Haiku Japanese Bistro

Amazing! What a nice find and pleasant surprise! Awesome food… very inexpensive lunch items… I got the tempura shrimp and vegetable bento box today, for $ 11…you get a lot of tempura, a nice salad with yummy Japanese salad dressing, a couple of sushi (California rolls), a couple of shumai and miso soup! Excellent tea! Excellent, attentive service… and the décor is fun and hip!

After a tiring morning at the gym, hungry, I decided to stop by for lunch.
I got their salmon teriyaki bento box. With it came a grilled salmon with veggies lightly covered in teriyaki sauce, white rice, salad, 3 small tempura (don’t know what specifically), miso soup, and California roll (changed for Philadelphia roll for $ 1 because I’m allergic to shrimp). Very delicious bento box.
The waitress provided great service. Very attentive, and came at the right time to fill my water and provide me with service.
Better experience than my last. I would recommend getting the bento box.

I’ve been here twice now and they have really good and decently priced lunch specials considering how much food you get! Try the bento box, you got a lot of food and really great variety. Pretty good happy hour as well, I got 2 specialty rolls for around 10 dollars, which are normally 15 – 20 dollars each. I would definitely go again!

It’s expensive but the sushi rolls are really good. We had new york roll and it was awesome with shrimp tempura inside, the sauce on top of the roll was yummy. The chicken katsu is also really good! Love the environment!

I went to Haiku to have ramen. When I asked the server where ramen section was on the menu, she said «it is not on the menu because we just started to serve ramen»…(what? Ramen is not on the menu in the Japanese restaurant???) Anyway, I ordered beef ramen and it was worst ramen ever… It is around $ 13 and I think it’s pricy considering its quality. I might go there again, but never gonna order ramen.

The service here is great, so I’m giving more stars than I would if I were rating just the food. Servers are attentive, although sometimes I am left for a bit too long with an empty glass of whatever I’m drinking.
As for the food. It’s pretty mediocre. It’s not bad, but it’s not impressive. The presentations isn’t always how it should be, as the rolls are flat and often a little bland or not the right temperature.
Two items I would recommend are the sweet potato tempura roll and the vegetable gyoza!
But, if you are looking for really good sushi, you should try your luck elsewhere.

I work at the U and have eaten here a couple of times. Haiku is much more upscale than most of the places to eat (I hesitate to use the word restaurant) near the U. Ambiance is nice and service is good. Food is ok but nothing special. The prices are moderate but high enough that you don’t see many students. If I were not at the U, I would not go through the hassle of traffic and parking specifically to dine at Haiku but if you’re in the area it’s an acceptable choice if you like Japanese food.

I ordered two rolls for lunch. Supposed to be 8 dollars. I didn’t want soup or salad so rather than have them bring it just to throw it away and waste food, I said please don’t bring it. I ate at the sushi bar.
I was charged the a la carte price. Waiter said the spicy tuna roll was on the lunch menu, but not a tuna roll with avocado. So to add avocado to that roll was 4 dollars. Really.
Rolls were ok. But that was ridiculous.

I saw they served ramen now so we went. I asked if it was tonkatsu ramen and they said yes but it was more of a miso soup flavor. The fried rice was ok. The yakisoba was really good and the ambience was nice. I didn’t try the sushi so I couldn’t say how that was. But I wouldn’t come back for the fried rice or ramen. There are better options.

I like going to Haiku for lunch. They have a great lunch hibachi meal, I’ve had the Salmon ($ 9) it’s a decent sized portion and you get choice of soup or salad with your meal.
The lunch boxes are also a good choice. You get soup and a salad with these. I’ve had the Salmon, and my hubby had the Steak. For $ 11, you get your choice of meat or fish — and rice, sumai (dumplings), vegetable salad, and a California roll. It’s a great value, and also quick and convenient for lunch when you are on campus.
I have also had several different rolls: the Philadelphia is a standard choice and never disappoints, and recently I tried the Double Happiness roll (shrimp, tuna, avocado, cream cheese and a spicy sauce) The miso soup that comes with lunch specials is tasty and filling. Sitting at a booth is great for people-​watching, but their tables are comfortable too.
Bathrooms are very dark. I walked in and tried looking for the light switch, then I noticed the lights were on but they are small spotlights in the ceiling. I can’t comment on the men’s — but I warned my husband to be careful — you might have to feel your way around the bathroom. Not the best situation ever, but the restaurant itself is lovely and decorated with bright colors and pleasant designs.
Service can be spotty. Sometimes you have to look around for your server because you feel like they forgot about you. And sometimes they are attentive and super helpful! I’ve noticed that it just depends on the day, but the food is solid so no complaints there whatsoever.
You don’t feel like you are on campus once you’re inside Haiku. Which is a good thing! It’s peaceful — a nice little escape from the busy Washington Avenue.

Ordered two specialty rolls. The salmon on top of one of them had bones in it. Not one, but two. The server was pretty horrified and gave me the roll with the bones for free. Or they would have made a new one, but I was pretty much done.
The flavor of the rolls was pretty good, but the form factor was definitely missing. They were squashed almost flat when they were sliced.
Service was very attentive. Ambiance is acceptable. Colorful interior design. The music was on the loud side. Restaurant was clean.
I probably will not return to Haiku based on the fact that the sushi was smashed flat and had bones in it. But I could probably be convinced to try non-​sushi dishes.
While I sat around punching this review into my phone, they also gave me some kind of ice cream sundae, I’m assuming as an apology for the whole bones thing. It’s tasty.

Very poor quality sushi. I tried tempura vegetables as an appetizer and the batter was so thick you couldn’t tasty any of vegetables. The salmon sushi reminded me of salmon out of a can. Great location, beautiful restaurant very attentive wait staff but the quality of the food was very poor.

I was looking for a tasty Japanese restaurant outside of downtown with parking nearby and with good service. I found it! The crazy thing is how quick the food comes out and how fresh it is. I had the sashimi salad and the shrimp tempura appetizer and I was able to eat it and get the check within 30 minutes. If you work near the University it is a very lunch-​break compatible place. The prices are good too and the ambiance was fun and funky. Best part was the service – the waitstaff are attentive and the cooks quick on their feet. Can’t wait to try their happy hour!

came here for late night HH w/​a girlfriend. prices were good but its cheap for a reason. sushi was meh
other apps like shu mai and dumplings were below mediocre
Nice place, but nothing impressive
this rating is soley on the food. service was great

Haiku is one of my favorite restaurants in Minneapolis. As a student at the U, I’ve tried many restaurants around campus and the city, and Haiku is one of my go-​to restaurants for lunch or happy hour with a friend, a post-​work meal, or even date night.
I come in twice a month at the very least, weekly at the most often, and the food keeps me coming back. Great value for your money. Their chicken fried rice (with a side of shrimp sauce) is absolutely fantastic. A great-​portioned chicken breast, glazed with teriyaki sauce, lays upon a bed of flavorful, soft fried rice. Generous portions. Their sushi (I’ve tried their happy hour rolls as well as the salmon family roll) is also well-​portioned and priced inexpensive you compared to other sushi joints in the twin cities.
The service does vary a little, yes. I’ve had very attentive servers, and one or two who have been on the less attentive side, but it doesn’t stop me from coming back. I feel that all servers I’ve had at Haiku have been attentive to my water-​levels, order-​readiness, and meal-​completion.
Thanks, Haiku, for being my favorite restaurant on campus!

I stopped by on my way back from Electric Fetus (cuz I’m a hipster like that) and was in the mood for sushi. It’s convenient being right off the East Bank station. I’m giving it three stars because, while the food was very nice, the service was awful. There was literally one other woman in the entire restaurant at 3:30 in the afternoon, and my server kept forgetting about me. Thankfully the guy at the sushi bar where I was sitting was more attentive and would relay my order to the server.

Food and price were both very good. The service however, needs some work. Staff was very polite, but I think they could benefit from some training on how to better accommodate their busy clientele. I waited far too long for a check and also for a to go order. Also, the to go order was not packaged in the best manner and I had soup running all over me as I walked 2 minutes away to my destination. With a little fine tuning this place can get 4 – 5 stars.
Hibachi chicken and vegetables were excellent by the way…

Went here for dinner on a Friday night. Oddly, we were the only ones there. The manager and the workers were either watching TV or messing with their phones. This was interesting because there was a heaping stack of dirty cups and dishes that needed attention (think 20+cups). Whoever lost in «Nose Goes» was quite the sore loser.
Used a Groupon for 5 rolls. The rolls were very mediocre and the rice seemed off. They never brought us plates to eat on, so we had to eat off of the main, serving dish… that was romantic.
We understood that we couldn’t use the Groupon for the happy hour specials, so we asked if the other person could pay HH prices for drinks on a separate check. The manager got riled up and said no. She either doesn’t understand what we were asking or she hates the extra revenue this place seemed to desperately need.
Wait staff was okay, shrug.
Not recommended unless you have a Groupon along with lowered expectations.

Very disappointed in my experience here because I was really hoping for a good sushi place so close to campus.
Haiku has potential for great ambiance and the presentation of our sushi was very good. However, the sushi was mediocre at best. Rice was hard, fish was not fresh. I could have looked over it because of the decent prices, but the service sent me the other direction. This place had horrible service. Waiter was rude to us and ended up trying to grab the bill before I was done eating. She didn’t ask us about our food or fill up our waters once. When we asked for water, it took a good 5 minutes.
Ambiance — 3 Stars. Could have been 5 if they filled up the place. It’s a very upbeat place that would be awesome if packed but we went on a Saturday night and no one was there. Now I know why.
Sushi Rolls — 2 Stars
Service — 1 star
This place could be one of the hot spots on campus if it could up it’s game a little bit.

Food: 2
Service: 5
Ambience: 5
I was looking for sushi while in town for business and found haiku. This place is set off the beaten path and a little hard to find but I managed.
The first thing you notice is the ambience and beautiful modern décor of the building inside. It is quite beautiful.
I was greeted right away and sat at the bar. The service was excellent. Friendly, attentive and fast.
I ordered then sashimi entrée as seen in my photo and a dinosaur roll. The presentation I saw in another Unilocalers photo sold me and I had to see it. It was as expected, very well put together.
Food. The sashimi was not as fresh as one would expect from a high end sushi joint. The salmon was very mushy and the texture felt like mud. The flavor was okay but fresh salmon has a perfect texture that this was simply lacking. The tuna was darker than most which showed it wasn’t as fresh as it should be.
The dinosaur roll had a great presentation. However, the rice wasn’t done and it caused this roll to fall apart before hitting your mouth.
If you are looking for sub par sushi with a great experience, then this is the place for you.