Sakura Teppanyaki & Sushi
5882 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15217
Sakura Teppanyaki & Sushi Menu
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Address :
5882 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA, 15217 - Phone (412) 422-7188
- Website https://sakurasushitogo.com
- Click To Get Directions
Opening Hours
- Mon :11:00 am - 9:00pm
Specialities
- Takes Reservations : Yes
Delivery : Yes
Take-out : Yes
Accepts Credit Cards : Yes
Good For : Lunch
Parking : Street
Bike Parking : Yes
Wheelchair Accessible : Yes
Good for Kids : Yes
Good for Groups : Yes
Attire : Casual
Ambience : Casual
Noise Level : Quiet
Alcohol : Full Bar
Outdoor Seating : No
Wi-Fi : No
Has TV : No
Waiter Service : Yes
Caters : Yes
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Jenney C.
Though I hate to disagree with Caitlin, bec. I know her... I have to say that Sakura is terrible. First the waitress was completely annoying saying "Thank you Thank you" every time she even took a plate away(for each and EVERY plate) or filled our water. It was so mechanical and inappropriate most of the time. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice Chinese girl who has been instructed to put on a pseudo Japanese affectation, which doesn't translate well into English. Everything we ordered was disappointing. Maybe their sushi is better, but all the other Japanese items were terrible. It was also so overpriced. Ironically we had decided to not order sushi, bec we though we wouldn't be as disappointed by teppanyaki. And everything came to our table cold, even though there was only one other table being served in the restaurant. I think the owners of Sakura should go back to making Chinese food. Though I never really like Hunan Kitchen, it was a lot better then than it is now.
(1)M Z.
Good price. A Chinese-owned restaurant serving both Japanese food and Chinese foods. It fails in both cuisines to me.
(3)jeremy S.
My video review: ippio.com/view_video.php…
(4)Jon B.
I love this place. The sushi is always fresh abd made fast. Try the spicy yellowtail roll or the eel roll if you want something simple. I had the amazing fire roll today, and it really lives up to its name. The place is nice and bright, light unobtrusive music, and friendly staff.
(5)Siyao L.
Very tasty northwestern Chinese food, which is extremely hard to find in the U.S. 推è油泼é¢å’Œå¤§ç›˜é¸¡
(5)John K.
Chicken arrived hard as coal and tasted burned. A steak knife had trouble cutting through one of the pieces. Rice was dry and had "off" flavor, as if sitting around for hours. Will not order again from this restaurant.
(1)Julie S.
Very nice ppl and food was pretty good at the right price. Lunch special 3.95 select sushi rolls
(3)Bin G.
changed chef. Dishes looks and tastes like this. I took photos. It's getting worse and worse for this restaurant.
(1)Elisabeth B.
Ordered 3 Maki Rolls from here via grubhub for delivery... holy effing chuck... this was the biggest waste of money ever. The pieces of sushi were so small that all 18 pieces fit on a small tray that usual holds MAYBE 8. I sent my husband to Trader Joes to go get a 25 piece tray for $7. The quality was the same... DO NOT GIVE A HORRIBLE BUSINESS LIKE THIS YOUR MONEY! Edit: Wow, it got worse... after my husband got back from Trader Joes and we sat down to eat, it turns out that they completely got the order wrong - cucumber rolls instead of tuna rolls. It took a 10 minute phone call to get them to 1, believe us, 2, admit they were wrong, and 3, to refund the money. HORRIBLE service.
(1)Cary L.
they are really goodï¼ï¼tHave a tryï¼I like their Chinese style BBQ pork sandwich, pot fat beef,etc. It is also a good place for breakfast!
(5)Yvonne C.
went there for Godzilla Roll and Amazing Fire Roll, crispy with special tasty sauce. hahahahaha definitely love it!
(5)Bridget Z.
One of the best sushi places in squirrel hill. Godzilla Roll and Sunshine Roll are just so good. It is really awesome that the restaurant serves both Chinese and Japanese food and there are so many choices! The dish portion is really big and it definitely worth it:)
(5)Peter E.
100% Worst $40 I've ever spent. I can't believe any 5 star reviews aren't written by their staff.
(1)Yung Min L.
I just stumbled upon this place a few weeks ago, despite the fact that I try to visit squirrel hill as often as I can. I tried the sushi on my first visit. I love sushi, and I know who's good and who's not so great in Pittsburgh. It's very good. The quality of fish is excellent, and they have a nice variety of platters and specialty rolls. We tried a lot that day, and liked everything. Today I was in the mood for something hot, as the summers coming to an end and tonight is almost jacket weather. The owner, Ping Geng, came up to my table and showed me a menu with traditional Chinese dishes on it. I literally just drove back into town from Toronto's Chinatown earlier today, and eagerly wanted to try something traditional offered locally. Everything was excellent, from the eight treasure spicy sandwich, to the scallion puff pancake, to the BBQ pork sandwich to the house made dumplings. In addition, there's a Chinese brunch menu offered on Saturdays and Sunday's from 10am-1pm that I'm very interested in trying.
(5)Lana L.
A couple of friends warned me not to ("awful" and "tastes nothing like Japanese food"), but curiosity brought me here on a Tuesday night. Okay, it really isn't that bad. Craving sushi? The fish isn't the freshest, but this is not the worst place to get sushi in Pittsburgh. (Trust me; I've had much worse.) Unless you have ridiculously high standards, you'll probably be satisfied if you order the right rolls. We ordered the shrimp tempura roll, dragon roll, salmon avocado roll, and the red dragon roll. The red dragon roll was probably the best of the four, but all of them were average to good. And I wasn't even hungry; if I were, then I'd probably think they tasted better. Boyfriend was a bit more harsh though ("it's a little better than GEagle's sushi"). The only thing that really bothered me was that the AC wasn't on even though it was 80 degrees out. Taste | 3 Atmosphere | 3 Presentation | 3 Service | 3 OVERALL | 3
(3)Qianwen C.
Although the restaurant started as a sushi place, it serves really authentic Ningxia food. The owners originally came from Ningxia, China. I went to seveal states in USA, but rarely found these kinds of dishes. Even in China, it is hard to get authentic Ningxia food. I always get the BBQ pork sandwich(Rou Jia Mo) The Rou Jia Mo is stuffed with tender strips of meat, onion and more.... It's a treat! I also recommend trying their variety of noodle dishes. The noodles are all hand made and fresh. If you love lamb, you have to try their lamb dishes. Lamb is Ningxia's famous traditional food. They serve lamb braised in soy sauce, lamb steamed in clear soup and so on. The meat is so tender and tasty. The prices are also unbeatable. They are around $15 for a big portion.
(5)Ruochen R.
This restaurant has some really decent north west Chinese food like 羊肉泡é¦(pancake lamb soup), 肉夹é¦(BBQ pork sandwich), é…¸èœè‚¥ç‰›( pickle cabbage with beef). I especially like the xingjiang big plate chicken! It's really big and spicy and delicious! They also have sushi which I have not tried yet. My friends said they were awesome. The price may be a little more expensive than some other Chinese restaurant on that street but Sakura's size is also bigger. Oh BTW they have steamed whole fish!
(5)Jane L.
The only reason I'm not giving this place one star is because I went with a group of 5 other people and two people were pretty happy with their dishes. One guy got the small chicken fried rice and said it was a good deal. Another person got the large lo mien and had enough leftover for her packed lunches for the next few days. I have to give it to them, the quantity of some of their dishes is large. However, the quality is seriously lacking. I got the dumplings and pork bun. They said the dumplings were homemade on the menu, so I was pretty excited about them, but I've definitely had better; the dumpling skin on some of them was a bit dry and tough. Have you ever wished you could go into the kitchen of a restaurant and help them make the dish better? That's how I felt about the pork bun. It looked like they had all the ingredients needed to make a good pork bun, but what they served was an oily mess. I could only eat about a third of it before I had to stop because it was too bland to justify slurping down that much oil. I think this meal goes down in my books as the worst Chinese food I've ever had at a restaurant.
(2)Jason D.
The sushi was good. We ordered a salmon roll, yellow tail roll and eel roll. There was nothing spectacular about any of them. The rolls were all a bit small compared to my normal sushi spot. The udon is s different story. We got the shrimp and vegetable. First there were only 3 shrimp in the whole bowl. Once we tasted the shrimp we both were unhappy. It had a very off taste and texture. The broth was very bland and there was more vegetables than noodles. With all of the different Japanese restaurants in town there is a lot of variety to choose from. We will not be returning here.
(2)Liza C.
Great place and amazing sushi. Only authentic ningxia food i have found in the US. I get their lunch boxes all the time and the pricing is pretty good. The Lo Mein is terrific.
(4)Bonita L.
sakura has great Japanese sushi, it is the best sushi that I have ever had. Also traditional Chinese food, I love the pan cake lamb soup, spicy potato, and xinjiang style chicken
(5)Wenqin Y.
I have lots of wonderful experience here. I like the sushi so much, especially for the godzilla roll and shrimp tempura roll. Additionally, i prefer the tie guo fei niu, gan guo fish, tofu shrimp! What's more, there are traditional Chinese breakfast, soy milk, youtiao and pork pie, scallion pancake!
(5)Xi Z.
traditional Chinese dongbei style cuisine, sushi, service are good, waitresses are pretty:)
(5)å
Very authentic Chinese food. Unlike many other chinese restaurant in the area. This place provide a variety of types of traditional chinese food: famous food from central china, notheasten china and western china. And they all taste really good! And to my surprise, on saturday, they even provide traditional chinese breakfast. And this is the only chinese restaurant in US that I know offers chinese breakfast. Steamed fish and tofu are the best.
(5)Anne C.
I just got the lunch box with a friend because we were both starving in Squirrel Hill. I was so hungry and the lunch looked so good that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of it! Usually we both wait until I get my Yelp pics done but we both just dug in. I got the Lunch Box C and He got Lunch Box A. I liked the sushi but everything that came with the sushi was deep fried. We both demolished the box but felt really disgusting afterwards from all the grease. The Shu mai were incredibly small and not very well done at all. The tempura were okay and the fried sweet potatoes were probably the greasiest in that when you bite into it oil actually seeps out of the potatoes... The service there was only okay but I had to ask for my water halfway through my dinner because I was tired of waiting for them to ask me what I wanted to drink. The service was quick and the lunch boxes were so, so cheap! I'd probably give this place another chance because I liked the sushi and there is a cheap lunch option for a 6pc!
(3)Eva L.
Super good deal for lunch box! Big box with soup!! AHHH I loved this place when I lived in Pittsburgh. Miss it! Food: Compared to many other Japanese and Chinese places in Pittsburgh, Sakura really does a great job. Their dishes are big! Sushi is very fresh! (ugh I miss their Godzila roll) OH I love love their authentic mid-west Chinese food -- You would only be able to find those type of food in cities like New York!!! Service: Even though sometimes I do see young kids serving us and doesn't look super professional in serving, but hey they are at least very kind. Like VERY kind. Parking: easy to park on the street or the streets in the neighborhood. Overall: this place is nice and clean. Good price for a lot a lot of food. And I like the kind people here a lot ;)
(5)Haiyin Y.
love the tieguofeiniu, hot sour soup, godzilla roll, the breakfast, fresh fish and so on! very decent Chinese food and sushi! the sushi lunch box and Chinese lunch combo are good as well. (the Chinese lunch combo is actually available the whole day, not only the lunch time)
(5)Allison W.
The vast chasm between the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews of this place is very interesting... but my one and only experience with this place is ZERO stars. I ordered sushi for delivery, and it arrived quickly, but the order was made incorrectly-- didn't even come close to matching the menu description. No avocado, no green onion, AND no cucumber in the roll, and the wrong sauce. This was an expensive fancy roll with only 2 of the 5 listed things inside and a massive amount of rice to make it look big. I immediately called the restaurant to let them know, and the "owner" (she insisted she was the owner) spent 11 minutes telling me "that's just how we make it now" ... I explained that the roll was far from matching the menu description, didn't contain the full value of ingredients I had paid for, and that this situation needed to be fixed. She literally just kept saying "that's how we make it now" and for a while tried the tactic of telling me that there WAS avocado on it, I just couldn't see it bc it was such a small slice.... yeah... there was not avocado anywhere in or on the roll. I repeatedly asked to speak to a manager or supervisor but she said she was the owner. So then I asked for her name and she straight-up refused to give me her name, numerous times. I finally realized I was arguing with an actual insane person, so I gave up. If you're ever thinking of ordering from here, just throw $15 into the trash instead.
(1)Anna I.
This place is great! They have pretty decent sushi, but I think the Chinese menu is what really shines here. The pork dumplings are amazing--they actually taste freshly handmade, as opposed to the dumplings at most restaurants that taste like what you get at Costco. Any of the traditional Chinese dishes are pretty delicious, but if you're used to American-style Chinese food it might not be what you're expecting.
(5)Sergei I.
While it's great sushi, the staff is awful unable to resolve issues with an order, eventually ignoring our calls. Our order arrived with one roll missing, not for the first time. They agreed to deliver the missing roll and it never arrived. Make sure to double check your order upon delivery.
(2)Tian Y.
2 years ago, I would have given this place a higher rating. Now, the food changed though the names stayed the same on the menu and it is not worth eating anymore. I came here with my parents a couple of times on break from college, and it is really not the same the last couple of times. The last time really made us never want to come here ever again. We used to love the chinese bbq pork sandwich, but now it is dry and bland and even looks completely different (different bun and meat cut). The yang rou pao mo (shredded lamb and pancake soup) is a Chinese classic, but is no longer the dish it used to be. Now, the stock does not taste like it was properly made and the flavor is pretty underwhelming. We also got the hot oil noodles, the and the Chinese name escapes me, but it's supposed to be wet and oily. Not being authentic would be okay, but it was really dry and the texture of the noodle was awful. No flavor except your palate feels completely overpowered. There was one other dish, but it was so not memorable I don't even remember what it is. We only barely ate half our meal. Just... nothing was right. The waitress was polite at first, but when we inquired about the noodle dish, she said she didn't know, and that's the way it was supposed to be. We were surprised but didn't send it back because I don't think it could be improved upon anyway... but afterwards, she seemed to tend to any of her other 3 tables (the only other 3 in the restaurant and she didn't seem swamped at all) except for ours, though we were clearly trying to get her attention for boxes and our check and leave. There was a clear change in quality of service, for reasons I can't understand. Worse food and service... I wouldn't mind a change, but this is not a change for the better. With How Lee next door, save yourselves the trouble. Granted, this is really a review of the food they used to advertise as authentic, which has stayed advertised as so on the menu - but none of it tastes right (or good) anymore. I would give this a 1 star, but +1 for benefit of the doubt for their sushi and Americanized-Chinese menu.
(2)Deborah G.
I don't think that we will go back. The food wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. We had deep fried gyoza - the dipping sauce was pretty good but the dumplings were just OK. We also had miso soup which was tasty but not earth shattering. My husband had a dragon roll and a sunshine roll - the sunshine roll was charred on top and it lent a burnt flavor to the sushi. The dragon roll was OK - but not great. I had chicken and broccoli. The chicken was tender and the broccoli appropriately al dente but the sauce was thin and lacked flavor. The server was a very young girl who looked to be about 17 or so. She was running around like a chicken without a head but there were only three tables in the restaurant. I asked her if there was shrimp in the gyoza and she didn't know. She had to dash back to the chef to ask - she just seemed so utterly overwhelmed. The restaurant itself is dirty and desperately in need of updating. My water glass had lipstick on it that wasn't mine. The sushi menus on the tables are filthy! The tables and chairs are rickety and the chairs are really uncomfortable. The chairs scrape on the tile floor when you move them and they make a lot of noise. The staff didn't even care when we left. I really don't think that this is a place that bears returning to.
(2)Ying W.
I always go this place for some good northen style chinese food and also for their chinese breakfast on weekends. The food are usuall consistent,authentic, good portion and reasonable priced.
(4)Danielle M.
The worst Chinese restaurant in Pittsburgh! The taste is ok, but not worth the price at all, neither the taste nor the amount. I'd rather go to Oriental Express or any other fast food to get a moderate Chinese food with cheaper price. I've been here several times with friends, nothing impressive, and the last visit was the least favored. The Lamb Kebab is really, really just a few bite... and it taste like fried, not roast on fire... I would like to pay only half the price, or even less for it...The Xinjiang Style Chicken was not in so large amount as the menu says (serves two), and it is the least authentic Xinjiang Style Chicken I've ever got (and much worse than the one I cooked) I never try their Sushi, seems much better than it's Chinese.
(2)Katherine G.
Delivery order. Mushy eel roll, mushy yellow tail, and mushy . . . octopus? Fortunately, the sushi was so disgusting that I didn't finish it, probably saving myself a trip to the emergency room. That being said, making the worst sushi in Pittsburgh is quite the (dubious) accomplishment.
(1)Suyue H.
It's a amazing restaurant. Love the western Chinese style noodle soup and all the sushi rolls!
(5)Xiangan L.
Very delicious food, and sushi is amazing! The hostess is nice and kind. This place is definitely worth a try.
(5)Isabelle C.
I really like this place. Delivery is super fast, the food is decent. I've gotten eel rolls and spicy tuna so far and they were excellent. I hate when people say "good for Pittsburgh" because its an insult/complement but this place is simply good, not just "good for pgh."
(4)Stacey L.
I am a regular at Sakura, simply because they have decent sushi at okay prices. Also because the owner and I have become familiar with each over the last three years my boyfriend and I have been frequent patrons there. I have explored much of both their japanese and chinese menus, but tend to stick to the sushi menu whenever we go. Not the best sushi I've ever had, but certainly my preferred place to go in Pittsburgh. Usually order yellowtail roll, scallop roll, spicy tuna, salmon skin, white tuna sushi. When we go for specialty rolls, we order USA roll, Godzilla roll, and recently discovered the super delicious Sunshine roll. Service is friendly and attentive, but usually when we go, it's very empty, so we just eat quietly at our table. Also ordered some deliveries time to time as well, but it's not as fresh as eating in.
(3)Yingxia W.
Best hot and sour soup. Ever.
(5)Paul k.
I usually get the delivery option. Food is always hot when it comes (usually about half hour) and they haven't ever gotten my order wrong. I'm giving it 5 stars because the prices reflect the quality of food. Plus the delivery guy is always happy. I like the Bean Curd dishes, but haven't tried the sushi.
(5)Jessica C.
I've eaten in the restaurant as well as had it delivered. My experiences both times were good. Nothing to complain about. When I ate in the restaurant, I had a lunch bento box and everything in it was cooked well. My 2 y/o daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal together. She really enjoyed the tempura and edamame. I recently had some sushi and some Chinese delivered to my house. The sushi was great and did not disappoint. My daughter enjoyed her chicken with broccoli, as well. Now that I know they deliver, I may be frequenting this place more often. They are fairly priced for both Chinese and Japanese dishes. The food is nothing spectacular, but definitely satisfies those cravings!
(5)Ashley C.
I ordered take-out from here the other night and ate my way into a delightful oblivion! I ordered the Chinese/Japanese bbq pork bun and a order of the Spicy Tuna Sandwich. It was so delicious with just the right amount of spice and flavor! I have been craving more ethnic food and gave this restaurant a look off of campusfood.com . Can't wait to dine-in and try some more sushi & the other food offered at this restaurant.
(4)Maythe M.
This place is terrible. My Pinky finger was thicker than all of rolls, the rice was dry and bland, I asked for soy paper and I saw the chef attempt to roll my sushi with the plastic container the soy paper came in and not the actual soy paper... Seriously.. The they charged me for it. There pepsi was flat. Fish was old and warm. Tasted fishy not fresh. It was so bad I couldn't even complain to them.
(1)Barry R.
In general sakura has decent sushi, not bad not great. But their spicy tuna sandwich roll is life changing, every friend whose tried it has been converted for life. Get that or their tempura fried ice cream and you will not be disapointed.
(3)melissa p.
This is my favorite sushi place in Pittsburgh! I have eaten here well over 20 times and continue to patronize the restaurant.. Each experience is superb, down to the small flower garnishes on the plate. The menu is packed full with different choices and everything is prepared in a delightful manner. The staff, especially the owner, are efficient and super attentive. If you haven't visited Sakura yet, make a visit there a priority! I
(5)Hal B.
Having lived in Toronto, Washington DC and LA- this is the best sushi I have come across. In addition- the service is terrific. We have gotten to know the owner Ping and are always warmly greeted. No question- best sushi in town- among the best in the country.
(5)Jenn T.
We like this place as a standard sushi restaurant in Squirrel Hill. It's close to home, and the prices are pretty even-keel with other sushi places in the Pittsburgh area, and you can also get takeout. The sushi is great, however, there are really not a lot of selection on special or unique rolls. If we could do half-stars, I'd give it a 3.5, but I'll round up because they consistently make your typical sushi rolls quite well. On our latest visit, we had a great waiter who was prompt with delivery of the food, and he also would refill our hot tea, but we had a really hard time getting refills on our water. Unfortunately, with the saltiness of sushi and soy sauce, we kind of needed frequent refills on that, so I felt like I chugged a gallon of water right when I got home. We tried something new this time, which was the 'first date roll,' a shrimp tempura roll with spicy tuna on top. We loved this one, as it was a good example of something unique they can do. The miso soup was also top-notch. I would recommend this place if you're looking for good, standard-issue sushi. We typically prefer Pacific Ring in Squirrel Hill, because they've made a lot of unique (and Pittsburgh-themed) rolls to spice things up, but this is a good second place. I'm also a big fan of the wavy cups they serve your hot tea in, and they do have a wine list, although we have yet to try it out.
(4)Gigi L.
I would recommend their Chinese dishes on the chef's special menu. They have some North-West Chinese style dishes which I've never seen anywhere else in Pittsburgh. A friend and I tried their Shredded Pancake with Lamb Soup, which is a soup dish with lamb broth, thinly sliced lamb meat, chopped "pancake" (more like bread), and cellophane noodle. We also had the Xinjiang Style Chicken. It's called Xinjiang Da Pan Chicken in Chinese, which means XinJiang Big Dish Chicken. And it indeed came in a very big portion. It is slightly spicy and cooked like home-style Chinese food. The dish also came with a side of noodle which you dip in the chicken. Overall, we were very satisfied with both dishes. This place has a Japanese name which I thought is quite misleading since their Chinese dishes are so much better than their Sushi. If you feel a little adventurous and want to try some different Chinese food, then go for the chef's special menu.
(4)Kenny J.
absolutely abismal. I've been on Yelp for almost a year and have never been perturbed enough by a place to write a review. I also had never felt like I was robbed by a restaurant until walking out the door at Sakura. It would have been fine if the problem was just that the sushi was terrible. But on top of the sushi being terrible, the chef also found it reasonable to exchange most of the fish that we ordered in our sushi with cucumber. Instead of eel and cucumber? Try cucumber with a hint of eel Want some tuna? Too bad. More cucumber. I could have asked for them to put more fish in it, but it was so bad there was no point. I paid 60 bucks for a bowl of Udon that will give me nightmares and a forest of cucumber. Take it from someone who is far from a food snob - just skip this place.
(1)Christine P.
I've order to-go from this place twice. The first time they did an excellent job. The noodles and soup were well packed. Women who took our order was very Ordered: 1) Pickle pork noodle soup - very yummy, delicious meat and veggies, but the noodles were too thick for my taste. 2) Shredded pancake lamb soup - interesting, I didn't eat this, but my fiance said it was pretty authentic. The broth had a very strong lamb smell, but very little lamb meat (almost non-existent). Personally, although it might be authentic, but it's not for everyone. There are many other great options in Pittsburgh and that's where I'll be going.
(1)Paul K.
I love this place! They are all over the place, have 'average' american style chinese food, and the hibachi is meh. So why 4 stars?? Because you have to know how to order! Their authentic Chinese menu is amazing (and so is their non-hibachi japanese items)! They have many western style Chinese dishes, that have influence from the silk road and central Asia. Their sushi is good, and they have the most awesome lunch boxes around; although Oiishi Bento in Oakland gives them a run for the money. They now offer Chinese breakfast on weekends. Also the hot pot is great! It is where Confucius and Genghis Khan blend. The flavors of the silk road, I love you Sakura!
(4)Andrew K.
We have renamed this place Airport Sushi. It takes like sushi you get at the airport. That isn't necessarily bad, it's just not necessarily great.
(3)Jennifer G.
Forget about whether or not the reviews here say the food is good or bad, forget about the pepsi being flat or the fish being warm. What you need to know is that upon receiving my take out container tonight from Sakura, I opened my package of chopsticks. Upon opening the container, chopsticks poised to snatch my first piece of sushi... something caught my eye. A seed? A burned grain of rice? No. A COCKROACH. A live cockroach. In my take out container. As I jumped back from my dining room table, horrified and already scrambling for my cell phone I dialed Sakura and spoke to a manager who only said 'Oh. Sorry' and then hung up on me. I drove back to Sakura from my house with the take out container stretched as far away from me as possible. Into Sakura I ran, and then I stood. And waited. For a good three minutes while the 'sushi chefs' stared at me, I stood there with my container at arms length. Finally I leaned in towards them and said 'I don't think you want me to yell the reason I am here, please get me some help'. Nothing. Not an acknowledgement, not a person running to whisk me away from the other patrons, nothing. I cleared my throat. "I am here to return my sushi because there is a cockroach in it. Please someone help me." I said, just loudly enough for other people to here. Magically a manager appeared. Funny how that happens. Now let me tell you what these sleazy dirtbags did. As though finding an intruder in my sushi were not enough... not a piece of wilted lettuce or a dirty wrapper or even a dangerous piece of plastic or glass, no- this was a LIVE disease bearing, egg laying BUG... but as though that were not insult enough- this 'manager' proceeded to refund my money MINUS the tip my husband had left for the sushi chefs. Back that truck up, you say? That's right. I had to REQUEST that she refund my tip... "because surely you don't think I am going to tip these men for sending home a COCKROACH?" I asked her, and she simply said 'I'm sorry' a dozen times before I left. I can deal with flat pepsi. Chairs that creak, wait staff that leaves something to be desired. I can deal with take out places that say 15 minutes when they really mean 45. I have eaten my fair share of things that weren't up to par, weren't what I wanted or were just plain bad... but what NO customer should EVER have to do is check their food to make sure that LIVE COCKROACHES aren't infesting it. And if you eat at Sakura that is EXACTLY what you'll have to do.
(1)Andrew N.
I ordered sushi for myself and my girlfriend. My girlfriend has a shellfish allergy.I wrote on the online order for my girlfriends rolls "This is for someone with a shellfish allergy. Please keep this roll separate and away from any shellfish." When the sushi was delivered, it was all in the same container. I called to complain and they lady told me there was nothing she could do because I did not request "Separate containers"
(1)Weifei Z.
I went there for lunch and had their #1bento and it was not good. I'm very much against Chinese restaurants in disguise as Japanese restaurants and this is very much the case. The tempura was not fried with panko as it should be and it tasted soggy and overly oily. The sushi was mediocre at best. Sure the decor is nice and maybe their Chinese food might be better, but I would not go back to this place for the Japanese food.
(1)Sabrina M.
I am so surprised by the harsh reviews of this place! This is by far one of my favorite sushi places in the city. There are a lot of places for improvement but as far as the sushi scene in Pittsburgh is concerned, Sakura is doing great! They have one of the best variety of rolls I've seen in Pittsburgh. Usually whenever I go somewhere new and order sushi I stick to my usual, the dragon roll. At Sakura I'm always trying something new. Their menu is so extensive and creative that I don't usually even bother with the typical staples like salmon, or tuna rolls (although they are good too). I'm all about their interesting and unique rolls, the list of which is always growing. Some of my favorites include the Godzilla Roll, Red Dragon Roll, and the Spicy-Tuna rice sandwiches (I forget the exact name...) Also, they usually have a weekly special (not that it really ever expires... you can always order these even off the menu). This is how I found my real favorites, the Monkey Roll, Earth Roll, and best of all the Ocean Roll. My only complaint is that the prices are a little steep, but I think for the quality it's worth it. I don't know about how their other food is aside from sushi, but the sushi itself is great. Don't let the unattractive outside facade fool you, this place is great and relatively quiet on the weeknights, so go then if you want faster service.
(5)T A.
I went there for lunch with my Japanese friend. The menu outside looked good, though she noted that the characters on the signs were Chinese, not Japanese. I guess it's the same people who ran Hunan Kitchen? I definitely liked HK better. The waitress was quite nice. Not engaging at all, but nice. I liked the decor and had positive expectations for the food. The lunch special was $8 which would have been a good price if the quality of the food matched everything else. The tempura was blah and the sushi was weak. We also ordered an unagi maki and I couldn't taste any eel at all. It was mostly cucumber. I hope they improve their kitchen because Squirrel Hill could use some better Japanese options. Otherwise, please bring back Hunan Kitchen.
(2)Melissa S.
The worst sushi/restaurant experience that I've had for as long as I remember. And I tend to dine out like it's my job. The place has a very chinzy "I'm trying really hard to be high brow and expensive" which can be deceiving to some. The waitress was attentive, but kinda hyper in this nervous way. First of all, the beer that she brought the husband was WARM- very warm, almost as if it was sitting outside. When I asked, politely if she would take it back and bring him a cold one she seemed confused, almost confrontational. She brought it out, reluctantly. Then, the food. We ordered the Sashimi Deluxe, expecting, well, nice pieces of sashimi. What she brought out was a huge plate of shoestring carrot (not radish, or seaweed) and tiny, microscopic bits of sashimi. I thought for a second that the chef was playing a trick on us, and that we were unknowingly playing a game of "hide the sashimi", so I began digging into the copious amount of carrot, in hope of finding the hidden prize. No, it was not a game. And to top it off, they charged us for 2 BEERS. Ugh, I hope someone shuts this place down soon.
(1)Taylor N.
I have only ordered out from Sakura. The place is always drab and empty no matter what time it is. The staff are always sitting around doing nothing. It really sucks to go in the restaurant. Their "hibachi" is a freaking joke. Do not expect to get normal hibachi dinners here, in fact, expect absolute crap! Their "regular" Asian menu is joketasiticly inferior to many of the other Asian choices in Squirrel Hill and cost almost the same. The staff seem nice, but jump when any customer walks through the door as if they are not expecting anyone. Now (and please excuse any conceived racist under tones. I assure you I am just stating pure fact), I have had my order screwed up over the phone almost every time I order from Sakura. I understand that you do not need to speak fluent English to take a delivery order, but you should know the menu. Yesterday, My wife and I ordered from there (very inexpensive for a weekday meal) I ordered my sushi correctly, even going over my order 3 times with the woman on the phone. When the food arrived(promptly), our bill was for $70!!!! And as if fleeing from the scene before we could find out, the delivery guy didn't give us a receipt. Upon opening my order, I found that they had quadrupled my order AND CHARGED ME FOR IT!!!!! I called to complain and the woman, who I could barley understand refused to accept that she made a mistake. I became a bit belligerent and she called over her manager. All I could hear was him explaining something in Japanese and the phone girl going "OOOHHHHHH?!" over and over. She DID make a mistake and I was awarded free sushi and my money back. Still, when I said I would be there tomorrow to get the proof of the credit to my card, she initially refused!!????? The manger in the background must of shaken his head or something because she finally agreed. All I want is my damn food for crying out loud!!!!!!!!! But... Their sushi lunch specials are the best I have ever seen. for $3.99 you have your choice of 6 different kinds of rolls; great for a late day snack (you can order up until 3pm). But... This is another sushi place that claims to have tuna rolls when they are Fatty tuna rolls, but charge for regular lean tuna. Also order early or you WILL get stuck with day old, been-sitting-around-all-day, hard fish. But... Get them on a good day or early in the day and you will have adequate sushi for a competitive price.
(2)Emily H.
I ordered delivery from here on a rainy weekday night when it was just too hot to cook or even think about eating hot food. I was craving sushi and Sakura had a lower minimum order price than Sushi Too. Ordering is easy through Campus Food. They said delivery would be an hour but it was just about half an hour, which was excellent. They also kept the vegetables tempura separate from the rolls so the sushi didn't get heated up, which I appreciated. The vegetables tempura were fine but i didn't think the choice of vegetables was all that good. There were sweet potato pieces, some kind of squash, broccoli, and half a bell pepper. I would have liked a little more variety. They used julienned cucumber instead of a big chunk, so the rolls tended to fall apart. The avocado rolls were ok. Even though it's cheaper than Sushi Too, I'd rather pay a bit extra. The quality shows.
(2)Jee L.
I just ordered from them. Time wise, super fast and had no problem finding my place so I am very happy with that. Chirashi sushi- hmm...ok...not bad. Fish wasn't too fresh but I wasn't expecting it to be... I mean I'm in Pgh and it wasn't top Jap restaurant... I just hope that they vary up the fish they put on the top. There was an unknown noodle like looking bed under fish (that some restaurants place under their sashimi) was just very unattractive. I've never figured out what that was... (I don't want to find out what it is, don't want to see it, and just don't want to deal w/ it) Miso soup- ok. Salad sauce (salad and miso soup comes with chirashisushi)- I almost always like salad sauce that Japanese restaurants have and this one was no exception. Vegetable udon- noodle and soup came separately (dahhhh...). It was truly vegetable udon. Not just veggie unon but VEGETABLE udon. It seemed like there was as much as veggies as noodle and I LOVED Loved Loved it. Onion was cooked and the crispiness was well reserved, not soaked in moisture. Soup/Broth-hmm hot and tasty... but the aftertaste or the texture remained in my mouth... felt like oil filmed stuck in the back of my throat as if tar stuck in the lung...
(4)G. Jason H.
I am going to update my review a bit since Sakura has been open for business a long time since I first reviewed them. I have never had a bad experience here. The sushi is always tasty, fresh and really good. They are really nice when it comes to special orders too. The wait staff has gotten much, much better since they first opened. There is always a friendly face and they are always nice, quick to order and helpful with suggestions. Sometimes they get a bit backed up when there is a big rush, but that is to be expected now and then. Give Sakura a try if you are a sushi lover, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
(4)r. h.
There are several Chinese-run Japanese restaurants in the area, of which Sakura is probably in the middle of the pack. Pros: friendly service, pleasant atmosphere, reasonable prices. Cons: In short, the food is just not that great. Its sushi pieces are rather anemic, for instance. They deliver via campusfood.com , which may be their one saving grace. On wintry nights when it's too cold to leave the house, having some piping hot udon (the soup and noodles are packed separately) delivered to my door is pure heaven.
(2)maggie g.
After a trip to New York and eating at Xi'an Famous Foods I was having an intense craving for lamb-based chinese food. A bit of googling brought me the menu for this place. They have 4 or 5 lamb dishes on their chinese menu. I hightailed it over there for lunch, requested the Chinese menu, and I was not disappointed. We had the Xi'an style bbq pork sandwich, lamb stew w/ hand made noodles and cold chicken in chili oil. All dishes were fantastic. Lamb stew was served with chopped cilantro and scallions on the side. It was easily enough for four people. Chopped lamb, gamy lamb broth, chile, cumin, root vegetables. My dining companion characterized the dish as "chinese lamb stroganoff" which isn't far off. I'm taking one point off because the noodles were kind of mushy, but the flavor was spot on. Chicken appetizer was fine. Served cold on the bone, chicken was moist and the chili oil sauce was spicy and refreshing. I'd bring this for a picnic any day. The pork sandwich was the clear stand-out. It was *beyond* -- spicy pork belly, chopped and seasoned with fresh cilantro, scallion & chile, served on a split steamed wheat bun that was then grilled. This was definitely my favorite dish, and if there is any justice in the world this should become a foodie cult item in the city of Pittsburgh. A must eat. Our waitress was extremely friendly and helpful and we had a great conversation about lamb and its various preparations. I went with one other person, but we easily had enough food for 4. Our check came out to $32 after tax & tip. as for their sushi... who knows?
(4)Trishna S.
Don't eat here. There were bugs in our food, but to top it off they were very rude about the whole situation. They tried to make it seem like we had mistaken the bugs for mushrooms! Horrible service, horrible place.
(1)Caitlin H.
The interior is warm and bright, fairly busy on a Friday night. Our waitress was on the overly-friendly side of the spectrum, but not offensively or annoyingly. She helped clarify what is in the ambiguously title rolls. Offhand I cannot remember exactly what we ordered, but we made spicier selections because I was hoping to overcome my deadened taste buds (due to a cold). Whatever we chose, it worked! Everything was really delicious, fresh, and full of flavor. It is moderately cheap, too. We sat enjoying our food for around 2 hours and it was very relaxing. Overall, this is the best sushi experience I've had here in Pittsburgh, in/around the city. I'm excited to go back and try out new things.
(5)Pittgirl P.
Sakura Teppanyaki is by far my favorite sushi in Pittsburgh, especially since I evaluate my restaurant faves in a quality to cost ratio. Quite simply, for the selection of rolls, freshness of fish, pleasantness of the waitstaff, the price cannot be beat. It is for these reasons that we keep going back here to eat in or take-out. I know there are other popular sushi restaurants in Pittsburgh (Nakama and Chaya come to mind), but I think they are really overpriced for what you get. Sakura is my favorite, hands down!
(5)Pingping H.
Chinese food here is awesome!
(4)Philip K.
Terrible sushi and imaginary hibachi
(1)Allison W.
The vast chasm between the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews of this place is very interesting... but my one and only experience with this place is ZERO stars. I ordered sushi for delivery, and it arrived quickly, but the order was made incorrectly-- didn't even come close to matching the menu description. No avocado, no green onion, AND no cucumber in the roll, and the wrong sauce. This was an expensive fancy roll with only 2 of the 5 listed things inside and a massive amount of rice to make it look big. I immediately called the restaurant to let them know, and the "owner" (she insisted she was the owner) spent 11 minutes telling me "that's just how we make it now" ... I explained that the roll was far from matching the menu description, didn't contain the full value of ingredients I had paid for, and that this situation needed to be fixed. She literally just kept saying "that's how we make it now" and for a while tried the tactic of telling me that there WAS avocado on it, I just couldn't see it bc it was such a small slice.... yeah... there was not avocado anywhere in or on the roll. I repeatedly asked to speak to a manager or supervisor but she said she was the owner. So then I asked for her name and she straight-up refused to give me her name, numerous times. I finally realized I was arguing with an actual insane person, so I gave up. If you're ever thinking of ordering from here, just throw $15 into the trash instead.
(1)Tian Y.
2 years ago, I would have given this place a higher rating. Now, the food changed though the names stayed the same on the menu and it is not worth eating anymore. I came here with my parents a couple of times on break from college, and it is really not the same the last couple of times. The last time really made us never want to come here ever again. We used to love the chinese bbq pork sandwich, but now it is dry and bland and even looks completely different (different bun and meat cut). The yang rou pao mo (shredded lamb and pancake soup) is a Chinese classic, but is no longer the dish it used to be. Now, the stock does not taste like it was properly made and the flavor is pretty underwhelming. We also got the hot oil noodles, the and the Chinese name escapes me, but it's supposed to be wet and oily. Not being authentic would be okay, but it was really dry and the texture of the noodle was awful. No flavor except your palate feels completely overpowered. There was one other dish, but it was so not memorable I don't even remember what it is. We only barely ate half our meal. Just... nothing was right. The waitress was polite at first, but when we inquired about the noodle dish, she said she didn't know, and that's the way it was supposed to be. We were surprised but didn't send it back because I don't think it could be improved upon anyway... but afterwards, she seemed to tend to any of her other 3 tables (the only other 3 in the restaurant and she didn't seem swamped at all) except for ours, though we were clearly trying to get her attention for boxes and our check and leave. There was a clear change in quality of service, for reasons I can't understand. Worse food and service... I wouldn't mind a change, but this is not a change for the better. With How Lee next door, save yourselves the trouble. Granted, this is really a review of the food they used to advertise as authentic, which has stayed advertised as so on the menu - but none of it tastes right (or good) anymore. I would give this a 1 star, but +1 for benefit of the doubt for their sushi and Americanized-Chinese menu.
(2)maggie g.
After a trip to New York and eating at Xi'an Famous Foods I was having an intense craving for lamb-based chinese food. A bit of googling brought me the menu for this place. They have 4 or 5 lamb dishes on their chinese menu. I hightailed it over there for lunch, requested the Chinese menu, and I was not disappointed. We had the Xi'an style bbq pork sandwich, lamb stew w/ hand made noodles and cold chicken in chili oil. All dishes were fantastic. Lamb stew was served with chopped cilantro and scallions on the side. It was easily enough for four people. Chopped lamb, gamy lamb broth, chile, cumin, root vegetables. My dining companion characterized the dish as "chinese lamb stroganoff" which isn't far off. I'm taking one point off because the noodles were kind of mushy, but the flavor was spot on. Chicken appetizer was fine. Served cold on the bone, chicken was moist and the chili oil sauce was spicy and refreshing. I'd bring this for a picnic any day. The pork sandwich was the clear stand-out. It was *beyond* -- spicy pork belly, chopped and seasoned with fresh cilantro, scallion & chile, served on a split steamed wheat bun that was then grilled. This was definitely my favorite dish, and if there is any justice in the world this should become a foodie cult item in the city of Pittsburgh. A must eat. Our waitress was extremely friendly and helpful and we had a great conversation about lamb and its various preparations. I went with one other person, but we easily had enough food for 4. Our check came out to $32 after tax & tip. as for their sushi... who knows?
(4)Trishna S.
Don't eat here. There were bugs in our food, but to top it off they were very rude about the whole situation. They tried to make it seem like we had mistaken the bugs for mushrooms! Horrible service, horrible place.
(1)Caitlin H.
The interior is warm and bright, fairly busy on a Friday night. Our waitress was on the overly-friendly side of the spectrum, but not offensively or annoyingly. She helped clarify what is in the ambiguously title rolls. Offhand I cannot remember exactly what we ordered, but we made spicier selections because I was hoping to overcome my deadened taste buds (due to a cold). Whatever we chose, it worked! Everything was really delicious, fresh, and full of flavor. It is moderately cheap, too. We sat enjoying our food for around 2 hours and it was very relaxing. Overall, this is the best sushi experience I've had here in Pittsburgh, in/around the city. I'm excited to go back and try out new things.
(5)Pittgirl P.
Sakura Teppanyaki is by far my favorite sushi in Pittsburgh, especially since I evaluate my restaurant faves in a quality to cost ratio. Quite simply, for the selection of rolls, freshness of fish, pleasantness of the waitstaff, the price cannot be beat. It is for these reasons that we keep going back here to eat in or take-out. I know there are other popular sushi restaurants in Pittsburgh (Nakama and Chaya come to mind), but I think they are really overpriced for what you get. Sakura is my favorite, hands down!
(5)Pingping H.
Chinese food here is awesome!
(4)Philip K.
Terrible sushi and imaginary hibachi
(1)Julie S.
Very nice ppl and food was pretty good at the right price. Lunch special 3.95 select sushi rolls
(3)Elisabeth B.
Ordered 3 Maki Rolls from here via grubhub for delivery... holy effing chuck... this was the biggest waste of money ever. The pieces of sushi were so small that all 18 pieces fit on a small tray that usual holds MAYBE 8. I sent my husband to Trader Joes to go get a 25 piece tray for $7. The quality was the same... DO NOT GIVE A HORRIBLE BUSINESS LIKE THIS YOUR MONEY! Edit: Wow, it got worse... after my husband got back from Trader Joes and we sat down to eat, it turns out that they completely got the order wrong - cucumber rolls instead of tuna rolls. It took a 10 minute phone call to get them to 1, believe us, 2, admit they were wrong, and 3, to refund the money. HORRIBLE service.
(1)Bonita L.
sakura has great Japanese sushi, it is the best sushi that I have ever had. Also traditional Chinese food, I love the pan cake lamb soup, spicy potato, and xinjiang style chicken
(5)Wenqin Y.
I have lots of wonderful experience here. I like the sushi so much, especially for the godzilla roll and shrimp tempura roll. Additionally, i prefer the tie guo fei niu, gan guo fish, tofu shrimp! What's more, there are traditional Chinese breakfast, soy milk, youtiao and pork pie, scallion pancake!
(5)Jon B.
I love this place. The sushi is always fresh abd made fast. Try the spicy yellowtail roll or the eel roll if you want something simple. I had the amazing fire roll today, and it really lives up to its name. The place is nice and bright, light unobtrusive music, and friendly staff.
(5)Siyao L.
Very tasty northwestern Chinese food, which is extremely hard to find in the U.S. 推è油泼é¢å’Œå¤§ç›˜é¸¡
(5)John K.
Chicken arrived hard as coal and tasted burned. A steak knife had trouble cutting through one of the pieces. Rice was dry and had "off" flavor, as if sitting around for hours. Will not order again from this restaurant.
(1)Yung Min L.
I just stumbled upon this place a few weeks ago, despite the fact that I try to visit squirrel hill as often as I can. I tried the sushi on my first visit. I love sushi, and I know who's good and who's not so great in Pittsburgh. It's very good. The quality of fish is excellent, and they have a nice variety of platters and specialty rolls. We tried a lot that day, and liked everything. Today I was in the mood for something hot, as the summers coming to an end and tonight is almost jacket weather. The owner, Ping Geng, came up to my table and showed me a menu with traditional Chinese dishes on it. I literally just drove back into town from Toronto's Chinatown earlier today, and eagerly wanted to try something traditional offered locally. Everything was excellent, from the eight treasure spicy sandwich, to the scallion puff pancake, to the BBQ pork sandwich to the house made dumplings. In addition, there's a Chinese brunch menu offered on Saturdays and Sunday's from 10am-1pm that I'm very interested in trying.
(5)Lana L.
A couple of friends warned me not to ("awful" and "tastes nothing like Japanese food"), but curiosity brought me here on a Tuesday night. Okay, it really isn't that bad. Craving sushi? The fish isn't the freshest, but this is not the worst place to get sushi in Pittsburgh. (Trust me; I've had much worse.) Unless you have ridiculously high standards, you'll probably be satisfied if you order the right rolls. We ordered the shrimp tempura roll, dragon roll, salmon avocado roll, and the red dragon roll. The red dragon roll was probably the best of the four, but all of them were average to good. And I wasn't even hungry; if I were, then I'd probably think they tasted better. Boyfriend was a bit more harsh though ("it's a little better than GEagle's sushi"). The only thing that really bothered me was that the AC wasn't on even though it was 80 degrees out. Taste | 3 Atmosphere | 3 Presentation | 3 Service | 3 OVERALL | 3
(3)Bin G.
changed chef. Dishes looks and tastes like this. I took photos. It's getting worse and worse for this restaurant.
(1)Qianwen C.
Although the restaurant started as a sushi place, it serves really authentic Ningxia food. The owners originally came from Ningxia, China. I went to seveal states in USA, but rarely found these kinds of dishes. Even in China, it is hard to get authentic Ningxia food. I always get the BBQ pork sandwich(Rou Jia Mo) The Rou Jia Mo is stuffed with tender strips of meat, onion and more.... It's a treat! I also recommend trying their variety of noodle dishes. The noodles are all hand made and fresh. If you love lamb, you have to try their lamb dishes. Lamb is Ningxia's famous traditional food. They serve lamb braised in soy sauce, lamb steamed in clear soup and so on. The meat is so tender and tasty. The prices are also unbeatable. They are around $15 for a big portion.
(5)Ruochen R.
This restaurant has some really decent north west Chinese food like 羊肉泡é¦(pancake lamb soup), 肉夹é¦(BBQ pork sandwich), é…¸èœè‚¥ç‰›( pickle cabbage with beef). I especially like the xingjiang big plate chicken! It's really big and spicy and delicious! They also have sushi which I have not tried yet. My friends said they were awesome. The price may be a little more expensive than some other Chinese restaurant on that street but Sakura's size is also bigger. Oh BTW they have steamed whole fish!
(5)Jane L.
The only reason I'm not giving this place one star is because I went with a group of 5 other people and two people were pretty happy with their dishes. One guy got the small chicken fried rice and said it was a good deal. Another person got the large lo mien and had enough leftover for her packed lunches for the next few days. I have to give it to them, the quantity of some of their dishes is large. However, the quality is seriously lacking. I got the dumplings and pork bun. They said the dumplings were homemade on the menu, so I was pretty excited about them, but I've definitely had better; the dumpling skin on some of them was a bit dry and tough. Have you ever wished you could go into the kitchen of a restaurant and help them make the dish better? That's how I felt about the pork bun. It looked like they had all the ingredients needed to make a good pork bun, but what they served was an oily mess. I could only eat about a third of it before I had to stop because it was too bland to justify slurping down that much oil. I think this meal goes down in my books as the worst Chinese food I've ever had at a restaurant.
(2)Jason D.
The sushi was good. We ordered a salmon roll, yellow tail roll and eel roll. There was nothing spectacular about any of them. The rolls were all a bit small compared to my normal sushi spot. The udon is s different story. We got the shrimp and vegetable. First there were only 3 shrimp in the whole bowl. Once we tasted the shrimp we both were unhappy. It had a very off taste and texture. The broth was very bland and there was more vegetables than noodles. With all of the different Japanese restaurants in town there is a lot of variety to choose from. We will not be returning here.
(2)Liza C.
Great place and amazing sushi. Only authentic ningxia food i have found in the US. I get their lunch boxes all the time and the pricing is pretty good. The Lo Mein is terrific.
(4)Xi Z.
traditional Chinese dongbei style cuisine, sushi, service are good, waitresses are pretty:)
(5)å
Very authentic Chinese food. Unlike many other chinese restaurant in the area. This place provide a variety of types of traditional chinese food: famous food from central china, notheasten china and western china. And they all taste really good! And to my surprise, on saturday, they even provide traditional chinese breakfast. And this is the only chinese restaurant in US that I know offers chinese breakfast. Steamed fish and tofu are the best.
(5)Cary L.
they are really goodï¼ï¼tHave a tryï¼I like their Chinese style BBQ pork sandwich, pot fat beef,etc. It is also a good place for breakfast!
(5)Yvonne C.
went there for Godzilla Roll and Amazing Fire Roll, crispy with special tasty sauce. hahahahaha definitely love it!
(5)Bridget Z.
One of the best sushi places in squirrel hill. Godzilla Roll and Sunshine Roll are just so good. It is really awesome that the restaurant serves both Chinese and Japanese food and there are so many choices! The dish portion is really big and it definitely worth it:)
(5)Peter E.
100% Worst $40 I've ever spent. I can't believe any 5 star reviews aren't written by their staff.
(1)Anne C.
I just got the lunch box with a friend because we were both starving in Squirrel Hill. I was so hungry and the lunch looked so good that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of it! Usually we both wait until I get my Yelp pics done but we both just dug in. I got the Lunch Box C and He got Lunch Box A. I liked the sushi but everything that came with the sushi was deep fried. We both demolished the box but felt really disgusting afterwards from all the grease. The Shu mai were incredibly small and not very well done at all. The tempura were okay and the fried sweet potatoes were probably the greasiest in that when you bite into it oil actually seeps out of the potatoes... The service there was only okay but I had to ask for my water halfway through my dinner because I was tired of waiting for them to ask me what I wanted to drink. The service was quick and the lunch boxes were so, so cheap! I'd probably give this place another chance because I liked the sushi and there is a cheap lunch option for a 6pc!
(3)Anna I.
This place is great! They have pretty decent sushi, but I think the Chinese menu is what really shines here. The pork dumplings are amazing--they actually taste freshly handmade, as opposed to the dumplings at most restaurants that taste like what you get at Costco. Any of the traditional Chinese dishes are pretty delicious, but if you're used to American-style Chinese food it might not be what you're expecting.
(5)Eva L.
Super good deal for lunch box! Big box with soup!! AHHH I loved this place when I lived in Pittsburgh. Miss it! Food: Compared to many other Japanese and Chinese places in Pittsburgh, Sakura really does a great job. Their dishes are big! Sushi is very fresh! (ugh I miss their Godzila roll) OH I love love their authentic mid-west Chinese food -- You would only be able to find those type of food in cities like New York!!! Service: Even though sometimes I do see young kids serving us and doesn't look super professional in serving, but hey they are at least very kind. Like VERY kind. Parking: easy to park on the street or the streets in the neighborhood. Overall: this place is nice and clean. Good price for a lot a lot of food. And I like the kind people here a lot ;)
(5)Haiyin Y.
love the tieguofeiniu, hot sour soup, godzilla roll, the breakfast, fresh fish and so on! very decent Chinese food and sushi! the sushi lunch box and Chinese lunch combo are good as well. (the Chinese lunch combo is actually available the whole day, not only the lunch time)
(5)Christine P.
I've order to-go from this place twice. The first time they did an excellent job. The noodles and soup were well packed. Women who took our order was very Ordered: 1) Pickle pork noodle soup - very yummy, delicious meat and veggies, but the noodles were too thick for my taste. 2) Shredded pancake lamb soup - interesting, I didn't eat this, but my fiance said it was pretty authentic. The broth had a very strong lamb smell, but very little lamb meat (almost non-existent). Personally, although it might be authentic, but it's not for everyone. There are many other great options in Pittsburgh and that's where I'll be going.
(1)Deborah G.
I don't think that we will go back. The food wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. We had deep fried gyoza - the dipping sauce was pretty good but the dumplings were just OK. We also had miso soup which was tasty but not earth shattering. My husband had a dragon roll and a sunshine roll - the sunshine roll was charred on top and it lent a burnt flavor to the sushi. The dragon roll was OK - but not great. I had chicken and broccoli. The chicken was tender and the broccoli appropriately al dente but the sauce was thin and lacked flavor. The server was a very young girl who looked to be about 17 or so. She was running around like a chicken without a head but there were only three tables in the restaurant. I asked her if there was shrimp in the gyoza and she didn't know. She had to dash back to the chef to ask - she just seemed so utterly overwhelmed. The restaurant itself is dirty and desperately in need of updating. My water glass had lipstick on it that wasn't mine. The sushi menus on the tables are filthy! The tables and chairs are rickety and the chairs are really uncomfortable. The chairs scrape on the tile floor when you move them and they make a lot of noise. The staff didn't even care when we left. I really don't think that this is a place that bears returning to.
(2)Ying W.
I always go this place for some good northen style chinese food and also for their chinese breakfast on weekends. The food are usuall consistent,authentic, good portion and reasonable priced.
(4)Danielle M.
The worst Chinese restaurant in Pittsburgh! The taste is ok, but not worth the price at all, neither the taste nor the amount. I'd rather go to Oriental Express or any other fast food to get a moderate Chinese food with cheaper price. I've been here several times with friends, nothing impressive, and the last visit was the least favored. The Lamb Kebab is really, really just a few bite... and it taste like fried, not roast on fire... I would like to pay only half the price, or even less for it...The Xinjiang Style Chicken was not in so large amount as the menu says (serves two), and it is the least authentic Xinjiang Style Chicken I've ever got (and much worse than the one I cooked) I never try their Sushi, seems much better than it's Chinese.
(2)Katherine G.
Delivery order. Mushy eel roll, mushy yellow tail, and mushy . . . octopus? Fortunately, the sushi was so disgusting that I didn't finish it, probably saving myself a trip to the emergency room. That being said, making the worst sushi in Pittsburgh is quite the (dubious) accomplishment.
(1)Suyue H.
It's a amazing restaurant. Love the western Chinese style noodle soup and all the sushi rolls!
(5)Xiangan L.
Very delicious food, and sushi is amazing! The hostess is nice and kind. This place is definitely worth a try.
(5)Isabelle C.
I really like this place. Delivery is super fast, the food is decent. I've gotten eel rolls and spicy tuna so far and they were excellent. I hate when people say "good for Pittsburgh" because its an insult/complement but this place is simply good, not just "good for pgh."
(4)Stacey L.
I am a regular at Sakura, simply because they have decent sushi at okay prices. Also because the owner and I have become familiar with each over the last three years my boyfriend and I have been frequent patrons there. I have explored much of both their japanese and chinese menus, but tend to stick to the sushi menu whenever we go. Not the best sushi I've ever had, but certainly my preferred place to go in Pittsburgh. Usually order yellowtail roll, scallop roll, spicy tuna, salmon skin, white tuna sushi. When we go for specialty rolls, we order USA roll, Godzilla roll, and recently discovered the super delicious Sunshine roll. Service is friendly and attentive, but usually when we go, it's very empty, so we just eat quietly at our table. Also ordered some deliveries time to time as well, but it's not as fresh as eating in.
(3)Yingxia W.
Best hot and sour soup. Ever.
(5)Paul k.
I usually get the delivery option. Food is always hot when it comes (usually about half hour) and they haven't ever gotten my order wrong. I'm giving it 5 stars because the prices reflect the quality of food. Plus the delivery guy is always happy. I like the Bean Curd dishes, but haven't tried the sushi.
(5)Sergei I.
While it's great sushi, the staff is awful unable to resolve issues with an order, eventually ignoring our calls. Our order arrived with one roll missing, not for the first time. They agreed to deliver the missing roll and it never arrived. Make sure to double check your order upon delivery.
(2)Jessica C.
I've eaten in the restaurant as well as had it delivered. My experiences both times were good. Nothing to complain about. When I ate in the restaurant, I had a lunch bento box and everything in it was cooked well. My 2 y/o daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal together. She really enjoyed the tempura and edamame. I recently had some sushi and some Chinese delivered to my house. The sushi was great and did not disappoint. My daughter enjoyed her chicken with broccoli, as well. Now that I know they deliver, I may be frequenting this place more often. They are fairly priced for both Chinese and Japanese dishes. The food is nothing spectacular, but definitely satisfies those cravings!
(5)Jenn T.
We like this place as a standard sushi restaurant in Squirrel Hill. It's close to home, and the prices are pretty even-keel with other sushi places in the Pittsburgh area, and you can also get takeout. The sushi is great, however, there are really not a lot of selection on special or unique rolls. If we could do half-stars, I'd give it a 3.5, but I'll round up because they consistently make your typical sushi rolls quite well. On our latest visit, we had a great waiter who was prompt with delivery of the food, and he also would refill our hot tea, but we had a really hard time getting refills on our water. Unfortunately, with the saltiness of sushi and soy sauce, we kind of needed frequent refills on that, so I felt like I chugged a gallon of water right when I got home. We tried something new this time, which was the 'first date roll,' a shrimp tempura roll with spicy tuna on top. We loved this one, as it was a good example of something unique they can do. The miso soup was also top-notch. I would recommend this place if you're looking for good, standard-issue sushi. We typically prefer Pacific Ring in Squirrel Hill, because they've made a lot of unique (and Pittsburgh-themed) rolls to spice things up, but this is a good second place. I'm also a big fan of the wavy cups they serve your hot tea in, and they do have a wine list, although we have yet to try it out.
(4)Gigi L.
I would recommend their Chinese dishes on the chef's special menu. They have some North-West Chinese style dishes which I've never seen anywhere else in Pittsburgh. A friend and I tried their Shredded Pancake with Lamb Soup, which is a soup dish with lamb broth, thinly sliced lamb meat, chopped "pancake" (more like bread), and cellophane noodle. We also had the Xinjiang Style Chicken. It's called Xinjiang Da Pan Chicken in Chinese, which means XinJiang Big Dish Chicken. And it indeed came in a very big portion. It is slightly spicy and cooked like home-style Chinese food. The dish also came with a side of noodle which you dip in the chicken. Overall, we were very satisfied with both dishes. This place has a Japanese name which I thought is quite misleading since their Chinese dishes are so much better than their Sushi. If you feel a little adventurous and want to try some different Chinese food, then go for the chef's special menu.
(4)Kenny J.
absolutely abismal. I've been on Yelp for almost a year and have never been perturbed enough by a place to write a review. I also had never felt like I was robbed by a restaurant until walking out the door at Sakura. It would have been fine if the problem was just that the sushi was terrible. But on top of the sushi being terrible, the chef also found it reasonable to exchange most of the fish that we ordered in our sushi with cucumber. Instead of eel and cucumber? Try cucumber with a hint of eel Want some tuna? Too bad. More cucumber. I could have asked for them to put more fish in it, but it was so bad there was no point. I paid 60 bucks for a bowl of Udon that will give me nightmares and a forest of cucumber. Take it from someone who is far from a food snob - just skip this place.
(1)Jennifer G.
Forget about whether or not the reviews here say the food is good or bad, forget about the pepsi being flat or the fish being warm. What you need to know is that upon receiving my take out container tonight from Sakura, I opened my package of chopsticks. Upon opening the container, chopsticks poised to snatch my first piece of sushi... something caught my eye. A seed? A burned grain of rice? No. A COCKROACH. A live cockroach. In my take out container. As I jumped back from my dining room table, horrified and already scrambling for my cell phone I dialed Sakura and spoke to a manager who only said 'Oh. Sorry' and then hung up on me. I drove back to Sakura from my house with the take out container stretched as far away from me as possible. Into Sakura I ran, and then I stood. And waited. For a good three minutes while the 'sushi chefs' stared at me, I stood there with my container at arms length. Finally I leaned in towards them and said 'I don't think you want me to yell the reason I am here, please get me some help'. Nothing. Not an acknowledgement, not a person running to whisk me away from the other patrons, nothing. I cleared my throat. "I am here to return my sushi because there is a cockroach in it. Please someone help me." I said, just loudly enough for other people to here. Magically a manager appeared. Funny how that happens. Now let me tell you what these sleazy dirtbags did. As though finding an intruder in my sushi were not enough... not a piece of wilted lettuce or a dirty wrapper or even a dangerous piece of plastic or glass, no- this was a LIVE disease bearing, egg laying BUG... but as though that were not insult enough- this 'manager' proceeded to refund my money MINUS the tip my husband had left for the sushi chefs. Back that truck up, you say? That's right. I had to REQUEST that she refund my tip... "because surely you don't think I am going to tip these men for sending home a COCKROACH?" I asked her, and she simply said 'I'm sorry' a dozen times before I left. I can deal with flat pepsi. Chairs that creak, wait staff that leaves something to be desired. I can deal with take out places that say 15 minutes when they really mean 45. I have eaten my fair share of things that weren't up to par, weren't what I wanted or were just plain bad... but what NO customer should EVER have to do is check their food to make sure that LIVE COCKROACHES aren't infesting it. And if you eat at Sakura that is EXACTLY what you'll have to do.
(1)Andrew N.
I ordered sushi for myself and my girlfriend. My girlfriend has a shellfish allergy.I wrote on the online order for my girlfriends rolls "This is for someone with a shellfish allergy. Please keep this roll separate and away from any shellfish." When the sushi was delivered, it was all in the same container. I called to complain and they lady told me there was nothing she could do because I did not request "Separate containers"
(1)Weifei Z.
I went there for lunch and had their #1bento and it was not good. I'm very much against Chinese restaurants in disguise as Japanese restaurants and this is very much the case. The tempura was not fried with panko as it should be and it tasted soggy and overly oily. The sushi was mediocre at best. Sure the decor is nice and maybe their Chinese food might be better, but I would not go back to this place for the Japanese food.
(1)Paul K.
I love this place! They are all over the place, have 'average' american style chinese food, and the hibachi is meh. So why 4 stars?? Because you have to know how to order! Their authentic Chinese menu is amazing (and so is their non-hibachi japanese items)! They have many western style Chinese dishes, that have influence from the silk road and central Asia. Their sushi is good, and they have the most awesome lunch boxes around; although Oiishi Bento in Oakland gives them a run for the money. They now offer Chinese breakfast on weekends. Also the hot pot is great! It is where Confucius and Genghis Khan blend. The flavors of the silk road, I love you Sakura!
(4)Andrew K.
We have renamed this place Airport Sushi. It takes like sushi you get at the airport. That isn't necessarily bad, it's just not necessarily great.
(3)Barry R.
In general sakura has decent sushi, not bad not great. But their spicy tuna sandwich roll is life changing, every friend whose tried it has been converted for life. Get that or their tempura fried ice cream and you will not be disapointed.
(3)r. h.
There are several Chinese-run Japanese restaurants in the area, of which Sakura is probably in the middle of the pack. Pros: friendly service, pleasant atmosphere, reasonable prices. Cons: In short, the food is just not that great. Its sushi pieces are rather anemic, for instance. They deliver via campusfood.com , which may be their one saving grace. On wintry nights when it's too cold to leave the house, having some piping hot udon (the soup and noodles are packed separately) delivered to my door is pure heaven.
(2)Ashley C.
I ordered take-out from here the other night and ate my way into a delightful oblivion! I ordered the Chinese/Japanese bbq pork bun and a order of the Spicy Tuna Sandwich. It was so delicious with just the right amount of spice and flavor! I have been craving more ethnic food and gave this restaurant a look off of campusfood.com . Can't wait to dine-in and try some more sushi & the other food offered at this restaurant.
(4)Sabrina M.
I am so surprised by the harsh reviews of this place! This is by far one of my favorite sushi places in the city. There are a lot of places for improvement but as far as the sushi scene in Pittsburgh is concerned, Sakura is doing great! They have one of the best variety of rolls I've seen in Pittsburgh. Usually whenever I go somewhere new and order sushi I stick to my usual, the dragon roll. At Sakura I'm always trying something new. Their menu is so extensive and creative that I don't usually even bother with the typical staples like salmon, or tuna rolls (although they are good too). I'm all about their interesting and unique rolls, the list of which is always growing. Some of my favorites include the Godzilla Roll, Red Dragon Roll, and the Spicy-Tuna rice sandwiches (I forget the exact name...) Also, they usually have a weekly special (not that it really ever expires... you can always order these even off the menu). This is how I found my real favorites, the Monkey Roll, Earth Roll, and best of all the Ocean Roll. My only complaint is that the prices are a little steep, but I think for the quality it's worth it. I don't know about how their other food is aside from sushi, but the sushi itself is great. Don't let the unattractive outside facade fool you, this place is great and relatively quiet on the weeknights, so go then if you want faster service.
(5)T A.
I went there for lunch with my Japanese friend. The menu outside looked good, though she noted that the characters on the signs were Chinese, not Japanese. I guess it's the same people who ran Hunan Kitchen? I definitely liked HK better. The waitress was quite nice. Not engaging at all, but nice. I liked the decor and had positive expectations for the food. The lunch special was $8 which would have been a good price if the quality of the food matched everything else. The tempura was blah and the sushi was weak. We also ordered an unagi maki and I couldn't taste any eel at all. It was mostly cucumber. I hope they improve their kitchen because Squirrel Hill could use some better Japanese options. Otherwise, please bring back Hunan Kitchen.
(2)Melissa S.
The worst sushi/restaurant experience that I've had for as long as I remember. And I tend to dine out like it's my job. The place has a very chinzy "I'm trying really hard to be high brow and expensive" which can be deceiving to some. The waitress was attentive, but kinda hyper in this nervous way. First of all, the beer that she brought the husband was WARM- very warm, almost as if it was sitting outside. When I asked, politely if she would take it back and bring him a cold one she seemed confused, almost confrontational. She brought it out, reluctantly. Then, the food. We ordered the Sashimi Deluxe, expecting, well, nice pieces of sashimi. What she brought out was a huge plate of shoestring carrot (not radish, or seaweed) and tiny, microscopic bits of sashimi. I thought for a second that the chef was playing a trick on us, and that we were unknowingly playing a game of "hide the sashimi", so I began digging into the copious amount of carrot, in hope of finding the hidden prize. No, it was not a game. And to top it off, they charged us for 2 BEERS. Ugh, I hope someone shuts this place down soon.
(1)Taylor N.
I have only ordered out from Sakura. The place is always drab and empty no matter what time it is. The staff are always sitting around doing nothing. It really sucks to go in the restaurant. Their "hibachi" is a freaking joke. Do not expect to get normal hibachi dinners here, in fact, expect absolute crap! Their "regular" Asian menu is joketasiticly inferior to many of the other Asian choices in Squirrel Hill and cost almost the same. The staff seem nice, but jump when any customer walks through the door as if they are not expecting anyone. Now (and please excuse any conceived racist under tones. I assure you I am just stating pure fact), I have had my order screwed up over the phone almost every time I order from Sakura. I understand that you do not need to speak fluent English to take a delivery order, but you should know the menu. Yesterday, My wife and I ordered from there (very inexpensive for a weekday meal) I ordered my sushi correctly, even going over my order 3 times with the woman on the phone. When the food arrived(promptly), our bill was for $70!!!! And as if fleeing from the scene before we could find out, the delivery guy didn't give us a receipt. Upon opening my order, I found that they had quadrupled my order AND CHARGED ME FOR IT!!!!! I called to complain and the woman, who I could barley understand refused to accept that she made a mistake. I became a bit belligerent and she called over her manager. All I could hear was him explaining something in Japanese and the phone girl going "OOOHHHHHH?!" over and over. She DID make a mistake and I was awarded free sushi and my money back. Still, when I said I would be there tomorrow to get the proof of the credit to my card, she initially refused!!????? The manger in the background must of shaken his head or something because she finally agreed. All I want is my damn food for crying out loud!!!!!!!!! But... Their sushi lunch specials are the best I have ever seen. for $3.99 you have your choice of 6 different kinds of rolls; great for a late day snack (you can order up until 3pm). But... This is another sushi place that claims to have tuna rolls when they are Fatty tuna rolls, but charge for regular lean tuna. Also order early or you WILL get stuck with day old, been-sitting-around-all-day, hard fish. But... Get them on a good day or early in the day and you will have adequate sushi for a competitive price.
(2)melissa p.
This is my favorite sushi place in Pittsburgh! I have eaten here well over 20 times and continue to patronize the restaurant.. Each experience is superb, down to the small flower garnishes on the plate. The menu is packed full with different choices and everything is prepared in a delightful manner. The staff, especially the owner, are efficient and super attentive. If you haven't visited Sakura yet, make a visit there a priority! I
(5)Hal B.
Having lived in Toronto, Washington DC and LA- this is the best sushi I have come across. In addition- the service is terrific. We have gotten to know the owner Ping and are always warmly greeted. No question- best sushi in town- among the best in the country.
(5)Emily H.
I ordered delivery from here on a rainy weekday night when it was just too hot to cook or even think about eating hot food. I was craving sushi and Sakura had a lower minimum order price than Sushi Too. Ordering is easy through Campus Food. They said delivery would be an hour but it was just about half an hour, which was excellent. They also kept the vegetables tempura separate from the rolls so the sushi didn't get heated up, which I appreciated. The vegetables tempura were fine but i didn't think the choice of vegetables was all that good. There were sweet potato pieces, some kind of squash, broccoli, and half a bell pepper. I would have liked a little more variety. They used julienned cucumber instead of a big chunk, so the rolls tended to fall apart. The avocado rolls were ok. Even though it's cheaper than Sushi Too, I'd rather pay a bit extra. The quality shows.
(2)Jee L.
I just ordered from them. Time wise, super fast and had no problem finding my place so I am very happy with that. Chirashi sushi- hmm...ok...not bad. Fish wasn't too fresh but I wasn't expecting it to be... I mean I'm in Pgh and it wasn't top Jap restaurant... I just hope that they vary up the fish they put on the top. There was an unknown noodle like looking bed under fish (that some restaurants place under their sashimi) was just very unattractive. I've never figured out what that was... (I don't want to find out what it is, don't want to see it, and just don't want to deal w/ it) Miso soup- ok. Salad sauce (salad and miso soup comes with chirashisushi)- I almost always like salad sauce that Japanese restaurants have and this one was no exception. Vegetable udon- noodle and soup came separately (dahhhh...). It was truly vegetable udon. Not just veggie unon but VEGETABLE udon. It seemed like there was as much as veggies as noodle and I LOVED Loved Loved it. Onion was cooked and the crispiness was well reserved, not soaked in moisture. Soup/Broth-hmm hot and tasty... but the aftertaste or the texture remained in my mouth... felt like oil filmed stuck in the back of my throat as if tar stuck in the lung...
(4)G. Jason H.
I am going to update my review a bit since Sakura has been open for business a long time since I first reviewed them. I have never had a bad experience here. The sushi is always tasty, fresh and really good. They are really nice when it comes to special orders too. The wait staff has gotten much, much better since they first opened. There is always a friendly face and they are always nice, quick to order and helpful with suggestions. Sometimes they get a bit backed up when there is a big rush, but that is to be expected now and then. Give Sakura a try if you are a sushi lover, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
(4)Maythe M.
This place is terrible. My Pinky finger was thicker than all of rolls, the rice was dry and bland, I asked for soy paper and I saw the chef attempt to roll my sushi with the plastic container the soy paper came in and not the actual soy paper... Seriously.. The they charged me for it. There pepsi was flat. Fish was old and warm. Tasted fishy not fresh. It was so bad I couldn't even complain to them.
(1)Jenney C.
Though I hate to disagree with Caitlin, bec. I know her... I have to say that Sakura is terrible. First the waitress was completely annoying saying "Thank you Thank you" every time she even took a plate away(for each and EVERY plate) or filled our water. It was so mechanical and inappropriate most of the time. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice Chinese girl who has been instructed to put on a pseudo Japanese affectation, which doesn't translate well into English. Everything we ordered was disappointing. Maybe their sushi is better, but all the other Japanese items were terrible. It was also so overpriced. Ironically we had decided to not order sushi, bec we though we wouldn't be as disappointed by teppanyaki. And everything came to our table cold, even though there was only one other table being served in the restaurant. I think the owners of Sakura should go back to making Chinese food. Though I never really like Hunan Kitchen, it was a lot better then than it is now.
(1)M Z.
Good price. A Chinese-owned restaurant serving both Japanese food and Chinese foods. It fails in both cuisines to me.
(3)jeremy S.
My video review: ippio.com/view_video.php…
(4)melissa p.
This is my favorite sushi place in Pittsburgh! I have eaten here well over 20 times and continue to patronize the restaurant.. Each experience is superb, down to the small flower garnishes on the plate. The menu is packed full with different choices and everything is prepared in a delightful manner. The staff, especially the owner, are efficient and super attentive. If you haven't visited Sakura yet, make a visit there a priority! I
(5)Hal B.
Having lived in Toronto, Washington DC and LA- this is the best sushi I have come across. In addition- the service is terrific. We have gotten to know the owner Ping and are always warmly greeted. No question- best sushi in town- among the best in the country.
(5)maggie g.
After a trip to New York and eating at Xi'an Famous Foods I was having an intense craving for lamb-based chinese food. A bit of googling brought me the menu for this place. They have 4 or 5 lamb dishes on their chinese menu. I hightailed it over there for lunch, requested the Chinese menu, and I was not disappointed. We had the Xi'an style bbq pork sandwich, lamb stew w/ hand made noodles and cold chicken in chili oil. All dishes were fantastic. Lamb stew was served with chopped cilantro and scallions on the side. It was easily enough for four people. Chopped lamb, gamy lamb broth, chile, cumin, root vegetables. My dining companion characterized the dish as "chinese lamb stroganoff" which isn't far off. I'm taking one point off because the noodles were kind of mushy, but the flavor was spot on. Chicken appetizer was fine. Served cold on the bone, chicken was moist and the chili oil sauce was spicy and refreshing. I'd bring this for a picnic any day. The pork sandwich was the clear stand-out. It was *beyond* -- spicy pork belly, chopped and seasoned with fresh cilantro, scallion & chile, served on a split steamed wheat bun that was then grilled. This was definitely my favorite dish, and if there is any justice in the world this should become a foodie cult item in the city of Pittsburgh. A must eat. Our waitress was extremely friendly and helpful and we had a great conversation about lamb and its various preparations. I went with one other person, but we easily had enough food for 4. Our check came out to $32 after tax & tip. as for their sushi... who knows?
(4)Trishna S.
Don't eat here. There were bugs in our food, but to top it off they were very rude about the whole situation. They tried to make it seem like we had mistaken the bugs for mushrooms! Horrible service, horrible place.
(1)Caitlin H.
The interior is warm and bright, fairly busy on a Friday night. Our waitress was on the overly-friendly side of the spectrum, but not offensively or annoyingly. She helped clarify what is in the ambiguously title rolls. Offhand I cannot remember exactly what we ordered, but we made spicier selections because I was hoping to overcome my deadened taste buds (due to a cold). Whatever we chose, it worked! Everything was really delicious, fresh, and full of flavor. It is moderately cheap, too. We sat enjoying our food for around 2 hours and it was very relaxing. Overall, this is the best sushi experience I've had here in Pittsburgh, in/around the city. I'm excited to go back and try out new things.
(5)Pittgirl P.
Sakura Teppanyaki is by far my favorite sushi in Pittsburgh, especially since I evaluate my restaurant faves in a quality to cost ratio. Quite simply, for the selection of rolls, freshness of fish, pleasantness of the waitstaff, the price cannot be beat. It is for these reasons that we keep going back here to eat in or take-out. I know there are other popular sushi restaurants in Pittsburgh (Nakama and Chaya come to mind), but I think they are really overpriced for what you get. Sakura is my favorite, hands down!
(5)Pingping H.
Chinese food here is awesome!
(4)Philip K.
Terrible sushi and imaginary hibachi
(1)Jenney C.
Though I hate to disagree with Caitlin, bec. I know her... I have to say that Sakura is terrible. First the waitress was completely annoying saying "Thank you Thank you" every time she even took a plate away(for each and EVERY plate) or filled our water. It was so mechanical and inappropriate most of the time. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice Chinese girl who has been instructed to put on a pseudo Japanese affectation, which doesn't translate well into English. Everything we ordered was disappointing. Maybe their sushi is better, but all the other Japanese items were terrible. It was also so overpriced. Ironically we had decided to not order sushi, bec we though we wouldn't be as disappointed by teppanyaki. And everything came to our table cold, even though there was only one other table being served in the restaurant. I think the owners of Sakura should go back to making Chinese food. Though I never really like Hunan Kitchen, it was a lot better then than it is now.
(1)M Z.
Good price. A Chinese-owned restaurant serving both Japanese food and Chinese foods. It fails in both cuisines to me.
(3)jeremy S.
My video review: ippio.com/view_video.php…
(4)Sabrina M.
I am so surprised by the harsh reviews of this place! This is by far one of my favorite sushi places in the city. There are a lot of places for improvement but as far as the sushi scene in Pittsburgh is concerned, Sakura is doing great! They have one of the best variety of rolls I've seen in Pittsburgh. Usually whenever I go somewhere new and order sushi I stick to my usual, the dragon roll. At Sakura I'm always trying something new. Their menu is so extensive and creative that I don't usually even bother with the typical staples like salmon, or tuna rolls (although they are good too). I'm all about their interesting and unique rolls, the list of which is always growing. Some of my favorites include the Godzilla Roll, Red Dragon Roll, and the Spicy-Tuna rice sandwiches (I forget the exact name...) Also, they usually have a weekly special (not that it really ever expires... you can always order these even off the menu). This is how I found my real favorites, the Monkey Roll, Earth Roll, and best of all the Ocean Roll. My only complaint is that the prices are a little steep, but I think for the quality it's worth it. I don't know about how their other food is aside from sushi, but the sushi itself is great. Don't let the unattractive outside facade fool you, this place is great and relatively quiet on the weeknights, so go then if you want faster service.
(5)T A.
I went there for lunch with my Japanese friend. The menu outside looked good, though she noted that the characters on the signs were Chinese, not Japanese. I guess it's the same people who ran Hunan Kitchen? I definitely liked HK better. The waitress was quite nice. Not engaging at all, but nice. I liked the decor and had positive expectations for the food. The lunch special was $8 which would have been a good price if the quality of the food matched everything else. The tempura was blah and the sushi was weak. We also ordered an unagi maki and I couldn't taste any eel at all. It was mostly cucumber. I hope they improve their kitchen because Squirrel Hill could use some better Japanese options. Otherwise, please bring back Hunan Kitchen.
(2)Melissa S.
The worst sushi/restaurant experience that I've had for as long as I remember. And I tend to dine out like it's my job. The place has a very chinzy "I'm trying really hard to be high brow and expensive" which can be deceiving to some. The waitress was attentive, but kinda hyper in this nervous way. First of all, the beer that she brought the husband was WARM- very warm, almost as if it was sitting outside. When I asked, politely if she would take it back and bring him a cold one she seemed confused, almost confrontational. She brought it out, reluctantly. Then, the food. We ordered the Sashimi Deluxe, expecting, well, nice pieces of sashimi. What she brought out was a huge plate of shoestring carrot (not radish, or seaweed) and tiny, microscopic bits of sashimi. I thought for a second that the chef was playing a trick on us, and that we were unknowingly playing a game of "hide the sashimi", so I began digging into the copious amount of carrot, in hope of finding the hidden prize. No, it was not a game. And to top it off, they charged us for 2 BEERS. Ugh, I hope someone shuts this place down soon.
(1)Emily H.
I ordered delivery from here on a rainy weekday night when it was just too hot to cook or even think about eating hot food. I was craving sushi and Sakura had a lower minimum order price than Sushi Too. Ordering is easy through Campus Food. They said delivery would be an hour but it was just about half an hour, which was excellent. They also kept the vegetables tempura separate from the rolls so the sushi didn't get heated up, which I appreciated. The vegetables tempura were fine but i didn't think the choice of vegetables was all that good. There were sweet potato pieces, some kind of squash, broccoli, and half a bell pepper. I would have liked a little more variety. They used julienned cucumber instead of a big chunk, so the rolls tended to fall apart. The avocado rolls were ok. Even though it's cheaper than Sushi Too, I'd rather pay a bit extra. The quality shows.
(2)Jee L.
I just ordered from them. Time wise, super fast and had no problem finding my place so I am very happy with that. Chirashi sushi- hmm...ok...not bad. Fish wasn't too fresh but I wasn't expecting it to be... I mean I'm in Pgh and it wasn't top Jap restaurant... I just hope that they vary up the fish they put on the top. There was an unknown noodle like looking bed under fish (that some restaurants place under their sashimi) was just very unattractive. I've never figured out what that was... (I don't want to find out what it is, don't want to see it, and just don't want to deal w/ it) Miso soup- ok. Salad sauce (salad and miso soup comes with chirashisushi)- I almost always like salad sauce that Japanese restaurants have and this one was no exception. Vegetable udon- noodle and soup came separately (dahhhh...). It was truly vegetable udon. Not just veggie unon but VEGETABLE udon. It seemed like there was as much as veggies as noodle and I LOVED Loved Loved it. Onion was cooked and the crispiness was well reserved, not soaked in moisture. Soup/Broth-hmm hot and tasty... but the aftertaste or the texture remained in my mouth... felt like oil filmed stuck in the back of my throat as if tar stuck in the lung...
(4)G. Jason H.
I am going to update my review a bit since Sakura has been open for business a long time since I first reviewed them. I have never had a bad experience here. The sushi is always tasty, fresh and really good. They are really nice when it comes to special orders too. The wait staff has gotten much, much better since they first opened. There is always a friendly face and they are always nice, quick to order and helpful with suggestions. Sometimes they get a bit backed up when there is a big rush, but that is to be expected now and then. Give Sakura a try if you are a sushi lover, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
(4)r. h.
There are several Chinese-run Japanese restaurants in the area, of which Sakura is probably in the middle of the pack. Pros: friendly service, pleasant atmosphere, reasonable prices. Cons: In short, the food is just not that great. Its sushi pieces are rather anemic, for instance. They deliver via campusfood.com , which may be their one saving grace. On wintry nights when it's too cold to leave the house, having some piping hot udon (the soup and noodles are packed separately) delivered to my door is pure heaven.
(2)Ashley C.
I ordered take-out from here the other night and ate my way into a delightful oblivion! I ordered the Chinese/Japanese bbq pork bun and a order of the Spicy Tuna Sandwich. It was so delicious with just the right amount of spice and flavor! I have been craving more ethnic food and gave this restaurant a look off of campusfood.com . Can't wait to dine-in and try some more sushi & the other food offered at this restaurant.
(4)Maythe M.
This place is terrible. My Pinky finger was thicker than all of rolls, the rice was dry and bland, I asked for soy paper and I saw the chef attempt to roll my sushi with the plastic container the soy paper came in and not the actual soy paper... Seriously.. The they charged me for it. There pepsi was flat. Fish was old and warm. Tasted fishy not fresh. It was so bad I couldn't even complain to them.
(1)Paul K.
I love this place! They are all over the place, have 'average' american style chinese food, and the hibachi is meh. So why 4 stars?? Because you have to know how to order! Their authentic Chinese menu is amazing (and so is their non-hibachi japanese items)! They have many western style Chinese dishes, that have influence from the silk road and central Asia. Their sushi is good, and they have the most awesome lunch boxes around; although Oiishi Bento in Oakland gives them a run for the money. They now offer Chinese breakfast on weekends. Also the hot pot is great! It is where Confucius and Genghis Khan blend. The flavors of the silk road, I love you Sakura!
(4)Andrew K.
We have renamed this place Airport Sushi. It takes like sushi you get at the airport. That isn't necessarily bad, it's just not necessarily great.
(3)Barry R.
In general sakura has decent sushi, not bad not great. But their spicy tuna sandwich roll is life changing, every friend whose tried it has been converted for life. Get that or their tempura fried ice cream and you will not be disapointed.
(3)Taylor N.
I have only ordered out from Sakura. The place is always drab and empty no matter what time it is. The staff are always sitting around doing nothing. It really sucks to go in the restaurant. Their "hibachi" is a freaking joke. Do not expect to get normal hibachi dinners here, in fact, expect absolute crap! Their "regular" Asian menu is joketasiticly inferior to many of the other Asian choices in Squirrel Hill and cost almost the same. The staff seem nice, but jump when any customer walks through the door as if they are not expecting anyone. Now (and please excuse any conceived racist under tones. I assure you I am just stating pure fact), I have had my order screwed up over the phone almost every time I order from Sakura. I understand that you do not need to speak fluent English to take a delivery order, but you should know the menu. Yesterday, My wife and I ordered from there (very inexpensive for a weekday meal) I ordered my sushi correctly, even going over my order 3 times with the woman on the phone. When the food arrived(promptly), our bill was for $70!!!! And as if fleeing from the scene before we could find out, the delivery guy didn't give us a receipt. Upon opening my order, I found that they had quadrupled my order AND CHARGED ME FOR IT!!!!! I called to complain and the woman, who I could barley understand refused to accept that she made a mistake. I became a bit belligerent and she called over her manager. All I could hear was him explaining something in Japanese and the phone girl going "OOOHHHHHH?!" over and over. She DID make a mistake and I was awarded free sushi and my money back. Still, when I said I would be there tomorrow to get the proof of the credit to my card, she initially refused!!????? The manger in the background must of shaken his head or something because she finally agreed. All I want is my damn food for crying out loud!!!!!!!!! But... Their sushi lunch specials are the best I have ever seen. for $3.99 you have your choice of 6 different kinds of rolls; great for a late day snack (you can order up until 3pm). But... This is another sushi place that claims to have tuna rolls when they are Fatty tuna rolls, but charge for regular lean tuna. Also order early or you WILL get stuck with day old, been-sitting-around-all-day, hard fish. But... Get them on a good day or early in the day and you will have adequate sushi for a competitive price.
(2)Jennifer G.
Forget about whether or not the reviews here say the food is good or bad, forget about the pepsi being flat or the fish being warm. What you need to know is that upon receiving my take out container tonight from Sakura, I opened my package of chopsticks. Upon opening the container, chopsticks poised to snatch my first piece of sushi... something caught my eye. A seed? A burned grain of rice? No. A COCKROACH. A live cockroach. In my take out container. As I jumped back from my dining room table, horrified and already scrambling for my cell phone I dialed Sakura and spoke to a manager who only said 'Oh. Sorry' and then hung up on me. I drove back to Sakura from my house with the take out container stretched as far away from me as possible. Into Sakura I ran, and then I stood. And waited. For a good three minutes while the 'sushi chefs' stared at me, I stood there with my container at arms length. Finally I leaned in towards them and said 'I don't think you want me to yell the reason I am here, please get me some help'. Nothing. Not an acknowledgement, not a person running to whisk me away from the other patrons, nothing. I cleared my throat. "I am here to return my sushi because there is a cockroach in it. Please someone help me." I said, just loudly enough for other people to here. Magically a manager appeared. Funny how that happens. Now let me tell you what these sleazy dirtbags did. As though finding an intruder in my sushi were not enough... not a piece of wilted lettuce or a dirty wrapper or even a dangerous piece of plastic or glass, no- this was a LIVE disease bearing, egg laying BUG... but as though that were not insult enough- this 'manager' proceeded to refund my money MINUS the tip my husband had left for the sushi chefs. Back that truck up, you say? That's right. I had to REQUEST that she refund my tip... "because surely you don't think I am going to tip these men for sending home a COCKROACH?" I asked her, and she simply said 'I'm sorry' a dozen times before I left. I can deal with flat pepsi. Chairs that creak, wait staff that leaves something to be desired. I can deal with take out places that say 15 minutes when they really mean 45. I have eaten my fair share of things that weren't up to par, weren't what I wanted or were just plain bad... but what NO customer should EVER have to do is check their food to make sure that LIVE COCKROACHES aren't infesting it. And if you eat at Sakura that is EXACTLY what you'll have to do.
(1)Andrew N.
I ordered sushi for myself and my girlfriend. My girlfriend has a shellfish allergy.I wrote on the online order for my girlfriends rolls "This is for someone with a shellfish allergy. Please keep this roll separate and away from any shellfish." When the sushi was delivered, it was all in the same container. I called to complain and they lady told me there was nothing she could do because I did not request "Separate containers"
(1)Weifei Z.
I went there for lunch and had their #1bento and it was not good. I'm very much against Chinese restaurants in disguise as Japanese restaurants and this is very much the case. The tempura was not fried with panko as it should be and it tasted soggy and overly oily. The sushi was mediocre at best. Sure the decor is nice and maybe their Chinese food might be better, but I would not go back to this place for the Japanese food.
(1)Lana L.
A couple of friends warned me not to ("awful" and "tastes nothing like Japanese food"), but curiosity brought me here on a Tuesday night. Okay, it really isn't that bad. Craving sushi? The fish isn't the freshest, but this is not the worst place to get sushi in Pittsburgh. (Trust me; I've had much worse.) Unless you have ridiculously high standards, you'll probably be satisfied if you order the right rolls. We ordered the shrimp tempura roll, dragon roll, salmon avocado roll, and the red dragon roll. The red dragon roll was probably the best of the four, but all of them were average to good. And I wasn't even hungry; if I were, then I'd probably think they tasted better. Boyfriend was a bit more harsh though ("it's a little better than GEagle's sushi"). The only thing that really bothered me was that the AC wasn't on even though it was 80 degrees out. Taste | 3 Atmosphere | 3 Presentation | 3 Service | 3 OVERALL | 3
(3)Cary L.
they are really goodï¼ï¼tHave a tryï¼I like their Chinese style BBQ pork sandwich, pot fat beef,etc. It is also a good place for breakfast!
(5)Yvonne C.
went there for Godzilla Roll and Amazing Fire Roll, crispy with special tasty sauce. hahahahaha definitely love it!
(5)Bridget Z.
One of the best sushi places in squirrel hill. Godzilla Roll and Sunshine Roll are just so good. It is really awesome that the restaurant serves both Chinese and Japanese food and there are so many choices! The dish portion is really big and it definitely worth it:)
(5)Peter E.
100% Worst $40 I've ever spent. I can't believe any 5 star reviews aren't written by their staff.
(1)Anne C.
I just got the lunch box with a friend because we were both starving in Squirrel Hill. I was so hungry and the lunch looked so good that I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of it! Usually we both wait until I get my Yelp pics done but we both just dug in. I got the Lunch Box C and He got Lunch Box A. I liked the sushi but everything that came with the sushi was deep fried. We both demolished the box but felt really disgusting afterwards from all the grease. The Shu mai were incredibly small and not very well done at all. The tempura were okay and the fried sweet potatoes were probably the greasiest in that when you bite into it oil actually seeps out of the potatoes... The service there was only okay but I had to ask for my water halfway through my dinner because I was tired of waiting for them to ask me what I wanted to drink. The service was quick and the lunch boxes were so, so cheap! I'd probably give this place another chance because I liked the sushi and there is a cheap lunch option for a 6pc!
(3)Eva L.
Super good deal for lunch box! Big box with soup!! AHHH I loved this place when I lived in Pittsburgh. Miss it! Food: Compared to many other Japanese and Chinese places in Pittsburgh, Sakura really does a great job. Their dishes are big! Sushi is very fresh! (ugh I miss their Godzila roll) OH I love love their authentic mid-west Chinese food -- You would only be able to find those type of food in cities like New York!!! Service: Even though sometimes I do see young kids serving us and doesn't look super professional in serving, but hey they are at least very kind. Like VERY kind. Parking: easy to park on the street or the streets in the neighborhood. Overall: this place is nice and clean. Good price for a lot a lot of food. And I like the kind people here a lot ;)
(5)Julie S.
Very nice ppl and food was pretty good at the right price. Lunch special 3.95 select sushi rolls
(3)Elisabeth B.
Ordered 3 Maki Rolls from here via grubhub for delivery... holy effing chuck... this was the biggest waste of money ever. The pieces of sushi were so small that all 18 pieces fit on a small tray that usual holds MAYBE 8. I sent my husband to Trader Joes to go get a 25 piece tray for $7. The quality was the same... DO NOT GIVE A HORRIBLE BUSINESS LIKE THIS YOUR MONEY! Edit: Wow, it got worse... after my husband got back from Trader Joes and we sat down to eat, it turns out that they completely got the order wrong - cucumber rolls instead of tuna rolls. It took a 10 minute phone call to get them to 1, believe us, 2, admit they were wrong, and 3, to refund the money. HORRIBLE service.
(1)Sergei I.
While it's great sushi, the staff is awful unable to resolve issues with an order, eventually ignoring our calls. Our order arrived with one roll missing, not for the first time. They agreed to deliver the missing roll and it never arrived. Make sure to double check your order upon delivery.
(2)Jane L.
The only reason I'm not giving this place one star is because I went with a group of 5 other people and two people were pretty happy with their dishes. One guy got the small chicken fried rice and said it was a good deal. Another person got the large lo mien and had enough leftover for her packed lunches for the next few days. I have to give it to them, the quantity of some of their dishes is large. However, the quality is seriously lacking. I got the dumplings and pork bun. They said the dumplings were homemade on the menu, so I was pretty excited about them, but I've definitely had better; the dumpling skin on some of them was a bit dry and tough. Have you ever wished you could go into the kitchen of a restaurant and help them make the dish better? That's how I felt about the pork bun. It looked like they had all the ingredients needed to make a good pork bun, but what they served was an oily mess. I could only eat about a third of it before I had to stop because it was too bland to justify slurping down that much oil. I think this meal goes down in my books as the worst Chinese food I've ever had at a restaurant.
(2)Jason D.
The sushi was good. We ordered a salmon roll, yellow tail roll and eel roll. There was nothing spectacular about any of them. The rolls were all a bit small compared to my normal sushi spot. The udon is s different story. We got the shrimp and vegetable. First there were only 3 shrimp in the whole bowl. Once we tasted the shrimp we both were unhappy. It had a very off taste and texture. The broth was very bland and there was more vegetables than noodles. With all of the different Japanese restaurants in town there is a lot of variety to choose from. We will not be returning here.
(2)Liza C.
Great place and amazing sushi. Only authentic ningxia food i have found in the US. I get their lunch boxes all the time and the pricing is pretty good. The Lo Mein is terrific.
(4)Bonita L.
sakura has great Japanese sushi, it is the best sushi that I have ever had. Also traditional Chinese food, I love the pan cake lamb soup, spicy potato, and xinjiang style chicken
(5)Wenqin Y.
I have lots of wonderful experience here. I like the sushi so much, especially for the godzilla roll and shrimp tempura roll. Additionally, i prefer the tie guo fei niu, gan guo fish, tofu shrimp! What's more, there are traditional Chinese breakfast, soy milk, youtiao and pork pie, scallion pancake!
(5)Xi Z.
traditional Chinese dongbei style cuisine, sushi, service are good, waitresses are pretty:)
(5)å
Very authentic Chinese food. Unlike many other chinese restaurant in the area. This place provide a variety of types of traditional chinese food: famous food from central china, notheasten china and western china. And they all taste really good! And to my surprise, on saturday, they even provide traditional chinese breakfast. And this is the only chinese restaurant in US that I know offers chinese breakfast. Steamed fish and tofu are the best.
(5)Tian Y.
2 years ago, I would have given this place a higher rating. Now, the food changed though the names stayed the same on the menu and it is not worth eating anymore. I came here with my parents a couple of times on break from college, and it is really not the same the last couple of times. The last time really made us never want to come here ever again. We used to love the chinese bbq pork sandwich, but now it is dry and bland and even looks completely different (different bun and meat cut). The yang rou pao mo (shredded lamb and pancake soup) is a Chinese classic, but is no longer the dish it used to be. Now, the stock does not taste like it was properly made and the flavor is pretty underwhelming. We also got the hot oil noodles, the and the Chinese name escapes me, but it's supposed to be wet and oily. Not being authentic would be okay, but it was really dry and the texture of the noodle was awful. No flavor except your palate feels completely overpowered. There was one other dish, but it was so not memorable I don't even remember what it is. We only barely ate half our meal. Just... nothing was right. The waitress was polite at first, but when we inquired about the noodle dish, she said she didn't know, and that's the way it was supposed to be. We were surprised but didn't send it back because I don't think it could be improved upon anyway... but afterwards, she seemed to tend to any of her other 3 tables (the only other 3 in the restaurant and she didn't seem swamped at all) except for ours, though we were clearly trying to get her attention for boxes and our check and leave. There was a clear change in quality of service, for reasons I can't understand. Worse food and service... I wouldn't mind a change, but this is not a change for the better. With How Lee next door, save yourselves the trouble. Granted, this is really a review of the food they used to advertise as authentic, which has stayed advertised as so on the menu - but none of it tastes right (or good) anymore. I would give this a 1 star, but +1 for benefit of the doubt for their sushi and Americanized-Chinese menu.
(2)Stacey L.
I am a regular at Sakura, simply because they have decent sushi at okay prices. Also because the owner and I have become familiar with each over the last three years my boyfriend and I have been frequent patrons there. I have explored much of both their japanese and chinese menus, but tend to stick to the sushi menu whenever we go. Not the best sushi I've ever had, but certainly my preferred place to go in Pittsburgh. Usually order yellowtail roll, scallop roll, spicy tuna, salmon skin, white tuna sushi. When we go for specialty rolls, we order USA roll, Godzilla roll, and recently discovered the super delicious Sunshine roll. Service is friendly and attentive, but usually when we go, it's very empty, so we just eat quietly at our table. Also ordered some deliveries time to time as well, but it's not as fresh as eating in.
(3)Yingxia W.
Best hot and sour soup. Ever.
(5)Paul k.
I usually get the delivery option. Food is always hot when it comes (usually about half hour) and they haven't ever gotten my order wrong. I'm giving it 5 stars because the prices reflect the quality of food. Plus the delivery guy is always happy. I like the Bean Curd dishes, but haven't tried the sushi.
(5)Jessica C.
I've eaten in the restaurant as well as had it delivered. My experiences both times were good. Nothing to complain about. When I ate in the restaurant, I had a lunch bento box and everything in it was cooked well. My 2 y/o daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal together. She really enjoyed the tempura and edamame. I recently had some sushi and some Chinese delivered to my house. The sushi was great and did not disappoint. My daughter enjoyed her chicken with broccoli, as well. Now that I know they deliver, I may be frequenting this place more often. They are fairly priced for both Chinese and Japanese dishes. The food is nothing spectacular, but definitely satisfies those cravings!
(5)Jenn T.
We like this place as a standard sushi restaurant in Squirrel Hill. It's close to home, and the prices are pretty even-keel with other sushi places in the Pittsburgh area, and you can also get takeout. The sushi is great, however, there are really not a lot of selection on special or unique rolls. If we could do half-stars, I'd give it a 3.5, but I'll round up because they consistently make your typical sushi rolls quite well. On our latest visit, we had a great waiter who was prompt with delivery of the food, and he also would refill our hot tea, but we had a really hard time getting refills on our water. Unfortunately, with the saltiness of sushi and soy sauce, we kind of needed frequent refills on that, so I felt like I chugged a gallon of water right when I got home. We tried something new this time, which was the 'first date roll,' a shrimp tempura roll with spicy tuna on top. We loved this one, as it was a good example of something unique they can do. The miso soup was also top-notch. I would recommend this place if you're looking for good, standard-issue sushi. We typically prefer Pacific Ring in Squirrel Hill, because they've made a lot of unique (and Pittsburgh-themed) rolls to spice things up, but this is a good second place. I'm also a big fan of the wavy cups they serve your hot tea in, and they do have a wine list, although we have yet to try it out.
(4)Jon B.
I love this place. The sushi is always fresh abd made fast. Try the spicy yellowtail roll or the eel roll if you want something simple. I had the amazing fire roll today, and it really lives up to its name. The place is nice and bright, light unobtrusive music, and friendly staff.
(5)Siyao L.
Very tasty northwestern Chinese food, which is extremely hard to find in the U.S. 推è油泼é¢å’Œå¤§ç›˜é¸¡
(5)Bin G.
changed chef. Dishes looks and tastes like this. I took photos. It's getting worse and worse for this restaurant.
(1)Qianwen C.
Although the restaurant started as a sushi place, it serves really authentic Ningxia food. The owners originally came from Ningxia, China. I went to seveal states in USA, but rarely found these kinds of dishes. Even in China, it is hard to get authentic Ningxia food. I always get the BBQ pork sandwich(Rou Jia Mo) The Rou Jia Mo is stuffed with tender strips of meat, onion and more.... It's a treat! I also recommend trying their variety of noodle dishes. The noodles are all hand made and fresh. If you love lamb, you have to try their lamb dishes. Lamb is Ningxia's famous traditional food. They serve lamb braised in soy sauce, lamb steamed in clear soup and so on. The meat is so tender and tasty. The prices are also unbeatable. They are around $15 for a big portion.
(5)Ruochen R.
This restaurant has some really decent north west Chinese food like 羊肉泡é¦(pancake lamb soup), 肉夹é¦(BBQ pork sandwich), é…¸èœè‚¥ç‰›( pickle cabbage with beef). I especially like the xingjiang big plate chicken! It's really big and spicy and delicious! They also have sushi which I have not tried yet. My friends said they were awesome. The price may be a little more expensive than some other Chinese restaurant on that street but Sakura's size is also bigger. Oh BTW they have steamed whole fish!
(5)Deborah G.
I don't think that we will go back. The food wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. We had deep fried gyoza - the dipping sauce was pretty good but the dumplings were just OK. We also had miso soup which was tasty but not earth shattering. My husband had a dragon roll and a sunshine roll - the sunshine roll was charred on top and it lent a burnt flavor to the sushi. The dragon roll was OK - but not great. I had chicken and broccoli. The chicken was tender and the broccoli appropriately al dente but the sauce was thin and lacked flavor. The server was a very young girl who looked to be about 17 or so. She was running around like a chicken without a head but there were only three tables in the restaurant. I asked her if there was shrimp in the gyoza and she didn't know. She had to dash back to the chef to ask - she just seemed so utterly overwhelmed. The restaurant itself is dirty and desperately in need of updating. My water glass had lipstick on it that wasn't mine. The sushi menus on the tables are filthy! The tables and chairs are rickety and the chairs are really uncomfortable. The chairs scrape on the tile floor when you move them and they make a lot of noise. The staff didn't even care when we left. I really don't think that this is a place that bears returning to.
(2)Haiyin Y.
love the tieguofeiniu, hot sour soup, godzilla roll, the breakfast, fresh fish and so on! very decent Chinese food and sushi! the sushi lunch box and Chinese lunch combo are good as well. (the Chinese lunch combo is actually available the whole day, not only the lunch time)
(5)Allison W.
The vast chasm between the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews of this place is very interesting... but my one and only experience with this place is ZERO stars. I ordered sushi for delivery, and it arrived quickly, but the order was made incorrectly-- didn't even come close to matching the menu description. No avocado, no green onion, AND no cucumber in the roll, and the wrong sauce. This was an expensive fancy roll with only 2 of the 5 listed things inside and a massive amount of rice to make it look big. I immediately called the restaurant to let them know, and the "owner" (she insisted she was the owner) spent 11 minutes telling me "that's just how we make it now" ... I explained that the roll was far from matching the menu description, didn't contain the full value of ingredients I had paid for, and that this situation needed to be fixed. She literally just kept saying "that's how we make it now" and for a while tried the tactic of telling me that there WAS avocado on it, I just couldn't see it bc it was such a small slice.... yeah... there was not avocado anywhere in or on the roll. I repeatedly asked to speak to a manager or supervisor but she said she was the owner. So then I asked for her name and she straight-up refused to give me her name, numerous times. I finally realized I was arguing with an actual insane person, so I gave up. If you're ever thinking of ordering from here, just throw $15 into the trash instead.
(1)Anna I.
This place is great! They have pretty decent sushi, but I think the Chinese menu is what really shines here. The pork dumplings are amazing--they actually taste freshly handmade, as opposed to the dumplings at most restaurants that taste like what you get at Costco. Any of the traditional Chinese dishes are pretty delicious, but if you're used to American-style Chinese food it might not be what you're expecting.
(5)Ying W.
I always go this place for some good northen style chinese food and also for their chinese breakfast on weekends. The food are usuall consistent,authentic, good portion and reasonable priced.
(4)Danielle M.
The worst Chinese restaurant in Pittsburgh! The taste is ok, but not worth the price at all, neither the taste nor the amount. I'd rather go to Oriental Express or any other fast food to get a moderate Chinese food with cheaper price. I've been here several times with friends, nothing impressive, and the last visit was the least favored. The Lamb Kebab is really, really just a few bite... and it taste like fried, not roast on fire... I would like to pay only half the price, or even less for it...The Xinjiang Style Chicken was not in so large amount as the menu says (serves two), and it is the least authentic Xinjiang Style Chicken I've ever got (and much worse than the one I cooked) I never try their Sushi, seems much better than it's Chinese.
(2)Katherine G.
Delivery order. Mushy eel roll, mushy yellow tail, and mushy . . . octopus? Fortunately, the sushi was so disgusting that I didn't finish it, probably saving myself a trip to the emergency room. That being said, making the worst sushi in Pittsburgh is quite the (dubious) accomplishment.
(1)Suyue H.
It's a amazing restaurant. Love the western Chinese style noodle soup and all the sushi rolls!
(5)Xiangan L.
Very delicious food, and sushi is amazing! The hostess is nice and kind. This place is definitely worth a try.
(5)Isabelle C.
I really like this place. Delivery is super fast, the food is decent. I've gotten eel rolls and spicy tuna so far and they were excellent. I hate when people say "good for Pittsburgh" because its an insult/complement but this place is simply good, not just "good for pgh."
(4)Yung Min L.
I just stumbled upon this place a few weeks ago, despite the fact that I try to visit squirrel hill as often as I can. I tried the sushi on my first visit. I love sushi, and I know who's good and who's not so great in Pittsburgh. It's very good. The quality of fish is excellent, and they have a nice variety of platters and specialty rolls. We tried a lot that day, and liked everything. Today I was in the mood for something hot, as the summers coming to an end and tonight is almost jacket weather. The owner, Ping Geng, came up to my table and showed me a menu with traditional Chinese dishes on it. I literally just drove back into town from Toronto's Chinatown earlier today, and eagerly wanted to try something traditional offered locally. Everything was excellent, from the eight treasure spicy sandwich, to the scallion puff pancake, to the BBQ pork sandwich to the house made dumplings. In addition, there's a Chinese brunch menu offered on Saturdays and Sunday's from 10am-1pm that I'm very interested in trying.
(5)Gigi L.
I would recommend their Chinese dishes on the chef's special menu. They have some North-West Chinese style dishes which I've never seen anywhere else in Pittsburgh. A friend and I tried their Shredded Pancake with Lamb Soup, which is a soup dish with lamb broth, thinly sliced lamb meat, chopped "pancake" (more like bread), and cellophane noodle. We also had the Xinjiang Style Chicken. It's called Xinjiang Da Pan Chicken in Chinese, which means XinJiang Big Dish Chicken. And it indeed came in a very big portion. It is slightly spicy and cooked like home-style Chinese food. The dish also came with a side of noodle which you dip in the chicken. Overall, we were very satisfied with both dishes. This place has a Japanese name which I thought is quite misleading since their Chinese dishes are so much better than their Sushi. If you feel a little adventurous and want to try some different Chinese food, then go for the chef's special menu.
(4)Kenny J.
absolutely abismal. I've been on Yelp for almost a year and have never been perturbed enough by a place to write a review. I also had never felt like I was robbed by a restaurant until walking out the door at Sakura. It would have been fine if the problem was just that the sushi was terrible. But on top of the sushi being terrible, the chef also found it reasonable to exchange most of the fish that we ordered in our sushi with cucumber. Instead of eel and cucumber? Try cucumber with a hint of eel Want some tuna? Too bad. More cucumber. I could have asked for them to put more fish in it, but it was so bad there was no point. I paid 60 bucks for a bowl of Udon that will give me nightmares and a forest of cucumber. Take it from someone who is far from a food snob - just skip this place.
(1)Christine P.
I've order to-go from this place twice. The first time they did an excellent job. The noodles and soup were well packed. Women who took our order was very Ordered: 1) Pickle pork noodle soup - very yummy, delicious meat and veggies, but the noodles were too thick for my taste. 2) Shredded pancake lamb soup - interesting, I didn't eat this, but my fiance said it was pretty authentic. The broth had a very strong lamb smell, but very little lamb meat (almost non-existent). Personally, although it might be authentic, but it's not for everyone. There are many other great options in Pittsburgh and that's where I'll be going.
(1)John K.
Chicken arrived hard as coal and tasted burned. A steak knife had trouble cutting through one of the pieces. Rice was dry and had "off" flavor, as if sitting around for hours. Will not order again from this restaurant.
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