes back around and asks if I want something to drink. (I refrained from saying, «well no… that never occurred to me»…but it certainly went through my head) The drink comes but, once again, he dropped it on the table and kept on walking. Another couple of minutes go by… none of us are being waited on… so I start to get up and then, lo and behold, a server appears. I give my order, she disappears, and then my miso soup and sushi show up in a fairly timely manner — although my server never said ONE SINGLE WORD to me. Not «hello», not «sorry for the delay», not even «how is your food».
So…I will be back but it will NOT be to eat in the restaurant. They are close enough for me to pick up a take out order and that seems to be my best option.
If you want good food… go for it! But I highly advise getting it To-​Go!

Service is slow but I can’t really blame the server. There were literally 3 servers in the whole restaurant. I got the Lo mein noodles. Good with a smoky flavor. My fiancé got smoke salmon sushi and he said it didn’t taste right. He took the salmon out and it was literally black. He stopped a worker that was walking by and asked if it was fresh and she responded by saying yes it was and that the reason why it was that color was because it was smoked. I have never seen smoked salmon look like that before.

I always get carry out here and it is very good. The service is pretty quick. Everything I’ve ever gotten was good. I will be coming back.

Delicious sushi — we usually get take-​out. Love the «fire island» roll and «salmon dream» roll! Everything tastes very fresh. Great sushi at a decent price.
Remember to grab a take-​out menu — it includes coupons!

Finding a reasonably priced sushi place in Charlotte with good quality fish is hard.
Ginbu has mastered this! Their sushi is priced well and they give you a yellow to-​go menu that has coupons that you can use for your next visit. They almost always have a Living Social, Groupon, or Unilocal deal. The best thing about Ginbu is that they deliver for a $ 1.00 fee plus tip.
Atmosphere: The service inside the restaurant can be slow at times, but this doesn’t take away from the quality and taste of their food. We almost always order to-​go or delivery because they are accurate and you can use the coupons on these two options.
Order: We have had almost everything on the menu. Our sushi favorites are: Cherry Blossom Roll (This is to die for), Spicy Tuna, Avocado Roll, Fire Island Roll. Both of their soups wonton and egg drop are excellent along with their chicken fried rice.
Final Thoughts: We eat here almost once a week and always get take out or delivery.

Worth the trip give it a try and it will amaze your tired old tastebuds. Lunch special is a great deal too!

My cousin and I bought a groupon to eat here. WELL WORTH IT.
When I’m in Charlotte I’ll come back
1. We ordered a lot of sushi. It was fresh and came out surprisingly fast
2. I had iced tea– they refilled it plenty
3. We both ordered miso soup– this was some good miso– it had some nice extra mushrooms or something in it.
Definitely coming back. Excellent service.

Ginbu is a neighborhood place for me that I like to walk to. It’s really a 3.5 IMHO BUT the food is decent and I love taking my daughter there. She loves ordering the LoMein and the seaweed salad. Everything is reasonably priced and there is always a Groupon/​Deal. Can’t really go wrong. Ambiance is not good, restaurant is small, things go fast. Service is just — ok. This isn’t a big date or hang out place, but a good meal. I’ve tried a bunch of the sushi and other menu items and it’s always good. Recommend!

The service has gotten a little less friendly lately, and there was a half dead fly in my ginger salad — not a good sign. My friend mentioned that the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom was broken, and the waitress’ response was. «Oh yeah, it’s always like that.»
No one thanked us for coming in as we walked out, even though there were 4 people working at the front counter. Maybe it was just the Sunday night crew, but would think again before choosing Ginbu next time.

I came in for lunch and what a great deal. 2 rolls and soup or salad for $ 7.99. With only a small up charge for more extravagant rolls.
My visit was pretty straight forward as listed above, so this review will not take long. I didn’t even look at the other parts of the menu, I just wanted sushi. I came in, was seated quickly and the service was great. The sushi wasn’t over the top amazing, but there’s only so much you can do with basic rolls. It was certainly worth the price.
I would assume there is a wait at peak times as this place is pretty small.