Not good. Shrimp were tasteless and not deveined. I expect more for a $35 meal. Steak was not great either but passable. Too expensive for not great food. I won't be back. read more

Came here for dinner with a couple of friends and we enjoyed the food and drinks. I love going to hibachi it's always a fun time. I feel like I've been to more enthusiastic hibachi restaurants but the food was great here. Service was kinda slow considering they weren't busy. But maybe she was training. Overall when in the mood for hibachi again we will be back! read more

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If I could leave a 0 star review I would. We just waited 40 minutes for the restaurant to seat us and a guest wouldn't let us sit down and started a scene and the waitress or whatever did nothing to accommodate us. Said oh we have an 8 person party coming. So now we are left hungry with no food. read more

Really bad service. Manager was a little insulting by saying "I told you that it would be slow service if you sat at the sushi bar." Haha! Slow service is completely different than NO service! Skip this place till they figure out the staffing issues. read more

I'll start by saying i was pleasantly surprised. I'm a Benihana type of guy and have been disappointed many times when I try the other hibachi places. Well. Not this time. They take that hibachi experience to the next level. The service was excellent. The food was delicious and the whole thing was a great experience. Will I be back? Yep. You should too. Won't regret it. Oh and they have some sort of special for the first table of the day. read more

Great food & service! Clean w thoughtful decor! Celebrate sons birthday here & they made it very special for all

Typical Japanese steak house food out side of the crème brûlée. Before we were done with our dinner the manager came to the table with carry out boxes and to go bags. I realize they have to turn tables to maximize revenue, but we wanted dessert and an after dinner drink. The decor is ok with some modern flare to it. It's a fun place for a group of friends read more

Great experience, amazing food. The only downside was the complete asshats at the table next to ours that were very drunk and rowdy people. That is def not the restaurants fault though and I am still giving 5 stars. read more

DaRuMa - Lobby of Daruma Fruitville - Sushi Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

I don't know what's going on here tonight, but there's a lot of upset people. Waiting over an hour (and those same people are still here as I'm waiting) the Asian? lady is really nice, but not the other one at all. I would not want somebody like that working for me. She was rude, unprofessional, and wasted 20minutes of my time at the end when I finally decided to leave. I ended up waiting over an hour all together for an order that was supposed to be ready when I arrived. I never got the food. I left. Terrible experience due to the Hispanic woman that refused to give me her name. I should have ignored her and only spoken with the Asian woman, big mistake that won't be made again. read more

Horrible!!! found a bug in my food will never step foot back in this place again! Management is horrific too did not do anything of the matter! read more

A great place for Hibachi in Sarasota. Clean, neat, and very popular. We went on our annual Christmas Eve hibachi night!

Excellent birthday meal!! Was reluctant to celebrate at a restaurant we had not yet eaten at, but we took a chance and DaRuMa did not disappoint! Seated quickly, server was a delight, ordered quickly. Sushi appetizers were great quality, salad was fresh, soup flavorful, & veggies and main courses (Filet, Lobster, Chilean Sea Bass, & Scallops) were all delicious and cooked to our liking. Sauces were nice accompaniment without being overwhelming. Food was plentiful enough for take home boxes. The birthday special includes lava cake, a photo, and a hearty "Happy Birthday to You" and was well worth the extra few dollars. We are thrilled that we found a new option in the neighborhood and will definitely be returning for special occasions and family nights out. read more

Went for Christmas dinner today and was pretty disappointed in the quality of the lobster tail and Filet Mignon combination. Our waiter was great and all of the help was awesome, but the lobster tail was a big disappointment. The lobster did not taste fresh and was overcooked, and the quality was below par for a meal costing close to $50.00, excluding the 6.50 for some not so good fried rice. Filet was good but will think twice before going back. read more

we are new to the area and our neighbor suggested this restaurant . We were disappointed from the second we arrived. Our table was crammed, and when we tired to spread out we were told that's not allowed, there were 3 open seats at the table, the food made us VERY sick and the worst part was that we were incorrectly charged for our meal We overpaid by almost $40 dollars and nothing was done to fix it. We love hibachi but this is not a place we would ever revisit. We would have loved a price correction or refund for our meal but that was also not offered, which is very upsetting. read more

The hamachi was unbelievable! Top service from sushi chefs. Very friendly and welcoming! I highly recommend. Make sure you eat at sushi bar read more

DaRuMa - Tuna sushimi, hamachi sushimi, spider crab roll, double hamachi roll. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

The happy hour served several tasty appetizers for very reasonable prices. The hibachi cooking is quite good and also entertaining. Sushi is good. Teppan dishes are unimpressive. . DaRuMa is a great venue for parties. read more

Sushi was great, service good. My Moms entree was a big disappointment though. She usually only goes for the hibachi experience so her entree to her was blah and I have to agree., not a lot of flavor. However my hubs and I only had the sushi and it was very good Lychee martini was good. Very busy and seem to not have a handle on reservations. Lots of people waiting for the hibachi tables. read more

One of our favorite places. Atmosphere is super. Best thing is the piano man Who has been there for years. My wife and I usually do regular Japanese side, I love the chicken and udon noodles and she loves the shrimp tempura Miso soup is the best n town, however the Japanese salad is too watery and not the zip of the Japanese salad we have had in Japan. Please check yourself ur recipe read more

We visited the fruit like location last night Sept 5th, 2021. 4th visit at this location 5 or so visits at the tamiami trail location. The prices have soared dramatically and they now nickel and dime you for everything. Asking for extra rice has more than doubled to $6, the 3 of us with a bottle of wine and tip $187. Our server Jacob was really good and sympathetic to the owners new pricing but our cook, the main event of the night was boring and dull at best. This is what we come for, Right. No sound effects, no tossing shrimp to the patrons. Just boring, The 2 kids at the table had to do the choo choo sounds for the onion trick. Food was ok, not as tasty as the other visits that kept us coming back. Just disappointing. Management needs to understand that every restaurant around them is suffering from the same employment issues and price increases. But your service can't drop this bad. Tighten up! read more

My wife and I eat at the room all the time. The sushi is killer and hibachi is addictive. I will say this, if you're going to order sushi at the hibachi table don't expect it to come as an appetizer it will arrive at the same time as your hibachi does everything else about this place rocks. read more

If you are thinking of a reservation, rethink that. We made one -- for our first time at this restaurant. Then a member of our party fell ill and we (appropriately) called to cancel. Surprise! They could not cancel because they did not have our reservation. I told them the name of the woman who took it, Denise, and they continued to deny that we had ever made a reservation. Can you imagination if we'd arrived with our business guests and been denied admittance? Even though the woman who answered the phone confirmed that they had a woman named Denise working there. Consider this anti-hospitality factor before you consider reserving a table. Never Went/Never Will read more

Wonderful place for a family get together! Extremely friendly and accommodating staff! Clean, inviting atmosphere, gotta try this place :)

It was our second time eating here. First time was delicious so decided to go back. We had a reservation and we were seated within ten minutes. It was a busy Friday night here. Piano player was playing in the bar area. Very festive atmosphere here tonight. Many birthdays being celebrated. Service was excellent. Food was fresh and was perfectly cooked. We enjoyed ourselves and we had great company with us at our table. We will definitely be back! A great time! read more

Food and service is good. Been going to DaRumas for aplx. 20yrs. However, they are slowly pricing themselves out of business... If it wasn't for the birthday patrons they would be in trouble. read more

This restaurant has left the best impressions! Hospitable hots, delicious dishes. I recommend to everyone! I would like to come back here again and again. read more

This place is a hidden gem! We sat at the bar and enjoyed THE BEST dirty martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives made by Chris! Chris was a very attentive bartender and made sure we had everything we needed. They had a great happy hour menu with a few $5-6 rolls . The Cod bites were AMAZeballs! We also had the Petite Udon Chicken bowl and the Chicken teriyaki bowl both very good and plenty! And then... this fab jazz piano player started at 6:30. In the rear is a piano bar! We took our glasses of wine and made fast friends with Art! He played a couple requests also. This will be a staple for us! read more

We stumbled upon this place while in Sarasota for the weekend. Ill be honest with you, I didn't expect much from a sushi / japanese place in a strip mall but man was I wrong. The menu was a bit off putting at first due to it seeming pretty expensive. I was with 4 others and we couldn't believe the amount of food we got, the quality and the price we paid. This place is great and if you are a local definitely go check it out. I ordered the 3 sushi roll combo that was around 22 bucks and i cant remember the name, but go with that and you will be a happy camper. read more

Excellent food and service. Absolutely loved their ginger dressing unlike any other hibachi restaurant I've been. Fresh ginger on top was an added bonus. Very attentive staff. Will go again! read more

In a world of chaos (Tornadoes, the Rams moving to LA, Netflix's "Making a Murderer"), it is good to know we have stability in such a SOLID local hibachi restaurant. When you think about it, doesn't Hibachi basically symbolize everything you want in a strong government? Transparency. Controlled Aggression. Delicious Scallops? I guess that makes me an expat living in the United States of DaRuMa. I visited last night for a dear friend's birthday, and enjoyed it fully. Our chef was a delight, and the food was cooked on-point. I actually ended up splitting a meal (Scallops and Filet Mignon) with a fellow-party goer (presumably now a 'friend' since we have progressed to the point that we openly share food). Totes recommend going splitzies. The only snag in the whole scene was that the honorary 'Chef's Birthday Hat" was a notch on the large side. However, as this is a bit of a subjective matter (my head is known for its small circumference... ask around), I won't hold that against DaRuMa. read more

DaRuMa - Sushi Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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Buffalo cauliflower was tempura fried, awful. Custom roll was super fishy ( tuna avocado cucumber inside, salmon jalapeño crunch outside), edamame dry, espresso martinis wayyy too sweet (no professionalism whatsoever with respect to having experience in making craft cocktails) hard no!!! read more

DaRuMa - Bad food - Sushi Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

I have been going to DaRuMa ever since it opened many years ago at the Quay and have continued to frequent it on Fruitville. The food remains of high quality but, in the last year, everything else has gone to hell in a hand basket. They are cutting corners everywhere and rushing customers out of the habachi after less than an hour to seat the next round. They no longer take the time they used to make it a memorable experience. It's more about birthday parties and turning over the tables. As I have done for nearly 20 years, I asked for no veggies and extra rice and was told there would be an upcharge. For rice??? I tried talking to a manager, but they couldn't find one and when she finally arrived, I was about to eat. Some of the servers and bus help look unkempt. Simply put, it is no longer the high end restaurant it used to be. Although the prices are higher! Also, their Yum Yum sauce which has always been a favorite tasted watered down. The steak and scallops were great, but the overall experience is no longer great...just mediocre...and it's very sad. read more

WHAT A GREAT DINING EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!!! We sat at a Chef's table and were fortunate to have other fun people at our table. I wish I could remember the name of our Chef, maybe Bob or Dave??? BUT HE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! So engaging, so much fun and doesn't have a 'canned' routine because we watched him at another table. Our Apps were; Gyoza and the Cold Octopus Salad. The entree components we had were; Beef Filet, Duck Breast, Chicken, and the Grouper. ALL were outstanding but the Grouper was REALLY good! Shrimp and fried rice were an excellent accompaniment to the meal. The restaurant was VERY BUSY but was clean as were the bathrooms. We were there to celebrate my daughters 12th birthday and she chose the restaurant. Being her birthday, she was given a birthday cake & ice cream dessert. After spending $225 on dinner for the 4 of us, I was VERY SURPRISED to see a $9.95 charge for the birthday dessert. It just seemed extremely 'piggish' to charge for a birthday dessert ESPECIALLY after spending over $200. The came by and took birthday pictures but never gave us my daughters birthday picture. No picture and a $10 charge for a birthday dessert just left me very disappointed and ended our GREAT meal on a sour note. read more

Doesn't look like a good place at first but WOW the food and service was AMAZING hot the chicken with fried rice it was to die for. So In Conclusion the best and I say the best Chinese/Japanese style restaurant around in Sarasota Bradenton area read more

DaRuMa - Fried Rice with fried veggies - Sushi Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

This place is a lot of fun with the family or date night. No matter who you're with, you'll make plenty of memories. The seating was very unique and the guy cooked all of our food in front of us. He was very funny and entertaining! Food was amazing... I had the duck and steak with rice. Highly suggest the duck. He gave us plenty of sauce and took great care of us the whole time. A little pricey but would absolutely would recommend. read more

Let me start off this rant by saying I've worked in hospitality for almost 11years. With that said, I understand what it's like to be in the "weeds" but tonight's experience WAS NOT in the "weeds" experience, in fact it was the most unprofessional experience I've ever had,and I've once had a pizza serve remove veggies with their bare hands in front of me from my pizza. So came here for dinner with five girls, aside from making us wait thirty minutes for our reservation,we got sat, with two other couples who informed us they have been waiting already ten minutes FOR WATER or a server. We waited, and had to go up TWICE to ask for water,it took them 20 mins after we sat down to bring us water. Let me start a time line. 730 reservation. 8-Sat down 8:12 asked for what water after no one has even walked over to our table. Our other couples informed us they have been sitting twenty mins and haven't had anyone stop by. I get up and ask for water(no knowing the other couples have already asked) 815 "manger Paul" comes( I use quotations because I feel like he was pulled him off the floor moments before and was given a button up to fool he patrons of Daruma into believing they have some kind of Authority working there. ) he makes a joke at the wait,we laugh 99% because we where hungry,1% because he was semi-attractive. We order our drinks.we attempt to order Apps. We tell him how to split the check,everyone is a couple except for one person. 825 drinks come,still no server,"Paul the manger" is flustered, I make the Initiative to order,he looks distr, but reassures is he can handle the duty because he was a past server.( Spoiler; He could not handle the duty)we order dinner. 8:50-APPS comes out,it's cold. EVERYTHING IS COLD,at this point I feel like they are rationing food,I keep mine,not knowing when I'd be fed. 8:55-We get our salad and soup,the soup is lukewarm and I almost sent my salad back because it looked like someone has been eating to. I was confused,was this a new salad? Or was this from the bus bin...? Regardless, I'm hangry, I need substance, I'm feeling meek. I eat. 9:00- Table in-front of us sits down (this is important) 9:15 we finally get our chef, he doesn't understand the order, bless his soul,he has no idea that people are sharing food,and one guy doesn't even get fried rice,even when he asked twice for it. I am once again convinced they are on a food shortage. I got three broccoli,4 pieces of onions,2 other vegetable. Fortunately for my appetizer I was starting to slow down. "Paul the Manger" has come back to check on us,Couple 1 is missing their sauce, he asks for one, it gets brought, busser takes it,he asks for another. 9:45 Food is a disaster, everything is basically wrong or portioned wrong, our dude misses the shrimp tails in the hat. All is lost. We ask for our check. 10-table in front of us ate and is having their tea. We still haven't gotten our check. " Paul the manger" has come back with the check,they are all wrong 10:04 wrong check again 10:10 wrong check again-tells us he's tired of doing the checks. 1025 got check still wrong,but we gave up. "Paul the Manger" was unapologetic and said he was "doing his best" . read more

We went to DaRuMa at Sarasota North, Fruitville Road, and was a surprise for my birthday. I was very excited as I've been to many Benihana and other Hibachi restaurants. We said we signed up for the Birthday and told them but they said it could take up to 14 days to receive an e-mail. Strike #1 as we thought they would honor it and would of had an email right away. Fortunately, we were the only 4 top at our table so that was a plus. I do have food allergies which they said they would fix my plate in the back. No worries as I watched my family and friends get theirs cooked and served. I was very excited for the veggies as they had a variety. I also told our waiter that I loved butter and garlic butter. Well, we asked about my meal as I waited about 15 minutes and no food. The waiter said he wasn't the cook then brought my meal. No apology or nothing. There was no butter on my veggies and only 3 things were there in the mix which was missing my favorites, onions and zucchini. Strike 2 and 3 for waiting and food had no taste and was cold. As most restaurants do something fun at no cost for your birthday, they served their cake and ice cream and we thought it was included. Nope, strike #4, we got charged for it. Plus they put a tip on their checks and they take 20% but they have listed on it 18% and 25% also so seems like you would get a choice. We don't mind paying for good service and warm food but this was a huge let down. I did not think the ambiance was that good as it was dark and had an odor to it. Sad, that most people say it is wonderful and we were underwhelmed to say the least. read more

This restraint was very well. The steak was cooked perfectly to my and my company's liking. The waiter and chef were very friendly and able to laugh and joke around with us. Very good food, especially the rice! Would recommend!! read more

Hibachi... I have never cared for it because to me, the food all tastes the same when prepared this way. Either way, the atmosphere is agreeable and the decor is nice. The staff are always pleasant and the Sunset Menu offers affordable dinners and specials on sushi rolls. ORDER BY 6PM FOR SUNSET SPECIALS. I really enjoy their sushi and their miso soup. The ingredients are always fresh and the sushi is always the right temperature. Go to DaRuMa and enjoy the atmosphere and the sushi, but don't ask me about the hibachi :) read more

Food was good, but it's weird that there are three Asian restaurants there. I guess it's sushi of three price points. I had the chicken udon and it was good. I wish the beer selection was better. read more

DaRuMa - Sushi Bars Near Me - Sarasota, Florida

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Was there this week. Dinner was a NY strip steak and it was good. The meal was started quickly with soup and salad, as customary. The chef was both proficient and entertaining. I'm giving it four stars, but I think a 3.8 would be more accurate. Wait staff was good but not great - there is room for improvement. There was a bit of a push and attitude towards selling the fried rice as an up-charge - I didn't like that. The vegetables that came with the meal were a bit sparse. Overall, this is closer to my home than other places and I will go back, but my expectations are modest. Lastly - if you like your steak rare, as I did, keep a close eye on it while it's on the grill. Don't let the chef overcook it. Reply to Nikki A. Looking at the other reviews it seems that quality of service is a challenging area for DaRuMa. Are you present on the floor of your restaurant all the time? The serve staff rushes like crazy. Are you paying enough to get really good help? Do you have enough staff? Suggestion - If you can't be onsite, hire some undercover / mystery diners to go and eat there when you are not present. read more