Yanagi Sushi & Grill

We are locals and have been going to Yanagi since the day it opened. However, recently Yanagi changed owners. The result has been a substncial increase in pricing and, in my opinion, as a former restaurant owner and personal chef, the quality of their product has declined.
We sat at the teppanyaki grill and the chef was entertaining, but through his interest in entertaining us, he lost track of the amount of salt and other condiments as he was preparing the differant dishes… way to much salt. Now to the product. We ordered fillet and lobster combination. The fillet was not the quality I have become accustom nor was the lobster.
It would seen to me, as has happened, in my experience, new owners are looking to increase profit and utilize inferior ingredients to attain their bottom line. It is too bad Yanagi has taken this route. The price have increased substancially, which is indicitive of operators who have not done their homework, with regard to local priorities… good food and reasonable prices, $ 50 for a six ounce fillet and 5 ounce lobster tail is a bit much.

Good customer service. Food was good. Preferably didn’t like the sashimis and ahi tuna but overall good dining and appreciate the managers understanding on our over ordering of oysters.

Saw this place nearby the motel I am staying in. Passed by it several times. Judging by the Unilocal reviews on here, my experience was a lot different than most. I cane here 11:30 AM when they just opened. Definitely getting here early makes my experience a lot better, because the lunch crowds start pouring in between 12:15 to 1 PM.
The lady who seated us had this impatient vive, but thank goodness she wasnt our server. We had this one young gentleman who was very attentive and friendly. He was able to get our regills before we almost done with our drinks & had excellent timing.
We had the Alaskan roll, Crunchy roll, and baked dynamite rolls. All were reasonably priced (but not insanely expensive compared to downtown SLO sushi restaurants).
Alaskan roll: could hardly taste the asparagus in there. The salmon tasted fresh and very light with the soy ginger seasoning.
Crunchy roll: slightly spicy, very savory with the eel sauce, right amount of crunch, and the shrimp wasnt oily at all.
Baked dynamite: a mix of good spicy (if you dont eat the whole jalapeño peppers)& umami, eel sauce, good amount of bite on the panko, scallops, mushrooms, and crab.
Fresh wasabi: a dollar more, gives you an ounce of it. For wasabi fans, this is a must. I am not a huge fan of wasabi paste, but this is a good alternative with our sushi rolls we ordered.
Also, they give you a complimentary edamame plate, lightly seasoned with sea salt.
Good sushi, beautiful plate presentations, excellent service, and nice place. Parking wasnt an issue when I arrived early neither was the wait time to get seated.

I love yanagi and go here often… to both the Santa maria one as well as the primo one. The sushi always tastes fresh, is prepared really well, and they have a large variety. I go back and forth between 3 stars and 4. Most because the prices are on the higher end, and the service isn’t that great for what they charge. But, since I keep coming back here to get lunch and dinner, I guess I have to give it a 4.

Really great service… nice views while enjoying a delicious Teppan dinner. Appreciated how they cut the chicken up really small for our two year old. They were very attentive to us and our kiddo.

This place is very good but the reason I am giving it 3 stars is because we made a reservation and they said they were dead. we show up and it’s packed and they say we didn’t make a reservation. I showed them the number I called and they said that’s really weird and we have yet to be seated and it’s been about 45 minutes.

I have withdrawals everyday. Why did I move?!? Best sushi ever and cheap too! The Golden California Roll is the best. It’s basically a deep fried Californian Roll with salmon.

Great experience from walking in door to leaving. Great food… amazing service! My only suggestion would be to slow down a bit… within 2 – 5 of ordering it was on our table! At least 3 servers checked in on us constantly! I would rev omens to anyone visiting the area!

We stayed at the Oxford Suites across the freeway and decided to check out a few rolls and grab a drink
They had just opened for the dinner shift but we got in at the perfect time, it started quickly filling up!
We got the north shore sashimi (yellowtail, jalapeño slices, and a spicy ponzu), tuna sashimi, sweet shrimp, and spicy tuna roll. Everything was really fresh and light on the stomach. We left full but not weighed down by sauces.
Definitely plan on coming back when we are in town again!

We stopped here randomly while in the mood for sushi. Discovered they had teppanyaki, but it was a 45 minute wait, so we stuck to the original sushi plan.
We ordered:
Tuna roll
Unagi roll
Sashimi plate with yellowtail, albacore, salmon and tuna.
Udon soup
Tempera vegetables
Edamame
Shrimp roll
Anyways lots of items, but nothing that really impressed us. Great service and laid back atmosphere. Seems like there are better sushi options out there, so wouldn’t go back.

Yanagi’s is one of our favorites. Food is consistently good, and the price is always lower than what I’m expecting at the end of any given feast here. At night, the cars cruising on the 101 freeway is a relaxing view. On nice days, you can see the Pacific.

One of the few places you can get some Korean food, and its good! If you are getting bi bim bap (rice, meat, veggies, topped with an egg and spicy sauce added to your taste) always opt for the hot stone bowl. ALWAYS. Comes with kimchi (you need to ask for it).
The soft tofu stew with beef is also very tasty, and one of my favorites.
I would say the biggest draw would be the rolls, but don’t skip the sweet shrimp! They come out in a pair, the heads deep fried, crispy, and very flavorful. Definitely worth it!

Love this place! fresh sushi close to the ocean, it’s always fresh, friendly and tasty! Try the Baked dynamite roll OMG!!!

Sushi was average. The female server eka wasn’t friendly but the male server was very nice and prompt. My boyfriend has mentioned this place multiple times but we were overall disappointed.

Fabulous food
Wonderful company
I really enjoyed sitting next to Daney…
Got to see friends and enjoy the artistic creations of these talented chefs and wait staff

Omg this had to be the worst sushi bar I have ever been to. It is a big place with Benny Hana style tables as well as a sushi bar. Everyone was very nice but the fish was the worst I have ever had and the most expensive I’ve ever had. I would not recommend this place unless you were desperate to eat sushi.

I have 2 expectations for a restaurant. 1 is good food, the other is service. If you have bad service at least have good food. Or vice versa. This is my first 1 star review
When we first arrived we were asked for teppanyaki or normal menu.
We saw their teppanyaki menu, it didn’t look too appetizing. So we decided to move to a normal table. Upon moving the lady had a look on her face of disappointment to as we were wasting her time. To make their job easier, we grabbed our drinks and sat at a normal table. My son was grabbing his utensils when the lady grabbed my sons arm and said «leave it here». That’s the first thing that got me heated. No one should ever touch your child except the family or guardians.
I ordered about 8 things on the menu:
KatsuDon — worst I’ve ever had
Albacore — no taste
Tempura — not good at all.
Children’s boat steak — my daughter loved it. She’s the only one that enjoyed her food.
Heart attack — WTF??? Was that. Nasty.
I asked 3 waiters for forks for my kids it took 15min
I asked for extra wasabi — took 30 min.
They were very annoyed every time I asked for something. I didn’t understand? I was willing to pay my bill. And still leave a decent $ 10 tip.
Avoid this place if you can. I hope if u do go. You get treated better than my family was.0

Great place! Huge variety of sushi, hand rolls, long rolls and other entrees. Beer selection is pathetic, but they have an extensive wine and saki list. Food was served fast and was delicious and fresh. And there was a general atmosphere of creativeness and festivity that was quite unique.
Only complaint really was the noise level. In a party of four we had a very difficult time hearing each other due to ambient noise level and the chefs in the midst of their table side performances.

If you’ve ever dined with me, you can vouch for the fact that I have exhibit mild symptoms of hyper-​gastro-​photo-​philia. If I’m not taking pictures of your food, it can only mean one of two things: either I don’t like it or the experience is so captivating that I am pulled away from my phone and into the moment.
My experience at Yanagi’s teppan-​yaki bar this past Saturday was definitely of the latter variety. So sorry… no pictures.
The Food: Delicious! I ordered the chicken and scallops and was not disappointed in the least. Some of the best scallops I’ve had. Gordon Ramsey would have approved them for service.
Service: Bobby was, hands down, the most entertaining, lively and personable restaurant personality I have ever come across. We were having soup-​bowls-​filed-​with-​sake-​kind-​of fun!
Not cheap! No… definitely not. But true Joie Du Vivre often comes at the expense of unused coupons.

Review is for sushi dinner. I had no idea Yanagi had a branch in Dublin! They have like five restaurants in the SLO area. They offer the option of sitting at the grill (similar to Benihana) for dinner and a show, or just at a regular table for sushi. I decided to split a Yanagi Boat with one coworker, while the other colleague opted for seafood udon.
The Yanagi Boat came with a small miso soup and a green salad with this tangy orange paste-​like dressing — it looked like uni but that would have been too expensive for a free salad! Miso soup was very good — not too salty.
The Yanagi boat had a fresh array of sashimi, nigiri sushi, and a variety of sushi rolls. Fish toppings were melt-​in-​your-​mouth and fresh. Sushi rice disintegrates upon the first chew, which is my standard for quality. Rolls had some interesting variants of California Roll and were tasty as well.
Will likely try the branch in Dublin after the great dinner at Pismo Beach. As with many other restaurants here, they offer an awesome view of the sunset. Service very friendly and quick.