Sushi Saga

This place was part of a large strip mall. It contained about 15 or so tables with seating available at the sushi bar. The service was good and our food came out in a timely matter. The menu was extensive and there was also an All You Can Eat option for only $ 22.95 which I thought was ideal. There seemed to be many options to choose from regarding the All You Can Eat choice.
The Sushi Combo for 2 ($ 29.95) was ordered. This choice contained 14 pieces of assorted sushi with Dragon and California roll. There was also a salad that was part of this meal, which was a typical salad from a sushi place, no complaints. All of the sushi appeared to be fresh. It was all tasty. The assorted sushi contained salmon, tuna, and shrimp, but I was not sure of the others. They were all great. The dragon roll consisted of eel and avocado in a sweet sauce. I enjoyed this dragon roll. The sweet sauce really made this roll. The California roll was solid as well.
Will I go back? No doubt.

Who would’ve guessed that in such an unassuming strip mall there would be such a great little find?! Ever since finding this place, I really can’t justify getting sushi elsewhere. It’s all you can eat and they have a wide variety of really good appetizers, as well as, specialty rolls all included. The seaweed salad was great the first time I came, but didn’t seem as fresh the second time around. I personally love everything on the menu here but the soups are just okay (at best). It can get pretty busy at peak times and the restaurant is pretty small, so plan accordingly. Make sure you eat what you order because they will charge you for whatever you don’t finish. The service isn’t the greatest, but the food keeps me coming back for more!

I like sushi, my wife is lukewarm on it. So we went here, me thinking I would go for their «all-​you-​can-​eat» option, and she figured she would get a few non-​raw fish items, perhaps some soup, maybe California rolls, etc.
Well, as soon as we started to order they told us their policy would not permit me to order all-​you-​can-​eat, and her to order a la carte; their policy is, if one person at the table goes for all-​you-​can-​eat, then everyone else at the table must too.
Most ridiculous policy I have ever encountered in a restaurant. I wasn’t going to insist my wife order a feast when all she wanted was a taste. I politely told them their policy was ridiculous, put on our coats, and went elsewhere to eat sushi.

I eat a lot of sushi and regularly go to AYCE sushi places. Sushi Saga had good Unilocal reviews and a $ 5 off $ 10 coupon, so it seemed like a good idea. It was not.
I came here for an early dinner, but was surprised that I was the only customer in the restaurant. That’s never a good sign for a place that serves raw food, but more customers started entering throughout the night. The décor was decent and the restaurant is surprisingly spacious.
The first strike was my dirty soy sauce dish. It had residual wasabi from the previous diner. I replaced it with a dish from a neighboring table. Off-​putting, but I let it slide and forged ahead. The menu lacks a few common items, like fluke, ikura (salmon eggs) and octopus. Also, the tuna only comes in sushi (negiri) form, not sashimi form. That’s relatively common in AYCE places since tuna is expensive, so they insist you eat it with rice. The problem (second strike) with Sushi Saga is that they give only a thin slice of tuna on a relatively large bed of rice. I’ve include a photo to show you what I mean. So if you like tuna, expect to fill up on rice as well. They have the tuna tartare, but it’s really just spicy tuna. This brings us to the third strike: they put way too much sauce on everything. Perhaps it appeals to some customers, but it hides the flavor of the fish. Fourth strike came when they served the squid. As you can see from my photo, they did a lousy job of slicing the squid.
A few more notes about this place, which I wouldn’t absolutely count against them. Their kani salad is made with regular mayo, not with Japanese Kewpie mayo, so it had a different flavor. They cut their pieces relatively small (ie. a single surf clam is cut into about 3 pieces), but it’s AYCE and you can always order more. Their udon noodle soup doesn’t taste like typical Japanese udon noodle soup. Their green tea and red bean ice cream is creamier and sweeter than you would find in some Japanese restaurants. I prefer a slightly bitter, real green tea/​matcha flavor to my green tea ice cream.
Now, I feel obligated to comment on Alex S.‘s review. He seems new to AYCE sushi places and part of his gripe is with having to pay a surcharge for uneaten food. This happens in every AYCE restaurant to prevent customers from wasting food. It does not matter if you don’t bring the food home; if you order it and don’t eat it, you wasted it. Just order a small amount initially if you’re «nervous» about the food. If you like it, order more. Very little wasted food and no surcharge. There’s also a cultural difference that he’s not familiar with. It is very common in Chinese restaurants (again, this place is Chinese-​run) to ask for your drink order immediately. That way, you can sip (typically tea) as you browse the menu.
Overall, I feel that Sushi Saga isn’t worth the $ 23+tax. They cut too many corners (poor slicing, poor washing of dishes) and tries to fill you up on rice.

Four words: all you can eat. The only rule is that you have to finish everything you order or be subject to a surcharge. I don’t blame them for that! Their food is great, so fresh! Can’t believe I didn’t know this place existed. Sorry Kickys in Matawan, I might have found my new regular sushi spot!

After reading the reviews we decided to stop and try the sushi as we were traveling back from Philadelphia. We ordered several different rolls and did the all you can eat special. The portions are substantial, but I found the flavors to be lacking and the rice to be a little soggy. Overall, I was not thrilled with the food. We also waited what felt like a long time for the sushi to arrive. Overall, I would say the food and service were just ok.

Food was fantastic! All you can eat for $ 29 including tax and tip which is a great deal. Come hungry! The food came out pretty fast and everything was delicious. I really loved their peppered tuna and dynamite specialty roll. Start off with the seaweed salad and edamame. Their spicy tuna roll was pretty good too. For dessert I had their green tea and vanilla ice, perfect end to a great lunch. Will definitely return if I’m in the area.

This establishment gets two thumbs down.
My wife and I came here for my birthday last night, and i was SUPER disappointed. The second we walked in we were weirded out. The woman brought us to our table, and before we could even sit down she was asking us what we want to drink. She continued to stare me down until I told her (politely) that i was going to take a seat and look at the menu before making my decision. She walked away very irritated because of it. She then came back and gave us the whole run down about how if we chose to do the «All you can eat» that you just cant take anything home. Which is only fair, i agree… So the papers were given to us to fill out and we waited, very nervous to see what was going to be on our table.
The appetizers that we ordered were very good. We both ordered Gyoza, and Shrimp Tempura. The side sauce was awesome, and everything was delightful. Then the sushi came out… It was GOD AWFUL. The rice was hard, the chicken tempura looked like weird McDonalds chicken nuggets without the breading, the shrimp tasted like a rubber band, and the whole experience was just terrible. So to say the least, we did not eat all of our sushi.
Thats how they get you. Whatever you don’t eat, you must pay for. So fair warning, don’t be surprised when they jack up your bill and charge you a surcharge for the terrible food you don’t eat. When I told the woman not to wrap it up, she insisted that I would want to take it home and not enjoy it at home… and then got mad that i left it on the table as we were leaving. I do not really search out sushi deals, id rather pay for awesome sushi, then be a cheap-​o and get BAD sushi.
We will never be going back to this place. God Forbid you do, i hope you are prepared to be disappointed.

I don’t tend to like letting sushi buffets know when I’m headed their way. I’ve had a 3 for 3 history of sushi buffets randomly taking the day off on my birthday (not a holiday, so I did kinda want to check to make sure they were open before I trekked out here.
As my luck would have it, my call didn’t go through, but I decided to take the chance anyway, since I’ve been dreaming about AYCE sushi for the last year or so. (Deprivation does this to you.)
I had…
–50 pieces of salmon sashimi
–5 pieces of white tuna sashimi
–5 pieces of red snapper sashimi
–1 Yummy Roll
–1 Tiger Roll
–1 Winter Roll
–1 Pink Lady Roll
–1 Crazy Girl Roll
That last roll’s name probably describes me, at least when it comes to sushi.
This is probably the point where I should mention that I’m using singular pronouns because I went here on my own («Party of 1! I’ll start light, with 40 pieces of sashimi and 3 rolls, please!») I even wore sweat pants for the occasion, for maximal expansion opportunities.
The chef probably thinks I’m a monster. (I’m sorry!)
I also got to take advantage of the Unilocal $ 10 for $ 5 deal, so my meal came out to $ 25 including tax and tip on a Saturday evening! Not bad, considering that I ate 100 pieces of sushi/​sashimi, along with a bowl of green tea ice cream and some fresh fruit!
Service here was quick and they were very courteous. At no point was I given the hairy eyeball for pounding down sushi like nobody’s business, nor was I cursed at in Mandarin. :D I’d call that a win.
All in all, a great place to get your sushi fix for very reasonable prices. It’s similar to Sushi Palace but has a few more options, friendlier/​quicker service, and isn’t as crowded (at least, not as crowded as my 2012 memories of Sushi Palace, since that was the last time I was in this area).
Please don’t hate me, Sushi Saga, and thank you for feeding me.

One thing I love about Jersey is how there are a plethora of all-​you-​can-​eat, made-​to-​order sushi buffets… sometimes two or three in the same town. I’ve been to both Sushi Palace and Sushi Saga, and honestly, both are great. If Sushi Palace is super busy, I would go to Sushi Saga. If Sushi Saga is packed, I’d drive my booty over to Sushi Palace. There is no lose-​lose situation here. Enjoy!

I went here for dinner on a Thursday night, and the overall experience was decent. The restaurant was completely empty when I first walked in around 7pm, so I was originally pretty nervous about how good the food would be. There were only two servers and two sushi chefs working there along with the owner (I’m assuming) at the sushi bar. I was able to try a lot of different things here, so I’ll just give short summaries of everything.
Spicy Seaweed Salad — No crab or tempura flakes like most sushi places. Way too saucy. Worst part of the meal
Tuna Tartar — Cute presentation. Nice texture, but flavors were underwhelming
Snapper Jalapeño — Pretty saucy. Expected a spicy kick, but there was none. Tasted good
Beef Ribs — Surprisingly really good! Basically tasted like kalbi, and I had to get seconds. Favorite part of the meal
Shumai and Gyoza — Fried nicely and not overcooked at all. Very slight crisp texture on the outside with a tasty filling on the inside
Crab Wonton — Very crispy exterior with a creamy imitation crab filling on the inside. Sauce served with this was slightly spicy and delicious
Rock Shrimp — Disappointing. Too batter-​y, and tasted a little bland
Baked Mussel — Mussel itself tasted pretty good, but the watery sauce leftover in the shell is a little off-​putting
Peking Duck — Soft buns. Barely any duck used, but it tasted okay. Drizzled with hoisin sauce
Vegetable Udon — Noodles and vegetables were both soft, but the broth was terrible and nearly flavorless
Egg Custard Sashimi — Flavor was mediocre, and the consistency seemed too heavy and thick
Masago, Red Clam, and Squid Sashimi — Tasted good, but portioned for babies. Order at least 2x what you normally would
Salmon, White Tuna, Red Snapper, and Albacore Sashimi — A little watery and didn’t taste that fresh
Eel Sashimi — Tasted great (but eel is cooked so this isn’t really impressive)
Yellowtail and Tuna Sushi — The rice is good, but they give you way too much of it. Fish was thinly sliced and didn’t taste that fresh
Yummy Roll — Tasted great, but I would’ve liked a little bit more crunch
Edison Roll — Decent, but it’s different from the one at sushi palace (no crab on top?). In hindsight, I probably should’ve ordered the firecracker roll because that would’ve been more similar to the Edison roll at Sushi Palace
Butterfly Roll — Barely had any lobster in it. Underwhelming flavors. This roll was the most disappointing of the 3 I tried
The service was excellent (because there were only 1 – 2 other occupied tables throughout our visit). All of the food came out really fast, and it was basically a continuous supply of food throughout our dinner. The prices were great. It was $ 20.99 for the AYCE menu on weekdays, and that becomes even cheaper when you use a Unilocal deal or coupon. In comparison to Sushi Palace (the one in Somerville), I would say that Sushi Saga is not as good right now, but it has the potential to be much better if they fix certain items on their menu. I’d be willing to give this place another shot in the future, but I’m not in a rush to return.

This place is AWESOME for sushi buffet.
Instead of those other seafood buffets where everything sits out and gets dried up, they make everything FRESH. And they don’t just have sushi, they have everything you want!
Their baked mussels and baked seafood in a scallop shell was creamy, hot and yummy.
The BBQ squid was a good sized grilled squid cut horizontally with a tangy sauce
The Tuna tartar was in a beautiful heart shape, rich and fresh, beautiful presentation
The shrimp tempura came out with 2 large shrimps, crisp and hot from the fryer
Seaweed salad was a small portion, but fresh with sesame oil
The beef ribs were well flavored and juicy
The aged tofu –my parents loved it, i didn’t care much for it
The rock shrimp was battered and fried with a great spicy mayo dipping sauce
The peking duck was a little bit sad –the duck was a little dried, but the buns were fluffy
The red snapper teriyaki was a great small portion perfectly cooked. So good, we got 2!
The sushi were beautifully done
We got the firecracker which had shrimp tempura inside –my mom’s favorite
The Winter Roll which had mango –creates a nice flavor change from normal sushi –my favorite
The butterfly roll –which had lobster, but I couldn’t taste it, but it was gorgeous inventive plating
The Tiger roll and the cruncy eel
The fruit was orange served with a cute toothpick umbrella, and the green tea ice cream was tasty
We went with 3 people, and I think we got too much sushi. It’d be fun to go with lots of people to try a little bit of all their different types of sushi, but i love this place!
I love that all the little appetizers are served fresh out of the kitchen, and all the fancy rolls are included in the buffet. I’d pick this over minado any day!
It looked like their lunch combos were of good value too, but I think the sushi buffet is what makes this place stand out

All you can eat, BYOB, and decent prices.
I really enjoyed the food. I’m not very savvy when it comes to sushi and I’ve often been hesitant to try new rolls out of fear of what certain fish would taste like but I ate everything we ordered and it was all so delicious. People say they use too much rice. Personally I liked the rice because it was cooked perfectly so I didn’t mind it at all. Our appetizers came out quickly but there were at times long gaps between our food which was the only real downside. The restaurant itself is clean and family-​friendly. The staff is attentive and very nice. In comparison to Sushi Palace, I think this may be my new favorite sushi bar. The quality of the food was better and this restaurant doesn’t feel as cramped or dark. I have no idea what rolls are in my picture but I recommend trying everything because like I said, they were ALL exquisite.

Solid sushi buffet.
I would give it 5 stars, but they pack way too much rice in their sushi.

Here is an instance where Unilocal let us down. The sushi here is not on par with the ratings. I have had much better sushi, even at all you can eat places, for the same price. Service was friendly but a little slow. Overall, we left disappointed.
If you’re a seasoned sushi eater, go somewhere else, lest you likewise leave sad.

I hate giving 2 star reviews. but i honestly would not recommend this place or visit again. I think the only reason 5 stars were given in the other reviews was because this place is all you can eat. There are definitely better places to eat all you can eat sushi. Im not sure if they were having an off night but the sushi quality was pretty low.
The sushi rice was hot and the salmon on the fish was not fresh. Also the rice to fish ratio is pretty bad, you get more rice than fish. I came here with a huge sushi craving and left with a huge sushi craving :(
If you want all you can eat sushi, go to sushi palace, sushi king, masa or miga. All of them have much better quality fish and rolls.

I will preface this by saying I am not sure why there are so many 5-​star ratings. Don’t let them fool you.
One star for the food being edible (it didn’t taste bad, really, just read below why they lost points). The second star was because of the good wait staff.
The good: the waitresses were really nice and attentive. They never went long without coming to check on us. Props to them.
The bad: well, the food. The flavor of most things was OK, but it certainly didn’t «blow me away» like so many reviews insist. If you have had really good sushi in your life, you know this place is sloppy and doesn’t know what they’re doing quite yet.
Rolls would fall apart the moment you touched them. Right there is minus 50 DKP. The sushi rice was way above room temperature, likely taken straight from an electric rice cooker and served hot; another HUGE no-​no. While we are on the rice. There is way too much of it. We are talking a ⁸⁰⁄₂₀ rice to fish ratio. This was true for both the sushi (pieces) and the maki (rolls).
The sashimi also left a lot to be desired. While it wasn’t terrible, don’t get me wrong, a few things got to me. No plain tuna sushi on the all you can eat menu is my biggest pet peeve, but I’ll admit that’s not entirely uncommon because tuna is expensive. Their eel sashimi was just plain disgusting, served ice cold and slimy with the skin not grilled at all; totally soggy and chewy. The red clam also came out at the size to what can only be described as a pencil shaving. You’ll have to order 6 to equal 1 normal one. The tamago had no sugar in it. It was literally just egg and an emulsifier.
Tip to the sushi chef: pay attention to the card and stop leaving things out, both of our plates we ordered had missing items.
Hot food tips: skip the udon. It’s not worth the stomach space. Get the BBQ beef ribs, it’s basically LA Galbi and it tastes OK, just use your fingers to hold the bone and bite it off. If you use your chopsticks it will be a nightmare, it’s just too tough to get them off the bone.
I guess I’ll throw in that my gf liked their seaweed salad, but that’s like getting excited from scoring a goal in a game that you are now losing 1 – 8.
I don’t think I’ll go back to try the rest of their menu items. If you’re in the area and you don’t know any other sushi places, give it a shot. Otherwise, there are places in the area that care more about the quality of their sushi.

I’ve been here twice this week for lunch because it’s so well priced! You get soup, salad, and 2 rolls for $ 7.50. Canned soda is $ 1.50. A cup of hot tea is $ 1.00. Food comes out fast. Very fast. Got soup and salad at the same time and the sushi came 3 minutes after that. Not great service obviously because she should have waited until we were done with salad and then give us soup. Lazy.
Quality of food however is pretty average. It’s lacking in any sort of delicious flavor. I mean it GOOD but in a «oh this isn’t horrible and tastes fine» good. It’s not like WOW THIS IS SUCH A GREAT SUSHI PLACE. I mean if you’ve had amazing, delicious sushi before like I have this pales in comparison so do not expect much. Maybe it’s different for dinner who knows.
Also service leaves much to be desired. I am a server so I know what goes on but both times I went to lunch the two young girls were extremely impersonable which is fine but as soon as they go away before they take your order or bring the check, they do not come back for 10 – 15 minutes. It was empty during lunch and I understand they may have side work but the fact is they do not keep their eye on the table when they are in the dining room the entire time and you can see them. This is quite annoying and definitely a no-​no as a server.

WTF did I just eat? My boyfriend discovered this place because of the rave reviews and it was close by after our movie date. I was a bit nervous about eating here since my last sushi meal was omakase…
boy did I have every right to be nervous. We ordered a bunch of sashimi, two rolls and appetizers. The sushi quality is very low here, I physically had to spit back out at least 3 pieces… I’m pretty certain it wasn’t fresh at all. The only thing that seemed okay was the salmon. We had albacore tuna, red clam, tuna tartare, red snapper, kani, tobiko, pepper salmon, squid, salmon, white tuna and eel. None of the fish impressed me, it was all cheap, low quality and not fresh. For rolls we had the butterfly which barely had any lobster by the way, it was filled with rice. My boyfriend ordered the fire cracker because of all the rave reviews but he was disappointed. His one word review? «Meh» It really was mediocre. nothing spectacular nor was there a pop of flavor.
As for the appetizers, we had seaweed salad, yaki tori, peking duck, rock shrimp and beef ribs. The seaweed salad was too salty and saucy for me. The yaki tori was meh, it was dry and shriveled up. The peking duck was eh, it was mostly duck skin? the bun was hard. it already missed two of the major points in having a successful peking duck. duck meat and steamed soft buns… Rock shrimp and beef ribs were okay though.
For dessert we finished off with red bean, green bean ice cream and fresh fruit which turned out to be a sliced orange.
I’m disappointed with this place because this was not worth $ 25 AYCE. $ 18 at most. but even then, food shouldn’t be so bad to the point that I had to spit it out? The saddest part the only thing I liked out of this whole meal was the green tea ice cream. and it’s not even made by them nor is it their specialty.
This place totally missed at having great sushi. I’m giving this place an extra star because the service was great, they were very attentive and friendly. I’m just sorry that their food sucks.

They have similar all-​you-​can-​eat menu to Sushi Palace. I’m a regular to Sushi Palace but I prefer Sushi Saga. Nicer staff, restaurant is clean and they offer fresh food!
Also — it is a BYOB restaurant and there is a liquor store next door.