Volcanic Sushi & Sake

Check out the sushi sandwich!
[Rice] + [every type of fish] = sushi insanity!

I ate here last night and have to say, I was thoroughly impressed. The sushi was extremely fresh and presented beautifully. I had the caliente roll (which was a hearty serving portion), as well as the Spider roll. The little details, such as the plating, was not forgotten. My husband had the chicken curry, which was also a hearty portion, and extremely delicious. It was extremely flavorful with both sweet and spicy undertones. The service left something to be desired. Our waitress seemed annoyed that we were not immediately ready to order, and stopped back about three times in a five minute span. We also had our 1 year old in tow, and I am unsure whether they do not have highchairs, or we were not given one. So maybe it is not the best place for young children. However, the sushi chef delivered my meal and was very attentive (even poured my soy sauce), and friendly. My husband and I will definitely be back to the

We drive all the way from Ocala (approx. 45min drive) just to eat at Volcanic Sushi & Sake. They have the best service and quality product of any sushi restaurant I’ve ever encountered. Nestor, Walter, and occasionally their guest sushi chef Carlo, make you feel right at home and their flavors are on task each and every time. My favorite thing about this restaurant is that I can sit at the sushi bar and trust them to make me whatever and never have to look at the menu. I tell them I like this this and that… I don’t like this this or that… and they come up with the best creations ever! I don’t feel like I’m dealing with assembly-​line sushi chefs that make the same boring rolls over and over… they truly have talent and genuinely care about making an impression on their diners. The only thing that would make them better is if they were closer to Ocala :)

We live here in the winter time, and this was our first time to this restaurant. I have to say, this is better than most sushi that we get in NY. It was really delicious, fresh, and beautifully presented. We are thrilled that we have this DELICIOUS FRESH sushi and shashimi here in Gainesville in Haille Village.

The best sushi in Gainesville. The hot dishes are pretty nice too. My fiancé ordered the stir fry and the portion was huge and it was so good. I ordered the beef teriyaki and it was a much smaller portion and not as flavorful. All the sushi we amazing too, can’t go wrong. The price fits the portions.

I eat here literally 3 – 4 times a week, they even know me by name! Everyone always greets me with a warm welcome whenever I come in, and the sushi is THE freshest in town. Prices are awesome, and they have a wide variety. Wait time is always accurate. I highly recommend!

We have eaten here once and ordered take out many times over the past year. The restaurant is very small inside with just a few tables. There are a few more tables outside if you want to eat on the patio. We have always enjoyed the sushi, but the reason I took some stars off is the size of the rolls are about half of what they were when we first started eating here. The standard as well as the specialty rolls are now the size of what you find in Publix. Anymore I just can’t justify the cost of the sushi. I will have to look for another place to eat sushi.

I ordered the John Roll which included shrimp tempura among other things. Unfortunately, there were several pieces of shrimp tail inside of the rolls. Most sushi places have the entire tail remain outside of the roll so you know where it is. Here it looks like they chopped the tail off and left pieces of it inside the rolls.
Limited dine-​in space and prices higher than other comparable sushi places make this a one and done.

This place is a little out of the way, but located in the quaint Haile Plantation. The food here is incredible, from the Sushi Rolls to the Roasted Duck. I highly recommend stopping here as it blows other popular Sushi restaurants in the area, out of the water.

Hands-​down the best quality and tasting items in Gainesville. The sushi sets the standard, as it is as good as it can possibly get. Most places in town have bland sushi and you cannot really pick out the ingredients of the roll with each bite; however, Volcanic is the opposite. Aside from their amazing sushi, they have probably the best soups I have ever had at an Asian cuisine style establishment. Furthermore, the service was spot on. It is a smaller place, which i prefer anyway, and the staff were very personable. The sushi chef was a great guy also, we sat at the sushi bar.
The items my fiancé and I ordered were:
1) Alexander Roll — ⁴⁄₅
2) Angry Eel (i think) — ⁵⁄₅
3) Miso Soup — ⁵⁄₅
4) Some Chicken soup thing — ⁶⁄₅ (best soup i’ve ever had)
Will upgrade to 5 stars after i make a couple more visits, to ensure consistency.

It’s great to have another option for sushi on this side of town. The staff at volcanic sushi was polite and attentive, if not overly friendly. The atmosphere was a bit underwhelming… tight quarters/​a giant wall mural of a volcano, limited outdoor seating. The sushi was tasty, the fried rice was excellent. It’s not to the level of Fuji or Dragonfly.

Eating sushi can be intimidating; the menu items are foreign and you need more than a little faith in a place that serves raw fish. Volcanic Sushi was a pleasant, easy-​going sushi place with an awesome waitstaff. Even better: the prices are super reasonable! Our server was Shawn who was helpful and very attentive, and the rolls were definitely prepared with a great deal of skill and attention. I’ll be back to check out the ‘Angry Eel’ roll — sounds darn tasty. Another must do in the 352!

Dined there this past weekend. I was not impressed with this restaurant. We ordered tuna and hamachi sashimi. The tuna was chewy and the hamachi was okay. We also ordered a basic rainbow roll that fell a part when we tried to pick it up. Our server was awful. He was inattentive which is hard to do because the restaurant is very small. I’m not sure this place will last.

A four star rating (for now) as more visits are store to make the determination if it deserves all five.
First and foremost though, service — fantastic. Other restaurants should take note. Employees there are cordial, prompt and helpful. Pretty much think of it as the opposite of Mahzu in that regard. Might be equal or better than Dragonfly since it is smaller and more personal.
Fish quality/​cut proved to be delicious. They look to have a small amount of Thai dishes on the menu as well, surprisingly.
Great little restaurant if you’re craving sushi. Would recommend.

We went here for lunch on a Friday. The waiter was friendly and efficient and the food was delicious. We tried the shrimp fried rice, which was not oily and had large shrimp. We also tried the Dragon roll, which was fresh with crisp vegetables.
The location is small (only a few tables inside and some seating outside) but friendly and in the Haile Village center.

First visit to this restaurant… I had the Sashimi Ume… Excellent!!! Fresh fish, homemade ginger dressing, beautiful presentation… Service — Way Above Par! Have nothing but great things to say!

I tried the veggie sushi here and I can honestly say it’s the best I’ve ever had! Plus the staff is very friendly! My fiancé had the volcano roll and he also was in love. We come all the time for there amazing lunch specials!

The sushi at Volcanic Sushi was fresh and enjoyable. Most of their roll selection was pretty standard: California rolls, spider roll, rainbow roll, volcano roll, etc. but we tried a few unique ones. I would highly recommend the volcanic roll which is made with pink tofu paper instead of seaweed and has tuna on top. We also tried the sweet monster which kind of looked like a mini conch fritter and was a little fried ball with yummy goodness such as salmon and squid inside.
We also ordered fried ice cream and fried cheesecake both of which were delicious but could use a bit more chocolate sauce.
The atmosphere left something to be desired and I think they could’ve fit at least one more table. It didn’t feel like a Japanese restaurant. The neighborhood it is located in is just adorable. We could see ourselves hanging out there.

I was more impressed honestly than I expected with this place. I’d been to the Chinese restaurant that was in this same location before, so I knew the small space they would be working with and despite that, Volcanic made out pretty well, adding some sushi bar-​appropriate decorations and making use of their outside seating area, also. It’s not perhaps ideal, but it works. Not a place for large groups, however.
The quality of the actual sushi I had was impressive: very fresh fish – same quality insofar as the fish itself as I’d find at Mahzu or Fuji, which I consider Gainesville’s best two sushi restaurants currently. The crab rangoons were not as good however, not bad either. Rangoons are tricky: it’s easy to get too much oil in them while cooking them or too dry and tough, either way. These were a tad bit dry and the dough too thick for my liking. The crab rangoon is not a traditional asian dish, by the way. It was probably invented by Trader Vic for his tiki bars – seriously – simply based on what he knew of pu-​pu style Polynesian finger foods from his service in WWII in the Pacific. Vic claimed it was a traditional Burmese recipe, but seems the Burmese dispute this. I recently have really gotten into cooking Burmese cuisine at home and have yet to see a rangoon recipe from a pre-​1950s source so…
Because the restaurant is small, the chef seems willing to make custom rolls if you ask nicely, too: I asked if they could make a yellowtail and scallion roll (not hard to do, but not on their menu, either) and the chef turned out a perfectly good rendition of this for me. All in all, a pretty good place. I question if another location could have served them better, but really, they seem to be doing well and I expect get a lot of take-​out orders, too.

This is the best sushi in town. Nestor and Walter make every roll to order. They put their time into every creation. They are so beautiful you almost don’t want to eat it. The staff is super friendly. Great environment.
You have to come check it out if you love sushi. They also have other things on the menu such as soups, chicken, and amazing desserts. Not to mention the drinks are great as well. They have sake, beer, and wine.