We both like Japanese food and so we thought we would try something new. Driving around we randomly hit this of of Whyte Ave. It was relaxing inside with the typical decore of Japanese place. Nothing fancy but still comfortable. Our server was friendly and quick. She kept our glasses filled. The menu is huge and has a lot of interesting things. To maximize the different thins we could have we each chose a bento box. There are a lot to choose from and they all come with miso soup and salad. They are 30 dollars but the quality is great. I decided on the sashimi bento and my husband chose the tonkatsu. It come in hot and fresh and beautiful looking. The salad was crisp, the tempura as light and crunchy and the miso soup was comfortable. My husband enjoyed his tonkatsu. Give it a try. read more

Sakana - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

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Sakana is by far the best value for money Japanese restaurant I've ever eaten. The ingredients are fresh and the sashimi is huge. Especially his sushi is not like other stores that kind of small rolls, this sushi roll a palm as big as me or special top full! For those who like sea urchin, you can go on weekends or call ahead and ask, because they usually don't sell sea urchin in the middle of the week. Overall, for two people, the cost was about 90 dollars plus tip and tax. read more

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Celiac friendly! They have a small but dedicated gluten free menu. Server was lovely about my needs for no contamination, clean hands, tools and surfaces. They also made me a chop chop cone on request without tobiko. The server even brought me out the bag of roasted rice for the green tea to ensure it was BROW free. Medium priced considering the large portions. Lastly, the calm quiet piano music was just what I needed. Highly recommend! read more

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I've been to Sakana a couple of times over the years. In terms of food, I tried their Lunch Bento and Yum Yum Sakana Roll. Although the prices for the items seemed high, the amount of food made it worth it. The Bento Box stood out to me for its presentation, quantity and variety of food, and overall quality (note that the sashimi was a bit less fresh than expected). The Yum Yum Sakana Roll was overwhelming in flavour after a couple of pieces...so I'd give them 8.3/10 read more

I have been a huge fan of Sakana for a while. After covid, I found a lot of Japanese bento boxes after covid have shrunk and the food portions smaller than they used to be but not Sakana. They constantly pack their bento boxes full of food and there are squire a few options to choose from. You can even pre-order different types of sashimi to have a night out with friends/family. The service here has always been quick and nice for me. I've never had to edit very long for a table or my food. The restaurant itself is generic. There are a few booths and some tables. It does the job. This place is a really good bang for your buck. read more

Sakana - Bento box - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

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This is my favorite Japanese restaurant in Edmonton! I've been visiting for years everytime I visit the city. The food is always great -- both sushi and hot food. The servers are also really sweet and diligent, Wendy is my favorite and she always recognizes the regulars. The restaurant itself is really cozy. Can't wait to go back! read more

Sakana - a platter of sushi and sashimi - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

The sushi here is delish. I always get salmon sashimi and the slices are super thick which I love. Dream tea is right next door, so you got bbt and sushi all in one stop. read more

Small sushi houses like Sakana have recently been popping up around the city, which usually gets me pretty excited because I can't wait to try them out. Sakana is where the Lingnan Restaurant used to be, just a few doors down from Dream Tea House. To be blunt, I was quite disappointed in Sakana. The service was excellent and very fast, but the food left more to be desired. We both decided to get the basic dinner bento boxes, which come with your standard rice, miso soup, and salad. Along with those, you get to choose 3 other sides from a list of tempura, deep fried scallops, agedashi tofu and chicken teriyaki, to name a few choices. The salad is drizzled with a sour dressing that teases the tastebuds with the first few bites. At first it tasted tangy with a touch of sweetness, but as I ate more the sourness of the dressing just seemed to take over. My chicken teriyaki was not fresh, and the agedashi tofu was average, nothing special. The best thing on my plate was the honeydew, because it was very ripe and hence sweet (they give you a side of fresh fruit as well). I don't know if I can give Sakana much credit for a ripe honeydew though ... excellent fruit-selection skills, I guess? Picking off my fiance's plate (because I feel it is my duty as a Yelper), the beef didn't taste fresh either. What was really good, however, were the deep fried scallops! They were deep fried perfectly, not burnt, and cooked to chewy softness on the inside. Kinda like mini crab cakes, but better. The establishment is clean with that brand new, fresh-out-of-the-box feel to it. The decor is simple and minimal with dim lighting that invites you to sit back and relax. Overall, Sakana has some good points going for it, along with some weak ones. I can't say I would go back, but would recommend others to try it at the very least. The service is great, but I think I'll stick with good ol' reliable Kabuki on 109th -- it's more to my tastebuds' (and wallet's) liking. read more

Sakana - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

Sakana is where my boyfriend and I satisfy our cheap sushi cravings! And by cheap, I mean cheap AND deeereecious! We always get 2 sets of the 10 dolla sushi menu and on days where we're full-on hangry, THREE 10 dolla sets (with which we may or may not need a nap after). Fret not, size is not skimped on as well, the medium maki (Set B - 8 pieces) included in the 10 dolla menu is comparable to the $12-$14 rolls they have at other places. Get the Summer roll! First time we tried it I almost cried and thanked the sushi gods for cheap and delicious sushi cuz it was THAT good. Either that or i was just reallyy hungry LOL. Havent tried the other offerings on the menu but other than that, this is the place to go to for cheap sushi! read more

Sakana - 10 dolla set x3! Top to bottom: Mango Roll, Summer Roll, Dragon Eyes Left to right: Avocado, Salmon, Spicy Tuna - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

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Positively, absolutely, and without any doubt the best Japanese food I have ever had anywhere!! The grilled eggplant, which I had tonight for the fist time, was incredible. The Yum Yum Sakana roll and the Grilled Eel Roll, both of which we always order are still fantastic. In fact, everything was excellent. I highly recommend Sakana as a restaurant of outstanding quality. read more

Oh, Sakana. I had really high hopes for this nondescript sushi joint hanging out at the end of a strip mall. The Chinese place in the same lot is pretty good, so I was excited to try this place out for Michael J's birthday last week. It's small and intimate in a good way. We were seated right away - although maybe that should have been out first clue. Quiet on a Thursday night? Not a good sign. The miso soup was very good, and the flavour of the beef in my bento box was fantastic. The problem - everything was luke-warm even right when it was brought out (and that includes the beef, chicken, and the tempura we shared). The tempura was also quite flavourless - I didn't even finish one yam, and tempura is usually my favourite! The company was great, but I won't go back for the food. read more

Sakana - Dinner bento - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

I wanted to love Sakana, I really did. I am by no means a sushi snob and realize that we land locked Albertans are not going to ever have incredibly fresh fish for sushi. I get that, which is why I try to base sushi restaurant reviews on other aspects too - tempura, seaweed quality, portions, and rice quality. Sadly, Sakana didn't do well in any of these aspects. The tempura wasn't cooked long enough, which left it doughy and uncooked in places. The seaweed was limp. Just generally speaking, everything that I ordered that should have had a crunch or some kind of texture was mushy. Ick. The actual fish portion of the food was quite small. I ordered a Spicy Tuna Maki and 4/6 pieces had the tiniest slivers of fish. Essentially I was just eating a rice roll with a some avocado. Which, don't get me wrong, is delicious but most definitely not what I ordered. For the price point, I would rather head somewhere else for my sushi fix. read more

I have try the $10 menu. The maki set was awesome. I feel full after having the maki set( I got A+B). And my friend order the rice from the $10 menu, before we thought that will be smaller, but not at all. That really nice, super like it. Will come next time. read more

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My friends and I came here to eat dinner before heading to the Theater, we had like an hour and a half for this but we never though we were going to wait 45 minutes before receiving our order. Did we order something out of the ordinary, something special, something really difficult to cook, something new for the chef, or maybe something out of the menu? Well no, we ordered a Dragon eye maki, a Summer Roll, a salmon sushi and 3 orders of Spicy Tuna so we got disappointed with the slow service, but we heard that the food here was really good and they have this $10 menu where you can get one large and one small maki roll for $10!! So we decided to wait for our food. Tea and water never was an issue, our server came several times to check on us. The rolls came on a big tray and looks awesome, the flavor of each was delicious! perfect size of rolls, each bite made the wait worth it. Unfortunately we had to eat and run as we were running out of time. In summary, food was great, server was nice, but having just one Itamae in the kitchen affected the stars on my review. So if you want to visit this Japanese Restaurant leave plenty of time to have your food served and to get your check. read more

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It is so special today, There is a new chef joining the Sakana, here are some new tasty foods will be added to the menu. Don't miss the delicious foods read more

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This is a great place for sushi!! They have a $10 menu where you can choose from 1 item in Category A, and 1 item in either category B or C. I think there is more value in ordering Maki from category B, but the sushi was good in C. I love love love the summer maki and dragon eye maki. If going with a friend, order both and split em! read more

Sakana - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

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Awful sushi. If you've never had good sushi I can imagine why some think this is good. However, we have (even in Edmonton) and we were so disappointed. When we were greeted, well actually we weren't greeted, the owner simply and quickly said "how many" she also seemed unhappy and unapproachable. She claimed they didn't have eel/unagi sauce (only sushi place I've been to that doesn't have this) and insisted teriyaki was the same, ok no big deal we're not going to argue. The $20 "popular" roll was a joke. It was 90% rice, the fish was cut in the thinnest way possible probably to cut costs/skimp the customer. It was also impossible to eat. The fish and the flavors of the rice and seaweed were all bad. It was not fresh at all! The only good things about our meal were the spring rolls and fried onion cakes, so yes at least they can fry food. Do not recommend! Go to mikado instead for salmon like butter and portions that are fair. read more

Yesterday we went for lunch on the south side of Edmonton. The decor was tacky and cluttered, I had green tea. It came in a a tea pot -- there was not enough hot water to cover the metal basket of tea in the tea pot. So the tea was quite weak. Actually insipid. Kate had miso soup. And it was excellent, She ordered eggplant. It was horrible. And she usually loves all all kinds of eggplant. I tasted the eggplant (about 12 bucks) and gagged. The main spice was salt. I ordered Vegetable Curry Udo.. The noodles tasted as though they were re-heated in luke warm water five or six times. There seemed to be zero broth with the dish. The broccoli was limp. Someone had to reheat it many times to accomplish that. I ate two spoons of the Curry. Gagged, I explained to the waitress that we could not stomach the eggplant. I asked for the bill. She charged us for everything, I brought this to her attention. She talked to the cook or manager. She took that eggplant off the bill. She charged us for the Udo. I hope it was not recycled but I fear the worst. I did not leave a tip, read more

So here is the order...not kidding...let me begin with 3 adults and a 7 year old and 3 year old. 4 waters 1 japanese tea (wasn't green tea, but light in flavour) Green Onion cake (4 pieces) 2 orders of spring rolls (total 12 pieces) crab and roe salad combo dynamite and california roll (6 pieces each) combo cucumber and avocado roll (6 pieces each) tuna sashimi half order(6 slices) Hurricane roll (6 pieces) gyoza (6 pieces) 1 scallop bake 1 oyster bake avodado, unagi, tempura shrimp roll (8 pieces) Quite a bit of food you would think. Leave it up to the 7 year old to devour majority of the meal. Sampled the a bit of the baked oyster, 6 spring rolls, 2 green onion cake pieces, a bit of the crab and roe salad, 3 pieces of avocado roll, 5 pieces of cucumber roll, 1 piece of the hurricane roll, 1 piece of the unagi, avocado, shrimp roll, 3 glasses of water. The kid is a beast! LOL! Overall, average dining experience. The food came out at various times. The scallop and the oyster bake I would say is the best in Edmonton at this place. Other places do not compare. Total bill came out to $100 bucks. I think I just got full from watching my nephew eat. The boy has an appetite on him...hahaha. What could they have done to get the full 5 star? Well I was questioning the spring roll and green onion cake at a Japanese restaurant. Maybe I'm a Japanese food purist, but I think these items are more leaning towards Chinese cuisine. Maybe they have this for customer's various taste? Especially the sweet chili sauce which I believe is Vietnamese. A bit of lost identity here. Or maybe it's just me? The new age sushi mixing various ingredients for the rolls, they have some good ideas. But also some of the same old variations you see at other sushi spots. The rice didn't seem packed enough as you dip it in the soy/wasabi concoction you make, it would fall apart, and my soy/wasabi dish didn't even have that much in it to begin with. Again, just saying how I see it. I did try the sushi without soy/wasabi, flavour wise, I still liked it with my concoction. True sushi they say you don't need to as the chef prepares it with the right amount of flavour, this wasn't the case. This would probably be a more high end Tokyo Express, but not at the level as some Sushi spots I have hit in other cities. Fast food sushi place, sure why not! Happy eating and always try something new! Side note: They give fortune cookies (another reason for lost identity), my 3 yr old nephew's said "Use your charm and personality to get things your way." Really fortune Gods, this kid is already using mind games, but he doesn't fool me...LOL! read more

In my search for non-descript hole in the wall spots I decided to pop into Sakana. I am glad that I did! I started with the Oyster Ponzu which was fantastic. A great mix of salty, savory, with the slightest hint of spice. I ordered a selection of sushi pieces that must have seemed an odd order to the chef, because he asked me right away if I ate sushi often. To which I enthusiastically said, " Why yes!" I get the feeling he is used to people ordering tempura and fried rolls; not the baby octopus, surf clam, kahada, and amaebi. He seemed excited to make these less ordered pieces for me. And everything tasted fresh without that fishy taste that you can come across every now and then at less reputable places. Unfortunately for me, I don't live in Edmonton and am in town for business, otherwise I would defintitely make this my neighborhood spot. A diverse menu at reasonable prices. And the chef couldn't be a nicer guy! read more

I had a craving for sushi and stumbled by this place and was thoroughly pleased. The location is small which is not intimidating for a single diner. It's well decorated and clean. The service was perfect - good timing, efficient and friendly, although the restaurant only had a couple other customers. I had a half order of salmon sashimi (about 8 slices) which tasted fresh and was beautifully presented. I also had a full order of assorted tempura which was satisfying. It was great but not memorable. Overall I had a pleasant dining experience and I'd come back. read more

Sakana - Japanese Near Me - Edmonton, Alberta

The more i eat atnother sushi restaurants the more i appreciate sakana. I will say that we mostly stick to the sushi and rolls in general. It is made properly with good rice to fish proportions, and made by someone who truely knows what they are doing, and not just hacking it together. Like i said the more time i have around sushi the more i like this place. When their uni is in, its really great. read more

Having walked past Sakana many times since it took over the old Ling Wok/Bach Dang location, I finally dropped by for lunch. The small clean room is simply decorated and dimly lit (in a good way)-- an attractive setting for a meal. Sakana currently has a number of very reasonably-priced lunch specials, including a sushi combo. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the combo included four pieces of nigiri, three small maki rolls, and two inside-out rolls. Excellent value for the $6.50 price tag. Unfortunately, the quality of the sushi did not meet the value. While the fish was fresh and well-cut, the rice was terminally under-seasoned, and utterly flavourless. Don't skimp on the vinegar chef! Maybe the chef was having an off day, but if this visit was indicative of the quality of the food, I can't see myself making this a regular stop regardless of the value. read more

Stopped in again because I had remembered that their lunch specials were 6.95. I can't say their specials are really lunch specials. We had the dragon eyes which unfortunately has risen from $6.95 to 8.95. The salmon in the roll was quite small. Maybe that is a good thing because it was fishy and I told the waitress that but it did not seem to matter. It also was drowned in a lot of sauce. Maybe to mask that the salmon was not fresh. we had the beef and chicken bento box. The good thing was the tempura nice light and fresh. The chicken was heavily battered with a batter that was hard and flavorless. Once you peel the heavily sauced batter there are some chicken bits. But very little. The beef was old and very small and tough. since we 've given this place a number of tries. I'd say this is the last time. Really wanted to like this place and it is clean. But the food is not good and not fresh. And it comes in very little quantity. I d give it a one star but it was nice and clean and the server was friendly but useless so the second star goes to cleanliness. Better value or at lease better maki can be had elsewhere. read more

Came to this place with friends when they told me about the $10 deal... you get one large and one small maki roll for $10 which is good. I exchanged a few rolls with my friends so we were able to try out a few more flavors. I liked the Dragon eye maki the most but all of them were very tasty. I'll come back to this place next time I feel like having sushi :-) read more

Stopped in here for lunch only because the Korean restaurant in the same complex has closed down. :( we ordered 3 dishes that were part of the lunch special ... 1. Dragon eye maki roll which was pretty good. 2. Sakana noodle soup which used spaghetti noodles and had one prawn and a bunch of cooked salmon. Do not order. 3. Making combo that had California, spicy tuna and salmon rolls. Decent. Each dish was only $6.50 so for the price it gets 3 stars. If I had to pay more I wouldn't be very happy. read more

Food are great and the service is fast, best bento and sushi roll in eTown. I would totally recommend it to everyone :)

A really nice staff, great prices and specials to go along with a healthy selection of choices on the menu make Sakana a great place for sushi. read more

Sakana is best when it comes to sashimi and nigiri preparation. When I think sushi, I think sashimi, or delicious nigiri. And whenever I crave a chirashi don, with a variety of different raw seafood on top of sushi rice, this is the place I go. The bento is also a good deal as you get much more variety. I also like getting sashimi with my bento, this is the only place I've been to that keeps the sashimi cool by have it laid on a bed of ice. read more

Decent food. Absolutely horrendous service. We ordered and the rest of my table received their appetizer and entree within 20 minutes. Once the rest of table had finished their entree, they also received their sushi rolls 15 minutes before me and I was forced to continue waiting to get any food. Finally received my food an hour and 15 minutes after ordering. Received no apology or compensation. Bad, awkward experience. read more

I have no idea how Sakana can have anything but 5/5 star ratings. These other chumps must have gotten confused and reviewed for some other place accidentally... because Sakana is truly a diamond in this city. Justin is a superb sushi chef, who greets every single customer even when he's swamped and super busy. His wife, Vivienne, is usually the friendly face you'll be served by. They are both just so darn cute and friendly, I feel like I'm walking into an old school family diner. They are so warm and welcoming that this place feels like home. The food is mindblowing and mouthwatering. The salmon sashimi is so thick it's like eating little salmon steaks. When you dip these slices into your wasabi and soysauce absolute magic happens and even though I only just ate there... I want more while writing this! My husband always orders the bento box with double sashimi and one sushi (or teriyaki beef if he's hungry hungry.) The salad is always icy cold and the miso is piping hot, both leave you craving them for days after. The surf clams (My favorite) are the perfect chewy texture you want from a surf clam... which genuinely leave you wondering what sort of sorcery they are preforming to have such incredible sashimi in Edmonton. It's always so fresh and delicious! The sushi rice is perfectly sticky with just the right seasoning. The yam tempura is so delicately coated and crispy! We never leave without getting atleast an order of those. They bring out your food as it is prepared so nothing is ever left sitting, and you get it the moment it's at it's absolute best. I see some of these other reviews complain about that fact... so perhaps they'd prefer going to Earls where they keep the food under heat lamps lols. This is authentic delicious Japanese style eating... and no where else in this country even compares... atleast I sure as heck haven't found a place that can even hold a candle to our beloved Sakana. We have moved three times since finding this little gem of a restaurant, and whenever we are in the city, this is a first stop for us. They have our hearts and our stomachs. 10 stars and then some! read more

Great food at very reasonable prices. They have a two rolls for $10 deal that I always take advantage of. The only downside I've found is that the service is relatively slow, and often the rolls come out 5-10 minutes after you've finished your meal. Which is a bit of a pain. read more

I only go when they have their lunch speicals on. OTHERWISE ITS JUST ANOTHER SUSHI place. You get more bang for your buck when you go for their lunch specials but after awhile that will get old too. Ok service. read more

The best Salmon don in town! I've tried Salmon dons all around and I found that Sakana is definitely the best. I also recommend the lunch bentos! I find weekdays are the best time to get food quickly. Friday is very busy so expect too wait for your food since its a two person run place. read more

Amazing as always. Exceptional service and food. Me and my spouse have been coming here for years and have always had a great experience and enjoy trying new items on the menu. read more

My favourite sushi place. It's nice and cosy and clean. I order then bento all the time. It's a nice savoury miso soup, refreshing bean sprout salad, and the sashimi is served on a bed of ice to keep it tasting fresh! I love it! Chirashi bowl or other sushi is highly recommended! If you're not into sushi and looking for cooked chicken or beef, then it's about average. Seriously though, this place is all about the sushi or sashimi. read more

Best Sushi in town, at a great price, my wife and I are regulars here, the service was only slow once, as there is only one waitress. Tuna Tataki is amzing. The 10 dollar menu means that you can have tons of sushi for 25 dollars a person. read more

We had been meaning to try this restaurant for a few months and finally had a chance for lunch. Prices were quite reasonable and the sushi was quite good. Everything was freshly prepared. Service was a little slower than we were prepared for, but that was our fault. Liked that they had 1/2 orders of the tempura. We will definitely be back. read more

A favourite spot for sushi and sashimi. The maki is always fresh and tasty. Our typical meal is edamame, with an assortment of maki, sashimi and a special roll. The mango roll is a great choice and nicely presented. The wasabi is well prepared and hot without being overpowering. The best choice for sushi in old strathcona. read more

I feel so guilty that it took me so long to go to this local (fairly new) Japanese Restaurant. I think I was hesitant from the 'not so great' other offerings that had been in this location prior. Silly me, because this place has AMAZING food for such reasonable prices. I will admit that it has been fairly quiet in there the three times I have been, but on every occasion, the quality of the food has never been less than expected, in fact it has always over-delivered. The portions are worthy, and quality and care from the sushi chef, is matched by the hot food coming out of the kitchen. To die for is the delicate and well plated Tuna Tataki. Their rolls are exciting and well balanced with great ingredients and often lashings of roe. Tempura is always freshly hot with awesome crunch and certainly go for their Gyoza and Deep Fried Scallops. I know I am forgetting other things that we have all had on each occasion, but one thing to point out, is how good their BENTO BOX is. The Dinner version is $17.99 and with Miso, Salad, Rice and a beautiful fresh cut fruit section, you get to choose 3 other dishes (from a selection of about 10) to complete your box. It really is such good value for money, and allows you to sample a good selection of what they are offering. Definitely go there and experience what a gem of a place this is, read more