The place was busy, "Bets of Omaha" signs in the window, so I thought I'd try it. Service was slow (yes, it was busy, but still slow). 10 minutes for a waitress to come check on us. Appetizer showed up after 2 of the main courses. Calamari looked suspect. Meat in the Yakisoba did as well. My suspicions were confirmed by the food poisoning I had to deal with the last 2 days of my vacation. read more

They had a sign for lunch that offered a squid salad on a mountain of vegetables $7.00 But what I got was a tablespoon of squid in a small foam cup with a lid. No mountain of vegetables. I was dooped.. read more

Sakura Bana - What happened to the mountain of vegetables? - Japanese Near Me - Omaha, Nebraska

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Sushi! My first Omaha post! What a happy day!! Sushi is always awesome, except for when its made by Sodexo. Seriously, that stuff is bad. Now, there aren't a lot of sushi places near campus, the closest being a few in the Old Market, which we've all done many a time. This Friday night, we decided to try out a new one, Sakura Bana. I've been looking for another sushi place besides the usual Blue and Hiro, and this turned out to be a good and fairly inexpensive choice! I read about this place in the newspaper, whose food critics rated the Godzilla roll as one of the best in Omaha. Located on 74th and Dodge, its a close option that's just as far as the nearest Target. We arrived at 6:30 on a Friday night and were able to get seats at the cute little sushi bar, though many others were waiting for a while for a table. The service was really prompt as well. They have normal entree menus, bento box options, and a special "Dream Menu", where they do two large (2 bites at least) pieces for a lower price. We started off with Miso Soup and Edamame (as you do) which were both good. Honestly, its hard to do these staples wrong.. We also ordered the Rainbow Roll, which featured mango, the Godzilla two-piece roll, the Kodiak two-piece, and the ...dangit I can't remember what it was called. It was good though! We thought the quality of the sushi was good but not outstanding. I liked it better than Hiro, and its considerably cheaper. However, the rolls are not nearly as creative as Blue Sushi. The quality of the fish was good and we certainly enjoyed what we got. Overall, we liked this place! It's a good value for your money with an interesting menu. They won't have the craziest maki rolls but it'll satisfy your sushi craving. The Dream Menu is a fun way to try new rolls for a smaller price. read more

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I remember when Sakura Bana was called Sushi Ichiban and located at 84th and Dodge. At the time, it was pretty much the only place in Omaha for sushi, bento boxes and other Japanese favorites. Fifteen-plus years later, Sakura Bana is still serving up great food in a family-friendly atmosphere despite stiff competition from dozens of other sushi-centric restaurants that have opened up in recent years. One of Sakura Bana's strengths is its large menu. In additional to your typical sushi offerings, they offer tons of apps, noodle soups, hot pots, and combo box meals. No matter if you're vegan, vegetarian, not into seafood, or into it all, there's plenty to go around for everyone. Reserve one of their private rooms for a more intimate experience. Great for birthdays or other special occasions. I'm sure I'll be back soon! read more

Sakura Bana - Japanese Near Me - Omaha, Nebraska

It is with GREAT sadness that I am writing this. I truly never believed I would have to write a bad review about my favorite restaurant. As you may or may not know Sakura Bana was recently closed by the health department for failing their inspection. This is when things started to make sense for me. Let me start by saying I have eaten here for 10 years (even prior to moving buildings) and haven't had any issues until recently. For the past couple months my husband and I were noticing dried food pieces in our water glasses or plates. We would send them back and they would just bring us another glass like nothing was wrong. I was telling my husband not to be paranoid it happens all the time probably. Having worked in a busy restaurant I can tell you the dish washers don't always get everything. Okay we let this slide. I would order items containing chicken, like yakitori and it would not be cooked all the way through. I started to tell them to overcook it because I was "paranoid", I thought maybe it was just me. Then we started to order the dream rolls and noticed some of them were premade sitting around waiting for someone to order. If you sit at the sushi bar you will notice they get 4 slices out of the dream rolls and if you only order an order (2pieces) they save the other two. This wouldn't be an issue if they were being sold quickly but a couple times I've ordered the fantasy roll, containing raw tuna, and it was oxidizing and it tasted not good. Not wanting to cause conflict I discarded them or gave them to my husband to eat. However, several weeks back I ate there and became pretty sick. I tried to convince myself that it was the Starbucks I had and not my sushi, like please all that is good don't take away my favorite place. (I have a strict policy of not eating somewhere that makes me sick ever again). We ate there a couple times after and have the above mentioned issues. HOWEVER, 1 week ago they were shut down by the health department. I asked them on Facebook why and they stated "We were closed to repair portions of the restaurant and clean around areas of recent water leaking from an AC unit on our roof. " Obviously dodging the fact they did not close voluntarily. Well WOWT news did a report on them and here are the findings. In addition to what it was the copy of the paper on TV showed something having to do with improper handling of chicken. & something else I wasn't able to read quick enough. "THE RESTAURANT STACKED UP 30 VIOLATIONS 13 OF THOSE ARE CRITICAL. EMPLOYEES WEREN'T WASHING HANDS BETWEEN TASKS THEY WERE TOLD TO NOT WIPE KNIVES ON CLOTHS -- AFTER CUTTING RAW FISH. MOLD WAS FOUND IN THE ICE MACHINE AND SANITIZER WAS TOO WEAK IN THE DISH MACHINE THE RESTAURANT COULDN'T PROVIDE DOCUMENTATION THAT RAW FISH FOR SUSHI WAS PROPERLY FROZEN. AND FOOD WAS STORED ON THE FLOOR IN THE COOLER -- WHEN IT SHOULD BE ON A SHELF TO KEEP PESTS FROM GETTING TO IT. THE RESTAURANT WAS FORCED TO CLOSE. INSPECTORS DID RETURN A WEEK LATER -- NOTICED AN IMPROVEMENT -- AND ALLOWED IT TO REOPEN." This is disgusting and shameful in my mind and I will not be returning to Sakura Bana to eat. Having spent a huge sum eating there this year this greatly saddens me. I guess I was wrong to hold them to higher standards, you would think the most popular sushi place in Omaha would have good health standards? I guess not. At the end of the day, I doubt mine or my family's opinions matter. The gentlemen who make the sushi are sweeties and MOST of the servers (not all of them) are sweet also but I cannot bring myself to eat here any longer. Goodbye my favorite restaurant =( read more

Sakura Bana - 4 soy paper spicy tuna hand rolls Massive meal for 1. Ikuo (Tony) was amazing and went out of his way to make it beautiful. =) - Japanese Near Me - Omaha, Nebraska

Great service and Very Delicious!! I loved everything I ordered from the appetizers to my noodles! My Spouse and I will definitely be returning!! read more

Classic Japanese sushi, food and experience including the hot hand towels. Been coming here for years, well managed, great service and consistently great food. An Omaha gem read more

I only go to 3 Japanese restaurants in Omaha and this is one of them. I've been going here when they were still called Sushi Ichiban. Located on 74th and Dodge, it's easy to spot. This is where I first fell in love with sushi. The sushi chefs here are Japanese and some of the servers too. Excellent service all the time. Although sometimes, there could be a wait but it's all good. They're friendly, pleasant and always with a smile on their face. The rolls and sashimi are great. Fresh fish. I love their lunch/dinner combinations too - you get an entree, sushi, rice, salad and soup for less then $10 for lunch and about $16 for dinner. They have a special dinner combo for less than $30 - 2 appetizers, 1 entree and dessert. They have a jellyfish appetizer and one of my favorites, takoyaki (battered balls of octopus) ! Their tofu steak is amazing...nice and garlicky. Negimayaki (scallions wrapped in thinly sliced beef in teriyaki sauce) is delicious. Shrimp tempura, udon and katsudon are fantastic. But my absolute favorite dish here is the beef teriyaki. The BEST I've had anywhere (yes, even better than the ones I've had in Japan). Sliced tender beef cooked medium rare. It comes on a sizzling plate with carrots and broccoli. The teriyaki sauce isn't the dominant flavor and you can actually enjoy the taste of meat. I simply love this place. One of my favorite restaurants in Omaha. read more

Loved it! Get one of the boxes and sample as much as possible! Had become one of our Omaha favorites.

I'm not really a fan of the food here. Which is too bad since it's the closest sushi restaurant to my house in town. Tried it for lunch and while they have a nice selection of menu items and lunch specials, nothing stood out enough to make me want to return. read more

Sakura-Bana has some of the best sushi and sashimi in the Midwest. For those who don't eat raw fish, Sakura-Bana's other dishes are excellent. Sushi aside, this little restaurant is an outstanding "peasant" style Japanese restaurant. Its sushi is national class. The restaurant used to be in a free-standing building that might have been something like a drive-in hamburger grill. Windows let in light from the outside, and the sushi bar, where the owner prepared the sashimi and sushi, was right in the center of the restaurant. Sakura-Bana no longer occupies that site near the hospitals. It now lives near Crossroads, in a storefront of one of the surrounding strip malls. The interior is darker, but actually nicer than the hospital site. The decor and ambience overall is a hair above average. I can't elaborate on the service. Very simply, it is excellent. The owner himself prepares the food and comes out to your table before and during the meal. The owner came from Japan as a sushi chef, opened Sakura-Ichiban, and simply made sushi, sashimi and other Japanese dishes that were as close to authentic as he could. For example, you can order something that resembles a fried crayfish, that is eaten head, shell and all. I am told this item is not available in most other Japanese restaurants in the Midwest. That might well be the case. I, for one, have never seen it before. Here is another example. Omaha residents will not be aware of this, but in most places throughout the Midwest where sushi is served, the sushi pieces are garnished with green plastic leaves that sometimes serve as dividers on the plate. This restaurant, in Omaha, uses the actual fresh leaf for this purpose, not a plastic replica. This leaf has a haunting, delicate, almost aromatic flavor that is difficult to describe. I think it is delicious. The owner would probably serve wasabi made directly from fresh wasabi leaves if he could. This would be not so much his attempt to match the upscale boutique restaurants' rare and unusual ingredients, so much as to strive for authenticity in reproducing the Japanese version of a dish here in Omaha, in Sakura-Ichiban. Other Japanese dishes such as tempura, ten-don, unagi-don, oyako-donburi, teriyaki, yakko tofu, and so on, are on the menu. These are all excellent, and authentic indeed. (Unfortunately the restaurant web site has been hijacked, and the menu is no longer available online.) Also on the menu are a combination sushi platter and a combination sashimi platter. Both are priced very reasonably. If you are a party of two, you might order one of each to share, supplemented by any a la carte sushi or other items that you care to order. All dinners come with sunomono, misoshiro, rice and tea. Finding the restaurant at its new location can be challenging. The storefronts do not all have numbers displayed. Call to get landmarks and further directions when you find the mall. There is plenty of parking. In fact, you can even park in the lot of the adjacent mall. In summary, Sakura-Bana serves some of the best sushi in the Midwest. The quality of its other menu items is outstanding. Service is excellent. Decor is slightly above average. Sakura-Bana is a true find, an exceptionally fine Japanese restaurant in Omaha that outshines most of the Japanese restaurants in all the Midwestern states. ==== 10-22-11: Sakura-Bana has reclaimed its formerly hijacked menu web site. The restaurant's Facebook page now has current photos and links to the menu. read more

I love this place! I've never had a bad, or even mediocre meal here. I almost always get crab Shumai, (sp?) a bento box with miso soup or fish broth, salad with carrot dressing, tempura shrimp & veggies, teriyaki fish, white rice and an orange. The food is really fantastic! The service is also unmatched. The only negative I have is that if you are taller than 5'7" do not sit in a booth! Unless you don't mind shoving the table away, rolling up in a ball and slithering under table to get out, (God help you if you have to go to the bathroom!) Sit at a table! I understand maximizing space, but for crying out loud, 1 less booth would do wonders for us tall peeps! read more

Great Japanese restaurant. Very simple and traditional, not trying to do the fusion weird stuff. Although it's still a little different than the real Japanese food you would have in Japan, this is the closest you will get in Omaha. The bento set was delicious like home cook comfort food, and you get a bit of everything. The portion was huge and price not very expensive especially for lunch. This is my go to Japanese restaurant. read more

Sakura Bana - Japanese Near Me - Omaha, Nebraska

Great atmosphere and clean! Staff was polite and friendly and overall it's comfortable. Sushi had an amazing presentation and was really good! They had a whole array of stuff to order and had me wanting to see what their hot plate options were. Very fun and really tasty! read more

First thing you see when you enter is a lovely atmosphere that is decorated just how you expect the place to look. I recommend to sit at the sushi bar and watch the talented chefs make some of the most interesting sushi you'll get in the midwest. We love trying new things on the menu every time we go, this last time we decided to try jellyfish and red octopus sushi. It wasn't my cup of tea but exciting none the less! Green Tea Ice Cream was delicious! My wife is a huge sushi fan and loves this place, we like to hit Sakura Bana up once every couple months. For the price its the best value in Omaha for Sushi! read more

Sakura Bana - Watching them make the rolls was part of the fun! Sit at the bar! - Japanese Near Me - Omaha, Nebraska

Excellent atmosphere, excellent service. Excellent food. Have been a customer for years and never disappointed.

The sushi here is ok, as are the prices. I've eaten here on several occasions, but it's not my favorite. The staff are always friendly. read more

Amazing! They offer such a wide variety of items on the menu, not just a California roll with a different topping. The staff is extremely friendly as well. I wouldn't say this place is cheap or expensive but priced accurately for the quality of the cuisine. I did only get take out this visit but I do look forward to a sit down dinner experience very soon. The ambiance is very cute, on a Thursday night there were a lot of families and a lot of couples enjoying their meal. read more

This is my most favorite place out of Blue and Hiro.Sakura Bana is authentic Japanese food the give the feeling when your really eating in Japan my favorite are Bento Box combo D with soba,miso,gyoza,tempura and tempura ice cream But in all great service with the food but at the sushi the chefs make the sushi look really good and food mouthwatering but if read this I give u a recommendation. read more

So yes it's not real fancy but it has the Best Sushi ...so fresh and the service is also wonderful. So glad they survived COVID...Salmon Avocado RollSpicy Salmon Roll read more

To me, this place is comfort. I've been coming here for years! The interior is casual, so don't expect fancy. Great sushi, great prices, warm and attentive service (without being annoying). I love it. read more

We love this place food is always outstanding. parking is awesome and the service is excellent.

Sooo glad my husband and I came here to ck this place out for din din. I've been craving sushi for a while so after looking through yelp, I thought we'd give this place a try considering they had all dishes I wanted such as the unagi bowl, sashimi and shrimp tempura! When we ordered all these dishes, you have salad and soup that comes with it. Can I tell you guys I was obsessed with their carrot salad dressing! The waitress asked if she can remove after seeing that I finished my salad but I was like NO! Hahah! Because I wanted it to dip my tempura in the left over dressing! Sooo good!!! Because I enjoyed it soo much, I had what was in the dressing and the waitress was really nice enough to ask the chefs/ BOH for the recipe. Toward the end of our dinner I was stuffed! Couldn't eat anymore and my husband had to have the tempura deep fried ice cream. I hesitated on ordering it because I didn't want to have a couple of bits and not be able to finish the rest but my husband literally inhaled it! He seemed to have really enjoyed this place as well! We will be coming back for more!!! Will def come back! read more

It's Omaha so I lower my expectations when it comes to sushi. Given that assumption I was actually expecting a better product given the reviews I've read on Sakura. We sat at the bar and the service was a little different. We only had interaction with the server and that was minimal at best. Items were simply dumped on the three of us to distribute ourselves. It's the sushi itself that I found lacking. The piece size was nice for raw fish nigiri style but the taste was less than satisfactory. The place is a bit run down and not as clean as other sushi joints I frequent. read more

This place was mediocre at best. I did not begin to have sushi until later in life when I was in Japan and figured I had to actually try it since I was there. Unfortunately, that seems to have tainted my sushi taste buds. We ordered a huge variety of sushi. Everyone had a little bit of each, I am not sure which ones we ordered, the server was pretty unsure too which was which. It did come out on a boat which I guess was a nice touch, however, the ones that I ordered were stuck amidship and when the ship went down they went down with it... read more

Sakura Bana - Japanese Near Me - Omaha, Nebraska

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We order from here many times a month! They've been so awesome even through COVID!! Here is our order from the other night. Soooo delicious.

Nothing compares to this restaurant- best in service and of course the food is awesome.

Incredible Japanese food and sushi. Everything was amazing. I come here almost every time I'm in town at Nebraska Furniture Mart since it's right around the corner. Had a group of seven and we went crazy ordering a huge amount of food and drinks, soups and salad with carrot ginger dressing and sashimi and rolls and yakisoba and sake and beers and udon and teriyaki and all kinds of stuff. And the check blew us away with how reasonable it was. Best Japanese place in town hands down, and a front runner for best sushi. 10/10 read more

Solid Japanese restaurant with a wide variety of decent dishes. I really enjoyed dining in the tea room for that authentic experience. It really made the meal more fun and memorable. I ordered the pork cutlet and it was well made. The outside was lightly fried with a crisp edge, but it was not dripping oil. The sauce paired well with the given rice and I enjoyed the hot green tea. The service was excellent. read more

I know that I can always expect a high level of service. The sushi chefs are passionate about their craft and willing to work with you to create something truly delicious. The menu is a bit intimidating but the servers are friendly and answer all your questions. Ask Yuki at the sushi bar for a Sakura Bana is one of the only authentic sushi places in Omaha with a huge selection of traditional dishes. No fried rice or wonton soup here! A cup of the home made miso soup and bowl of fresh carrot dressing on the house salad go well with all meals. If you are a beginner, the chicken teriyaki with special house sauce is a winner. If you are more adventurous, the Zombie Roll and New Mexico Roll and are a total steal. read more

Not from the Omaha area so I usually go based on yelp reviews. Drove all the way from my hotel by the airport to come eat here. The food was great, my waitress did a great job, but when the bill came I had asked to add some jalapeño to the rolls so the owner proceeded to charge me 50 cents on each roll extra and on 1 piece of Nigiri 75cents extra. I did not know jalapeños are anything special that I had to pay $1.75 for a few slices!! Bad way to welcome people from out of town!! Never coming back!! read more

Better than your run-of-the-mill sushi place in Nebraska. The staff are friendly and fast. Usually the atmosphere is quiet where you can have good conversation with friends without having to yell over a hustle and bustle of a normal restaurant noise. The chef knows what he is doing, and always makes beautiful sushi rolls. The chef does take pride in his creations, and is willing to make off-menu items. I wouldn't make this a regular stop, but it is worth a once a 3-month visit or so to get a good sushi fix. read more

Terrible service and mediocre food. Waited about 45 minutes for my food(they got the order wrong) and it tasted nasty. The restaurant also looks very dirty. I've given this place many chances, but I finally give up. read more

Sushi was good, but the calamari had a weird, thick batter instead of the traditional Japanese batter I assumed it would have. Pricey too.

Went here for lunch last week, and it's taken me a while to write a review, because I'm still not sure what to think. I guess that means three stars. Lunch crowd consisted of only 3 tables so service was fast and friendly. My first issue was with the menu. It's confusing for a first timer, I guess. I finally settled on seafood and mushrooms in a teriyaki sauce. The food tasted ok, but nothing different than any other Japanese restaurant in town. This is not a great choice for value seekers either. Prices across the menu were a few dollars higher than I've seen elsewhere. Combine that with average flavor, and I don't know what would make me come back. Don't get me wrong, the food is fine, and if you're wealthy, the prices won't bother you. But you should know that there are better choices in Omaha. read more

My caveat here is I have never had sushi in a midwestern town. I am from NYC and now live in Hawaii, and was passing through on a road trip. I heard rave things from some locals so wanted to try it myself. I also should say that the other 3 people at my table loved their food (all 3 are from here and 2 still live here). I was not impressed. The sea weed salad was so fishy I actually couldn't eat it. The teriyaki mushrooms were good but so soaked in sauce it actually looked like a soup! The sushi was just meh. Nothing special but luckily nothing fishy like the seaweed salad. I tried my friends chicken katsu- also underwhelmed. The place is clean and has parking, and the wait staff was nice. read more

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My favorite thing on the menu is the shrimp tempura! The sushi is good as well. The service was outstanding! I forgot my box, and the waiter followed me out the door to hand it to me. Very thoughtful. I've been here many times, and will continue to go back. read more

My son's Japanese class goes here every year and he absolutely loves it. He brought the rest of the family here this week. We got to sit in the tea room section which was fun. Great bento boxes and the soup is a gigantic bowl. Definitely will come again when we are in midtown. read more

When it comes to sushi, I'll eat just about anything you put in front of me, and I'm not difficult to please. My experiences with Sakura Bana have been mostly favorable, but I've also had some epic failures that I don't often experience when eating sushi other places. I ordered one of their rolls with tuna that came with some sort of sauce that was not specified on the menu, and that I could not identify. The only comparison that I can make is it's how I imagine mayonaise would taste if left outside for an afternoon in Arizona during July. Aside from this experience with this mystery sauce, I have been pleased with my meals here. The location is convenient and the service is always quite good. read more

Great restaurant for sushi and other Japanese foods. Friendly service, clean restaurant and nice menu selections. Will definitely be going back again read more