Sakura Garden

It is Valentine’s day. It is 9 degrees outside and feels like –9 degrees in this restaurant. Our services has been sub par this evening including our 1.5 hour wait for a menu after being seated. Needless to say the service was sub par the sushi was tasteless and the lack of sake selection was disappointing. We ate in our coats and gloves and rushed home to warm up.
If you want great sushi, this B rated establishment is NOT the place however the hibachi show looked great and the fried rice waa very tasty.

Great place! My new favorite hibachi spot in the area. We came on a Friday night for hibachi and were seated immediately. The ambiance is very nice and a little more modern that your typical japanese place. I really liked it! My husband had the steak hibachi and I ordered the shrimp and scallops combo. The food was delicious and they give you a very generous portion. The soup and salad both come in nice big bowls. We paid the $ 3 extra to have noodles with our meals, which were really good. But we sat next to a couple who told us they come there all the time just for the hibachi rice. We’ll definitely try the rice next time! The service can be a little slow — it probably took her 10 minutes to pick up our bill and the place wasn’t busy — that’s the only reason I won’t give it 5 stars.

My favorite hibachi restaurant — although since we’ve seen the whole hibachi act a few times we now prefer to sit at a table. Their sexy girl roll is to die for. I crave it all of the time. I will say that their scorpion bowls are inconsistent depending on who makes it. Sometimes (but not often) it’s unbearably strong and sometimes it’s just like juice, lol. But we’re regulars here and so we tolerate this. Don’t know our favorite servers name — girl with bangs and a ponytail, but she is the sweetest and best!

Prices are fair, food is good, which is why I keep coming back. The service is hit or miss, at best is usually mediocre. But the meals are always well prepared and presented, and the drinks are outstanding. So, recommend this place, but not if you are expecting a 5 star experience.

Food is great, awesome location (right in the Home Depot plaza). The prices are good. Atmosphere is fantastic, service is also very good. You don’t wait long at all for you’re food. Go here not Kumo.

The food is delicious. The noodles were well seasoned. The hospitality leaves much to be desired, poor service. My waiter seems to have vanished. I won’t be coming back any time soon.

I came in about 8:30 this past Friday night, party of 2. We were seated at a small table, and the place was packed (especially the Hibachi area). It took about 10 minutes for the waitress to take our drink order and by that time we were ready to order our rolls.
After waiting an additional 20 minutes, with the smoke of the atmosphere burning my boyfriend’s eyes, I asked the waitress if we can take our 3 rolls to go. We ordered the Volcano, Dynamite and Oyster Rolls. These are «special rolls» and in most sushi restaurants the 3 large rolls are enough for me and the boyfriend to satisfy our sushi craving.
When we got home and opened the packages to enjoy our sushi we realized that all 3 of the rolls had avocado in them! My boyfriend does not like avocado, hence our ordering 2 rolls without avocado listed in the menu ingredients. These «special rolls» were also small in comparison to other places and they were barley the size of a Maki roll.
Very disappointed that I paid over $ 40 for 3 small rolls including tax and tip. I won’t be going back there any time soon.

All the sushi was delicious and there is quite a variety of rolls which were all good. the service was great and the atmosphere was really cool! the bar is really unique too and it looks like a great place for a date!

Hibachi is really good and their hibachi stations are great for larger groups. Can’t speak about their sushi or non-​hibachi services, but when I want hibachi this is the place I go. The reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the portions can vary from visit to visit and I’ve left hungry at times.

Meh. That pretty much sums up this dining experience.
I had the yaki udon and white tuna sushi and it was simply uninspired. Appetizers came out together with hot entrees, and the sushi came out 15 minutes later. Definitely not worth trying again.

Had a wonderful sushi for 2 on a Wednesday night. Very good quality fish. The special roll menu (which i never explored much before) had a lot of very interesting rolls. I personally had a «big mac» roll which was excellent.
Drinks were delicious, service was prompt and quick.
Overall price was very fair. Excellent dinner.

My experiences here have been overall pretty good. Hibachi is very yummy, so is their sushi and other dishes. The décor and seating is nice, they definitely work to keep the place clean. The prices are pretty good, especially the hibachi which can get pricey at some places. The restaurant is usually pretty quiet, I’ve never been there when it’s been overcrowded or had to wait extremely long for a table. The wait staff is very nice even though they don’t always speak the best english. My favorite thing to order here is chicken hibachi with fried rice, fried noodles, and a scorpion bowl!

We’ve been going to Sakura for years and after trying several other Hibachi restaurants in the area, this has become our «go to» place.
What I like about Sakura: The décor is nice, the food is very good, the atmosphere is fun for a group, and the price is reasonable for what you get as compared to other Hibachi restaurants. I’ve had several Hibachi items (chicken, steak, salmon, shrimp, filet mignon) and have not been disappointed with any. The fried rice and noodles are great, and I love the salad dressing. Most of the chefs are entertaining and will put on a bit of a show, especially if you’re there with kids or a large group. They are also reasonably accommodating to special requests, such as my wife only wanting cucumbers for her salad. I’m not a sushi person, but the simple rolls I’ve eaten are good as well (Boston roll, sweet potato tempura, chicken tempura).
What needs improvement: The biggest opportunity Sakura has in my opinion, which is why I rated 4 stars, is consistency. The consistency challenges exist in many areas and some of it is simply a product of the Hibachi process. Occasionally you’ll get a chef that maybe doesn’t season the food as well as the last chef you had, or cooks it differently than what you’re used to, but it’s never been to the point where I’ve disliked it. There are also inconsistencies at times with the servers. Some of them, especially newer ones, don’t understand a special request or claim they cannot accommodate it, when it’s been done several times in the past. Fortunately the Manager knows us well and corrects things without us even having to intervene. They have also charged us an extra dollar on a few occasions for getting white rice instead of fried, which makes no sense, but I haven’t tried addressing it either. Lastly, charging for refills on soft drinks is pretty weak, at least offer one free refill before charging additional.
Overall, it’s worth giving a try!

We were welcomed by a girl possibly taking personal calls on her cellphone. Extremely rude. I would give this place a one star but I need to give other parts of my visit some credits.
Wait staff was friendly but with obvious language barriers. Hibachi was yummy, but then again, who isn’t a fan of anything right off that flaming hot grill?
Overall things were mediocre. Aside from the rude entrance, nothing else really made a lasting impression on us.

This place can go either way depending on the atmosphere. The food is generally good, especially for Hamden.
I’ve seen some definitely underage drinkers there and they were being very obnoxious, had a glass of wine spilled on me and was then followed into the bathroom by an over zealous waitress, and had my words mangled by wait staff that needs to learn better English. But these things don’t happen every time.

When my wife and I went here, we both ordered tea. I should have inspected my cup more carefully, because after a couple minutes of drinking the tea, I noticed that there were smudges of red lipstick on the outside of the rim. Gross. Really? The waiter didn’t even seem to care. The sushi itself was nothing special.

I love going here for lunch, they have 50% sushi rolls. The sushi is always fresh and delicious. The inside of the restaurant is pretty, but the TVs are distracting and the bathrooms are very dark!

I wish my review had anything to do with food, but we didn’t even make it to a table. The hostess had no clue how to multitask and seemed very confused by separating those with reservations and those without. She gave several tables away to folks without reservations, leaving those with reservations to wait. She also ignored four people who were picking up to-​go orders; despite their attempts to get her attention as they watched their bags of food sit cold right next to her. She left the hostess table for several minutes at a time with no explanation. I (with my husband and three small kids) finally left after nearly 20 minutes of waiting for her to even greet us. I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years and have never seen such an unorganized mess.

The location isn’t exactly ideal in a random shopping center near Home Depot off Dixwell Ave, but once you get inside the décor is nice, the food is great, and the staff is always really friendly.
When dating someone who lived nearby here we literally came here once a week. Often we would sit at the sushi bar and if the place wasn’t too crowded the sushi chefs would often create a custom off the menu appetizer for us to try and it was always amazing! The rolls are created with care and fresh ingredients and the sushi chefs made an effort to make the presentation nice. The sweetheart rolls is shaped in the shape of a heart, how cute is that? I have probably tried every special roll on their menu and I haven’t found one I didn’t like. The sashimi jalapeño appetizer is also amazing and the sushi pizza is huge and loaded with tons of fresh tuna.
They also have a really good hibachi here which is fun with a large group or a special occasion dinner, and they have a full bar with really good cocktails, even though I normally just order the scorpion bowl.
I only wish this place was closer to come as its harder for me to find an excuse to go to Dixwell anymore but its definitely worth the trip so I need to get on this!

I started visiting Sakura Gardens during the «soft opening» a few years back. They had their share of opening issues but the staff was able to work past it and make the best of it. That is why it is called a soft opening.
I normally only tried the Hibachi which was better than Kumo located down the road. Recently I have been taking advantage of the half priced sushi deals which are a REALLY good deal. The quality of the food is excellent however I have been there twice and they were out of tuna. (also spicy tuna) I just don’t understand how you can be out of a core ingredient like that.
The environment is beautiful and can also accommodate large groups in a special section. The hibachi chefs will by default do a show for you that is pretty much the same as any other hibachi place. Where they excel is the owner checks in on you as if you are his visiting family to make sure you are satisfied. There is a «river» that flows under the tables next to the hibachi area and the bar is well stocked and setup nicely.