I used to like this place until they charged me an ABSURD $60 for an $8 bottle of Sake. Even at high school end sushi restaurants the EXACT same bottle of sake is NEVER more than $20. I called the manager out and said clearly this is a mistake because I've ordered the EXACT same bottle of sake there before & Was not charged anywhere even close to $60. This bottle had a manual line item entry "misc liquor $60". The manager said oh "I'm sorry this is what we charge. Nothing I can do about it". Excuse me? This is one of the most common sake's sold. And they don't have it on the menu but they absurdly price gouge accordingly, simply because it's not listed on the menu & can't do anything about it? Absurd price gouging on the sake. If they listed it on their menu they would never get away with it because no other sushi restaurant on the planet that sells that sake would dare try to sell an $8 bottle for $60 without TELLING YOU: "HEY WE PRICE GOUGE THIS ITEM ARE YOU SURE YOU STILL WANT TO PURCHASE"? First read more

I have found my New Favorite Sushi Place. I took a bite of the Sushi and I was tempted to pull a Meg Ryan in Harry met Sally! Hahahaha!! But seriously the food was outstanding! We ordered appetizers the crab Rangoon and the Grilled corn. Both were amazing. The sauce on the crab Rangoon had a great kick that I loved. The sushi melted in your mouth. We ordered a selection of different rolls and loved every one. The wait staff was friendly and helpful. The price is normal for sushi. The place is clean and I will be back and I will bring my friends. Oh and Billy Crystal is invited too! read more

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During my quick trip to Tampa, I actually came here twice! I liked it that much. The restaurant itself is beautiful and clean. It's nice enough and doesn't seem pretentious at all. My server, Heather, was really quick and had great recommendations. Even though they were slammed, I never went without a drink refill and was pleasantly surprised by the speed of the food coming out to me. I tried the agedashi tofu, the crab rangoons, the volcano roll, the red devil roll, the ahi tuna tataki app, as well as various sushi/sashimi pieces. I thought the tofu was really good but the one thing I wasn't really into was the sauce... It was a little watery/bland. The sushi I tried was really good! It tasted fresh and I liked the combinations they came up with. I did ask for sauce on the side just because I'm not huge into drowning my sushi in sauces. I also tried some martinis but I can't remember which ones. They surely packed a punch! Next time I visit Tampa, I'll definitely have to visit this place again! The prices were good and the service was great so it's definitely worth revisiting. read more

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Excellent food. They have a few rolls you won't find elsewhere! I highly recommend the Kyoto roll and The Blue Moon roll!

Great food! The sushi was fresh and very tasty, and there are so many options! The atmosphere is classy but still casual and comfortable. Pencils could have been sharper :/ read more

Samurai Blue - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

Very good food, went around lunch time for a networking lunch. Service was great, very polite and on point. The place is beautiful, very peaceful. Will be coming back since is next to my private chiropractic clinic! read more

Still just a top notch sushi place! Never have I had a roll or dish that I didn't like or love! Also, they may or may not know me by first name. Love my sushi and LOVE Samurai Blue!!! read more

Samurai Blue - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

Service hasn't been that great the last 3 times I came to eat here. My husband chose to go here tonight. The first two times I was served either the wrong item or an item wasn't served at all. The entire order pretty much has to be made before it's brought to your table/ sushi bar area. I wished local restaurants would invest in a water purification system. The city/county water is nasty even with a slice of lemon. I had to order a coke (Pepsi taste) to satisfy my thirst. Food was good. Only change I could see would be to make the Kamikaze slightly smaller in size and thicker in height so it doesn't fall apart when using the chopsticks. The presentation of the sushi, sashimi, hand rolls and kamikaze were very nice. The side salad was basic with ginger dressing. I also wished the sushi order sheet would have the number of sushi and sashimi pieces in each order. I had to ask the server at the time I was ordering. Overall review is 3 1/2 starts but had to give it 4 stars. It wasn't a disaster, but certainly not my favorite sushi restaurant to go to. It was convenient because it's just about a block from my home. Tomorrow night I'll go to Marlow's Tavern and give a review of that meal. read more

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The place is very good and food is quite good but it could be better. Crab Rangoon is all cream cheese and 0 crab. The sushi rolls are very good and good size as well. I would recommend this place to everybody, just don't order the. Crab Rangoon. read more

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Haven't been to dinner here in a few years despite being only a few miles from my house and an avid sushi eater. The service issues were that bad. Tonight, we couldn't get a res at Soho Sushi, didn't want to drive to Seminole Heights to Ebisu and really wanted to give them another shot at dinner since my old review and hoped for the best. I was wary heading in about their awful history of service. Arrived 6:48, when not busy at all, and got out of there at about 8:25. Still takes forever. My 13 year old son, a sushi lover, was so hungry by 7:40 waiting for the food that he got really, really agitated and just wanted to leave. We talked him into staying and to have some faith. We asked the server when the food finally came at just before 8:00 for several non-controversial items (plates, soy receptacles, more soy sauce), but never got plates, never got soy sauce bowls, we ran out of soy, and there was no return trip for any refills nor additional beverages until after we we gave up waiting and started eating. They also never once check in with you during your delay, apparently, with full knowledge that service issues abound and people are getting angry. Also took 10 minutes after we finished eating to see the server to ask for the check. Terrible. How have they still not figured out these service issues? Food was a solid 4.5. Service was an abysmal .5. I just paid over $120 for 3 people to eat and I had to use my empty beer glass (empty since about 7:30) to hold my soy sauce and ate my dinner over my hand/a napkin. This place is soo incredibly frustrating. With just barely competent staff in the front of the house this place would be great and a 4-4.5 star experience. Until they realize, however, how their servers and front of house failures are killing them, will be a few more years until I return for dinner. read more

The place is super nice but the service i would rate a 3/10... I ordered two different rolls and one came out okay and the other had an important ingredient that made a difference to me, and I sent it back and they just threw the missing ingredient on top of it! so have never had this happen at any other sushi restaurant. read more

Samurai Blue - The ingredient (scallions) thrown on top when it was supposed to be incorporated inside. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

One of the best sushi places I've eaten at!! I highly recommend this place for any sushi lover! All their rolls are delicious!

Great spot, good atmosphere, good selection, even good from uber eats! I hate that i have to leave a minimum of 85 characters for a review, YELP!! Boo... read more

This is my go-to for good quality sushi just because I haven't found a better one yet. I'm a super fan of homey, authentic hole in the wall joints and this one is a bit fancier, good for dates type sushi place and you know you'll get decent quality. We usually order the sushi and sashimi sampler, and we've never been disappointed. All the fish is pretty fresh and pretty good quality. My favorite is the fresh scallop, hotate :) whelp clam was pretty good with the shiso leaf, and they make it pretty! Lasagna roll is topped with baked scallop, heavy on the Japanese mayo side if you like that. Tempura appetizer was pretty good and not too much breading. In the past, I've ordered the hot food which I don't love here but it's probably the best locally. I've gotten monk fish liver (not sure where else you can get it in Tampa), chicken karaage (not the best but it's not bad), kama appetizer (good), and teriyaki plates. On the pricier but still reasonable side (not.expensive but definitely an an extra few bucks on dishes) but i can at least get my Japanese food and sushi fix here! read more

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Went for dinner on a Saturday night. Food was really good - not a huge menu but really fresh and tasted good. The service is not good. They seem under staffed - took forever to get sat and a bunch of dirty tables around. The restaurant looks modern and cool - need to get the service part right. read more

Ordered a collection of specialty rolls including Osake, Crispy Spicy Tuna and Kyoto. Rolls were nicely crafted and tasty, although smaller in size. Space is an intersting old cigar factory with high wooden ceilings and historic Ybor charm. Business has been here for 18 years, so it's success is proven. Ginger not served with every roll and had to ask for soy. Upon arrival, we were told that all booths were reserved, yet they remained vacant for duration of patronage. read more

Samurai Blue - Osake - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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Love this place. Best sushi in Tampa. Restaurant is super clean. Always the most attentive servers. We go out of our way to eat here!

My husband and I have been coming to this place for years. We love the hamachi kama, the freshness of the rolls, the hamachi jalapeno. It never disappoints. read more

Went in the on a Friday night. Got there and waited 10 mins for a table which is not bad. Then we were seated. Over 10 minutes passed before server took our drink orders. Came back 5 minutes later with water and took our dinner order. We ordered meals and a soup as an appetizer. 20 mins later we're still sitting there with no drinks (they were sodas not bar drinks) and no soup. At that moment I'm looking online and realize this is same as Samurai Blue in Ybor which we also had horrible service at. We were starving and there's no reason two cokes and a soup should take over 20 minutes. The people next to us told us they waited 40 minutes for their food. We decided to leave since we were there over 30 minutes and still hadn't received not even our sodas or appetizer. I understand Restaurants are short staffed but if you can't handle the in restaurant crowd then you need to seat slower and warn diners. Just bad service but I will say their Ybor location had probably some of the best sushi we had in Tampa but still not worth an hour wait for us. read more

I am so disappointed with my sushi experience tonight. I wanted a "crunchy spicy tuna roll" which is $6.95 and you can pick tuna or salmon. But they have a roll called "crispy spicy tuna roll" for $11.95. When ordering over the phone there was no clarification about which roll I wanted and if you have two rolls with virtually the same name one being double the price of the other you'd think that would be something to ask especially since the two rolls look nothing alike! I thought I was ordering a sushi ROLL. Thats how I asked for it but instead I got 12 pieces of deep fried rice cake with a little tuna on top for $24 dollars!!!!!!!! I had my friend pick up the take out because it was on here way. Before getting off the phone I even asked what the price of my meal would be and I was told that I would be given my total when I arrived at the store. This whole problem could have been avoided if I could have been given my total over the phone. I was expecting my meal to be $14 and sushi. Inside I spent $24 on something I didn't want and would never order again. The woman who took my order I have also had as a waitress she is an older white woman by the name of Sarah and by the looks of yelp I'm not the only person unhappy with the customer service she provides. The servers at the ybor location are very nice and friendly almost like they want to keep their job go there. read more

Samurai Blue - "Crispy" spicy tuna - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

I was so excited when I saw another Yelper check in here. I don't have to go to Ybor to enjoy the sushi they serve up here. The Sushi here is so fresh and they don't skimp on their sushi like some other places. The Tampa roll and their eel was really good! I can't wait to come back. read more

Samurai Blue - Oh my, I forgot the name but it was fantastic. That's spicy tuna on the top. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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We are experienced Samurai goers from both the Ybor location and the former Westchase spot as well (now closed and replaced with Carrollwood.) This new location is spiffffff-yyy! Clean and modern but still family-friendly with the bonus add-on of a room for private parties in the back enclosed with glass. The menu is much the same, though missing my beloved tuna poke. Couple new additions including a bowl of tonkatsu pork ramen and some sushi tacos. We ordered the tacos with tuna and were pleasantly surprised that the fish inside was basically the poke recipe. Yay! Very yummy. Beyond that we went with our staple items which are the tuna summer of love, red devil, inari boxes with seasoned rice and ginger salads. It has long been my opinion that Samurai Blue has the best sushi in Tampa/surrounding areas. Back of the house has got the food down pat with amazing recipes, always delicious and fresh food beautifully prepared. Service could use a little polish (servers, host, bathrooms, etc.) but even with this in mind they get 5 stars from me. read more

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First time at this new location. Stopped in for lunch with a friend and service was friendly and attentive. We started with crab Rangoon. Excellent! Creamy filling, packed with crab and seasonings in a flaky shell, BUT the portion size was super small and each of the 4 pieces was like a bite and a half. We expected more. Same kind of holds true for the sushi here, too. It's amazing - fresh, quality cuts of fish. In season veggies. Creative and unique rolls. However, it never seems like you get a lot, especially for the price. The Spontaneous Combustion Roll is probably my favorite sushi roll of all time. Anywhere. It's salmon and crab and cream cheese and avocado and a few other things all wrapped in seaweed paper and baked with white fish and spicy mayo on top. It practically melts in your mouth, it's so smooth and creamy on the inside. BUT, again, it's super small. Each little piece is probably no bigger than the size of a quarter around. I wish there were more. read more

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Where do we start??? Our first visit was a private dinner party in their private room. It was so intimate and inviting! The service was beyond expectations and every attention to detail was thoughtful and warm! From quick beverage refills, to a spread of appetizers and accommodations for dietary concerns- every bite was fresh and beyond top quality! I am not that adventurous when it comes to trying new things and had never had Ahi Tuna before. Their Tuna Tataki is made with some of the best Tuna we have ever had! I have ordered this now three weeks in a row! The Love Roll and Hawaiian Rolls are a hit with even the kids! This is a new Friday night favorite for us! read more

I probably eat here way too much volcano and spontaneous combustion are incredible, and my go-tos. But I haven't had a roll I didn't like here, ever. Jam jar cocktail is amazing too! read more

They are severely understaffed. The waitress has to tend to tables and take dishwashing duty. The manager takes tables, bartends, and Uber orders. The food took over 90 minutes to arrive. The owners are ridiculous if they think they can treat their customers and staff like this. read more

Always fresh dishes with GF low sodium soy sauce. Great atmosphere good bar and delicious sides. Tried the street corn it was delicious! Lots of soups starters hot entrees and more worth a visit and one of my favorites! read more

The best sushi restaurant in Tampa! I am a regular here and keep coming back. There is never a wait here and the inside of the restaurant is clean and modern. The sushi is always fresh. Definitely try this amazing restaurant! read more

Samurai Blue - Soft shell crab, tempura lobster roll, samurai roll, lasagna roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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Came here for lunch based on a recommendation from a friend. The sushi was fresh and good. Our server wasnt great. The lunch menu included 2 sushi rolls and a soup or salad for $15. I ordered a salad from the menu along with the 2 sushi rolls, nowhere in the menu does it say that the salad on the menu is not part of the lunch menu and they charged us additional $8.50 for the salad. My son who ordered the 2 rolls for himself didn't get soup or salad. When asked, the guy agreed that the menu doesn't specify that salad will be charged separately. I won't go here again only bcos of this experience. Just be honest and upfront. He could have just told me when I ordered "maam just letting you know that this salad is not part of the lunch menu". And everything would be alright. Just pissed atm. read more

Half-decent overpriced sushi. If you order uber eats, you have a 70%-90% chance of not getting your order delivered because they are entirely incompetent when it comes to time management, and just let your order expire if they don't get to it in time. Ordered 3 or 4 times, good karage, if you can get it hot (which you likely never will). read more

Slow service, only 2 server for some what a full restaurant. Only 2 sushi chef plus a line for to go.

Was not a fan AT ALL. Service was ok but it was super slow when we went. The sushi ordered was not fresh and the fish pieces used were super small. We decided to try this place because it is super close to where we live. The volcano roll was downright horrible. Prices were average to above average. Stick with umami servers miles up the road in Lutz. Or sushi alive, bonsai, shogun basically anywhere but here. read more

I enjoy sushi. This is a nice sushi place for a variety of tastes. The classics to a few specialties. I like the spicy rolls just right. Enjoyable experience with great service. read more

Fantastic food, but the wait time and service were absolutely awful and management alone is at fault. Employees appeared incredibly distressed from the hostess to the sushi chefs. We arrived around 7, weren't sat until about 8:45, got our orders in as soon as possible. Appetizers (edemame, crab rangoons, and fried chicken) came out fairly fast, but the sushi rolls did not come out until about 9:30. That was only half the table's sushi and the other half came out about 15 minutes later. This restaurant appears to be short staffed and does a LOT of takeout/delivery. They do not appear to have an efficient system for taking to-go orders as the hostess appeared to be the one taking them and the phone would not stop ringing. I'm convinced had we just called from directly outside the restaurant at arrival we would have had our food much faster than waiting to be seated. Other customers were expressing similar frustrations. read more

This place was okay! I came for my birthday and was not wowed by it but i really liked the sake. The misou soup was really good and also the fried chicken starter. Wish their menu had more options. read more

Samurai Blue - Dumplings - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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Food is always great. Service is always slow. We had a reservation and were seated at 7:06. It took nearly 30 mins to get water and our food arrived at 8:34. Honestly, the staff works hard but they are always way understaffed. It's bananas how many times this has happened and i think this time will be the last. read more

Every visit I sit at the sushi bar. It makes me feel closer to the yummy sushi. Plus I get to know the chefs who often remember your likes etc. read more

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Never order from this place. Horrible service, terrible customer response. I would not order here if last place on earth.assholes. Get an order wrong and tell you to be ashamed of yourself. Fuck you Samurai Blue. read more

We made a reservation which is always nice. The place was not as packed as I would have thought for a Valentine's weekend, but they were short staffed, so it seemed our waitress was doing a little bit of everything. But she was a great waitress and didn't seem frazzled. The cucumber gimlet was awful! First of all, there was no gin in it. My fault for not reading the description. There was sake in there and maybe orange juice or something acidic. The drink was very sugary. A friend of mine had an old fashion and he didn't care for it either. The volcano roll was delicious with the exception of the conch which was very chewy. The Mexican roll was good, but I prefer a jalapeno in there to give it a little kick. The spicy tuna was flavorful. We tried a new roll and it was the key west roll. It had a very nice flavor, but the conch was very chewy. Pet peeve - they charged for eel sauce. It wasn't much, but that irks me. I didn't ask for 6 cups full, just one. I think that should be included if that's the sauce you prefer for your sushi. read more

Samurai Blue - Volcano roll, Mexican roll, spicy tuna and the key west roll. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Tampa, Florida

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I had the mexican roll and spicy tuna roll. They where both delicious! 10/10 definitely recommend to give this place a try. One of the best sushi places in Tampa. read more