Sakura Fusion Japanese Sushi & Grill

I will frame this review with the fact my friend and I popped into Sakura late at night and there were few other customers. They’re open until 10:30pm on weekends, but still, I felt we were coming in late even though it was an hour before closing time. They were still very gracious to us though. The atmosphere is fine, if a bit trite and typical to a strip-​mall Japanese restaurant and the menu is also pretty standard and offers the sushi and kitchen dishes you’ll see all over America at sushi bars. They have plenty of room and seem to do a good business, even if not busy when I was there.
However, I found the fresh, uncooked, sushi a bit wanting: it wasn’t horrible enough to send back nor did I feel it was unsafe to eat, but it lacked flavor, especially in things like the yellowtail roll – rolls that are simple, uncomplicated, and predicated on the flavor of fresh fish to come through. The gyoza and shumai however were quite good and the sauce for the gyoza was one of the best soy-​based ponzu-​type dipping sauces I’ve had for gyoza. The service was fine, as well.
Why three stars then? I just didn’t really feel the sushi was as good as it ought to be. The flavor didn’t suggest «bad» fish, but it did suggest to me as someone who eats sushi about three to five times a week (seriously) that the fish had suffered from freezing, thawing, or some other part of the transport/​storage process. So bear in mind, my rating isn’t «is this a nice restaurant for Live Oak?» because it probably meets decent criteria for that, but instead «is this really a quality sushi bar?» and I think it is barely getting into that level. If you go, my suggestion would be to order from the cooked kitchen menu and probably to be very specific on how you want things, with any request for low salt or such firmly voiced. I just felt they were painting by the numbers a bit here too, but it seems they can indeed turn out good food as well. So I’d be adamant about getting them to do so if you come.

After reading some of the reviews I was unsure if I should checkout this restaurant. However, my yearning for sushi won out! I’m so glad I decided to go. The sushi is awesome! Fresh, beautifully presented and sooo yummy! I also tried the Udon soup (Veggie) which was wonderful also. I’ve been back three times, and it appears that I’ll be going every other week from now on.

Didnt have high expectations going in, but they definitely proved me wrong. Sakura is a nice local sushi/​japanese restaurant near the Live Oak Publix. It offers good solid sushi at reasonable prices, and is probably the best place to eat in Live Oak.
The menu is typical of local sushi places, and features a solid variety of sushi rolls along with bento boxes, hibashi, and udon noodles. The fish selection is a bit more limited than you might find in a larger city, but they offer quite a few good options including tuna, softshell crab, salmon, shrimp, eel, snapper to name a few. The portions are good, particularly for the price, and the presentation is always pleasant. The cuts of fish are generous, and everything is fresh.
The udon noodles are something you dont see at every sushi place, and are very good as well.
The interior is nice inside and the staff are very friendly and professional. Once in a while it can take a few minutes for the food to arrive, but no major waits. They offer great drink specials on plum wine and beer, and at dinner you can get 3 Japanese beers for the price of 2.
I’d recommend Sakura to anyone traveling thru Live Oak without hesitation. It’s not a Benihanna, but they offer good, fresh sushi at a reasonable price with a pleasant atmosphere and friendly service. Sakura stands far above most other Live Oak offerings.

The reviews here were mixed so I thought I would give it a try and provide my own input.
Staff is very nice, attentive and friendly. Décor was nicer than expected considering previous reviewer made a comment about having a sports bar atmosphere.
Only one TV in here and it was behind me and I could not even hear it. Probably because instead of a sports bar atmosphere this place at times seemed more like a day care center with one of the staff members two kids running around incessantly.
Was not really hungry for anything in particular so went for a smattering of those things that I like when eating Japanese.
I ordered Edemame, Yakatori, Miso soup, 3 pieces Maguro sashimi and Steak teriyaki.
Was thrilled to see that they had sake on the menu only to find out in this neck of the woods they do not sell any alcohol on Sunday. Not surprising considering in this city they have more funeral homes (2) than places that deliver pizza (0).
Edemame was good. Done and well salted. The Miso soup was average. Decent flavor but tofu must be on the endangered supply list at Sakura. The tofu pieces were barely larger than the mini Chicklet gum pieces from days gone by.
Maguro (tuna) sashimi was substandard. It was not fresh, it was previously frozen and then thawed out incorrectly. Tasted bad and very fishy. Only ate one piece and left the other two on the plate. Immediately ate the rest of the ginger off the plate.
Yakatori chicken was okay if not a tad on the overdone side. The vegetable pieces between the chicken were burnt, soggy and flavorless.
The saving grace was to be the Teriyaki steak. Flavor was really good but the meat was a bit tougher than I am accustomed too.
All in all I would say that it was average for a small market Japanese restaurant. But there were several other people eating there that thoroughly seemed to enjoy it (none of them were Asian). It could probably be considered good if you did not previously live in Japan or Hawaii and know what real Japanese cuisine was.

I’ve lived in Japan but I’ve been back in the States long enough to lower my expectations of a Japanese restaurant here. Hence the four stars. One star is well deserved just for enlivening the restaurant scene in Live Oak with something besides standard American food. The sushi rolls here were fine. «Clear soup» should have been miso soup instead (with no MSG!) but I’ll overlook that. Seaweed salad was ample and satisfying. Tempura needed real tempura sauce but portions were very generous and it was well made.

This place is good. Better than a lot of Japanese places I’ve been in much bigger cities. I go here often.

There are parts of the world where people just don’t know better, and Live Oak is one of them. Were Sakura’s fare not proof enough, even the most careless observer might arrive at this conclusion merely by driving into town. Should you venture south of Live Oak and cross the Suwanee River on State Rte 51, you’ll transit the Hal W Adams Bridge, which memorializes lyrics from the unbelievably racist ‘Old Folks at Home’, Florida’s state song, a song traditionally sung in blackface and an affected slave accent for the amusement of white audiences. It’s also the state’s first suspension bridge, which makes you curious about how it took them until 1947 to figure this technology out. There is a remote, laziness about the place that embodies Flannery O’Connor’s prose describing the corners of the word where Progress failed to pay a visit. Modern marvels like electrification, mobile phones and automobiles may tell you it’s not 1893 any more, but the mentality really never changed: interlopers such as ourselves are carpet baggers and Reconstruction is still a dirty word.
So what of Sakura? We sampled a bento box and some sushi à la carte and were delighted by the chef’s inventiveness. Their rice is Uncle Ben’s boil-​in-​a-​bag, not Koshihikari, not even the fake stuff that’s raised in the US. The beef, perhaps, if we’re generous, is reconstituted beef jerky, and the sushi, well — let’s just say it emits an odor which takes courage to sample, but not on account of freshness. Like any good immigrants, Sakura’s owners have carefully assimilated into the local culinary fabric of Live Oak. Sakura is therefore very clearly a local interpretation of sushi tailored to local taste, a local taste which has no interest in knowing what sushi is actually like. Sakura is probably the most interesting place to eat in Live Oak, but if you want sushi, we suggest staying on I-​10 and placing your bets on Tallahassee or Jacksonville.

Live in philly and came down here for a few days for a training camp. I’m used to having my pick of excellent restaurants in Philly which makes it difficult when traveling sometimes. This is the best restaurant in live oak by far. Wish I had found it sooner as I have been really disappointed by the options so far. Fish is fresh and they have some really nice special rolls. If sushi and raw fish isn’t your thing they have excellent entrees with chicken beef or tofu options.