Sakura Japanese Steakhouse

Just walked in and walked right out. The upmost uncaring reception and rude service during seating not even a chance to order. Whoever the host is at about 12:50 should get fired for being rude, unprofessional and blatantly oblivious to how to treat people.

Yes, it’s a chain, Yes, it’s Americanized. Yes, it’s expensive.
However, it’s consistently good.
Sakura’s food won’t disappoint, and I always leave feeling super full. My favorite parts of the meal are the roasted veggies (zucchini, onions, broccoli, bean sprouts, carrots, and mushrooms) and the fried rice! The steak and seafood are always very fresh and the portions are generous too.
Each meal comes with salad and soup. The salad is topped with a delicious ginger salad dressing that’s common in many Japanese restaurants. The soup is a tasty Shoyu onion soup that’s a bit lighter than miso soup. I dig it! It’s great when restaurants have nice starters.
The chefs can be hit or miss. Our chef from last night was very new so he didn’t do a lot of cool knife tricks but he seasoned all of our food well so I wasn’t upset about it. You always have to start somewhere and everyone has off-​days, right?
There’s one hilarious chef whose name, unfortunately, eludes me. His catch phrase is «Boooring!» and he wears a blue hat. Once you’ve met him, you’ll know what I mean. I love that guy! He was incredibly friendly and had a lot of very positive energy! I wish he could be my hibachi chef every time.
Overall, this is a nice place to come for dinner, especially if you’ve got a special occasion like a birthday or a big reunion. There are a ton of kids and families in the restaurant at all times so don’t come here if you’re looking for a quiet dinner. I’ve had nothing but good times here! I’d definitely recommend this place for folks who have a hungering for hibachi.

We love Sakura and have had great experiences at the Waldorf and Annapolis locations. Unfortunately though, we’ve now had 2 lackluster dinners at this location. If you’re getting hibachi, everything hinges on the tableside chef. Ours both times said very little and didn’t put on a great show, even though on our last visit there were several children at the table. What made it worse was that we could see that the next table over had a really personable chef. He was very interactive and everyone seemed to be laughing and having a good time. Besides the lack of a good show, the rice was under cooked and had very little flavor. I kept looking over at the pile of whitish fried rice and wondering when he was going to flip it and add more soy sauce. He never did. I had to add soy sauce to mine in order to get that typical fried rice flavor.
We won’t stop going to Sakura, but we may skip this location next time.

If you want to have a tasty hibachi dinner accompanied by an entertaining «show» from a talented chef behind a stove top, then take a trip to Sakura. Located at the Village Mart Shopping Center in Olney, Sakura offers a unique dining experience to the hungry guest.
The interior is pretty spacious. They have a full bar (with great sushi!) and ample seating. If you’re here for the hibachi dinner, don’t expect to get a private table for your party. Unless your group takes up a majority of the seats surrounding the grill, you’ll most likely be sat with a random group of people (who also may or may not influence your dining experience).
Once a table is all settled in, the chef comes out with a cheerful smile and begins to repeat everyone’s order to ensure its accuracy. You start off with a complimentary soup and salad. The soup is garnished with bits of green onion and a thin slice of white mushroom. It’s pretty flavorless, but enough to prep your tastebuds for more food. The salad was refreshing, with a ginger dressing which was surprisingly delicious.
For your appetizer, the choices are: (2) shrimp, chicken livers, or mushrooms. I chose the shrimp, which was the perfect choice because it’s snack-​size and didn’t fill me up before the main course. They were firm, but not dried out and had the addicting «fresh-​off-​the-​grill» taste.
The chef always has a few tricks up his sleeve to make cooking in front of you as entertaining as possible. Some crowd favorites are the onion volcano and the egg tossing. Watch as 4 ft. (give or take) flames engulf the stove top, leaving you wondering if your eyebrows are still on your face and not singed off by the fire.
The chef starts off with cooking the rice, which is doused with the «yum yum» sauce. I always ask for two sides of the yum yum sauce because it’s that good. Then comes the grilled veggies, which are expertly chopped in front of you and served promptly for a great pairing with the rice. Finally, the last thing to be cooked is the protein. Whether I order chicken, steak, or seafood the chefs always cook it to my liking. I must admit, they’re a little more on the oily side but that would be my only gripe about the food.
Sakura hits the mark when dealing with food that satisfies all the senses. The added show to my meal was definitely a plus. Well done!

Great tasting food! Sauces are like crack! Shrimp and steak are fantastic! Edamame is great! Japanese beer (Saporro) is wonderful and so are the mixed drinks. I never noticed any rude hostess, love the show with the raw egg balancing, onion volcano/​train, and knife tricks! So why one star?
We have patronized Sakura Olney over fifteen times, probably more. One by one or two our family members became very sick (bad diarrhea/​upset stomach) after a visit. I began to watch how the cooks prepare the food and noticed that the same spatula is used for the raw chicken and all the other food. Sometimes the cook wipes it off but that won’t sterilize it! I, too, became very ill after one visit. Once you experience that, you are turned off to the restaurant. My husband is one of the few patrons in our extended family who has not become ill. He longs to return.
If I go back, I will order all vegetables. I noticed that people who order only vegetables are served those vegetables before any meat (raw chicken) is placed on the grill, so the spatula is not contaminated. I surely wish the restaurant would use separate spatulas for raw chicken and the beef and fried rice…

I’m a big Sakura fan. I used to go to the one in Woodbridge, VA area when I lived there. This one was just as good. Everyone was so polite to me. I went by myself, so I wasn’t sure how the customer service would be, seeing as though it’s typically a place for dates and small groups. But I didn’t feel like I was bothering them or an inconvenience, like some Tapenyaki places make you feel if you’re eating by yourself. I sat at a table by myself and my cook Didi was great. Even though I told him he didn’t have to do the show because it was just me, he still did some and made some small jokes. Nor too much, but enough for me to feel like they appreciated my money. I’ll be back and hopefully get Didi, he had no problem giving me extra lemon on my shrimp :-)

I have been coming here for years and I’m still not quite sure why this restaurant only has 2.5 stars.
Yes, it is expensive but you are paying for the «show.» If that’s a problem try coming during lunch, they just sit you at a private table and the food is half priced.
When being seated you don’t have a choice where to sit. Most of the times you will be sat with another party.
When ordering your meal, you get a choice of an appetizer. Either 2 shrimp, chicken livers, or mushrooms. Your meal also comes with a complimentary side of soup and salad. The soup I am not to fond of, but the salad is delicious. It is topped with a ginger type of dressing which is to die for.
When the chef comes out he is always up beat. He does a number of different things at the stove in order to keep us entertained.
I really like how they keep the food coming at a even pace. Your plate is never empty, in other words.

Yum yum if you’re looking for hibachi! Very affordable lunch special. I gave it a 4 star because the food was a little too greasy, but other than that the service is good.

I visited Sakura Japanese steakhouse and the food was a blast! I had filet minor and add on shrimp. The food here is absolutely excellent… Thank you Sakura for this gem in olney.

What a mess. Brought the family in for lunch and order a whole bunch of food. Food starts coming and I asked when the chef was coming and was told «we don’t do that during lunch». The whole reason of coming was to allow my young son to see the show. Very very disappointed.
Adding insult to injury, the soup was not even room temperature.

I will say every time I’ve come here I’ve had a very good experience from the servers to the chef’s … Our server Jenny was very pleasant and Kevin was very prompt !!! I would recommended this place to anyone and it very tasty for a good price

Terrible customer service. A month ago was my very first time at this location I had a bad experience but I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt and return again this time. The whole table was filled and at this point of time I’ve been sitting there for an hour and have not been served yet. Another 30 minutes went by and still no cook! On top of that my waiter was rude. I was craving shrimp so I ended up driving to Sarku Japan at Montgomery Mall food court to get a decent teriyaki meal. I will never come back here.

I made the mistake of ordering dinner from here tonight. I only ordered from here because my regular place was closed. I called in and ordered my food. The people on the phone didn’t want to be bothered. They didn’t tell me the price before they hung up. They called back to tell me that they were out of something. Once I sat down to eat ny dinner, there were no chopsticks or soy sauce included in the bag. That is one of the staples for sushi. The fish was not fully cut through. Even though there were three of each one, they were stuck together and appeared to be one. The sushi didn’t taste right at all. Ot is a shame because I wanted to go eat at the restaurant since the re are very few hibachi restaurants left.

Thank you for bring open during this little bit of snow. We were the only customers. Glad you open. Great food as always.

Worst customer service ever. Reservation not warranted. Walk-​ins taken ahead of our party. Asked to speak with manager. Haha. What a joke. All she did was spin a story and defend the teenagers they hire to man the front desk. Will not come back

Terrible service. Waitress offered soup and salad then charged for them. Said manager wouldn’t permit compensation for the unreasonably long wait.

Sakura has been an Olney staple for over a decade. I have never eaten sushi here, but I have had the hibachi more times than I can count. The steak, scallops, and shrimp are all excellent choices. I love that they give you an option for chicken livers as an appetizer. You get rice, vegetables, one appetizer, soup, and salad with your meal. The prices are somewhat expensive, but it is cheaper than benihana. It is a solid choice, but I would skip it on a weekday as the dinner takes 1 – 2 hours from start to finish.

Unilocal needs to come up with a «no star at all» option! Went here on a Sunday afternoon for late lunch. Surprisingly, this place was close to being empty when we walked in. Ahhhh, not even an hour later, I got my own answer as to why they barely have customers.
First, the hostess was too busy on her phone to even notice the customers walking in! Like seriously? Second, after we were seated, it took about 15 good minutes before we were even offered a drink. You can actually hear the crew (kitchen and servers) laughing and playing around. My boyfriend tried to calm me down because I tend to turn into a lady hulk when I’m hungry. And lastly, the food was not satisfying at all. For the price I paid, it was not worth it! I expected too much from this place. Should’ve checked the latest Unilocal reviews first!

This place does’t deserve a star. We didn’t even get a chance to eat. Went there with my wife and 2 kids. We got squished in a corner and requested to move. We moved and the host rudely told me to move back to my spot. I politely told her it was too small as we had a baby with us in a high chair. The Manager/​Owner comes over and tells me this isn’t Benihana and that they can’t have any spot empty. I again explained to her that we don’t want to have one member of our family sitting with random people. She told me if I don’t move I have to leave. So we left. I have never been so embarrassed and shocked at this. I do not recommend this place at all.
I called the Manager/​Owner to let her know I wasn’t happy and she didn’t seem to care.

Dare I say I might have found a teppan place that’s better than Benihana’s?!
Came here on a Sunday afternoon a little after it opened (opens at noon). The place was pretty much empty, but that didn’t turn me off (thank goodness or I would have missed out on good food!). After an hour after opening, this place was packed! So, if you come here on a Sunday afternoon, be sure to come when they open.
I had the ribeye steak and shrimp, which came with fried rice, vegetables, soup, and salad. The ribeye was cooked just how I liked it… medium well! Yum! Everything was delicious and cooked just right.
In addition to the food, I enjoyed the tricks that the chef did. He not only created a better volcano than they do at Benihana’s, but he also did other tricks as well that I’ve never seen. I enjoyed trying to catch pieces of shrimp in my mouth. =)
If you’re ever in the area and craving Japanese hibachi style food, this is the place for you.