Probably the best sushi and most affordable place for that in town. If you're stuck in Hilo there are not many options to eat so this is kinda like a paradise! Service used to be an issue but they way better these days! Recommended! read more

Pretty bummed to give Sakura 2 stars but it was awful. Stopped in for lunch with my daughter. I ordered the avocado salad. The produce was very good but the dressing was a wierd mayo bland blob. My thought I would be getting a sesame dressing. My daughter ordered the teri chicken yakitori. It was very dry, burnt and very salty. My salmon skin roll was filled with hard unedible bits, think they were fish bones. In any case I did not finish it. My daughter had the spicy tuna roll. The filling was like a powdery orange mixture . Seriously unlike anything I've ever seen in a sushi restaurant. I have eaten sushi in Japan and have never experienced the strange spicy mystery filling before. I think this restaurant is cutting corners. My natto roll was fine. The service was poor, wait staff unfriendly. When we received our check I thanked the waiter in mandarin. Should've seen the look on his face. A definite WILL NOT RETURN experience. read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Mystery spicy tuna food product. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

I guess finding a decent sushi restaurant in Hilo wont be completed since I will be going back to home sweet home in about 3 months. A friend told me about this place and I never knew this place existed. Rumors say that this place used to be a Chinese restaurant and they just re-opened under a new name and supposedly still under same ownership. I dont know anything in detail about this. I came here for lunch with a friend. I love sushi and I am always down for sushi. I love going to new places to try something different and this place was a perfecr fit for that. Customer service was not bad. They ran out of avocados and so they were able to make some substitutions to my order and the server did a terrific job on that! I really appreciated her help. However, food came out late, and getting my water refilled was such a hassle. I got their lunch special with 2 choices of rolls. I also ordered a la carte mixed tempura. Mixed tempura had 2 pieces of shrimp and many other veggies including sweet potato. It was OK. Nothing was stood out. One of my rolls was so weird. I found it really odd that it had lettuce. Lettuce in your rolls anyone? Lettuce in my shrimp tempura roll made me laugh. I guess I dont mind the lettuce but that is one thing I dont like eating in Hawaii because of Rat Lungworm. I guess I do mind. I have been avoiding all ways possible and seeing unusual ingredient in a sushi roll made me rethink. I took out the lettuce but when lettuce is taken out, you really end up with js fish and thats all. Poorly made and lots of crucial ingredients were missing, especially without avocados the day of my visit. Though this place does offer a lot of options and staff is nice, I dont see myself coming back. I will stick to having sushi back home in California. It's best to go to Japanese owned sushi bars anyway. Parking lot is not very big and is limited especially during lunch and dinner time. Expect to wait for more than an hour because its still fairly new and Hilo people loves coming out to new restaurants. read more

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Not worth the wait. Old run down atmosphere, very unprofessional host and staff, average food. Spend your money elsewhere.

The food is okay but the service was terrible and the host was very rude. We went there to celebrate but ended up feeling very disappointed.

We were looking for a good sushi place on the Hilo side. We saw the reviews and wanted to give it a try. We weren't disappointed. As many of you know, if the seafood isn't fresh, it's less than perfect sushi. Everything we had seemed to be fresh and had a great flavor - oysters, salmon, Uni, white fish, white tuna, & regular tuna. The oysters & regular tuna weren't the best, but they weren't terrible either. We've just had better. We also got chicken teriyaki and steak teriyaki with the captain's boat. The chicken was a little dry and the steak could've been a little more tender, but overall had a good flavor. The price points were as expected and we will be back. read more

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Great service, friendly, and amazingly quick. Sushi quantity is also deliciously fresh. My only miff is the portions. 1/2 of my order didn't have unagi on the roll. If you must put less, at least rotate the piece and split it between the two pieces. read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Great quality, however it's lacking quantity. 1/2 of the dragon roll had unagi on top. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

What a horrible service! Sushis are good, not exceptional. But the service is horrible, no talk, and rude. Great food is not enough nowadays. If you don't like tourists, please stay in the back of your kitchen. read more

Horrible Service. Waited patiently in line for over an hour. Never acknowledged our status. Then seated, served water. Waited another 15 minutes for a waitress to acknowledge us . We ordered drinks and she informed us the beer was not cold...it was my wife's birthday and wanted to take her someplace special. Food arrived, the staff was rushed. They were in a hurry to close the restaurant. Dropped the food and ran. This place is like Denny's of the East. All they need add to the menu is hotdog sushi with a little cheezwhiz wasabi read more

The wait was long, but worth it. Service was good. Visually, the food was gorgeous and good. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Really good sushi, expect long lines. Looks popular with the locals. Fried ice cream was good too. Price is good

I ate there recently and would not go back. Food was uninspired and not good, the portions, particularly the nigiri, were so small, the miso soup was cold, sushi rolls were tiny, took a half hour or more to get our food, the salad was soggy iceberg lettuce, the greeting staff was not friendly, the place desperately needs remodeling, felt crowded and noisy....overall really disappointing all around; not my kind of place. read more

They were very busy so there was a little bit of a wait however their service is spot on and the food was great. Waiter was excellent and service from beginning to end was awesome. Will definitely be back:) read more

We had a late lunch here. Even though I am not a sushi person I really enjoyed my selections. My daughter loved hers! We would recommend coming here! Service was great! read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

You will not going find any better sushi restaurant, when considering everything that you would consider in a restaurant. I have never eaten so much yummy sushi at the price with the ambience, atmospheres, and service. You can appreciate it, however, if you are a real sushi fan. Not tempura or udon house. read more

Amazing tempura the chicken Katsu is incredible. Great miso soup. Staff is impeccable.

Aesthetically beautiful fresh made sushi. Perfectly portion. Located right around the corner by Hilo international airport read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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The food, service, and presentation were great. Staff was very friendly & attentive. Food came out quick. read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

Workers - incompetent and rude Steak - tough and flavorless Inari - tastes like chemicals Over priced trash read more

Imitation crab meat in a chef's rolls. Same in the soup. My tempura ice cream was wet and not crunchy. And guys, if you want to be a restaurant, please, serve plum wine in a glass, not a 50ml bottle. read more

Normally we stay away from poor ratings but found this place to be really good. Not sure if our experience was just luck but food was good, service was great and we did not really have much complaints other than the single restroom that seemed to always be in use. We would definitely come back if we ever find ourselves in the area again. read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Tempura Ramen - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

The service was fine but we saw several roaches here during our meal. That ruined our appetite and do not plan to return.

Service was great but the sushi was mediocre. Our family loves sushi and we eat it a lot. While it wasn't bad, we just wouldn't go again.

A good deal meal that included miso soup, rice, and a variety of sashimi. The agedashi tofu was yummy, perfectly seasoned but could have used a warm broth-It's interesting to try different variations though! read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Sashimi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

I ordered the tempura Ahi... Save your valued money. The service is AWFUL. Old dusty fake flowers in a Covid pandemic environment is not only unsanitary it's just GROSS, not to mentioned against the department of health law. The food is okay..but you can have better food at the same price elsewhere. Zero stars if I could. I will never EVER come here again... Not even for free read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Gross disgusting fake flowers in a pandemic environment. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

Great spot for dinner, dessert and drinks plus they have kids meals for a great price and includes fries and rice. The salmon popper things are my favorite. Brought the whole family for my nieces birthday recently, we ordered a Captains Boat with salmon poppers as pupus, plus individual meals for everyone. Ended up with wayyyy too much food. Very much worth the money. I read the previous reviews about their customer service, I personally had no issues. The service style is more like "wave me down or make eye contact with me if you need anything"...or "order everything now cause I have more tables besides yours". Lol, works for me. read more

Great place for the family. Pleasant staff, fast service, great food and they have a kid's menu for the little ones. Love the sushi, freshly made to order. Shrimp/vegetable tempura so ono! Sizzling plates so delicious. read more

Forget Take-no-ko (you won't get in there anyway). This place had the best, most authentic Japanese sushi I've ever had (better than some places actually in Japan). We went sushi-heavy, didn't get much else - except some excellent asparagus-crab miso soup. I got chirashi-don (sushi, but with the rice and plentiful (and very, very fresh!) sashimi served separately), we shared 3 orders of mackerel (saba), a classic rainbow roll, Boston roll, and their unique "ninja" roll. The fish was fresh and firm, and very tasty. The rice was _proper_ sushi rice, which is rare in the states IME. Has the tell-tale glisten and cohesion of rice that's been mixed with just the right amount of rice vinegar while still hot, with a hint of dashi (so, not just water-and-rice and call it done). The presentation was amazingly good, and included a small light placed within a margarita glass full of ice shaped in a heart. The sushi rice in my chirashi-don was also molded into a heart. Left extremely satisfied. read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - 6 pieces (3 orders) of saba nigiri sushi, and the rainbow, ninja, and boston rolls. Cool "ice heart in a glass" decoration! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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SO DELICIOUS!! fresh and tasteful. we got there right when they opened, but 10 minutes into opening more customers came in. so they got busy quick. romantic setting, dim lighting, and i also enjoyed the decor. a lot of food to choose from, which made it difficult to choose. but we decided to get the Hawaii boat. then we ordered different type of nigiri. the Hawaii boat came with four miso soup, tempura, three rolls, teriyaki chicken and beef, and sashimi. we enjoyed the food, tasted so fresh. they also decorate the plates, which is so pretty. nigiris ordered: tamago ahi hamachi white tuna read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - different types of nigiri - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

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I only came for lunch but I was not impressed. Small sloppy sushi rolls. There wasn't enough seaweed paper to hold in the rice and tuna on my roll!!! And its $$$! Safeway has better rolls. Ambiance is not great. People were allowed to play loud audio on phones. Water smells bad. With all the great Sushi places in town, I definitely can't recommend. read more

So delicious! And great service. Delicious sushi and good prices , one of the best spots on the Hilo side read more

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Went here with my family and the service was not very good, sushi didn't taste fresh wasn't informed of the 18% gratuity that was added to party's of 5 even with 2 small children. Didn't feel the service matched the 18% automatic charge. Will look to other sushi places in Hilo on our next outing. read more

The food presentation is great, but distracting. I ordered the Sashimi Plate as pictured below. It was decent fish but just so difficult to eat. Am I really reaching up to get slices at eye level, where it's in the way of seeing my fellow tablemates? I can't even see the person sitting across from me. Rice was unflavored and a tad dry too. read more

Sakura Sushi & Grill - Sashimi Plate - Sushi Bars Near Me - Hilo, Hawaii

Absolutely love this sushi place. Amazingly fresh fish, great portions, we had stunning service! We've tried to go back but it's very popular. All the dishes were great - the big surprise was how good the avocado salad was! The dressing they use is very tasty. read more

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Its a shame i thought the food would be better, the only thing worth getting is the unagi don, sushi, and the udon. Side salads are ice burg lettuce. Teriyaki fish was cold on a hot plate. I thought this time would be better, boy was I wrong read more

Friends wanted some sushi...so we tried this place. I am not a sushi girl, so I had the chicken teriyaki which came to the table sizzling like fajitas. It was really good with the well made fried rice. The sushi crew had spicy California roll, Sakura roll (also a bit spicy) and the samurai roll...everyone was happy. We ended the meal with fried bananas and fried cheesecake. Highly recommended! read more

I am writing this review as a letter to the management and all the employees who work at this restaurant. I have eaten at this restaurant a few times. The third time, I got terrible food poisoning possibly due to a lack of cleanliness. The waiter presented us with miso soup and a platter or sushi and sashimi with boat on it. While the food tasted good and the presentation was impressive, I became very ill after that day for a period of over 1.5 years. After the meal I started having severe cramping and diarrhea. The diarrhea persisted with stinky stools which sent me to the doctors for blood tests to check for e-coli, parasites and other things they supposedly test for when one has diarrhea. While they could not find the specific bug that ailed me, I believe I got infected with some kind of bacteria that my body could not clear up until recently. I consulted with a gastroenterologist who wanted to do further testing and a colonoscopy when I return to the island. As the situation seems to have more or less cleared after an over an entire year and half of worry and concern, I do not expect to need more medical care. I noted that evening I had the meal that the waiters hands touched the inside of my miso bowl which I drank directly out of with my mouth as is the common asian or Japanese practice. This was a mistake. I did wonder if the waiter's hands were unclean leading to the illness. I called the restaurant a couple times to talk to the owner. The second time I reached a manager describing the situation imploring them to please use stringent hand-washing and sanitation practices. I ask the wait staff and cooks to please wash their hands thoroughly when using the restroom and not touch door handles, etc. without using disposable tissues or disposable gloves. When I called I was told the owner, "Manny" was away on vacation but that he/she would call me upon returning. This was several months ago now, perhaps 6 months or so. Anyway, no one ever called me back so I am writing this review. I resisted writing before as I did not want to affect the jobs of the many Chinese immigrants who are working at the restaurant. I would implore the staff to use much better sanitation practices. This situation has caused me undue misery and worry and trips to the doctors for which they could do nothing. I am writing this because I do not want poor practices to continue or others to get sick. I write this note with respect and concern. read more

Fresh and delicious. Seems like more of a locals vs touristy place (in a good way). Nice staff, fast service.

Tonkatsu combo with the tempura fried shrimps and vegetables (5/5). Salmon roll and spicy shrimp roll (3/5). I would definitely come back for the tonkatsu dish! read more

My sister chose this place for her birthday dinner. We all enjoyed our sushi, sashimi and drinks. The waitress was informed and punctual. Initially she tried to rush us, which is unfortunate. We did see the sign about time limits at the table, which is another unfortunate thing about this place. With very few options for tasty food and decent table service in this tyit would be nice to not be rushed. Overall a four read more