Sakura Japanese Restaurant

I have mixed feeling about Sakura. When I went I was with three of my friends. It was one of the hottest days of the summer. When we walked in, I could tell immediately that something was wrong with the air. It was very stuffy. We all were getting sushi, so they sat us away from the hibachi area. It took a while for our waiter to realize we were there. He did finally come around though. We all order two of the specialty rolls, and they were amazing! Well-​made and great tasting. I am going to give the place the benefit of the doubt, but if I go a second time and have the same experience, bad reviews coming.

Terrible service! We had reservations but they did not take our drink order for over 15 minutes. We grabbed the waitress walking off from from our drink order to put in some appetizers, by now understanding this is going to be a long night. 45 minutes to order.
Drinks were delivered wrong, sweet tea instead of un-​sweet. The appetizers were the cheapest vegetables possible. When the waitress finally took the dinners orders after the appetizers came, the waitress acted as if she could not understand English or the menu at all.
Finally the the grill started up 20 more minutes after the order. My food was delivered 15 minutes prior to this. Choice: eat alone or let it get cold. Then my brother-in-law’s sushi came out about half way through the wait.
Wait, did I mention the $ 12 vegetable dinner was green peppers and mushroom only? Half way through dinner I went to round up a waitress for drink refills and re-​orders. My second glass of wine finally came with the check, which I promptly sent back.
What a disaster, terrible service and sub-​par food. If we weren’t with family who had children we would have walked out after the first wait on the order. Save yourself the money.

While my first visit was OK with decent service the second one was a disaster. First we wanted to sit at a hibachi table and were told it would be an hour wait so we opted to sit in the dinner room and order from the hibachi menu. We waited for more nearly an hour for food and it arrived cold and their excuse: because we order from the hibachi menu some of the food took longer to prepare while our rice just sit on the plate for an hour. top that with two other families walked out while we suffered with our meal.
This is a hit or miss place. Try at your own risk.

Mark this down — 2 months ago was the day real sushi arrived in Wake Forest!
On the recommendation of a fellow Unilocaler, I decided to try out Sakura with my girlfriend one night. And that recommendation was nothing short of perfect.
Sakura is not going to be your quaint or quiet Japanese restaurant, if that is what you are looking for. Sakura is neither loud and flashy. Instead Sakura is a gentle blend of sushi and hibachi in a 21^st century colorful marriage.
Don’t be fooled by the outside strip mall look. Be fooled by the large amounts of delicious sushi for a small price! We absolutely devoured 4 special rolls and edamame for less than $ 35. And when you looked at our faces, you could tell we were more than satisfied.
So if you live in Wake Forest, don’t drive all the way to Raleigh for your next great roll. Instead visit Sakura. Your wallet, belly, and zen will thank you!

Looks can be deceiving! This restaurant looks like a basic strip mall restaurant. Inside they have done a nice job!
We have been twice so far. Once with the kids, and once with just adults. A great time both times! The rolls look great, and as a plus, if you order at the habachi table, you get soup and salad. It made my son and his pal feel like they were part of the evening, and not left out of the dining experience. The bar seemed to be having issues, as they had no wine (??) so I shared my hubby’s sake, which was very good.
This is a great addition for Wake Forest, especially if you don’t feel like driving down to Kanki. Plus, it’s a good deal more afforable than and evening at Kanki, but that might have something to do with not having to spend an hour in the bar waiting for a table ;-)

Don’t let appearances fool you. It’s a small joint in a strip mall but the sushi was great. First off the quality of fish was surprising. I ordered 2 maki rolls ($ 8) and a sashimi lunch. Thick cuts of big eye tuna (not yellowfin) beautiful salmon and hamachi. The rolls were good too. It’s principally a hibachi joint, we are gonna try that next time so stay tuned:)

Great food. First time I have ate at a place like this, very impressed. Would have gave 5 star but our waitress was on her first day of the job and was by herself so she wasn’t great and didn’t know the menu.

Fantastic experience!
I’ve been awaiting the grand opening of this restaurant for a while now (and not only because I was excited to eat at a restaurant that donned the same name as a Street Fighter character — although, a good percentage of the anticipation WAS due to this).
Living in Wake Forest can often be a bore. We do not have a hopping night scene and have very few «fun» places to go close by. However, I think I’ve found my new source of entertainment; and his name was Jason.
Jason was our hibachi chef extraordinaire tonight and made some very tasty food along with some fantastic entertainment for myself, my friend and the unknown family of four sat next to us at the same table.
While I stuck to sushi tonight (the Sex-​Kimberly Roll is to die for!) my friend ordered something, literally, hot off the grill, and I was able to sample a good range of what they had to offer.
Not only did I successfully mooch off of her plate but Jason (hibachi chef extraordinaire) gave everyone at the table a portion of fried rice (even us sushi standbys!). Everything was delicious. Next time I go back I plan on ordering a shrimp hibachi item because, well, it was probably one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth.
While I have never experienced the likes of local similar restaurants like Kanki I have had my fair share of hibachi grills in my day and this one ranks right up there with the best of the best. It was a lot more intimate and less intimidating than I’ve experienced with others.
According to my friend, the tables we a little more «closely spaced» shall we say vs Kanki but the food gave them a run for their money.
I really hope this place brings in enough business to stay around– as I said before, Wake Forest isn’t usually the «go-​to» spot.
I’m literally excited to go back for another serving of awesomeness.

We’ve been here twice for the sushi. Very prompt and courteous staff. Very good variety of sushi and great taste. The lunch special is two rolls for $ 7.95. Very good value.