Dined here for an early dinner on a weekday evening and it was not too busy. Service was warm and efficient. Lots of options to choose from as the menu itself already provides an abundance of items, but there is an extended menu of more specials and sushi rolls posted on the walls all around the restaurant. We shared the Street Fighter Roll, the Sushi Combo - Samurai, and I had a side salad and miso soup. I would agree with some of the other reviews here that the sashimi was fresh and the cuts were generous. I also appreciate how the sushi rice ratio wasn't an overkill so we were able to enjoy more of the sashimi and sushi toppings. Would definitely return to try other menu items! read more

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This place is tucked away in a shopping plaza, unassuming front door and entrance, but has a great variety of rolls and everything was fresh. Service was kind and prompt. Would return again if in the area. Prices are fair! Miso soup was only $2.50. My roll were $13-15 dollars. read more

Samurai - San Francisco and Fresno Rolls - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

At Samurai Japanese Sushi Restaurant..!!! We Haven't Been Here In Awhile..!! Been Craving Their Food..!!! So I Ordered The Two Item Bento Box Lunch I Got The Beef Teriyaki And 3Pc. Tuna Sashimi Comes With Rice And A Salad. My Fiancée Ordered The Melissa Sushi Roll..!!! YUMMY..!!! And To Wash It All Down I Ordered A Small Sapporo Beer And My Fiancée Ordered A Pelegríno Sparkling Water. read more

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9/10 Great sushi spot honestly the best sushi I've had in Salinas so far! Starting off with the salad, and it was a pleasant surprise. The portion was generous, the veggies were crisp, and I loved all the little additives that gave each bite a different flavor sometimes tangy, sometimes a little sweet. It made something simple feel refreshing and unique. The sashimi was the real star. Every cut was precise, clean, and incredibly fresh none of that chewy or uneven slicing you sometimes see elsewhere. Every slice had that melt-in-your-mouth quality, and you could tell the fish was handled with care. The Tekka Maki was another favorite. A smaller roll, but perfectly rolled and balanced, fresh from the first bite to the last. Definitely a staple always in my book. Service was another highlight. The servers were quick, efficient, and genuinely kind, making the whole experience smooth and enjoyable. Food came out in a timely manner without feeling rushed. Ambiance-wise, I'll admit it's not the coziest place. It was clean, but the lighting felt a bit off and the seating was arranged in an unusual way. There were also quite a few menus displayed on the walls, which gave it a slightly cluttered vibe. That said, the most important part the food was excellent, so it's easy to look past the small details. If you're looking for fresh, quality sushi in Salinas, this is absolutely the place to go. Fresh fish, precise preparation, and service that makes you feel welcome. I'll definitely be back! read more

Samurai - Sashimi Combo - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

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As always service was great and the food was delicious! The feel of the restaurant is old school and refreshing. No frills just super delicious food. My favorite sushi place for sure! The Harley Davidson roll is it. Thank me later! read more

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Sushi is so fresh!! We started with spicy tempura salmon. It's crispy light and topped with spicy sauce and tombiko and chopped jalapeños. It's a must!! A baked crab garlic roll and pink lady roll. Fresh salmon, tuna, hamachi and tempura shrimp with cream cheese topped with unagi sauce and spicy sauce. The service is quick and they know our drink order and most of the rest of our order (we are kinda Regulars) and our drinks are never empty. The restaurant is in a strip shopping center so it has no real ambiance. We were so hungry forgot photos so will try next time. Definitely give this place a try! read more

Ordered the 911. It comes with: inside: spicy tuna. Top: salmon, avocado , spicy sauce, habanero fish eggs Requested no "spicy sauce" and was not exactly what was given to us. See picture below for reference. Pointed out to the female server that the roll was lacking avocado. Female waitress said "that is how it comes and" Also, was missing the fish eggs. After requesting, the fish eggs were given on the side. What a huge disappointment!!! It was on 6/13/2025 friday 12pm. I have never had a problem with the food the many times i have eaten here. New staff?? Either way, unsatisfactory. Will stick to coming on the weekends. Seems like the service is better. read more

Samurai - 911 with "avocado" - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

Quick seating, clean environment, server approached us quickly and allowed us to wait for a friend and then took our order. Sushi was served quickly and very delicious! Definitely recommend. read more

This place has been a Japanese staple in Salinas for as long as I can remember, and for good reason. Consistently great service, casual ambiance, fair prices & delicious food. read more

I love a combination of great value and great quality. I had two large beers and saki along with spicy hamachi roll and spicy yellowtail roll. Staff was so nice and great. Rolls were amazing and beer was ice cold. Vibe was great and can't wait to go back. read more

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I've been craving samurai's sushi for ever. Their mortal kombat and pink lady rolls are mandatory. Service is great and it's a great location. If u like sushi or if u don't just come try it. read more

Samurai - Pink lady on right mortal kombat on left. - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

Food was excellent, initial service very quick. However, they all need to learn better customer service manners. No one came back to check if I needed a refill for my tea. When I paid, with cash, I said 'no change needed'. He said 'ok' and walked off. Never even said thank you. read more

Sushi is awesome!!! I love the pink Godzilla roll! people are nice and it's a hole in the wall

Bento Box was yummy! I had gyoza and chicken teriyaki and my friend had Tempura and CA roll. All very yummy and extremely fast.

Wow totally overwhelmed by a menu this is the place you want to go. I have never ever seen so many selections of rolls. Way too many to even look at. Ask very nicely in the Miso soup if they get out of extra tofu so I don't normally know if they just have one piece of tofu in there and that's why she gave me two but that was a little disconcerting. Just way overpriced for me now granted I'm used to really nice sushi places in San Jose that are a lot cheaper and a lot better. I don't think I could recommend this place to anybody that lives down here. Their prices are just way too much for what you get. I have to meet the waitress was very nice though. read more

Been wanting to try this place for a while.. finally did and was so disappointed The way the dishes are prepared aren't well thought the agedashi tofu is soaked in sauce couldn't finish it fast enough before it turned into mush, seaweed salad was mostly garnish under to make it look like a lot for the price it is its not worth it and the veg sushi I ordered came with loads of ginger inside of it, I dislike ginger a lot in the menu said nothing about ginger being inside but instead had onions.. unless onion means ginger to them ? It's deseiving .. then at the end I know I ordered the 8$ veggie roll and on the tab it said 12$ I brought up all concerns and they did fix it quickly for sure but with the portion sizes and the price I don't feel it's worth it.. they themselves are great people seems very family like in there but I've tried better at other places unfortunately read more

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Keep this restaurant open forever because it is my favorite of all time. I have spent numerous big moments at this restaurant and keep coming because of how cozy the restaurant is and delicious the food is. 10/10 would recommend always read more

Samurai - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

Delicious Food. Everything on the menu. Nice friendly service. Call in ahead of time for to go orders. You'll have to pay on the phone but that just makes it easier to pick up your order. Nice and clean inside. I ordered a roll and some clams. $21. Worth it. read more

The food is excellent, and the service is always amazing! The menu is extensive, and we love trying new things. The prices are very reasonable, and we go pretty often. I highly recommend this place!! read more

Great food and amazing service! had the Samurai lunch box and for the $15 it's not only well served but very fresh! Truly recommend the Melissa Roll was super tasty! read more

Samurai - Samurai Bento Box California roll and chicken teriyaki. - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

Bomb food, but service has gone down. This was my go to sushi spot for along time and last two times this older man who works making sushi and the service were really rude to all of our party. read more

Some time has passed since I was here. Maybe three years. The same wonderful atmosphere and service was found today. Excellent sushi and sake. I'm so happy that they are still here and have not changed. Hamachi kama and the street fighter roll were prepared perfectly. read more

I like this place. Not sure what's happening. Last time I was there, the place was almost empty. Before you couldn't even get a seat. Food was still very good though. read more

I picked up a bento box with salmon nigiri, sashimi, and veggie tempura which came with rice and salad. The fish was fresh and this was a satisfying meal overall. The location itself is pretty bare-bones, go here for the food and service and not the ambiance. The all-women crew was super nice. read more

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The food is amazing. The lunch specials are great, the service is good. Great investment.

It is a favorite of me and my partner. There are so many sushi roll combinations, they have the full extent of their menu taped on the walls. It seems like many were customer inspired or customer favorites. The service is always prompt, polite, and the food is awesome. read more

Amazing food and customer service! Will be coming back again. You have to try the mortal combat roll. It really is my favorite and recommend it to anyone and everyone who will come with us here. read more

Great sushi, and great selection of sushi! I also loved the tempura teriyaki chicken! Very friendly staff. Nice, casual environment. We really enjoyed our dinner there! Can take family there and have a nice dinner. read more

Amazing! The staff was extremely nice. The dragon ball z roll stood up to it's description. I hadn't had a spicy tuna roll that good! You must also try the cheesecake tempura. read more

So i ordered the Mortal combat roll for pick up.. The presentation actually looked very nice and edible.. Once i ate the first two pieces of my roll i realized it was all rice.. With avocado slices and sauce on top.. That was very disappointing.. I normally don't order sushi..my go to had always been the house salad.. Which i was very pleased with as always.. However i did not pay for a roll of rice.. Digging through my roll i managed to discover a slither of unagi skin.. Some tempura breading and a tiny piece of shrimp tail at the end of my roll.. I did not eat this rice roll i just happened to inspect it.. Looking for ingredients as advertised.. I would say this was false advertisement! read more

Samurai - Mortal combat - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

Great food! One of the best sushi places in Salinas ... my wife used to place pick up orders at least once a week. Our orders are usually for a family of 5. As you can imagine, it about $100 each visit. Well ... today 5/3/22, she was banned from placing orders ... here's why: Some customer placed an order had a hard time with it, then the girl taking my wife's order placed my wife on hold right before taking credit card payment. My wife was on hold about 5 minutes on hold then gave up. I think we can all agree that 5 minutes is plenty of time to take someone payment and get back on the phone to take my wife's payment, so she gave up and placed an order at a different restaurant. About 10 minutes later my wife gets a call saying "we can take your payment." My wife says "that was like 10 minute and you left me on the phone so I had to call somewhere else." My wife ended the call, then someone else called her right back saying that they "were busy and if your not paying, then we can't take her orders anymore." Who's at fault here? I think it's the restaurant, not my wife. Yo each their own, but this place just lost a longtime regular customers. A. Family. Of. 5. read more

I enjoy Japanese food, specifically sushi. They have quality service here and are fairly quick with the food. We've eaten here with two small children before and they're always so sweet and bring the kids food out first. It's spacious for strollers depending on where you sit. Their rolls are good, they used to have a happy hour special on them but I haven't gone to happy hour since the virus. Their bentos are fantastic as well. Really anything you choose from here you can't go wrong. I've never had a bad experience here, nor have I ever questioned the quality of their fish. I choose them over any place in Salinas. read more

my coworker and I placed in order for pick up today during lunch time. Order was repeated back to us and we confirmed when we got there. We noticed that we only had two containers which seemed light so we decided to look at them. We noticed that we weren't missing a role in an appetizer so we asked that we can be charged for it because when we got the order repeated back they were said. They ended up only charging us for an appetizer and the role was never made so we were just waiting and the staff seemed upset because they couldn't understand what we were missing but anyways, finally the role was made and the owner was very upset and gave us attitude for I have no idea what reason we were just trying to get our order resolved and we were going to pay for it regardless. he threw our last roll on the table with attitude and and one of the servers packed it up for us the service today was vey rude. Yes the sushi is good but you can go to a different place where you will get treated better for cheaper. Total for 2 Rolls and an appetizer were 65$ and not to add we bought 2 canned sodas and 2 sides of sriracha for 11$! Each soda was 4$ when they are a dollar at santa fe! sorry but not coming back read more

I love Samurai! Sushi is fresh and the owner Peter is a wonderful host! Try it you will love it!

I love all the choices you have to choose from. My fav is chicken teriyaki, shrimp n vegetable Tempura, and their California Rolls plus they provide you extra fresh ginger. Place is small and quaint. They have an area for floor sitting n dining read more

Extra points for video game themed sushi rolls... the Mortal Kombat is a good option for folks a little skeptical of real sushi, deep friend with cream cheese should prepare them for some fresh salmon sashimi. Street Fighter is also a regular go to and it seems like everyone has a TNT Roll on their table. The options for sake, hot and cold, vary and they offer fresh menu items based on what is available. The staff are interesting, it can be quite hit or miss, but take the risk. The hot tea is a genmaicha blend and always delicious. Kids love the marble soda, and they have smaller portions available for the little ones. I attempted the bento once and immediately regretted it. Salmon was dry, most likely frozen and the teriyaki was sticky like honey and far too sweet... stick to the sushi... read more

Samurai - Japanese Near Me - Salinas, California

Wow. Used to really love this place; been going here for at least a decade, but...the young waitress with the black cap/hat did not even bother to greet us. She just tossed the menus onto our table and walked away. Ordinarily, we would have dismissed this if, at least the food was decent. But, nope, the House Salad arrived with brown edges. What's worse the restaurant's charging 2x more for lower quality. (We used to order it all the time.) We were planning to order more food when the young waitress put the check on the table without even bothering to ask if we were done! Well, we just took the check and tipped her accordingly. (We're usually very generous tippers 25%-40%, but she does not deserve any for such horrible service. ) We don't plan on returning, especially since there are better quality options in the area read more

I called for a PICK UP a order. It would be nice if they disclose over the phone that their $24 dinner bento boxes doesn't come with the typical miso soup. It's just salad and rice. What a rip off. read more

So delicious and great pricing! The food is fresh and the service was quick. I can't wait to try more rolls

We'll, where to start. We arrived at four-thirty and were seated, and after several questions, our drink order was taken. When the drinks arrived, our order was taken. It was now around four-forty. As time passed, others were seated and served, and several people came in for to-go orders. Around five-twenty, I went up to the register to ask when our food would be coming as we had a deadline. This is where the fun really started! At first the owner/manager said that our food would be right out. We only ordered some sashimi and two rolls. I then asked her if she could tell me a time, and she responded that they had many to-go orders, and that they were doing those first. She then deferred to one of the sushi chefs, and he stated that they'll get to our order soon; after having it for nearly forty minutes! The owner/manager then drew my attention to a plate that was being plated as proof that our order was coming. The plate however had food on it that we didn't order! The owner/manager then just went back to speaking to the sushi chef about something I couldn't understand. I canceled the order, paid for our drinks after having to insist that I wanted to pay for them at that moment instead of waiting for a check to be brought to our table. This has to be one of the worst customer service experiences that I've ever encountered in a restaurant in over sixty years, and across the globe. The rudeness and indifference from the owner/manager, and the sushi chef, but not the waitstaff, coupled with no desire from the owner/manager to rectify the situation, causes me to not recommend Samurai Japanese Restaurant! Don't ruin your evening!! read more