Sapporo Restaurant

I love Sapporo.
Taste really authentic Japanese.
Staffs are friendly.
I will be back!

To me, this spot is three star sushi. Which is fine, because they don’t act sadity. But my review is four stars, you say? Don’t claim I’m sending mixed messages… The Happy Hour adds a star. You mean I can get two rolls for a Hamilton?! Check the tips for details. It runs Monday through Thursday and is a great deal

Great service, convenient location and awesome sushi.
The best part is that they serve real fish/​crab in my two favorite rolls (tuna & California). It’s not too often that you can find a place that serves actual crab instead of imitation meat inside their California rolls. It’s also a rarity that a place serves actual tuna pieces instead of the tuna scraps, in their tuna rolls!
I’ve been coming here for years and the place never disappoints, especially for their prices!

This was our second visit to Sapporo. Our first was great but this time it was horrible. We sat at the bar and waited 18 minutes before we lost patience. No one even took our drink order much less a food order. I think they were short staffed but made NO EFFORT at all. WE got up and walked out and as we passed the host he made no effort to acknowledged us. To bad as the food is great but the service needs help.

I was turned away by the manager of this establishment after being asked a string of illegal questions about my service dog AND my disability.
I quote «do you have a psychiatric disability? Because if you do, we don’t have to admit you.»
The rest of their wait staff stood there watching with grins on their faces and wouldn’t say a word in my defense. They probably thought their manager had found somebody with a «fake» service dog.
I recorded the whole event on my smart phone and called the police who, by the way, arrived in minutes, taking the time to educate these folks.
A+ Portland police, F– Sapporo.
The only reason I’m not filling a charge of discrimination with the Maine human rights commission is that I don’t have the time and the process can literally take years. Maybe my review will make people think twice about frequenting this establishment.
Don’t try to bring your service dog here. These folks enjoy harassing people with disabilities.

Good HH prices Sun-​Thurs 5−7pm (see the picture of the HH menu I posted)!
Service is wonderful here, I never felt like I had to hunt them down or that they were breathing down my neck. Very friendly staff making you feel welcomed. I never had a problem with the timeliness of service like what other Unilocalers mentioned about. There’s a sushi bar and plenty of seating throughout the restaurant.
CHIRASHI (~$ 20) — nice presentation with an assortment of fish and veggies and comes with a side of miso soup. It was not memorable. Just your average room temperature Japanese rice topped with 1 salmon, 2 scallops, 1 tuna, 1 cooked eel, mushrooms, sliced Japanese ‘omelette’ (tasted mediocre) some salmon roe, some sort of green fish eggs and a few other items. Chirashi is usually ‘Chef’s pick’ of fish so it can vary with each order. [If you really want to find a good place with delicious chirashi, check out my review for it]
MAKI ROLLS — are on par with other sushi joints in Portland. I’m not a huge fan of maki rolls in general as I prefer nigiri — I like more fish per bite.
I would come back here for the HH menu items. I find it cheaper than other sushi restaurants in Portland.
PARKING — they will waive your parking fee if you park in the lot adjacent to their restaurant (more details on their website).

Very fresh and tasty. The wait staff was very knowledgeable as to what was in their food and cognisant of possible allergies or limitations. I ordered all veggies and the waitress asked if I was vegetarian because there is fish sauce in the tempura sauce. I am not vegetarian, but it was fantastic that she noticed and asked.

This place is a hidden gem. So far one of the best places for happy hour sushi. Sit at the bar and be amazed as your food is made for. Outstanding sushi chefs and staff. The shrimp tempura is one of the best downtown.

Amazingly fresh and tasty sushi at great prices! Fast and friendly service. My husband and I were completely happy with our meal.
And Allagash White is available on tap, which is a super bonus. :)

What is with sushi restaurants in Maine taking more than an hour to serve food? It happened at Fuji and it happened here — I thought I was in the twilight zone…
But why the 4 stars from this «terrible» experience? I’ll explain.
It took us an hour and a half to get our food. Not kidding. Big differences between the two situations (Fuji & Sapporo) were 1.) We were a large party — I’m talking about 8 – 10 of us this time around and 2.) This place was packed!
Our waitress was more than accommodating. Even the sushi chef came to our table and apologized for the hold up. He gave us a discount and additional rolls. The slices of fish were a good size for the price. I am very grateful for the customer service and actually felt bad when the sushi chef came over to apologize to us. He was extremely apologetic. Very sincere man.
I would return to Sapporo to give it another shot because of the customer service and the fish was delicious :)
I love chirashi and my chirashi bowl was excellent!

No, not my favorite sushi at all. Actually I think this place tops the list for the worst sushi I have ever had. Not only was the place practically empty but the service was awful! How can that be in an empty restaurant?! The miso soup was like pond water and the sushi smelled like a fish market which some people may dig that but I do not. I like fresh sushi but I don’t want to have to plug my nose to eat it. I give it 1 star if that.

It’s rare that you find a place serving real crab in a California roll and at regular California roll prices. This is one of those places that has that. And it makes a big difference in terms of taste.
My girlfriend and I came here to grab a snack during happy hour and I got a cup of sake as well since I had a long day. We ordered eel cucmber (since eel avocado isn’t on the happy hour menu) and I also got the California roll, the former being my girlfriend’s go-​to and the latter being mine. I appreciated the real crab in the California roll and there is a very large difference in terms of flavor. It’s good, but different, so it’s hard to compare which is better in my opinion. The eel cucumber was alright, but my girlfriend liked it.
Overall, for happy hour, it was a decent place. That said, we noticed a table surcharge note on the menu, but the waitress said it was for those people who came in and ordered one roll and chatted for hours… We got kind of close to that, without the chatting for hours part. Anyway, just something to be careful about.

I have been a long time customer of this restaurant and for the life of me can’t figure out how they consistently fail to get my to go order correct. So far I have had what was supposed to be chicken teriyaki end up being unsauced grilled chicken twice in my order. Tempura without the tempura sauce twice and incorrect rolls on various take out orders and on one occasion half my order was missing. At this point the convenience of it being just down the block no longer outweighs the constant errors made in my orders.

I always get a few rolls and sometimes try a new one. I am in love with the dragon roll. It is perfection with its slight crunch and spiciness. The plum wine is phenomenal, sweet and rich with flavor.
The staff are always friendly and attentive and will help sort out all the options of sushi and sake. I never have to ask for anything, as it is already anticipated and provide. The food always arrives quickly. There is a lovely outdoor patio or adorably decorated dining room.
This is the best sushi in Portland! I think i need some sushi now

We celebrated our engagement here in 2013 and have been back annually since! Fatty white tuna, marbled slabs of salmon sashimi, great shrimp and veggie tempura, sake bombs and I went crazy on the uni sashimi this time around. Not sure, but it seems like new ownership has taken over since last time we came. Still, good sushi for it’s quality and price.

I would just like to send out a warm ‘thank you’ to the idiots that were seated next to us, I have never wanted to punch someone in the face at lunch time so badly.
It was Old Port Fest yesterday, I figured anywhere we ate would be busy. Fortunately Sapporo wasn’t slammed, they seemed less busy than I had seen them at lunch time one evening, with no tables full inside and the outdoor seating area almost full. A man dressed as a sushi chef, which only makes me assume he was one, was running around like a chicken with its head violently chopped off. He was actually the person who seated us, and throughout our lunch he seated other people and bussed tables. Not sure what was going on behind the scenes at Sapporo, but it seemed like a clusterf***.
Our waitress was kind, but she literally forgot everything we asked for. She forgot our miso soups. She forgot one of our rolls. She forgot to bring us napkins. She forgot what one of the rolls we ordered was and brought us a more expensive one instead. The rolls are tiny for the price, after $ 50 worth of food we were still hungry.
To top it off, the most incredibly obnoxious group was seated next to us and the staff just let them do whatever they wanted. One of the guys turned the music on his phone and set it on the table like a speaker, it stayed there, playing loud music, for the duration of everyone’s meals. If you’ve ever been to the outdoor seating area at Sapporo you know it’s a tight squeeze. F-​bombs were thrown everywhere, and eventually more of their posse showed up so they started sitting on each other’s laps. This is not Oasis, move along. The poor sushi chef/​busser/​hostess was told to bring more chairs for them, he tried explaining there was really no room but they were all ‘Nah man, it’s good.” The poor women seated on their other side ended up getting the short end of the stick and were basically bumping elbows with the group the rest of the time.
We left as one of the guys was directing more of their posse by phone to their location. We will not be coming back.

This is one of top class Sushi I had ever had in the U.S.
Below is a review in Japanese,
Sapporo Restaurant @ 米国メイン州ポートランド @ 寿司、日本食
ロブスターの寿司、絶品！
米国メイン州のPortlandダウンタウンのウォーターフロントという港に面したエリアにはレストランが立ち並んで居ます。
この一角にある寿司、日本食のお店がここ。日本人スタッフは居ません。カウンターも有りますが、人気は奥の明るいテーブル席。
マグロのタタキサラダと、メイン州なのでやっぱりロブスターということで、ロブスターを巻いたMaine Roll 12.99ドルをオーダー。
ツナタタキサラダ、ベビーリーフとカイワレの上に表面を炙った刺身がトッピング、醤油ドレッシングで爽やかな味わい、なかなか良い。
Maine Rollは、大量のベビーリーフとロブスターを裏巻きにして、表面にまさごを振りかけてあり、ソースを入れて居ないので非常にすっきりした味。シャリの量も控えめでこれは良い。それに、シャリが驚くほど美味しいのです。
ここまであまりにも美味しくて、食欲亢進、追加でスパイシーツナロールとロブスター寿司を頼んでしまいました。これも美味。ロブスターの寿司がこんなに美味しいとは新発見です！
あまり期待せずに入った店ですが、アメリカでこんなにもすっきり爽やかな寿司を頂けたのは満足！
230 Commercial St, Portland, ME 4 101, U.S.A.
+1−207−772−1233

Delicious! I used to work in a good sushi restaurant, so I can be picky, but this place is great. Had a miso soup, seaweed salad and a couple of rolls. Great flavors, everything tasted fresh and fantastic. Would definitely go back again.

It pains me to give one star as the photos looked so good (prior to going), and the staff were really genuinely friendly. We were seated right away and our salads arrived very quickly, but it was downhill after that. The waitress was very friendly but the service was ridiculously slow and appeared to be the same with nearby tables who had different servers. When dinner arrived, the food just was not good. The sushi was not fresh. I ordered spicy salmon which looked like there was spicy sauce but had been scraped off, and shitake mushroom sushi that looked and tasted like they had used canned mushrooms. Based on other reviews and photos, it really may have been an off night, but I wouldn’t ever go back – too many other good options in Portland.

I come here a lot because it’s across the street from work and home. It’s good and satisfies my cravings for sushi. It’s not the best sushi place I’ve been too, even in the Portland area but it’s fine! It’s hard to pin point why sometimes sushi tastes better at some places than others… Grade of the fish and quality of other ingredients, the way rolls are prepared? Service is usually pretty excellent but can sometimes be slow. I wish they had brown rice and some more extensive menu options too but I’ll keep coming back because it’s convenient and standard.