Sakanaya

Excellent for cheap and fresh sushi! I always get takara donburi, which consists of pieces of tuna and salmon sashimi over marinated rice. Including tax, the whole thing is just $ 4.78! (As of January 2016.) PLUS, they take credit cards! Sometimes I feel bad using it for a under-​$ 5 purchase but the staff here (a Japanese family?) are actually very gracious about it.
You can also buy fish to cook at home or big chunks of sashimi to make homemade sushi. I’ve always found everything fresh! Love this place!

No frills about this place. It’s a fish market with everything packaged cleanly and a decent selection.
The rolls are really cheap and the fish is incredibly fresh! The rolls are rather simple, just rice, seaweed, and fish, so don’t expect any extravagant rolls. But at least they don’t skimp on the fish. The only thing I didn’t like was that the salmon that I bought was a bit (too) wet for some reason.

Awesome quality salmon made for great sashimi! The store itself is great, with a few Japanese cooking essentials. It has never been crowded when we went, and the woman who cut our fish was really nice!

I love the place because they are Japanese and they are experts in their job. The sushi pieces are made to order fresh. They have increased the prices and it’s still cheap but quality it’s amazing.

Second time here! Last time I bought some salmon to make salmon don, which turned out to be great. Today because I’m kind of in a rush, I just bought chirachi (at 4.5 dollars!). It was freshly made upon ordering. For its price, the quality is amazing! I really enjoyed the taste of salmon which was creamy and even a bit sweet. Since I live really close, I might be coming here every week!

Excellent sushi for an awesome price! Will be coming back!

I just found this amazing place from Unilocal (thanks Unilocalers!). I had been looking for a place other than Wholefoods to get sushi-​grade fish and am so happy about sakanaya.
The store owners are friendly and approachable. As a first timer at their store, I had a bunch of questions about their fish and they happily answered all of them without judgment.
I ended up buying salmon, yellowtail, and sea urchin. So yummy.
The store also has a section on fish that should be cooked, and some condiments, nori, sauces, etc.
I will definitely be visiting this place frequently — at least a couple times a month. Parking is a little difficult, otherwise I would be here every other day.

Chirashi for $ 4? Rolls for $ 4? Sashimi and sushi for $ 1? WHAT. I’ve lived in the area for four years, how did I not know?! I was craving sushi HARD tonight, and found out that Sakanaya isn’t just a fish market, but they do sushi as well. I ordered a chirashi, two rolls, and two piece of mackerel sushi for $ 14. That’s insane! I ate the chirashi and I was already full. So I guess I have another full meal ahead of me! I’m really please by the quality of the fish as well. New fave spot, and probably an open door to addiction… I may be tempted to eat here multiple times a week.

This place is perfect to pick up some high quality sushi. The wait can be long so call ahead. It’s a take out place/​take out.
The tuna is my favorite. Both the Maguro and Toro are usually sourced locally (they have labels detailing where the fish is from).
The sushi and donburi are the best deal!

If a piece of FRESH made sushi could cost less than a dollar, this is the place that’s definitely worth going to.
Yes, the emphasis is the FRESHNESS of the sushi.
Whenever I go there, I will get a box of twenty pieces or so and it’d be good for a meal. And yes, it cost me 20 dollars before tax for most sushi.
Once you place your order, it would take 10 – 15 minutes for them to make it and it’d be good to take out.
This place also sell frozen fish pieces and Japanese food.
I have got the head of a salmon on my last visit and cooked it with the miso soup base I got there. It was fabulous!
Fresh ingredients at a small, family owned business.
Tip: the people there speak fluent Japanese and below average English, wouldn’t say it’s broken though, but communication could be concerning.
Tip 2: no dine in.

I’m get very picky when it comes to sushi.
I got a chirashi bowl and uni. The fish wasn’t that fresh and stringy, and the ratio between rice to fish was a bit ridiculous. The bowl came with only 4 slices: salmon, tuna, squid, and yellow tail. The uni weren’t that vibrant yellow color and were pretty small. I also bit into a big piece of shell with the uni.
But! For the price, it’s pretty decent. Just for that this broke college student would definitely come back.

Cheapest sushi you can find in Boston and you get what you pay for. Fish is fresh. Rolls are very basic aka no fancy rolls like caterpillar or volcano rolls.

ROLLS: $ 2.59−3.99
Include plain rolls (cucumber roll, avocado roll) to tuna, yellow tail, salmon rolls.
NIGIRI: $ 1 per piece
Definitely try the tuna — It’s soft and tastes very fresh.
I had the salmon, and maybe it was the cut I got, but they were hard to chew through. My friends who also got salmon said the same. When I eat salmon nigiri, I expect it to almost melt in my mouth. They may take the cheaper cuts of the salmon when making their sushi /​nigiri.
Uni (sea urchin) consistency was not as creamy as others that I have tried. It looked a little old.
Because the place really is a fish market, the fish does taste very fresh and only one employee was hand making the nigiri pieces and rolls upon order request. The wait for your order can take quite a while.
I do appreciate the no-​frills of the place, but because the prices are so cheap the quality of the fish really isn’t that great. If you want to get FULL off cheap sushi, you’d probably want to come here.

It’s a tiny marketplace located in Allston, MA that sells amazing quality fish. It’s also a great place to stop by if you are craving some delicious, fresh, off the hook sushi. They make it for you right at the spot and they use really thick sashimi pieces.
Definitely recommend to all you sushi lovers!

After reading such great reviews of this place, I checked them out on a Wednesday afternoon a little past 5. There were no other customers, so the service was quite fast. Sushi is indeed SO fresh. We ordered the spicy tuna and Boston roll (salmon with cucumber and avocado), total came out to around $ 8.
They certainly did not skimp out on the tuna! We had the spicy sauce on the side. It was delightful. The Boston roll did not have as much salmon in it. The Boston roll included cucumber, avocado, and what I think was crab meat. Delicious. There aren’t too many roll options, but I would definitely come back!

Got the chirashi bowl here, very fresh! And all the other stuff in the fridge looked really good. Will definitely be back to get a slab of salmon to turn into sashimi!

Made to order food from the sea! Pick a nice slab of fish and they’ll cut it up for you and bam you’ve got sashimi for a far cheaper price than going to a restaurant.
Their nigiri is a $ 1 a piece and their rolls $ 4. Ask for that spicy mayo on the side because they drench the top of your rolls with it. I really appreciate that their spicy tuna and yellowtail wasn’t mashed up bits of fish with mayo but actual slabs of fish right in the roll. They make the rolls to order so hang tight.
Not sure if the cashier was new but she was going to charge me $ 8 for two rolls and 6 pieces of nigiri when it was supposed to be $ 14. Instead of adding $ 6 she added $ 0.06. Anyway, I corrected her but it took her 4 tries to punch it in right.
Their party platter is totally worth it if you’re craving sushi and don’t want to stuff your face silly at a buffet or do a sit down restaurant.

4.5 Stars
As I eat my last piece of uni from Sakanaya, my only regret is that I didn’t order 15 more pieces. This little Japanese fish market sells both fish by the pound as well as delicious sushi from the same fish. Single pieces of nigiri are only $ 1 — and that include uni. In NYC, I’m used to paying $ 4 – 6 for one piece.
The party platter A looks awesome… and not for a party, just for me to eat on my own. 25 pieces, that’s child’s play.
The tuni and salmon were both excellent and my 2 rolls and 3 pieces of uni were only $ 11. I guess you’re not paying for fancy décor, just a hole-​in-​the-​wall place with great fish. It’s not the fastest place and im sure when it’s busy it would be quite slow, so down a half star.

Have been longing to go to this small fisherman style place every time I passed here for a long time — finally got a chance to make it today. We two shared a sushi party set A, $ 25. The food is undoubtedly fresh and clean, and more importantly, it’s surprisingly cheap compared to its quantity and quality. Seriously, we got 25 pieces, including Uni and roes, which usually cost a few more bucks to get.
If you are looking for a place to dine in, don’t go — there is no seat. But if you just want to enjoy some fresh sushi to go, don’t miss this gem! Remember to call at least 15 min before picking up.

Give them a call if you don’t want to roam around waiting for them to make your sushi. Gave them a call this time and very smoothly picked up my order by the time I arrived.
They were definitely a lot more generous this time with the sashimi on the donburi. Had their Takara Donburi (chopped up assortment of sashimi cubes ontop a bed of rice) and Spicy Hamachi Roll. For the first time ever in my history of donburis, I finished the rice faster than the sashimi supplied! The Hamachi was chewy and thick, again not even a hint of spiceyness– but all in all, both were a great reward to the hell I’ve been having to put up with at school. Total came out ~$ 8.50. Mindblowingly cheap and I’m very full now. Life is good.