Samurai Sam’s

I made a trip up to Phoenix from Tucson yesterday just because. We were hungry when we got there and remembered seeing this place across the parking lot from another restaurant we’d gone to before. This time though, we were with our two infants and just wanted somewhere we could bring them in after a long trip and wouldn’t bother anyone around us.
Thankfully, this place was empty except for the guy working there and two people he seemed to be friends with who were watching a football game. The employee was very friendly and even asked questions about my son’s helmet (he knows another child who wears one). Our food was out literally as we were filling our drinks after ordering. I definitely appreciated the speed since, again, we were looking for something quick.
The only downside, and perhaps this is our fault, we were sitting under a loud football game on TV. The place was literally empty so we could have sat anywhere, but it’s also small so regardless we were bound to hear the game. Not a big deal at all though. I’m sure we’ll be back since I don’t think we have this chain in Tucson. Plus, my 10-​month old loved the food too. To be fair, he also tries to eat socks, but he was gobbling up bites of vegetables and rice without so much as a sour face about it. :)

It is a decent place if you want to grab a quick bite for lunch. I ordered a teriyaki chicken dark meat bowl and it tasted okay to me. The portions are pretty small and the vegetables were a bit bland tasting to me. I’ve eaten at a lot of gourmet Japanese restaurants before, but this was like a «fast food» version of those restaurants.
I recommend it if you don’t eat large portions, don’t want to spend a lot, and are not too picky with your Japanese cuisines

Love this place. Food is great. I usually get spicy teriyaki chicken dark meat with vegetables. They don’t charge for extra sauce like some other locations, staff is friendly and so is the owner. Oh, and they remember me when I come back, nice!

I love Samurai Sam’s and always get the Spicy beef and broccoli bowl. Size is great and I always take home some leftovers. Staff is way friendly and the place is always clean.

They have yet to disappoint on service and food quality. Everything on the menu is excellent but the steak bowl is my go to item! Plus it’s right down the street from my gym so makes a great post workout meal.

I was really impressed with our first visit to this Samurai Sam’s.
We came here on a Wednesday night and were originally going to go to Panda Express next door, but it was packed to the gills and we were on somewhat of a schedule. Samurai Sam’s was near empty, but we were greeted promptly by the young kid who was working. Initially, we were going to order just two teriyaki bowls and two drinks, but the nice kid working there told us of the special they had going on; 2 teriyaki bowls, 2 side salads, and 2 regular drinks for $ 10.99. In my opinion this was a slammin’ deal because just the two teriyaki bowls by themselves would have been around $ 14 after tax. I was really grateful, because all in all, he saved us a relatively large amount of money considering what we were getting– plus we got two side salads!
Anyhow, the food came out in maybe five minutes which was nice. They have a variety of condiment packets (both regular and low sodium soy sauce, which was a plus), spicy mustard, and even sweet and sour, which was nice as well. The salads were fresh and served with sides of a sesame-​style dressing which was lite and good. The teriyaki chicken was similar to that of any other teriyaki place. It wasn’t charred nor was it unbearably chewy. The veggies served with the bowl were okay. The mix was mostly composed of steamed zucchini, which is probably why I didn’t really care for it. I would prefer if it had more cabbage or broccoli, but honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal. The rice was good as well. It was typical of what you would find at other teriyaki places. I would most definitely return, especially because of the customer service. The young kid, I think his name was Kobi from the receipt, was really nice, saved us some money, and was professional.

This is the best samurai sam in the valley
I drive all over town I will drive out of my way to eat here staff is kool owner is great! Dont pass up the chance to eat here…

I went here for lunch last week. When I walked in the place was empty except for a lady behind the counter and a little boy about twelve. The little boy went behind the counter while I was ordering, and the lady proceeded to ask him to grab my egg role. He then proceeded to help her get the rest of my food. Needless to say I was a little grossed out. Apparently someone has never heard of food handler cards and that children are not to be in the kitchen much less handling the food. The food is decent but too often I go into these places and find workers sitting on the counter, talking on their phones while handling food etc. It’s pretty gross. I’m told they don’t have a c corporate number but someone definitely needs some retraining on handling food.

The steak was dry.
And the teriyaki didn’t help much in that department.
I love rice bowl restaurants… and I’m always sad when one disappoints. I’m sure it has its awesome days and awful days and I may have just ended up arriving on one of their bad days — but first impressions were awful for me. It looked very promising, and it LOOKS like the quality of the food is great… and the food got served so quickly… it seemed really promising.
But the food wasn’t really worth its price… I could tolerate the dry-​er rice as I love almost all kinds of rice… but not doing so good with the steak? Don restaurants often live and die by their beef-​bowls, and this one would certainly die even if you just put an average Yoshinoya next to it (and that’s even considering Yoshinoya’s current bad quality beef).
I wonder if this place just gets high ratings just because it’s the only one of its kind (as in: not mostly sushi) for miles…
I WANT it to be good. I really do. And with the high praise others give it: I’m sure it is, in its own way, at its own time. But in a competitive sense: I’d imagine it’d disappear quickly if it had to compete. 4 stars for its promise, 2 stars removed for not delivering, +1 star just to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I hate to rate a Samurai Sam’s so low since I love the location at 7^th Ave and Bell Rd, but this one is totally different. My biggest gripes are the rice (white) and portion size.
The rice reminded me of plain ol’ (dry) white rice, like Uncle Ben’s. Other Samurai Sam’s locations use a sticky rice that is perfect for teriyaki. Did they run out and hit up Costco in a pinch? Who knows.
My large chicken bowl was not packed very full. The amount of chicken breast (also dry, by the way) was fine, but the lack of rice made me wonder if I could’ve had a similar portion in a regular sized bowl for less money. The side salads we got also did not come with any dressing (to-​go order).
I do feel bad leaving a negative review since the owner seems to be very well liked, but I would encourage him to visit the other location and see how the food quality differs. Both are of equal distance away from me, so I’ll continue to eat at the other one, which I adore.

Got it for dinner tonight– can’t wait to drown ounce of my chicken bowl in extra teriyaki sauce that they have out for free!

Always love this place! Always have a great healthy fast style meal. Veggies, white meat chicken and brown rice how can you go wrong. Also I love the yaki soba choice to for those noodle lovers

Go to place for chicken teriyaki, brown rice, veggies and tons of sriracha! Awesome service, owner is really nice!

Ordered the soba noodles and vegetables… they do not know what soba noodles are… I got ramen noodles/​not cooked enough/​too much sauce on it and not even a palm full of vegetables… will never go back.

The Shrimp Bowl is Awsome! Fresh from Rocky Point… Just tried the PORK Bowl, very good, they use fresh Pork!
The staff is helpful and friendly. The big screen TV’s are always on for the game.
Dan (retrired Navy) is lots of fun to talk to, always gives my kid a free cookie.

The stars are more for the staff and service. The owner was really great to talk to and very interesting. He’s a retired vet with lots to tell you. The cashier was great too. I’d go back just to hear the stories from the owner and the service.

As for the food — I got the chicken yakisoba. For a fast food type place, it wasn’t bad. Yakisoba’s are usually very saucy and/​or salty from similar quick places. This one was more on the dry side which I like. You can have them add more sauce if you like but I thought it was just right. The noodles were firm which were a plus. Not soft or soggy. The vegetables were impressive too. Not the mere cabbage and onions. They used broccoli and zucchini and others that made it good. It wasn’t a lot but for fresher veggies, that’s expected. Better than tons of cabbage that I don’t like.
The owner was telling me that their special was a shrimp bowl b/​c the shrimp was fresh that day — not frozen. If I liked shrimp, I’d be game to try it.
For something quick, I’d say it’s much better than «fast food» chains.

I have tried a few items on their menu and I always go back to my Yakisoba bowl with spicy chicken or a wrap. I love their food. Not too sweet, salty, or too much. Just the right amount of volume.
Service is quaint and quick. Cashiers aren’t too pushy and the restaurant seemed clean.
A quick win if you are ina hurry to pick something up and head home for a quiet enveing.

They do a 2-​fer lunch deal and they don’t charge extra for brown rice like some of the indie locations of SamSam’s do.
Nice décor and service.

They are perfectly average. You get what you ask for in a short time and the food is hot and fresh. They do not charge extra for brown rice.
The lunch deal 2 for 10.99 is decent. 2 bowls two salads two drinks.

First of all, two words describe the staff here: EYE CANDY.
Now, on to the food.
Look on the menu over to the right, set apart from the main items. The spicy beef and broccoli is the best thing on the menu.