Yamato felt like we were back in Tokyo! From friendly, capable service to absolutely delicious food, this was a top-tier experience. Not kidding, I keep having dreams about dinner here. Good dreams! Eager to go back and try other things dreams!! Easily and by far the best Japanese cuisine in Tucson. read more

Went for lunch a couple of weeks ago based on the good reviews. But it did not live up to the customer comments here on Yelp. Overpriced menu items. Spent about $100 for two people at lunch. Had the chirashi and it was mediocre at best. Not enough protein for a child and little effort in presentation. Would have been better off getting sushi from the grocery store. read more

Omg what a cute little restaurant!! Small but comfortable. Definitely try to get there before dinner rush but service was nice even if they have one server (which she did an amazing job). the food tasted soooo fresh too so it's worth the price. read more

Finally got to eat at this restaurant where most folks in FB Tucson foodie group and Tucson Redditora say is the best sushi in town! And I was not disappointed! Sashimi tasted so fresh! Sushi was great! Oh and that salad dressing! My boyfriend ordered a katau curry and it was delicious as well. There was just one girl running the whole dining area plus pick up but she still managed to provide excellent service. Ordering nigiri can get pricey so I can't go as frequent as I wish to but I look forward to my next visit! read more

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Pretty good Japanese dinner combination with Tuna sashimi, salad, miso soup n main dish sukiyaki with rice!! Tasty n delicious!!! Services were good and efficient!!! Chef was a typical Japanese guy with a traditional sushi bar n dinner room designed!! read more

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This is the best Japanese restaurant I found in Tucson thus far. There seem to be legitimate Japanese people preparing the food, and the taste was the closest thing I found in Tucson since Japan I ordered sukiyaki and tuna sashimi. Everything was delicious, including the bowl of rice. Of course, nothing will taste identical to Japan, but this is the closest I found in a long time. My only advice is to make sure you get a reservation. This place is small and gets quite crowded on the weekends. read more

Yamato - Welcomed by a bonsai style tree - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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I've tried 3 times to eat here and either I needed a reservation or they were closed. This seems to be run by an old school old sushi chef and he likely is the only chef so their hours reflect this. So be prepared and make reservations because they don't have many tables. We tried a variety of dishes and all of them were created with care. All was very tasty. read more

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I absolutely LOVE this place. It reminds me of being in Tokyo all over again. From the ambiance to the food, it's truly an authentic experience. The service is amazing. The place is relatively small with just 1 server and she is very attentive. The sushi is top tier and I would highly recommend trying this place at least once. I typically arrive early to beat the dinner rush. If you are planning on stopping by, do make a reservation beforehand as they tend to be booked out. read more

Yamato - Tuna and yellowtail nigiri, rainbow roll, sunset roll, and a spicy salmon roll - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

My first time ever to Yamato and wow! What great sushi-so fresh! There aren't a lot of tables and snagging one without reservations seems chancy, but it's all worth it. Very pleasant service and simple decor, but the fresh sushi is the star here. We totally over ordered. In addition to the nigiri and rolls we also had gyoza, fried squid, soft shelled crab and a couple other items. So glad we finally tried it! read more

Yamato - Tuna and Yellowtail nigiri along with assorted rolls - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Excellent Japanese cuisine,for those who crave jellyfish great appetizer. Chef is a true artist of Japanese food presentation.

How do you know when it's an authentic Japanese spot, when you see Sukiyaki on the menu. Even being from NY/NJ, this dish is very hard to find. Opened for 36 years, you can feel the past when you walk in. Raul greeted us warmly. He mentions that they have imported uni (2pcs for $24) from Japan and my son's face lights up. Here is what we had on 2 visits in the same week: - assortment of sushi - imported Uni & Toro from Japan - Nabeyaki Udon (waiter's favorite) - Nabeyaki Soba (amazing broth) - Sukiyaki (comes with 2 types of noodles) - Tempura Soba - Katsudon (very flavorful) - Curry Rice with Katsu Incredible Japanese food and service. This will be our go-to spot whenever we visit Tucson. Reservations highly recommended or you might be turned away. read more

Yamato - Wall Decor - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Ok. This is BY FAR the best Sushi in Tucson. I'm a huge sashimi person, check my reviews, I'm surprised I don't look like a fish at this point. Anyhow, the sashimi here is legit. No foul after taste. No yucky smells. This place is very very small and reservations are limited but pick up the phone and make them. It's well worth it. The sushi chef is an older Japanese gentleman and he obviously knows his craft. Absolutely phenomenal food!! I try to come at least once a week when I am in town. The price is not even cost prohibitive. It's affordable and delicious. Highly recommend this amazing restaurant!! read more

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Authentic Japanese restaurant with good chirashi bowl. Small place. Updated menu posted as well. read more

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The food was okay but the price for what you get is far from worth it and the service left alot to be desired. The place itself is very outdated. Overall it was a meh experience. read more

Every time I come here the food is so good. It's a hard place to spot being in a shopping mall, however, worth finding. I have the Yaki soba with chicken. All the other food was ordered by my friend. He said it was fantastic. It's not the cheapest place to eat, but so worth it. read more

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What can I say that's not been said about Yamato?! What an experience and treasure in our little desert city. Nestled in the most unassuming place you could think of, it's like a sushi speakeasy, hidden in plain sight! Intentionally created dishes, served in a relaxed and cozy atmosphere. It feels like you're at your chill godfather's house, while he's serving up amazing food. read more

This was a wonderful surprise spot to meet up with old friends. Two of us had the chef preference sushi platter and two had Grilled salmon or a teriyaki chicken and rice dish. Terrific service in a small ten table restaurant. It was a delight and I am looking forward to our return. read more

I was heavily recommended to try this spot. For context, I'm Asian from Southern California and have had plenty of authentic Japanese food. Honestly, I find it a little funny that people rate this place so highly. We ordered sashimi, sushi, and ramen. The ramen was abysmal, the sushi was overloaded with poorly cooked rice, and the sashimi was just...fresh enough. While the sushi chef seemed to be Japanese, I strongly suspect the place is run by non-Japanese owners, and it doesn't feel authentic at all. It's frustrating to see a restaurant capitalize on people who may not know what genuine Japanese food should taste like. read more

Stopped in for lunch and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. I ordered the sashimi lunch which came with 12 pieces, tuna, hamachi, salmon and snapper. All were very fresh and the snapper had a spicy dressing drizzled on it which made using the soy sauce and wasabi unnecessary. I also had the ikura and a spicy tuna handroll. Both were also quite good. Service is super attentive and the prices and very reasonable for the quality. read more

Everything was so good here! Ample parking and you can make a reservation by calling ahead. We were sat right away during our Tuesday date night. You can see what we ordered on the menu pick. I heard the salad was delicious and it has an amazing dressing! We even dipped our cucumbers into the dressing. They need to bottle it up! The dynamite scallops had a great kick and were so flavorful. I loved the futomaki!! I'm still craving it. All of it was fresh and served fast. Great service and a great spot to celebrate your anniversary. read more

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Post pandemic Update: Yamato is my favorite sushi restaurant In Tucson. I've been a regular here for nearly a decade. Yamato is definitely more traditional- the sushi menu is small and high quality. They also have a full menu of Japanese entrees and appetizers. Chef Noburo manages the sushi bar solo. Which means quality control is top priority. It also means that service can be delayed. Know that up front and you'll enjoy your meal. Now that we are in a somewhat "post pandemic" world, I think another update is in order. Just like all other dining establishments, Yamato was impacted by the pandemic. The are open for takeout. They do a ton of takeout so plan in advance. The dining room is open for lunch and dinner. Reservations are strongly encouraged and may still be required for dinner. Definitely call ahead. The sushi bar seating remains closed. Yamato is also great for takeout. We support them both for dine in and take out. read more

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This is one of the best authentic Japanese spots in Tucson. It's small, 6 tables, service is ALWAYS on point. Food is ALWAYS delicious. You can't go wrong, but plan ahead, you'll probably need a reservation. read more

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Good sushi and sashimi. Kind of a hole in the wall. Not much ambiance. They don't have a lot of those bullshit rolls with all the stupid ingredients and cream cheese. The menu says that the hamachi cheek takes a while to cook. All of this tells me that the place is just trying to serve good honest food. I used to work at a Japanese restaurant very much like this one- understated, traditional, and no bullshit. read more

First time at Yamato! We did the Dinner for Two with Chef's Choice Nigiri and added an order of amaebi (sweet shrimp) nigiri. Be sure to ask for deep fried shrimp heads if you try the amaebi; the amaebi has an interesting texture hut the flavor is unique and delicious in my opinion. Food was delicious and who can say no to fresh fish?! But I will say this is not the best sushi I've had in town, and the Dinner for 2 should have come with two pieces of nigiri for each type of fish so that each person is not awkwardly taking a half bite of nigiri to share. It was a lot of food for $49.95 for a dinner for two, but I would have paid even a few dollars extra to have two pieces of each type of nigiri. It was still quite a lot of food for two people. In addition to Chef's Choice Nigiri, the dinner combo came with miso soup (it needed more miso in my opinion and was a bit watery), salad with dressing (not the best dressing), and a shrimp and veggie tempura appetizer, plus vanilla ice cream for dessert. The tempura is perfectly battered here. Not too thick that you would be extremely full and not be able to taste the inside. The vanilla ice cream is creamy and absolutely from Costco. I recognize it from my many Costco runs. Service was a bit slow, but the restaurant apologized and gave us free eggrolls for waiting. It is a smaller restaurant with less staff so less attentive. It's a hole-in-the-wall cozy place with lanterns and other cute decor. We will probably return here for sushi in the future! read more

Yamato - Dinner for 2 - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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I did not have the best experience at Yamato. From the start, we made a reservation for dinner but were still left waiting for a table for quite a long time. This was not for lack of effort of the staff. There was only 1 waiter and they were running around all night trying to cover all the tables. When we finally got our food, the sushi was disappointing in my opinion. I ordered a rainbow roll and Philadelphia roll. Even though pretty simple rolls, I felt the sushi was lacking and did not taste great. I also ordered vegetable tempura for the table. This was pretty good and was the good part of the meal. This won't be my first choice for sushi in Tucson in the future. read more

Yamato - Rainbow roll - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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It's cozy and located in a strip mall near McDonald's on Grant Road. The restaurant had one server on a Saturday night and it was busy so service was slower. The server was friendly and apologetic about the wait time. Our miso soup came out first, then our crab spicy roll and sunset roll before the pork gyozas. The rolls were smaller, but really flavorful. read more

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Been to a lot of places and this is the best sushi in town every single time. There is only one chef who is in his later years and will put limits on the amount you can order at a time during busy hours. Still best sushi in town, and at a very reasonable price point. read more

Based on previous reviews, I knew a reservation would be needed to dine in at Yamato. I called ahead to see if one was needed for lunch or if they were mainly required for dinner and was advised to still book a reservation for lunch. We had takoyaki and wagyu (a special menu item) as starters and a curry katsu bowl and chirashi bowl as entrees. We also got uni and maguro nigiri on the side. Everything was delicious and nicely plated. The takoyaki is better than some restaurants in Tucson and the wagyu was a perfect, buttery treat. The sushi was amazing and I'm glad they offer uni. I did ask for toro but they had run out for the day (we were there at 12:30). Our server was attentive and friendly-- she checked up on our table frequently and even offered a to-go cup for my leftover green tea. It's a great stop for good quality sushi and Japanese food. read more

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We were very happy to find this hidden, not quite hidden as they are located in the strip mall off the busy road , gem. Having been lived in Japan for many years, I have a very high expectation for a Japanese restaurant.I have thought there is only one decent Japanese restaurant in Tucson until I found this one. After one bite of the unagi sushi expertly prepared by the sushi master Yamato-San, I knew right away that I found a really good authentic & the best Japanese restaurant. What a pleasant surprise it was! Next time. I will try their Dunburi & soba. Highly recommend. read more

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Great food, great service. Super chef and staff. I cannot recommend it highly enough. We've been regulars for decades.

Reservations are needed. There is no longer sushi bar seating and only 7-8 tables. We arrived not knowing and had to wait 30-40 minutes for a table. The one waitperson/hostess was very nice and kept apologizing for the wait. We ordered the 8 piece sushi chefs choice and the small Chirashi. The meals included miso soup and salad. The soup was hot and the dressing on the salad was good and fresh. The fish was fresh and included a nice assortment. read more

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Some of the best sushi I have ever had in my life. Great service. Got the chef's choice. I will definitely be back. read more

Yamato - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Very modest, strip mall restaurant that's a "hidden gem". From what I've read the owner/chef came to visit a friend in Tucson and stayed. Lucky us that we got him to stay. He's super gracious and seems to have great memory. The restaurant has less than 10 tables the service is polite, but not fast. Don't come here in a hurry. I heard the cured salmon is a specialty here and it was great. The texture of the salmon was hard and the flavor contrast was great with the onions. I got the combination plate. The fish was great quality, the presentation was excellent, and it was expensive, but very reasonable for that quality of food. Definitely check this place out if you're craving excellent sushi and have some time. read more

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Excellent sushi and we had fantastic service. Would definitely recommend. Clean restaurant and friendly, attentive staff.

This is my favorite sushi place when I am in Tucson. I love the variety of fish and how fresh everything is. I ordered mainly nigiri sushi and everything was good. The presentation is also beautiful. You can see the attention to detail. They also have toro, which not many places have. We had it once as nigiri and once in a negitoro roll. Service is fast and friendly. I would like to try Omakase one day. read more

Yamato - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Had the dinner for two. Service was attentive and friendly providing great recommendations throughout the meal. The restaurant atmosphere was lovely with low noise levels easy to have an intimate conversation with my wife. read more

Had forgotten about this little gem serving Japanese food, and delighted to have been remembered of it! Delicious sushi, sashimi, very pleasant professional server. Will not forget them again! Do RESERVE! Others didn't forget read more

Yamato - Chirachi bowl - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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My god the best sushi. Authentic ramen, authentic sushi. This place is what you need when you want some bomb ass authentic ass sushi lol. Excuse my language but I haven't found a place that makes nigiri correct. The one sushi chef here pretty sure he is the owner puts the wasabi under the fish. Most places are so American that I have to do it myself. The broth for the ramen was so good I drank it straight from the bowl. This place isn't for the ambiance or the experience. This place you will wait for your food but it is 100% worth it. We also ordered the kids chicken teriyaki it was good and the salad that came with it was so good also! Just come here when you have the time to sit and wait but you will be graced with some awesome sushi. This ain't your 100 rolls place either so don't expect a Tootsie roll or a Vegas roll. Again this is authentic not American sushi. read more

Unbelievably freshness. The best Sushi restaurant in Tucson by far. So good. Very casual, but the staff is great. This place is a winner!

I ate dinner here last night with five friends. I had the Curry Ramen ($14). The food was OK. However, the service was not. It wasn't the server's fault. Even though the place was only half full, there was roughly half an hour between when the first of us got our food and when the last one did. The kitchen apparently just couldn't keep up with the demand. Also, there was only one server for the whole restaurant. We were almost late for our movie even though we had left extra time. read more