Samurai

Always experience the freshest sashimi here. Although I live in SF now, this is our family’s go-​to sushi spot when I come home to visit my parents in Mill Valley and my mom doesn’t feel like cooking.
We like to sit at the sushi-​bar because instead of trying to make a decision from the menu, we just let the master behind the bar decide for us! It makes it way more fun and everything is always delicious and so on point.
Last night my mom and I even named the roll we ate «Dae Bak Roll» — it was that good… made up of salmon on the outside, avocado, sriracha aoli, some sweet sauce, spicy tuna on the inside, and some crunchy tempura flakes on the outside… BOMB.
My dad is all about the sashimi so he asked for a platter of just that for all of us to share.
My mom and love the Kaisen Chirashi, so she got that.

For ten years, we drove by on our way home thinking «that little dive sushi place can’t be any good» but then, last night, sans kid and both in the mood for sushi, we thought we would try it. I quickly read the latest stellar reviews and we then thought maybe we’ve been missing something.
It was full on Saturday night… at 8pm, in Mill Valley… that’s insane for this town so again like the reviews, a good sign. Then came the crash of a tray by the kitchen. Ok, that happens in a busy place as I watched glass fly by the booth we were about to inhabit. Five minutes later, a second crash. Maybe too busy?
Then the Miso came. Bowl of salty water and that’s really about it but ok, they’re busy! Then the edamame. Mushy and soft but ok, they’re busy??? Then finally the sushi. Not bad but not great but just ok… ah, you get the idea.
Now, when all was done came time for the table cleanup. They did that fast… so fast that both my wife and I thought the guy was going to splash soy sauce all over us by the way he slammed the sauce trays into each other. Speaking of service? Nothing of significance. In fact, we felt ignored.
What did we think for ten years? Oh ya «that little dive sushi place can’t be any good». We were right. Now, in all fairness, maybe it was a bad night but… we’re off to Sushi Ran.

Strong 4STARS! A huge fan of this local (small) haunt. The tempura is right on and the special sushi rolls are so good. The kids meals for $ 6.75 includes tempura shrimp and teriyaki chicken and rice. I also love the Samurai special that is cooked salmon over a tempura shiso leaf, topped with spicy tuna on jalapeño peppers. The only tough part is the wait if you get there in between seatings.

A strong 4. Food was delish but the wait time was too long. I know you can’t help it if it’s too busy– and I found out that night they take reservations which I will be making from now on– but the wait staff took about 10 minutes to clean off and re– set and we were hearing that this is an reoccurring issue with the he establishment. It opened at 5– we were there at 5:15 and had to wait over an hour. I guess in being a little too picky — but just FYI.
The food was great. We ordered the tempura dinners, Unagi and salmon rolls and the salmon spicy tuna crunch. All delicious and left you wanting more. Fresh ingredients and plenty on the potion size. The shrimp were HUGE!
Give this place a try– it is a ‘no brainer’.

Big yes. Huge yes. Super fresh sashimi (tip: look for the seasonal specials written up on the board to the right of the sushi counter).
Great service too!
(Side note — my cat is named samurai and he is my favorite creature on earth).

The service is beyond horrible. The hostess is rude and the wait staff is worse.

In Mill Valley, you can tell a lot from the crowds. If a restaurant can boast a crowd here, in lightly populated Mill Valley, the rule is that its generally a spot worth frequenting. Samurai fits that bill as a small, very crowded local sushi favorite in town. (Some Unilocalers comment that service is disorganized, but Samurai seemed to keep the Friday crowds moving.)
Samurai is a homespun, low key, tiny, neighborhood sushi spot with table seating (about ten tables, five booths and a back wall sushi bar) with some good fresh fish. The place has limited seating, so waits are common (we waited 30 minutes) but you are encouraged to enjoy a drink while you wait.
Our favorite orders included their nigiri (fresh, and nicely sized) and a really delicious spicy tuna roll (which uses a great hot sesame oil sauce that is pretty addictive paired with fresh maguro.) Rolls vary in size and breadth, but nothing we ordered was a miss –all the rolls and nigiri here were good, fresh, and tasty. Their special salmon roll with salmon skin was delicious. The miso had a nice umami flavor layered with onion. The tempura was light, but the one miss here (and it was almost unforgivable to me personally and an affront to tempura happiness) was that their tempura is missing a key ingredient: delicious kobocha squash. I seriously almost hated this place for a minute. I then forgave them after a sip of sweet, cloudy unfiltered sake and a bite of fresh spicy tuna roll.

They’ve reopened, yay! And my favorite chef from the old days, Armando, is back too! Now if only they’d bring back samurai potatoes and the prawn tempura special roll. The sauce and paper on that roll were AWESOME! I’ve only been once since they’ve reopened, but the fish was fresh, and the service was great. Welcome back, Samurai! Oh, one more thing, PLEASE bring back the fabric curtains and cool bamboo table dividers; the new set up is so loud, I left faster than I would have if the place had been less noisy. It’s popular with families, so the young kids shrieking can be tough in that small space…

This has become our new favorite spot. Tiffany is a rock star waitress and the chefs deliver up some of the yummiest sushi. Monkfish liver has become a fav and they are really good about accommodating our groups’ dietary specifications. Though small in size, and providing for a very casual vibe, I like that its a good local joint to get some great sushi.

Hello everyone,
To start this off, the food was very tasty. This was my first time here as I thought it would be a great sushi place considering the reviews it had. Well that was not the case AT ALL. To start off everything, I arrived around 6:00 — 6:15 pm, there was no hostess at the entrance, so I continued to write my name down like everyone else already had done. 30 minutes passes by and I walk back in there to see if there was a table. There wasn’t. Many people walked in after me and we’re seated before me because you can call for reservations (which is dumb because it is a small restaurant that is very busy.) I continued to wait and after about 45 minutes of waiting, I finally got seated with my family. We were seated and we’re very hungry because of all of the waiting. After about 20 minutes, the waiter came back to see if we were ready to order. We were, so we ordered. Then we waited about 15 minutes for just the miso soup. –to me that is ridiculous. Then the waiter left for about another 20 minutes and he came back and said our order was mixed up. That was his fault and we STILL didn’t receive our food for about 20 more minutes. We were furius about this so we told the waiter (this was only his second time coming to our table, he was very unattentive) After we received all of the food, the server never came back and he avoided us because we were mad about the service and yelled at him. He tried saying it was the owners fault, but it clearly was not. When we finished our food, we casually waited for the waiter to bring the check, he never did. After this happened, I went to the manager and started to tell her about the situation, she started to talk back and say it was my fault. It was not. After I talked to her for about 10 minutes, we decided to leave. This experience was HORRID. The overall time my family spent at that restaurant was about 2.5 hours. I expected to be home at 8:00 pm at the latest because it was just a sushi place. But I did not get home until about 8:45 pm. Overall this was a very bad experience and I recommend you do not go here because of the long wait, unless you make a reservation ;-).

First time heater. Amazing sushi. So incredibly delicious, and reasonably priced. Very friendly waitstaff and kind and engaging sushi chefs :-)
I will definitely be coming back often!

We were lucky to get seats at the bar as walk-​ins. Ambience is noisy and casual. As a vegetarian, I’ve been avoiding sushi bars due to lack of options. My husband was craving sushi, so there we were, at the bar in front of the knife-​wielding chef, ordering veggies. Brian-​san was amiable and immediately welcomed us. We ordered:
–Nasu roll. Grilled eggplant with asparagus tempura. It was filling but lacked taste.
–Jikukentari (?): Veg roll with tofu, shiitake, spinach on the inside with sliced tomato & avo on top. I almost sent it back because it resembled a rainbow roll. This.was.amazing.
–Salmon skin roll: good, per husband’s report.
–Combo with veg sukiyaki & tempura. Tempura was a highlight: light, flaky, with true flavor. Sukiyaki had tasty ingredients, with chewy udon noodles. The broth nearly spoiled the dish because it was too sweet. Had to separate the veggies from the broth to make it edible.
Sides:
–Tsukemono: cucumber salad was subpar. Roughly cut instead of thinly sliced. Bitter instead of tart with a bit of crunch. Rice was also dry.
–Miso soup broth very tasty but the wakame was not adequately soaked.
All in all, Samurai proved to be a surprisingly wonderful vegetarian experience. I will be back to try some more stellar veggie rolls.

Fantastic sushi. Fresh, tasty, not overdone. Good service, no-​frills, authentic atmosphere. I’ve had sushi in Tokyo and I was impressed with this place. It stands just as good as Ozumo for quality of food.

I had the most wonderfully bizarre experiences here. I am in town for four days due to a conference, and I made it my mission to find a solid Japanese place where I could consume all the sushi, rolls, and green tea of my heart’s desire. Samurai fit the bill indeed.
I much preferred sitting up at the counter and watching the art take place. The fish was very fresh and the presentation was stunning.
The first night I was there I wanted to try a dessert in addition to my meal. Hell, it’s almost mother’s day and I’m a mother, so why not I figured. Little did I know that the tempura covered green tea ice cream could feed around 4. I did engulf around 68% of it; not too shabby but stomach ache definitely followed (my own doing).
But the second night… ohh the second night! Ha! I became slightly «trapped» in the corner seat I took at the sushi bar and met some wonderfully over-​the-​top individuals who talked about all subjects under the sun while gesticulating largely in the air. I won’t name names… in fact, I don’t truly even know one of the individual’s names since I think he was using an «alias», but man, what a strange and «therapeutic» evening. I even saw the «secret wasabi stash». But shhhhhhh, I guess this is top secret stuff.
Thank you Samurai staff for finally giving me the check! It was fun, but dude, I was there for almost 3 hours!!!

I don’t often write reviews unless I feel very compelled. This sushi spot is hittin! I always get the 12 piece (very thick cuts) sashimi special. I’m a physique competitor so I eat a lot. 12 pieces from Samari are easily 24 pieces elsewhere. They always hook it up and the fresh wasabi is off the hook. I eat here at least twice a week while cutting up for competitions.

I am quite glad my family and I found this cute little Japanese restaurant embedded within Mill Valley. Located in a rather lively street of restaurants, it can be a bit harder to find parking at times. I would recommend making a reservation before coming (even calling earlier in the day to make the reservation), as every time I’ve gone there was a rather substantial line.
Dinner combination: Tempura and Beef Sukiyaki
I love these combos! Their tempura is quite delicious, deep fried well (and you can tell the oil is clean as the tempura is all light-​colored). Their beef sukiyaki is on the salty side, so you can’t drink (or perhaps you just shouldn’t) drink the broth here. It is also a tad strange that they use both udon and cellophane noodles (traditionally it’s just cellophane noodles).
Yosenabe: This is also a bit straying from tradition in terms of the seafood they put in their yosenabe. However, as a big fan of fish, this dish was great for me. Their broth is lighter so it is suitable to drinking as well. Unfortunately, the fish pieces, along with the udon, was all rather overcooked, to the extent that what should be tender pieces of salmon end up being chewy and occasionally tough. Their udon also tends to be too soft. (I think it was cooked better the first time I visited)
Sushi rolls: I’ve tried a few, and the ones I’ve had are all quite good! My favorite is the Dynamite roll, I believe. The portion sizes definitely vary though, so it may be good to double check before you order in case you need to figure out portion sizes beforehand.
Their staff is rather disorganized, as we were asked what we wanted to order twice (the second guy finally realized after asking us that we didn’t even have menus on our table anymore) and were also asked if we were ready for the check after we had already paid. Given the choice, I would likely rate this 3.5 stars, with a little adjustment as it’s located in Marin. Overall, the food is decent, flavorful, and it’s always nice to have more Asian food options in Marin.

I am honestly so confused how so many people love this place. As a Mill Valley native I am really pulling for good sushi in town.
I first tried Samurai a few years ago and walked away dissatisfied. Since then, I have not returned back until this past week when I had heard the ownership had changed awhile ago and the restaurant had gotten much better.
Where do I start? One would think a green house salad would be green right? After receiving our salads we decided it would be best not to eat them as white lettuce (iceberg and unripe butter lettuce) does not contain much nutritional value, additionally the tomatoes that had been tossed on the salad were not particularly red themselves. Mind you this is Marin County and there is a Whole Foods across the street — we are not lacking in the fresh produce department in this region.
Then the sushi. I’ve never seen sushi so poorly cut — I thought this was supposed to be an art? Our Maguro was sliced so thick that one could not eat it in one bite.
Edamame was mushy.
I can’t remember the name of the next roll we had, but it had mango on top of it, crab on the inside, and spicy tuna on top. The mango again was cut in large chunks and not ripe, sliced so big that you could not eat it in one bite, the tuna on top was globbed on — I’ve never heard of making spicy tuna goop — normally it is sliced nicely or at least cut in a way that maintains the integrity of the fish. The crab on the inside had an abundance of mayo — no thanks. On top of everything else, all the fish smelled extremely fishy and left a very fishy taste in your mouth after eating it. This does not indicate the «freshness» i expect when I eat raw fish.
I could go on with the other rolls, but I think we get the point here.
Thankfully there was beer — that’s literally all I could count on at this point. After complaining and trying to explain about the various issues to the waitress, who bless her heart none of this was her fault, removed some items from our bill, but the owner chose not to speak with us regarding our suggestions or concerns.
We left still hungry, conveniently Super Duper Burger stays open late and is right across the street.

I have been coming to this neighborhood Japanese restaurant for a while now — I come at least once a week because the fish is great and very fresh! I often run into the same people because a lot of us come here regularly.
I love the hamachi sashimi and the seaweed salad. He has a nice selection of sake too. The service is really good and friendly. Lots of families come here as the menu has something for everyone. Prices are very reasonable. I have tried many Japanese restaurants in Marin and this is my go to place.

3.5 stars
This is a cute little restaurant on Miller in Mill valley.
Service was nice but the food was pretty meh. All four of us had combos (tempura with tuna, hamachi, or teriyaki). Tempura was okay not too oily. The fish is pretty decent but not all that great. Their broths are very salty which I did not care for. Miso soup was okay.
The combos were reasonably priced at $ 14.50 not bad. I much prefer Sushi ran in Sausalito but if your in the neighborhood its an okay place to dine.

My friends and I have been waiting for this restaurant to reopen! So glad that all the renovations were successful!
Came on a Wednesday night around 7pm and the restaurant was almost full. Everything we had was delicious.
2 Nigiri Moriawase
Poke Salad
Uni don
Enoki mushroom soup
Rock and roll
Crazy horse
Everything rocks. And affordable. Thank you Samarai. We missed you.