Please ignore any of the bad reviews, these people obviously have no appreciation for restaurant workers trying their best to keep up with customers during a pandemic! Have been going here for years and the people working there are always very friendly, the food is great as well. They have great vegetarian options too. Would recommend. read more

The best sushi place I've been able to find in Alameda so far. Even though I've been working here for less than three months I think I can say that I've researched the local eateries a fair amount. However, today I learned something new. Kai is not the best sushi place in Alameda, it is Sakura. One waitress, one chef, eight tables, great sushi. What else do you need? We had: Seaweed salad: Above average. Tempura appetizer: A bit greasy but the oil that was used for frying was fresh and clean flavored. Above average. Black dragon roll: 4.5/5 Delicious, perfect amount of hotness. Kamikaze roll: Great. Very refreshing. Red dragon roll: Not the best, the salmon was not too high quality. Some daikon wrapped roll: Not good, don't go there. We had some other roll. I forgot the name. It was great too, 4.5/5 Overall, I'm giving this place 5 stars because it has everything that it can/needs to have without seeming to even try. The chef is skilled, the waitress is cordial and attentive, food is great, fish is fresh and tasty, and the prices are reasonable. Enjoy read more

Clean place, good service (the lady kept filling our mugs with yummy green tea!), tasty food! My friend and I had just enough food and spent about $30. For sushi, that's pretty good. I totally recommend their Treasure Island Roll! It's wrapped with cucumber and the cilantro simply makes it so refreshing, you can't stop eating them! read more

Sakura Restaurant - Treasure Island Roll - Japanese Near Me - Alameda, California

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I was not expecting much. Little place, doesn't look tiny and authentic, or huge and well traveled, which Alameda has plenty of. Oh man, our selection was GOOD! Surprisingly so, in fact, and we've been back several times. Generous servings, but best of all, quality fish! Fresh and tasty! Win! read more

My SIL & I meet here frequently to catch up on each other's dramas. We enjoy coming here because of their friendliness and they make decent food. It's not the best or authentic Japanese food, but they put care into their dishes. Sometimes they can take forever (I have seen several people checking their watches after 20 minutes or so), but it is because the chefs are meticulousy preparing the food. So just FYI, dont come here if you have plans immediately after dinner. read more

I've been going here for years so it's time I finally showed my support. This is my "go to" place when I want a great meal quickly with no fuss. The food is consistently high quality and prices are reasonable... just what you want in a place that you "go to" over and over. The staff is very friendly and the service is very good. Some of my favorite dishes: beef udon, nabe udon, bento box with chicken katsu + red snapper, spicy tuna rolls, hamachi kama... writing this is making me hungry... oot. read more

Great food, small resturant atmosphere, not fancy, reasonably priced. I eat here on a regular basis, I've eaten at all of the local sushi places and find it tasty and reliable. Service is perfect, I walk in, the waitress knows what I want. The only question is big beer or small, no compalainta after hundreds of visits. I am not surprised by the high 4/5 star rating. I get the Black Dragon Roll and the seaweed salad. I have tried almost everything on the menue and keep going back to the Dragon. My favorite eaterie in all of Alameda. If I want to impress someone, I take them here. I have run into various off spring in here, so it isn't just me. read more

They have some very creative vegetarian rolls. This is my new favorite sushi place.

Sakura is my favorite place to get sushi in Alameda! I've loved every dish of theirs that I've tried. Favorites include the Avocado Bomb, the Lion King, and the Hawaii Beach. Their food is consistently excellent and everyone at the restaurant is always very kind and helpful. I can't recommend this place highly enough! Also, we recently got takeout here in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis and they were very careful and safe about the delivery process. read more

I don't know if it was just an off night or if the place is under new ownership, but in the words of Charles Barkley, our meal was "terrible, just terrible." The place was hot and had an off smell to it. While the fish itself was at room temperature and had very little flavor, the last straw for me was our waitress refilling our water glasses with warm, ice-less tap water. Overall, just a miserable dining experience. I'll follow up here tomorrow if I wind up having to call in sick from work. read more

I love this place. The fish always tastes fresh and the service is friendly. The same chef is always there and the sushi rolls are consistently delicious. The prices are just right too! I think a lot of Kai's customers started going to Sakura after it closed for renovation-it's gotten a lot more crowded this year. The waitress has forgotten to bring us food that we ordered a couple of times and still charged us for them. It all worked out in the end (we didn't have to pay for something we never received) but you have be on top of it. Overall, a nice no frills atmosphere with tasty, fresh sushi. read more

Our thanks to you for the snapper that we had last night (9/15/2013)...it was so fresh and tender, you could feel the ocean breeze from it...it was so great to pair with either Port (our collection of Benziger and Charles Krug)...you should check out the photos to share the joy that we had...the fish broth was rich, a 10 out of 10...the dessert (creme brulee) was perfect with its light sweetness (Michelle used block brown sugar instead the modified white sugar) and a good touch of vanilla bean (from Mexico), bold but subtle flavor...hoping all the very best to your new adventure with Sunny...we can't wait to visit your new establishment at the very near future... read more

I was really busy running around Alameda the other day, and I just happened to pass a sushi restaurant I had never noticed before. I decided to order the bento box for lunch. The place was kind of dingy inside, the walls were damaged from some high backed chairs or something, and the place was deserted. I ordered the Beef Teriyaki Bento box and was very dissappointed. It cost an extra dollar for it, but the beef was fatty, chewy and bland. The rice was not fresh and the salad dressing on the salad was bitter and sour. I was very disappointed! Maybe the rolls are better. I will be back to try it again, maybe it was a fluke, right? read more

This place is a hidden gem, the cold weather just hit and my girlfriend and I were craving some udon. Yelp steered us here. Came in about 8 on a Saturday and there was only one other table who was about to leave. There is one server and one sushi chef, both greeted us as we came in. We Ordered: - Poke Appetizer, in house dressing, seemed like a mix of lemon, sriracha, kewpie mayo. very fresh - Beef Udon, delicious it hit the spot - Vegetable Udon, she enjoyed hers as well - Salmon Sashimi Pizza, I would come here again just for this. lots of big pieces of salmon on top of panko crusted crispy rice with just a bit of kewpie between. I could eat just the crispy rice alone. We were the only ones there until another couple came in. Then more people started trickling in, all who seemed like regulars. Before we knew it it was full house in this tiny place. As they trickled in a few to go orders went out as well. The place became packed before we knew it. Sakura gets bonus points for their udon being accompanied with a small bottle of japanese pepper seasoning, "Nanami Togarashi". That stuff is amazing. So much so that I took a photo of it to remember what it was so I can get some at home. I was shaking more over each bite as my girlfriend laughed at how much I was enjoying the peppery goodness. As we enjoyed out meal we agreed we've found a new place to call ours. We'll definitely be back to try out some of their rolls, which I have high hopes for as the poke and salmon were quite good. A few days later the cold weather made us crave the same meal, but they were closed around 4 so we settled for Kai's that day. We definitely should have waited till 5 to come here. read more

I was seated and then ignored completely for 20 minutes. I got up and left. Don't know if the food is good!

I absolutely love going to Sakura. Hubby and I have been going there weekly or biweekly for very long time because the food is amazing, Sunny is great and the peeps working there are very hard working people with always a smile on their faces. Go Sakura!!!! read more

Screw stuck-up sushi restaurants! I'm all for fresh, delicious, fairly-priced fish... and Sakura's got the goods. Try their Aztec roll!

Came here for #OaklandMarathon. Food was good and Yanni was great. They did run out of cilantro, but what are you going to do? Would definitely come back. read more

Just ordered and ate the poke seaweed salad and whole baby octopus. Salad had an odd aftertaste and octopus seemed over cooked and just not good. I'm really not picky with food but won't be coming back. read more

The gf and I have many different categories for umm "Sushi" I wont go into details and name the other places and why we like them since this is about Sakura after all. When we come here is when we are not in the mood for much rice, or anything too traditional, we come here when we don't want to get stupid drunk and eat rolls named after cartoons, or cities actually i think they do have the alameda roll here haha. anyway we come here for fresh fish- Sashimi to be exact. We know it wont be a large variety of fish but we also know that it will be fresh and cheap. Simone F usually gets a bowl of Udon to round up the meal. All in all this place is YAY-OK. in my book. read more

The one star is essentially because the restaurant was relatively clean (and Yelp doesn't allow no-star ratings). We ordered tempura udon, ramen, rainbow rolls and the lion king. Tempura was dripping with grease (and I LIKE grease) -- totally inedible. The rolls were highly vinegar-ed. My normally-unpicky daughter could not eat the lion king roll. The udon had a very thin, cloudy YELLOW broth with over cooked noodles. We had to ask for ginger and wasabi. I'm probably missing some other things. You will get a much better meal at YO Jimbo, Sushi House...even that sushi place near Knob Hill. read more

After trying out all the sushi places around Alameda, this has been my favorite by far. Their fish is always fresh and I love trying out all their different rolls. There are the usual rolls that you'll find at any other sushi places like the Cherry Blossom, Lion King, or Rainbow Roll, but they also have strange creations such as Sushi Pizza or the Monkey Roll. As odd as they sound, trust me, they're all delicious. Their donburi and bento boxes are good as well, but it's udon that hits the spot on cold days. The service is what makes eating here more enjoyable. There is usually the same waitress working, so service can be slow when it's crowded, but you'll never catch her cranky or overwhelmed. Their chef is also friendly as well, waving and flashing smiles when we come and leave and observing people as they eat to make sure they're enjoying his masterpieces. They earn an extra star for extra care of customers. When a friend of mine thought the salad tasted off, the waitress didn't get angry or irritated, but instead gave us complimentary dessert for any problems they might've caused. It was sweet and unexpected. It's hard to find a place with wonderful service and food, so hurry up and go to Sakura already! read more

Forget all the negative review the popular items here and the rolls are really good. Plus I love oyster shooters only $5! My 1st time here and I'll be back. read more

The Kamikaze Roll is delicious - spicy tuna, asparagus topped with albacore scallions with ponzu. We also had the oyster shooters which were extremely salty, I'll skip out on those next time. Service is really attentive, our waiter even brought over all their sake bottles for my friend and me to pick from. read more

fresh sashimi! i love the seafood salad. its SO good. and the slices of fish are always huge!! i love the salmon sushi pizza.... godzilla... lion king... and ... i dont even know! all of the rolls! well most of the rolls... the employees here are nice...and most important the fish is fresh. hahaha. only -1 star because of the parking.. i usually find one after circling for like 10 minutes. esp in the alameda traffic... hahaha ill be back though when i need a good fixing of uni and amaebi and hamachi and a nice cold sapporo read more

On New Year's Day this was one of the only spots open in Alameda. Our go to, Kamakura was unfortunately closed so we gave this place a shot. Never again. I want to give more stars because really the food was pretty decent, but the service was so so bad. Maybe this place just opened and they are working out the kinks? The decor was minimalist. The walls were blank with one super bright led light over each table to give the feeling of an interrogation room. Once seated, we waited about 10 minutes before seeing our server. Then we waited another 10 to place our order. After that we waited about 35 minutes for our food to come out. Two sushi rolls and katsu. It just wasn't worth the wait. read more

I think Sakura is really underrated! The sushi is delicious--especially the vegetarian sushi. The servers are always very friendly and really nice to my 2 year old (who can be challenging to eat with). I'd go here over anywhere else in Alameda for sushi. read more

My husband and I came here for a nice dinner after playing golf. We were referred to this place by a friend that boasts about the portions. We were impressed by the nigiri slices that were so big it was hard to put it in your mouth. We ordered hamachi, sake, maguro nigiri. Then we ordered the red dragon roll that was tempura shrimp with sake salmon on top. That was delicious. We also ordered the Sakura roll that was ok and the hamachi roll. I would come back her and just order the nigiri since the amount of fish to rice ratio is 3 to 1. I loved it. Will come again. read more

Sakura and Kamakura are the two sushi restaurants in Alameda I regularly go to. I actually flip a coin when I'm in the mood for sushi. Then I become sad when I realize I can't have both (CURSE THE ECONOMY!!). But the main reason I'm reviewing is because it's a nice hidden little gem in Alameda that should be recognized more rather than be called as, "that small place that I kinda notice whenever I pass by the restaurant that used to be La Pinata." Last time I went to Sakura's was after I watched "Jiro Dreams of Sushi." I was so hungry from the pretty cinematography of beautiful, glistening pieces of sushi that I thought, "I never had Sakura's nigiri." I ordered Hamachi (Yellow Tail) and Tako (Octopus) nigiri. Hamachi was the cleanest I've ever tasted; it tingled my tongue and made me dance. It must've been fresh because I've read other reviews that complained that they had thawed fish. The Tako had a nice chew and clean bite; you can tell that it was massaged well and it should be in order to get the right texture. What I really love about this place is the sushi rolls. There's a thoughtfull-ness on textures and temperatures that I haven't seen as much at other sushi restaurants. For example, the Monkey Roll is fried and crispy on the outside, but warm and soft on the inside. The Salmon Sushi Pizza and the Black Dragon Roll are one of my regular orders. I would tell you about other rolls, but I have a bad memory on what I order. Every time I'm there, I just look at the menu and say, "I WANT DAT ONE AND DAT ONE!!" read more

SALMON PIZZA AND FTW!!!! I seriously love this place for its twists on traditional sushi and sashimi. Sure, you can get the regular rolls here but I come here for their crazy inventions such as the Salmon Pizza. So what is this thing?? Basically its a rice crust which is battered in tempura, deep fried, and then toped with Salmon Sashimi, some nice selections of fish egg, a few other decrotive goodies and then placed in front of you for extreme termination. Seriously, its freaking amazing and comes in several flavors; from Unagi to others... You must remember, this place is small and has only a handful of tables but the price is right and the sushi is great. Like I said, come here for their neat rolls and custom creations. The only way to go... and leave like a pig stuffed!!! read more

Always yummy. Been here a handful of times for lunch. Service is quick and fish is fresh. I usually ask what's fresh and get some various nigiri. read more

YES. Just moved into the area and my boyfriend and I are huge sushi fans, so we decided to try out Sakura on a Monday night when I just didn't feel like cooking. Or waiting for food to cook. We had passed by Sakura before and decided it was time to try it. And I am so glad we did. Boyfriend had the sushi sampler and he said it was all excellent. While a lot of sushi places give you ten pieces of different fish, Sakura did two pieces each of six different types, which was kind of nice. We shared the avocado bomb (which is a whole avocado wrapped around tuna). It was neat, but I think next time we'll just get an avocado-tuna roll. I also had the ramen, which was a first for me at a japanese restaurant. Usually when we go out for sushi, we stick to the fish. However, for whatever reason, I got the ramen and it was huuuuuuge. The biggest bowl of ramen I had ever seen. I would have liked a bit more pork belly, but that can be added next time. The broth was delicious and flavorful. We'll definitely be back. read more

This has been our "go to" Japanese restaurant for years -- best in Alameda. Delicious full sushi menu, grilled salmon, and more at good prices, with modern, stylish decor. The owner is upbeat and friendly, and she warmly welcomes us back each time! read more

I live down the street from this place and order take out quite often. I usually get the poke salad and red dragon roll. I have not yet been disappointed by the quality of food or service they provide. It's a solid option for great sushi in Alameda. Also a very nice place to bring a date ;) read more

I will have to start by saying I'm not much of a sushi eater, but tonight's dinner at Sakura Restaurant was quite lovely. This is a hole in the wall blink twice and you will miss it type of place, but it was very clean and not crowded with an excess of decorations. The tables are small and not many of them so I can see this place getting overwhelmed with people. The wait staff were friendly and quick. My food was fresh and tasty. I had a bento box with terriyaki chicken and tempura. Loved the tempura! Since I always play it safe I had a California roll which was really good. My cousin on the other hand got more creative and had a Rainbow roll which she said she enjoyed. Next time I will step out of the box and order something not so ordinary. read more

Aside from the loud mouth annoying group taking up most of the sushi bar (while waiting for take out!) I had a great meal here. The fish was fresh and delicious, good variety (ran out of halibut which sucked) and fair proportions. I didn't really chat with the hostess or sushi chef (again it was hard for anyone else to have a conversation) but they seemed nice. I'll go back here again, sure. Great plate of fish. Place is SMALL though. Oh and I here they have a sushi pizza?? read more

Loving this sushi restaurant! Food is always fresh, excellent service, lots of good selections on their menu, I don't have to wait to be seated every time I come to have lunch/dinner, kid friendly atmosphere, super chill place. I live in Bay farm, we have a sushi place right next to us but it's always busy and the food is not as fresh. This place is ALWAYS worth the drive!!!! read more

I used to come here quite a bit when the former owners offered $1 (ONE DOLLAR!) sushi during december as a thank you to their loyal patrons. Last night when we broke the rule of going into an empty restaurant I should have known the times have changed. The miso soup we started with was the highlight of the meal. Her rainbow and my kamikaze rolls had one thing in common-bland. Then more folks came in, dined, payed their checks and left while we stared at our empty table. Next time, I'll wait the 30 min to get into the new Cuban place down the block. read more

We decided to try Sakura when Yume was just too painful a wait (It was a Saturday night so Sushi House was out too) . We were delighted. All of the fish was fresh and the rolls were incredible. We sat at the counter so hard to say about the service but it seemed good. We were too busy enjoying the great sushi to notice, really. Lots of yums and oohs and ahs . Cool, now we have three truly delicious sushi houses in Mayberry West ;) read more

If your nose is pointed towards the sky and your looking for a modern place to hangout and drink and eat crappy sushi covered with fancy sauce then this place is not for you. If you love fresh great fish at a reasonable price than this is your place. I go for the food and don't care if the place is small. The bigger the overhead the bigger the prices! The yellow tail sushi is the best I have ever had. I have been to every sushi place in Alameda and Sakura has the best food. read more