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

Fish has been fresh, rice has been perfect, rolls have been pretty tight and neat... but not perfect. Menu is creative and interesting and they deliver. I think its the best sushi in Needham and Newton personally.. read more

This place is great! They have a lot of special rolls that I really enjoyed and their spicy tuna roll is fantastic. Would definitely recommend. read more

Horrible!!! Went there for the first time for takeout. I was told 30 minutes wait for two rolls of sushi. The girl that took my order was super rude. I didn't want to wait so I had it delivered. After I paid for the food with my credit card, which was definitely over priced, I asked if they can add extra ginger and wasabi. I was told they need to void my transaction because they had to add extra for the wasabi and ginger. I've ate at many Japanese restaurants throughout the US and Japan and not once was I charged extra for wasabi and ginger . Let alone the sushi was not even good. Definitely not fresh and took over an hour to get delivered. Never will I come back... Very disappointing !!! read more

First of all my husband and I have been to Gari more than 20 times. We have ALWAYS been disappointed. They have the smallest wine pour in the state of Massachusetts. At $5 a sip they are Making a very large margin. Whether it's an empty restaurant, inattentive wait staff, mediocre sushi or just rude service we kept coming back for More as it's a home town place. Maki madness on Sundays is the claim to fame but they short each roll with small portions of fish and they even charge cash for dining in. My wife recently sat at the bar on a Sunday and I ordered 2 rolls from Maki Madness and one entree and another "special roll" and they forced us to pay cash. When we asked to split the bill for part cash and part credit the waitress stormed off and began bad mouthing us in her foreign tongue. My wife Is fluent in multiple languages and this group of servers, ownership and cooks were incredibly rude, obnoxious and insulting. This place is not customer centric, falls short on food quality and quantity and most Importantly they don't care about the customer experience. Don't waste your time or money. read more

My son and I went to Gari in Needham this evening and had a very good meal. We had gyoza (steamed) with their wonderful dipping sauce and each had chirashi. The dish was artfully prepared, and most of the fish slices, along with the vegetables, were quite good. The portions were on the moderate side for the price, but we both agreed that, having had chirashi at many other restaurants, the rice and the luscious salmon were the best we'd ever had. The service was excellent--very friendly and efficient--and the atmosphere both welcoming and cool; the sushi bar's backdrop is unique and fun. read more

We went here for first time yesterday and it was awesome. We eat a lot of sushi and they had a great selection of sushi specialty rolls you can't find any where else. The black pearl roll was awesome and the 187 definetly something worth trying. Paul the manager and his staff were great we would definetly be back and recommend to give this place a. Try read more

Disaster!!! We ended up with having police involved for being SO mistreated at this apparently no class place that just tries to take advantage of their guests. We were fine once the police took our side. But Gosh you dare to share your experience on Yelp - they will harass you non-stop. I can only imagine what their other customers who were unhappy with the place or service have gone through. They cheated on everything: special offering for the night, final bill, and even secretly including service fee for the party of 3! hoping it will go unnoticed. Food was mediocre - ok. But service was terrible. Stay away from these rude unprofessional people with poor communication skills. All we asked for was separate bills to pay with a credit card for drinks and cash for food. They insisted the entire tab of $180 to be paid in cash (not bad for a party of three). When we refused, and after police explained that this was not right - they sneaked in 15% service fee in the tab. Didn't fly either. They redid the tab and everything worked out in the end the way we asked for initially, but they just ruined our evening when there was so much else in the area to be offered. Just wouldn't want anyone to be caught up with such unpleasant experience in this surprisingly low level restaurant. read more

You have to try this Japanese restaurant on Great Plain Avenue in Needham. The food is so good. Nice and fresh. The service is fantastic. Such a relaxing atmosphere. Try the Hot Galbi with eye. The home made soups are just body warming. Love all they have to offer. read more

This is my first yelp review I've ever left, which should show my level of disappointment from today's lunch. There were flies all over my meal and when my sushi came out the avocado was less-than ripe. There were large brown spots covering the avocado to the point I left 10 pieces of sushi untouched. The flies ruined the rest of it. read more

I order Gari sushi probably twice a week because it's consistently fresh and of the highest quality. The menu includes the classics as well as some creative specialty rolls. I love the Black Pearl Maki and the Oyster Katsu and you can't go wrong with their spicy scallop and tuna rolls. The sushi and sashimi is awesome as well. The hostess is always incredibly nice and accommodating. I love that they're on GrubHub for easy ordering on the go and their prices are very reasonable for sushi of this quality. read more

Got takeout from here on a saturday night. Maki rolls were poorly executed - fish was unevenly distributed and the rolls were not tightly wrapped. The worst offense however was completely bland and unseasoned rice. Reminded me of grocery store quality sushi. Also ordered the steak teriyaki which was chewy and full of gristle. Two (very generous) stars because the servers were pleasant but will definitely not be back. read more

I used to like this restaurant but think I'm done for good after tonight. Their so-called Sunday special deal is very deceiving and forces you to spend lots of money to get this great so-called offer. Minimum orders and cash only. You have to order at least 3 makimono rolls PLUS appetizer per person if eating in to cover the minimum. And many items are barely more than the usual price on a non-special night. Tonight I took out and discovered I had to order a soup I didn't want to cover the minimum. The soup was $6 and tiny. And then I received the wrong order on one of my three rolls. And when I called the restaurant about this they told me they would correct the problem if I returned the incorrect roll I received. I said I ate one piece before realizing it was wrong and they seemed concerned about that. After driving all the way to pick up my food and they make an error, they can't just give me the item I ordered? I said I couldn't come until tomorrow and they said fine but bring back that old roll. Seriously? Another restaurant in town offers great rolls on Thursday nights for a special price and has no minimum rules and no cash requirement and no bad attitude. read more

I live about 30 seconds away from Gari, and tried, tried, tried to like them, but just cant. Have done takeout about 5x, and have been disappointed with service and quality every time. read more

A solid, if rather generic sushi restaurant. Nice for one of the relatively few non-pizza delivery options in Needham.

I would pay a bit more and go somewhere else. The california maki was fishy! All the rolls smelled like the oil they deep fry everything in. The order was 20 minutes late. It was a pretty bad experience. There is a Gari in Brookline and it's so much better. read more

My husband and I ordered home delivery this evening for the first time from Gari. We are fully aware that a take out meal is never going to be as good as an in restaurant meal, but we were totally unprepared for the atrocious meal that arrived! The fried oysters and shrimp tempura tasted like they were fried with rancid oil and covered with a panko crust that was hard to bite into. The "ramen" was more like overcooked soggy spaghetti! We ended up discarding our dinner after sampling each item. Gari easily ranks among one of the worst meals we've had. They call themselves asian fusion! The only fusion I can think of is one between bad taste and tasting bad! read more

Super nice staff and really good food! The three roll lunch special is SUCH a bargain!! I love the tempura shiitake roll.

My family and I made a reservation for 4 for 6:00 on a Sunday. We get there at 6:05 or around there and it's completely crowded at the entrance, all people waiting for their food. People were saying they have been waiting 25 minutes for their takeout order, and another guy was sitting at a table saying he's been waiting 20 minutes for his bill. We waited 37 minutes exactly for our RESERVED table.... the table had no silverware, napkins, nothing, which we had to wait for as well... very annoying. After we finally get to order our drinks and food they come after a while- The food was delicious, but the fact we spent hours there ruined my night. read more

Always solid - fresh and pretty quick for takeout, though don't order subtle flavor combos - they do 'big' tastes. Watch out if you don't like spice or vibrant flavor combos. Would REALLY love it if they used fresh (vs pickled) jalepeno on the 187 roll. read more

Just got back from lunch, and probably won't be back. Had an Asahi (crisp and cold), seaweed salad (generous size and deliciously flavored), and a salmon maki combo plate (salmon not fresh, taste questionable). My wife liked her cucumber rolls and liked the mango/cucumber roll. To be fair, part of my combo plate was a shrimp tempura roll, which was pretty good. All that being said, our experience was that what was hard to screw up, they did well, and what could be done poorly, they did poorly. Too bad. Still looking for a good sushi place. read more

Not bad but not great. Sushi is decent, would say that their spicy tuna maki deserved 4 stars but rest of the sushi we had was middle of the road. read more

Downgrading my rating. Slammed? Short on delivery drivers? Fine. But if your customers' food is going to be an hour late, you should call and let them know, or you shouldn't mislead them when they call to ask what's going on. read more

Gari's is as good as it gets, as far as I'm concerned. Real, fresh, creative and delicious. Staff are really friendly. If you're looking for great sushi or just a good dinner, I highly recommend. read more

Great food! good for takeout, but also nice to sit down! Maki madness is my family fav, and I love the sweet potato sushi.

This is my first time ever posting online. I live in the area and have ordered take out from Gari's online a few times. I believe they have a systematic problem by leaving out order items for take-out customers. Happened to me more than once. When I came back today to tell them I didn't get my volcano roll, they didn't even apologize and threw something together in a couple of minutes, which hardly tasted like volcano roll (it had some sweet sauce all over it, which killed the real taste of food, instead of spicy mayo). Other items tasted fine and they do give you big pieces of fresh salmon on salmon sushi, which is good. Inside the place is also very nice, but stay away from online take-out orders and volcano roll! read more