Love the atmosphere, friendly staff and very helpful. Food was delicious and beautiful presentation. read more

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The best ramen in town and it's always busy with fast service and excellent sushi and appetizers.

This place is amazing!!!! I wish I can take this restaurant back to Virginia.. I was lucky enough to come back on a Monday evening and had no wait. The atmosphere is very clean and minimalistic, really nice vibe. I ordered the gyudon and it came with miso and salad. I ordered a tuna roll too and almost couldn't finish both. The portions were great, the meat in the gyudon was cooked well and marinated really well. The sushi was fresh too. The service was impeccable and Danny made the experience even better than amazing, make sure we were well taken care of. If I ever come back here this place is gonna be the first one I visit!!!!! P.S. Also, the elite reviewer that posted a one star just cause he couldn't bring McDonald's into the restaurant... That's a common sense rule and doing so is pretty much a disservice to the restraurant. So selfish. read more

Lovely. Best sushi on campus, though the ramen is a bit overpriced. Clean interior, polite staff though a bit of a wait. I recommend the salmon platter for some simple but well executed sushi. The hand roll? Work of art. Owners are lovely as well, often doubling up as waiters. read more

I've been here 4 or 5 times, and have been wowed every time. Sakanaya makes some of the best sushi I have ever had. The fish comes from a good supplier in Chicago, and it always served at an optimal temperature where the fat from the fish is just starting to melt and the rice is a little warmer than body temperature. This sushi is legit, and you should eat it as soon as it gets to your table to preserve that perfect temperature balance. I recommend the simple stuff like nigiri, sashimi, chirashi, or hamachi rolls, but their crazy rolls are fun too. Their chicken wings are incredible. Korean style fried chicken is one of the most underrated foods out there, and Sakanaya has it down to an art. Sweet garlic sauce saturates crispy skin and batter that has puffed out and separated from the juicy meat. These wings are perfect in every way and should be on your bucket list. If you're a student, pick up some wings on a night out! They also have a very creative selection of appetizers. The Willis Tower is a fun one. Its fish egg, spicy tuna, crab, avocado, and sushi rice layered in that order from top to bottom with some sauces on the plate. Its kind of like a big california roll. With their high quality food, friendly and helpful service, and interesting menu items, Sakanaya really is an elite restaurant. read more

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Best sushi in town. More of a traditional sushi restaurant, limited roll choices. But this allows for some really fresh selection. Highly recommend this for an anniversary or any special occasion. read more

After living in San Francisco (in Japantown) with many incredible sushi options, I feel I am pretty selective of sushi restaurants. I was wary of sushi in Champaign but Sakanaya exceeded my expectations in all areas! I have to highlight I had the fatty salmon nigiri this week and it was the best single piece of sushi I remember eating. The rolls are also great (we liked the White Emperor and Playgirl) and the ramen is delicious! The staff is friendly and attentive. Expect to wait to get a table. The space is small. read more

Sakanaya - Top was the 10 piece Sushi Chef's choice; middle was Emperor Roll, and bottom was The Playgirl. - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

I absolutely loved it The restaurant itself was nice, the servers were all friendly, not to even mention about the food it might seem a little pricy, but everything was worth it after all! i'll return for sure read more

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This was my go-to place in college. Amazing and tasty rolls, fresh sushi, and really great chefs and staff. I always chatted with the chefs while waiting for a table (no reservations) and when I graduated they gave me an appetizer on the house as a goodbye. I get weird looks when I say some of the best sushi I've had was in Champaign IL but it's true! read more

Best sushi I've had outside of San Francisco - only complaint is that they seem to be out of their specials quite a bit

Definitely make sure to show up early. The tables filled up quick when they opened up for dinner hours at 5pm. I ordered the Bulgoki and my friend ordered the Miso Ramen. The Bulgoki was visually pleasing. I had never gotten Bulgoki with a side salad, two sushi pieces, and two pieces of crispy tofu. I felt like it was worth the price for what I got. I've spent about $12 for Bulgogi at other restaurants, but it was only the meat and rice. So Sakanaya gave a nice addition. I also thought it was a good way to still put a little Japanese influence in the dish. For the Miso Ramen, it was tasty. It was a big bowl of Ramen definitely not something you can find elsewhere on Green St. The pork was very tender and the broth just made it taste better. Overall, it was a good food night. I definitely recommend Sakanaya if you want a nice place to go for dinner. The food's taste matches the decor: awesome. read more

Delicious! We decided to go out for sushi on a Tuesday night and heard good things about Sakanaya. The restaurant is pretty small on the inside, but well-decorated and very modern looking, I felt like I was at a fancy place downtown or something! We started with miso soup and a bokbunjajoo Korean raspberry wine. The soup was simple and good, but still nice because we got it for free by checking in on Yelp! The wine was fantastic, I've never had anything like it and it had a sweet flavor to it that separated it from western wine I'm used to drinking. I absolutely had to get sushi and my roommate was pretty set on ramen, so we ordered a Sakanaya roll and the shimp tempura ramen. My roll was superb! I believe it was salmon, crab salad, avocado, scallion and fish flake. Good feedback from his ramen too, which was a huge portion! Overall I thought the food was good but perhaps a little pricey. The atmosphere was unique but a little cramped for our (really) little table of 2. Authentic food in a cool atmosphere on campus, which is kind of hard to find but it comes at a price. Strong 4/5. read more

Sakanaya - Sakanaya roll, shrimp tempura ramen and korean black raspberry wine. Everything was awesome! - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

This place has good sushi. They did get rid of a few rolls that were previously on their menu. However with the current economic status I totally understand. The Willis Tower is a must have here. The seating is very tight, that would probably be my only con. read more

This place is a true gem! The "best sushi i've ever eaten" from my wife, and she has has Sushi all over. The wings are amazingly good, and a disappointment that they aren't always available. Go here ASAP! read more

Sakanaya - Beef Box - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

The food and service was great! It's got a great environment and ambiance, and the setting is really good for a date or a small get together. It is a bit pricey but the quality of the food makes it completely worth it. I personally loved the eel but everything is good! read more

The Willis tower is sooooo good. My favorite dish. I also enjoy the miso soup. Favorite place to dine and takeout from

I love this place, I've come here as well as ordered out a couple times and have never been disappointed! The ambiance is great, the price is respectable, and the servers are friendly! read more

Sakanaya - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

Pretty good sushi for campus area, but if you compare with the city or suburbs it's still a little less quality... wait times were long but I think it's with the lack of competition for the seafood market. Overall this restaurant does its job but I think there's definitely room to improve. I.e. the ramen section can be simplified and reduced in price if they choose to focus more on sushi. More options in for sushi platters would be beneficial. read more

The service was spectacular. Our wait was estimated to be 65-85 minutes and we were seated within 10 minutes of arriving. The host sent a free welcome dish since it was our first time and we were from out of town. Seriously a dynamite experience. read more

We went there for lunch. The restaurant is located on the busiest shopping district near the University of Illinois. Parking is not easy but we managed to find a spot in a metered parking garage nearby. The place is of medium size, modern and clean. We were lucky to get a table rightaway since the place was packed with the lunch crowd that day. We ordered Willis Tower, an appetizer, and that was good. It was a tower of fish roe, seasoned raw tuna, spicy crab, rice among other things. It was generously portion and it took both of us to consume it, definitely not for a single serving in my opinion. I ordered 2 special rolls from the lunch menu: 101 and sakanaya special, and both were still good although they were a bit too sweet to my taste. The service was great as our waiter was attentive and nice. Overall this is a great sushi place read more

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Their sushi is the best in town but they are expensive for student pockets. I love their garlic chicken wings and spiral potato. Goes well with their great selection of Korean, Japanese drinks. But any night, there's at least 10-15 minutes of waiting time, even more so on weekends. Service is good, food is great, but a tad bit expensive. read more

Sakanaya is very small on the inside, but the atmosphere was nice. However, I wish they had bigger tables instead of making two people sit at one person table because I personally want all my dishes at once but the table did not have room for the other dishes, so that was I a little disappointment. I ordered I Love Tuna and Salmon Roll. Salmon Roll was amazing and very tasteful! I Love Tuna was okay. The spicy sauce that they added took away the flavor of tuna. I will definitely go back there but I will not order I Love Tuna anymore. read more

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Fantastic food and excellent service! The online check-in system makes things easy. Ordering online while you're at your table was a little strange, at first. But it turned out to be an incredible experience read more

For my first time going here, I had a great experience. I've tried to come before, but the wait is always way too long. My recommendation would be to use the yelp app to save your place in line if you don't want to be waiting there for too long. I ordered the Windy City roll and a classic salmon roll, along with the edamame and loved it all. The staff were friendly, were quick at taking our orders and were attentive. I will be going again! read more

Sakanaya - Windy City Roll - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

Service A+++ Food A+++ Atmosphere A+++ Some of the best, most fresh Sushi, & Nigiri I have ever had. The chicken Katsu was amazing!! If you live in Champaign or are in the area, get there!! read more

We have ordered from them a couple of times now and the quality and flavour of the sushi and sashimi are quite good. We haven't had anything that we didn't like. read more

For solid Japanese food, this is your spot. They execute their meals with consistent performance which results in a good set of outcomes. Some of their options are excellent. For example, the takosu is wonderfully done. Some of the sushi items are noteworthy. It should be noted that this restaurant is owned by the same folks who operate Miga and Naya so there are some similarities in some of the flavor profiles. It would be nice of they offered more traditional Japanese foods--- a solid curry, a decent tempura meal, omuraisu, a gyudon that is not cloying sweet, a real yakitori offering where the taste of the charcoal is apparent. You're not going to find that here. Otherwise you can't really go wrong. It will do... read more

It took a while for me to actually get around to trying the sushi. I love unagi(eel), but the problem with it is that it's either absolutely delightful or slimy and tastes like lake water. The eel here was incredible. The only raw fish I had here was the tuna in the playgirl. It was amazing! The only thing that wasn't the best about this place was actually just user error. I didn't realize that both rolls I ordered had shrimp tempura until they arrived. Both rolls were still delicious, but I didn't have that balancing factor of that clean raw fish. I ended up just picking the raw tuna off the playgirl and eating that. That's why we're only at four stars. I'm planning on heading back over there to check out their other stuff read more

Sakanaya - Right is the alligator roll, left is playgirl. Both are DELICOUS - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

high price. Not very fresh. But this this the best place for sushi in uiuc lol. Have some interesting dishes though

The sushi here is wonderful! I love the classic roles but the signature roles are definitely something to try as well. OMG and Playgirl are some of the best, according to my waitress. The staff here is very attentive and friendly. They are happy to help and even if one of them is not your actual waiter/waitress they will still check in and make sure everything is going well. Another thing I love is that this place is open late! Late night sushi cravings are definitely a thing, so it's perfect having somewhere delicious on campus to go! read more

Absolutely the best sushi in town. Get the Willis Tower. It's awesome. We can't make a trip to CU without coming here or wishing we could come here. read more

The perfect ramen or sushi experience. Sakanaya is my destination for special occasion or when I want to treat myself. I've never had sakanaya without ordering the Willis Tower. Best indulgence. read more

We enjoyed the food and atmosphere. We ordered the poke bowl, dragon roll and gyoza and they were delish.

Super nice servers and staff! The wait time isn't bad if you check in ahead of time and it didn't take long to get out food! A little expensive but definitely worth it! read more

The Willis Tower is excellent and the sushi is the best in the area. The servers are all very attentive to your needs.

Great late night food on Fridays and Saturdays, even if it's a bit expensive. I especially like the chicken wings and the Willis Tower - a huge roll of sushi with tuna and avocado. However, the line can get long at around dinner time or late night, so reserve ahead of time. read more

Went there twice with my friends in Summer 2019. We were not seated after waiting for quite a long time. We were late the first time we tried, but the second time we went there at 5 pm and waited till almost 6pm. The rep told us we would be seated soon, but again we got nothing and tried a restaurant nearby. So sad. Angry because I felt been fooled. The food must be good as you can see how crowded it was. read more

I thought the rolls tasted good, but it was put together poorly as it fell apart quite easily. The nigiri was how it should be. A little bit of rice and a good cut of fish. I've been to other places where they give too much rice and a little fish and it's not good. May go here again. read more

Sakanaya - Playgirl Roll (left) & Sunset Roll (right) Salmon & White Tuna Nigiri - Japanese Near Me - Champaign, Illinois

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Best sushi in town! A bit expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. They also have local and select beer. read more

Comparatively authentic Japanese food in the town. The sushi is pretty good! People usually have to wait on workdays if they do not arrive there early. Close to my apartment. read more