Sakura Island Restaurant

Not part of the restaurants that I would recommend for sushi.
To start off, Sakura is a non AYCE sushi place, that scores some points, because usually non AYCE has better quality. The location is a bonus because it is really close to University of Waterloo, and a block away from Lester street, where probably more than 50% of the students live.
We came in and no one was here, so we were able to go closer to the window where it was nicely decorated. Ordering the sushi platter for two people, the salmon wasn’t very sweet, it tasted freshly defrosted. The other fish weren’t as sweet as I preferred a non-​AYCE place to be. The rolls were done decently, the rice didn’t fall apart, but it was lacking in some taste as well.

Came here because I wanted non-​AYCE sushi, and was not up to paying Watami prices that day. Ordered the chirashi don and was overall satisfied. I’ve had better chirashi, but this one was good enough to satisfy my craving. My friend ordered the lunch special sushi bento box and said it was pretty average. nothing really stuck out. The location is super convenient for university students, so I will probably return again, especially since the prices aren’t too steep (can’t afford Watami every day, know what i’m sayin’?).

The Spicy Golden Dragon sushi roll is bomb. Would go back just for this!
Also tried:
— Too Much Love roll: okay, the «deep fried salmon» is more like… pan fried?
— Takoyaki
— Unagi roll

Nice restaurant, friendly staff, delicious, fresh and artistic sushi, good place to visit with friends and family.

These guys have been around for a long time, probably because they price their items more than other establishments. Not AYCE, but not very good quality, either. The sushi is decent, but pretty meh. I tried the yakisoba on one occasion and was aghast at how improperly it was made. The sauce they used was extremely sweet. Their Korean dishes are actually better than their Japanese since they are Korean owned.
The location is good as others point out, but there have been a number of sushi places opening up closer to UW and Laurier which have better value.
The service here is a whole other story. The waitress serving us when we went here a few months ago began throwing down the dishes and having a very pissy attitude. I wasn’t facing her direction so I never saw her face, but I could see that some of our food on the plates would fall off as she threw the plates on our table. Her reaction? «Oh oops» *walks away*. Wow, she must have been having a bad day or something… she consistently acted this way throughout our meal that day. The experience made us never want to go back.

4.5 considering its location.
In my opinion, sushi explains the idea «less is more» very well even though it’s just a kind of food. That’s why I feel cheap and greedy when having ayce sushi and prefer places like Sakura Island more. Dons are great, sashimi is as good as (or better than) Watami down the street. Rolls are okay, they look a bit sloppy but they taste alright. Service is good, better than most ayce places in Waterloo. Overall it’s my fav sushi place in loo. Recommend.

Even though their sushi is extremely fresh, the quality of their dishes aren’t the best. Their bento boxes are very average and the chicken teriyaki is dry, yet it costs above $ 20. Their fried udon, though quite delicious for the first 5 bites, starts to get gross as you realize how oily the noodles are.

Honestly maybe hwedupbap just tastes really good by default its like a Japanese sashimi Korean fusion. I don’t really have anything to compare it to because it was my first time ordering the dish. But whatever it magic is involved, it always leaves a smile on my face. And you would be surprised cause theres a lot of raw vegetables in the dish. What makes it complete is the lovely sauce. The bimibamp is a little bit cheaper and just as awesome. Its must try!

I had the weirdest experience at Sakura Island restaurant yesterday, and I don’t even know what to make of it, but I’m kind of upset? so I felt it was worth a Unilocal review. My friend and I arrived at about 7:45 pm on Friday evening, and there were two couples waiting in front of us to be seated. It seemed busy, but we were happy to wait. After a few minutes, we realized something was really strange. There was one empty table, but the waitress never came to seat the people in front of us. They got tired of waiting and left. We tried to catch the eye of one of the waitresses (two of them were both very busy serving tables) or the sushi chef at the back, but they were deliberately avoiding eye contact with us, and with everyone else waiting to be seated. More people arrived after us, and they couldn’t catch the attention of the waitresses either. A couple of them tried to talk to the sushi chef about ordering take out, but were unsuccessful in communicating with them. Patrons at one of the tables left, so there were then two open tables at the restaurant, and still no one talked to us to explain that they weren’t seating anyone (?). We were so confused. We started to chat with the other people also waiting. We all then decided to leave. In total, my friend and I were there about half an hour, and no one working at the restaurant would talk to us or anyone else who wasn’t already seated at a table. I would call this bad service, but honestly I’m just so confused. I have never seen anything like this happen before, which is basically why we stood around for half an hour – we sort of kept assuming eventually they’d come talk to us.

I had the Sakura sashimi. Fish was very fresh and delicious. Would definitely go back.

Their portions are really good and the food has never disappointed me. I prefer going to this place and getting quality sushi instead of the ayce places around this town.

The food here is pretty good. I got the sake don, which had a lot of salmon, and it was pretty fresh as well. My friends got the Hwe dup bap and the chicken don, which they both enjoyed. Portions were pretty big. Service was kinda slow though, maybe because the place was kinda full that night. Overall, would recommend!

You might feel rushed to order food or choose how you’re going to pay (this happened more than 4 times). This was one of my favorite places to get lunch or dinner but I kept getting disappointed at the service. They looked like they didn’t want to get me an extra cutlery and change the bill even though they just gave me the bill without asking how I wanted to pay.

It’s really a korean restaurant that serves japanese cuisine, but I would skip most of the japanese menu items and go for the korean dishes. The sashimi and sushi rolls are made competently with fresh ingredients, but the korean dishes are made with more care and heart.
One of the better bibimbaps that I’ve had in a while. Good portion size.
It can get a bit pricy though, so watch what you order. This is definitely a quality over quantity kind of place. This place does a roaring business in takeout.

Updating this to four stars to be consistent with my other reviews.
New things to note:
— Their Korean food is suprisingly good. Its hidden in the back of the menu. I tried their sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew) and their hoedeopbap (sashimi mixed rice).
— Their lunch specials are good value for money. I always like to order their tempura sets because the portions are generous.

Very good quality food, both sushi and main dishes. It is pretty expensive especially for university students who tend to eat a lot. This place wont fill you up unless you are willing to spend a lot of money.

If you like eating better-​than-​average sushi then this is your place in the university area. The feeling you get after walking about of this restaurant compared to the AYCE places near Conestoga Mall fully justifies only going to Sakura Island for your sushi fill, and for dinner your final cost will be about the same anyways.
The fish might not be of the highest quality but they do have some creative rolls (I particularly like Red Bull, Philadelphia and Green Dragon). There are also non-​sushi dishes, of which I’ve tried a udon bowl and it was very good.
The interior is nice and service is good, prompt. This is a restaurant I’d definitely recommend.

I tried this place with my dad the other day, trying to discover some other non-​AYCE places aside from Watami. I’ve still yet to try Tomu; that’s gonna be my next stop when I have time.
This place, in terms of overall quality and presentation, isn’t bad. However, I had a few concerns. The prices for the rolls vs. the amount you get + the tastiness seem to not match very well. It’s basically just so-​so, and for me so-​so doesn’t cut it when rolls are $ 10+ an order. The seafood pancake thingy was a huge disappointment. A lot of pancake, very little seafood. The soup was good, but they went too hard on the vinegar for the salad, so it tasted quite sour.
Service was good though, and ambience as well. It also had more options than Watami, but for the amount I’m paying, I think Watami has higher quality food.
Maybe when I try Tomu one day…

This is one of my favourite Sushi restaurants in Waterloo. Many people tend to be gravitating towards the AYCE sushi places, and while I have had my experiences with them, I do prefer to go to a place like Sakura Island where I feel they take more care in the presentation of your plate and in the creation of your entrees.
I remember one time my husband and I were in and we ordered the sashimi boat, which just came with an assortment of sashimi. The waitress did verify with us that we did know that sashimi was all raw fish, no rice! We were well aware and very excited about our meal.
The sushi chef did a great job both in cuts of fish and presentation of it on the boat platter. We were very impressed and managed to finish the whole thing. It became clear to us that the chef (who was within eyesight) was watching our enjoyment of the sashimi platter. Our waitress came over when we had finished and said the chef was wondering if we would like to try one of his new rolls. While we were quite full we could not turn down this offer. The roll came out and it was delicious.
Ultimately I am always happy with the food and the service at this place!
A must try if you are in Waterloo.

Usually people avoid this place due to its price compared to other places in the KW region; however, during lunch time — if you order the bento boxes, or combos, it’s actually worth its price. I had the sushi combo — however, I don’t have much of a recollection of what was in it. The handrolls were surprisingly delicious and full of food. I had the pickled radish handroll, whereas my friend ordered the spicy salmon handroll. She was quite impressed on how they did not skimp out on the salmon!