Wasabi Japanese Restaurant

Great food and service. Owners care about the food preparation and service and were very nice. Sushi was making my mouth water before even tasting. Definitely will be coming back again and again.

Unfortunately, Richmond has very few Japanese-​run restaurants. The result is a town that knows very little about sushi, and a lot of five-​star ratings for sub-​standard product. It all starts with the rice and fish, and Wasabi does this very well. Add in a couple of nice sakes, and the experience is what I tneed o be a regular customer (even though I live in the Fan and this is quite a hike). I do not frequent other sushi restaurants RVA.
In the national /​international scheme of things, is Wasabi a 5 of 5 restaurant? No. But the product, delicious sushi, is 5 star compared to other Richmond offerings.

After getting introduced to sushi, I was very glad to find this little gem so close to my house! Their sushi is very fresh and delicious as is everything else I have tried here so far. Wait time for food can take a little while but it is well worth it and if you don’t feel like waiting there just order take out!

Overall this place screams «Awkward dinner you have with your freshly divorced parents»
By that I mean this place was a huge disappointment. Like that dinner, you go in with high hopes. Afterwards your just glad you made it through.
The service was terrible, the food took a while even though not that many people were there.
The food was mediocre. You can find better elsewhere.

Sushi took 1 hour to arrive to the table. The chairs are so uncomfortable. Table was sticky. No ambiance for a Japanese restaurant. Sad experience.

Good Sushi service was average. The building was very small and made you feel as if it was just a fast food restaurant. although it was OK, i feel the atmosphere could be much better for this type of food.

I love this place. I used to go a few times a month. Takes a little time to make but totally worth it. I would love to go again but alas, my wife doesn’t eat sushi, so its hard to get down there. Highly recommended.

The sushi we ordered took forever. around 45 minutes or so and the food itself was just ok.

I was satisfied with my meal. The waitstaff was courteous. There were a lot of sushi orders so we had to wait a little while but we got comped edemame. I enjoyed my tuna rolls and gyoza.

After reading reviews, the wife and I took a visit. I’m a newbie to sushi, and this was a great experience. The NY roll was great, and my wife got the crab roll. Both delicious, and the fried rice was fresh and light.
We are already planning a return visit to learn and taste more. Don’t let this little place fool you. Good things come in small packages indeed!

Hands down one of the best little sushi restaurants in Richmond. Great sushi, especially the CFO roll! The service is good and friendly. I love this place.

We absolutely love Wasabi! The chirachi bowl is amazing with very fresh sashimi. Favorite sushi south of the James! Don’t expect a quick meal, the sushi chef takes his time (that’s a good thing). We have started ordering to go so the kids don’t get out of control waiting a long time.

I decided to try this place after seeing so many good reviews on Unilocal.
I am from NY so I tend to compare sushi places to NY spots and… I am usually disappointed. But in this case– I have to say– I was very pleasantly surprised!
The sushi they served was some of the freshest, most delicious sushi I have ever had– anywhere! I am a sushi lover and these people clearly care about their quality of food as well as their customers. And the best part– their prices were excellent!
I will be going back!!!

I finally got a chance to try Wasabi! After a failed attempt to come on a Monday (Wasabi, like many Japanese restaurants, is closed on Mondays), I came for lunch on Friday, since I had gotten off work SUPER early at 1PM. It was also my last day at the VA hospital, so it would be easier to come here since I was already south of the river.
The restaurant was empty at this late lunch hour, but one other couple did enter and dine here during my meal. The restaurant is simple, but clean and comfortable. There are a few decorations on the wall, and I appreciated colorful as opposed to bare white walls. The couple (husband and wife?) running the restaurant were very friendly and polite. The man ran the sushi station, and the woman was the waitress/​cook. They also had a helper in the kitchen, and I overheard the lady training/​teaching the helper to cook some things in the kitchen.
What earned this place 5 stars for me was the food. It was authentic, fairly-​priced, and extremely delicious! Since this restaurant is kind of far from home, I decided to splurge and order a bunch of different dishes. I ordered agedashi tofu (fried tofu) and takoyaki (fried octopus balls) for appetizers, chirashi for my entrée, and red bean ice cream as dessert.
The agedashi tofu was phenomenal! The skin was fried just enough to provide a nice crisp, while leaving the interior warm and soft, and the dipping sauce was lovely, garnished with green onion and bonito flakes. The takoyaki were also delicious, and also had that nice combo of crispy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. The chirashi was quite generous in the quantity and variety of sashimi, and the sushi rice was great. It was also laid out in a stunning presentation. The raw seafood was definitely excellent in quality, and fantastic in taste and texture. The red bean ice cream (which I rarely see in restaurants, but love) was also tasty, and although I expected a single scoop in a small bowl, it actually came in a large sundae cup with about three scoops’ worth of ice cream!
I was truly impressed with the quality and portions/​quantity of the food here. I could tell that the chef put a lot of effort and care in making the food. There are a good number of items on the menu, so I am eager to come back and try more from my new favorite Japanese restaurant in greater Richmond. =)

My favorite sushi restaurant, ever. Hands down. Chopstix up. =P
My fiancé and I end up at Wasabi at least once every two weeks. We love this place (obviously) and started eating here about 4 years ago. Originally, we had the same server every time we went, a really sweet Japanese girl who was in school to be a teacher. She was very knowledgeable, and when she got a full-​time teaching position, we were so sad that she left. That didn’t stop us from going though! It’s funny that someone would describe the place as dirty-​everything has always been spotless when we go. (They used to have antibacterial soap on the table!) Anyways, the servers may be young and inexperienced, but the owner is always keeping an eye on the dining room.
To me, service at Wasabi is personalized. The owner is an extremely talented and warmhearted person who makes your food with love. Whenever we have to wait for a long time, he always sends over an appetizer. To be honest, I don’t mind waiting, and since they have moved to pretty much «reservations only», the wait for sushi is normal to me. It gives you time to enjoy an appetizer, some miso soup, and a ginger salad. (That dressing is incredible!!)
I honestly love this hidden gem. Even a sushi place in San Francisco can’t hold a candle to this place.

Went to Wasabi for the first time Sunday. I’m not a big fan of sushi but I went because a friend came to town and wanted to eat here, again.
We didn’t have to wait to be seated but we did wait about 25 – 30 mins for the first 2 rolls of sushi to come out, that was my only gripe.
Sushi in general is expensive to begin with so I only tried one kind which was the NY roll. It has steak wrapped around the rice instead of seaweed with some tempura in the middle. MAN was it good. I really enjoyed that kind of «sushi» although in my opinion wasn’t really sushi because I didn’t have any raw fish or seaweed. It was steak, rice and some tempura. The roll was delicious, but I still don’t consider myself a sushi fan, but if you do come here, definitely try the NY roll.

This little restaurant served the best and most authentic Japanese food I have had since Makato in Georgetown. Don’t expect Fat Dragon ambiance here, this is modest, but clean and friendly restaurant that lets the food be the star attraction.
We started with the Alaskan Roll nothing special here, and order or Pork Gyoza
The star appetizer was the Tako Yaki, breaded octopus dumplings, just like the ones featured on No Reservations from Japan, crispy and GBG on the outside, creamy and savory on the inside!
My son loved the house salad with ginger miso dressing! Anything to get the kids the eat salad!
We shared an order of shrimp Yakisoba-​lots of tender shrimp with veggies and the most delicious thin noodles with just the right amount of sauce.
Finished the meal with green tea ice cream and tea. The total was under $ 40!
We will certainly be back.

Came back for another round of this great ‘hole in the wall’ sushi joint. I’m sorry, but you simply can not beat the prices that you find here when weighing in quality and quantity. The white tuna sashimi is INCREDIBLE. Their rolls are absolutely delicious. I’m a big fan of their Yellowtail and Spicy tuna rolls. The waitstaff is very friendly and accommodating. My buddy and I were the first table in for the evening, and the sushi chef gave us extra pieces of sashimi free of charge. We bought a few choices ala carte, and were expecting just 2 pieces each. We received anywhere from 3 to 6 pieces, and all were fresh tasting. Good stuff, truly.

Ok, after seeing my friends uploading picture after picture of Wasabi’s food on instagram, I was going crazy. I needed to try their food.
Let me just start off by saying: The food. is. amazing.
The location just doesn’t do them justice. It’s located in an empty/​sketchy shopping center. When I parked I seriously debated whether or not I should go in. Whatever, I drove 25 minutes to get there and I’m hungry.
Inside, it’s clean, bright, and very Japanese. Oh by the way, it’s run by Japanese people. Um, who knows Japanese food better than Japanese people? I tried takoyaki for the first time there. So fresh and tasty! For my entrée I got the chirashi bowl. AMAZING. Fresh, succulent slices of octopus, eel, tuna, salmon, squid, tilapia, and so much more on a big bed of rice. I haven’t been this happy at a Japanese restaurant in a very long time. I very seriously recommend Japanese food lovers to go. I’m definitely going back.

If you’re going to stop in here, come for the lunch special. For somewhere between $ 8-​$ 12 you can get a lunch special: teriyaki, tempura, sushi, etc. The special comes with a good amount of food for the price: filled with whatever you picked, salad, rice, and either a veggie spring roll or a couple gyoza (it was different each time I went). But don’t confuse this with the bento combo– which will run you somewhere around 20 bucks and consists of a pick two option (teriyaki, tempura, katsu, etc).
Decent food… Not the greatest, but if your expectations are a decent meal, you won’t be let down. And this place is a viable option is you’re in this part of Midlothian.
Also, I believe this place is closed on Mondays.