Sakura Restaurant & Sushi Bar

Nice assortment on the menu, and excellent location for a meal before a show or something at the Xcel. Those who don’t like heat might be a little put off by the amount of wasabi used in the sushi. I thought it was excellent though. More than most places, but not too much.
I really like some of the unique sushi creations (most named after Wild players). It’s different combinations that you don’t really see anywhere else.
The service was outstanding.
I really enjoyed the crowd. There was such a diverse mix of people, from the young trendy hipsters to moms and dads with young kids, to extended families. It really made it feel homey, and that anyone was welcome.

Unfortunately I have unlucky enough to have the same awful server twice in a row. I felt unwelcomed immediately when I sat down at the table. The blonde female server took forever to greet our table and brought out the wrong drinks. We sat down for 15 minutes with our menus down before she took our orders. She never came back to ask how our food was. She was unfriendly and spoke in a monotone voice to us.
There was another server who checked on our food and brought out a complimentary sushi roll. She was more attentive to our table than our own server was. I ended up leaving her a tip instead.
I hate not to come back here because I live so close and the food was good. But I have not been back since.

My boyfriend and I came here on New Year’s Eve, and we had reservations beforehand, but didn’t seem to need them. They were busy, but not to the point where they couldn’t serve us right away. We were seated in a booth and a waitress promptly came to ask us about drinks. Once we were ready to order, we decided to get three types of sushi rolls: the Mexican roll, #2: the Keith Ballard roll, and #22: the Nino Niederreiter roll.
We liked them all! We both agreed we liked the Mexican roll the best because of the tempura shrimp. We love our deep fried foods, so fried rolls or tempura is always our favorite. The two Wild Rolls we got were delectable as well. I felt that the texture on the outside of the #22 roll was odd because it was fried, but soft. This is due to the fact that it is avocado that is fried. I wasn’t used to it, but it wasn’t bad. I liked the chicken tempura and touch of spicy mayo in the #2 roll. I felt the rolls could’ve had more flavor to them, but overall it was a satisfying experience.
The service wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. Our waitress was nice and refilled our waters, but there wasn’t anything above average about the service.
Sakura is not the best sushi place I have ever been to, despite the fact that they have the unique line of Wild Rolls, but the sushi will do its job in filling you up and there’s nothing major to complain about. The location is smack dab in the middle of downtown St. Paul right by the Wells Fargo Ice Skating Rink. It’s got a nice interior/​exterior, and is surrounded by glass windows so you can’t miss it! Give this place a try if you’re ever in the area.
The good news is, I don’t regret choosing to eat sushi here for New Years Eve and we got to go ice skating afterwards! It made for a good night!

Sakura is my all time favorite sushi restaurant. Their fish is always top quality and is a treat for any sushi lover. The restaurant is quiet and tranquil even when busy. The Number 9 specialty roll is like heaven on a plate! Sakura is hands down one of the best places for sushi in the Twin Cities area.

Sushi here was by far the best I’ve had in a really long time. Great atmosphere and service. Parking was a pain, but overall a great experience!

Service very slow and waitress not really know much — to be fair she was new. Manager was abrupt and rude.
Salmon nigiri was decent but everything else terrible — I ordered some different rolls. Too much rice. Also had a Kirin draught but it tasted tangy and old.

We used to go to Fuji-​ya, but it was really going downhill, and finally closed. Not sure why we weren’t going to Sakura all along as it’s awesome. Excellent sushi, delicious tempura appetizer, great service. Our new sushi restaurant. Well done, Sakura.

Quick, delicious, affordable! I dropped by here for lunch and ordered the «Sakura Sushi» daily special. This includes seven pieces of nigiri (changes daily), and a roll (ditto). It also came with a delicious bowl of miso soup.
My server was very friendly and attentive, and chatted with me about the different types of sake available (I had to work, but hopefully I can try them next time).
Overall this is a good deal for delicious, fresh sushi and I will definitely come back.

Sakura has the best sushi i have ever had. It’s always fresh and always the best quality. The service is great and I love the atmosphere. I try coming here at least once a month. Absolutely love it!

Hands-​down the best sushi I’ve had in Minnesota. It’s definitely the most traditional Japanese place as well. The people on here who criticize about things being «bland» don’t know the first thing about good sushi in my opinion. If you want something «crazy» go to Chino Latino. You’ll get something different and… Something that’s not really sushi at all.
Very expansive menu. Lots of traditional Japanese food, and all very tasty. Come here before the Wild, or a concert at ordway/​xcel… Come here often. Park in the Lawson ramp if you can’t find free parking on the street, they validate parking. If it’s winter and you don’t want to go outside, Sakura has skyway access.
Gyoza, agedashi tofu, hamachi kama… Those are my favorite apps. Can’t go wrong with the nigiri, the hamachi and salmon are to die for. I don’t usually like spicy tuna rolls, but Sakura has my favorite of any place around. It’s nice and fresh and doesn’t taste like the left over tuna that they’re just trying to get rid of.
The only place I’ve had better sushi was when my grandparents owned a place in LA. I have to come here at least once a month and my favorite gifts are the Sakura gift cards I get for my birthday or Christmas!

This is my favorite sushi spot in Saint Paul! Service is always friendly/​attentive and the sushi never disappoints. Try the «Brother Bill» roll — it’s super yummy! I’m into the thematic menu, especially bc it’s based on my favorite sports team EVER — GO WILD!
Try and sit near a booth by the bar — lots of fun people watching downtown!

Great Sushi! Traditional Japanese dishes as well. Friendly staff too. Best two sushi chefs in the Twin Cities found here. Stop by the bar and say hi to Dan, he’s great too. If not Sushi then try the sukiyaki as it is super.

I did a take-​out lunch here a few days ago.
Their lunch menu is very ambitious, with all types of hot entrees, Bento boxes, tempuras, noodles, and sushi.
I went with a Sushi Combination ($ 14.95) that was advertised as including a Miso Soup, and «Maki sushi and 6 pieces of nigiri, chef’s choice».
The Miso Soup was very good, it had a ton of flavor and was excellent. The sushi chef gave me six pieces of nagiri and six pieces of cucumber maki.
The fish was great, a nice mix of different types, all fresh and tasty. I was definitely disappointed to find that the maki rolls contained no fish, but I guess the menu said it was «Chef’s Choice». That was kind of a rip-​off in my opinion.

Wow — recently returned to Sakura and was blown away by the quality of the sushi and the service. We frequent Sakana and have always had good experience, but decided to try something new even though they had a lower rating — I actually said to my wife let’s give it a shot and see if our opinion matches… well I can say the quality of the sushi was the best I have had in MN and our waitress was top notch… I then I tipped her out 20% and hit the sushi chef with another $ 10 because they went above and beyond.
We tried a selection of sushi and rolls and not a one was just ok — so I would suggest the whole menu… even the tamago was well done which is one I typically see chefs not put any love into. I also had a hankering for Inari, but it wasn’t on the menu… i mentioned that and they said no problem and brought some out — made me smile.
I hope my experience wasn’t a one off as I’m excited to go back!

I don’t even know how to describe our recent dining experience at Sakura, it is definitely not something I want to relive. All was going great during my birthday dinner on Saturday night. The restaurant was busy, but our server was friendly and attentive. We ordered three rolls that were all tasty plus the gyoza appetizer. Then, while we were waiting for our last roll, the unthinkable happened.
A woman with a 4-​year-​old and another young child were seated at the table next to us. The kids were behaving fine when all of a sudden, the four year old got sick… all over the floor. This didn’t happen just once, but three times. I understand it is not the restaurant’s fault that the boy got sick, but the way they handled it was appalling. After the woman quickly left with her family, the restaurant staff simply wiped up the vomit with dry towels and then promptly sad another couple at the table less than a minute after they were done wiping it up! I couldn’t believe my eyes. No disinfectant or cleaning supplies were used and the vomit was still wet on the carpet. I feel sorry for that couple and would be shocked if they didn’t get the stomach flu.
This experience makes me never want to dine out again. I can’t believe a restaurant would respond this way. How disgusting. I will never return to Sakura. I hope other restaurants are more cleanly than this.

Service is always good.
The sushi is decent.
I’m not a huge fan of their menu offerings other then the sushi.
Anything from the teriyaki to the udon seems off.
I like their beer and cocktails list.
I would only recommend for a one time visit, no reason to go back a second time because there are other options around.

I’ve lived Japan for a long time and I (and all my friends from Japan that I’ve taken to Sakura) think this is the best Japanese food in Minnesota. Perfectly authentic. I
Get so homesick for Japan when I go to Sakura. If you ever want a perfect Japanese fix, go here.

We visited before an Ordway performance and obtained a table immediately. The sun was very bright and we had to be moved as it was in our eyes and they didn’t have a blind on the window.
We stuck to sushi rolls and tried the #9, Asher, Spider and Backstrom. Prices were average for sushi and the service was good. We liked Sakura but in comparison to several other sushi restaurants we found this one average.

This spacious sushi restaurant in downtown St Paul seated us right away even on a Saturday night when we couldn’t get into Fuji Ya. The sushi was delicious and fresh, decent sake and wine list (they over pour the sake in Japanese tradition).
The only knock was I didn’t get my edamame, but they didn’t charge me so maybe they didn’t hear the order.

Fresh into town after a 5-​hour road trip in this -20 °F weather, I was in the mood for some grub. I walked around the area near my hotel, and after discovering that nearly everything was closed, I figured sushi would hit the spot.
Restaurant was D-​E-​D Dead. I was one of 3 tables at 7:30pm.
I had multiple servers; gentleman server was very nice, very genuine, and helpful. Woman server smelled of cigarette smoke and was very callous/​abrupt.
Sushi was mediocre at best; for the prices, I’d expect better. Several pieces of nigri tasted as though they had been frozen and recently thawed.
Pricey — 1 roll, 2 sets of nigri, and a beer came to just under $ 50 after a modest tip.