Wazzabi

Incredibly rude hostess and woefully understaffed. Essentially told us that our business wasn’t wanted. We won’t be back.

This place was amazing and now I see it has closed? What happened? Can anyone tell me why the best sushi in Orlando, not to mention the best Calamari, is MIA?

What a beautiful restaurant! Great menu, with a lot of different choices in there.
Be aware that the food choices vary based on where you sit. Consider them «zones», and you’ll be fine!

We ordered take out from here last night via door-​step-​delivery. My brother and I both ordered bowls. I had the chirashi bowl and he had the tepan don. The menu advertised the chirashi bowl as having 20 pieces of shashimi (not to mention it was $ 20). When it got there, it only had 10 pieces and they were pretty scarce at that. Not to mention the white tuna had a bone in it! Not a small bone, but a big enough to choke on bone. My brother’s bowl was bone free, but also skimped on the fish.
Over priced and absolutely terrible experience with their food. Never agian.

I was impressed with the reviews here and the menu online so I chose this as my first dinner while in the area. It was okay, but nothing special. The menu of rolls looked unique and special, but the Buddha roll wasn’t really that flavorful and the Candy Cane roll tasted fresh, but nothing unique about it again. The restaurant was completely empty on a Sunday at 6pm … which is odd to me, but might have been a sign because the other sushi place I drove by was packed.
I think if I want sushi while in the area again I’ll give another place a shot.

This restaurant is amazing! Ive been coming here for years. My favorite restaurant period, not just favorite sushi restaurant. The best sushi rolls are the Buddha (#1 for sure!!), angel, heaven, and fantastic rolls.
The presentation is always 5 star quality. Fresh ingredients, unique combinations, and delicious!
Great atmosphere and service. The restaurant is very pretty inside.

The sushi was just okay the service was terrible and has anyone googled the place? It was just in the news because some guys complained to the owner about the poor quality of their food and they were attacked and shot at when they tried to leave. Check it out:

Terrible!!!
Went for dinner with a group of friends for a birthday and we sat in the stuffy back room for the teppanyaki grill. Our server seemed to really hate us. He barely checked in on us and mostly just ignored us even when we were trying to flag him down. He would quickly pass our table without asking if anyone needed anything. Everyone at the table ordered a meal from the teppanyaki menu except I opted for just sushi.
We had to wait a long time until the server took our order. Service was so terrible that we had to walk up to the bar to get drinks. Everyone eventually got their salads but never got soups. The cook came out and tried to wave down the server to get the soups but he was ignored as well. Eventually a different server was able to bring everyone their soups which came after the meals were being cooked.
Everyone got their noodles, rice, protein when finally my sushi order came. My sushi order had just been sitting at the sushi bar for a while because the server had forgotten I had ordered it. The quality and flavor was not very good at all.
The room where the teppan grills are at is very uncomfortable and stuffy since its closed off from the rest of the restaurant and is not very large. My husband had the salmon and he felt that the food from the grill is not very good quality and over priced.
I do not want to ever go back to this horrible place. If you are looking for this style of food then I would recommend Kobe. For sushi, Seito sushi in Baldwin Park is a million times better. The only nice thing I can say is that the cook was very nice and dessert was okay.

I ate here tonight because I saw 60 reviews on Unilocal with an average of 4 stars. I thought this place would be a good choice for sushi. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me tonight.
We got to the place, and there was a sign that said there was complimentary valet parking. We waited for the valet for few minutes, and noticed no one was coming to park our car, so we self-​parked. Once we got inside and were seated at our table, I asked the hostess, «is their valet service? we waited, but no one was out there?» She thought the guy was outside, but said the guy may have left and may not have told them”.
As we sat, I noticed one of my plates was dirty. I asked the waitress for a new plate, which she happily exchanged. My girlfriend and I noticed there was a weird look to the plates. I rubbed some water into the plates, and smelled my finger, and noticed it smelled like a dirty sponge. The plates all had a soap film on them.
The place was pretty empty but was staffed well for the amount of people there. We looked over the menu, and ordered the Shrimp Wontons, Gyoza and the Wazzabi Love Boat (45 pieces of a mixture of sushi and sashimi).
We got our appetizers in a short amount of time. The Gyoza was cooked well, but was practically drenched in the sauce. It was difficult to get a bit of the gyoza without the sauce. The taste of the gyoza was good, just overkill on the sauce. 5 pieces of gyoza on a full size entrée plate was overkill as well, a smaller plate would have been fine without the salad. The little salad (arugala/​mixed greens) in the middle of the plate had some pieces that were wilted and old. You could taste it,
The Shrimp Wonton had decent to good flavor with it, but could have used some more herbs on the inside. The presentation was a whole different, it wasn’t terrible but it was dated. It 2 long pieces of wonton were served in a cocktail glass, cut into 4 pieces, with a light coating of spicy sauce, sitting on a bed of chopped red onions. It was about a half cup of red onions, just sitting there to prop it up. It did nothing for the plate or for the wontons. The cocktail glass was on top of a plate, and had a weird sprinkling of black sesame seeds, and some cayenne pepper. With a sprig of parsley on top. It would have been fine on a small plate without the red onion and parsley.
Overall, the appettizers were decent, but nothing special. I’ve had better at a number of other places.
As for the Wazzabi Love Boat… I have no love for this thing. Where to start.
The rolling technique of the sushi looked amateurish. It looked like someone’s first or second attempt at making sushi rolls at home. The sizes of each sushi piece varied enough to notice. There was other construction issues with the sushi. We had a spider roll on the «love boat», and the taste of each piece was inconsistent. My girlfriend thought the first pieces tasted a bit too spicy, but the pieces I had were find. I told her to try the other end of the roll, and she noticed a difference, it was better. The way the fish was cut for the tuna roll and other pieces was not done well. I can’t ever remember a time where I had to chew hard to get through a piece of fish. The problem with some of the sushi pieces was that some thicker connective tissue was left in some of the fish pieces.
The quality of the fish pieces were flavorless and a little mealy. You could tell it was previously frozen. With sashimi, you need to have a really good quality piece of fish, how else can the sashimi stand out?
Overall, I would not recommend this place. I don’t know how this place has so 4 stars. Maybe we caught them on a bad night, but there weren’t understaffed, so I don’t know what is wrong.

Pathetic Service… High Prices… Total Disappointment…
*This is a review of my Teppanyaki Experience*
I usually save my negative reviews for that once in a blue moon horrible experience. Well it seems like it’s that time again.
I called two days in advance to let the restaurant know that we would be coming to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday with a party of around 7. As we pull up to valet the car I get a great first impression. The gentleman was truly skilled. He opened my girlfriends door, proceeded to help another couple by taking a picture for them and then proceeded to see to other couples as well. Definitely impressed. We walked inside and to the left we have the bar that looked great. The bottles seemed to be illuminated by different sets of lights. We made our way through the dining area into a separate room that lay off to the right. The room had about 6 tables and was not as nicely decorated as the main dining room. We all sit down and place the birthday cake we brought with us over to the side. We place our orders for our drinks and food and wait for the show to begin, chit chatting in the mean time. The only thing is, the show never started. In fact, I’m convinced that the most amazing performance had to be the guy working valet outside.
Let’s revisit-​1. I called to say we were celebrating a birthday.
2. We have a birthday cake sitting right near us.
*Enter Teppan Chef*
The guy comes in with a look on his face that says «I really don’t want to be here». He says a very simple hello and cleans the griddle in silence with that same look on his face. He begrudgingly verifies all of our orders and proceeds to silently begin cooking. I found this to be very strange.
No cheesy fake accent? Okay I can dig that.
But no small talk? No Happy Birthday? No Smile? No Nothing?
Why on Earth are we paying these premium prices then? Our chef wasn’t disrespectful, but the experience was lacking. Greatly lacking. He did a few tricks but with the same drab look on his face. Lame. After we finished our meal, we ate cake and we even gave the server a piece (which he enjoyed). We weren’t mean spirited by any means. But after the server disappeared with the piece of cake we gave him, he literally never came back. We found ourselves sitting there wondering if we were ever going to get our checks. Meanwhile, the main dining room was full and bustling with clientele. I got up and left the room to go and let the hostess know that we were ready for our checks…
This place has a series of solid reviews which I assume must come from the sushi experience. The Teppan experience was unworthy of a Monday night dinner, let alone a special occasion. Not a single happy birthday from anyone? Inattentive server? Weird tasting water? The prices and level of service did not match at all last night. Pretentiocity at it’s best.(Yes, I made that up).

I enjoyed the overall vibe of the space — Japanese chic. It maintains the authenticity of sushi while integrating pop elements like LED lighting, sharp décor, and a nice bar. You’ll find your typical fruity martinis, crispy sushi toppings, habachi style entrees, and «American Asian» salads.
There seems to be a dedicated «water butler» that annoyingly refills water cups at every table as people sip. It intrudes a little. At one point he even refilled my drink (an $ 8 cocktail) by accident. When I pointed it out, I got an «oops, sorry» with no offer to remake the drink. Put me off a little.
The waiter didn’t seem to like his job and I don’t like it when that shows.
The food is excellent. Expect an average of $ 9 for special rolls and $ 6 for basics like California /​spicy tuna. About $ 18 for an entrée from the grill. The sushi combos (boats) are quite generous for the price ($ 14 all the way to $ 95 based on party size). The Wazzabi Crunch roll was truly unique — I definitely recommend it for spicy sushi fans.
I like to think the service isn’t always this lacking — I would give it a second chance just for the great food.

I’ve mentioned in previous reviews that I’m a sushi novice. I find sushi menus super intimidating because I don’t want to waste my money on something I don’t like. Wazzabi was no different. They had three sections of rolls, ranging from regular to specialty. It was difficult for me to decide. I ended up with a California roll and the Jade Dragon (I believe). Both were super tasty.
The service was good. We went on Valentine’s day, kind of early (5:30). We didn’t have to wait at all and I was given a rose for the holiday.
It was a good dinner. We had a good time.

For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why this place got 4 stars.
We stopped in for lunch today and it was all I could do to not start yelling at the top of my lungs for better service, attention AND sushi. The fish was definitely not fresh. The sushi chef never even greeted us even though we sat at the bar and were the only customers there. The selection of rolls, totally uninspired. It was freezing cold.
I mean, all in all, the place was a huge disappointment, and on my 40^th birthday to top it all off.
Stay away from this place and don’t believe the hype. If you are a true sushi lover and connoisseur, you will mos definitely be wasting your time and money going to this place.

I have heard about this place forever but never got the change to try it until a couple weeks ago. Ambiance — Walking in the ambiance is very hip and nice.
Wait Staff — Surprisingly the place was very busy for 7:30 on a Tuesday night. The waitress we had was very good. She told us that happy hour was just ending and if we wanted to order a couple of rounds now that she would make sure they all ended up being the happy hour price. She received points for that.
Food — Excellent! I enjoyed 4 out of the 5 rolls that we ordered. The 5^th wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Price — They don’t have any happy hour deals for sushi rolls. Luckily I had purchased a $ 25 for $ 50 deal from a website. Our bill was around $ 75 before the price reduction. I don’t think I would come here again unless I had another deal.
The only reason I gave this restuarant 3 out of 5 stars is because we had to wait almost a hour for our sushi rolls. The waitress checked up on us numerous times to apologize. Apparently, they weren’t prepared for the number of customers they had that night.

Wazzabi is a nice looking restaurant inside and out. Generally speaking, the sushi is about average in price with the smaller rolls coming in at around $ 10 and the slightly larger special rolls coming in at $ 12-​$ 14.
We came in for a late lunch, and unfortunately the posted hours on Unilocal did not specify that they close at 2pm and reopen later for dinner. It was 1:45 and we didn’t want to be obnoxious, so we turned around to leave. They hostess stopped us and told us that they’d be happy to serve us since they had a literal bus load come in as a group and they weren’t getting ready to leave any time soon. I thought it was nice of them to serve us when they didn’t have to.
We were absolutely starving, and ordered four rolls: Tail Lover, Wazzabi, Gumbo, and Firecracker [see photo]. Generally speaking, they were all great, although occasionally we noticed that the rolls were a little too loose which caused a couple of catastrophic structural failures. The Gumbo roll had several types of fish and comes with a tasty ponzu sauce for dipping, the firecracker has a good kick to it with a slice of jalapeño on top, and the Wazzabi was unique with a bit of cilantro. The Tail Lover, consisting largely of hamachi inside and out, was a little fishier tasting than what I’ve come to expect from high quality hamachi.
Overall, the sushi was worth a solid 3+ stars but the nice interior of the place and (especially) the exceptional service puts it over the top for a 4-​star sushi experience.

This Winter Park sushi restaurant is trendy and attractive, with excellent service and an impressive menu. Lunch specials are quite a deal. There were four of us dining there today, ordering two appetizers, edamame and gomaae, which was different from the usual, as Wazzabi uses broccoli in place of spinach.
Lunch deals include a Bento box or roll, miso soup or a salad and four pieces of sushi or sashimi, which was my choice. The four pieces of sashimi (chef’s choice) were tuna, yellowtail, and two pieces of salmon. My roll was shrimp tempura, surprisingly sweet but not off-​puttingly so.
Wazzabi is another of the «cool» feng-​shuied Japanese restaurants, if that’s your preference in atmosphere. If not, try the more down-​to-​earth feel of Fuji Sushi nearby.

Listen, as you are reading this put on your shoes because that’s exactly what I am doing!!! GO THERE AND TRY THE SHRIMP WONTON!!! IT“S SO EFFING GREAT!
Everything I have ever had here is good but the above is definitely my favorite and is an appetizer.
What are you waiting for??? See you there!

Great food and cool/​funky atmosphere. I’ve dined here for dinner since they opened and every meal has been great. You can order sushi, a meal or go into the Hibachi room for a «Japanese steakhouse» experience. This room books up, so plan on a reservation.
Bar is great, some different martinis and sakes to try. There is a nice outdoor seating area off of the bar, usually some type of live music at night. This area fills up quickly, so plan on arriving early if you want to hang out for awhile.
Have enjoyed prompt service at the bar, regular dining and the Hibachi room. Food has always been delicious.
I recently tried a lunch bento special for take out, food was *wonderful*. What a great deal.

Great atmosphere and delicious sushi, price is decent for its sushi rolls. Definitely a great place for a nice date!
I give it 3 because I thought the service was poor. First time it took forever to get our food and another eternity long wait to get matcha ice cream (seriously!!).
Second time I went there it was fast to get our food but our server was kinda pushy trying to get us to order more stuff.
Great food, service needs improvement!

The whole experience was full of attitude from the staff. Wazzabi — have you ever heard of «the customer is always right»? How about common courtesy? Smiling?
Some friends picked Wazzabi for dinner for the one night I was in town so that we could share in our favorite type of meal: hibachi. When I lived in Orlando we frequented other locations but they wanted to try something new.
I arrived at Wazzabi a little early for my dinner meetup with friends. They have a valet which seems like more of a «we’re so awesome we have to have valet» than a necessity for the location. The place seemed only moderately busy with plenty of open tables, as well as open hibachi tables/​seats, so instead of having the hostess take my name I just sat at the bar waiting for my notoriously late friends.
I ordered the Shark Bite (?) which was probably the only good thing about the evening. The drink was fruity and strong! But I felt silly drinking it– would opt for the classier choice next time (wine). The bartender was very friendly and helpful with the drink menu. Props to that girl!
When my two friends arrived (15 minutes late = typical), we asked the hostess to be seated. When she went «looking» for a table (what good hostess does that), I remembered that I failed to tell her we wanted to be seated for hibachi. When she came back I mentioned this and she gave me the snottiest look and with her rude voice she said «We’re booked for hibachi».
The three of us turn our heads right and see PLENTY of open seats and tables at hibachi. Ummm… what do you mean you’re completely booked? We told her that’s the only reason we came and she stared at us blankly. What a b… She could have taken on a more compassionate tone. We stood there for a few seconds trying to figure out if we wanted to go somewhere else– but that would require having their fancy valet go get the car they JUST parked. So we opted to stay and try to find something on the menu to appease us non-​sushi lovers.
When she sat us down at a table, she told us we could order off the hibachi menu at the table (again, in a condescending tone). We noticed that ordering off the hibachi menu at a table is an 18% surcharge… I assume because they want the hibachi chefs to work and be paid, but geez, she wouldn’t LET us sit at a table, what are we supposed to do?
In the end there was nothing good on the menu that appealed to people who don’t eat sushi, so we indeed opted for the hibachi. I had the sirloin, and it was probably the worst hibachi I’ve ever had. The steak was well done (not medium as I requested), the fried rice was… soggy… it was really terrible.
Oh and our server… I asked him how fresh the fish was and he said, «it’s fresh». Okay, no– I want to know WHEN it was flown in to the restaurant. He said, «I mean it’s fresh enough… sometime this week I guess». Seriously? There is a big difference in fish being flown in TODAY versus yesterday versus 5 days ago (i.e. «this week»). He thought he was being funny, but I did not appreciate it. How can a restaurant that serves RAW FISH not have their servers aware of when the fish came in???
My take on Wazzabi is that all they care about is glitz and glamour– and maybe that’s only what their customers care about too. The staff is condescending and rude, the food is terrible, and who knows how old the fish is. But hey– you’re eating dinner out with your closest bffs dressed in hoochie dresses in Winter Park, so who cares?!