Sawa Steak House and Sushi Bar

Sushi was beautiful looking, much better than it tasted. Some of the rolls they did not put rice on the outside even though we requested it. The place was slower than usual considering it was Saturday night. They had a live band playing. The appetizers we ordered were hot and sour soup, vegetarian dumplings and tuna tartar fried dumplings. The tartar was the best thing all night. The rolls were good but nothing unique except for the one with soy nori and a special sauce. Fish was not as fresh as usual. The service was ok. After I told them about the mistake they made with the two rolls that they could not put rice on outside they did not refund. She said the chef wouldn’t do it. Next time the should ask us first before its made. Can find better sushi: Ginza or kanji

I want to give them a zero. I went in for lunch and after I ordered, a man opened the large front doors and started dragging in dirty pipes used for pumping, through the dining room. After several pipes were dragged though, the man started pumping something out into a huge truck. The manager said they were only pumping the grease trap, but once outside you could tell it was sewer related. I’m disgusted that they couldn’t do this during none business hours. On top of that, the pumping guy was blocking several cars with his truck. His truck was also idling and there were fumes everywhere. Needless to say the health inspector was called. I will never go there again. If you want hibachi or sushi, go to ichiban on rt 35. It’s about 10 minutes away, better atmosphere, better food, better prices.

DON’T EAT HERE!!!
If I could give them a zero, I would.
Upon entering the restaurant, I was hit with a peculiar odor. While eating, a «pumping» truck pulled up to the restaurant, blocking parked cars. The driver opened the dining room doors and dragged sewer hoses through the active dining room. The manager said he was «pumping the grease trap.» During the pumping phase, the door was open and both truck and sewer fumes entered the restaurant. In addition, the pumping noise was very loud. When I confronted the manager, he seemed unconcerned.
Eat at Ichiban (2132 State Route 35, Oakhurst, NJ 7 755) instead. Better food & service.

I am a fish lover and their Chilean sea bass is nothing but excellent. The seaweed salad is the best I ever had… The duck is delicious too ! I’ve been there for lunch and dinner, it was a great experience !

Stopped in for some Sunday Silliness! My girlfriend and I decided to pop in for a few drinks and catch up! We love the atmosphere of the bar where we managed to find two seats.
Sunday happy hour, 3:30pm-til close, you can’t go wrong with that!
They have a great drink variety on the happy hour menu, and the food options are delicious!
We settled on the snap frost martinis (white grape juice flavored, Yum!)
Our date was cut short by a friend arriving home early from work,
But we can’t wait to go back and try out some more signature drinks!

Food was greasy and the owner was jailed for hiring illegal workers. The fumes from burning onions on the hibachi grill made my eyes water.

We came for dinner while staying at the nearby resort. You can have hibachi here or sit at a regular table. We decided not to do hibachi and have sushi instead. We were promptly seated but it didn’t seem very busy.
We each ordered a sushi roll, shared an appetizer, had a few dinks and a dessert. Our bill was around $ 130…pretty high but the food was good. The only off-​putting part was the server. He was nice but I hated his approach. For example, at the beginning, he asked what appetizer we were going to start with. This irritated me because we hadn’t indicated we were getting an app. Then after each person finished ordering, he would ask each time if we were going to order anything a la carte. So, 3 times we heard that. I get it, I used to be a server and understand trying to increase the bill but it was overkill with this guy. Super annoying, actually.
I don’t think we would go back. Food was good but it was overpriced. Fitting for the area.

For starters the service was terrible. On top of that our appetizers tasted like bad fish. Shrimp dumplings were horrible had to send them back. I got the sushi platter which was completely unimaginative. Two pieces of salmon, two pieces of tuna, three pieces of redfin and a California roll.
We should have known because when we walked into the place on a Friday night it was empty.

The Story: Decided to stop by here for dinner while attending the Unilocal elite event for the weekend.
Food: As stated in my previous reviews, I’m not the biggest fan of Hibachi because you can make it on your stove top.
I ordered the steak and chicken. They were pretty average tasting. The chef put too much soy sauce in the rice and noodles so that was extremely salty.
We ordered spicy tuna fried dumpings and duck rolls. They were decent.
Price: Average prices for Habachi considering its location. We spend $ 90 on 2 hibachi specials and 2 apps.
Décor: Very stylish and modern inside.
Service: Service was okay. I had trouble flagging down someone but they were also very busy. I didn’t like how the hibachi chef was pretty much a mute. He didn’t want to socialize with the guests (something I am not use to).
Parking & Finding the Place: 5 min walk from the Ocean Place.
Additional Thoughts:

Nice and warm services… It is a nice atmosphere to hang out. Full service bar and hibachi. It is good for group or dating event (my neighbor hunting ground).highly recommend to everyone

Went to Sawa on ⁶⁄₈ to have dinner with my husband for his birthday. We were seated immediately in the «menu» area. Our waitress was in training but very nice. We ordered potstickers and the ribs for appetizers. We asked for pork but I believe we received veggie. Either way, they were not good at all. The ribs however were AMAZING. 3 pieces for $ 12 to me seem a little pricey BUT because they were so good, I’ll disregard the cost — for now. Our entrée order consisted of the red dragon roll, chicken teriyaki and the pineapple fried rice with beef. My husband throughly enjoyed his red dragon roll. The chicken teriyaki was ok and the fried rice was different but good.
I would definitely come back again to try other dishes because of the location.

We went for the Hibachi table service. Plain and simple — Not the best Hibachi unless you like salt. A bit expressive but it was on the Jersey shore.
It was my daughter’s birthday and we made reservations. We get there and they tell us we must have made them at another Sawa. Nope, pulled up the number dialed and rang it to the desk. Frown on face of manager — We will seat you shortly. It was my daughters birthday and it was her choice to go here (anything for her). Once seated we had a very nice waitress take our order. Drinks came right away. Then we had to wait for one of the two chefs they had on for the night. This was the weekend and you would figure they would have more staff. We waited a good 20+ minutes for the chef.
Food — First was the Miso soup. The broth was good but nothing was in it. Really, very hard to find even a mushroom or onion. Next was the salad — typical small tossed salad but I have had better ginger dressing.
Dinner — The Chef was very good with his hibachi show, cooking for us and joking. No issues there. This is what you come to see anyway.
We all ordered a mix Hibachi steak, chicken, scallops and shrimp. As standard, you get a cooked shrimp app while they prepare the rice, noodles, veggies and meat. This is served with two dipping sauces. Ginger and Mustard. Here they served Ginger and something else. Possibly a soy type of sauce that was so salty it ruined anything you put in it. The ginger sauce too was salty. In fact — EVERYTHING was salty.
We watched and very little salt was added that we could see but possibly the chef used too much soy sauce when cooking. Overall the rice was not good. Missing that good fried rice flavor, it was quite bland. Similar to the noodles, just very bland and mushy. I have to say that I was most dissatisfied with the meat. Just again, way too salty. Also I felt that overall the What did suprise me was the quantity of scallops. I have eaten in many hibachi resturants and usually skip getting scallops because they skimp on them — not Sawa. They offered plenty.
We finished the meal and skipped desert. We did get large enough portions and some of us took home leftovers. The wait staff was excellent. Very helpful and smiling the whole time.
One last note — After everything, and beginning an hour after we ate, we all had digestive problems. Not issues but problems. We can not be sure it was the food or drink at Sawa but that was the last place we all ate. I hope that was a one time issue.
Will I go back to them — Nope — I have had better and for less money.

Delicious! The ginger salad was outstanding. The dynamite & cream cheese roll were absolutely amazing. Definitely goi g back

The location and nice beach weather itself just adds on to the experience. But the place is good as well. Waiter recommended shrimp dumplings, which we ordered and was really good appetizer. Sushi was good as well. It lost a star on drinks. Sawa Mango mojitos were disappointing. Desserts were also ok. However, the ambience is good and wait staff was friendly and attentive. It’s a solid four.

So I am going to tell you about my experience on Sunday, July 5. And let me say that I normally like this place, been there a couple times, usually sit at the bar.
My sister and I sat outside, hot sunny day. I ordered a special roll and two pieces of Ikura sushi. I also ordered a glass of wine.
The server brings me my plate, and there are two pieces of Toro, not Ikura. I explain to her this is not what I ordered, she repeated what I ordered what she said was Toro, no it’s not, I ordered Ikura. Quite frankly, I had never even heard of Toro.
I am not making this up. So I proceed to eat my special roll, my sister and I look at each other like is she going to take the plate, let me keep the Toro, really not sure because she left without saying anything. Now mind you, I am sitting against the railing and to my left is my 8 year old niece.
The server comes back to the table, holding a plate in one hand and chopsticks in the other, reaches over my niece and takes the two pieces of Toro off my plate. I seriously had a piece of the special roll in my mouth. Wow. I was speechless. I have never had someone remove an item from my plate as it was sitting in front of me. And really extend herself over a table to do so.
My sister and I were rather taken back. We laughed, but come on.
$ 70 dollars later, seriously, she brings us over the processed credit card and leaves us with a pen, the cap was gnawed and bitten. That was the topper to the lunch. I have attached a picture.
Please Sawa, train your staff on proper protocol. And buy a box of new pens. Gross.
And if you want a quick sushi lunch Unilocalers, sit at the bar.

When I was visiting Long Branch I decided to come here for lunch. Its located right on a corner and has sufficient outside seating available which is a plus. I ordered some sushi for lunch and was over all pleased but didn’t think it was anything too special.
I went with the Red Roll, which was a specialty roll priced at 18 bucks. The roll was definitely of generous size but almost too generous. Some pieces had such large slabs of fresh tuna on them it was almost not enjoyable. My second roll was the Philly Roll for 9 bucks. I had a special request, that they substitute the smoked salmon for raw salmon. After checking the waiter said he could accommodate this request for an extra $ 1, which was fine. Unfortunately though when I got the roll, the salmon was not inside of the roll, it was on top. All that was inside the roll was cucumber and cream cheese. I didn’t realize by switching the type of salmon would also change the style of the roll completely. Philly rolls are my favorite but I didn’t enjoy this one as much just because of how it was presented. Definitely would have preferred the roll be served with the raw salmon inside of it as I requested.
The service was very good though, the waiter was attentive and my water glass was never empty. This was appreciated as it was rather hot that day and I was sucking my waters down fast. I would probably be back but would order rolls where I didn’t have to make any adjustments to.

This place is great! I’m quite picky when it comes to sushi. If the sushi doesn’t taste fresh and/​or the place smells, I won’t return. I’ve tried many of their special rolls and they are all tasty. Their spicy tuna tacos are a fun alternative to plain sushi. Also their tuna pizza is good. Hibachi is also always delicious. I don’t think their lobster hibachi is worth it just based on the fact that I think lobster tastes best plain and steamed. However if you are feeling fancy, it’s worth the splurge. Their lychee martini is good. Definitely a great little spot in Pier Village.

Very good sushi and prices weren’t bad. The service was pretty good too. Should check it out if you’re in Pier Village, Long Branch, NJ.

I love how it is right by the ocean! Pier village is one of my go to spots and every restaurant they have there is magnificent! I remember when I stumbled upon Sawa and I have been going here for years now! The sushi is so fresh and the hibachi food is awesome too! I’m so pleased with this place. Oh and also it is beautiful inside. When the weather warms up they have outdoor seating so you can dine out on a gorgeous sunny day!

Sometimes people forget that a restaurant that has a full bar can also have a bar scene. I’m in this area on business fairly often and I’ve been to the bar here three times. I’ve had drinks twice and drinks and appetizers once. I’ve never sat at a table here. I think I’m about done with three visits.
To be fair each time the bartender has been different and when it comes to being a decent conversationalist I’ll go three stars.
When it comes to the drinks they are a big letdown. Poorly made, weak, and expensive for what you get.
The one time I had a couple of appetizers they were a normal three stars but took forever for them to come out.
In five or six minutes I can drive to a dozen better places than here.