Super friendly staff. i typically do their lunch specials during the week and take out on the weekend. Their rolls are super creative. Try to black pearl, golden eye and volcano rolls. They are to die for. If you do not like Sushi the Tempura Udon soup is also excellent. Of all the Sushi places in the Needham area Gari is probably the best. The fish always seems fresh and they have a great selection. read more

Amazing--- great variety on menu, service exceptional, and sushi so fresh melts in your mouth! read more

Gari - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

This is my fiance's hometown, so I was very happy when she told me she had a good time here. I took my 2 NYC transplant friends here, hoping for the best. We were not disappointed. The fish was good- not the freshest, but not old. The flavor of the rolls were excellent. She loved the tobiko. They had toro, but it was frozen and gross. When we didn't eat the extra pieces, they had no problem taking that off the bill. We went for the volcano roll... I'd avoid that. It's a mess of sauce and vegetables poured over some tempura shrimp roll that you have to dig through the mess to even locate. Everything else was good. Seaweed salad was really good. I'd go back anyday. 1 last thing, drinks are pricey. Hendricks gin is 32$ a bottle. They sold it like a top shelf liquor. read more

Poor Poor Poor restaurant I tried this restaurant once and it was poor. God knows why and I tried it again and it was worse. I am a Chicken fan so ordered some chicken dishes. The teriyaki chicken was like grilled chicken brushed with teriyaki sauce. Seriously!!! Chicken katsu was fried KFC chicken cut in fancy pieces. The katsu sauce was given like side dipping you get with breadsticks. I doubt it was even fresh. the quantity is not even close to what you usually get. one man can easily finish 2 dishes. The only good thing was white rice. It was soft and fresh. read more

Rating = 3.5 stars I came recently for lunch since I had a gift certificate but was apprehensive because of so many recent negative reviews. For the most part, everything was fine. The service was attentive and the food was good and came out quickly. Remember, it's a neighborhood Japanese restaurant in Needham (not Boston mind you!) so I didn't expect it to be an O Ya and have mind blowing sushi comparable to a 5 star restaurant or what you'd get in Japan. The food is solid and the prices are reasonable. If you're looking for something more high end head toward the city or even Brookline. read more

Solid lunch special! For $7.50 I had the tofu teriyaki lunch that came with miso soup. The soup had a ton of flavor and the tofu teriyaki bento came with a yummy salad, rice, pan fried tofu and an orange. The tofu had a nice texture and the sauce was extra tasty. Great service, presentation, and price! I will be back and am excited to try all the sushi! read more

Gari - Delicious Tofu teriyaki lunch special for $7.50. Not pictured is the yummy miso soup it came with. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

Reservations are encouraged especially F,S,S - A busy night you need to have a reservation, especially bringing a party of four or more. I find the service and food very consistent and they catered very well to my 6 & 7 year old. We had a great time this past Friday. read more

Gari - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

Poor quality and bad rice. The portions were super smal and skimpy. The 30$ sushi and sashimi had the tiniest pieces of sashimi.

Ordered here a few times through GrubHub. Food is alright but the miso soup lacks alot of flavor. It's too bland for the typical miso soup you would get at a japanese cousine. Their udon noodle stirfry was a great disappointment the last time i ordered. Was very dry, beef was overcooked and there were BARELY any vegetables in it. Not sure when i'll be ordering from here again. read more

Outstanding as always! Started off with fabulous Shu-mai; a real step up from the "usual" that others serve. Very glad we did a double order of the crispy chicken wings. The freshest fish (salmon, tuna and unagi sushi for us this time) on their outstanding sushi rice. Tried White Mountain MAKI for the first time; will definitely order again! Busy, even on a snowy, rainy night. Diane and Gary and their efficient crew do it right in these tough Covid times. read more

Just visited with a friend who was experiencing Japanese food for the first time. The shumai are NOT to be missed. Large tender pillows of minced shrimp...melt in your mouth. She devoured the unique kimchi fried rice and of course i indulged in the best hamachi around. read more

We live in Needham -- but will go anywhere if food/service is not good. We come here with kids/without kids (12/14 yr olds) 1x-2x a week. The Snow white rolls of tuna and rice is outstanding. Service always great and consistent. The bar is small but a great place to go for a bite/beer and watch the news or a game. read more

One of my favorite places to grab lunch near work. I probably call for pick up twice a month at minimum. Their lunch specials are an amazing value. You get 18 sushi rolls with soup and salad for like $13. Sushi is fresh (I typically have to wait for my rolls to be made, not typical at lunchtime) and staff is friendly. I generally do pickup. My one gripe is that they have forgotten to put something in the bag a few times: once it was chopsticks (had to eat sushi with a fork), another time it was soy sauce. Now I just check the bag before I leave and problem is solved. read more

WHOOO HOOO Maki Madness! Front of the house staff is divine. I usually get delivery but have indulged in the Maki Madness a couple of times recently and had to edit my review to a full 5 stars due to the yummy food and the style with which it is served. Uni sashimi is served in a citrus rind. I have never had it that way and it was splendid. I even ate the rind! Kimchi fried rice is great, for $2 extra you can get it made with brown rice. The staff is marvelous. So kind and competent. I often order delivery and ALWAYS get uni (sea urchin) when they have sold out, so no Uni for me, they have always called and have never had anything but a lovely attitude if I end up cancelling my order. read more

Food was good as was the service- we asked for tempura sauce and was charged .50 cents for it. Not a big deal just out of principle it seems wrong. Waitress- blamed management read more

Gari - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

Typically have had good food from them but after my most recent order (11/27/2018) I got food poisoning! In the past they've had tasty sushi that I haven't gotten sick from so I'm concerned about this being a new development. read more

I decided to try this place only because I was picking up a pizza for myself from Bertucci's nearby and my wife/son wanted sushi instead of pizza. I'm giving one star because my wife and son not only got food poisoning from takeout here but when notified, the response from management was subpar. My wife and 4 year old son had shrimp tempura and an eel avocado roll and then later in the middle of the night my son had diarrhea in bed that was a mess to clean. Later that night, he had diarrhea again and barely made it to the toilet. His stool was loose in the morning again but was fine later that afternoon. My wife also had stomach issues that night. I didn't have any sushi since I had my pizza from Bertucci's but I was fine and had no stomach issues, so I'm 95% positive the sushi was the source of the problem. When I filed the complaint, the manager wasn't very apologetic and wouldn't acknowledge that their mishandling of the food was even a possibility. When I asked for a refund, she also made up some lame excuse that the transaction was already processed by the credit card company and due to "security", she wouldn't be able to retrieve the transaction to remediate. Needless to say, this will be my first and last time eating here, and I share this review with the hope that others can save themselves from a miserable experience and also spend their money at other restaurants in the area who care about the community. There are a number of much better sushi places that are better quality and value in the area. read more

My boyfriend and I were DYING to love this restaurant. We're both huge fans of the Gari in Brookline (see my review) and were so excited to see them come to Needham. However, we've given them four tries now, and there is no way we will ever be back. First of all, their sushi is decent. Lower quality than at Brookline; the rolls are sloppily constructed and the rice leaves something to be desired, but the fish was always good quality. The service, however, is horrible. The first three times we went were for lunch on weekends or weekdays. We always got seated at the most cramped table there was, right next to someone else even if there weren't many people there. The waitress that we had twice didn't speak very good English and, while sweet, was a bit ditzy. We would have to repeat our order two or three times, she would say that they were out of something and then we'd ask again and it would be available, wasn't good at checking in to see when we needed our check, etc. However, this following moment took the cake. I had a friend visiting from out of state that I haven't seen in a year, and the only time her, my boyfriend, and I could meet up was 8:30pm on a Sunday the night before she flew back home. We were desperately looking for somewhere to grab a couple appetizers and chat, which is hard to find so late in Needham. But Gari was open so we popped in there and were seated. There was no one else in the restaurant. We sat down, ordered a couple appetizers. Then, the waitress says, "Is that all you're going to order?" "Yes...." we respond. "There is a $15 min per person in the dining room." Now, let me remind you. It is 8:30pm. On a Sunday. In Needham. There is NO ONE ELSE in the place. And they're worried about a per-person minimum? I thought she was going to say that we had to order more, but no. She says that we have to move over to an identical table in the bar area, then we can order. Again. If it was 7:00pm on a Saturday, I would have been totally understanding. But I'm just trying to get a bite to eat and chat with a friend and THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE. I started to argue and she kept saying, "This is our house policy, our house policy, blah blah blah." Because I didn't want to ruin the time with my friend, we got up, moved, and then re-placed our order. Three appetizers took a heck of a long time to come out of the kitchen, and while tasty, were super-tiny considering we paid 8-10 dollars for them each. Then we had to beg for more water, for our check, etc. I've never been so furious at a restaurant in my life. I so wish Needham was better, but looks like I'll continue to trek out to Brookline for my sushi fix... read more

I've ordered take out and ate in here once before tonight. Previous experiences have been wonderful. I rarely review anything but my experience tonight was just plain terrible. From the beginning we were seated right away and our server arrived promptly to get our drink orders. She wasn't particularly friendly but I don't read into it much because everyone is allowed to have an off day. After having delivered our drinks, it took our server 20-30 min just to check in to see if we were ready to order. The place wasn't particularly packed but she was the only server. So i let it not bother me too much. She also didn't seem too experienced. I write it off as her being new. Our order is placed and we wait a while for it to arrive. The appetizer (gyoza) and idaho maki arrive first. The gyoza must've been done for a bit since some were starting to get cold by the time we get it. Again I let it slide because it was still edible and good. Rest of the food finally arrives. Sushi I will say is good and never disappoints. I decided to try something new and order the Sweet Chili Chicken.... bad choice. Could barely eat it without gagging. Maybe it was just me. But it tasted like someone doused chicken in a ton of fish sauce and sprinkled it with sugar and chili flakes. We finish eating, and proceed to wait almost 30 min to get our server to bring us our check. She hardly makes an appearance in the dining area and no other employees are in sight. Finally get our check. $66 and I pay with my credit card. She finally comes back with my card. I go to sign the receipt and see a charge of $112! I do a double take and realized this wasn't my bill and i was handed someone else's credit card. Meaning my card was with some complete stranger as well. Server nowhere in sight so i could let her know her mistake. Luckily she just handed my card to a very honest gentleman at the table next to us. We swapped cards and while i have never not tip, I was close to not tipping for this very big mistake. Had this man not been honest and walked away with my card, it would've been a very unhappy night for everyone all around. The man politely pointed out to the server her mistake and she apologized. But she was very rushed and didn't seem too concerned she had given credit cards to the wrong customers. Maybe she was feeling overwhelmed. But after making a mistake like that she probably should've taken a deep breathe and gathered herself before she made any more mistakes for the night. Would i come here again? I doubt it. I like their sushi but not enough for me to lose my credit card for. read more

Huge huge fan of Gari. The sushi is some of the best you will get anywhere. The ingredients are fresh and Gary makes some truly unique and delicious specialty rolls. The owners are some of the nicest people who love and care about what they are doing, so rest assure you are not only getting a great meal but supporting good people. This location is new so definitely support them or if you are in the Brookline area check out their first location on Harvard St. Its a smaller quaint establishment but with a great modern vibe as well. I've lived in brookline for about 7 years and Gari is my go to spot for sushi. read more

We came at 545 pm on a Saturday night with a group of 7, and they put us at a big but awkwardly -placed table near the bar, shoved up to the window. Appetizers and drinks came fast, but the rest of the food took all night to arrive. Server never checked on us, couldn't find her and had to intercept her running to other tables just to get soy sauce. If you want sushi in Needham, go to Fuji instead to avoid Gari's slow, sub-par service. They have only 2 servers for the whole restaurant, no bartender, and a kitchen that turns out beautiful food that takes forever to get out. It's been this way since they opened, so their management just doesn't get it. Kind of a shame-) wish they'd hire some staff and get it right!! read more

We have always thought the sushi here was good (not phenomenal but solid). Ordered a combo fish platter tonight and received two items with tempura flakes. Nowhere on the actual item page were tempura flakes mentioned. When I pointed this out, the manager paged back 3 pages and pointed out "all spicy rolls are made with tempura flakes" and "all restaurants do this with their spicy rolls. "Next time tell us if you don't want something." When we nicely pointed out that there was nothing on the page we got a shrug. I thought this was reasonable feedback (and wasn't looking for a freebie) and was disappointed that there wasn't even acknowledgment of the feedback. Ask questions if you dine here! And - by the way - not all sushi restaurants put tempura flakes in their spicy rolls. I usually don't order combo platters and now never will. read more

Best Japanese food I've had in a while! I went here with my family, and not only were the servers very polite to us, but the food was great. I can't really point out the best dishes, but I enjoyed the seaweed salad, the spicy maki roll, and the yaki ramen. The prices are fair as well. All of our food was delicious! I really can't recommend this place enough. read more

I took one of my girlfriends and my two children out for Saturday lunch. Three out of four of us ordered from the lunch specials: beef dish, chicken teriyaki, tempura. I ordered kimchi fried rice with chicken. The lunch specials came with soup and salad. Fine enough. My son substituted seaweed salad and that was nice. The problem started with the main entrees. The beef dish was in some sort of gravy that was too sweet. My daughter took one bite of her teriyaki and wouldn't eat anymore it tasted so dry and flavorless. Seriously, how do you mess up teriyaki? My son loved the first few bites of his shrimp tempura but didn't care much for the tempura veggies. My kimchi fried rice was not good. It was pretty on the plate but not on the palate. It tasted slimy as if they'd used too much thickening agent. The chicken was not cleaned well so globules of fat were in almost every bite of chicken. Gross. Plus, the menu says it was a spicy dish not so. I had to ask for some type of spicy sauce and then added soy sauce to that. This made it somewhat edible. However, I left most of the dish on my plate as did my daughter. We will not be back. I know that this is a sushi place so I should have known better than to order non-sushi entrees. Bleh!!! read more

I go to Gari Needham from time to time. Not my favorite place but not the worst in town either. The restaurant itself is rather nice, but I usually get take-out. This place is about quantity, not quality. I get annoyed because in the middle of my ordering it never fails where they tell me to hold on and they take another call. They always give me the incorrect wait time as well. I show up and either wait another 10 minutes or so than quoted or its done and has been sitting there. The food itself is ok. The noodle dishes are pretty good, but the sushi is just alright. If they would just try a little harder, I'd visit a little more often. read more

Horrible service and manners. We called in a simple order on Saturday night at 5:40, they advise 45 mins at the most- they were an hour an half and when we got the food- the Driver didn't know where he was going and was given the incorrect address as to where to deliver the food- The food was cold so we called to complain. The Manager advised that he was too busy to talk and would call us back tomorrow- that we should have called it in early- I advised we did and he was like it wasn't early enough- When I advised that I didn't want to pay for the food and would call back tomorrow if I didn't hear from them, the manner said WHATEVER and hung up. I would never go back to a place who treats their customers with such disrespect read more

Finally some decent sushi out the burbs!! Yay!! Very good overall service & food. Lunch deals are nice. Very kid friendly as well. Sunday maki special deal is awesome! read more

Great new place in Needham center. Prices are in line. Rolls are tight and fish is fresh. Service a bit slow as they work out the kinks. Very nice build out on the decor side. read more

Portions got VERY Small a Fraction if whaat it once was. Will absolutely avoid. The avocado salad compLete wasteful abs a joke. Tasted spoiled aardvark sour avocado not fresh at all. Don't bother calling them as there quite defensive claiming they MEASURE everything. Ridiculous and no more Gari. Thanks but NO thanks $60 wasted once and for all. AVOID this place read more

Love this place! I come here every time I'm craving sushi and have never been let down! Their noodles are also amazing. Great service and great food - definitely worth a try! read more

I really enjoyed my dinner at Gari! The layout is a bit cramped but our party of five sat comfortably. The decor is sufficient - not too sparse and not overstated. I had the tempura ramen, and it was filling. The tempura was crunchy but a tad on the oily side. The broth used with the ramen tasted good (with a minute MSG-type taste). The sushi selection was decent - the menu is innovative.The sushi was flavorful and skillfully prepared but not 100% fresh. This is purely splitting hairs, as we originally ordered the dragon maki and then made another order of sushi. So on many levels, the sushi is good. The service is highly attentive and ready to make recommendations. The prices are decent - nothing out of the ordinary with suburban dining. Gari is a welcome addition to the culinary marketplace of Needham. I look forward to another visit soon! read more

Did not really enjoy myself at this restaurant. The promotions offered were confusing and ended up being a real mess when we tried to pay. The food itself was was not noteworthy either. read more

Stopped here for A quick drink before heading to another restaurant for dinner. Live in the city so don't get out to the suburbs much. Charge me $2.50 for a glass of soda water. What?? read more

Very stingy portion for sashimi lunch special and was only average quality. Smallest pieces of fish I've ever seen around Boston. More parsley in the box than fish! Won't go back and don't recommend. read more

Gari - After I ate the fish but super small, skinny pieces in he sashimi lunch special. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Needham, Massachusetts

A friend recommended this restaurant, SO yummy. The best seaweed salad ever and the sushi selection was great. The service was amazing as well. Everyone was very attentive and welcoming. We will definitely be returning! read more

Really nice sushi place! My family gets take-out to here frequently and we are always left satisfied. Their special rolls are pretty creative and have great flavors (a lot of interesting fruit/sauce toppings to rolls, as well as some wonderful torched fish). Volcano roll is pretty unique. And they are pretty timely usually with take-out orders. Much better than the other places in the area offering sushi in my eyes, so I definitely recommend as a local Needhamite! read more

Love this place. I go at least once a week for their Sushi Lunch special. When I can, I'll end the week there as well with a Mai Tia. Food is very good, the service is excellent. You can not find a friendlier waitstaff. read more

Tried this for lunch one weekday unexpectedly when the place I planned to meet two friends was closed. We three were well pleased. I had a delicious stir-fry pork noodles; my companions enjoyed their tempura soba noodles and bento box lunch. Nothing "blew us away," but definitely satisfactory. Service was prompt and pleasant, if not overly warm. I'm rarely in Needham, but would return and would recommend it. read more

Always good, always fresh, great wait staff, comfortable and kind. A bit on the pricey side given location. We love how consistent they are. Never a bad order. read more

Have been to Gari three times now in the last two weeks. Food is great! A little on the pricy side, but the quality is awesome. The salmon teriyaki is delicious and comes with some sweet yam and vegetables. I've also tried several vegetarian rolls and they were the best I'd ever had. The manager, Paul, is very friendly. I have two minor issues that hopefully they will work out: 1) They charge $2 any time you want brown rice substituted for white rice. For me, this was on the side that came with my salmon teriyaki bento box at lunch, as well as for my sushi roll and my boyfriend's 2 sushi rolls. Total was $8 extra! Also, the server acted confused when we ordered brown rice and it isn't even listed on the menu. In this day and age where people are trying to eat healthy, this is surprising. 2) The hostess doesn't seem well trained. We came in for an early dinner one afternoon and there was one couple in the restaurant sitting at a table-booth combination for 2 next to the window. No one else was in the entire restaurant, and the hostess tried to sit us at the tiny table next to them. It reminded me of the Cheesecake Factory when it's really busy and you get stuck sitting at one of those tiny tables six inches away from the person next to you. Difference was, the restaurant was empty. We politely declined the seat and ended up sitting at the sushi bar. It was just really shocking that they wouldn't have at least seated us a few seats away. It would have been so awkward for the other couple and for us in a silent restaurant hearing each other's conversations. Hands down, the food is great. Best sushi around. Just a few kinks for them to work out. read more