This is my 2nd time at this restaurant. This time, it was chill and got seated right away. It could possibly be that the hype of ayce sushi died down due to the new wave of interest for omakase. Worked out well for me! The restaurant uses a tablet for ordering now. Most menu items have an image. For the ones without an image, don't make my mistake and do a quick Google search before ordering. Hot tea is not included but a good workaround is to order a bowl of miso soup. Good selection of sashimi, nigiri, rolls, and other food items. Would definitely come back! read more

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The fish was meh, and the other dishes were also meh. If you want to have ayce meh sushi for a decent price then this is for you. The service was honestly pretty quick with how much was ordered. The rest of service seemed standard. 6.5 - meh food, decent price and ayce read more

Yamato 2 has great lunch specials if you aren't looking for AYCE sushi. The sashimi lunch was $13.95 for 7 pieces and it came with soup and salad. The fish was very fresh but the white tuna was still half frozen and I had to let it sit and thaw. read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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This is the best value spot for sushi in all of Boston. It's all-you-can-eat for under $40, even for weekend dinner. We came here as a party of 2 and were seated pretty quickly. Staff gave us a dim sum-like ordering sheet which we filled out and handed back to them, and we could ask for more sheets for any subsequent orders. Our food came out pretty quickly and the ngiri, sushi rolls, hand rolls, sashimi, and appetizers we ordered were all restaurant-quality and sized. There was a noticeable dip in size and quality after our first order though, with some pieces tasting fishier and our sashimi pieces being half as small. The dining area is simple and undecorated, but clean. They also include picture menus so you know what each item looks like. The staff was friendly and service was quick. I'll be back for my next AYCE sushi craving! read more

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Very disappointing experience. Service was minimal, yet we were told at checkout that a 15% tip was mandatory. Tipping should reflect service quality, not be forced on customers without clear notice beforehand... There are plenty of better restaurants in the area that respect their customers. I would not come back. read more

This place has ayce options but is just alright. I've had better sushi at other ayce sushi places.

Finding an AYCE in Boston on Boylston Street was surprising. I've read the reviews and my take is that Yamato 2 earns a 4 star. This is why 1. Finding an AYCE in Boston on Boylston Street was a surprise. 2. The service was excellent. 3. The fish - as another reviewer mentioned was AYCE. 4. I disagree as to the adequacy of the selections, but not enough to ding them. 5. The ambiance was spacious and pumping. read more

Food: If you want all you can eat sushi, this is the place! There's large selection of sushi, sashimi, dishes and dessert you can order. Service: They were pretty quick when it came to seating us, and each order they sent in took about 10-20 minutes to come out. But overall, I enjoyed my meal there! read more

Yamato 2 - sushi - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

A staple since my college days. Great for quantity (not necessarily quality) and group gatherings. There is hot tea to accompany the sushi along the way and for dinner, fried ice cream to end the meal. The rolls were mostly rice and the food was quite average but if you're hungry it's the best thing in the world. The spicy salmon hand roll was one of my faves actually! Service was decently fast. Parking in Back Bay is a butt. The interior is decently bright despite it being in the basement. read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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The trick is not to drink water and avoid filling foods and you'll have a great time here :) High quality sushi rolls made to order and servers are attentive to take your order before you are finished with your current plate! Lively atmosphere! read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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5/5 stars for the price point. Not going to knock your socks off but $26 for an all you can eat lunch is very reasonable and the quality was superb. read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Came here for lunch but was greeted with an unfortunately limited menu. Their lunch menu excludes all sashimi and you have to pay an extra $1 or $2 for special rolls. Overall a decent AYCE experience for being in the heart of Boston right off of Newbury but probably wouldn't be back anytime soon. read more

Great all-you-can-eat sushi for the price! The quality is good enough, but I wouldn't come here for anything other than their AYCE option. The menu is also fairly big and has lots of hot food options as well. They do a good job at doing their rounds! read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

My expectations for this place were quite low, considering it's all you can eat sushi, but I was still quite disappointed. The sushi was not very fresh, especially the tuna sashimi, which had a very fishy taste, and some of the salmon was a little too slimy. In edition, the agedashi, tofu that we were served, had a hair in it and had to be remade, which is obviously not a great sign of hygiene. Also, the crab ragoon tastes of pure cream cheese. The roll selection is small and there's is not much else going on. Overall I would say unless you're ordering a ton of sushi this isn't even really that great of a deal. It was quite pricey actually considering taste and service. I think you'd be better off going to another quality sushi restaurant and you would get a similar bang for your buck. Also, the place was quite rundown, especially the bathrooms. read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

The Internet seems to have a very positive opinion about Yamato. After walking by and having a mental bookmark for over a decade, it was finally time to stop in. I blame Reddit - plus I had a nearby interview that got out just as lunch was starting. Off the bat: $24.50 for AYCE sushi lunch is a great deal, especially in downtown Boston. However, $25 can get you all sorts of delicious lunches, and I'm not sure Yamato has gone in my Rolodex of places to revisit. I do think it is worth a second chance though... only maybe for dinner. I had the opportunity to try: - Crab Rangoons - Brighton Maki - Volcano Maki - Salmon & Tuna Sushi - Salmon Skin Hand Roll The Crab Rangoons were alright. The filling was A-OK, however the fried wonton was on the thicker and chewier side for my taste. The Brighton Maki was a bit unsure. Rather than having a spicy tuna filling, in this case it was the exterior topping! Inside was avocado and white fish. Flavor-wise, this role wasn't much to write home about. I found the pieces a little inconsistent as well (more or less spicy tuna topping, smaller or larger bit of white fish, etc). Texture-wise, the large amount of spicy tuna, rice, and avocado led to a mouthfeel that hid the white fish. Overall though, pretty average: I'm glad I ordered it, but not necessarily something I'd order on future visits. Something I would skip on future visits is is the Volcano Maki. This one contained...cheese? I'm not sure, but it was a simple spicy tuna maki topped with a seemingly cheese-bound "torched scallop, tobiko, scallion, crab meat and mushroom mixture." Points for creativity, however seems like something I would make when trying to empty my fridge pre-vacation. It did not work here in my opinion. The salmon skin hand roll was very good. This one had balanced textures and ingredients, and allowed the quality of the rice to shine. While I deviation from my usual eel hand roll, this is something I would happily order again (though maybe in the eel variety). Also a favorite were the salmon and tuna sushi (nigiri, I suppose?). The simplicity is what works here. High quality rice and fresh fish, plus a little soy sauce makes for a winning combination. Finally, the service was friendly and attentive, no complaints there. The location was generally pleasant, but felt a little musty, and the mirrors could use a good wipe down. Thus, while the rice and fish are fresh and tasty, the execution could use some work overall. As such, I have the agree with Yelp's 3-star average, and disagree with those friends and Redditors who extol Yamato's virtues. read more

Yamato 2 - Brighton Maki | Tuna & Salmon | Salmon Skin - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Sushi is decent and the best you can get for your dollar in the back bay area. Drinks are also pretty good. Soju is overpriced - $25 for the same bottle i get for $12 at total wine. Staff is friendly but super slow (understaffed.) Our waitress was so nice and attentive though! It always gets super hot in there for some reason though so be prepared in layers. Tables and floors are often sticky and the bathrooms always smell like chlorine. But dining ware is always clean and the food is fresh and clean as well. read more

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My team and I came to Yamato 2 for lunch the other day. We didn't make a reservation or anything, but when we got there a little after noon, we were pleased to see that there were plenty of tables available for walk in. They must have just cleaned the tables because we all noticed the strong smell of bleach. We opted for the lunch AYCE, which excludes sashimi and certain rolls. We could eat plenty of hot entrees and appetizers as well. We got a whole plate of sushi and then a whole plate of rolls. Food came out super quick! I didn't mention this in our lunch, but unfortunately one of my rolls had a piece of hair in it, which is why I can only give 3 stars. Aside from the hair, the food was fresh and tasty. Service was great too. read more

Yamato 2 - AYCE lunch - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Great customer service, friendly staff! The spicy tuna cut and hand roll was SO good. My food experiences in Boston are usually just average or sub par but this place was actually really good I will be coming back. read more

Yamato 2 - Salmon, ikura, Spicy Tuna Roll - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

We love coming to this place. We come at least couple times a month. Today we experienced an unacceptable event. We have a 6 year old son. As you can imagine he didn't eat anything but one piece of chicken. When the waitress brought the bill they had a charge for him for 18.99 This is ridiculous. And he mentioned it was the manager who imposed this addition. This is insane. He did not eat anything as he is 6 years old and doesn't understand from Japanese kitchen. It almost felt like a cover charge we paid for the kid. We didn't make a big deal but greediness like this cost them a regular customer today. read more

Yamato 2 - Bill - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I visited Yamato II tonight and was thoroughly disappointed by a massive nosedive in quality. Most of the food was stale and poor, but the spicy tuna maki was the worst part as it had a distinct rotten smell. At $39 for all you can eat, this is now among the most expensive options in the area and provides very poor value, especially with their new ordering system that limits you to 20 pieces and forces a lockout time between orders. Their competitors are charging $30 per person. Most disgustingly, I saw cockroaches scurrying around the floor while I was eating dinner. To top it off, the service was unprofessional; our server hovered over me with the tablet to shame me for leaving a 15% tip, insisting on 18% even though I confirmed their 15% tip was based on the after-tax amount, more than enough for this poor level of service. I am definitely concerned and will be filing a formal report with the health department. read more

Service was abysmal. The server never came to the table unless we said excuse me. Forgot beers, left the table as we were still trying to order, and never apologized for the numerous delays. Also brought out the wrong things, and there were at least a handful of items that were ordered that we never received. Sapporo sake bombs were a ripoff--probably about 1/4 of a beer and half a shot of sake in each. The sushi was mediocre at best. They were out of miso soup. I was served hot tea in a beer glass as well. Auto gratuity of 18 percent was added (not sure if they do this to everyone or just because we were a party of 6). I think this is part of a larger scammy operation they've got going here because they advertise it as such a bang for your buck, but they'll do anything to prevent you from ordering while also putting a limit on the time you can stay. read more

This was my absolute favorite place in college years ago so I was so glad to revisit. They have all you can eat sushi at a reasonable price. I don't even eat a lot, but I like that I'm able to order one piece at a time so that I can try a variety. My go-to items include salmon, tamago, and unagi nigiri. For sides/apps, I like to order the fried lotus roots, shrimp shumai, crab rangoons, tempura, and most importantly, their COLD TOFU. I don't know what's in their tofu but it's absolutely incredible. Service is always quick and easy, as you order using the pen and paper they give you. Usually full of college students. Always a 10/10 read more

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Good sushi for ayce. Decent rice to fish ratio. Service is usually pretty good. Good amount of seating. Definitely my go to for ayce. read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Extremely disappointing experience. The staff were rude, visibly annoyed, and showed attitude toward customers. The food was nothing special. What made it worse was being pressured to tip 20-40% -- tipping is voluntary, not mandatory. Staff clearly reacted negatively when the tip wasn't "enough." We also felt judged and talked about. Very unprofessional. I will never return. Save yourself the frustration and go somewhere else. read more

Pretty nice maybe Spot. There aren't a ton in the area that do a good job of that. The sushi quality is decent, perfect for an AYCE kind of spot. The service is fairly quick as well. Highly recommend the spicy crispy special roll. The fried ice cream is definitely a nice little touch as well to cap off a good lunch after inhaling all that sushi read more

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Came here with a large group (20+) for a birthday party and it was really fun! I was amazed that they could handle such a big group smoothly. Don't expect to be getting omakase-level treatment here, but if you come hungry, I think it's a great deal. The AYCE sushi comes with a huge selection and includes a lot of types of food in addition to sushi (fried rice, noodles, smaller dishes like agedashi tofu), which I really appreciated. You order by marking up a paper copy of the menu, and they bring it out. Service was very efficient. They even had ice cream at the end! Would def come again when in the mood for large quantities of sushi! read more

Yamato 2 - Sushi - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Added automatic gratuity saying for parties over 5 for five people and then took a 40% tip telling us it was "the owner's policy" and they couldnt do anything for us. read more

Some of the fish pieces were suspiciously chewy, but overall the quality was okay. Way too much rice on the rolls. The avocados were fresh. The tempura had too much breading. The fried rice was nice, but the chicken was dried. Overall, the food was okay. The restaurant was understaffed, our waitress basically forgot about us when we were trying to put in our order. Definitely not the waitress's fault, but be prepared to wait a bit during busy dinner times (especially if you order a large batch like we did). read more

Yamato 2 - Sashimi, hand rolls, etc - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Yamato 2 is one of our favorite places to eat a TON of sushi at a great value. While the lunch option seems decent, we really prefer to go for dinner because it includes sashimi. The concept is pretty simple - they give you two menus: one for sushi and one for hot food. We normally only order the sushi, but the hot menu has appetizers (like crab rangoons, agadashi tofu, dumplings, calamari, shumai, edamame, etc.), soup, udon, soup noodles, fried rice, teriyaki, katsu, and dessert. We just feel like even though those items are not too large, we don't want to use up valuable stomach real estate when we really go here for sushi, but the hot menu is a nice option for people who don't eat much sushi for sure! The main attraction for us if the dinner sashimi - we order a bunch of tuna and salmon (and sometimes squid) and then eat it with the rolls. We also order some nigiri and break up the rice into smaller portions to eat with sashimi, essentially creating mini nigiri pieces since we like to eat rice with our fish but want to maximize the fish we are eating as well. Eel nigiri is a great option for this because you can't get eel on its own without rice. The sashimi has always been really fresh, though the specific cut you get may depend on whatever is being cut when you order. We've had larger and smaller cuts, but they are all decent. When it comes to sushi, there are a lot of rolls, but we mainly stick to the basic ones. Keep in mind that while sashimi comes pretty quickly, you may have to wait some time for rolls to be made especially if it is a busy evening: Salmon avocado: Pretty basic but fresh and delicious. We like avocado with our sushi so we get this and eat 1-2 pieces of salmon sashimi with it. Yellowtail scallion: I love yellowtail, but there is a good amount of rice in this roll compared to the fish. It's the only order where you can get yellowtail though. Spicy tuna: This is a great roll, but because it has tempura in the fish it can be a little heavy. We usually like to eat a bite of this with 1-2 pieces of tuna sashimi to even out the freshness a bit. Miso tuna: We tried this one for the first time on this visit and it wasn't great. It has tuna, cucumber, and a miso sauce, but I think we prefer just the tuna nigiri or sashimi instead. For dessert, the ice cream and fried ice cream are great ways to top off the night. While you can get different flavors of the ice cream, the fried ice cream always comes as vanilla. We haven't tried asking for a different fried flavor, but the option wasn't given outright. Like I said, because dinner offers sashimi, it is 100% worth the price, and we will be back over and over again! However, lunch, while cheaper, does not include sashimi, and it can be pretty easy to fill up on rice with only nigiri and rolls. I'd give a 5/5 for dinner but maybe a 3.5/5 for lunch because of this. We really only go for dinner now, but we go probably once month. read more

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"You get what you pay for applies" here, with $30-ish for AYCE sushi. The menu has a decent variety, However, the rolls were about 1/3 smaller than normal, and the nigiri sushi's raw fish slices were insultingly thing. I would have been happier not ordering it at all. Also, the sashimi "slices" came out as cubes. I'm not looking for anything amazing here, but I don't want to be actively reminded that this place is cheap. read more

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Located near Newbury Street, this AYCE sushi spot offers a solid deal for the price. The service is generally good, though there were a few mix-ups with our orders, and they were a bit slow to bring out the food. However, considering how packed it was when we arrived, it wasn't too big of an issue. The sushi itself is pretty good for the price and of decent quality. I particularly enjoyed the hand rolls and sashimi, which had a nice, fresh taste. The atmosphere isn't anything special--it has the feel of an older basement bar. But it's clean and functional, which is what matters most. I'd definitely recommend coming here for a lunch AYCE, as it's about $2 cheaper, though the price is already quite reasonable. read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

The job situation is terrible. They use you as cheap labor and then try to get rid of you as soon as you hit the 3-month mark. It's a typical trick at some Chinese companies. Plus, the place is dirty, and even the salad isn't fresh. 非常糟糕的就业情况，员工刚满三个月就想把人解雇了、辞职，华人公司惯性套路。廉价劳工。沙拉不新鲜，环境很脏，请大家不要去吃。 read more

I LOVE AYCE SUSHII!! ambience is good, but what sells me the most is being able to get as much sushi as i can. I always leave this place fighting the urge to fall in a food coma read more

An overall OK experience! Nothing to write home about, not sure I will be back but fills the craving for an AYCE sushi experience when it hits. Price: ~$27, ~$33 after tip and tax for lunch for a Sunday. Decently priced for an AYCE. Sushi: OK sushi. I felt like there was a lot of rice per fish, and the fish was ok quality. Not the worst, not the best. Sashimi was only on the dinner menu so we didn't try it. Other: I actually really liked the shumai (steamed) as well as edamame and the seaweed salad. The ice cream was unfortunately dinner only :( so didn't get to try the ice cream either! I wish they would serve ice cream at lunch, especially on a hot day like today. Service: Good! Sometimes can be a bit of a longer wait between plates but overall servers very responsive. read more

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Recently I was in Copley square and after a long day of shopping my friend and I were craving sushi so we decided to try Yamato. According to last Yelp reviews this is a pretty popular spot in the are that offers all you can eat sushi and hot plate selections. The prices of the all you can eat varies for lunch and dinner; for the dinner the price for the AYCE was around 40$. We dined at around 6pm in the evening, the restaurant is one floor and it's pretty big but very minimally decorated. The server immediately sat us at our table and brought us the menu (a reservation is not needed). She immediately asked us what we would like as beverages and we opted for ginger ale. I would like to specify that drinks unfortunately are not included in the AYCE menu price. When it comes to the actual food, as shown in the picture below, they have a very large selection of sushi and various hot dishes. We began by ordering appetizers. We opted for the shrimp tempura, fried calamari and lotus root chips. Truthfully these two dishes were not that flavorful as the taste of the fried batter overpowered the actual taste. We also decided to order their chicken fried rice and seafood fried rice. The fried rice dish was definitely better than the appetizer but it was nothing spectacular. When it came to the sushi we ordered an assorted variety that ranged from popular California roll to tempura roll, Philadelphia roll and dragon roll. The sushi was definitely the star of the night. Each other of roll comes with 6 pieces of sushi. My favorite roll was surprisingly the Philadelphia roll. My only complaint about the sushi was that it had too much rice so it filled you up rather too quickly. The AYCE doesn't not allow let ofter or take home so it's important to order what you know you are able to finish. Overall, Yamato offers an average dining experience average quality sushi, the service was good and the ambiance was great. I recommend this spot if you are looking for an AYCE sushi spot in the Boston area, but if you are looking for high quality sushi and dining experience I'll recommend looking for other nearby sushi restaurants. read more

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similar to the original yamato, the food quality is exceptional. I prefer the vibes of the other one even though it is slightly unconventional. read more

The place is huge all you can eat sushi, it was very fishy and the crab dragon was not crunchy at all like it was sitting under the heat lamp all day lesson learned. On to the next venture read more

The all-you-can-eat sushi is good quality for the price. Extremely fast service, especially with the tablet ordering system.

Perfect food and perfect service, I will recommend this to anyone and personally I will come back any time available read more

Yamato 2 - Japanese Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I love sushi, but the sushi here was not fresh at all.... it was expensive nonetheless.