** For the sushi bar only ** I love coming out here for sushi. They can tend to get very busy on saturdays so it's best to either go early or go during the week. I always get their seaweed salad to start and then a bunch of different rolls and sushi. Everytime I come the service is excellent - it apprears to be only 1 woman for the entire area but she does a great job. The food is also top notch and pretty reasonable compared to other places in the area. We always order a california roll, spicey tuna role, phili roll and usually another type of roll and we've had NO complaints. I like that they don't rush you to hurry up and eat. read more

First time there was Saturday night..no reservation wait an hour and a half to be seated..worth the wait though..be sure to make reservations read more

The best teppanyaki restaurant there is! This is one of my favorite restaurants to eat. The sushi isn't the best quality but I usually go to eat at the grill. Depending on what chef you get, the food is great! read more

This place was okay. I would still prefer Benihana in Sterling. Staff was not bad, but not welcoming either. We sat at the grill, but found the ambiance to be a little boring. read more

I can't speak to the hibachi, but for the sushi side of the house the service was really good and prompt but the food left a lot to be desired. The menu isn't too descriptive so you have to hope it's similar to what you have experienced in other places. There aren't too many choices in specialty rolls and we all kind of agreed it was bland or a little off-tasting somehow. We all had leftovers and decided to pass rather than take it along. read more

Normally, I love Sakura. My family is very particular, so this is one place where everyone usually ends up satisfied and full by their meal. We don't come for the entertainment. We come for the food. Unfortunately, our most recent visit to the Fair Lakes location resulted in no food for us. It was an overall very bad customer service experience and we ended up leaving after being seated, but before we were waited on. I honestly did not feel the manager that evening cared if we stayed to eat or not. We had a party of 11. I believe our experience was a side effect of some internal in-fighting at the restaurant, but we left feeling unwelcome. Summary: 1. I witnessed an argument among staff (between manager and hostess it seemed). 2. The manager told us the hostess should not have seated us yet after we had been seated. 3. The manager told us the next party would be served before our party because 2 people had yet to arrive (they were pulling into the parking lot and we had been seated for less than 5 minutes). While 1. was unpleasant, I simply do not believe 2. and 3. should have even happened. Shouldn't a restaurant make you feel welcome? I am not sure I can return to this restaurant although it has always been one of my favorites. I will most likely stick to the Tysons location from now on. My message to the management: Let your staff do their jobs. And once your customers have been seated, just serve them. Why expose them to your internal drama? I did not felt welcome from the moment I had stepped into the restaurant. With 3 unsatisfactory interactions before even being offered a drink, my pride just got the better of me and I finally just said, "I'm sorry. Let's just leave." Whatever the manager was trying to do, it simply resulting in making his guests feel unwelcome. That night, I was really looking forward to a nice dining out experience with my big family. It was supposed to be easy since we would fill the entire hibachi table - there should have been no issue. I am very sad that I won't be able to return there. I guess the help wanted sign and the mostly empty restaurant was a sign of how the restaurant has degraded. I don't know what the manager was so worried about. But, it led to a very unwelcoming experience. read more

The sushi bar was amazing and the chefs were working diligently. The sushi was so good. The waitress was really nice. I would definitely recommend to my friends and family :) read more

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The only time it is unsafe for a baby to be around fire and a hot grill is if that said baby was thrown on top of it. I am pretty sure that most parents don't toss their babies on top of the grill or the volcano of fire when they come to the restaurant. So I think the babies are safe here. read more

Good enough sushi. Prices are on par with other sushi places. Getting a bunch of rolls is more cost effective than getting the sushi/sashi delux. read more

Now this is a nice big place! I would bring folks here for a special occasion or a family event. However, the young ladies who work here (Korean gals) are nice, but the ones that work the hostess counter are a bit underwhelming if you have any request other than "table for XX people". What I mean is that if you want to ask any questions or have any requests for seating your party, they devolve into total chaos. My family and I were left staring at the confusion and frustration shown by the staff when we asked to be seated at a table while the rest of our family was arriving. Instead of letting us sit, they wanted the 15 of us to wait around the smallish entry area until 3 other family members arrived. This is with three 5-yo toddlers in our party all about to start a riot unless we were seated. Anyway, we were disappointed that night. Still, the food is good and the space is large, and there is not too many other places in Fairfax who can accomodate a larger party, so I guess this one will have to stay in the good ol' Rolodex! read more

Wow! Great experience. We enjoyed the food watching the chef prepare the food while he was entertaining us in a magically foodsy way, if that is a word! We loved every moment and every bite of it. read more

We love coming here for teppanyaki! The wait staff is attentive and we've been lucky to always have entertaining chefs. The latest one we had (2/25/12) kept our four-year-old enthralled, even fixing the food toss so that only the tot caught it in his mouth while the rest of us missed or got smacked in the face! My only complaint is too much dressing on the salad. Gochisousama deshita! read more

I just had the worst dinner ever! It's my sons bday and my family decided to celebrate it at the Fair Lakes location. I thought Ashton Kutchur was gonna jump out from under a table and tell me I was being punk'd!! It was that bad!! First we waited to be seated for some reason and there were a lot of empty tables. Second, we waited 35 min before the guy came out and started to cook our food at the table, keep in mind my three boys are under 10, hungry and tired on a school night. After the food comes out the guy that was cooking our food had absolutely NO experience!! BORING!! He barely even spoke to us! Blah blah blah.... To top the night off I told the waitress it was my sons bday so she brings us a cheese cake with a nicely lit candle and says, "do you want a song?". Who asks that to the bday boy????!! That is just rude!! Of course we want a song!!! LOL!! Anyways, my recommendation is, don't bother!! The Tyson's location is fantastic!! We went there two weeks ago for my husbands bday and had a great experience;). Fair Lakes is just Ghetto!!! read more

Loved this place. Been to the Tysons location and was not a fan, too dark and dingy. This location was great, busy Sunday and we waited about 10 mins for a party of four. Food was quick, chef was fun, waitress very attentive, will definitely be back!! read more

Have been eating here for over a year, and the food and service has declined over time. This week my family and I came in for dinner and a roach ran across the table. We left and went to Olive Garden. read more

First time trying this restaurant out. Everything seems to be OK until the server forced me twice to take steamed rice. I ordered my food without onions, and fried rice without onions. He told me it's pre mixed in the rice. The hell it's not. The onions we're pre mixed in the vegetables. And the vegetables are on top of the rice. After the third time I insisted on taking fried rice. He said OK we'll manage. Smh, lazy. read more

If I could give a ZERO I would. Stay away from the Fairlakes Sakura location!! My family and I have come to this restaurant more times than I can count and they have all been pleasurable experiences. However, it only takes one BAD experience for me to turn me against an establishment. This particular experience made it very clear to me how grossly dishonest this type of dining set up is. My family and I sat down to eat hibachi. It was my husband, 2 kids and myself went to eat and ordered two adult meals and one split kids meal. Sitting at the table with us were three other adults. The chef came out when over the orders with everyone to confirm. He started to lay the meat out and we noticed there were only 3 chicken breasts when there should have been 4. The 4th would have been our kids dinner. We asked the chef about it and he said it was there. To make a long story short our kids meal was never cooked. Instead the chef chopped all the chicken up for myself the two other adults and my kids. In laments terms he split three entrees up and made 6. Not only did that take away from my meal and my two kids but it robbed the other two guests of their full meals. After dinner we talked to the manager and explained to him the situation. This is where it becomes disgusting and ridiculous..... He had the audacity to tell us that he would remove the kids entree from our bill but that he would have to charge us for the rice!!! My mouth fell to the floor with absolute disbelief. We looked at him and said So you're charging us extra for rice that your chef took from my husband and my entrees plus the other three adults entrees because our children's entree was never brought out. The lack of principle and customer service at this establishment is pathetic. The quality of customer service is below grade. It has been made dominantly clear that hibachi grills charge you $24 or more for ordered entrees and give you a third of what you've purchased. Please be aware of this particular Sakura restaurant. If you want to dine here find another place. Discussing anything of dissatisfaction with any of the management here is like talking to a Neanderthal. read more

Typical Japanese steakhouse style. We sat a large group on the steakhouse side and those that asked for sushi menus were looked upon with scorn. How dare these individualistic Americans! The side orders from the steakhouse side were tiny-- I ordered the mushrooms which ended up being 4 spoonfuls for 4 dollars (though they were fantastic fried in herbed butted). The sushi was good for a chain, but slow to receive. Waitress was fairly clueless, even taking away a soup bowl that had been delivered while someone was in the bathroom before they even got back without touching it. Oh well, it was under my per diem and I stuffed myself with as many rolls as I thought possible. No Virginia roll? Dirty South roll? I tease, but I have had an Indiana roll before which would be even crazier. read more

This was the fourth time we have gone back to Sakura after our 1st visit. (total of 5 visits). The first was very good, service was OK. Each subsequent visit, there has been a slight deterioration in both service and food, especially the service. Last night was the worst ever. The server, when asked to serve the 4 of us water in addition to our drink order, became overwhelmed and eventually brought two waters for the four of us. When we did get anything, it was after a long wait. The Japanese style salad was swimming in dressing, the miso soup was average to below average. Our "Hibachi chef", who's job is to entertain while cooking, did almost nothing fun after he made the traditional "onion volcano". He never even looked up from the grill on the rare occasion when he spoke. There are plenty of other places to get sushi and or Japanese steakhouse food. I recommend you try those instead. read more

This was my second time at this location and was not very happy. The service is not good at all. It was an early Sunday afternoon when we were last here. We sat down and the lady who was taking our order was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. She took our food and drink order and we didn't see our drinks until the cook was halfway done making our food. That is also only because we asked if we could have our water that we ordered and she looked confused until she realized that she never brought it out to us. Also I was eating my soup and the lady was collecting bowls from those who were finished and swept my bowl right from under my mouth. I stopped her by saying "I'm still eating that"! She said sorry but sheesh can you be a bit more observant! Then there was our cook, he had a bad attitude and said nothing the entire time except when demanding for people to hold their plates up so he could serve them. It's a shame that this place has just gone down hill, they could do so well if they had a better staff. Food wasn't even seasoned that well, so I will not be returning. I must also add that they weren't even busy. There were 3 tables sitting that weren't even filled. read more

This is a very solid Japanese steak house. Although I personally felt that the quality of food at Benihana is superior, this place comes in a close second. The better thing about this restaurant though is that the restaurant is better lit than Benihana and also the chef seemed more engaging. If you do not like to interact with new people during dinner this place is definitely not for you as our chef tried to get everyone involved at the table. I had steak, shrimp and scallop at this place and all of it was pretty good. I would be willing to come back here because it was not bad and also the price is better than other similar restaurants. read more

The best place to get your favorite steak and sushi. I am quite picky when it comes to restaurants but Sakura is one of my favorites.

Very friendly staff, typical hibachi dinning area. I've only had sushi take out once prior to tonight therefore had no expectations. Having been to many hibachi restaurants to compare this one to, the food here was mediocre at best. There seemed to be a problem with the ventilation because the amount of smoke on the hibachi side resembled being inside a hookah bar!!! I requested miso soup rather than onion soup which I enjoyed along with the side salad with tasty ginger dressing (both 4 stars). I ordered steak and shrimp both tasty, cooked as requested. The rice was crispy and tasted a tad burnt... The chef was nice but barely interactive which is not that important since all places are nearly the same, I'd rather just get my food cooked but sorry for those who have never experienced "the show" based on this guy they would have had to YouTube it. I gave 3 stars because the food wasn't that bad and the service was great but 2.5 for food and smokiness solely if there was a clear rating distinction. read more

I've been to this place many times and found it mostly pleasant. But on the latest occasion, the hostess was simply atrocious! We were a party of 7 and three of us showed up when the place opened at 4:30 PM for diner. Since we were waiting for an additional 4 people we decided to be seated in the sushi area for sashimi and drinks while we waited. I had specifically informed the hostess that our party was arriving soon. We then finished our appetizer and closed our bill to get ready for the hibachi grill. I Informed the hostess again to put our name down. She said she would seat us once our party arrives. Our party arrived and we asked again. She told us to wait for her. But in the meantime she started seating other guess that had arrived after us. She gave no explanation to us why. When we asked, she rudely responded that she will seat us after others in the now packed waiting area and gave no explanation. The service is simply unacceptable. Also my pregnant wife was seated at an empty seat over at one of the tables. The host had rudely asked her to get up out of her chair without nicely asking. This will be our last time at this establishment! read more

Worst Sushi and terrible management. Been coming here for 15 years since my wife and I moved to Fairfax. Came here on a Saturday afternoon and ordered 3 spicy tuna roll with 2 colleagues, one who is Japanese and born in Japan and one who is Korean, born in Korea. What we got was a few very tiny bits of tuna mashed together and drenched in spicy paste. This was spicy paste and rice roll. Not spicy tuna roll. We contemplated whether to bother to say anything and decided to very politely voice our complaint to server who told the chef (very polite) and then the manager ( who was extremely rude) and he took 1 roll off. Was not the money at all that bothered me, we spent $140 on the tab it was the lack of acknowledgement by the server, the chef and the manager on duty that this was not sushi that was upsetting. Spoke to manager one final time ( huge waste of time) and was told it was ground tuna and leftover bits and that everyone in this area does the same with spicy tuna. I asked why it was the same price then as regular tuna ( which we also ordered) shouldn't it be less? He went on crying about his profit margin and overhead etc... Also it would hurt the sushi chefs feelings if he told him there was a problem. I told him that the customers feeling are important too. I told him after 15 years we would never come back again. He told me sorry in an insincere manner. That was it. Do not order the sushi here! read more

Very good sushi for the area, and the grilled yellowtail jawbone is excellent. It has a good bar with three TVs, which makes it comfortable to eat alone. read more

Everything was great! Food was delicious. The only thing we didn't like was sharing a table with someone else.

I have always love Sakura but I don't know what happened this time first of all we had to wait a really long time table even someone that came after us got the table first then once we got our table the chef couldn't even get a order the way it should be someone didn't even eat because For some reason now you're not allowed to do personal meals the way that it usually was before it was crazy so if you want great food then go on over read more

Usually go to Sakura and love it, but this time was different. First, we had to wait 40 minutes to get a seat. Then, we were seated with two mean,redneck ladies. One person in my group had a dietary restriction, so we told the order taker and she said it's fine. Unfortunately, when the chef came, he and the manager said per request of the redneck ladies' preferences, he would not be able to put no oil on the persons food. So we told the manager because we were ten people and they were two and he said that even the majority shouldn't get the most. The manager was very rude. Ended up getting uncle Julio, never going back. read more

Outstanding food. Always seated within 10 minutes if there is a wait. Have tried pretty much everything but suishi is great real fresh. Favorite meal is Filet Mignon, shrimp and scallops. read more

I ordered shrimp & scallops, that's usually my staple choice when it comes to hibachi. The food had literally no flavor. Why was there corn in my fried rice? The shrimp and scallops were grilled but with literally no sauce or anything on them. It was the grossest, blandest food I've ever had. I had to drown the entire meal in yumyum sauce to give it taste. Definitely never going back. read more

Food is good. Chef and waiters are great but the host needs more training. Host exhibits poor customer service skills. We called ahead to make reservations only to be told they don't accept reservations. Yet, when we got there we were asked if we had a reservation. Talk about conflicting information. read more

We really enjoyed Sakura. I've been told that the one in Tysons is favored by some friends over this one, but I haven't been there yet, so I can't say. The food is fresh, the atmosphere is fun and the chefs are good. Service is friendly and food is YUMMY! Everything I would expect and want out of a hibachi restaurant! read more

One of our favorite places to eat in Fairfax, great, friendly service and the food has been great. Tried most of the dinner entries and the sushi. All very good. read more

I hate to write this review because I've been to the Sakura in Fair Lakes several times, but I feel as though the quality has gone down significantly. My family and I went this past weekend and I can say that not only have the portions gotten smaller but the quality was not up to bar. The vegetables were not fresh, skimpy on the bean sprouts, and we did not have a good chef. Really felt like he wasn't paying attention. He burned all of our veggies and even the shrimp. He knew he was burning the shrimp so he kept putting the ones he burnt to the side. Several people ordered seafood and he kept it on the grill way too long. The fried rice was overly salted because of the amount of soy sauce he put on it. Need better chefs, fresher ingredients, and to go back to their regular portion size. Additionally, because we were so disappointed, I called in later and asked to speak with a manager. He said that he was sorry and due to it being Father's Day they were busy and maybe there was a lack of attention paid to the food. Doesn't make sense to me at all. He advised that if I come back, ask for him and he will "see" what he can do. read more

had to wait a long time for group seating, but our chef was very good and the hibachi was delicious, the waiter was very attentive as well and looked like he was watching our chef to learn. good atmosphere read more

My fiancé and I only ever go to the sushi side but we've never left disappointed. Food is well prepared and the service is great. We always feel welcome when coming in. read more

This restaurant has amazing quality food and great beverages. I've been to this restaurant more than four times! The only thing is that the sushi is a bit dull, other than that though the restaurant is great! read more

Mediocre hibachi meal. Sushi was soggy and wrapping was loose. Took 10 mins to get a side of spicy mayo and was even charged for it. Won't be coming back. read more

Habachi is good but over priced. Sushi will do if you want something close by.