Yosake

I have been dining at Yosake since 2006 or so, and the half price menu always has me coming back. The shelly roll is my favorite, and it is delicious. The firecracker shrimp are a local favorite as well, and the sweet tea is hard to beat. If you are hoping to try the half price menu, make sure to go between 5 – 7. I think they offer that menu every day except for holidays (such as Valentine’s Day and whatnot). I recently went with a friend who is not all that excited about sushi, so I’m very happy that they have other dishes on the menu as well. I can get my sushi fix while my friend enjoys a nice meal as well. The staff is always very nice, but I would recommend making reservations unless you plan on going right when they open up at 5. I have been there later in the evening and not had to wait at all, but I have also been there when every table is full. If you are looking for great sushi with fun décor (they have animé on the walls), then give this place a whirl.

This probably our fifth or sixth time there in two years, and it never fails. We always eat sushi, and every dish we’ve ordered has been perfect in looks and taste. The bigeye tuna is like butter, and if you’re feeling adventurous, try the octopus nigiri. My wife said she would never eat octopus, and i finally talked her into it. She wasn’t disappointed. If you plan on eating sushi, then make sure you get a seat at the sushi bar. The chefs are always quick to help explain a dish and make suggestions. Plus, you get the bonus of watching your food made in front of you. One day, we’ll get around to trying the «nonsushi» entrees.

Firecracker Shrimp. Done.
It’s a sushi restaurant so it’s a pricier night out if you don’t go during one of their specials. But the good news is, they have lots of specials. Happy Hours, 80s Night, Locals Night. You can always get deals. Put them on your list for restaurant week. It’s the best deal in town: 4 courses (including firecracker shrimp!) for $ 25.
The staff is friendly and it’s an upscale, laid back atmosphere. Fancier but relaxed.
I’ll end with this: firecracker shrimp.

Went back a second time after an ‘ok’ first experience. Much better and we’ll be back again! Great happy hour specials.

I recently went to Yosake with my friends and was not expecting too much. The interior design was magnificent. The music was very good. Overall, it was just a very chill environment. However it was when we ordered our food that I realized what I was getting myself into. In my twenty-​one years of existence I have never had such disgusting food at a restaurant. First, to begin with, I ordered the udon noodle soup, and when I got it, I was very excited because the food looked great. Once I tasted it though, I was in utter disgust with it. I forced myself to finish this meal. One of my friends ordered the chicken phở and had the same ordeal. It was just nasty! It would be reasonable if they did not make good beef phở, but this was chicken phở, which is super easy to make in comparison, so it was just a disappointment. Another friend of mine ordered the pad thai noodles and it was like a soup. Her bowl was filled with noodles and it had a broth or soup with it! Pad Thai is not supposed to be a soup! This dish was also horrendous. Moving on I also ordered mini banh mis and again I was just disappointed. Whatever it is that they put in those banh mis is just not tasty at all. One of my other friends also ordered some sushi and the sushi rice was so bland. It was as if they had just used regular white rice that has not been mixed with any sauces at all. I just want to say that their food is like fools gold; it looks good, but it is not the real thing and it is just disappointing! In addition our waitress was not up to par. She only checked on our table a few times while we were eating. For example, my water needed to be refilled and I had to wait forever for her to even come back to do her easy job of refilling it. She was not attentive to our table and of course it was reflected in her tip. I would not recommend this restaurant to anybody ever! They need to change their name to Yo-​Sucky!

We came here for happy hour which is every day! They have a pretty good variety of happy hour food so we ordered a bunch and just shared everything. Saturday’s they have sake bombs for $ 5 which I would pass on. It comes with a less than half filled beer and a shot of sake. And who knows what kind of beer it was because the waitress definitely did not know! The coconut lemongrass soup was my favorite thing we got last night. The squid salad and firecracker shrimp were both delightful too! The firecracker shrimp reminded me of the one at pf changs but better and pretty spicy. We also got the sashimi platter which was whatever. It came with some imitation crab which was random. Maybe it was more for decoration. Who knows why it was on there. Not sure what sushi we got but it was pretty bland and tasteless even drenched in soy sauce. I’d guess spicy tuna and the crunchy tuna roll. Definitely not what I wanted when I was craving sushi. I wouldn’t order sushi from the happy hour menu again. Their full priced rolls looked pretty good tho. Overall split 3 ways was $ 17/​person which was a okay with me.

Came here while visiting family living in Hampstead. I like this restaurant! Asian fusion plus sushi is offered in this trendy restaurant with brick walls, quirky Japanese paintings, and dim lighting.
Love the menu concept. Sushi and appetizer plus drink happy hour. Also there are different discount specials every day of the week. When I went, locals get 20% off their check! That’s great because some of the menu items are not cheap for Asian cuisine.
For the most part sushi is decent. I ordered mostly off the happy hour menu which also includes edamame, bahn mi, and drink specials!
The food is 3 – 4 stars depending on what you order, but for the quality of sushi I would definitely come here often to get my sushi fix during happy hour. I wish I had a place like this in NJ. When I come back to visit I’ll be sure to come back here and have some sushi and try some of the other items in the menu.

After reading the good reviews my BF and I went here on a Friday night. We recommend to make a reservation like us in order to ensure a table. We got the firecracker shrimp which was delicious. We ordered various things off the happy hour menu including the sashimi sampler and generoll which were so fresh and tasty. We will definitely be visiting yosake the next time we visit Wilmington.

Great food and cocktails! One of the best places for happy hour Downtown. Pineapple mojito, philly roll, and chicken & jalapeño egg rolls are my usual here but eveything is good!

Great sushi and soup. The atmosphere was wonderful, such a cool building. Service was kind of backed up but we would go again ! Make sure you go out on the little balcony and get a picture before you leave, too cute !

This place was fabulous. We had the firecracker shrimp and the crab dip for appetizers and everyone loved it. Everyone’s main dishes were GREAT as well and we all had something different. Would recommend this to anyone.

Excellent meal. Great service. A little noisy but fun. We ate out of town and two people recommended it, so glad they did.

The sushi was great, they have a late menu (after 10 pm) with good price. Recommended!

Whelp y’all know I am VERY stingy with my stars. This place is a TOTAL 5 ALWAYS! This place ROCKS… ALWAYS consistent, friendly, and NEVER, EVERY a bad experience! The «That’s how we roll» roll is recommended… local, fresh, and creative with all locally caught fish. The GINORMOUS is a favorite as well. Don’t pass this place up! I could eat here every night of the week.

Sushi was really good. Non-​sushi starters and entrees were very good as well, met expectations for the price point. Front of the house was a different story. Hostes and servers were very disorganized with no leadership to be found. The excuse I was given was that this was their peek time due to the 5 – 7 half pice sushi special and we should have probably come earlier. This is total BS in this business. If you know if this is your peak time how about staffing more than three servers for over 45 guests. If the owners made this call, it’s all a money grab between those times. The sushi chefs had plate after plate waiting to be expedited. The hostes was clueless on what the fish specials were as well as pitching in to help the servers expedite the seated guests. We will go back, but just for the sushi.

This sushi restaurant is awesome and they have so much more that sushi! There’s something for everyone. I had the spicy crab dip and the fiery chicken and noodles of the restaurants recommendations. The atmosphere is nice and in a really cool building! Service was I point!

This is the best sushi restaurant in Wilmington! It’s downtown hard to find but its across from like the Reel café, upstairs this was the first time I tried sushi for thr first timr here and it was great. I tried like 5 different things on a date there. but ever since then I haven’t gone to another sushi restaurant it was quite as good they have really good food here and the yea is goooood and that was two years ago but yeah they’re good

My friends and I were visiting Wilmington over Christmas and met for dinner on Christmas Eve.
Still being new to sushi, I asked the server for recommendations and she had plenty which still made my decision difficult but first off we started with apps to share. My friends ordered the Firecracker Shrimp and I ordered the Edamame hummus. Both were quite tasty. The Firecracker shrimp was spicy but not overbearing. And there was always Sirracha if you wanted more heat.
For an entrée, I went with one of the spicy rolls recommend by our server and it was wonderful. It was quite large in portion size.
Overall this is a great place with a great trendy atmosphere. Our server was really knowledgeable about the menu and friendly. I will definitely remember this place the next time I am in Wilmington… possibly Christmas 2015.

It was Christmas Eve, I was in Wilmington with the husband and a friend, and I was happily anticipating celebrating in a beautiful restaurant as opposed to my in-​laws’ generic basement. Lucky for us, Yosake was open. We walked up a flight of wide, grand steps into this funky room with cartoonesque décor.
We ordered Firecracker Shrimp and Edamame Hummus. Both very good. For our entrée, my husband and I shared sushi. We had Shrabster, which featured lobster and crab, and Tempura Vegetable Roll, which of course featured tempura vegetables, plus the nicest most unusual smattering of almonds. Excellent sushi. If I had one complaint, it would be that a little more wasabi was provided on the plate.
But, hey! It was Christmas Eve, and this place had the graciousness to remain open. Next year, when I have to sit in the in-​laws’ basement eating mayonnaise laden potluck food, I will wistfully think of Yosake. And sigh.

Except for the hike up the stairs I really like the place. The food is tasty and the drink prices are reasonable.
Parking in downtown Wilmington on the other hand is no joke. There are plenty of public lots and taxis around because the Po-​Po is out in droves to catch drinkers who also drive. Beware.