I've been in Hawaii for about a month now, on business, and this is one of my favorite places to eat Sushi. A must visit, if you're touring Honolulu. read more

Sushi nazi But one of the best sashimi Great Fresh but pricy Go as a couple or as a group read more

If I could sum up my experience in one word it would be: uninspiring. We made reservations on open table ahead of time and was called to confirm and seated promptly when we arrived. So far so good. We were there on a Friday night and it was fairly busy with about 80% full. Wait staff was nice, as to be expected in any decent establishment. Decor was simple, dated, but acceptable. Dinner menu was "omakase" or a la carte. My wife and I both went with a la carte. We were explained the a la carte rules that many reviews seemed to complain about: minimum order is 4 (total of 8 nigiri pieces), maximum order of any particular sushi is also 4. After our order was taken, some cold towels were brought out for cleaning our hands. So far so good. The restaurant chef and staff seem very efficient as food were coming out fairly quickly in between dishes. The first plate arrived soon enough: 5 slices of albacore tuna in miso marinade with mayonnaise type drizzle. A for effort and portion, C for taste. Could not really taste the tuna, seasoning just overpowered any natural fish. Next course was baby squid filled with blue crab. B for taste. Decent but nothing special. Most dish comes with 2 pieces. A few more dishes came that included Hawaiian snapper, Hawaiian big eye tuna toro, baked and raw oysters. The fish seemed fresh but could not really appreciate it's true taste due to overpowering marinades, sauce, or toppings. This is my biggest complaint. Too much enhancements that masked the flavors of almost everything. Here's my reasoning: if I'm paying good money for omakase sushi I want to taste the sushi not all the extra ingredients. I stopped the omakase at the 5th or 6th (total of 10 pieces of nigiri eaten) dish as I simply did not enjoy it. The waiter was perplexed that I stopped so soon as it wasn't even half way thru the course at that point. Decided to order some a la carte of seared toro, uni and hand roll. Uni and toro were good but still not anything exceptional. Our total bill was $160, which would have been great pricing for good sushi. Instead it was a bit expensive for just average sushi. Needless to say, one visit here is enough for us. Booked another omakase at Maru (crew to our Uber driver for the rec) the following night. Hoping for a better experience. read more

I have been a patron of Sushi Sasabune for several years and hands down the "Sasabune Experience" is the most enjoyable for serious sushi connoisseurs. Through his "Trust Me" menu or Omakase, Chef Seiji Nakagawa takes you on a journey through his masterful art of "Sasabune-style" sushi. The omakase menu consists of a wide range of fresh delicacies from the sea with each dish carefully selected and prepared. To truly enjoy the flavors of his hand-picked gems, Seiji-san will instruct you on how to best eat his sushi. While I would love to go through each dish of the omakase, I would do you no justice. There is no other sushi experience like the "Sasabune Experience." If you are serious sushi eater and have not been to Sushi Sasabune, you don't know what you are missing...make your reservations today and enjoy the journey. read more

`The place at night is in a sketchy area. If you do go I would recommend wearing something casual since its not a very fancy place. After reading so many good reviews my husband and I decided to give it a shot. The food. We sat at the bar where the sushi chef chooses what's on the menu. The quality of the fish/oysters/lobster/squid was outstanding...no complaints there! My (our) biggest complaint was the flavor. It was good, but I feel like there was not much effort in the seasoning. Several of courses had the same citrus taste just different textures. That was disappointing. I was expecting to get exotic sushi since I'm "trusting" him but I think he prepares the same menu over and over again. Everything you see other reviews list as the 13 course menu was the exact same thing we had. Maybe we caught him on a bad night but he seemed moody. He never once looked at us, which I found it to be rude. The guys sitting next to us kept giving the sushi chef shots of sake. He would toast and then dump the sake down the sink when they weren't looking. I completely understand he has to be sober in order to cook. He could had politely said "no thanks" instead of making those guys waste their money and sake! It was also annoying that even though I was doing everything they told me to do....I felt like a kid that kept getting in trouble. If some of my rice fell on my plate they bring a new one out each time, annoying! Overall, going there for me was not worth it. The quality of the fish was great, but the seasoning and the restaurant atmosphere did not make up for it. Going there is not cheap, it will cost you about a hundred + a person. I wish we would have splurged on something else! read more

I get brought here by my business partner on island everytime we are about to close a deal. It is very pricey but has tremendously good sushi. Always go with the chefs menu or risk his ire. He was definitely a character. The service is great and they recommend the right way to eat each bite (ie: w/soy, w/out). The sashimi was all wonderful but the Toro was butter! Then they finish off the sushi meal with an awesome lobster dish. This place is all about the sushi and all about the service. it is small and hard to get into during prime time, but well worth the wait. read more

Sushi was excellent! This meal was a highlight of our trip. Reservations a must! Otherwise, you will be turned down at the door very gracefully by the host, Ken. We saw him turned down 3 groups, as we were waited to be seated for our 8.30pm reservation. The experience is a Must. read more

I have known Sasabune for years, from his places in both Los Angeles and Hawaii andI had planned my recent trip to Hawaii around visiting Sasabune there. I was disappointed upon comparison to my previous experiences, first, the place had been remodeled to look like one of the many American bars, was smaller and as a consequence more noisy and hurried. Most of all, I found that the sequence of dinner plates did not have the exquisite progression of taste that I remembered and was expecting. The service was good and attentive but, given the price/performance level, I would no longer recommend Sasabune as enthusiastically as I did. read more

Sushi Sasabune Where do I begin? This place from the outside looks like a regular run-of-the-mill sushi joint. I came in thinking I've been to ALL of the top-tiered NYC sushi palaces as well as in San Diego, San Fransisco and LA and I was ready to poo-poo this place. Oh how wrong I was. This place rules with an iron grip. Must be the freshest, most mouth-watering sushi I've ever eaten. The chu-toro is the epitome of tuna. So oily, so fantastic, so sublime, that it was like a secret weapon smuggled into the restaurant and set to explode in our mouths. Every piece that we ordered alacarte was mind-expanding! Changed the way I eat sushi now. Like many other reviewers mentioned, Sushi Chef is watching over his place like an eagle. My wife inadvertently turned to look at the sushi counter and he was STARING at her! Eerie to say the least. A little disturbing but it's his joint. The funniest part of the whole experience is that the wait staff was carrying on like they were the Sushi Chef. Hey guys, wake up! You don't pick the freshest imported fish and prepare amazing menus of absolute deliciousness, you're waiting tables! Mind you I've waited tables myself and it's no fun but guess what, I didn't have an attitude of being a chef, they did! Slow your sushi roll fellas. Listen to everything you're told and you won't feel like you're gonna get scolded. He does know his stuff and you should trust him but do the alacarte. I have done both the omakase and alacarte. Not only do you retain some semblance of independence in this sushi mecca but you're picking from the list of sushi that he picks from. The other benefit is that you order only what you want to eat and not a single morsel more. If you do the omakase he gives you what he wants and you have to take it even if you're overstuffed. Sounds like Sushi Chef is morphing into a Japanese grandmother. read more

Sushi shop for the refined pallete. Omakase was wonderful but came with a hefty price tag. Gave 4 stars due to the price. There are other shops sich as Gaku where the prices are lower and the quality is almost the same. Other sushi shops are juse a better value. read more

$200 omakase out the door. I've had better at the $150 range. Perhaps Hawaii is just lacking in the high-end sushi game.

Went here several times and they can be accommodating to your tastes. Current menu seemed to have changed from long time ago, so better. Onolicious. Expensive though, but service is outstanding! read more

Have visited a few times, mostly for work engagements. Always top notch service, though of course it is on the expensive side.

Love Uni Nigiri and other side dish with sake! My boy Friend's favorite!!

First, let me say that the the mark I give for the overall experience is 3.5 stars. It's definitely less than but better than A-OK: the sushi was good. I booked here because I wanted to eat more authentic sushi for once. Not that there's anything wrong with the American ones, but perusing the menu of Japanese restaurants in the US sometimes makes me wonder how far they can drift from the Japanese sushi bars... It's like they're doing a competition! So, I wanted to experiment again my experience of Japan, where I go roughly yearly, through a splurge dinner at Sasabune, which is hailed as on of the most authentic places Honolulu can have. To make a long story short, it's good, but not that good in my mind. I guess the raving reviews set my expectations too high. Compared to most sushi restaurants outside Japan, Sasabune is good. It's just not possible to compare it to a good experience in Tokyo, and even less to the infamous sushi breakfasts at Tsukiji, where I heard the "no soy sauce" sentence first... On the other hand, some of the other reviews had made me fear that the service wouldn't be very welcoming. There is nothing Nazi about the waiter, who're just making sure you're enjoying the food in a way that produce the best results. If it's already seasoned, drowning the seasoning in shoyu will make it redundant, and one would be better off just eating a plain sushi. I totally understand the effort of the waiter and I must say that the customers sitting at the bar were having a good experience: even if the chef was stone-faced and said nothing at all, the assistants took time explaining the dishes and made the experience lively. On my visit there, I ordered à la carte. I know most people here comes for the omakase, but I prefer to trust the sushi chef when he knows me. That's the essence of omakase... Note that the waiter didn't mention omakase, but spoke of the "set menu" which more aptly describe what it looked to be. So one of the complains of another poster seems to have been addressed, at least it was in my case. A set menu it looks to be. But I know exactly what I wanted, so I went à la carte, and had a bill of 116 USD ai, for a large beer, 10 orders of sushi (uni, various tuna, yellowfin, salmon, amberjack, and a negitoro hand roll.) There were some good points. The bintoro (albacore tuna sushi) was awesome. It alone is worth half a star to the overall menu! Not very popular usually, it's an overlooked gem. I can't recommend this dish more, if the chef can source regularly albacore of this quality. The wasabi is good. Overall quality was satisfying. Service was excellent, and I never found the waiter pushy. He explained the origin of the fish, which I didn't find annoying. Some visibly didn't like that in the reviews, but I don't find it a loss of time, and in some case, it can help the customer to decide whether to order or not --- I know I prefer uni from Hokkaido above any other, and I should have stayed clear of the Santa Barbara variety, for example (it was good, but not mind-blowing... I suspect anyway that getting Hokkaido sushi outside Japan can be quite difficult, as there is a shortage on the domestic market, so exporting to the US is certainly not worth it --- I don't blame the chef who wisely avoided Canadian uni). There were some strange points, though. Someone pointed out that the sushi rice was warm. It's true. When I read it first, I thought "of course it should be like that, it shouldn't be refrigerated..." but when I ate, I understood... It's a little bit too warm. Letting the sushi wait a few minutes certainly would have yielded a better result. The chef, whom we are supposed to trust blindly, remember, made a very curious choice in the order to serve sushi.... He started with toro. The practice of starting with the more mundane offering and going up in quality wasn't respected... I'm pretty sure he made them in the order they're on the form you fill with your orders, which is certainly not the best one. And finally, there were some bad points. Really bad points, and that's where the restaurant failed to be a 4 or 5 stars contender... At 18USD ai, the two pieces of toro are outrageously expensive. I don't mind paying this price for quality... But it was really just that. Toro. Not chutoro nor o-toro. When ordering in this price range at a sushi bar in Tokyo, which is not the least expensive place in the world, you get o-toro. A mind-blowing experience. Here, we get... a good sushi. But not worth three time the more regular orders and certainly not three times its outstanding bintoro. The hand roll wasn't neatly rolled, and felt rushed. There was not fish cutting activity at the counter. For the duration of my meal, the chef operated only from pre-cut fish slices. And finally... some of the sauces were overpowering the fish. Really. The salmon was impossible to appreciate because of the roasted sesame seed... same with yuzu sauce. 5000 char limit read more

People are SOOO easy to get sold in Hawaii. I can't believe you people loved it??? This restaurant's sushi is NOT AUTHENTIC sushi. If in Japan, this place will be the top of the worst sushi restaurant list. Don't get fooled by the atomosphere or thier no-price Omakase. I have eaten the BEST sushi so many times in Japan and the best is unfortunately only available in Japan. Sashimi is not supposed to be dipped in Ponzu sauce. It is unheard of... Kills all the fish taste. Maybe there is a reason they want to kill the taste. The rest of the fish were sooo soft which tells you that it is NOT fresh. Absolutely over-priced. DON"T RECOMMEND IT AT ALL. After all, Yanagi will be the better place. read more

Do you TRUST me? I have been here several times and I do TRUST you Sensei. You come in early in the morning to prep and pick the freshest fish from all over the world. Is it because you are a Perfectionist and Guarantee the Freshest Fish? TRUST me you don't have to answer that question, you had me at Hello. 13 courses that will take you into an Erotic and Euphoric state. The sushi bar is Omakase which means to TRUST the chef to serve you the Freshest fish of the day. He does have a particular way he want you to eat the sushi to maximize the flavors. So you get what you get and you can't throw a fit. My favorites were Blue-fin Toro, Scallop, Negitoro, Albacore sashimi and Lobster tail, After my 13 courses, I asked for more recommendations. The Chef recommended the Uni and Monk-fish Liver. I was hesitant at first and he just looked into my eyes and said, "Do you TRUST me?" For some reason, I think I was in a state of Trance from eating all these great dishes and I thought he was asking me to marry him. I said, "Yes I do." I was blown away by the Uni and Monk-fish. If it was not for the chef, I would not have taken that leap into the Exotic and Unknown world of sushi. The Omakase will run about $150pp so make sure you have your Black card ready and make reservation. So the question of the day is .."Do you TRUST me?" I TRUST you to make the right decision and head to Sushi Sasabune for Amazing sushi and experience. read more

had the omakase at sasabune and it was GOOD! best meal i've ever had in hawaii. fish was super fresh, rolls were creative and unique. the food is something you'd expect from authentic japanese sushi chefs/restaurant. the night was somewhat of a blur because we had so many sake shots with the chef. it was one of the most memorable dinners i've had in a long time. read more

I practically have to take a deep inspiratory effort to write this review. Okay, here's why. Yes it's all lovely and fresh and tasty and oh what a great experience to sit at the bar and have this highly astute and skillful sushi snob serve you. And ah how wonderful to know what waters your fish, crustacean, mollusk, and invertebrate came. And thank you grim sushi chef for instructing my ignorant ass on how to eat EACH and EVERY fanciful piece. Not to mention the history lesson on German immigration to Kobe and the aging process of ahi tuna from the waters near Spain. Okay that was really interesting it's just that his attitude KILLS it for me. I mean what a downer this pretentious, racist, culinary fart is! Oops, did I drop the "R" bomb? Okay, let me explain. Unfortunately this is necessary. After my lovely dinner I noticed the Japanese group sitting next to me receiving raw oyster, mirugai, and the like (I can't remember what else) while I had received a stuffed squid body, baked oyster, and baked lobster which was all very good but all very cooked for a sushi bar. When I inquired why I had not receive those highly coveted dishes, I was told because I am more American! Well, I'm sorry I'm not Japanese enough for you Mr Sushi! Cursed white father tainting my Japanese blood, if only I were FULL Japanese I could have had the REAL Sushi Sasabune experience! Hey I have an idea Mr. "Trust Me", how about instead of racially profiling your customer , you get to know your customer, instead of them having to get to know you!!! read more

So let me preface this entire post with the sushi ain't bad in the slightest, now onward: TL:DR sasabune is way over-hyped and I think it primarily still exists riding it's history as folk I know who have lived on the island distinctly remember it being better years ago. Unfortunately any time I have off island guests they have all heard about and want to go to meaning sadly I come four to five times a year when I would much rather go to Gaku or Sushi ii. Basically my big gripe with this place is for having a much lauded thirteen round omakase how omakase is it when every time I go 11 out of 13 dishes are identical to every other damn time I have been there (almost to the dish order even and months apart) and to make it worse, the sushi is very, IMHO, "fusion", i.e. covered with sweet sauce and other garments (like mint, etc) which completely mask the taste of the meat itself. Tastewise it's really not all that much better than Genki or Kuru Kuru at quadruple the price though the quality is probably better (though you can't taste it). Negatives aside though I do like how their Chef's explain the dishes and Sasabune's wait staff is second to none. Basically the way I explain Sasabune to people that have never tried it is "it's sushi for people that don't like sushi but love the ambiance/hype plus TBH it's trendy and fashionable so you can tell people you went and they will be impressed". read more

Red flag immediately went up with the first dish of the omakase, tuna completely drowned in ponzu and unfortunately things didn't get too much better throughout the meal. Disappointment culminated with the tiny dried lobster tail at 18 dollars a piece which tasted like rubber. The negiri was decent although vastly over piced. There is nothing magical about the about the omakase here, basically you are just letting the sushi chef pick dishes off the a la carte menu for you without any clue as to what you prefer(he never asked at any point during our meal). At the prices they charge, might be a better idea to just ask him what's fresh and order off the a la carte menu yourself. Another disappointing 4 1/2 star yelp black pearl in Hawaii, which happens way more often than it should. Over 300 bucks for 2 person lunch and very minimal alcohol. Definitely does not live up to the hype. Try Gaku or Torae Torae for a similar meal at probably 1/2 the price. read more

No one like a Sushi nazie. Bill was $900 for five people with only two beer. Definitely will not go back. Much rather go to Akasaka or even Yanagy. read more

4 Orders Minimum , 4 Orders Maximum? My wife asked me to take her to Sasabune this evening for her birthday dinner. I was happy to oblige her request for this special evening. We called and made a reservation and showed up on time. The second visit to this restaurant confirmed for me that the service model of this business sucks!!! I am born and raised in the islands and I have never seen such a public display of intentional arrogance. This is how it went: We were greeted by our waiter with the quick slide of a couple of menus. There was no " Hello, Good evening, welcome....... " instead a quick disappearing act. When the waiter did come to speak to us he explained that we could either do the Omakase syle dining or we could order ala carte. Having grown up in the islands and traveled to Japan and many other parts of the world, we, like many others have our favorites. We go to restaurants to eat what we like.... that's the whole point to dining out!! So we ordered our favorite sushi. Well just to warn all of you out there who might want more than 4 orders of Hamachi or Salmon you should stop at Zippy"s or McDonald's on the way cause you ain't getting more than 8 pieces of your favorite. When the waiter is busy telling you that you have to order a minimum of 4 orders per person along with how to eat each and every type of sushi ( with shoyu and without shoyu ..... which is irritating as hell ) he forgets to tell you that you have a cap on your favorites. I got to wondering why would this business have such a ridiculous rule, policy or law?? Here is my assumption.... perhaps we were getting the special treatment. Perhaps someone in there secretly decides who is getting too much of the good stuff! I think that if you let them serve you the "omakase" style, then they are cool, because they can serve you all the crap mixed in with some of the good stuff .....it's obviously all about the bottom line. I am in business too so no problem with that..... Hey Sasabune, how about great quality all the time... order all you can eat of whatever you enjoy at a fair.. maybe even a little expensive price with friendly, happy service. Sasabune sadly lacks the Hawaiian Aloha Spirit. Sasbune's business model does not make for a nice dining experience....... take your business elsewhere!! read more

another place i wont be going back too... its like a grave yard... quite and loads of bad 'tudes... i have been to one in LA..not bad..but not my fav.. my wife and i ordered one of their courses,, I noticed the hirame had a sweet fragrance smell.. ok.. weird.. ate it anyway.. then maguro.. same flavor. I asked the waiter what up? he said its fresh.....fresh? ya right.. My wife went to the restroom when she washed her hands with the soap in the bathroom she noticed the smell.. its the same smell on my sushi... there was a female chef,..working back behind the bar.. and she forgot to rinse her hands... in my belief it is rare to have female chef.. ask any japanese sushi master and it will because of theyre hands.. too warm... so .. fish off to the waiter for being know it all .. i was born and raised in Japan... and grew up in Yokosuka , misaki area... home of the maguro... so sometimes its best not to talk too much... you never know who your serving to... read more

We had to reserve days before for this wonderful food experience. We had to do it at lunch because we had other plans for dinner that day. The ambiance of the place is typical of good sushi restaurants I have been to. This sushi restaurant is by far the awesomest I have eaten at! Our server (whom I am unable to remember the name), gave us background in what we are being serve as it comes. Even though we were told that there were no menus for kids, we were given a sheet we can pick for them. My kids love sushi and sashimi. We picked the "American" sushi; next time we will try the "Japanese" sushi. It seemed like the course is never ending, so we asked our server how many more courses to go. Sorry I can not say how many total course for lunch time. You can look over the other Yelpers review of this place. We stopped before the last 2 servings of the course. I want to keep going but I don't want to get a tummy ache because I was already full. I wonder next time if I can request the last 2 I missed when we come back to this place. Our bill came to about a little over $400 (4 adults and three kids). We will definitely come back to this place! read more

Wow. We live in Los Angeles and have frequented Sasabune there for years. We also come to Oahu approximately every three months and always go to Sasabune here. Tonight we were treated to a late seating, a roach on the sushi bar and a rude sushi chef. We will never ever return. read more

3rd time at this tasty spot. Waiter was condescending the first time and mislead us about the fact that one can cut off the chef course at any time. Maybe figured we were tourists and wouldn't be back. Most everything is tasty, but 2 of us bit into pieces of crab shell in a couple pieces, and the oysters didn't seem so fresh this time. For the price these things should not be happening. Unfortunate, as it's prob the best sushi place in HI. read more

Last night we came here for dinner!! Food was okay!! But got offended after dinner when waiter told us to leave right after paying the bill. Should have give us some time to relax for couple more minutes!! For a higher class restaurant their customer service very bad !! Never going back there again!! read more

Totally over-rated and over-hyped !. This guy seems to think he is the Hawaii version of the Soup Nazi !!! The rice was sub-par, the quality of the Uni was lacking and for $ 500 Bucks I felt totally ripped-off ! The Sushi at Tokkuri Tei runs circles around this place. If you're gonna spend for No-Limits Sushi , try Nobu's instead , I took Clients from Japan there and even they said politely it was no big deal , would never go to this place again ! read more

Awful food. Rude workers. Very unpleasant environment. When my friends and I walked in it felt like we weren't welcome. And to make matters worse this Japanese waitress with the short shoulder length hair who never smiles, totally was unhelpful. It didn't seem like she wanted to help us or be there. Then the food was gross and unfulfilling. Never coming back read more

Went for valentines day, was not that great. Not that impressed. Maybe it'll be better on a non-special occasion. But for that price, I definitely expected more. I felt they overbooked the restaurant. read more

Sushi Nazi perhaps has had his D-day. I cannot believe this place has 4+ stars. We went here based on a recommendations of a local, family members, and these yelp reviews. Im not sure who is make these reviews, but the five star ratings are hyper-inflated by sushi and fine-dining newbies who likely only judge a meal by how much they are paying for it. No matter how good the food is (which was below average), if the service and ambience is bad, the experience as a whole is bad. So lets get to the particulars. First the process: We had the "omakase." This is NOT omakase. It rather is a set menu that the chef mindlessly goes through serving one dish after another like a drone. True omakase from a proper sushi chef is a give and take experience. The proper chef starts you off with something then sees or asks your reaction to it, then creates the next course based on the prior, in a progression. The experience at sasabune is so mechanical it might as well be on a conveyor belt. Furthermore, all of the fish was pre-sliced and pre-prepared. all the chef does is form the rice and place it on top. real sushi should be cut from the fillet fresh, not sitting around precut and oxidizing prior to consumption. To the food: Our meal started off with two appetizers, both cooked seafood. For a sushi restaurant, there were too many cooked dishes. The first was albacore tuna soaking in some sort of soy type dressing, and the second was cooked squid stuffed with cooked blue crab (the kind you get from the baltimore coast; not dungeness, the good stuff from the pacific side). And if that wasn't enough, it wouldn't the last time we would see both of those cooked ingredients, again an issue for me. In omakase you really should have repeats, especially for cooked ingredients! Later on we had albacore tuna sushi and a blue crab hand roll. So this is 4 of your 13 courses, albacore tuna (again not the good stuff, such as yellowfin or even big eye, but the stuff that is in canned star kiss!), and blue crab wrapped in cooked squid and then again in rice and seaweed. pretty sad. but it gets better! The other cooked dishes included baked oyster, abalone, cooked eel over tamago, and small rock lobster. So that gets us to 8 of 13 dishes. Thats half of your meal, cooked! remember, this is 150USD/person for sushi, not mediocre cooked seafood. the rest of the sushi was average. The shrimp was not the sweet spotted shrimp, but just typical shrimp. Not even served the head! but again this is likely because the shrimp was pre-prepared, instead of live and pre-prepared fresh. The other courses consisted of other average sushi (salmon, local white fish, etc) and toro twice, really four times, since each "course" was served with two pieces, but these consisted of the same exact thing coupled with itself. The second time toro was served, it was tartare formed on top of the rice. The texture of toro is great on its own, there is no need to chop it up and essentially pulverize it. The doubling up of toro, just seems like a ploy to increase the price of the set menu, rather than improving my dining experience. And my last complaint about the food was an omission of uni. Seriously with omakase and a place charging me 150USD/person, there definitely should be uni! come on. at the end of our meal one of the sous chefs asked us if we wanted it as an add-on, but at that point we were so disappointed that we said we were done. onto the service: This place is so high on itself that they think they need to "explain" why they are better than others. but when you have to do so, you likely aren't better. If you make your customers feel uncomfortable, the food will not taste as good. When we checked in, we were offered sushi bar or regular dining seat. At most sushi places, the bar is where the action is at, so we chose the bar. This was disappointing to say the least. We were not greeted by anyone at the bar until we were served our first course. The sous chef that served us had such a thick accent that his explanation of the courses was essentially non-existent. The main chef, never interacted with us at all, even though we were sitting right in front of him. Maybe he has heard some much about being a nazi, that he actually has become an asshole. not sure, but either way it was not inviting. almost every great sushi experience I have had resulted in friendly interaction with the chef. This was not the case here. plus, no cell rule? your restaurant is in a sh*tty strip mall, the inside is old and cheap, someone on a cell phone isnt going to ruin the subpar ambience. lighten up. As I say in my motto, "I hate hype" and this restaurant is a prime example of why. Don't waste your money, time, or calories. If you want great sushi on oahu, try mitch's fish market and sushi bar. Its great for fresh, simply sushi specializing in lobster sashimi in a setting that is not pompous. if you thought this review was helpful, look for my review of mitch's for more details read more

I have been here many times and loved it. More recently I found out that the Omakase for the japanese is not the same as for white devils like myself. I am very disappointed. Will not be back. read more

Lurve it.!!..need i say more. Chef that really enjoy surprising the customers with their creations. washed down 12 plates and they all wowed me. Tuna was super fresh. Baked oyster, Octopus with stuff blue crab. Can get pricey, but worth it! read more

Just as many reviewers have mentioned, Honolulu's Sushi Sasabune is in a lower rent neighborhood and the decor is less than you would expect. But just as others have said, it's the food not the atmosphere. As for the food it is extremely fresh and simple. Flavors of the ingredients are what stand out. First time diners should splurge and choose the "omakase," or chef's choice menu. It will give you the full spectrum of what the restaurant can do. One criticism is, the restaurant uses green colored horseradish for wasabi. Other restaurants all over Hawaii use the real stuff and it is truly special. The green horseradish is not subtle and does swing a single note punch to the palate. Sadly, it was an unpleasant part of many of the very excellent sushi that was served. Lastly, the very BEST item of the night was not on the chef's choice menu so we ordered it anyway. The very best of the evening was the extraordinary CALIFORNIA UNI SUSHI. So good we ordered it twice. So sweet, so rich, so addictive it is unlike any seafood you will ever have. Ironically, the California uni was probably from Santa Barbara. We live in Santa Barbara and came all the way to Honolulu to eat it! read more

Worst experience as a tourist. Never bring kids as everything is omakase menu and attitude towards customer was awful. Never again....

We went to have dinner and discovered it was a "Trust The Chef" menu. I have to hand it to the owner its a "clever system" they've devised, in that your paying for what they like versus what you would prefer. Many of the fish served have a strong or spicy sauce (even the sliced tuna), which makes one suspect that it's old, but allows them to move out the inventory. At the end you realize you've spend a small fortune in a drab for an unsatisfying meal in a very drab environment. Really disappointed, not what we hoped for. There a many better choices in Hawaii. read more

If you enjoy paying a LOT OF MONEY for rude service and pseudo-sushi lathered with Yoshida's Teriyaki Sauce or mayonnaise then this is the place for you. read more

Food was too sweet, my grandmother is diabetic, we asked for sauce on side, they did not accommodate, food had to be thrown away. They refused us to allow to take a take out box to give food to someone else. I called and asked to speak to manager, they never called me back twice. They refused to give us a partial refund. They are extremely difficult to work with. read more

After reading many an outstanding review on Yelp, we decided to try this place out. Word to the wise, order the omakase, and at any time during the course of the dishes, you can stop the process. We did not know this so we kept on going until we were almost broke! But you can seriously just have two dishes and you can say that you are finished. You pay for how many dishes you actually eat. Ok so onto the review. We love sushi and we've had some of the greatest in Vancouver, Tsukiji market in Tokyo, and LA. This is right up there with the best of them. We had 13 courses. The Boston Blue Fin Toro and the baked Vancouver oysters were by far the most superior and memorable of the group. Everything was just-cut-off-the-bone fresh. I would recommend it to anyone in Honolulu. I don't think that I would have to go back again because it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But it sure was tasty!! BTW, this place is super-casual. No need to dress up at all. I wore a strapless dress and was way overdressed. Wear something with an elastic waistband if you plan on eating all 13 courses! read more