Azuma Sushi & Robata Bar

The staff was extremely friendly here and gave us good recommendations as far as sight seeing. The sushi was excellent and the atmosphere was very nice. The Texas roll was delicious

Greta service and great food. Sushi was fresh and tasty. Shashimi and tuna in chilie was very good. Like all sushi places be careful or you could end up spending. A lot of money because it’s so good and you keep ordering more. The only critique is the tables. We were seated by the bar and had to round tables pushed together and it was kinda sketchy and hard to organize food and drink. Overall a great place to hit up if you’re downtown in Houston

The scorpion roll was perfect. Great deal on wine of the week only $ 7! Leon was friendly and took great care of his customers. He let me finish my wine on the patio even though it was closed. Love this place

One of my favorite places to eat sushi! Love the spicy tuna crisp roll and their spicy chopped scallops!

Best Sushi in Houston. I had the vegetarian combo, and they also let me substitute other ingredients to make rolls vegetarian. Great service and prices very reasonable.

This is the first restaurant my husband and I ate at when visiting Houston to buy our house three years ago. We loved it then and we loved our latest visit. The service was fast and friendly and the fish was fresh. My younger son loved the California roll and my older son (who doesn’t eat sushi) loved the hot rock beef. We live 50 minutes away and would make the drive just to come here for dinner.

I come here for lunch occasionally during the work week. It is typically decent and service is fast. We made the mistake of coming here for dinner on a Saturday night. The entire restaurant was relatively open and they stuck us next to some of the only people in the restaurant in a tiny corner. Thirty minutes into the meal a roach crawled onto the table and my wife had to put her cup over it. I immediately lost my appetite as you can expect. In all fairness, they graciously comped everything we had ordered and told us that it was due to near by construction. I will likely not be returning to eat here, but the food I have had here has generally been good. Not so sure about the sanitization.

I wish I could rate the food and service separately but 3 stars will have to do. Service sucks, point blank. I’ve gone here a couple times for lunch and usually only when my boss is out of the office because it will typically end up being a 2 to 2.5 hour break. It’s always pretty empty when I go (11:30ish) so there’s never a wait… to get a table.
Now when you get a waiter to take your order, that’s where the waiting comes into play. Word of the wise, check out the menu in advance & know what you want. Because if you order a drink and then say you need some more time after they bring it to you, you may begin to wonder if they forgot about you entirely. One time a friend of mine ordered a roll wrapped in cucumber (plus 2 other rolls) and she was served the other 2 rolls. So when she asked the waitress twice (because the waitress failed to give an update after the first inquiry) she pointed out there are multiple sushi chefs but are designated to particular rolls. REALLY?
That said, the sushi is great and really hits the spot. The lunch prices are kinda pricey in my opinion but very fresh & well prepared. There aren’t too many sushi spots in the middle of downtown so if you can spare the time and are a patient person, this place will work.

Working in downtown there aren’t too many options for freshly prepared sushi. But Azuma is a place I’ve really come to enjoy. The food never disappoints, the sake is delicious and I enjoy the ambiance. With that being said, my experience today was sub-​par.
I joined a few friends who had already sat on the patio for a quick bite to eat before returning to work. The waitress had already given them water and greeted me when I joined their party. However as time went on, she was hardly attentive and it took her a while to return to the table to bring the glass of wine and water I asked for. Working in the restaurant industry and working as a server myself, I tried not to give her a hard time but once I realized that we were one of the only tables in restaurant, I realized that she wasn’t most attentive. My friends in the party also had their own gripes with her service. When it was all over, she brought our tabs and I had to run back to work so I left cash.
The worst part about it was that apparently once I had left, she approached my friends who were still sitting at the table and asked why I hadn’t left a tip. «Mindy» questioned them as to if she had an «attitude» and proceeded to tell them the amount of my bill and wondered why I left little to nothing. Frankly, I was in a rush to go back to work and it could have just been an oversight. But really it was her poor service, lack luster attitude, and the fact that my fiancé, who was also a part of the table, had to go inside to request a water from the bar was the reason that she didn’t get a tip. And as someone who had tipped quality service at Azuma before, I felt offended that she would approach customers in that fashion.
With that being said, I’ll may order from Azuma again, but I will take it to-​go and skip the inattentive servers on their floor.

Extremely disappointed. Mediocre food and bad service. I sat at the sushi bar and not one sushi chef acknowledged me. My server came by twice during the whole meal. The sushi rice was dry and the chirashi was more of an appetizer than dinner. A waste of a Houston dinner.

Decent Japanese food downtown.
With the exception of Uchi, Houston doesn’t do Japanese well. Everything in this town is an approximation of the cuisine with some Texas-​friendly accoutrements. Azuma does nothing to set itself apart from this crowd, but neither is it a bad experience, so three stars it is! (Note: if I were rating this among all downtown lunch spots, it might actually be closer to four stars, but I decided to view this with my sushi lens).
Azuma suffers the same fate as many middling restaurants — too large a menu. I see noodles, soups, karaage, rolls, nigiri, sashimi, beef carpaccio. Pages of items that go against the simple beauty that should underlie Japanese food.
The rolls are a perfect reflection of the somewhat bloated menu. Fried tempura roll with crab wrapped in rice paper and fried and covered in sriracha aioli with roe and etc… While I can’t deny that the stuff tastes pretty good (frying everything and covering it in mayo and sweet teriyaki sauce has a tendency to do that), it all feels heavy and overdone. More successful are some of the restrained appetizers. Try the Hamachi (nice kick of chili pepper on top) and the beef carpaccio (thinly sliced raw beef).
Service is pretty quick, but very matter-​of-​fact and casual. Azuma is also not cheap (nor is it really a value), with rolls range from $ 10-​$ 16. You’ll probably want two to get full.

I like this place I think the sushi is good. That being said, service was way off this night. It was a little crowded but still had open seating and no wait. It took about 15 minutes to bring our cocktail order (4people) then our waiter was MIA for a while. It took a while to finally get our food and part of our order was incorrect. However this place is in walking distance to several of the downtown hotels we stay in so it makes it convenient. I am sure we will go back one slow service night doesn’t warrant a never go back.

Azuma is my steady go to place for fresh and creative sushi. Their daily lunch special is always my go to dish. Enough food for two.
The place can get very crowded at lunch which makes it very loud. But it is worth the trade off.

I came here for lunch and to be honest I was expecting a better service, as this restaurant was recomended in the hotel I was staying. Some staff seems a bit grumpy. The food is regular, not amazing, and I think it is a bit overpriced. The space is calm and cozy.

Azuma has been downtown for as long as I can remember, so I’m surprised that it’s taken me this long to visit. The place itself is in a good location for downtown– off Main St. and Texas, and when I came for happy hour there was a garage right next door with $ 5 flat parking. For downtown Houston, that’s amazing! So my main headache with coming downtown was a non-​issue thanks to the close and cheap garage.
The place itself was fairly empty, but that may have been beacuse it was 6pm on a Tuesday. Their Happy Hour goes until 7, and they have a nice variety of rolls and other tasty bites to keep you happy. Some of the options don’t seem like such a great deal when they arrived, specifically the shasimi sampler, because the tiny slices of fish are so small you’ll wonder why it’s $ 6 to begin with. I was also disappointed in the tuna tower, as it didn’t have the freshness that I’ve come to expect with this dish from other locations. Otherwise, everything was delicious.
One note is that for us, we sat in the bar area and there was only one waiter/​bartender for the entire bar. That means that it took a lot longer than you’d expect for him to come around, but I have to say he did a fantastic job handling about 10 tables, as well as making all the drinks for the restaurant. Kudos to him, but maybe Azuma should look into hiring someone else to help out. We were heading to a concert later that night, and it got a bit tight waiting for him to come back around before we could ask for the check.

You see I’m all about that shrimp, bout that shrimp… no sushi.
I’m all about those wings, bout those wings… no sushi.
I’m all about that shrimp, chili shrimp… no sushi.
I’m all about those wings, asian wings… no sushi.
And then I had some Jaaack! Azumas happy hours where its at!
OK really now. I resisted wanting to come here but in honor of a friend I came anyways. I’m not into sushi at all and yes I’ve had it before, but its just not my thing. To add… I was hungry and hadn’t eaten a single thing all day. Despite the semi-​crowded bar area and lack of cool AC at that bar AND the honoring of happy hour only at the bar… I still enjoyed my short visit.
I tried the $ 4 appetizers and was blown away. The shrimp were very large, the Asian wings were perfectly spiced, and the dumplings where outstanding. YES, this is the way to eat at a sushi spot if ya don’t like sushi. Let me point out also that I am a stickler for reviewing a place for the most part of what they are known for, but since I don’t eat that, «this review is for anyone who isn’t into sushi but has friends that are and want to go hang out but don’t wanna be the only odd ball not eating.» (Whew that was a long sentence.) This is a good spot. And let me add… the drinks were nicely made.
Roll and Prosper!

We had 6:30 reservations for this past Saturday night. We were seated at the sushi bar, per our request. The sushi chefs never looked up, never greeted us, and never spoke to us throughout the entire meal. I had to repeatedly try to get their attention when we needed service, including asking the man standing directly in front of me six times for a dessert menu before he even looked up. I would have asked the waiter, but while he was fine when we had his attention, pulling him away from flirting with the hostess became a chore we finally gave up on. He kept his back to us most of the evening. I never once saw or spoke to a GM, a highly unusual occurrence in an Azuma Group restaurant.
The kitchen seemed on point with their timing, as the food came out quickly enough (and it should have… through an almost hour and a half meal, there was only us three and one other party in the entire restaurant) but was mediocre, as was the sushi. I ordered carpaccio as my first course and it arrived frozen to the plate. It had obviously been prepared way in advance and then sat in the fridge for who knows how long. The blueberry cheesecake had the consistency of rubber, another sure sign that it was either prepared with an entire box of gelatine leaves, or that it has sat in the walk-​in for days– maybe weeks. We left it sitting on the bar in a to-​go container.
The Azuma Group needs to take a long, critical look at this property and decide if they even want to keep it in their family. We’ve eaten at most of their restaurants, our favorite being Soma, in the Heights, and Kata, on Kirby, but this place comes nowhere near their usual standard. A prime downtown location and only two parties on a Saturday night? How can they even make money that way?
There are three things you cannot do badly in the city of Houston: BBQ, Tex-​Mex, and sushi. There are far too many excellent spots for those cuisines to waste your time and money on the lousy ones. The meal was 215.00, with 12.00 + 5.00 tip for the valet. This meal prompted my husband, who usually tips 30%, to tip 17%, something I’ve never, EVER seen him do.
We won’t be back.

The place is chic and modern with cute patio seating. The service is always good and friendly.
Food
Scallop sushi rolls (⁵⁄₅) — is so good and melt in your mouth! It’s my favorite item on the menu.
Chirashi (¹⁄₅) — OMG, the worst chirashi I ever had. The fishes were thinly cut and the rice was a no-​no. This was a bad choice.
Overall, I would come back and get other items.

Love Love Love this place! The atmosphere is very lively and I love hanging out with my friends here. Servers are very friendly and attentive to you.
The food is overall really good. Sushi/​sashimi is fresh. I tried multiple rolls already and they never disappoint. I love their lychee martini though… Always a good drink while waiting for food to come out!

I had NEVER eaten sushi until I went to Azuma. Since I live in the building the location is ever so convenient. For the first couple of years I lived here, I went there REGULARLY. I craved sushi all the time. I still like it, but I think I had my «run» so to speak. The Happy Hour is very good in terms of food selection and price. Leon is a great bartender and very personable. The clientele are professional and I have met some interesting folks there. If you are downtown and suddenly have a taste for sushi, then go here. The ambience is nice and the prices are not crazy.
UPDATE: I am a resident in the building. I was craving sushi and went to go get take out. Leon was not there some other little girl was playing bartender. I told her I wanted to get some to go and her response was that they do not do take out for the happy hour stuff. REALLY? I just stared at her, put down the menu and walked out. Moments later I strolled through carrying happy hour take out from Sambuca.
This little girl could have saved the day if she had said… why don’t you go ahead and order it and then suddenly become full and I’ll wrap it up for you. She could have been creative if she cared. Alas… not so much. I have lived here for 6 years and for this child to treat me so poorly really rubbed me the wrong way. I have spent hundreds of dollars there over the years. ADVICE… stop in when Leon tends bar because he is an awesome professional. And yeah I come from a restaurant family so I do know the business better than most.