The food was excellent! My fiance and I both got teriyaki dishes, my daughter had lo mein, and we had plenty of sushi as well as the tempura. The flavor was seriously amazing! My one daughter has celiacs, the staff was knowledgeable, offered gluten free soy sauce, and reminded us our tempura has gluten. read more

Adequate quality of both cooked and raw items. I frequently order takeout sashimi and udon due to convenient location and access. Main reason for average rating is that servers are not always friendly and ambiance for eating in is mediocre. Better Asian restaurants are either downtown or limited hours. read more

Service was quick, food came out fast, they were attentive. I got dinner bento box paid extra for fried rice. Honestly the fried rice lacked flavor as did the miso soup. Everything else was good. It's small and kind of cozy. They don't serve alcohol and plenty of parking. read more

Sakura - Sashimi dinner bento box - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

See all

They tried to force us to tip after poor service. We waited over 15 minutes to order and they kept ignoring us and cleaning up despite the fact that we asked twice. We had to ask someone else to take our order and I never have to do that. Afterward, they would ignore our table and attend to the other customers. Someone came in 15 minutes after us and they still left at the same time as us because we were being disregarded by the workers. I'd understand if it was busy, but they were doing everything but attending to us. Then tried to force us to tip at the end. I have no issue with tipping, but service was terrible. That has to be a restaurant violation. read more

Went for a seafood boil and it was amazing! So quick and service was amazing! Highly recommend!!!! read more

Sakura - Seafood boil, juicy special sauce medium heat. With snow crab, sausage, crawfish, lobster tail, shrimp, corn, and potatoes - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

I wish I could give it zero stars. For starters the employees are not nice. Every time they gave us our food they ran away and we had to flag them down to get any service. Food was not good in the slightest. We got the age tofu and veg tempura. All you could taste was the batter on both items. The hibachi was fine. I ordered the crunchy spicy Kani roll and i'm fairly certain they gave me a regular Kani roll. When i asked them about it given it was rang up on my check as the spicy crunchy one they told me that's what it was. It was neither crunchy nor spicy but that was a battle I didn't feel like fighting I just wanted to get out of there. My friend got the chicken katsu. The chicken was good but they didn't bring her the rice or sauce so we had to flag them down to get that. They served us edamame which we didn't order and when we finally flagged them down AGAIN they just served it to the table that actually ordered it. Major health hazards it seems. Would not recommend. read more

I only got takeout here because I was lazy and this place is 5 minutes away. BAD Asian food is pretty much par for the course for this area and this place is no exception. I don't know about you, but I prefer my spicy "tuna" to not be grey in color and overly fishy :-/ read more

Sakura - Spicy "tuna" - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

See all

Service is very slow. Restaurant is not busy and it took more than 30 minutes to deliver the order.

The food was extremely delicious and the service gave us time to think of what to eat. Most restaurants check on you so much but this restaurant came over once. Also, the bathrooms were clean. -nathan read more

Everything is perfect. Can't believe there is a good Japanese dinner here in state college. Would go back again. read more

Sakura - Salmon teriyaki dinner bento box+Takoyaki - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

See all

So it's overall an okay restaurant. When driving by they always look closed. But they are open! They have a parking lot and prices aren't terrible. But they did forget 2 orders from us which we never got. Not sure whose fault that was. But we never got our appetizer or side. The quality was decent, server was nice, but when we paid it kind of felt like we were getting shooed away with them handing the bill with the dessert. read more

See all

Really nice inside for sitting down and eating in. Got a couple of sushi rolls that were delicious. Service was great, food came out quick. read more

Sakura - Alaskan roll and spicy girl roll - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

Terrible service. We got in, there was nobody seating guests. We finally got seated. We waited 30 minutes and nobody came to take our order. We went to the desk and asked if they could come to the table. A waitress came. Took our order, she said it would take 10 or 15 minutes. We saw two other tables leave because nobody was taking their order. We waited 35 minutes more and nothing. We were the third table to leave within an hour. We also observed a lot of issues with the orders. read more

Had heard good things about Sakura take out, but last night gets an F. Ordered online at 5:30 for 6:30 pick up. At 6:30 I get in a socially distanced line with masks waiting to pick-up inside the door one person at a time. So far so good. My turn to step inside: 1. No employees masked except the woman bringing out take orders. Another maskless employee talking on the phone and both sushi chefs without masks. 2. When I gave my name there was a delay, then she brings a printout of my order which I confirm is correct. She says 1 minute. I stand inside among maskless employees for 5 minutes. A takeout order is brought to the table I am standing in front of but she says it's not mine. The next customer walks in mask under nose to pick up and pay for his order. 3. At this point it's clear they had never started my order and were only preparing it now (1 hour 15 minutes since order was placed) but no communication from staff. 4.I step outside to wait as I am growing uncomfortable with exposure inside and the lack of social distancing at the pickup table. Finally dashed in to pick up my or order 30 minutes after I arrived. 5. Never going back. It's unsafe and service was awful. read more

The one thing I hate to do is give a bad review but unfortunately this place was one deemed to get one. The food was good not great but it was the only saving grace. The service was horrible it took forever to get our food and when we did it came intervals. My kid got his first then about 15-20 minutes my wife got hers while my second son and I had yet to get ours. The ambiance was good but service killed it, we won't be coming back. I find that places like this in college towns should be held to a high standard and this was not one of those places sadly. read more

My friends and I love Sakura! Not only was our food delicious, the service was very fast and efficient. As well, the staff are nice and welcoming, so it was an overall great experience. I highly recommend the Hibachi meals. read more

Sakura - Steak Hibachi Dinner - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

Found this Asian resturant that served seafood boils ! I had to try it because I love crawfish !!! I travel across the world eating crawfish did this Asian resturant meet my expectations?! Absolutely not, unfortunately this is a new item on their menu so its going to take time.... I originally gave it 2 stars but because the waitress was so nice and polite I gave it 3. I ordered 2lbs of crawfish it came with corn and potatoes which is a plus because some places make you buy them separately. + price was fair ($26) + customer service was friendly - I ordered extra spicy! It wasnt even mild !! - The taste was nothing special.... I forced myself to finish. -Crawfish was over cooked - Potatoes tasted spoiled - I had wayyyyy to many legs and spare parts and not whole crawfish - Sausage would have added a nice flavor read more

See all

II am addicted to this place. The hibachi is so good! Great customer service as well. Very friendly.

Had General's Chicken with broccoli and white rice. Very good flavor and great presentation.

I was craving sushi and Sakura was the closest place. I've heard their pickup times can get crazy at night (my friend waited about two hours for hers on a particularly busy weekend) but I placed an order for lunch/noon pickup. It was ready when we arrived, and the food was delicious. I don't eat meat/fish and I was happy with their vegetarian sushi selection. I got the inari roll, vegetable roll, and sweet potato roll and they were all really good and I will order them again (the sweet potato roll was my favorite!). My husband got the spicy salmon, tuna, and eel & avocado rolls and loved them. Will definitely order from here again! read more

The sushi always hit when i go! the food is a 10 out of 10. Service isn't bad but there's only 1 or 2 servers because they dont get that busy. Overall 100 % recommend read more

Sakura - King kong roll and Mango lobster roll - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

Wow!!! What a delicious food! I had the Fancy Vegetable Roll and I cannot wait to get back to have it again:) Staff is very friendly and happy. For sure I recommend this place. read more

Bear with me here, we didn't eat there. We INTENDED to eat there but didn't. We went for dinner and the place was super dimly lit (like scary dungeon type dim) but we sat down and was handed 5 page menus which had the same exact thing on each page and on top of that CRAZY EXPENSIVE talking $35/plate. We are used to sushi on a bar, pick what you want etc. We have no idea what the names of any of them are, the waiter clearly didn't speak English so we weren't going to get any help there, no pictures so we couldn't even venture a guess, and at $35 we certainly didn't want to guess wrong. We got up and bugged out before someone even took our drink order. We are pretty much locals and never hear anyone talking about this place......NOW we know why. Sorry but it's a hard pass from here out. read more

This Japanese restaurant, Sakura, is a diamond in the rough here in State College. The atmosphere is so nice and makes you feel like you're in Japan. Very welcoming and courteous staff offers terrific service. The food is truly cuisine. Everything we ordered was a gustatory experience. I had gyoza (fried meat dumplings) which were delicate and exquisite. The filling was a delight. Their miso soup was perfectly seasoned and had a very nice consistency. Then I had yakiudon noodles with shrimp & vegetables. Wow. My wife had the filet mignon and shrimp hibachi which was out of this world. The accompanying sauces were so good. The price was quite reaonable and the portions were generous. We can't wait to go back. Try Sakura - you will be blown away! read more

This little gem was an unexpected delight for the tummy. The service was a bit "blah" and not really worth commentary positive or negative - but the food was a treat, Went here for Lunch, and took advantage of the "three roll special" as well as throwing in an additional "specialty roll" that totally exploded in my mouth! Quick, pretty and very, very fresh - certainly not what I expected when away from any major bodies of water. This is well worth a stop over if you're looking to enjoy a bit of a roll feast. read more

See all

The lunch at Sakura is very well done. My wife had the Bento box with salmon teriyaki, Shumai, California role (which she swapped out for a cucumber and avocado role) and brown rice. I had the sushi and sashimi lunch special, a picture of which I submitted here. Although the salad dressing on the side salad was too watery and tasted more like thousand island than ginger, that was the only real complaint we had about an otherwise excellent lunch. The food is fresh and full of flavor. The Bento box is reasonably priced at $8.95 for lunch and they had a nice selection of lunch specials. Service was very good and the interior design was elegant and comfortable. It easily accessible from Atherton and has a parking lot as well. read more

Sakura - Sushi Lunch at Sakura - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

See all

Don't let the abandoned Shoney's look on the outside fool you, Sakura is Tier 1 on the inside. I think this is my new favorite sushi in State College, and the fact that it's 2 seconds from my house only ups the ante. The only downside is the waitstaff seems a little confused if the orders get a little crazy, and it's expensive. But who cares? They'll bring you an entire barbecue squid. read more

Sakura - The BBQ squid is amazing. - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

Good sushi and rolls, the tuna & salmon sashimi was very good. Keep in mind that it's BYOB, Premier Liquor has great wine just up the street. Very disappointed in the frozen Creme Brulee and I wouldn't trust the Tiramisu either. Overall a good experience and decent food. read more

Sakura - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

See all

Just ok sushi. Very slow service. On the front door they have a sticker of an app to pay. I stood there, got the app, ordered my food, inside they told me they weren't taking it right now because the app is not paying them. That afternoon I started getting literally five times the amount of junk mail in my email that I've ever gotten. Tons of it!!! If you're going to use this app I recommend you don't at all. If you're going to.... use a fake email. I told the lady inside about this and sticker is still up. read more

I was here for lunch last week - my first visit - and I'm wondering why I haven't tried it sooner. It was not busy and it's surprising because the food was delicious and the service excellent. We were seated immediately. I had reviewed the specials board on my way in and selected the Godzilla roll: spicy tuna with avocado and a delicious sauce drizzled over the top. It was not inexpensive BUT the amount of work and high quality ingredients that made up the dish absolutely justified the cost. The portion was generous and very satisfying. Other guests at the table enjoyed their bento boxes, which were filled with goodies including some light and crispy tempura battered veggies, while another opted for the tried and true chicken and broccoli. We all enjoyed our meals thoroughly. I look forward to another meal at Sakura soon! read more

Bento box is the way to go - can try a bit of everything. If ordering rolls I normally go for butterfly rolls. Not a fan of their udon (not flavorful) or katsu (a bit dry) read more

Very pleasant quiet and clean restaurant Sushi was very good and service was excellent Definitely will be back when I visit State College again read more

Sadly, you can find better sushi at a local grocery store (and pay way less) My boyfriend and I stopped here one night and left feeling super disappointed and quite frankly cheated out of $50. There's plenty of better options for sushi in State College. Plus service is rude and the interior decor is old and stingy. I'd suggest looking elsewhere. read more

I am very skeptical of any restaurant that bills itself as simply "Asian" -- what in the world does that mean? A hodge-podge of various types of cuisines? I wanted to wait a few weeks before trying this new place to give them a chance to work out any initial kinks... My boyfriend and I went on a Saturday night around 7pm and it was pretty busy there as it appeared almost all the tables were full with families and an older crowd (read: non-undergraduates). We were greeted by a friendly host who seated us and laid their book -- I mean, menu -- in front of us. The menu was mostly Japanese entrees and sushi bar, with a 3/4 page of Thai dishes, and a sprinkling of Chinese dishes. They have a Bento lunch special for $8.95 and I was impressed by the various types of sushi rolls as well as the 9 vegetarian rolls. We ended up ordering miso soup, smoked salmon sashimi (I don't always see this on sushi bar menus), fried calamari, the lobster tempura roll, and the Eel Lovers roll (shrimp tempura, unagi, and avocado). The sushi rolls can be made with brown rice and/or tofu wrapper instead of dried seaweed. I don't think I would ever try those options but it's nice that they offered them! Food -- The food was good... almost "really good"... well, at least, as good as it gets in State College. I would have given them 5 stars except that the rice was a little dry and we had to wait a while to get our food. Also, the fried calamari was too small of an appetizer for it being $5.95. They used the big squid and I found it to be overcooked and chewy. It irked me that the rice was also too dry, and not the more softer, stickier consistency of Japanese-style rice. Otherwise, the miso soup was good, the sushi rolls were nicely presented and tasty (the lobster tempura had a giant tail sticking out of one end, which was very eye-catching), and best of all -- my smoked salmon sashimi came in a nice-sized portion and tasted fresh! Yay! As of today, they do not have a liquor license but our waitress told us you can bring your own. I'm not sure if there is a limit to what/how much you can bring, so you might want to check on that before you go if you like to have a drink with your dinner. Ambience, decor, & service -- I'd say better than Fuji Jade but not quite as good as Cozy Thai. Maybe about the same level as My Thai: it has a tasteful, modern, bistro feel to it; not gaudy. A nice place for an intimate dinner, lots of 4-top tables but I did notice that groups larger than 4 had to wait a while for the staff to figure out how to fit them in. The bathroom was surprisingly large but clean and unique (check out the cool wall tiles in the ladies room). Our water was refilled constantly and our waitress (and other staff who would stop by) were very friendly. Oh, a nice touch was to see chopsticks laid out on the place settings instead of forks. Yes, I know we're in Central Pennsylvania, but this is an Asian restaurant, right? I would definitely go back again and am hopeful that the food will stay consistently good and that they will figure out how to speed up the cooking just a little bit. The prices were reasonable for the quality and portion that you received (except maybe the fried calamari). Their hours are generally from 11-10pm. Welcome to State College, Sakura! read more

Terrible service, okay food, expensive. We came here on a Thursday night, we arrived at 6:45 and were seated immediately. I'll start by saying we didn't get our food until 8:00, give or take 5 minutes. A waitress took our drink order, brought them, left, and returned 10 minutes later to ask if we were ready to order. I said yes and we started placing our order, and another waitress came to the table, told us that she was going to take our order, and asked the other waitress whom I was speaking to to leave the table. She then proceeded to take the order of another table before coming back to us. We ordered gyoza and four rolls. The gyoza was brought promptly, but the rest of the night was not as promising. About 30 minutes later she came to the table to tell us that the cooks were slow tonight. That was interesting to me, seeing as 2 tables of larger parties had sat down after us and were served their entire meals before us (most of which consisted of sushi rolls, as we ordered). No one came back to the table until 7:45 when they finally brought us our rolls. We were just too hungry at that point that we ate what they put in front of us, not realizing that one of the rolls was incorrect (we ordered a crunchy tuna roll and they brought a regular tuna roll). When the waitress came to ask us if we needed anything, we told her that we hadn't received one of our rolls (which was our mistake) but soon realized that it wasn't that she did not bring us the correct amount of rolls, it was just the wrong roll. We tried to explain the confusion (we didn't want any discount, just to let her know) and she seemed adamant that everything she gave us was correct. We finally just asked for the check so that we could leave, I didn't want to argue with her anymore. We've been to one other sushi place in State College that was more expensive but I'll tell you that we would rather go there and pay more than return to Sakura and wait an eternity for our food. Trust me, you don't have to be hungry before you come here, you'll be hungry by the time your order finally gets to you. read more

I am disappointed today. I ordered 2 appetizers. I have a medical condition and I cannot eat a lot. First, the waitress was upset about it, she said "that's it you order"??? She was pretty gestural about it. And then, she left to criticize me with the other waitress. They were making fun of me. read more

Sakura - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

I used to go to Fuji Garden to satisfy my sushi cravings, but the abysmal service and silly set-up finally took their toll. I had heard good things about Sakura (I'd only been once before and was underwhelmed), so when the mood for raw fish struck on a recent chilly evening, I decided to give them another go. We ordered a bunch of things, as we were hungry: - the special appetizer du jour = salmon tartare w/ponzu (excellent & decent portion) - the blackened tuna, which I found rather meh -- but then I only ever order fatty tuna, because the taste of regular raw tuna is about as exciting as licking a window pane; overall the dish was a overwhelmed by a wasabi-mayo drizzle - toro sashimi = MP $7.95 for 3 tiny shreds of fatty tuna. tasty but a bit skimpy, and sliced/butchered in such a way that would make any sushi itamae want to commit harakiri - fatty yellowtail sashimi = very good, different cut & a bigger portion than the toro - fatty salmon sashimi = probably the largest sashimi portion overall, which makes me think that the more expensive the fish, the tinier the slice. not a good policy, and also rather unorthodox. Why not slice all the fish the same and charge more instead? - crispy spicy scallop roll = very nice. crispy, crunchy, with a nice sauce and fresh scallop inside. probably the winner of the night along with the salmon tartare - crispy yellowtail roll = also very nice, although the tempura in this roll was a bit more muted -- not as crispy, which first made me assume they had brought the wrong roll. Overall, I'd say this is a good place if you're craving some raw fish. The quality and freshness of the fish is very good, the service is VERY friendly and attentive (we had no communication issues with anyone, unlike the previous reviewer), and it's BYOB. I like. read more

It's good sushi (for State College). Good but nothing spectacular. Definitely better than supermarket sushi. The 3 roll lunch for 11 bucks and change is a pretty decent deal. Not a fan of the nonchalant staff. I understand this is not fine dining, but friendlier service would be nice. Tip: Lunch specials run Mon-Sat from 11am to 3pm. read more

I have to change my review to 4 stars now because my most recent trip to Sakura was disappointing. We ordered take out this time and I was not only not given everything I ordered (which, of course, I found out when I got home) but I was also accused by an employee over the phone of falsifying the fact that I didn't get the extra order of rice, and the dessert that we ordered. After finally conceding that they did in fact forget the rice, they then went on to tell me they "forgot to tell" me that they didn't have the dessert in stock at the moment. :( I hope this never happens again and I hope I can change this back to a 5 in the next few months. I really like this place but the last experience really was disturbing! read more

Sakura - Sakura Sushi Entree. Not pictured: miso soup and salad - Japanese Near Me - State College, Pennsylvania

Truly terrible service. They did not take names and they allowed groups to bypass ones in line. Food aside, the place is poorly managed,