Beautiful, classy restaurant with a large patio across from Freimann Square and the Fort Wayne Art Museum. However, the sushi is tuned to a midwestern palate--the majority of the rolls are heavy with mayo, fried ingredients. and cream cheese. (To illustrate, 12 of their 16 specialty rolls feature mayonnaise, and the other four include fried items, eel sauce, and cheap surimi (imitation krab)).
With no rolls on the menu I'd care to order, I was pleased to see chirashi on the menu, which is one of my favorite Japanese meals.
Briefly, chirashi almost universally in the US is an Edomae-style bowl that includes a variety of raw proteins and vegetables with authentic higher-end Japanese ingredients. In fact, along with tuna, salmon and yellowtail, I would expect to see squid, octopus, shrimp, tomago, at least one type of roe, shiso, microgreens, cucumber, fresh daikon, oshinko, kanpyo, and maybe even uni or a special variety of sashimi, arranged over heavily seasoned rice sprinkled with furikake or shredded nori, and presented in a traditional Japanese box or bowl. It never comes with a sauce, although soy, wasabi and ginger are presented on the side.
Instead, Saisaki served a shallow white pasta bowl with a rounded scoop of lightly vinegared rice, a small amount of seaweed salad, four bites of oshinko, 12 total slices of six kinds of raw fish ( two each of the cheapest mealy tuna, yellowtail, salmon, mackerel, escolar, and snapper), and a completely unnecessary flower. It was presented with a dish of poke-style sauce, which was described as a soy and hoisin blend with orange and other flavors. I had to specifically ask for the server to bring soy sauce. It was like the chef had never made a chirashi don before in his life. I was low-key shocked.
Extra weird, Saisaki's table settings included a fork and western soup spoon wrapped in a cloth napkin, but no chopsticks. Chopsticks were offered in a questioning way with my meal that indicated I and other patrons at Saisaki would not typically be expected to use them. They also did not offer an asIan soup spoon with my miso.
To their credit, the service was polite and professional, and the fish portions I received were generously cut and fresh... just ordinary and lesser quality. However, I absolutely insist that in no way should this be described as chirashi, and, moreover, it is definitely not a dish worthy of its $32 price tag.
If you're after gloopy, culturally void, 'murican sushi, you probably won't be disappointed here; however, if you value fresh, pure, authentic Japanese, this is not a place I would ever recommend. I look forward to researching and trying a better Japanese restaurant the next time I am in FWA.