Sakura Restaurant

Always good food. Seamed a little under staffed though. Only have eaten here for lunch though. Probably more staff at night.

Nooooooo!!! Sakura closed…
This used to be the «go to spot» for me and my friend’s after 9pm. Now their regular food menu is good but what captured my heart was the AMAZING happy hour menu! Their happy hour was every day from 9pm-​12am with bottled beers at $ 2.95, cocktails and drafts at $ 3.50, and a variety of tasty food items for $ 5 a pop! Plus you could always get a table no matter what size your party is WITHOUT reservations.
My favorite happy hour food was the happy hour hand rolls and any combo that came with fries (which was most of the happy hour menu). Now in addition to the cheap eats and drinks, there was live music! Every Friday this young guy would come in and play acoustic covers of songs ranging from Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Lorde, Backstreet Boys, etc. He would even play the songs on his guitar! By far one of the best live bar entertainment I’ve seen. Combine the cheap drinks/​eats with live entertainment and you’ve successfully created an amazing happy hour spot in the Waialae/​Kaimuki area! It also helps that the staff is super friendly and attentive. The only problem was the limited parking.
I’m heartbroken that my new favorite happy hour joint closed down. Apparently their last day was yesterday (Monday, April 28) and according to a friend, the current owners didn’t extend their lease. Also the owners of Genius Lounge bought Sakura and plan to re-​open by next week with a revamped menu with more sake… but minus the current happy hour menu. RIP Sakura, my time with you has been short lived but you will always be remembered.

Great ambience and food!
Tons to choose from off their Happy Hour menu which is basically their popular main menu items in smaller portions for 5 dollars.
Also have an amazing selection of alcohol for HH for just $ 2 – 3
Also got the garlic ribeye cooked med-​rare on a sizzling platter which was the perfect consistency.
Ate everything while listening to the resident band played (Monday and Saturday)
I hope they reopen soon, as they are leaving this location at the end of April

Me thinks Sakura has made its way into my late night happy hour rotation.
Things I was impressed by:
–LATE NIGHT HAPPY HOUR MENU. Every day from 9 – 12. Bottled beers at $ 2.95, draft beers and hard alcohol/​cocktails for $ 3.50! Oh my!!! They also have a variety of food offerings on this menu for $ 5. We tried the spicy salmon rolls (2 for $ 5), fried gyoza (like 10 pieces), calamari + fries combo, mochiko chicken + fries combo, and the hamachi sashimi. I wouldn’t give them an A for the most authentic Japanese food, but it’ll do for pupus. Krysten I. ordered beef tongue from the regular menu and that looked okay so it has potential.
–Friendly, accommodating service! Servers are super nice and make good drinks! I really appreciate that they were able to split our checks individually just by keeping track of who ordered what. And no minimum credit card charge!
–Live music. Whoever was playing guitar and vocals was surprisingly awesome. They played a wide variety of songs from Michael Buble to Lorde and the Black Eyed Peas. Kept the atmosphere lively.
Things I was not impressed by:
Smelly bathroom– meh
Parking situation. So there are apparently two lots, one to the right and left of the restaurant, but these lots are not for the faint hearted (aka those junk at parking) haha.
The crowd ranges from UH students to da old braddahs talking story. Fun for all ages!
This place kind of flies under the radar, but the prices are very reasonable and there’s a lot of space. Definitely keeping this in mind for late night happy hour!!!

Thanks to Krysten I.‘s tip on Sakura’s cheap happy hour, my friends and I all stopped by for a fun night out. We had a rather large party so we made reservations earlier to guarantee a table together. When we arrived a little after 9, however, there were several large tables open! The restaurant did get crowded rather quickly, so reservations are a good way to go if you have a lot of people with you.
The happy hour menu is indeed cheap and varied! Draft beers, cocktails, and certain spirits run from about $ 3-​$ 5. All the happy hour pupus are $ 5 as well. The pupu menu includes bar staples like mochiko chicken and french fries, but also has hamachi sashimi and sushi hand rolls as well! I was happily surprised at how fresh the hamachi sashimi was! And for $ 5!
We were treated to great live music throughout our stay. I’m not sure if it’s a nightly thing or not, but it definitely made for a fun and laid back vibe. The service we received was outstanding! I know it’s not easy to split checks for such a large table, but they were happy to help us out and make everything easier.
The only downside of Sakura is the limited parking. You can park on either side of the restaurant, but some of the stalls were very compact and required delicate maneuvering.

It was a sunday night. I had gotten off work at 9pm and was looking for somewhere to get some food before heading home. I had passed by Sakura a few times, but never really had any interest in going, especially because this space is notorious for change of ownership.
We hesitantly parked in the lot to the right and made sure that we were allowed to park there when we got into the restaurant. When we walked in, we were greeted and sat in the understandingly empty establishment. It was 9:30 on a sunday night after all. We ordered the shrimp tempura and a few things off the Happy Hour menu. I will definitely have to come back to try more of the happy hour drinks because they are only $ 3.50! We ordered the 3 piece hamachi sashimi, the 2 spicy ahi rolls and the menche katsu. Every food item is only $ 5, but it honestly didn’t seem like that much of a deal. I’ll have to come back and order other things to be sure though. The tempura was good. The shrimp was accompanied by eggplant, cherry tomatoes and shiso leaf. I love shiso leaf, but when it is tempura-​ed it doesn’t taste like shiso at all… more like a tempura chip.
Because the boyfriend had posted a picture of his food on instagram, his friends ended up coming as we were about to leave. I guess the food looks THAT appetizing.
I thought the service was great! We were also one of only three parties dining at the time, so maybe that has something to do with it. But the servers checked on us frequently, remembered our drink orders perfectly and happily boxed up our left over food for us.

Sakura has been a popular spot for me and my friends this winter. Can’t go wrong with their chill atmosphere and cheap happy hour from 9pm-​12am! All of the workers have been so friendly and cool to us too. I’ve tried to try all of the different types of mixes using the different alcohols on the happy hour menu. One of my favorite is the cruzan rum + sprite mix. The peach fizz is pretty good too! And the tequila + oj. Haha. I am definitely a proud regular at Sakura and always enjoy my time there. What sucks is the parking but we find a way to make it work or we park in the city mill lot and just pay. Sakura is definitely the go to place when we are looking for something to do at night. If you go with your friends you should have a very good time!
One con I have about the place is the smell of the restroom…

I like the ambiance of this place. We went there on Christmas Eve and they were open until 12. The place is dimly lit but just enough to make it feel comfortable.
The menu selection wasn’t too bad though I wasn’t entirely pleased with the lack of Japanese authenticity. See, a friend of mine had described it like a «Choco House» which to me meant that there would be more authentic Japanese cuisine.
I would definitely rate the service a 4 out of 5 but the food quality only a 3. Parking was plentiful in the adjoining lot which was not a surprise because I don’t imagine this place being too crowded on Christmas Eve.
The bathroom had that «sewage» smell which to me is always a pain. I don’t like feeling grossed out by going to the bathroom.
I may go there again. It’s right down the road from where I live and I’m actually interested in seeing Dave Toma live on Monday night.

If you are like me, you may get confused between Sakura Restaurant and Sakura Terrace Restaurant. They are not the same place. The terrace place is basically chirashi type food. This place has a larger variety and a much different personality.
Step one, DO NOT park in the lot adjacent to the restaurant on the freeway side. It’s basically like the lot at Bernini. You’ll need wings to get out. If you come after 5pm, you can park in the lot adjacent to the restaurant on the City Mill side (just not in the reserved spots, I think). It’s much more vehicle friendly there.
The restaurant itself looks like it has an identity crisis. There’s a corner with traditional take-​off-​your-​shoes and sit on the floor. There’s large screen TVs. There’s a surfboard on the wall. There’s a corner with a bar, another corner with the sushi chefs and when we went, the last corner had a live band. But this band was squished in a tiny area and every so often another random dude added himself to the band. As the night progressed, it started to look like a local hangout for the older crowd (50+).
Anyway, the food. I got the miso salmon, my friends got the sashimi don and mushroom hamburger steak. My miso salmon was pretty good, well prepared and seasoned. My friend’s sashimi don (read chirashi) was beautiful and tasted pretty good too. The hamburger steak was good too, but I was expected amazing as it was the most mentioned thing on Unilocal.For dessert we got the strawberry cheesecake french toast thing which was pretty good. The cheesecake part tasted like cream cheese frosting-​YUM. and they served it with syrup, yay for more sugar!
Anyway, I’m still undecided if I’ll return, but that’s based more on the crowd than the food.

I have not heard of this place until my friend had mentioned it recently. She said we HAD to go here during their happy hour which started at 9pm until closing, I believe… I was not disappointed when she said their happy hour was amazing!
They had $ 5 pupus, which I felt like I needed to order everything on the menu. I usually order their 3-​piece hamachi or 2-​piece spicy tuna rolls. Also, their beers were like $ 2.97 or something like that lol. I don’t feel like they are too busy so when we want somewhere to chill, calling that night to make a reservation is usually no problem.
The workers are nice and friendly and the interior looks somewhat Japaneezy. However, I could not tell how Authentic Japanese this place was because it seemed like only the owners or chef could speak the language. Regardless, I love this place! Also, I was surprised to see a lot of local people come here. There is sometimes live music as well.
The only downer about this place is it’s weird location with limited parking… They have parking on both sides, but it is very little. I feel like we usually park in other restaurant or shops parking stalls, which we always get paranoid and fear getting towed. Oh well I guess lol, I guess try to car pool? That’s what we do sometimes.

So I came here a little over a week ago with some friends on a Thursday night to check it out at the suggestion of a friend. Sakura Restaurant is a decent little place located on Waialae Avenue right on the outskirts of UH Manoa and nearby to Market City, where the old Momomo restaurant was located (yes, it’s an odd name & that really was its name!).
When we went into the parking which was a little tight, the place wasn’t really packed to the gills. There was at least a few people on the left-​hand wall when you first entered and a bunch of people sitting at the bar but other than that it wasn’t packed. I will definitely give Sakura Restaurant some credit for having a decent Happy Hour selection; there is much beer & Asian-​drinks such as sake and shochu as well as food on the menu. The menu itself has a decent variety of stuff too, with some good ol’ steaks to local favorites like Katsu & hamburger steak. I personally got a wafu ribeye steak which I thought was done pretty well, and was served nice and hot with veggies. We also ordered some appetizers such as the tongue which was pretty cheap since it came off the happy hour menu and was plentiful!
The service was pretty decent here too, with our servers coming by to ensure that our drinks were filled and the food kept flowing. Definitely one of the servers was really friendly and talkative which was good, because sometimes you get the grouchy ones that just have no personality and look like they’d rather be elsewhere. The atmosphere is pretty nice too, not too loud considering that there were several people at the bar partying it up.
Would I come back again, yes but only because I want to try the rest of the stuff that’s on their happy hour menu. The drink selection is decent too, so I’d come back for that but we’ll see how long this place lasts. Hopefully it doesn’t go away any time soon!

Decided to try a new restaurant for a change and ended up here after passing it while driving. It was definitely a good choice. Although we originally thought the food was a bit pricey, it seemed to average out in the end because we had leftovers even though we didn’t order much.
Wafu steak: I saw other people’s photos on Unilocal and had to try this. It came on a sizzling platter and the steak was topped with daikon and some vegetables with some ponzu sauce on the side.
Furikake chicken: a little on the sweet side for me, but still pretty good. Just your typical battered chicken with a glaze and some furikake. A little salad comes on the plate with it.
Miso tofu: definitely one of the highlights. It was like agedashi tofu but covered in a miso sauce. You’d think $ 8 is a little pricey for tofu but they’re pretty big pieces.
Garlic bread: we ordered this for $ 2 for kicks basically. Really crunchy, warm, and delicious.
Mixed berry cheesecake: not your average thick and rich cheesecake like you’d find elsewhere but apparently a Japanese style. It looked like a pile of cheese, but tasted delicious.

I made reservations on OpenTable for happy hour/​dinner on a Tuesday. I got there at 5:30, and the place was empty, almost uncomfortably so. However, the manager (?) was really friendly and nice, which helped ease any potential awkwardness. We ordered a LOT of food off both the regular and super duper cheap happy hour menus.
Ahi hand rolls — I can’t comment on the taste, but they looked like basic hand rolls. My friend got a second order (well partly because they were out of salmon hand rolls), if that counts for anything.
Calamari — This came with french fries, which always gets a thumbs up from me.
Yakitori — Basic and tasty.
Tofu with Natto — Obviously, you have to like natto to enjoy this. The tofu was a little dry.
Jalapeño Hamachi Carpaccio — Rather Nobu-​esque in concept and presentation. It wasn’t close to something you’d have at Nobu in terms of taste, but then again, it wasn’t close to Nobu in price, either.
Tonkatsu — Standard. Well done.
Furikake Chicken — Yummy! I think this was the best non-​dessert item we had. Too bad I was already so full.
For dessert, we opted for both the Mixed Berry AND the Chocolate Cheesecakes. These were so delicious!
Overall, the food didn’t blow me away, and I considered rating it 3 stars. However, the outstanding service, extremely cheap happy hour prices, and those cheesecakes bumped it up for me. Recommended.

On our way back from Waikiki going up Kapahulu Avenue, my bf and I were sitting at the light discussing the definition of pop music. As we sat there, we noticed the fairly new restaurant Sakura sitting at the beginning of Waialae Avenue. In accord, we decided to try this place for dinner. It is literally down the street from our house so we thought «Let’s do it!».
The hostess, server, and manager were all extremely welcoming and friendly. The décor features dark woods and a traditional sit-​down area for an authentic Japanese-​style experience in the back area by the restrooms. They have a decent happy hour selection of beers and recently added Hoegaarden to the list.
Let me reiterate that the problem was not the service. But unfortunately, from the time we sat and ordered to the time we got our first morsel of food was over an hour long. Coming here half satiated was a blessing indisguise because we were chatting away not realizing how much time had lapsed until our stomachs started nudging us in the brain. I glanced at my phone and was shocked to see that it had been over 50 minutes since our server took our order.
Once our food came, we were ready to grind. But only the Furikake Chicken appetizer made its way out of the kitchen which offered us about 5 pieces each to tide us over. I think the server realized the time issue and apologized to us explaining that the kitchen was understaffed. The food was decent but nothing unique. The wafu steak and garlic ahi belly were flavorful, but the ahi belly was lacking something. Ikaika asked for a side of mayo and that made a world of difference with the flavor.
For dessert, we ordered the Deconstructed Chocolate Cheesecake (one of many desserts featured in the newspaper this month). The brownie morsels went well with the slabs of fresh cream cheese and chocolate syrup.
I think this place does better as a Happy Hour spot than just dinner alone. If we have another hour or so to kill in the near future, we just might consider it.

$ 5 PLATES
My friend Deb M. Decided to have her Birthday Dinner here this past Saturday for a late night Happy Hour beginning at 9PM. $ 5.00 plates here are amazing!!! I seriously think it is worth your money. The portions are good. Depending on what you get will fill you up. I came with a huge appetite, but shared with another person so we had 5 of these $ 5 plates and didn’t even finish it all. We ended up sharing it with the rest for our party.
Location: This place is located at a very odd spot. I used my Google map to find it and almost passed it twice. It is across the street or GOODYEAR in Waialae. It’s just at an awkward location, but it is lite up at night so I don’t know how I missed it. They have two areas of parking, you would past the first parking lot if you didn’t know where the place is, but there is also another private lot exactly after the restaurant. Since we went late at night, it was fairly empty (just 3 couples in the place and our group of 20). The parking was good because they had a lot of space open.
Food: Good!!! Off of their happy hour menu, I got the Spicy Ahi hand rolls, Salmon hand rolls, calamari with fries, Yakitori Chicken (3ps), and fried oysters (
). You get what you paid for. The portions are worth it. All the plates with chicken and fries are worth your money and if you like oysters, then get the fried oysters!!! The fried oysters is the most worth it thing on their menu. The hand rolls were simple, nothing special or extra amazing.
The Hamachi, not on happy hour, was awesome (
). It wasn’t all fancied up, but it was fresh and tasty. The only complaint I would have is that the slices were really thick; the thickest I have ever had.
Service: The service here is ok. One guy, the bartender was amazing!!! If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably give them no stars for service. At first, it took a while for them to take our orders. We had a group of 20, but they forgot about my half of the table. Once we got things ordered, the wait wasn’t too long. I had to wave to wave down the waiters a couple times and even raise my voice a couple times. I was getting annoyed until the bartender started tending to me. He was on point and always checks up on us. He was also very funny and made us laugh the whole time. Excellent service if he is around!
I would definitely come back here for their super cheap and delicious happy hour menu. Probably with a smaller party just to see how their service would be. I would definitely update my rating because I’d like to rate them a 5, but a 4 would have to do because of the lack in service.

Kind of surprised, we dropped in on a whim and was not expecting much based on past reviews. Really enjoyed the food and the service was great. All of the servers were very attentive and personable. They also have a bar with several TVs. Learned that they also are open for lunch and have take out.
Definitely will be back for more.

I was debating on whether to give this place 2 or 3 stars. Foods ok and they have a wide variety, but the prices seem really high. I had had the tempura udon, which was ok. Friend had the ribeye with ponzu. It was a decent size and tasted ok, but he said we could have gone Pioneer and i could have paid $ 15 less. My wife had the hamburger steak with demiglaze. It was huge and it tasted good, but again, pioneer for half the price.
We went on a Friday at 630p and the restaurant was empty. I was scared to walk in…

Oh man, here comes the hate… I’m sorry, I just don’t agree with some of the reviews here. I know this restaurant is fairly new and they have some kinks to work out, but with majority good reviews, I thought it would be a good idea to check this place out. Like everyone says, parking can be a problem but my family and I arrived around 7:30pm and there were a lot of open stalls. I guess that should have been the first sign.
We walked to the front door and I saw that the restaurant was pretty empty. Second sign. We ordered the Sakura steak, wafu steak, kim chee fried rice, and unagi and avocado donburi.
We watched the waitress bring out food for the table that ordered after us and we were wondering why they got their food before us. Then the waitress took the food from the table and talked to another waitress. I guess there was a mix up and they gave them our food. Then she immediately turned around and gave us the food that was sitting on the other table for a good five minutes. REALLY?! You’re not even going to bring it into the kitchen and pretend to bring us a new one?
The Sakura steak was actually pretty good, but that was probably the best dish of the night. I know they pride themselves on the steak, but I disagree. The cuts of steak we were served were SO FATTY, I could only eat half of it. It wasn’t the good fat where the fat is marbled in either. My wafu steak and sides came out really cold and the country style potatoes were not seasoned AT ALL.
The service is somewhat lacking here. There was one really good server, but overall it was not a very good experience for me.
31 Unilocal Reviews Challenge: #24 of 31

So this place popped up out of nowhere… in the location that was once a tonkatsu place, a korean eatery and Mo Mo Mo, Sakura now takes residence of that black building you see on Waialae avenue near Sabrina’s and across from Downing Surf shop.
Parking is bit trickey, but if you can’t find parking in the lot directly after the restaurant (Ewa) you can park in the lot Diamond Head of the restaurant and in a few stalls int he parking lot adjacent of that lot as well.
When you step in to the restaurant you’ll notice an interesting layout. There’s a full bar to the right, a raised dining area to the left, the main dining area in front of you and a little area in the back right for bigger parties. Directly straight ahead you’ll notice that there’s a counter area that looks like what I believe is a sushi bar.
The food offered here is very interesting. It offers traditional Japanese food such as Teishoku’s, ramen, udon, sushi and sashimi. But you’ll also notice that they have some Italian dishes as well which include pastas and the night we went they had a few pizza specials. So it’s not a stretch when you can order a side order of miso soup… but garlic bread as well.
I and a few friends ordered the Japanese food. The hamburger steak prepared Japanese Wafu style, Wafu steak, and a few sashimi donburi’s. I came anothr time and had ramen and udon. All of which was pretty good. My friend ordered the crab gratin which isn’t Japanese food but since she started with a salad I guess she felt it wasn’t mixing the ethnicities too much. She said it was rich but pretty good. My favorite was the wafu steak. prepared on a sizzling platter with onions, it came with grated daikon and ponzu sauce… yummy. That’s the dish i’d recommend most.
The prices are a little pricier for the steaks but average and comparable to other restaurants for the things like ramen, pastas and donburi’s.

Great food! My favorite dish was the Jalepeno Hamachi sashimi? Parking is a bit limited here but this place serves great food and is in a great location. Give it a try.
I will be back to try the rest of the menu…