The food is good, except there's TONS of fruit flies!! I couldn't stop staring at the walls and corners, it's pretty bad. I did like the sushi so I think I would go again, I just wish they would clean better, such a shame! read more

Hands down my favorite late night happy hour joint to go to. I always get their blacken ahi sashimi, salmon skin roll, spicy hair roll and salmon onion sashimi. The best part is all these items are on happy hour and their happy hour is from 1030pm to 2 am! Their fish always tastes fresh and their prices are reasonable for the portions. The only think I don't like is that there's is a limited amount of parking although there is street parking. And sometimes the service can be slow and when it gets busy they don't check up on you for water or more orders. read more

We decided to go here since we had already parked close by. This restaurant only has valet parking and it doesn't make sense because the entrance to the restaurant is about 10 steps away from the parking lot. Go figga! This USED to be a favorite of my families about 7-8 years ago. We used to bring the aunties and grandmas for special occasions. Good thing they were all small. If you're bigger than average, forget about sitting in the kindergarten chairs. The whole restaurant is very cramped. Okay on to the service. We get there at 6:10pm. I ask for a table. The owner says that we need to eat and get out by 7:30pm because all of the tables are reserved. This was also the same tactic they used to use when we used to go for dinner. We're fast eaters so it's not a problem. I had the 2 choice combination dinner which consisted of teri chicken and assorted tempura. The teri chicken was the worst I've ever eaten. Boiled and then seared chicken with teriyaki sauce smothered all over. The chicken had absolutely no taste whatsoever. Bland as can be. The tempura was okay and came out hot. The vegetables didn't have much taste though. The other half had the oyako donburi. (chicken with rice, egg, and vegetables). They must've used the same boiled chicken since it was also bland and had no flavor. Had to put shoyu in a container and dip it since it had no taste. The rice, egg, and vegetables were also very bland. I will not be going back here again ever. Maybe if I loved sushi (sashimi) then I would think about it. But, for the regular food, I can find other Japanese restaurants around town that serve better quality food and lower prices. See my other reviews for Japanese restaurants. Yuck! read more

Wife and I come here 1-3 time a month for lunch. We love it here. Tempuras are great! Maybe because of the parking issue valet workers are often rude or have attitudes but still give them tips. I'd say 90% of the time. I gave 4 stars because of the valet workers. read more

Eat here at your own risk! Ate some raw sushi and two days later ended up very sick with a bacteria infection and parasites. Never will eat here a0gain. read more

the 4 star average is a little surprising. it's not terrible. it's just okay. took the in laws there for lunch and had the 20 dollar combo special. salad, miso soup, rice, nigiri sushi (4 pieces egg/tuna/salmon/squid, 3 cucumber maki) with WAY too much wasabi, mini tempura udon and ice cream. telling when the best part of the meal is the green tea ice cream - which was really good by the way. I wouldn't go out of my way to go here. I liked looking at the pictures of the famous people on the wall. read more

This place has terrible customer service. I paid almost $50 for food that was over cooked and thrown together. The tempura rolled tasted like mop water dipped rice with rotten ingredients. My take-out order was left sitting on the waiting bench for god knows how long next to customers waiting to be seat. It wasn't even handed to me. I was basically just shoo'd away to pick my food up from where people place their butts. This place is absolutely terrible and only suited for the drunk, homeless, and those who lack the sense of taste. Don't waste your time or money. read more

...bordering on 3.5 stars. Been to Yanagi enough times now that I can honestly say that the Sushi is hit and miss. Last few times more so on the miss side... bummer, because I decided to take visiting family out for sushi, after raving about how great sushi can be in Honolulu, and I felt that there was nothing great about any of the fish we had. Everything was fine, except, a few if the cuts looked messy- salmon looked like we got some scrap pieces, and nothing stood out as great. Don't bother w/ valet - there's usually street parking nearby. I read more

Always have been delighted with this place. Except this past Sunday evening. Food was good but attitude of one of the young sushi chefs at the counter near the entrance was less than friendly. Not sure what was up with him but started frosty then turned belligerent by the end of our dinner. We were asking for a last quick sushi as we had to take our son to the airport but not much of a response. I asked again and he just smiled back. So cancelled the order and asked if there was a problem. He slyly looked back and said "we have other customers too. Thank you". Not the best feeling after a relatively expensive meal. Commented about this to the person at the till but did not get much of a response. I guess when you are successful...temptation to cut the corners on staff? I hope not as I like having a nice sushi place in town. read more

They provide a lot of variety of choices, including sushi, shabu shabu, rice bowl, broiled fish, shashimi, bento, Udon, etc. You can almost find all the Japanese dishes here! Their sushi rice is excellent, but the fish is okay. I strongly recommend any small dishes other than sashimi. read more

This is our go to restaurant. We have been going to Yanagi for 15 years and have never had a bad meal. If we dine with our kids we sit at the tables and order off the menu and when we are by ourselves we sit sit the sushi bar and eat sushi and drink all night. We always order uni nigiri, salmon round onion, salmon sashimi, crab salad, hamachi kama, misoaki butterfish, shrimp tempura and we could go on and on. Number one restaurant in Hawai'i and probably the US!!! read more

In the event I buy a Ferrari or BMW in Hawaii, I'll head over to Yanagi to celebrate as it's right next to the dealerships. Had a few things, like the spicy tuna with extra spice, gyoza, some cutlets, I forgot a thing or two since I was too busy chomping down whatever was brought on the table. In the end we concluded it with the mac ice cream. We stayed in the little area to the right when you walk in, it had it's own little bar with pictures of celebs who visited along the walls, the tables make it an intimate setting, even with a lot of people around you, you can't help but focus on the people you're with, and the food of course. read more

What can I say is the food is really great must try but service idk let's say it ruined the whole dining experience. I work at one of the top Japanese restaurants here in Hawaii and I think you get better service at McDonalds then here felt rushed I guess I never made a reservation but having to tell me I got pest then an hour to order eat and leave really rushed much. U might as well give them your card, wallet, keys to your house because when I already tipped $30 off a $145 bill yeah they still asked me if their service was horrible because I tipped low. Wait what had the nerve to tip more. Really don't ask about the complimentary valet or should I say u must pay or tip for them to park ur car on the street save yourself the time unless ur decide to walk their give your house as tip and be rushed with horrible service do so read more

Beraaaaah, everything we had was killah. Fresh oysters, oyster shooters, spicy hamachi hand roll, volcano roll, spider roll, and otoro.

Okay.. so I've been to Yanagi Sushi a couple of times at night and I really enjoyed it, but today I went for lunch with some friends and it was a disappointment. My friends and I wanted to eat somewhere and my friends had asked where is a good place to eat. I recommended Yanagi Sushi. So we get there and we order, and our food comes out. The first most disappointing thing was the Miso soup. The soups cover had a piece of wet rice and the side of the soup bowl had all these tiny bits of food stuck to it. The second thing was when we asked for the Wasabi it took almost 10 mins to grab the Wasabi. Literally we were like "She must have walked all the way to Japan to grab it." The next disappointing thing was my friends Teriyaki chicken which had been really burnt. The taste was very displeasing and when my friend had told them the chicken was really burnt the server literally replied with, quote on quote "oh, you told me too late so there is nothing I can do. maybe next time." My friend would have been satisfied with just a simple apology, but there was none. The sushi although a little pricy was well worth it. My Teriyaki beef/ Chicken katsu combo was also pretty good considering the fact that you really can't mess up chicken katsu. A must though is the salmon with onion. It was really good. My other friend had the Soba/Nigiri Sushi combo which he said was okay. So overall: Taste of Food: 5 - 2 = 3 Service: 5-4 = 1 Portion: 5-2 = 3 Cost: 5-3 =2 Total: 2.25 read more

Me and a coworker came here for lunch on a Tuesday afternoon. Service was fast and the workers were friendly. Volcano rolls were hands down the best ones I've ever had. read more

The worst place to stop for sushi. Not only was parking "only" valet, but once I payed to park, the hostess informs me there wont be a table 'till 8... it's only 6!!! Disappointing. read more

Took my parents here for dinner. We all ordered the omakase at the sushi bar after a couple of pieces in they said they were out of uni and gave us something else. After a while a couple sits down and gets an order of uni. WTF! The sushi was not even good. The fish was not that fresh and definitely not worth the price. Go to "Trust me" instead. read more

We love coming here with the kids, they have a wide selections to choose from and not limited to sashimi. Dining in Waikiki is not cheap and this place doesn't break the bank while you can still get some fresh sushi! read more

We always do sushi bar... Rules: 1) Always ask for the Special of the day... Don't try anything adventurous like Toro (Tuna belly) or Mirugai (King Clam) unless the chef voluntarily recommends it. Because the more expensive they are, the less chances that they get ordered by customers, and the longer they stay in the fridge... You get the idea. 2) The Hamachi is always good here... and they always give you nice thick long slices of them... Yum! 3) Get the ice cream to cap the meal! They use Dave's Ice Creams. Flavors I recommend: Azuki bean, green tea, Kona coffee, and macadamia nut. 4) Make compliments about the food if they're good, the sushi chefs like that. 5) If I'm drinking, I prefer the Asahi beer. read more

Great sushi. we ate for under &100. Small authentic. We had a rainbow row and then an awesome yellowtail sashimi and salmon sashimi meal, edamame, tempera vegetables. Super fresh and clean! read more

I love this place. The sushi is great, they have the cutest little private rooms for parties.

Great food at a reasonable price. The late night happy hour is an amazing deal. The staff is always courteous and professional. I highly recommend. read more

Oh how I dream of this place... I grew up in Hawaii and this is THE BEST sushi place ever!!! No, it's not super fancy inside, but the sushi and sashimi will be the best you've ever eaten, no contest!!! The only thing I feel bad about is that my friend picked up a massive tab for all of us. I feel like I owe him forever!!! read more

This place has really good lunch specials. You get a lot of food so come hungry. The sashimi is pretty fresh. Your belly will leave happy.

The food is really good..... service is mechanical and robot-like. Consistently good food with lots of menu selections.

Make sure you check your bill later. I put my tip on my card and I got overcharged by $9.

Holy crap this place is good. We'd been scouring Honolulu for a good sushi place to pop into post-snorkeling, and we had already turned away from 3 other places. We followed this lead on yelp for a good 20 minutes, and knew we hit up the right place when we stepped inside and the hostess asked if we had reservations. Luckily, we were able to sit right at the sushi bar, which was a great choice anyways- getting to see the masters at their craft is totally worth it. I've gotta say, this place makes some of the most beautiful sushi I've ever seen. Now to the important part: the food! This stuff was amazing. I went boring and ordered a Philly roll (very good, but I wish I ordered one of their specials), while my family got the bluefin sashimi, California roll, and shrimp tempura roll. They were all excellent. I think my favorite was the sashimi- lightly seared around the edges and seasoned. So savory. Absolutely delicious. The reason I'm not giving this place a perfect review is the unfortunate context of our arrival. This place strives to be classy-casual. That's their demographic, their target. I can understand that. They seem to be really popular and almost always completely reserved - therefore, they can afford to be classy. What I'm getting at is that my large, beach bum-esque family dropped in and got seated front and center at the sushi bar. I feel like they didn't really want us there, as friendly as we were, because we didn't fit the business casual setting of the restaurant. But, hey, at least we got fast service! And the sushi chefs were really fun and friendly. And much too humble for their amazing sushi. If I actually lived in Hawaii and wasn't a howlie tourist this place would definitely be my regular sushi place. They've got amazing food, great atmosphere, and what seems like a long and strong culture. Next time I'm in Hawaii I'll definitely hit this place up- business casual, of course! read more

After the movies, my girlfriend and 2 of our friends decided to eat here because they closed late (it was 12:10am when we got out of the theater) and we were craving sushi. Once we got there, we were seated right away in the back area where you need to step up to go in the room. We ordered our food and the waiting game begins. We chatted and had good conversation with each other. Their food(chicken teriyaki and shrimp tempura combo, sake, salmon onion, and tempura roll) came within 7-8 minutes. I was patiently waiting for mine(Dragon roll). Enjoying each other's company, I didn't really pay too much attention about how long my food would take. Our waiter came to us twice (about 3-4 minutes between each refill) refilling our hot tea without telling me about my order. My friends were telling me that they would have complained for waiting this long. Our waiter came the third time and I asked him about my Dragon roll. He looked puzzled and told me that he'll be right back. I seen him talking to another employee which I thought that they were talking about my food and if it's coming soon. By this time, my friends were already finished with their food and I'm still waiting. My patient grew short and I literally waited close to 10 minutes after everyone got their meals and at least a total of 17-20 minutes since I ordered my food. Our waiter that supposedly took our order, didn't comer back to our table and another waiter came to us. I ask him for the bill and I didn't want to pay for the Dragon roll and guess what??? They just brought out my order. I could understand that if your stress. I work in a restaurant too. At least tell me what is going on with my food. He literally had 2 chances to tell me. I gave him another chance to get my food when I asked him, but he ignored me. What kind of customer service was that??? read more

We sat at the sushi bar (group of 4) my husband loved the sashimi. I really enjoyed the volcano roll, Philadelphia roll and also the spicy tuna roll. Fresh and yummy. Service was delightful. It does seem slow since they make it all fresh, but they do let you know how long each roll will take. And it was totally worth it. I can not wait to go again. read more

I thought this place was OK. Originally, I wanted to try Genki Sushi, but they close early! What's nice about Yanagi is they close late, so fun late-night hang out with friends. I had a late dinner here with a good friend and some other locals and we got to sit in our own private room. Service was okay, and the food itself was average. read more

Yanagi Sushi's late night happy hour is the best in town! Food is delicious. Staff on point. Gene always takes great care of us! Their Oyster dynamite is to die for :9 read more

I came here after work one night..i had the teriyaki ahi and chicken katsu late night special. The presentation was all nice, but i didnt really care for the taste. It was good, but probably not gonna eat it again. My first time wasnt bad it wasnt great, maybe another try next time.. Updated Review(05/04/13): Came here again, late night specials, tried the baby tako appetizer this time, it was good. And had the tempura and teri chicken set..i didn't enjoy the tempura here, all the veggies was still hard even letting them soak in the tempura sauce, i'm not a fan of teri chicken so I was surprised I enjoyed the chicken more than the tempura. I don't what it was that night but it was not that busy, but workers disappeared as we were waiting to get the check. Never sit in those party rooms unless your having one yourself..it was very rowdy in the other rooms the doors kept hitting our tables..and yelling into our room... read more

Good sushi. The only downside would be the very high prices. Wish they had more locations in other states.

Good shushi . I love this place . This is the best shushi in wakiki . I will be back . So old fashion of janpan

It was so hard to find a Japanese restaurant in this area that was open to a little later in the afternoon but luckily we made it in time (before 2pm)! We just got rolls and they were all okay. I can't even remember which ones we ordered. What I remember being good was the udon. Although I didn't order it, I noticed that they had butterfish on the menu! I seldom see that and it's one of my favorite fishes. Service was a little slow. Parking sucks. read more

Reservations are recommended as they tend to rush you a bit if you didn't make one. Food is great, I usually go for one of the combination sushi platters. Portions are a bit small for a big guy like me. read more

This is my third time and I have regretted it each time. The food is not terrible, but overpriced and not particularly tasty or inventive. Also the seating is small and you're kind of squished in. The late hours probably make it the only place to go after hours so that's always helpful. I will go only when I'm desperate for some late food, but otherwise not making it a habit. read more

The food is good and never fails to please. The menu is pretty extensive and has everything from soba to udon, tempura... you name it they probably have it. Their volcano roll is really good with the warm scallop topping, I love it. The service is good and the waiters are friendly. The valet parking is a definite plus but there are also a few street parking stalls right next to the restaurant if you want to skip on it. The restaurant gets pretty crowed so I would make a reservation in order to secure a table. read more

Went in hungry and came out full. The oyster shooter with quail egg was awesome. Had the omakase with uni and everything on the plate was great and satisfying. I like that old style restaurant atmosphere with all the pictures of famous people hanging all over. read more