Yama Japanese Restaurant

Special Yama roll is amazing! Great staff, great place
One of my favorites! Oh and their lunch special, bulgogi box is worth a try. One of the best deals in town

This is my go-​to takeout sushi place because my boyfriend and I live right around the corner. I’ve NEVER had a problem with them in the dozens of times I’ve ordered. Tonight was my first, I ordered the soft shell crab roll and was given the spicy crab roll. I hesitated to call them up to let them know, but knowing that my order could have been mixed up with another patron, decided to do so. Gave them a call, had a convo about it, determined there may have been a slight miscommunication on either of our parts (who cares, we ordered way too much food anyway) and they comped the spicy crab, took down all my info (though they knew us anyway, just to make sure) and told us to order the soft shell crab roll next time because it would be on the house. I’ve worked in food service, as a manager, a marketing manager. And this is how to do it right. FYI: I didn’t mention anything but the incorrect order received and to make sure other patrons wouldn’t be disappointed. The rest was all YAMA!

Restaurant was slow, service was ok. We had to wait for water refills. Sushi was less than impressive. I’ve had much better rolls other places. Everything was a little off. Tempura wasn’t cooked enough, too much roe on rolls, unnecessary amount of mayonnaise on Mexican roll. There are much better places a stones throw away. Don’t bother going here.

Thanks Annie for great service! My meal was awesome, the happy hour prices are great too. I also loved my mochi ice cream, I’ll definitely be coming back.

By FAR THE BEST SUSHI in South Florida:. Fresh — nice portions — clean — the shrimp shumai is light The staff is great!

This is some of the best sushi I have ever had. And I eat sushi everywhere and all the time! The special Yama roll was out of this world (and now the best roll I have ever had) and so was the cucumber roll appetizer. The sushi is so fresh, good service. Will definiately be back.

Good food, service needs improvement. One of the waitresses is extremely unfriendly. Most of the time we go over to Brûlée because of that.

Me and my boyfriend eat here at least once a week. Hands down the best sushi in the Delray area. The restaurant is clean and the fish is fresh. The owner is always there and the sushi chefs love to create new rolls. Amazing sushi every time.

Deceptive happy hour deals, poor service. We came here for happy hour, asked what the specials were. We were told house wine was buy one get one free, we ordered two house Sauvignon Blancs. When we tried to get our second glass we were informed that the deal was only on the Pinot Grigio not the SB. We said to our server — that’s not what the menu clearly says, and why didn’t you mention that when we ordered since you knew we were ordering off the happy hour. Her response: «oh maybe i should have» no apology, no attempt to rectify the situation. I’m a local and will not be back here due to this poor service experience.

Yama? Noma… the two stars were for the décor. It was my birthday and a couple of nights ago we passed by and my husband pointed out ‘Korean Bbq’ and I made up my mind that’s where I wanted to eat for my birthday. Ugh.
It was a Tuesday night, and about 6:30 it was pretty empty which was ok because I was starving and thought we would eat quickly.
I ordered the Korean BBQ, short ribs. It came with rice and salad. I think it was the most expensive entrée for $ 26. Now mind you, I’ve had great Korean BBQ in Flushing NY so this is what was in my mind. The salad was ordinary, served with the ubiquitous ginger salad dressing. Ehh. We got that very fast, however it took about 30 minutes to get our entrees. My husband ordered Pad Thai.
When it finally arrived at my table, it was sizzling on the plate. I was very surprised that six dried out flat short ribs were served on a bed of ‘onions?’. I cut through, or rather I tried to cut through the very thin meat and I had to hack it. It was a little dark in there so I couldn’t see I put a piece of fat in my mouth, not meat. When the waitress stopped by, I asked doesn’t it come with any sort of ‘sauce’? and she said, no but came by with a squeeze bottle of hot sauce. I have to tell you, I was pissed. Usually meat charred should have some flavor, but this not only lacked any flavor, most of it was gristle and fat.
My husband’s Pad Thai was ehh… we’ve had better, even down here in Florida.
I don’t normally eat all the rice, but because I was still starving since most of the meat was inedible, I made a meal out of the onions and rice.
I normally only leave either good reviews, or bad. This one was a big disappointment.
After reading the other reviews, I should have had the sushi.
If you go, this is NO KOREAN BBQ place to eat. Stick with the Japanese side of the menu.

Service was attentive, they tried very, very hard, BUT, the food was below par.
The sushi was ok, the special yellowtail and jalapeño starter was floating in far too much ‘sauce’ and the fish and jalapeño was not cut finely enough. The pad Thai was over sweetened and devoid of any flavor. The house salad dressing seemed slightly ‘old’ as if prepared in the afternoon ahead of service. The chefs behind the sushi bar were not attentive and focused on their cellphones. It was a Friday evening at 8pm, and empty… I guess that speaks volumes.

My boyfriend and I were driving down Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach — we were really in the mood for Sushi and we weren’t in Boca Raton to hit up our favorite local sushi spots — then the sushi gods answered our prayers because we found Yama. We went in — décor was really nice, not super busy and they had a nice bar so we sat there. We love the sushi chef, he is super nice and friendly.
The soup is awesome there, my boyfriend LOVES the Chicken Tom Kha soup — I don’t eat chicken but I tried some of the broth and it is absolutely delicious. The Shrimp Tom Yum is delicious as well and spicy, and loved the miso.
Nick and I always stick to sashimi and share, we got an awesome sashimi plate and it was perfection. Very fresh tasting and very filling. Definitely try this place if you are in the area.

The most important aspect of a sushi restaurant is the freshness of the fish being served. Unfortunately this restaurant gets points docked off for freezing their fish and to make it worse, not letting it defrost enough prior to serving. I ordered a plate of sashimi (with tuna, salmon, etc) and the tuna came out as a semi-​rigid piece of fish with ice crystals still embedded in the meat. By sashimi (or sushi) standards, this is unacceptable. The best thing about the plate was probably the unagi eel though it was probably because it had been cooked and heated up. The salmon was essentially tasteless, similar to what you’d find in a cheap to-​go box from any number of grocery stores or cheap takeout sushi places. The octopus was similar to the tuna, rigid and cold, like it just literally came out of the freezer and defrosted for 5 minutes. The rice served is NOT sushi rice — if you don’t know how sushi rice is supposed to taste, I would definitely recommend getting sushi from a proper sushi bar and sampling how the rice taste and texture compares — when cooked properly, it makes the sushi experience so much better, especially for people just trying sushi for the first time.
The rolls were kind of mediocre as well — not great but not too bad either. At least the fish in the rolls weren’t as «frozen» to an obvious degree. Rolls seemed to vary in price from $ 10 – 11 for the «basic» rolls up to the mid-​$ 20 range for their more «upscale» rolls with supposedly higher-​grade ingredients like toro. We tried a basic and a specialty roll — let’s put it this way — if you can’t make a basic roll well, it’s safe to say the more expensive rolls won’t likely fare much better.
For the casual sushi person, this place may suffice, especially if you don’t really eat sushi all that often to notice what decent sushi can taste like versus the bland low-​quality stuff. Very surprised this place has the 4-​star rating on Unilocal,especially given the prices you pay for what amounts to a memorably bad dining experience.

Great food, service, menu selection. Prices are reasonable. It’s a superb four star. Five star would be expanding the alcohol menu with more sake selections and getting rid of some weird rolls (e.g. Rainbow roll with cheese). It’s definitely my go-​to sushi spot in Delray for group of any size and for any occasion. Take-​out good too.

Cannot describe how amazing the food is here! You have to come in to experience it. Staff very friendly and accommodating

Yama is a cute and delicious little place. It’s also reasonably priced. Staff are so sweet and aim to please! We had the Mexican roll (yum!) and the BBQ Korean beef, get ready to have to unbutton your pants after eating it! It’s so yummy! You won’t be disappointed at Yama

Great place for sushi in delray beach! I always get the tuna tataki with a thicker cut.

Super good! I went with a group of ladies and we had a marvelous time.
I ordered the miso soup, a seaweed salad, and a rainbow roll. Don’t be alarmed that the rainbow roll says it has cheese on it– they mean cream cheese, not a slice of American laid on that. Because if that had happened, this would be a whole different kind of review.
Anyway. The service wasn’t so quick, but the food was super yummy. I really enjoyed it. I suppose miso soup is the same everywhere, but that rainbow roll was extremely fresh and tasty.
It seemed particularly pricey to me– you can find a single roll on the menu for $ 17 or $ 20, which sounds like a lot to me. It’s not the amount of money I’d like to spend on a regular basis. But for one night with friends– no problem.
PS: Their Pandora playlist was absolutely FANTASTIC. So good. If you’re feeling nostalgic for the 90’s, head on over on a Thursday evening.

what’s yama? fresh and delicious japanese and korean cuisine. a delectable venue catering to both the lunch and dinner crowds.
longing for that monster lobster roll, hamachi jalepeno roll, red dragon or sunshine rolls? well, delray… have no fear as you’re not limited just to lemongrass. in fact, if you enjoy fresh sushi… don’t go to lemongrass! the secret for scrumptious japanese cuisine and several other hidden delray gems is to take a stroll 1 block north of the ave and venture into pineapple grove. if you’re only now learning about the grove, get excited… there’s a whole new world of restaurants and boutiques awaiting your explorations!
what’s on the menu?
sushi and speciality rolls ranging from $ 5 — $ 14 dollars.
sashimi dinners ranging from $ 22-​$ 29
korean bbq options and dinners ranging from $ 18 for the katsuretsu to the $ 27 grilled sea bass.
lunch options?
yama lunch includes sushi and bento boxes.
served monday — friday from 11:30 to 2:30 P. M
drink options?
hot sake runs form $ 5-​$ 9.
and last but not least… the beer options include budweiser, asahi, sapporo, heineken, kirin ichiban, kirin lite, sapporo lite and many others.
in summary!:
the food here is always fresh and delivered quickly. my 4-​star review is due to a bland and unfriendly wait staff. and although it’s the best japanese spot in delray, it’s certainly not my favorite one in all of south, florida.

I highly recommend the shrimp tempura roll and the Mexican rolls not so much the others.