I very rarely leave reviews, but I had to based on my wonderful experience at Waraji. True to form, this review is very delayed, but here I am! So, a group of my friends and I have monthly dinners, and that particular month, we chose Waraji, which I have been to before and loved. I won't go into details about that particular night, but our experience was pretty bad (I think it was just a random off night). I have NEVER in my life called a restaurant to address a situation, but I just had to in this case. The manager was VERY validating and apologetic about our experience and offered another meal for all 9 of us fully compensated. I was NOT expecting this in the slightest, I was merely trying to bring it to the managers attention, but I was also very surprised and accepted the offer (because delicious sushi that is free? Of course). Let me tell you, our second experience was absolutely AMAZING!!!! TAI was our server and she was FABULOUS! So sweet and attentive. The food, as always was delicious! The sushi there was fresh, tasty and beautifully presented. They even went above and beyond offering up a complimentary bottle of wine and an assortment and amazing desserts. We were all very impressed. Waraji has been and will be my go to spot for sushi in the Raleigh area! If you are looking for authentic sushi with good ambiance, check out Waraji! read more

We celebrated my husband's birthday at Waraji last night and he was absolutely in Heaven. He raved about the sushi as did our friends that we went with. They all said it was the best sushi they've ever had. I was super impressed by the expansive drink menu. I ordered a nice red blend and plan to order a Sake flight next time. I loved the atmosphere and didn't realize it was so big inside. Our server was super nice and helpful when ordering. I ordered the teriyaki chicken without onions and our server was so awesome that she let me know that the ginger dressing on my salad contained onions. She wanted to make sure I didn't have an allergy. How amazing?! The chicken teriyaki and the veggies it was served with were absolutely AMAZING! Seriously, IDK what they did to those veggies but this may have been the best meal I've ever had! They gave my husband a scoop of mango icecream with a candle in it for his birthday. Love that! We are looking forward to our next visit to Waraji. read more

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I'd been craving sushi, something unfussy yet exceptional and wanted to take my husband somewhere new. Waraji, a beloved neighborhood institution, felt like the obvious choice. Knowing how quickly their tables disappear, I checked for reservations on the drive over, fully expecting disappointment. Instead, a small miracle: an open table. I booked it before the screen could change its mind. Upon arrival, the host greeted us with the gentle chaos that only a true local favorite can produce. Our table wasn't quite ready "just waiting on a few folks to wrap up" so we lingered near the entryway, watching the ebb and flow of diners. A brief mix-up had us nearly escorted to a table before being pulled back, but within minutes we were seated, no worse for the detour. Our spot was perfect: a front-row view of the sushi bar, where chefs moved with the quiet intensity of people who know their craft is being watched and appreciated. The restaurant hummed around us servers weaving between tables, the soft clatter of plates, the low murmur of regulars who clearly consider this their second home. Our server, whose name I wish I'd caught, was a standout. Attentive without hovering, candid about the kitchen running a bit behind, and consistently thoughtful with updates. His honesty made the experience feel more intimate, more human. Cocktails arrived first, followed by a parade of sushi and small plates. Everything was fresh, balanced, and deeply satisfying, the kind of meal that doesn't need theatrics to make an impression. read more

We came here on a Monday night around 8:30 pm. It was very crowded, but they had seating for us right away. The menu is nice in terms of options and I loved the pricing of some of the sushi dinner options. Very filling meal with 9 pieces of sashimi and a small roll for only $37. The issue was 1. The wait for our food. It took nearly 40 minutes to get our food. 2. The quality of the sushi. It wasn't bad or sour as some other reviews indicated, but it wasn't nearly as fresh and tasty as other places. I will chalk that up to the price point. For $37, I guess it's not bad. read more

Authentic. A little loud. A lot of fun! No frills sushi, just excellent sushi! Great place for a group of friends who love sushi and are looking for a place to grab dinner and enjoy good company over sake, sushi and a lively ambiance. Excellent quality fish, ever time. read more

Lovely place that feels very intimate and personal. Been a few times now and the food is wonderful each time we go. Tempura and sushi are excellent. Incredibly fresh and beautiful presentation each time. The sushi chefs are truly the stars of this place! It is usually very busy so honestly servers can sometimes be hit or miss thus we prefer to sit at the bar when we go. It is worth it. You also must have a reservation if you want to sit at a table for dinner. A favorite that we will come back to again and again! read more

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Great service, fresh sushi and amazing vibes! There's so many roll options that sounded great that I almost couldn't choose but the crazy tuna roll was a great choice! So so yummy! read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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After a snafu regarding reservations, we were able to sit at the sushi bar. In from out of town. Experience was awesome. Did a Sake flight. Rolls were fresh and portions large. It's no wonder the place was packed. Thoroughly enjoyed it read more

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Best sushi I have ever had! The service was above and beyond. I love the different seating areas and the set up of the restaurant! I highly recommend making a reservation. read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Specialty sushi rolls - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Last came here about 20 years ago, and it was far better than we remembered it to be. Plenty of seats on a Sunday evening for dinner, and the service was great. The restaurant has nice bar/lounge seating area and the dining area is very nice too. The miso soup was clean and very flavorful, with not too much of any single ingredient. Classic Japanese restaurant salad, nothing special there, but the dressing was good. Ordered classic Japanese entrees, Tonkatsu and Tempura. The portions were substantial and the food excellent. The mix of items in the Tempura really good, plenty of shrimp and veggies (I'd trade the sweet potatoes for more carrot/onion mixture). The Tonkatsu was good, maybe a bit salty but the Tonkatsu sauce cut through that nicely. Overall a good meal and it's easy to see how Waraji's fidelity to the cuisine and attention to detail have kept the restaurant going for over 20 years. Plenty of parking and outside tables are available. read more

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Made reservations here to celebrate my son's birthday. The restaurant was busy on a Saturday night but we were seated in a cozy area near the bar. Our waiter was attentive and quickly brought us water. Son's girlfriend ordered the Empress gin cocktail which was beautiful and tasty. Son and girlfriend both ordered the Teishoku dinner set which featured vegetable tempura, soup, salad, a sushi roll and a main dish of teriyaki chicken. It was an impressive number of courses. Husband and I split the sushi for two -- also impressive! It was a nice selection of nigiri and rolls -- all delicious. At the end the waiter brought out a delicious lemon sorbet with blueberries for my son's birthday. It was such a step above the traditional slab of cake a lot of restaurants offer. We all had a taste and it was delicious -- tart with fresh blueberries. Overall it was a great celebration experience. read more

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If you want the best-tasting, FRESHEST sushi in NC, come here!! Eddie was our server and was wonderful. He offered great recommendations and everything was so fresh. Kudos to Eddie for making this a great place to celebrate my bday :) Will be back! read more

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I love a good sushi spot and I finally made my way to Waraji after hearing about it from my friends. They have a good selection of rolls to choose from. We ended up getting the Sushi and Sashimi lunch platter along with pork belly and Beef skewers. The sashimi was fresh and melt in the mouth soft. I need to go back and try their speciality rolls next time. P.S: The skewers are half off on Sundays. Which is a pretty good deal. They also have daily drink specials. read more

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We went here for a Valentine's Day dinner and what a lovely experience! The service and ambiance were impeccable. We ordered gyoza (10/10) and a few sushi rolls. We are big salmon roll fans, which there weren't any (that we saw!) on the menu. So we ordered a few different ones! Unfortunately, I didn't love most of them. My husband liked the Mary's Roll though! read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Mass Exodus Roll, Shrimp Tempura Roll, Fire Dragon, Mary's Roll - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Went to Waraji for a little girls' night sushi dinner with my friend and it was amazing! We started with a sake flight that was hand-delivered by the bartender, who shared the story and theme behind each pour such a cool and thoughtful touch.   We tried three different sushi rolls, both of their soups, and the shrimp dumplings and wow, every single thing was phenomenal. The quality and flavor were outstanding.   It was a bit quiet inside, but the staff was wonderful and made sure everything I ordered was safe given my tree nut allergy, which I really appreciated.   Highly recommend this spot for sushi lovers, I'll definitely be going back! read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Sake flight - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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BLUF: Easily the best, if not one of the best, Japanese restaurants nearby. 5-stars Quality: Every dish ordered was well prepared and extremely delicious by Asian expectations. The foods were very fresh and well treated. +1 star Service: Our waitress was very attentive, but not over bearing. Food came quickly for busy hour, and we felt it was great timing. +1 Star Portions: Portions were reasonable and the right mix between bowl size, plated portions, and decorations. +1 star Cleanliness: As always, I always visit the bathrooms to visually check. I also visually check the seafood in the sushi bar fridges. Everything seemed to be well maintained, clean, and the tables did not have a sticky film when touching them with your arm. +1 star Overall: A nice set up, with lots of people, non-Japanese music, but great food. You can't go wrong. +1 star read more

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Gluten-free options that are definitely worth the change of scenery from the normal neighborhood sushi spots. I have so much appreciation for restaurants that have gluten-free menus, especially sushi spots. read more

I don't know what happened to all of the pictures i took of the food, but it wasn't a great experience. Joel didn't care for his food (shown). My roll was made wrong (2 missing ingredients so they took it back) and the nigiri tasted sour, so they removed it from our tab. The bill was still $85 and the best thing was the tempura veggies. We were looking forward to lunch here, but unfortunately it was a miss. read more

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Great service. We ordered ten rolls and appetizers. The food was great. The place was a little loud. read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Saki flight - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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Excellent service, really great sushi. It was a little loud, but not too bad, and very busy. The ebi shumai is a must-order, along with the chili crisp edemame. read more

Damn good. We are so full! Brian provided us attentive and helpful service. Not only was he crafting drinks for the whole restaurant but was also serving food and drinks to the bar area guests and tables. He made suggestions based on our preferred tastes including drinks and sushi rolls! He also suggested we try the fresh wasabi (amazing taste). The fried rice was delicious and I enjoyed the dabs of sauce on the sides so we got hints of it with each bite - so deliciously intentional. No surprise they have many awards and recognition for their food. We will see you next time we are in town. Thanks again Brian & Waraji chefs! read more

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Have been here a couple of times and have enjoyed both times! Sushi is absolutely on point. For appetizer we ordered the pork belly sliders and WOW. Fantastic dish with the perfect blend of flavors and textures. HIGHLY recommend. Mocktails also delicious. Will definitely keep going back! read more

It was our first time here & don't know why we haven't been in this restaurant as we have lived in the Triangle for over 10 years moving from the Bay Area. This is quite a gem. It's a real deal Japanese restaurant. Sushi is so fresh and delicious!! We tried the A5 Wagyu, which really melts in your mouth. We had some of their special rolls & Toro. What we had are all excellent. Cocktail is a thumbs up! Our server was Dylan(if I can remember right) - he was great! Overall, we had a nice first time visit at Waraji and definitely this wouldn't be our last. read more

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an upscale cozy restaurant without the price. loved the atmosphere and the vibe. servers and host were very friendly and the food was exceptional. they definitely have A LOT of items to choose from. i could've ordered everything from the menu! this may be my new go to sushi joint in raleigh. would definitely come again and try the other items on the menu. i recommend making reservations in advance and "dressing up" just a little. i'd say nice casual. read more

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Food is great, but service was a bit slow on a weeknight. Wasn't expecting that as place was only 1/3 full. A little pricey, so definitely a special occasion restaurant! read more

Great food and service. I really like their lunch specials and I highly recommend going then as it a great deal with a lot of variety. Really love their match creme brulee. read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

The sweet dragon roll and salmon teriyaki was great. My server, Dylan, was very attentive. This was my first time here and I'll definitely be back! read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Being from Raleigh, I can't believe this is the first time we've eaten here. We came for dinner on a Tuesday night around 6pm and was able to get a table with no reservation. We were suprised with how big the inside was. I love that they had tatami tables, which i have never seen in a restaurant here before. Our server, Celeste, was great. We ordered the vegetable and seafood tempura dinner entree and una-tama-don which has eel (i've never seen this on a menu in the area, so i had to get it)! we also ordered some sushi rolls, which weren't pictured. Anyway, our meals came out pretty fast and our server was great with checking in. our meals came with miso soup and a side salad to start. we were super impressed by the tempura. the size was HUGE and definitely could've been a serving for 2 people. The tempura was tasty and came with a dipping sauce and rice. The una-tama-don was my favorite meal that i've had in a long time. It was so delicious and love that it was all cooked with a some egg . It also came with vegetables in the dish. This portion was huge. we left with a lot of leftovers! the menu itself was also impressive. If you enjoy japanese cuisine, there is so much to choose from! we definitely will be back bc there was still so many other dishes we wanted to try. My husband ordered a yuzu margarita, it was on the stronger side for me, but husband enjoyed it! read more

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After nearly 5 years and dozens of Japanese restaurants later, we have finally found our spot! This place is worthy of all of the awards they have won. We visited Wednesday night after my son's graduation with our family of 6. The hostess who ended up being our server was great! Another host did come by and mentioned they were closing in 30 minutes, which wasn't very welcoming, but fortunately, we never saw him again. We ordered the squid and gyoza for apps and they were great. Never had squid served that way, but it was delicious. We ordered 10 sushi rolls and the sashimi platter. It was amazing! The sashimi was heavenly! It was a perfect amount of food for our group. We even got 2 desserts. We asked the server if that would be fine, since we were previously told about the time, but they had multiple other tables being served. The matcha crème brûlée and the yuzu tiramisu were incredible! My only complaint is we wanted more. The dining room is split in two. Nothing overly fancy, but cozy and authentic. Our server was outstanding! From start to finish she was always available and kept my sweet tea full. After tax and a fat tip our tab came to $360. Well worth it! I feel like revisiting tonight. read more

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Great ambience, friendly staff, and fresh sushi. The nigiri and appetizers were great. We were a little surprised and disappointed in the roll options, as most had krabstick, cream cheese, or tempura, which just isn't our preference. read more

We have been going to Waraji for many years and the fish is always very fresh and we enjoy it immensely. The problem is that after they expanded, they did not expand the number of sushi chefs. We arrived at 6:15, so before peak time, and we waited 45 minutes for our sushi. I was told there were a lot of takeout orders. read more

TLDR: Excellent option for a date or fancy occasion. Waraji is a little pricy, but worth it for the high quality, delicious food. Highly recommend the Una-Ja, Katsudon, and Matcha IPA (who knew matcha IPA would taste so good??) We also enjoyed some chilled nigori and hot sake (50% off on Wednesdays!) We parked near the front and were greeted at the hostess stand. We did not have a reservation, but were seated quickly since we dined late. The hostess gave us a choice to dine in the room to the left (lively, louder, upbeat atmosphere) or the quieter, peaceful atmosphere on the right. We chose the room to the right. I believe our waiter's name was Joseph. Joseph was enthusiastic, helpful, and attentive. A few of us ordered entrees, while the rest shared several small plates. We enjoyed all of the items ordered. I particularly liked the Una-Ja. Overall, we had a great experience and recommend this restaurant to others! read more

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Ate here while in town visiting family. Had edamame, Philadelphia roll and tuna roll. All were very delicious. There were a few other parties eating while we were there on a Saturday night. Map was roughly $35. After dinner, we went to the bowling alley around the corner, so perfect t location for a fun night out. Service was okay, had to wait a while for a water refill. read more

Very tasty. We shared the sushi for 2 and a bottle of plum wine. The fish were fresh and delicious.

Great sushi. Service and food is very consistent, I highly recommend. They've been in the area for several years.

Today is my boyfriend Ryan's birthday and we decided to try Waraji for the first time. We had such a great first experience. Celeste was our server and she was accompanied by and Lindsay they made our experience 10 times better ! We had the Age Nasu 10/10, Ika Geso kara-age 10/10, stuffed jalapeños 10/10. We also had the tonkotsu ramen, I say ramen was nothing special. And for desert we had the matcha crème brûlée also a 10/10. Overall experience, great and would definitely come back ! read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Matcha crème brûlée - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Best in the USA ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION was epic. Dassai Junmso 23 Daiginjo sake was served in chilled glassware and was absolutely delicious ! Shrimp tempura appetizer was crispy and hot. Miso Soup was complimentary Sunomono Mixed was fresh Seaweed and Cucumber that was complimented by 5 different seafood items Beef teriyaki dinner was tender steak and was easily two helpings to enjoy. Ebi - Shrimp Ika - Squid Yako - Octopus Unagi - Eel A5 Wagu - Japanese Steak Uni - Sea Urchin Quail Egg All Nigeria was extremely fresh and rice Highliy recommend this skillful presentation and cheerfully served by Emily Q. You'd better try this restaurant because it is epic read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Sake of the high order of gustatory delight - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

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Excellent food! Mickey makes our delicious rolls and he has a wonderful personality! My husband and I dine here two to three times a week!

Great sushi spot! Visited on a Sunday evening without a reservation and it was packed, so I definitely recommend making one. Sat at the sushi bar which I love to observe them making the rolls. My partner and I split the Hinata, Crunchy, and Sweet Dragon. While I loved the crunchy and sweet dragon, I was not a big fan of the Hinata roll. Other people in my party ordered the chirashi bowl and the Pork Katsudon. Everyone was super happy with their food. Service was a little lackluster, but they were very busy. I would definitely give this Japanese restaurant a try! read more

Waraji Japanese Restaurant - Hinata, Crunchy, Sweet Dragon - Japanese Near Me - Raleigh, North Carolina

Waraji never disappoints. From the moment we arrived, the hosts offers us seating options, Richard quickly brought us water and greeted us. He was patient and attentive. He even recalled serving some of us before. All items we ordered were well prepared, even with our alterations. My guests were amazed at the portion sizes and presentation. As always the setting is cozy in the bar area. Thank you!! Juanita and guests read more