Samba Steak & Sushi

We went on a Saturday night and arrived to an over-​packed restaurant with an… eclectic…crowd, where we waited 45 minutes for a table (for 6). If you plan to go on a Saturday night, don’t expect to have any sort of meaningful conversation with your party: there’s a (loud, obnoxious) Karaōke DJ spinning the Worst of the 80’s. The food itself I recall as halfway decent. It is far from exquisite Japanese cuisine, nothing catastrophic to report, but nothing memorably good either.

First time here. Came with 8 friends for a birthday party and had an awesome time. The food was delicious. Drinks were tasty (a little strong but definitely not complaining). Overall it was a great experience. They even allowed us to bring a cake and they served it to us without a plating fee. Highly recommend this place.

I got Sushi delivery from them on. Saturday around 2 PM. Delivery was very slow — one hour wait. (Mind you, I live less than a mile from here, but OK.) One star dinged for that.
Otherwise, reasonable prices. $ 15 for the lunch combo which comes with three maki rolls. $ 2.99 delivery charge, $ 20 minimum order. The sushi was cold, so that’s good! Overall, not too shabby, and I would order from them again. I’d just order earlier so I wouldn’t be as hungry!

No stars. Sat at bar for 10 minutes at 1230 on a friday. No one around
Horrible service
Never again
Dont bother with this place

Had not been to Samba in awhile and it was packed. Karaōke was being sung and the hibachi chefs were entertaining patrons with thrown pieces of squash and fireballs that reached 4 feet high. Sushi appetizer we ordered was very good, I had the sirloin steak. Everything starts with fried rice in Hibachi, followed by sprouts, shrimp and veggies then the steak. All of it was very good. Be active when chef throws food at you or squash will bounce off your glasses.

Went here on Sunday night for early dinner. they only have 3 chefs so they’ve hired a magician to entertain the guests while you wait for the chef to arrive. We ordered some sushi as an appetizer and the spicy tuny handroll was disgusting. It was minced and mixed in with tempura flakes and no vegetables at all. It was inedible. The hibachi part of our meal was just okay, not anything worth returning to especially since our server forgot our order and the chef had to go back to the kitchen a couple times. She also brought our desserts on one plate — all mushed together. Save your $$ and go someplace else.

Been here twice– the first time we went for sushi and it was pretty good! Not the best but definitely would be willing to come back for it.
Love the scorpion bowls :)
Went back a second time for hibachi– to be honest I wouldn’t recommend it the portions were a bit low and the steak really wasn’t seasoned all that well.
Overall, I would come back for sushi! The service is great and the place is clean.

Bad. My wife and I ordered from here tonight veggie pad Thai and I a spicy general Tao.
Veggie pad Thai — supposed to come with peanut sauce but nope! The tofu was mushy and disgusting. Halfway inedible.
Chicken — ordered extra spicy and I think they forgot to add any spice.
Delivery? An hour and a half. We were told 60 minutes and for the last half hour that it was «on its way.» We live pretty close to the restaurant and really to be led on for a half hour is bs.
There’s a lot of other Chinese restaurants in the area. Go to one of them.

Karaōke was fun and the DJ was nice. But service is HORRIBLE! The two women who were bartending completely ignored my side of the bar after I ordered my first drink. I waved to the younger woman several times and instead of waiting on customers she decided to go on her phone in plain sight. How incredibly unprofessional and rude! Never going back!

I chose Samba for a date night with my fiancé on a Saturday night. I made a reservation for Hibachi at 8 pm. We arrived and were told that our table would be ready in a few minutes. We told the host no worries, we don’t mind waiting. 15 minutes had rolled by when the host cleared a Hibachi table. We expect to be seated but instead he fills the table with a few small groups of people. I am pretty hungry at this point so I ask him how long it would be and if we should go get a drink and an app at the bar. The host told us that he was clearing a table on a lower level which would be ready any minute. We decided to wait. We watched the host clear three more Hibachi tables and seat small and large groups at the tables over the next 40 minutes we were waiting. No word on whatever table he was «clearing» on the lower level.
My fiancé and I are one of the most easy going couples I know, and can have a good time anywhere, but we were absolutely starving when we hadn’t been sat by 9. My fiancé definitely gave the host a piece of his mind when we left and decided to have dinner at the Melting Pot down the street. We ended up having a great, but late date night dinner.
We will never go to this restaurant again.

This rating is based on the delivery. I ordered a large (and expensive) catering order, which is now over 30 minutes late. I called twice– the first time, he said it was on its way but wouldn’t give me any other details. The second time, I called and he said that the driver couldn’t find the building– we are in a very large office building and no other delivery driver has ever had a problem finding us.
When I asked if they could give us a discount, they said they couldn’t because I’d placed the order online. When I asked about a discount on future orders, they said they would give me a free edamame. Seriously? That’s it? Lunch was forty minutes late, so needless to say, I won’t be ordering from Samba again.

Pros:
–The hibachi tasted really good. Tender filet, savory chicken.
Cons:
–Nearly everything else.
I came here on a date at 7pm on a Saturday. There were so many wild children running around screaming, playing on the fake Buddha statue. It was distracting and I would have hoped that the restaurant would stop the behavior (not to mention the parents be a little more respectful of fellow guests). Hibachi is all about the ambiance, especially during a prime date time.
I ordered a Mai Thai, my favorite mixed drink. It was painfully strong to the point where I had to send it back. I power through strong drinks in most cases, but this was terrible and a huge liability for them. My date also had a Mai Thai and his was a completely different color than mine and tasted different. The bartenders need to be more consistent, and ideally, consistently better. I ended up drinking water, which was a bummer.
Our cook (older man) looked like he was pissed off the whole time. He didn’t put on much of a show at all– no flicking food in the mouth, no fancy show with the silverware, no spraying water/​sake in our mouths. All he did was cook the food and light the cook top on fire one time. Talk about boring. We looked around and noticed all the other tables getting a much better show and service.
Our cook just sucked. Not to mention he cooked the shrimp appetizer at the end, after we ate most of our entrée. Plus, when he was cleaning the cook top he was spraying water and scraping off the cooked on oil/​food. I had the misfortune of sitting hear the little hole on the surface where all the searing hot crap gets dumped out, and our cook was a little aggressive in his scraping because he flicked very hot crap onto me, hitting me in the neck. I Unilocaled «ow» and he didn’t even look up.
Hibatchi is always a little pricier than other Asian options and that’s because you go there for the service, show and atmosphere. Samba was lacking in service, show and atmosphere.

Deceptive. ½ the seaweed salad is shredded radish hidden below a top layer of seaweed. I know this for certain because I know and love seasoned seaweed salad and it is visibly different, and deliberately hidden. Maybe dine-​in is different and they save these «special» orders for deliveries.
Ordered via Grubhub and my order was delivered hot, and on time (approx 1 hr). Despite the seaweed issue, the food was pretty good. Seafood udon was cooked perfectly.
In spite of any good tasting food, I will not support shady practices. Who knows what else they are up to.

Went here on a Friday night.
First of all, the service is terrible. Had several waiters pass by my table as we waited for anyone to take our order. They also didn’t have any water out on the table for our party. Food and drink order came out on time which is a plus but the drinks were poorly mixed. The mojitos were watered down with mint that was clearly not fresh and every drink was mostly ice.
Further the bar staff later in the evening was very inattentive at one point taking selfies as opposed to taking orders. They also rejected my friend’s REAL passport, which she has used to travel outside of this country, implying it was fake when it is definitely not.
As for the karaōke and dancing, this place was dead on a Friday night! A total of ten people were maybe dancing at one point with a pretty weak dance mix which would benefit from more hip hop than pitbull.
I must say though, the sushi was pretty good and decently priced. But, being from Worcester I can get great sushi at many places.
I assure you, the 7 of us that were there will not be going back.

The chefs were very entertaining! The food was delicious and after you’re done eating you can even go to the bar/​lounge area! It’s a great environment. I can’t wait to go back!

AMAZING sushi!
I went with my sister & they are currently running a promo (July 2015) where they give you a gift card of the total value of your meal. We went twice.
First meal: Cali roll, Spicy Scallop roll, Shrimp Tempura roll, Tuna Avocado roll & a side of Spicy Mayo. All equally amazing
Second meal: Spicy Scallop roll, Salmon sushi, Pork Gyoza, Shrimp Shumai & a side of Spicy Mayo. Again, very amazing.
Will be back whenever I’m in Natick!

Had a family meal at Samba last night that was reasonably priced as well as tasty. We met up with my in-​laws in Framingham and tried to find a place that could accomadate seven adults for dinner and Samba was it. They could have sat us immediately except that everyone wanted the hibachi show so we ended up with a 30-​minute wait. Unfortunately, the extra wait wasn’t worth it and that’s my only reason for dinging Samba a star. The hibachi chef didn’t seem to know what he was doing or he was just having a really off night. He spilled his water, messed up a few tricks and was very low energy in general.
However, the food and service was excellent otherwise. I had the hibachi scallops and they alone were worth the price of the meal. Hubby got the filet and since we got to watch it get cooked we could see what a genuinely excellent cut of meat it was before being prepared. The chef also honored my husband’s request to cook it «as rare as you legally can.» Everyone was pleased with their food, drinks, and the décor as well, but if you’re coming in to eat you might just want to stick with table seating if you’ve been to a hibachi before.

I came back with friends, because its Sunday kids eat free and they provide joe the magician as entertainment.
I cracked the the Samba code:
If it says «must try» next to the menu item then TRY IT.
As long as you stick the must try menu items you will be extremely pleased with the meal.
The drinks are strong and well made.
The service: they are still understaffed and not attentive.
This is very annoying for any diner.
They don’t check to see if you want another drink and do not refill the water.
The $ 7 bought from BJ’s frozen dessert which is microwaved is just obscene, and extremely disappointing.

Needed to (sushi) roll myself outta there tonight. So much fun at the Sushi 101 class and the best part — eating our own creations. Not having taken a cooking class of any sort before, I thought maybe $ 70 per person was a bit much, but luckily I was able to grab a Groupon. Two people for $ 59? Ok! Coming from Boston, it’s a hike, but I would do it again (just not in rush hour traffic). The instructor was really cool and two of them demonstrated making three different kinds of rolls before we got started. In the middle of their demos though, some guy was going around and asking people to pay for the drinks they had just ordered or open a tab — obvi we have to pay, but it just seemed to interrupt and distract us. After that we got to pick our ingredients for our rolls and get to work. The variety was pretty good — basic stuff (tuna, salmon, crab — and spicy versions, along with cucumber, avocado, mango, tobiko and panko), so it wasn’t too overwhelming. The instructor walked around and helped anyone that looked like they were struggling (thanks!) so that was nice. We each made three rolls, which turned out to be a lot, so we’ll see how well my work holds up by lunch time tomorrow. Highly recommend — also makes for a nice date night :)

The hibachi food was great. High quality ingredients and very fresh. The filet mignon and shrimp both tasted delicious, and the salad with ginger dressing, vegetables, sprouts, and fried rice were also very good. I was a member of the clean plate club but you could get 2 meals out of an order.
The negatives were that on Christmas Eve we were seated at 7 for a reservation at 630. The power went out. That’s right, the power went out but kudos to our chef who cooked right through the power outage and a few minutes later it came back on. The waitress charged our party for the entire table. Luckily my cousin caught the error and then the bills were divided equally.