Sakana Sushi Lounge

Been here a few times over the years, and wanted to give it the time tested «three strikes and you’re out» before I totally dissed it publicly. I have never been here when there were more than a few tables being served, so that was the first clue.
Sakana uses frozen fish, (and we can’t be mad at them for that). After all, the Midwest ain’t near any oceans, so most sushi places use frozen products. In any event, once defrosted, it needs to be served reasonably quickly, and with no customers, how fresh can that defrosted product be? Second clue, isn’t it a bit telling when the menu has sushi rolls with names like «Ferndale, Woodward, 9 Mile, & Detroit»? (Think you might be able to order them in New York, LA, or Tokyo… I think not.) Third clue, hot food items prepared to order are not good. On two separate occasions, it was clear that the oil in the deep fryer needed changing. Tempura one visit, and chicken katsu, another visit, both had a residual aftertaste.
The price point is high considering the less than satisfactory quality. I’m not from Detroit, so I couldn’t compare it to any place locally But my advice to you is that Sakana Sushi Lounge is really not the best choice for sushi in the area.

Pretty disappointed overall. The place had pretty nice décor and a friendly staff, but the food left much to be desired. We got several different sushi rolls and there were three big issues I saw.
First, half of the rolls we got were so big that nobody could fit them in their mouth. Cutting up a sushi roll is far from ideal, especially if it’s tempura.
We had two rolls with jalapeños on them. They were the pickled kind you get on nachos at a sports bar. First time I’ve seen jalapeños that were not fresh at a sushi restaurant.
The other issue was the smell. The place had a dirty deep fryer odor. All of our clothes wreaked like we just got back from the dive bar on fish fry night.
It was my first time their and the last. Enyo across the street is far better, or Ronin in Royal Oak.

I am more than pleasantly surprised with Sakana, I ordered my food, got there to get it and NO waiting and waiting. I drove home, let the dog out, let the dog in, washed my hands and sat down to my shrimp tempura roll and gyoza. HOT DAMN, and it was delicious! Great service, fresh ingredients and good food this Woman here gives it 5 stars… YUMMY!

My favorite spot for sushi. We also like noble fish and sometimes ronin. But Sakana is my favorite. Always very very delish.

I’ll start by saying that I’m not a huge sushi guy, but was more than satisfied with the quality and taste of every thing my date ordered, but my jaw dropped when it first was delivered to our table. I would never consider going here unless forced into it. It’s outrageously expensive. I know that not every sushi place is that crazy. Expect to pay $ 50 for 2 without drinks and barely being full.
Sushi is definitely good, but these prices need to basically be slashed in half. Service wasn’t nearly as good as I would have expected for a small place with their pricing.

I was surprised by the negative reviews. Our first trip for happy hour was definitely five star. The new manager was friendly, helpful and makes a killer cucumber sakitini. The sushi was on point. The cucumber rolls were a pleasant twist on a classic. We also appreciated that the tuna rolls didn’t use the minced stuff (although you can request to have it minced if that’s more your speed). The only reason I took a star away was a new bartender on a follow up visit. He was sloooww… and obviously needed to look up recipes for specialty drinks. I know they had been short staffed, but maybe a little more training may have helped before letting him run the bar on his own

I didn’t care for this place. It was over priced, the did was mediocre at best abd the staff was obnoxious. Don’t let the word crab confuse you, they misspelled krab. I had a bowl if their ramen and was completely disappointed. It wasn’t seasoned at all, tasted completely void of salt. The waiter was okay but the manager couldn’t shut up. He went on and on about how we should try other things on the menu and he was sweating really hard the whole time. It got to the point where my friends and I were just staring at each other wondering when he’d leave us be. Lay off the adderall, buddy.

Oh my gosh! Everything was awesome. The new manager Aaron was very helpful and… he makes awesome drinks! We will be back!

Had a great time on a Friday with my girls. Drinks were great ask the bartender/​manager to make you something up great and you won’t be disappointed. The sushi we got six different ones and everyone of them was fantastic. Aaron is a great barkeep/​mgr. I will definitely be back

The sushi is always good and plated well. Drinks are are okay, they always have decent specials. Service I would rate a 2out of 5. It’s not horrible, but it definitely could use some training.

I simply don’t understand why this place is never busy. They nice modern décor, decent sushi for Ferndale (which is still pretty bad, but better than Kroger) and a nice variety of cocktails. On top of that, I have always found the wait staff to be consistently good. Whatever the reasons may be, I enjoy the intimacy this place provides. It is my usual meet up joint for a night out in Ferndale. In sum, they have decent hot sake, passable sushi and solid drinks.

Was there first time last weekend… Fantastic from the seaweed salad to the Miso soup to the Edamame Spider rolls and shrimp tempura to the Sashimi … mackerel was amazing

I came here on a Saturday evening with my girlfriends. It was my first time there and I’ll be returning again. Our service was excellent and our waitress was fun to talk to and sincerely cared about our experience there. I think her name was Kristy, she’s pretty awesome.
The food was great and the atmosphere is very cool. The prices are reasonable too.

We came here tonight with a party of 8. Service was super slow for a near empty restaurant. I left disappointed that I spent $ 90 for two cocktails (which were the best part of dinner) 3 rolls of sushi and a terrible noodle dish which was served cold (didn’t say anywhere on the menu). We also thought it was weird that even the best rolls only had Krab Stick and not real crab meat.
I highly recommend Ronin as the fish was fresher and they actually have crab. And hot noodle dishes. And faster service.

We came here on a Sunday and it was pretty dead inside. We sat in a U-​shaped booth so you could see out towards the entire restaurant. One thing that irked me is that there was a white pizza box on top of one of the lower tables in front of a couch. Plus there were backpacks and coats on top of the couch which doesn’t give the best first impression for a restaurant.
There was a lot of items on the menu and we ordered the miso glazed tofu-​which tasted a bit corn starchy but the miso sauce was decent, sesame noodle salad-​save your money don’t order this, chicken tempura slider– hubs liked this a lot and two sushi rolls-I’m not sure if the sushi ‘chef’ was in training but the rolls were not rolled correctly. The filling was not in the center so when you picked up the sushi it just fell apart. Also the rice was hard and too vinegary. Will not be back!

I’m such a sushi connoisseur. This place was really good. I seldom try new sushi places because I have had some bad experiences because of bad fish.
Anyways, the staff here was great! We sat at the bar and had great prompt service. They have a huge and wide variety on their menu. My food was great! The mussels with the spicy sauce were so good! I have never had them that way and I’m a huge seafood fanatic!!! I will definitely be coming back. Did I mention the have a 750ml bottle of sake on happy hour on weekdays? Super!

Okay, yes Sakana is a little pricey averaging $ 6-​$ 8 per roll but dang it is good! You really do get what you pay for. The service is great, the fish is quality and I have yet to find a better sushi place in the area. I love the 9 mile, gyoza and the tempura fried ice cream is a must try! Sakana always seems to be empty, definitely underrated. Dark, nice ambience, perfect for dates and great service!

I do like Sakana. I like a lot of things about it. It is open late, the drinks aren’t bad (try their saketinis!), and two words– Golden Bridge (thank me later). Sometimes they have live music, which is a plus, and the atmosphere is A+ for dates. There is limited seating, but I have never once waited for seating or turned away because of a line.
*The only thing I will note here negatively is that with all of that being said, Sakana is not my first choice if I want sushi in the area on a weeknight. I will try Crazy sushi or Edamame first. For many reasons, but all to do with positives with them, not negatives with Sakana.*
But, I will say on a Friday night I would rather be here. The enviornment here is perfect for a night out.

Excellent food, great service, nice atmosphere, and good prices. What else could you ask for? They use good quality ingredients (no «Krab» with a K here…), their rolls are good, they’re priced well, and delicious.
I like this place a lot more than Inyo for my Ferndale sushi fix.

So… I never liked sushi, for my whole life, and then I came here and now I like sushi.
I’m dead serious.
I do need to say that yes, it is too dark in here (to the point that you can’t see much when you’re looking around) and the service was too slow considering how empty it was.
BUT. My roommate and I went here for Ferndale Restaurant Week, and we got a bowl of miso soup each, a pop each, and a sampler platter to share for $ 20. This was a GREAT deal! The soup was fantastic– I’d never had miso soup before so I can’t compare it to other places, but I loved it. The sampler was amazing too– my roommate loves sushi and she agreed that it was fantastic.
I’ve been converted, thanks to Sakana!