Samurai Buffalo

It’s sometimes really hard to write a review of a place like this. We’ve been coming here since it opened (I didn’t have Unilocal at the time, haha), since before they had a hibachi (I mean, it wasn’t that long ago, but still). This is the first place that ever convinced me to actually try sushi. Their fish is fresh. Like actually fresh. You’re not accosted with fishy smell when you walk in, you can’t even smell the fish when they bring it to the table. No fishy smell means very fresh fish. The yellow tail, that’s the gateway fish. That’s what got me to try sushi, that’s what I convinced my friends to try, and it’s what got them into sushi as well. It’s so good!
The hibachi is consistently delicious, and all of the other food I have had here has been a hit. I don’t think I have ever really been disappointed with anything I’ve ordered, except maybe the eel. But that’s not really their fault, eel’s just awful (unless you like eel, then it’s probably great).
If you’re new to sushi food, try the yellow tail à la carte, just to get a taste. If you’re not new to sushi, try it anyway. It’s very good. Also, the butterfly roll. Frankly, I could (and often do) make a meal out of some sushi and a few rolls. Yellow tail!

I’m very impressed! I’ve never ordered food and had it delivered in such an appealing little array. I ordered thr steak tempura bento and it’s so pretty! It came with more than expected I got: The steak and veggies, dumplings, sushi, spring rolls, a salad, two shrimp tempura, and some fried veggie extras. Mostly everything was amazing. The presentation stole the show. It was definitely worth $ 15. It’s a cute bento!

Food is great, service is awful. A group of six of us went for dinner last night and it was a disaster. We arrived without reservations, so we were prepared to wait and had just planned on eating sushi. Once there they told us we could sit on the hibachi side and order sushi as well and since part of our group wanted hibachi we agreed. We waited at the bar for twenty minutes and asked four different servers if we could order drinks. Each one told us sure but then walked away without taking our order. The fifth time we asked we were finally served. We were then told that we could sit at the third hibachi table and it would be a 30 minute wait but could order sushi. The sushi we ordered was delicious but it was hard to enjoy because we all had to wear our coats the entire time due to the temperature at our table. We mentioned it as soon as we sat down and they told us it is cold because the hibachi table gets really hot. We asked them to turn the heat up multiple times. At the end of the night we were finally told that the back door was open to help with the smoke. The door had been open the entire time (it was 10 degrees out), we ate with out coats on, and it took 2 hours for someone to do something about it!
If only it stopped there. The entire meal the smoke from the hibachi was blowing into our faces. We asked the chef to adjust it but he never did. At the end of the meal the chef did something that created so much smoke we actually had to duck below the table to avoid choking on the smoke. You couldn’t see the person sitting next to you it was so bad. When we voiced our concern about this at the end of the meal we were told they «usually don’t sit people at that hibachi table because the vent is broken.» In other words, they were aware of the problem and still allowed us to sit there anyway.
At the end of the meal when we were asked how it was we were honest and told them we froze the entire meal, our food was cold due to the open door, and we had smoke in our face the entire time. Their response was a full bill with a ten dollar gift certificate. The head chef then came over and was extremely rude to us and when we voiced our concerns to him he responded with «Well did you save any food for me?» He was very condescending and was making a joke out of our experience. It was poor service and poor business management. We have always enjoyed Samurai and order sushi from them often, but I can’t imagine going back again after the way we were treated.

I can’t believe how close this great place is to my home! I order take out about 2 – 3 times a month and every time the raw fish is super fresh. Thought it’s obviously not Japanese sushi but Americanized, the squids, salmon, and tuna (my regular) are always very delicious and fresh tasting. Delivery is quick and sometimes they offer you some water while you wait for pickup. Prices of the dishes are adequate compared to the quality and staff are friendly. Once I went in for pickup, the servers were goofing around a bit, but not in an annoying way, and they actually apologized. Keep this place awesome!

Really good, fresh food. This is where I got many people who adamantly dislike fish hooked on their sushi.
Their yellowtail tail amazing, as is their common salmon but frankly you’re going to come out ahead with almost any of their specialty rolls.
Non sushi dishes are great too, always cooked perfectly and tastes very flavorful. Don’t forget to check out the hibachi also, the cooks make it very entertaining and everything is always just as good.

What a pleasant surprise. Delicious and healthy in an area that has mostly fried/​burger joints. Was in and out for lunch in 40 minutes. Ordered a few rolls and hot tea. Was just what we were looking for midday. Staff was very friendly.
Update, lunch specials. Don’t overlook the bento box. Generous amount of food, a little taste of many things $ 7 – 9

I love this place! The service is always friendly and efficient. The interior décor is cool and has a lounge type feel. There’s also a habachi side, which is a nice option all in one location.
The food here is amazing! The sushi is fresh and delicious. I ordered a sushi platter for a small party and they were more than accomadating to my preferences! They made the sushi right before my pick up time to assure freshness, and had eveything packaged and ready to go at the exact time of pick up. The price was very reasonable as well!
Overall, I’ve never had a bad experience here in terms of food or service. Great restaurant!

Wow. This was our 3^rd time here and it was outstanding. Service, food, etc. the restaurant is extremely clean. We’ve had the hibachi chicken, steak and calamari and they were all done perfectly. We were lol definitely be back.

Excellent sushi!
I ordered Samurai for delivery while at work. They said it would be about an hour and showed up in about 45 minutes! Pleasant surprise.
I got the two roll lunch special — 2 rolls for $ 6.95. What a deal! I chose the crunchy spicy crab and the crunchy spicy white tuna rolls. They were also made with brown rice by request! It was an extra $ 2 for brown rice, but I didn’t mind paying that.
The rolls were the perfect combination of crunchy and spicy! And they remembered a little cup for the soy sauce. Complete with wasabi and ginger, it was a fantastic lunch!

A great place for lunch and fresh tasting rolls. Highly recommend it!

Sushi was pretty good, but the service was super super slow

I used to come here weekly. Amazing prices for good food. My go-​to order is salmon teriyaki bento but the sushi is good too. The tempura ice cream is a must!
The staff is friendly. I never had a bad experience here. There is also free wifi.

No complaints whatsoever about Samurai Buffalo — they delivered (literally) a great experience.
When I travel, I am lazy and love to order delivery, specifically sushi — so I was happy to find a well-​rated place that would deliver to my hotel. I was promised delivery in 45 – 60 minutes, but my order arrived in less than 45m which is always a nice surprise. Everything was nicely packaged too — with my sushi separated from the hot stuff.
I ordered miso soup (your basic, but served piping hot and in a pretty large container), wasabi shumai (better than average) and a Volcano roll. The Volcano is a spicy tuna, crab and avocado roll topped with sriracha. As you can see in the photo, they cleverly formed the roll into a «mountain» shape and piped on the hot sauce as if it was lava — I always appreciate a creative presentation. As to taste, it was excellent. The roll was absolutely packed full of tuna — almost too much for a single bite and it was fresh and tasty.
Prices are pretty reasonable too with most specialty rolls under $ 12. A winner all around.

I’ve been here so many times for sushi in the past two years, I can’t even count. The service is typically quick, friendly and efficient. But the service my friend experienced for his birthday tonight was unacceptable.
He made a hibachi reservation for 12 people for 7pm. The restaurant was packed when we got in, which is expected for a Saturday night, but upon arriving there was no hostess in sight for 40 minutes. I felt bad for the servers because they were running around trying to get their jobs done, and being as nice as they could but since we couldn’t be seated, all 12 of us, as well as 3 other couples that entered, were standing in the tiny postage stamp waiting area in the waitress’ way because there was nowhere else to go, and they looked annoyed about it when they would try to cut through. It’s like, «oh, I’m sorry our party of 12 with a reservation is in your way for 40 extra minutes that we didn’t account for because your dinner service is running super late.»
We finally get seated, and are brought menus but it took a waitress probably 20 extra minutes to bring the drinks we ordered, let alone take our food order. Not that our order mattered anyway as they only had one hibachi chef working on a busy Saturday night… It was probably 45 minutes after that when the chef finally came to our table and started on our orders. In the meantime, our soups and salads weren’t brought over until he was ready to serve us! So we waited all that time without food and then basically got all of it at once. On top of that, when they brought our salads, we waited 10 minutes and had to search FOR our waitress, who was nowhere to be seen, in order to get forks. My friend was so thirsty and needing a refill on her WATER that she gave the benefit of the doubt and went to go look for the waitress again, who she couldn’t find, and saw a pitcher of ice water sitting unattended at the bar so she took it upon herself to bring it to our table. The only reason I’m giving 2 stars instead of 1 is because the food was consistently good as always, however the sad story is that service is something that definitely keeps people coming back.
Not for anything but it’s a good thing that I understand tips are supposed to be factored into servers’ hourly wages because I still tipped. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of my friends did not, since we experienced nothing short of barely present service from the moment we walked in. I’m really disappointed because I love the food here but I’m so hesitant to return after this. It’s debatable whether the food is worth it or not. And I feel even worse for my friend who also loves Samurai so much that he had his birthday here and sadly experienced this service tonight. I really hope this place gets it’s crap together soon, otherwise I’m afraid even more loyal customers won’t be returning.

The food here is really good. As I’ve said before, it’s my favorite sushi in WNY.
But the service…
Tonight, my brother, dad, and I ordered $ 60 in food. I called at 7:13pm. The woman on the phone told me 20 – 30 minutes. They have a reputation for running a little late so my brother left to pick up the food at about 7:40. He didn’t get home with the food until after 9pm!!!
He waited for really almost 2 hours for these nitwits to get the take out order ready from the time I called. According to him, at least 2 other people were waiting to pick up as well. And waited almost as long as he did.
This is unconscionable.
They asked for payment when he arrived, which seemed legit. He said if he hadn’t paid first he would have told them to cancel the order and would have left after like 20 minutes. In what world is waiting 2 hours for sushi and a couple of chicken dishes okay?! Not in my world. What’d they have to slaughter the chickens first? Make their own soy sauce?! Go to Mexico for the avocados?!! Unreal.
I love the food here. And even tonight my sushi was awesome. Due to the wait tonight though, I will most likely never order from here again. Two stars for that awful service is generous. I’m also appalled that they didn’t offer to discount the bill, give him a gift card, or offer him a free drink or SOMETHING for freaking waiting for that long. No one working there even acknowledged that it was a problem, even when I called after an hour!!! NOT OKAY.

I was craving sushi and sake over Labor Day weekend. I decided we should venture somewhere new, and not our usual go-​to sushi spot. So I went to my Unilocal app and typed in «sushi». After browsing through the list, we mutually settled on Samurai.
We ended up sitting at the sushi bar, which I enjoyed. The other side of the restaurant (the bar area and hibachi tables) was pretty desolate.
What we ordered:
–Warm sake (not sure the name) 10 oz.
–One Japanese beer
–One glass of Pinot Noir
–Four rolls:
–Shrimp tempura
–Spicy tuna
–Spicy crab
–Steak teriyaki
We loved all of the rolls. Our favorites were the spicy tuna and spicy crab. Since we were sitting right at the sushi bar, the «cook/​chef» (preparer? Not sure what the man making the food in a sushi restaurant is referred to) — but he handed us our rolls as he made them. It worked out really well; we enjoyed not receiving all 4 at the same time. He would also take a break and prepare to go orders in between; the timing was perfect!
Our bill was $ 48 something, which we felt was reasonable for what we ordered. All of the rolls were around $ 4.50−5.00 each.
Samurai is now in competition with our normal sushi spot (Kumo). Kumo will most likely win because its closer, but I now will consider venturing out to East Amherst for Samurai when we aren’t on a time crunch!

I’ve been frequenting Samurai since it opened a few years ago. I’ve lived in Japan in the past, so I’m always craving something resembling the dishes you would find there. Samurai comes pretty close. It is one of my favorite Japanese places in the area, mainly because the prices are such a great deal, particularly the lunch bento boxes, and they have a variety of sushi and other Japanese dishes. I also like the fact that you can order their food online and pick it up in person (a perfect solution for me during finals week — no time to cook or go to a sit down restaurant)
I recently came back to Samurai after a few months away from the Buffalo area and noticed a complete menu change, so I’m going to write the rest of the review on the dish I had with the overhauled menu.
I ordered the chicken katsu and my brother ordered the chicken teriyaki. The portion of the chicken katsu was just gigantic – enough for probably 3 meals and also came with miso soup AND salad AND rice. It was a little strange because it was served over a bed of shredded lettuce and mango pieces (I’ve personally never seen katsu served this way). The katsu was not quite crispy enough for my taste but still pretty good. My brother was IN LOVE with the chicken teriyaki. Although this was one of my first times introducing him to Japanese food, he just could not stop raving about the sauce. My brother is not one who normally raves over food, so I was surprised how much he loved the chicken teriyaki.
I believe with the overhaul they also have hibachi, but I have yet to try it. I have not had their sushi with the new menu but I can’t imagine it has changed much — fresh and delicious!
The service here is also the best I’ve had compared to similar restaurants in the area. The hostess (who I think may be the owner/​manager.) is always so kind! Even when I went to pick food up after ordering online, they are super friendly.

I am now a regular here. I go here at least once a week and I am confident this place is in the top 3 sushi restaurants in Buffalo and at the top in the northern suburbs. The sushi is always fresh, service is impeccable and super friendly, and the prices are on par for sushi in Buffalo. I recommend the rolls and my coworkers recommend the Bento boxes. It’s a perfect place for lunch in the $ 10 range.
You will not be disappointed here!

This place is worth a try or few ;). The atmosphere is very fun especially with a big group at the hibachi grill.
I have had the chicken, shrimp, vegetable and steak hibachi. My favorite was the steak and shrimp hibachi. DELICIOUS! I would not recommend the calamari. My friend got it and it seemed to rubbery. Then again it could have just been a one time thing or how it was cooked on the grill. So Keep that in mind when you order!
On a separate occasion, I tried the geisha roll instead of hibachi. The geisha roll consists of crunchy spicy tuna, spicy salmon, and avocado rolled special Kombu seaweed. It was very tasty and had just the right amount of heat but for some reason I was not full. I would suggest ordering 2 rolls: one special roll and one standard roll if you are on the hungrier side.

Raw fish heaven. I don’t remember enjoying sushi this fresh since Florida.
In land locked Buffalo, I didn’t expect to find this high-​quality of fish in a little plaza next to a Subway. Thank you to Lindsay A and Unilocal for getting me to drive half an hour to try this place for date night.
We came in and there was some confusion with the hostess not having our reservation (we made them using OpenTable’s integration), but despite that we were seated right away. There’s seating at both regular tables and hibachi-​style.
Being seated in a regular table, we ordered an appetizer to start with: the wasabi shrimp dumplings. The menu said there would be six to the order, but we only had four. After bringing this up to our waitress, she let us know they used bigger rolls this time, so we let it go (even though we still would have preferred to have been forewarned). The rolls themselves were DELICIOUS, but they had such a huge kick to them! So intense!
For our main entrees, we both ordered the sushi & sashimi combo which came to $ 21.95 per person. If you’re thinking about ordering the «Love Boat for 2» which comes to $ 69…don’t! Just order the Sushi & Sashimi combo for each of you instead. With the Love Boat for 2, you only get an extra piece of sashimi and an extra roll, but it’s definitely not worth the extra $ 20!
Anyway, we asked for one of the tuna rolls to be substituted in our roll for the spicy shrimp roll and the waitress informed there would be an extra $ 1 charge. I got a little upset with the up charge (even tho it was small), especially considering that I already felt a little stiffed with the shrimp wasabi rolls. I let her know and they ended up taking off the $ 1 charge and giving us 10% off the bill (which I did not expect at all and they didn’t have to), but kudos to them for the great customer service!
The sushi/​sashimi plate came out… and it was grande! Tuna, Salmon and Yellowtail sashimi. All large cuts and glistening with freshness. You can tell the tuna cut was prime as there was very little blood/​darker spots on it. Every single piece melted in your mouth, but the most flavorful was probably the yellowtail. The nigiri was equally delicious and the rolls we enjoyed were divine. Even the ginger tasted different than the sushi I’m used to. A+ food and great service.
If you’re looking for the freshest sushi in Buffalo, look no further.
(FYI, their menu also has some Thai, filet mignon, etc, but I can’t speak for any of it or their hibachi).