The fried ice cream was just regular ice cream rolled in Kellogg's Corn Flakes. Imagine my shock and horror.

Not impressed. Arrived at 6:20 on a Thursday night and was told we needed a reservation for Hibachi. Fine - we sat at the bar. Bartender was very attentive, and the mixed drinks were good. Sushi was meh, and my sushi was delivered a full half hour before my husband's. Probably won't be back. read more

Very fresh and tasty food with good quality. Best sushi in the area. We tried all Japanese places in Framingham and Ashland, and we were pleasantly surprised by taste, appearance and quality. read more

Hibachi was very disappointing. Poor show, just OK food, dirty dishes. Not clean, overpriced place with not very nice staff. I wouldn't suggest to go there. read more

Had some oysters and sashimi. Two hours after leaving the nausea set in. About ten minutes later - well, I'll spare you the details. Never again. Sashimi wasn't even good. All the fish tasted like it had been sitting in a refrigerator uncovered. You know that taste. It's awful. read more

I'd been to Samba before, and the show was always entertaining even if the Hibachi food was uninspiring. Once you get past the 'floor show' the food is just 'OK'. Tonight I had one of the worst dining experiences of my adult life. We were there for a Sunday evening for a dear friend's birthday party. We had a confirmed 7PM reservation. The parking was horrible, but we got there for 7. At 7PM, were were told they were a little behind, and they would seat us shortly. At 7:40, were finally seated. What part of RESERVATION did they miss? Another 25 minutes elapse before they came for a drink order, and I am beginning to think I am in a bad dream. Even that took 2 tries before the waiter had the order correct. Drinks wrong? An hour and 15 minutes in, we finally get our Hibachi order in. Then the wait begins again. No food. Finally, someone asked to speak with the manager - who explained after we are 90 minutes past our reservation time that they were 'short handed'. In the meantime, parties seated well after us are getting their chef to cook for them. Logistics - fail. Customer service - fail. Make it right - fail. Inexcusable. At 8:45, a full hour and 45 minutes past our initial reservation time, we tell them we're done waiting.....and leave. If we'd been told it was going to be 90 minutes, we would have made a different dining decision....not to Samba. Never. Ever. Again. I wouldn't eat there again on a bet. read more

DIRTY, STAY AWAY. A group of 5 of us went there last night and got extremely sick from the hibachi (2 ate sushi). All 3 of us had the same symptoms (vomiting & stomach cramps) all night....100% sure the hibachi gave us food poisoning. I was also reading other reviews people left and there were quite a few cases where people got food poisoning from here. Disgusting, they should be ashamed of themselves. read more

Samba is a great place to go to with a lot of people - you really have a great time with the hibachi chef who tries to bring everyone into the fun. The hibachi dinners had large portions, with fresh beef/chicken/seafood. Everything had great flavor and you get a large serving of various vegetables with each meal. The sushi was fresh and delicious and decent portions. Overall I would def come here again, since the atmosphere is fun and very modern and the food, delicious. read more

Not the best hibachi I've ever had for the money...No sake no show and terrible timing by the server and chef... Seemed like there was more people working then dining and anyone working seemed lost... Could have just been our server but not taking the chance here again... Also they add some weird sauce to the lobster tail... Not recommended read more

My husband and I are often on the lookout for great places to eat, but we keep finding ourselves back at Samba Steak & Sushi! We've been going there since they opened and now we bring our young son too. This is a great place for kids...he loves to watch the hibachi chefs. Last night we started as usual with our fav, the tuna salsa. Fresh tuna sashimi with a house sauce that's sweet and tangy. Then we had the hibachi - the lobster tail and filet combo. It was very tasty as usual, very generous portions and cooked exactly the way we asked. We've come to expect a great meal there and they never disappoint. But I wanted to write about the service...it was fantastic! Sometimes it's hard to bring young kids out to eat - but our waitresses, Jade was very attentive. She was very friendly to our son and even gave him a paper Samba Chef hat and a pair of "kids friendly" chopsticks to try. These both kept him entertained until the food came. He accidently knocked over his milk and she was very quick to take care of the spill. Jade checked on us a few times without being intrusive and made sure we had everything we needed, extra sauce, more drinks, etc. She was extremely efficient and took some extra time to chat with my son. We really appreciated her efforts. We'll keep coming back to Samba because it just keeps getting better! read more

Had high expectations here but ended up being mostly average. The hibachi plate portions were average sized. The filet mignon wasn't all that tender. The service was decent at best. read more

I am usually a big fan of Samba and have gone for many years. I went Saturday with a party of 6 and was very disappointed. We sat at the hibachi table and were horrified at the new menu prices. Before, you could order the filet and scallops with no additional charge but that has changed. If it were a couple of dollars it wouldn't be a problem but a $8 extra charge is ridiculous. We ordered anyways and the cook was great but when it came down to plate our meals the quantity we received was atleast half are three quarters. We asked our server if it were under new ownership because it changed so much. for $400 I expect more. We will not be returning. read more

I've been ordering from here for years and not sure why, but my last few orders have not been as good. I order nearly the same thing every time, always including tuna. The tuna isn't always the best cut. The presentation isn't always the same with the shrimp tail present, or not ultimately ending with less sushi when it's omitted. Tonight, i ordered a side of broccoli, which I'll never do again. It was basically like steamed broccoli with a little lemon and fish flavor...for NINE dollars! I love broccoli and assumed there mustbe something special about it for nine dollars, but it was just way over-priced. read more

One of my all time favorite restaurants. The hot stone beef bibim bap is to die for---it is a little spicey but so good!! The house dragon maki and the salmon hibachi is really good as well. My favorite waitress is the wonderful Jade- she always knows my regular order. The only thing I have to complain is that the cocktails are not strong enough and pricey. read more

Most unreasonable prices for Sushi i had ever had the misfortune of seeing. I had never in my life seen a simple Spicy Tuna roll go for upwards of 9 dollars. I've been to 20+ different sushi bars and not only was the selection poor but most rolls country wide that aren't Fashion/Chefs special go from 5.50 - 6.50 a roll. Never 9 dollars. I didn't even buy food because i felt so shorthanded by the prices. The Atmosphere was terrible, grown drunken adults tossing around racial slurs while the bartenders took 0 notice and continued feeding them shots of whiskey. No tip. Bartenders were sitting around on their phones, not impressed. Between the outrageous prices, offensive crowd, and lazy bartenders....I can assure you ill be exploring other options in Framingham and never ever going to this place again. They didn't even have a manager i could speak with, they just told me the owner was there but was busy. Pretty pathetic, i left the establishment bitter. I was fine before i went in lol. read more

I had taken my family to this place for dinner, which included my 2 year old son and parents traveling from overseas. We sat at one of the Hibachi grills as we had ordered Hibachi. After the dinner, we were waiting to pay the bill and get our leftovers boxed up to go. Suddenly my mom spotted a mouse under the grille. Initially we thought she must have seen something else and stood up to get to the location from where my mom was sitting. AND.. there it was!! Not one, but quite a few were running around just under the grille. I felt as if I would throw up, especially thinking that we had eaten food that came off that same grille a few minutes ago. We were overly worried about my 2 year old son and parents health. My parents are about and over 70 and had just traveled from across the world, and were still recovering from their trip and a flu. The thought of them getting sick with something was seriously baffling. Then we noticed a few mice/rats running around in the restaurant where there weren't any people sitting. When we brought this to the manager's attention, all he could say is he will be calling the terminators the next morning and handed us a $50 gift card(as if we'll visit that place again)! He explained that due to a lot of trash at the back of the restaurant sometimes rats come in, as if that diminishes the seriousness of the issue. He was apologetic, but don't see that enough to compensate for the traumatizing experience we had. read more

We count ourselves as sushi aficionados, having gotten hooked on sushi, sashimi, nigiri and any combination thereof decades ago. Samba is our go-to place for sushi hands-down! As an aside, they also have an EXCELLENT high-grade sake 'cellar' with lots of varieties to choose from. Although Samba is a popular 'hot spot' for younger folks and their karaoke night is jam-packed we usually manage to find a seat. When we are in the mood for the 'show' the hibachi tables are always entertaining and you never leave feeling less than full to bursting. We hosted some family from China over the summer and of course, brought them to Samba - they raved about the 'show' AND the food. The owner is very community-support minded and that is most definitely a plus in this day and age. He contributes frequently and generously. If you're looking fresh, beautifully presented and interesting sushi, this is the place for you. PS - Also, try the Bi Bim Bap Rice Dish - TO DIE FOR! read more

I've gotten sushi takeout here several times. Pretty good,average prices, and good atmosphere. Service was a bit spotty. I haven't tried the habachi. I prefer imperial China. read more

Great Sushi, great service , Jules does a great job at the bar taking care of us and the owner Joe is great taking care of his customers if you haven't been you must go read more

Delicious food, dangerously strong cocktails. Skip the hibachi if you've done it and just go to the lounge on the other side it's relaxing and the atmosphere is great! read more

I only got vegetarian maki items because I don't trust anything else, and not only were they unable to get me my food until literally everyone else at my table finished (SEVEN people got their food before me, I waited an additional 30 minutes for mine), but now I have an awful taste in my mouth-- even with their 100% veggie options, you can taste the utter lack of quality or freshness. This food is straight up disgusting. read more

Samba is fine. The food is fine, ambience is fine, hibachi chefs are nice enough but for the price, this place is nothing special. The service was below average. Slow on the drinks, slow on bringing our salads (which were over dressed), slow on bringing dessert. It wasn't bad, but nothing about it is outstanding. It is a one and done for us. It is too expensive to be just fine or average at best. If our bill was $20 less, I probably would have rated it better, but I expect much more at that price point. read more

Went to Samba for a birthday dinner with family. The server was excellent, however the chef in the black hat was terrible. He tossed the spatula landing on my brother in laws plate to start. Forgot to give my mother and I our chicken order and when the server brought him the two raw chicken breasts he placed them on the table right next to the other diners dinner plate. He mixed the filet with the sirloin steak, undercooked the shrimp and gave us each about four pieces of vegetables. Very sub par experience for the price. The vegetable tempura appetizer was also slightly undercooked. The drinks were well done however, the saving grace of the evening. Very disappointed! read more

I went in and sat at the bar.. not that busy and the bar was a mess and it took almost 10 minutes for the bartender to notice me.. she was very busy talking to a patron without making a drink or taking a food order... I ordered a Caipirinha.. that took forever for me to get and once I did I was soo excited because I was soo looking forward to this refreshing beverage. Well I took my first sip and it was not at all what I was hoping for.. it was horrible.. tasted like gasoline... I was soo disappointed I had to send it back... she was nice about it but I decided that I just wanted to go home and make my own.. not a fun first experience.. read more

I went with my friends and family of 10 for Hibachi on Sunday and the restaurant was very pretty ( I especially liked the Buddha) and nicely decorated. We were greeted by the owner (Sam?), who spoke in loud obnoxious broken English. We were waiting for the rest of the group and he was unnecessarily rude to us because we kept adding seats. I mean we did call 2 days in advance for reservation of 10 and it's not like the restaurant was packed. Our waitress was extremely nice but she still didn't speak very much English. She apologized and reseated us accordingly when our party arrived. Then I saw the owner yelling at our waitress in Chinese (he was very loud, even over the music). Other tables were sneaking looks at them. When he finished yelling, we ordered our food, we laughed, we talked and the Hibachi show was fun. The food was way too expensive for what it was. We were basically just paying for the decoration. When we finished for the night, we left and generously tipped the waitress (I told her to feel better), she kept thanking us on our way out. The real problem started when we left, I had horrible stomach pain on the drive home, I had to park my car in a Stop&Shop to lie down for a while and then I puked out all the dinner I just had, steak, sushi, soda and all. Some of my friends was also telling me that their stomach was hurting. I managed the rest of the drive home and we took our turns in the bathroom, let's say, releasing on both ends all night. In conclusion, the place is shitty (pun intended) and we are never going back again. If you go to the bottom of Samba's review page, you can see 55 one star ratings that are hidden. I mean, it's not even Japanese or Brazilian like it says on the website. Go to a real Japanese restaurant like Oga's and you can really taste the difference. read more

Was very disappointed with Sushi 101 class. Did not learn much. Would learn more from You Tube. "Chefs" who taught us were more of performers than chefs. Definitely not worth the money. read more

Sushi is delicious but pricey. The one star is due to the terrible customer service. Delivery is never on time and when they forget to deliver the soy sauce, they say they are too busy and will deliver asap, but refused to give me a timeline for asap. They lost a loyal customer yesterday. read more

This is the worst service I've ever gotten. They are extremely racist. As soon as I walked in they didn't seat me until I asked if I could choose my seat. The two ladies, not even ladies, didn't give me seating at all until I found the manager. The manager didn't give my party of three, three menus but only two. Also when seated the people who came after us were served first. Not only that but the food was not even that good. It was awful. When we got them to wrap up the rest of our food, we got plastic bags even though the other people got paper bags. I don't recommend this restaurant to anyone unless you want to be treated like garbage. read more

Food was and is always very good. But the lunch service is so god awful that I'm leaving the one star. We didn't get our food for an hour. It was put together very sloppy. And it was a $65 lunch. Get it together samba read more

I eat here every few weeks and the sushi is always excellent. Probably one of the best in Metrowest. Also the hot and sour soup is fantastic. Great deals for lunch sushi. The only negative is that you are basically eating in the bar if not at one of the teppanyaki tables. Overall definitely worth the trip. read more

This is one of my favorite restaurants and I would go more often if the service was better. I've been going to Samba since they opened and absolutely love the Sushi, it is one of the best sushi places in the state. BUT - I've never, ever had service this bad. The service totally ruins it for me and everyone I've brought here. And the hibachi isn't good at all. I've tried it twice and they can't seem to cook their mediocre steaks correctly. Not a great cut of meat to begin with and they just cook it well done. So I gave up on that and will go in for sushi occasionally, but I really am put off by the awful servers. Sitting at the bar is better though, service is really good at the bar and so much more friendly. I really wish they would develop their management and staff, they could be so much better. read more

The hibachi is good and the cooks have always been friendly and entertaining every time I've been here. The atmosphere is also very trendy and clean. The only thing I just cannot stand about Samba is their "fried ice cream" I'm sorry but don't EVER try to pass vanilla ice cream tossed with frosted flakes off as being "fried" to me... THAT'S NOT FRIED ICE CREAAAAAAAAAM :( Not real atleast. read more

I personally love Samba and visit often with family and friends for dinner. However, they need to work on their security team Sat nights. I have NO clue how the manager of security kicks out 3 sober girls who were being out right disrespected by a drunk fool. 3 sober girls who were in the middle of ordering drinks, but had to cancel the order that the bartender just put thru because their security team sucks. If anything, the drunk idiot should've been asked to leave for provoking negative energy in the establishment. How are you allowed to dance up and down the bar area constantly bumping into people when there's a dance floor right in front if you? Common sense, or any skilled security team, would say get away from the bar and go on the dance floor! My friends and I were asked to leave when I told the drunk fool, for the 3rd time, to go on the dance floor because he kept bumping into us. When asked to leave, I asked the security manager why the drunk fool wasn't asked to leave and he told me that both of us couldn't leave at the same time! I would've believed that if I didn't hear from other friends that the drunk fool was there til close, 1 hr after we were asked to leave. Because of this experience I will never go back to Samba for drinks on a Thur/Fri or Saturday night. I might even question going back there period because I am so disgusted with their security team. This experience definitely left a bad taste in my mouth that I with be sharing with anyone that mentions Samba to me. SAMBA...step up your security team, whoever managed this past Saturday night sucks and needs more experience!!! Such a joke!!! read more

A year ago, I would have given Samba a completely different review. Unfortunately, they have gone down hill severely. The sushi and hibachi are both sub-par and definitely NOT worth the prices they are charging. In addition to that, their mixed drinks are extremely expensive when they contain next to no alcohol. Waitstaff is slow, even for a non crowded Tuesday night. I recommend going elsewhere. read more

we went here on mother's day with the mothers, had a good time. the place looks nice and modern, with hibachi tables and an outside area. we all did the hibachi, and everything was great. we got steak, chicken, and shrimp, and all the mixed vegetables. our chef was funny and entertaining, and they gave the moms roses as well. will definitely be back! read more

Did the sushi making class and it was really fun. Bought the Groupon for it so the value was incredible. The teacher was very good and there was a lot of food available. Though not a typical way to eat at a restaurant, the fish was very fresh and the ingredients all seemed high quality. We were offered apps/drinks to buy which almost everyone did. In all, great value for a fun night out. (But the basement of the restaurant where class is held isn't very exciting...) read more

My cousin and I have been pleasantly surprised by Samba. We are always on the lookout for restaurants that are open between the usual lunch and dinner times, and this one is not only open but lets you order from the significantly less expensive lunch menu until 4 PM. We both ordered a bento (box lunch) that has a salad, rice, choice of meat and sauce, and a selection of shu mai. It was plenty of food and you can't beat the price: $8 to $15 depending on whether you want the one, two or three meat or seafood option. We tried a selection of maki, the spicy tuna and the california, which were very good. The cocktails were a bit pricey, the special watermelon drink alone was $15, so avoid those if you are on a budget. The atmosphere was much nicer than we expected from how it looked on the outside and service has been mixed. Sometimes the service is great and sometimes our waitstaff disappears for lengthy periods. We're never sure why and no explanation has ever been given. Its not enough to deter us from coming back for frequent lunches and would love to try the hibachi dinner sometime. read more

First off I'll start by saying that I personally have a difficult time reviewing sushi establishments. That being said I stopped by on a random Wednesday for dinner. The good: $1 oysters up to 6:30pm everyday, fairly reasonably priced, large space that was easy to immediately be seated. The bad: the oysters were underwhelming, the waitstaff was difficult to understand and not very prompt, in general it was quite loud and the tables were close to each other making it somewhat difficult to carry on a conversation, the place should really be called a sushi restaurant because the steak selection is lacking. All that being said I had the sashimi appetizer and the ceviche. Both of which were good but not anything that wowed me. The biggest disappointment for me were the oysters and I love oysters. Otherwise I probably would have given this a 3 star. read more

Very poorly trained staff. Our waitress didn't know the menu and had to look at it to see what we are ordering. Food is ok...I honestly wouldn't come back. read more

I love love love this place!!! I've been here for both sushi and hibachi and they're both equally amazing. The waitresses are not very talkative however there is one waitress that always gives us free fried ice creams at the end of our meal - so nice! The volcano maki and tuna tortilla maki are definitely two of my favorite rolls there. read more