This was my first experience with Sonoma and it was for a pick up order. I was told the wait was 1 hour and I agreed to that based on the expectations I created reading mostly good reviews. I showed up for pickup in exactly 1 hour. I ordered a Rebecca Roll, Sonoba roll , spring roll and veggie gyoza. The spring roll and Rebecca roll tasted like old frying oil. The gyoza and spring rolls were bland and underwhelming. The sushi tasted like had been seating for pick up for over half a hour. All the crispiness of the fried rolls tasted like old stale fried sushi. To be honest i was kinda disappointed especially given the time and the money I spent on this meal. I can't comment on the service and I am willing to give this place another chance. But for right now they get 1 star for me. read more

The fish is fresh. The rolls are amazing. The big John #2 and the Sonobana Roll is definitely one to get. The snake roll was a retry good as well. broiled squid started the new off on the right note. If there's a line, check the sushi bar. Most people wait not knowing they can go to the bar instead of waiting for a table. read more

Pretty good sushi for the Nashville area at reasonable prices. My go to place when the craving hits. Pros: -Good fresh sushi - prolly about as good as it gets for Nashville -Nice variety on menu - noodles, bento boxes, etc -Good value for the buck - good portion sizes -Attached to a neat grocery store -Apparently you can rent japanese books/videos in the back... -They also have traditional Japanese seating private rooms if you have a large group Cons: - The service is a hit or miss as Yelpers have noted. After 4 terrible service experiences back to back (being ignored, waiting on the check for 30+ mins while these waiters were just obviously socializing with their fav customers at the expense of others), i stopped coming here for 6 months. Yes, it was that bad. I went back this past week, and it looks like they got rid of the terrible waiters - the new crew is much better. I hope it stays this way. If i ever walk in there and see the offending wait staff again, i am walking straight out. Keep up the great work with the food! read more

O.K., here's the deal. We moved too far from our favorite sushi restaurant - Peter's Thai & Sushi in Brentwood - to go every weekend. (If you're drinking sake, it's a tad too risky.) So we set out to find a new place up in the Green Hills/White Bridge Road area. We tried them all and Sonobana is the best you're going to find in the area. Maybe not the best sashimi, but the best sushi rolls. Maybe not the best decor (it's a little dark and worn), but it's comfortable like you're favorite sneakers and there's a place to rest your feet under the sushi bar (plus they give you a hot moist towel when you first sit down to wipe your hands). And maybe not the friendliest sushi chefs. It's like they're either so painfully shy, so snobby or so afraid to use their English, they barely look up when you sit down. But, there's something really honest about Sonobana that keeps drawing us back. Most importantly, their fish is fresh and their rolls are very creative. The Rebecca roll - a deep fried California roll, topped with baked shrimp in spicy mayo (I know, it's fattening!) $6.95, the White Bridge roll (tuna, salmon, egg, crab, mint leaf rolled in radish) $4.75, the Daisy roll (salmon, albacore, smelt roe, avocado, asparagus, sweet chili sauce and flying fish roe) $6.50, and the Hiroshi roll (radish, lettuce, burdock, ginger, cucumber, avocado, red cabbage, asparagus, a little cream cheese, rolled in radish) $4.25. I've tried their sashimi, but for me, the pieces of fish, while extremely fresh, were a little too thick and too big to eat in one bite. My Other Half ordered the Tuna Tataki, his favorite at Peter's. He said Sonobana's is not as good as Peter's. Maybe over time, we'll get that "Welcome back" greeting from the chefs. Until then, we're totally happy that we've found a new favorite. The fish is fresh. The prices are totally reasonable and the service is very good. Can't ask for much more from a sushi restaurant in Tennessee. read more

This was the first place I ever got sushi in Nashville, and a year and a half later, I still keep coming back. Sonobana boasts a vast array of sushi and sashimi. The sushi menu alone is two pages long, not counting their page of customer created rolls (The Rebecca Roll is quite tasty!). I myself am a fan of the Blake Roll, which comes covered in smelt roe, and their Cherry Bomb roll, which has spicy mayo and pieces of cherry in it. My other favorite roll has to be the Valentine's roll they came up with last year. It comes with six pieces grouped into three heart-shaped pieces of sushi, wrapped up in pink soy paper. Has strawberries, salmon, cream cheese, and mango sauce, and is oh, so tasty! Not to mention very, very pretty on the plate! I know that they have Bento boxes here, which I have yet to try. And for dessert, the green tea ice cream is fantastic! You can also come in/call and get to-go orders. If you come in sometimes they'll even offer you a free drink while you wait. There is also a cute little Japanese grocery attached to the restaurant. They have everything here from Japanese candy to pints of the aforementioned green tea ice cream and frozen entrees. There is a floor to ceiling shelf of anime videos, though I've never paused to peruse the titles. Prices here are very reasonable. For two rolls I can walk out of here spending less than $15. The service is pretty quick too, though sometimes they can get swamped. Also definitely check the hours of operation, they can be somewhat unusual - for example, I know they don't open on Sunday until 5. read more

Sonobana - The delicious Sweetheart Roll! - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

After trying to figure out when we could go, my friend finally managed to drag me here. First of all, the sushi is phenomenal. I had the Snake Roll and then I tried some of my friend's Blake Roll. I've never had sushi this good. The sushi not only tastes fresh but it also tastes clean. Everything is proportioned perfectly to where each element of your sushi roll complements one another instead of overpowering each other. They do not go light on the fish roe, however, so if you're not a fan of roe you may want to either ask for less or just have it made without roe. The teriyaki chicken was also wonderful. The chicken was flavorful; you could taste the marinade while eating the chicken itself, which is a common problem I've come across while ordering teriyaki anything. Once again, it was fresh. My friend and I shared two appetizers; Beef Sashimi and what I want to say was fried octopus. It may have been squid... I personally can't tell the difference. Either way, both of the apps were just as great as our entrées. The beef was tender and full of flavor; the octopus was lightly fried and the sauce it came with fully complemented its taste and texture. Our service was good. I have no complaints. The waitress we had was very sweet. All in all, I would most definitely come dine here again. read more

I have gotten takeout from Sonobana for years and love it. Favorite no frill sushi spot.

This is one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in Nashville and it's still really good. Nice to see them still hanging in there.

My favorite sushi in Nashville! Fish is fresh and elegantly prepared. The menu has tons of options (great pictures of fancy rolls too!) and the Japanese specialties are excellent -- shumai, natto roll, etc... Downside: strip-mall ambiance and lack of speed. Last time I visited, the sushi chefs were so backed up that the restaurant stopped accepting to-go orders. To me, that just means the secret is out: best local sushi found here. Also, lunch menu special bento is a terrific value ($10.95 for soup, salad, lots of sashimi, rolls, and veggies). read more

Sonobana - Special bento box (lunch only) - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

I've recently realized how much I rely on everyone else's reviews to make good restaurant choices, so here I go with my first. This sushi restaurant has a quirky mom and pop atmosphere. All the staff were friendly to us and seemed to know a lot of the other people eating. Feel free to be casual! I had the sunflower roll and Sonobana roll and they were delicious and refreshingly light. The prices are incredibly reasonable, especially considering the lovely presentation of the rolls. We ordered some gyoza that were also yummy. I will definitely eat here again and hope to try other items from their extensive menu. read more

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Service was poor. The online menu doesn't fully reveal the lack of vegetarian options here. None of the noodle, rice or curry dishes are vegetarian and the restaurant does not seem to want to accommodate adequate vegetarian options aside from 2 sushi options and tempura. I left the restaurant hungry and won't be coming back here. The waitress also wasn't very willing to discuss the menu with us and didn't ask if we wanted any drinks. The food took a long time to arrive. read more

Love this place! Super nice staff. Great sushi and tempura! Even my daughter raves about it. I eat here often! Also, Seaweed in the roll doesn't have too much of a seaweedy taste! lol read more

The food was amazing, I had no complaints about the sushi at all. We ordered special #2 (a boat for 4 that includes shashmi) The cut of the shashmi were perfect. Everything that was on the boat tasted very good quality and had a good variety of fish on there. I went with a party of 6 total, and we ordered so much sushi! Starting with seaweed salad, to chicken gyoza, to all types of sushi. There were so much sushi ordered,I don't even remember which one was my favorite! Also we ordered the udon noodles, and wow! The noodles tasted really good compared to other places I had. Nice, soft, smooth texture from the noodles, and the soup base was gold. The only disappointment I had was sometimes, the service was kinda slow. Our server didn't come often enough, cause we would be waiting for more water or needing something else and she wasn't around a lot at all to check up on us. Needless to say, I think I must go back to eat again! read more

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We ordered a couple different nigiris, a gyoza appetizer sukiyaki and chicken cutlet. The server was nice but the food was pretty bad. Our nigiri tasted of ammonia. We tried it with and without soy sauce and it was just not good. The ammonia taste was there. Told the server and he was apologetic and we told him we didn't want it. He took off one of the nigiris from our tab but that was it. It is what it is. We never got our gyoza either. We didn't eat much of our entrees as the flavors weren't quite there. Maybe we had high expectations for this place as it had great reviews but it just was not it for us. read more

Rebekah...Roll....thank you Rebekah, whoever you are, for coming up with this delicacy! It was basically a tempura fried California roll sitting in sweet chile sauce topped with baked shrimp and spicy mayo. Definitely not healthy, but amazing! I have to say I didn't like the spicy crunchy shrimp roll. Honestly I don't much care for the toasted sesame seeds and it was covered in them. I'll probably try it again and ask they leave the seeds out of the rice. Hamachi (yellow tail) nigiri was pretty standard. Beef gyoza was delish. My boyfriend loved the caterpillar roll. I am happy that we have a new sushi place in the rotation! Oh, they appear to be very kid friendly. Usually not my favorite thing, but I was happy to see that all the kiddos were well behaved. Nice job, 'rents! ...one more thing...the sell McCallan 12 year scotch for $7ish! read more

Sonobana - Rebekah Roll - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

If you want "sushi", this is not a sushi place. The Sashimi, Sushi you get or the special rolls are Grocery Store quality - I would call this restaurant an Asian Restaurant that offers Sushi on its menu among other items. If you ever ate Sushi in NY, CA, NV, TX even dry, desert states like AZ, this would be a joke. No creativity with the rolls, no special ingredients - nothing! I am appalled by the reviews this place gets...as a temporary transplant to Nashville I have to say that so far the Japanese Sushi Cuisine here is lacking. read more

My friend recently recommended this place so I browsed their online menu and was so impressed by the wide range of appetizers they offer, including things like ankimo. I walked in and tried a few items. Fried stuff was good. Nigiri did not meet my standard of freshness. The grilled squid was perfect and I will definitely come back for it! The texture was tender and chewy and the seasoning was flavorful but not overwhelming. Don't forget to check their grocery next door for snacks and cooking ingredients. I love melon pan! read more

Easily the best sushi / nigiri in Nashville. When I visit from LA, this is the only place that hits the spot.

Since my parents (who are huge sushi nerds) moved to Nashville from LA, they've been searching for their new "go-to" spot. I'm thrilled to say they've found it! This place is amazing!! Super cute and friendly staff, great sushi with superior quality. If you love sushi, this is your spot. read more

I was very disappointed. A friend of mine said that they had the best sushi around and it didn't even come close. First, the restaurant is very small which gives it character, but they were very short staffed and took 10 minutes to be seated when half the tables were open. Second, our waitress was very nice , but you could tell that she was over loaded with tables. We only saw 3 servers the entire time we were there. I personally ran out of water twice and very rarely did I see the server. The hostess had to grab us more drinks and our bill. Lastly, the sushi was good; however, we ordered 5 rolls total and 3 of them were fried or partially fried and were cold as cold gets. The most expensive roll that we ordered was the Temporary Roll, which we never received. I was going to say something to our server but we were done eating by the time I saw her again. Overall, we won't be back. I'm sure it's a good restaurant but the experience just left a sour taste in my mouth. read more

Sonobana - 5 rolls that were ordered. Crawfish roll, Cherry Bomb roll, Shrimp tempura roll, the Rebakah roll, the Temporary Roll(not shown) - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

Sonobana Japanese Restaurant and Grocery is my favorite place in town to get Sushi. It is a small place but their are several booths which make it more private. Also, they have great Japanese style private rooms which you can reserve for your group or family. They have a great selection of Japanese appetizers, including fried tofu, seaweed salad, soybeans, and tempura among many other items. For the main course, I would definitely recommend their sushi. All the fish is very well prepared and extremely tasty. The Udon noodles soups are also top notch. The prices at this restaurant are really good for the quality of food you get. I would even go to say this place is a bargain. My only complaint is that sometimes the wait is very long on weekend evenings because they do a lot of carry-out business which seems to get priority over the people actually dining in the restaurant. Next door in the Japanese grocery you can pick up spices, and seaweed salad, and all kinds of stuff in strange packages. It's fun to look through the grocery after having a meal, to see all the ingredients that went into its preparation. Sonobana is the best for Sushi! I recommend getting there early, like around 5pm when they first open for dinner, that way you can skip the long wait, and get the great food. read more

Sonobana - Sonobana storefront - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

We ordered the eel bento and two specialty rolls. We got two pieces of eel with a distinctly off, licorice-y taste, a mass of many broccoli lumps deep-fried as "tempura," and a few pieces of California roll with avocado that was visibly rotted. For $20. I understand inflation but never again. We are Nashville natives - don't support restaurants like this even if they are "local." What a shame. read more

This has to be the best Japanese style restaurant in Nashville. The staff are very friendly and the food is delicious. I highly recommend this place from a Nashville local. read more

I've been coming to Sonobana for over 10 years and this place never disappoints. Something to keep in mind is nigiri is by the piece so less commitment. Things to try: sweet shrimp nigiri, smelt toe with quail egg nigiri and a hand roll, particularly the spicy scallop hand roll. One last thing, this place is more of a family restaurant. So don't come here if you want to have a night out with your girlfriends and be out and about. read more

Sonobana - Sweet shrimp nigiri with the heads, spicy scallop hand roll, smelt roe nigiri with quail eggs, and uni nigiri with quail egg. - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

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Gosh, I haven't been back to Sonobana since last October and my last review was 2013. This is the best sushi restaurant in Nashville. When I say "sushi" I mean nigiri sushi, what Japanese people eat. Not American so-called sushi rolls, that's as Japanese as keilbasa. If that's what you want go for it but I'm not qualified to review American sushi because I don't eat it. I want the good stuff. We had traditional tekkamaki (tuna, rice wrapped in seaweed) and the rest was nigiri [nigiri sushi has a thin slice of raw fish, wasabi (Japanese horseradish) served on a small patty of rice.] The nigiri items we got were ika (squid - somewhat chewy and smooth in taste,) hamachi (yellow fin tuna, very delicate in flavor,) saba (mackerel, some fish taste, soft texture,) anago (sea eel, cooked and basted with a soy barbeque sauce - the steak of fish) and uni (sea urchin - somewhat bitter and savory, surrounded on top of sushi rice and cupped in seaweed.) So that's somewhat traditional sushi, real Japanese would order treats that I don't know about. An even better way to go is to order "omikaze," which tells the chef to give you what he thinks is best until you are full. You have to tell him/her what you like if you do this, I tell them to treat me like a Japanese person. I always prefer to sit on the right side of the sushi bar because that's where the "boss" works. He is from Japan and is one of the best sushi chefs that I've eaten with (he doesn't like to watch Japanese baseball.) Tip as you normally would - the tips are shared with the wait staff and the sushi chefs! A low tip means that everybody you talked to gets paid less. Domo oregato, visit Sonobana and enjoy. read more

great tasting authentic rolls with plenty of unique specialty rolls and quick and easy service

This is our go to sushi restaurant in Nashville. Mind you, given that we're in Tennessee, the sushi pickins are slim... That said, this place is solid. First off, the prices are GREAT. It's hard to get good sushi for less. We typically get the sashimi combo for a small group. Yesterday when we had it, it was particularly good. Tons of fish and it was super fresh. It isn't always this good but it was on this occasion. We usually also get the squid tempura rings (yum!), the age dashi tofu and edamame for appetizers. All of them are well done. A friend of our who comes with us often says that their udon is the best in the city. It's not the hippest or fanciest but if you're jonesing for sushi in a land locked city, Sonobana will do the trick! read more

I wish I lived closer to Nashville so I could eat here everyday. This is good old fashioned Japanese food. Don't just eat the sushi while you are here ( though that is great too) try the soft shell crab appetizer! I'll be eating here everytime I go to Nashville read more

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I have been to Sonobana twice, my feedback: * Suuuuuuper nice staff. Like, remarkably nice, helpful, kind and hospitable. * As a Gluten Free diner, I am very impressed that they have GF soy sauce (Tamari) and how much they know about GF needs, menu ingredients & substitutions for menu items to make things GF. One server even went above and beyond and offered to bring me the packaging of some of the items so I could make sure things were OK to eat. Tip #1: Their sushi rice has wheat in it. You will Want to sub with house rice (I wasnt told this until my second visit) Tip #2: Their snowcrab is mixed with imitation crab (has gluten). A $3 upcharge for pure snowcrab. Tip #3: Their miso soup is GF * Both times I have been there, I have found flies in my glass (first time was a water glass, second time was a wine glass that they gladly and apologetically replaced). * The wait is extremely long once orders are placed (even when the place isn't anywhere close to full and there are 4 sushi makers behind the bar). * The restaurant could use a good dusting (lighting fixtures, etc.) and the ceiling tiles look water stained. read more

This place literally made me feel like I was going to die of the stomach flu. So much MSG I cant even describe it. Also weird vibes

I love authentic Japanese cuisine. Sonobana's one of the few places that offers true dishes that Japanese people eat, such as natto (note: it's an acquired taste), kaki fry, otoro (fatty tuna), ochazuke, negima, umeshiso maki (one of my faves) etc. Their menu is fairly extensive, although I wish they offered other specialized items like shabu shabu, tonjiru, nikujaga, oden and chawanmushi. With that said, I'm giving them a 4 instead of a 5 (for now?) because I've been here a few times and it's been inconsistent, mainly the sushi rice. I had it just today and it was delicious, but I've had sushi rice that was under seasoned and the texture felt like it was sitting out for a bit... slightly firmer than freshly made rice should be. Service can be pretty slow too, but the staff are nice. Also, don't expect a speedy lunch here either. Expect to take about 45 minutes (not including traffic to/from the restaurant) during lunchtime (this is also with the restaurant not even half full). Price-wise, they're pretty reasonably priced for most items. The best deal IMO is the special bento box that's only offered during lunchtime. For I think $13-14, you get a mini chirashi (consisting of 3 tuna, 3 salmon, 2 whitefish, 2 imitation crab and 2 Japanese egg omelette), a soup AND salad, 3 pieces of veggie roll, 3 pieces of spicy salmon roll and various small side dishes (sunomono, wakame salad, one mussel, another side dish that I couldn't figure out, and this flaked dried fish side that comes next to your chirashi... don't know what it's called but it's SO GOOD). Their bean sprouts are super delicious too. The only small complaint is that the spicy salmon roll is too mushy for me, but other than that, everything else was good. They also have a small grocery store next door where you can get simple Japanese ingredients. They have the basics of what you need but they don't have fresh produce, so it's not a one-stop shop to do grocery shopping. It's also really, really small which only fits like 5-6 people max. But if you need sushi-grade seafood, condiments, rice, curry mixes, snacks, ramen and various pickled items, you'll find that all here, along with other frozen items and refrigerated Japanese sweets. read more

This restaurant deserves more stars. Service and food all are wonderful. If you are craving for some authentic sushi, you can ask for some with eel or raw seafood. Don't ask for fried rolls. They have a little store inside the restaurant, not really a market. read more

My favorite sushi spot in Nashville. Very fresh affordable. I haven't gotten anything other than sushi here but the bento boxes look great. The only downside is that it is a small dining area so you could have a wait if you go at busier hours. read more

We ordered takeout sushi and were pretty disappointed. We got three different rolls and all were pretty tasteless and luke warm. Things that should have been cold were room temp and things that were fried were even barely warm. It was as if it had been sitting for a while, which it shouldn't have been as we had to wait when we picked up. Not great. read more

Had the seafood salad. There was only two small pieces of octopus and row pieces of imitation crab meat. But a whooole bunch of cucumber. Fresh seafood my butt. And the salad was just flavored with watered down vinegar. It was seriously 1/3 of water and maybe a teaspoon of vinegar. Tops. Very disappointing. The seaweed salad on the other was ok, just a basic seaweed salad. I feel like they could have given a bit more seaweed. The fried oysters and the udon however was delicious. I went to use the bathroom after my meal and it was FILTHY. The toilet seat was covered in lord knows what and the garbage can was so full it was overflowing with paper towels. But I think the worst part of my meal was the service. The waitress never came to check on me and would flat out disappear. Not sure I'll be coming again. read more

Sonobana Japanese Restaurant and Grocery is the best place to get sushi in Nasvhille. The most hortatory haikus could not appropriately laud Sonobana's excellent sushi. The other sushi restaurants in Nashville (ie. nama, pm, virago... etc) cannot compete with Sonobana in sushi quality, selection, or cost. If you care about high quality, affordable, delicious, and elusive cuts of fish, Sonobana is the sushi place for you. read more

Udon vegetable soup was amazing as well as the spring rolls would def go back. This place is authentic

The most authentic Japanese food I've had in Nashville! If there is a wait you can go right next door to the market and grab some fun Japanese snacks to try out! read more

Loved it! We went to celebrate my birthday, we have a group of 11 and they were able to accommodate. Staff was super friendly and the food was delicious! I wanted sushi but couldn't do raw, I had to get the California roll and it was still delicious! I think that speaks volume if the most basic roll is still just as satisfying. They brought out green tea ice cream for me as well, what a treat! I definitely recommend! Next time I will call in advance if we have a large group! read more

Sonobana - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

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I ate here three times before I decided on a rating for this restaurant. Bottom line: it's wonderful. That said, I didn't like everything I ordered. But, that's me. It has nothing to do with the marvelous freshness or great preparation of the food. For me, the fatty tuna, broiled smelt, grilled mackerel and whole fried flounder top my list of MUST TRY at this place. Be sure to order the house special Sonobana sushi, if only once. It's beautiful visually and tastes pretty good, as well. I don't think the buckwheat udon noodles are 100% gluten free. You'd have to ask if it's critical to you. The house blend tea (green with roasted rice) is nice. I bought two bags of it at the small grocery store associated with the restaurant. I'm in love with the Echigo Rice Lager. You can also buy it at the small grocery store, but at the same menu price as the restaurant. Given that I haven't yet found it sold in six packs anywhere else in Nashville, I may have to bite that bullet soon. I seem to end up now once a week at Sonobana, so I'll update if anything else strikes me worth reporting. read more

Sonobana - Grilled Mackerel - Japanese Near Me - Nashville, Tennessee

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