We had a great visit here for my girlfriends birthday. We were seated promptly at the reservation time. Matt was our server and pretty attentive. There was only one Hibachi chef on a Saturday night, so we waited about 40-45 minutes before he got to our table from the time we sat down. Our food was cooked to perfection. The cocktails are pretty good and not expensive, about $8. I had the "Lifesaver" 10/10 recommend! The red snapper is my favorite thing on the menu, whether you order it to go or have it cooked in front of you it will not disappoint. read more

Japanica Steak House - Celebrating a birthday! - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

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Not my usual choice but I was pleasantly surprised! While passing through town we couldn't decide on where to eat and Japanica popped up on the gps. The ambiance needs some updating but the staff was super friendly and the food was excellent! We were so impressed that I have no pictures because we were talking with the chef and having a good time. The portions are huge! Plenty left over for another meal. Would have given five stars if the restaurant would have been more updated. read more

Japanica Steak House - Mural on wall - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

I went for lunch and their atmosphere was very calm and quiet. I enjoyed the interior, everything from the sushi clock to the cichlid fish to the wall backgrounds. I wanted rice -less sushi they were able to accommodate that. It's a good place that I will come back to again and their buy one get one roll is a good deal! read more

Japanica Steak House - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

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We frequent Japanica, it's a great place to get the full hibachi experience or sushi. (Don't ever order delivery, the companies will always mess it up) We ordered the chicken hibachi plate which could be 2 meals honestly and 2 rolls of sushi. What's great about Japanica is they always have a deal where you buy a specialty roll you get a regular roll free. I ordered the "Japanica" roll and the "Alaskan" roll. The fish is always fresh, however I wish they put more tempura flakes like they advertised. Our service was excellent, their soups are always very fresh. You won't ever have to wait for a table and they bring the food very quickly! They have a great happy hour and some really interesting unique appetizers. Parking is easy, bathrooms are always clean. It's great for parties or family outings! read more

Japanica Steak House - Hibachi Chicken - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

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Positively the worst Japanese steak house I have ever been to. When we arrived the host and hostess were arguing , The waiter came up to the stand and threw the menus at the hostess stand in disgust. "Don't seat me the rest of the night "he bellowed at the hostess. We finally were acknowledged by the staff after considerable time had passed . Unenthusiastically seated. Not a word spoken. Our waiter smelled bad of body odor The food was awful , lukewarm at best Drinks watered down Never again Horrible experience read more

Hands down the best sushi in town! They have excellent lunch specials that are filling enough to share with someone. You get a soup, salad, drink and 5 different rolls for less than $15! The service is always amazing and the food never disappoints. I'm partial to the spicy salmon roll but everyone I've tried has been amazing. They also are very cautious of food allergy's and offer gluten free soy sauce. read more

Japanica Steak House - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Great food and quality. We were there for lunch. They had 3 rolls and 5 rolls for a great price read more

I eat here often. Location is kind of far, but the food is worth it. Always fresh & made pretty fast. read more

Japanica Steak House - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Hidden gem. Came here with my family a few weeks ago and did the Hibachi and it was great. Just dined for dinner tonight and had the bento box. Food is consistently delicious! New go to spot for sure. read more

ordering online is a bit complicated now. I wish it would give me the order number, a text or email confirmation and the estimated time it would be ready. The food has always been good. read more

I went here for lunch and ordered the 5 sushi rolls lunch special with mushroom soup. The soup was good, a few mushrooms and a good flavor. The sushi itself was subpar. It was not very good. I would not consider the sushi of a high quality. I am not likely to go back, at least not for sushi. The service was good and the waitress was attentive. Maybe the sushi quality was just a fluke but I would have been troubled if I had tried the sashimi. Otherwise, the restaurant was clean and the wait was non existent. Not very busy and only a handful of people were there. read more

The Las Vegas maki is to die for! Also bogo rolls are an amazing deal. Very attentive service. Our group of four had a great time and super yummy sushi! Thanks!! read more

Japanica Steak House - Spicy salmon roll (left) Las Vegas maki roll (right) - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Good sushi rolls and they always have the BOGO deal for them! Service was ok. Quiet setting to enjoy your food.

We went to this place tonight because of the billboard that said brunch Saturdays and Sundays all day. We went in on a Sunday and it was not brunch - apparently it is all you can sushi only on Saturdays. Service: This is extremely lackluster service. I am not sure if these are just extremely overworked people or what is going on, but this is along the worst customer service in Tallahassee. One server seated us, another took our order and brought our drinks and never came again. Someone who seemed like the manager brought our food, and then she brought the check. After that we waited over 30 min for someone to pick up the check to pay. It got so ridiculous that we had to stand up and hunt a staff member to ask if we had to pay upfront (we did not), and then we waited even longer for someone to bring us the receipt to sign. They did not refill the drinks, and were not friendly or smiling. Food: Sushi was okay. Not spectacular. Rolls were coming apart. Presentation was alright. I've experienced better in Tallahassee...which is hard. The sushi did not compensate for the lacking service. Overall, we wont be coming again, too much of a hassle when there are other friendlier options around. :) read more

Japanica Steak House - My meal, two sushi rolls. Sloppy but alright. :) - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Lunch is a good deal, a salad and soup with the plates or the rolls. Speedy, attentive service and good size portions. Had a chicken hibachi plate that came with vegetables and fried rice. Which also came with a good helping of the creamy (yum yum?) sauce. Not sure it would be worth it if it wasn't a lunch deal. The deal is also great for the rolls! read more

Japanica Steak House - Chicken hibachi - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

This is our favorite Hibachi spot in town!!!!! Prices are reasonable and the food is so yummy. They even have squid/calamari and a hibachi option (which is a personal favorite of mine) and that isn't offered most places I've been. Their other strength is that their sushi is really really good, which makes it a little harder to choose what I'm going to order. A great way to celebrate or spend date night! read more

Was in the mood for good sushi, but didn't have time to drive far. Decided to give this place a try, even though their hibachi is not my favorite. It was decent, but nothing special. Fall apart pretty easy and one roll had avacodo even though it didn't say that in menu. I would probably not go back to try again. read more

Japanica Steak House - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

There's a little kick to this place...to this place I'm mean their Yum Yum sauce and that's what set this place apart from the others. Here in Tallahassee there's a few hibachi restaurants and they all do the exact same thing: set things on fire, make an egg roll, toss knives and cook good food. But like I stated before, what's sets them apart is the Yum Yum sauce that has a dash of sriracha hot sauce in it. Even though they do and cook a billion things, that sauce seals the deal. One thing I can say is that the level of service is okay and has room for improvement. We wanted a few minutes and get our menus but he crazy part is that another couple was here before us (at least 10 minutes) and weren't given menus at all, I had to let them barrow ours. All in all, I read reviews about their lunch and I'll be back to find out for myself. read more

Japanica Steak House - The view - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

So happy with this place. First off, I accidentally came in on their lunch break (3-4:30, Monday-Thursday) and they greeted me and sat me immediately. I commented on how no one was there and they gently let me know what was going on. Haha! Second, they have a bogo sushi option. Of course I took advantage of that. A large rainbow roll and a choice portion of a philly roll for roughly $12.50! (I took a photo of the rolls. I specifically asked for no wasabi or ginger, so don't worry!) The rolls were amazing, and the two ladies that were there were very kind! Thirdly, the atmosphere was pretty awesome. There's an alcohol bar, a separate sushi bar, hibachi area with seating, and then a completely separate seating area. The bathroom was very clean. Just an overall great experience. Definitely bring large groups/parties because they have plenty of space! read more

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Tried Japanica for the first time tonight--very good and tons of food! We got the chicken hibachi, which comes with soup, salad, rice, and noodles. This had lots of flavor and was plenty to share. We added the fuji volcano roll and got the Alaskan for free--a very nice bonus! The rolls were fresh and quite good, although they were slightly less flavorful than rolls we've had from other places. Perhaps these are more traditional? Either way, we definitely enjoyed our meal, we have leftovers for tomorrow, and we're planning to go back again. read more

Japanica Steak House - Chicken hibachi - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Hello, back again: It's late and I needed to be fair to a place I visited twice and give five stars: Japanica. First time order was a TO-GO order, arrived on time, and was fantastic: Two sushi rolls, Tempura and tuna roll, plus one tepan table entrée. Mushroom soup and the ginger salad. Food quality and taste were fantastic. Second visit, in the restaurant: Friend had the chicken tepan table-styled dish and I had, again, the tempura roll (considered a normal roll) and if you got a specialty roll they gave you a normal roll for free... a very good deal! My friend was lured in by the special chicken tepan table items but we sat at a table and they said "NO"... you have to sit at the cook's table; just be aware of what you eat and where you sit. I definitely would go back. read more

The sushi deals are here!!!! My husband and I split 5 rolls and had salads I had tea he had a Japanese beer and it was $20! The service is always great and they have gluten free soy sauce! Love this place only wish is that they had more locations as I find their sushi to be better than anywhere else in Tally read more

Had dinner there tonight. No complaints about the food or service. Both were fine. What was not fine was a half filled aquarium prominently placed in the dining room with one dead fish floating in it! The tank has obviously not been maintained in months of not years. It was filthy! And the dead fish just added a finishing touch! How does this pass any kind of inspection?! Every time I looked in that direction my stomach flipped. I didn't notice it until we had ordered our food and eaten our salad or I would have left. Do better!!! read more

Food was ok. Service not do great! They were slow & it wasn't even busy. Was in town & wanted hibachi grill. read more

Japanica Steak House - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Tonight we had 15 people for the hibachi and one lone cook and server. Last time with this group we had two.(We had reservations). I ordered a spicy tuna roll to come out before our food. It came out in the middle. The spicy tuna roll looked nothing like tuna, unless you are talking canned stuff. Now, I was here again after this and the meal was a disappointment. The sushi rolls came unrolled, the Japanese curry was flavorless. I hate not liking a locally owned place but I won't be back. read more

It seems like I start every review about places in Tally about how I'd like to write a good review, but just can't. It's the same again. We made the mistake of going here just after getting back from Japan. Worse yet, it was literally days after eating sushi at the most popular sushi-ya at the famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. Can you say "HUGE contrast"? So, instead of ripping Japanica a new one for serving blech sushi (and what jackaninny decided the accent should go on the "NICA" of japaNICA??!?), I'm going to review the most amazing sushi I've ever...EVER had which also happened to be the smallest, busiest place I've ever been to instead - so I'm going to write about Yamato Sushi in the Tsukiji District of Tokyo, Japan For those of who don't know what Tsukiji is, it's the craziest place. It's THE fish market that all the restaurants in Tokyo and much of that region of Japan shop at for the freshest stuff. It's so famous that it's a major tourist stop even though you have to get there at 5am to catch all the major action: auctions, fishmongers selling anything and everything from the ocean, and an endless sea of motorized carts making deliveries. Yamato is the place that the people who work at Tsukiji go for lunch. Consequently, you know it's gotta rock, and it's always busy. The menu was omakase (chef's choice) but you could pick a few extras at the end if you were still hungry. (Omakase is always a safe bet at a quality place like Yamato because the sushi chefs only serve what they got in that day, and they feel is worth their time.) No fancy fake rolls here; just amazingly fresh seafood on perfect rice. I can still taste the chu-toro. It was substantial, but still melted away like butter. Oh, so back to Japanica...it's no better nor worse than every other mediocre to poor Japanese restaurant in Tally. It just ain't good sushi. read more

Greasy. Yes, greasy Japanese food. Who knew that was even possible?!? This place came highly recommended by my boss. She's never tasted the food, but apparently she's signed a lot of expense reports with receipts from here. I ordered the steak and chicken hibachi to-go and everything was pretty good. Just really greasy. Pretty expensive too. I spent almost $30. Definitely not the price point I expected from a restaurant in the Publix shopping center. read more

This is the best Chinese Sichuan cuisine we have tasted in Tallahassee so far. We had lived in New York and New Jersey for eight years before moving to Tally last year. The new Chinese Sichuan dishes here are even better than most Chinese restaurants in New York. We are very impressed! The raw material was very well prepared. We highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to try authentic Chinese food in Tally! read more

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UNI in TLH Score: TBD. We came here two weeks ago - prior to that, it had been nearly five years since my last visit. Always the optimist, I asked if Uni was in stock. It wasn't. Not to worry, I realize that it's sometimes the case at other places in town (Sakura, Masa and Kitcho's included - although Kiku's uncannily always has it for me!) Regardless, my experience here was good. I've read the 33 other reviews and know many of the reviewers - and realize that the service is often focused on as not good - but this wasn't my experience. I'll certainly return. I'll tell you what I AM impressed with here - the diligence by which the management here takes these Yelp reviews to heart, and publicly reaches out to try to improve the experience. In this day when EVERYBODY is the expert food critic (I'm lampooning myself as well), I know it can be pretty difficult for business owners to navigate the often perilous waters of social media commentary. But, going through the rest of these reviews here, I've gotta say - I can't think of another business in town that addresses these concerns publicly and proactively. So - for the first time ever, I'm extending an additional Kudos to Japanica for being a good sport about all this. (p.s., I DO agree with one of the previous reviewers who commented on the decision to name this JapaNICA rather than the more natural JaPANica. To me, JaPANica is far more comfortable!) read more

Main goal here is turning tables - appetizer comes out halfway through main course. Wine arrives warm. Soup or salad. Hope you have no allergies bc all food squished together. My scallops were cooked on top of someone else's shrimp. No brown sauce, only yum yum. Had to beg for chop sticks. Not so much as an orange slice for digestif. Just the check and go. Won't be back. read more

Do not be fooled by the looks of the outside of this place or the fact that it is located in a strip mall. The food is surprisingly good. They cook the rice w garlic and it is wonderful. They also have a special Monday-Wednesday: Chicken, Ny. Strip Steak & shrimp all 16.99 for dinner! The sushi is so delicious as well! read more

Told waiter and chef that I am allergic to shrimp. The chef then proceeded to contaminate the food, grill and his cooking tools with the shrimp that someone else had ordered. I will never go back. read more

We were in town for a couple hours and needed some grub. We ended up here based on a recommendation. Recommendations don't always work out. The sushi was not as good as Kroger's pre-packaged sushi. That's a shame. The service was ok, but our waitress young and bit distracted. The whole experience was just sub-par. read more

By far the worst Japanese I have had. I travel the entire country and this was terrible. Service was sub par - no specials explained, appetizer sushi came during the middle of dinner, and only visited table 2 times in an hour. Food - sushi was not only 20 minutes late, but also terrible. The steak was dry and the chicken was rubber. Highlight of the entire experience was our cook who didn't speak English. Sushi is listed as BOGO free on their webpage, menu, front of building, and on sign around the shopping center. When the bill came not only were we charged for both rolls and were told nothing could be done about it. read more

Went for the lunch special early on a weekend day. Food - nicely done, nicely prepared, and yummy. My wife had the Udon which could have been a bit more flavorful, but that's a personal choice. Service - the woman was extremely polite and helpful and quick (though it was pretty empty due to the early time). My extended family loves this place. It's pretty good. Haven't been for dinner yet. read more

If I could give this place negative stars I would we went there for my birthday. My brothers food was never placed by our waiter and then they told us they couldn't make it bc there kitchen closed at 9 when online and on their door says they close at 10. They went ahead and timed our dinner and told us we have been there for 45 mins and they close at 9:30 we were there only till 9:45 thinking they still hadn't closed. The waiter had attitude and so did everyone in that restaurant. They never apologized for messing up just kept telling us the kitchen closed at 9. The boat we ordered wasn't even placed on the display. I used to come to this place before Covid and enjoyed it so I thought it would be the perfect place for my birthday dinner after this experience I will never come back. So when thinking of going to japanica just be prepared to be highly dissatisfied. read more

Giving it a 4 stars because the had a special on Sunday that kids eat free with a purchase of an adult hibachi. I love yum yum sauce and there's I have a love hate relationship with because it has a kick to it. The food was prepared real fast my kids enjoyed it. We will definitely come back read more

Japanica Steak House - Hibachi - Japanese Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

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I have eaten here twice now and am extremely satisfied with both the food and service. I will argue to the death that they have the best ginger dressing of any Japanese restaurant in all of the lands. Their fish is fresh and while I is a tad pricey I dare you to find a reputable sushi shop that sells super cheap sushi and live to tell the tale. The last time I came I ordered takeout: I got the chef's special roll, my husband got the pink roll (both of ours came with a free roll of lesser value which was amazing) and my friend for the sashimi deluxe. My roll was fantastic and was inhaled into too little time to take pictures or come up with a poetic description of it's merits. It had shrimp tempura, avocado, and eel and it was perfect. My husband's pink roll was a little weird and he didn't love it so I had to eat his last 4 pieces. It had a strong fish flavor but I still enjoyed it. My friends sashimi deluxe was beautiful and super generous and could easily feed two people. read more

Came for lunch with a group. Service is outstanding, and food comes fast and hot. Food however, was terrible. I got the General Tso Noodle Bowl - most pieces of chicken were so dry and over cooked I couldn't chew and swallow them and ended up not eating most of my meal. The noodles they were served over didn't look like any type of asian noodle to me, but like boxed spaghetti noodles drenched in some weird-tasting soy sauce. Flavor was lacking in a major way. One of my friends ordered the Hibachi and found a hair in her food. I am giving this review 3 stars instead of 1 solely based on our server who was on top of everything and very pleasant. Food was flavorless, over cooked, plain and probably not up to health code standards. read more

This isn't a 5 on my sushi scale,but it is a 4 and gets a 5 for being good in Tallahassee. I have discovered that MOST people don't know the meaning of 'good' sushi. Most think it's a wide variety of sauce covered rolls. Those that eat nigiri think good sushi is huge slabs of fish. Both groups tend to drown their selections in wasabi and soy. So I have decided that when I look for sushi in my extensive travels, to scroll to the bottom of the list. I prefer sushi the traditional way. Small pieces. No soy/wasabi and if you must, turn it over and only dip the corner of the fish. No rice in the soy! Japanica was a pleasant surprise in Tallahassee. Fresh fish, expanded selection on/off the menu, friendly staff. What else could you ask for. I won't waste my time looking elsewhere, for I have found my Tallahassee fish home. Oh yeah, bartender packs a mean martini :) read more