We have eaten here a couple of times as we were passing through the Crawfordsville, Indiana area. This restaurant is a slow 5 miles off Interstate 74 but we really prefer Asian food and were willing to go a little bit out of our way to have lunch at an Asian restaurant. The last time we ate here it was Friday right during the noon lunch hour but there were no customers when we arrived. A few more people came in after we did but it never really got busy. The ambiance was therefore pretty low-key. The service we received both times was fine. We had an order of gyoza we split between us, we each had a bowl of miso soup, and we each had the two-rolls lunch special. The gyoza was good, although it was fully deep-fried and not just browned on one side as it usually is. The miso soup was strangely dark - I even verified with the waitress that it was indeed miso soup. I'm wondering if perhaps they used red miso paste rather than the usual shiro (white) miso paste? Regardless, the soup was flavorful and good and although not quite traditional miso soup, very acceptable. And quite a generous portion, also. The sushi rolls were fine - the way this chef arranges the salmon roll pieces in the shape of a flower is very pretty. We couldn't eat it all so the waitress brought us boxes and we took the remainder home. The check was around $55 before tip. read more

Yamato - Gyoza in the background, my sushi rolls (salmon and eel/avocado) in the foreground. - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

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Amazing lobster Rangoons, excellent sushi, soup, and hibachi options. Service is consistently prompt and respectful. The restaurant has pleasant decorations and seating options that you would expect for a first generation immigrant restaurant in a small rural town, ie conservatively adequate accommodations with decorations that are representative of Japanese culture. Expecting anything more would be presumptuous. Yamato is a welcome break from corporate Americana monotony that I recommend to anyone in the Crawfordsville area. read more

Fantastic experience! I ordered an avocado roll and the sweet potato roll! Both were phenomenal! I would personally recommend the sweet potato ones, they were so flavorful, and the variance in texture of the fried sweet potato with the rice was fantastic! The service was also great! Food came out quickly and the staff were very attentive. The decor of the restaurant is also really nice, it creates a very intimate atmosphere! 100% recommend! read more

Yamato - Avocado Roll and Sweet Potato Roll, I ate some before taking the photo! - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

The service was good, staff was friendly, and the ambiance is very casual. We ordered the rangoons and a special roll, which were okay. The prices were consistent with what you'll pay for sushi in Indianapolis, however, the quality seemed much lower. The presentation was good though. Overall, it's fine in a pinch, but I don't think it's worth the price based on my experience. read more

Yamato - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

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Everything here was so-so. The ambiance is meh; typical dated "American Japanese." There's a kind of damp smell of an old building that isn't kept well. The woman who served me was neither friendly nor unfriendly; she didn't seem to care that I was there. The food was blah. I had sushi and salad. The salad was swimming in watery dressing, and the sushi had very little flavor except for a slightly fishy taste. Not spoiled, but not too fresh, either. I was unimpressed and probably won't go back, which is a bummer because sushi is one of my favorite foods. Oh well. read more

The spicy sushi roll meal is delicious. Sushi, salad and miso. 18 rolls. Enough to share with a friend.

The food is plentiful and good. My daughter said the Sushi was delicious. I will just have to take her word for it.

I had the filet and the eel roll, both were excellent only disappointment was no Saporo

The friendship roll was really good! Spicy girl roll sadly had little to no flavor. I also got the lobster Rangoon, I was really excited about this but it was only cream cheese no lobster. read more

Yamato - Friendship roll and spicy girl roll - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

I rely almost exclusively on Yelp ratings when choosing the restaurants we try when visiting a new town, mostly selecting places with 4 star ratings or higher. But today my fellow yelpers very nearly steered us wrong. At "only" 3.5 rating this place is under rated IMHO. As others have said, the fish was very fresh, but what set this place apart from other Japanese restaurants is the value. Portions are generous and prices are super reasonable. It bears repeating, the fish is FRESH. If I were to suggest an area for improvement it would be the selection of special rolls that are not cooked/fried, which I've seen at least one other yelper comment. But for other sushi purists like myself who appreciate the freshest of raw fish at generous portions and fresh ingredients, this is the place. Sorry, no pics. The food was eaten too quickly. But trust me, it looked good too. read more

The food is delicious and the staff is always very friendly. My family has been ordering takeout here for years and never had a bad experience. read more

This is a pretty standard Japanese place. We shared a bento box and a few rolls. As a visitor from Silicon Valley, I would say this is about par with an average place there. That's impressive for a small town in Indiana. The beef teriyaki and the rice that came in the box weren't great on their own, but when mixed they complimented each other very well. Spring roll was nice and crispy. Soup was basically a spicy miso with some raw mushrooms added but a nice start to the meal. Philadelphia roll, california roll, and tuna/avocado roll were all fine; volcano roll had a spicy sauce (should have guessed from the name) and good outer crunchy texture. In short, nothing outstanding but nothing bad either. Great service! read more

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Tried the Alaska Roll (cucumber, avocado, salmon) and Seafood Tempura Roll (fried white fish with Japanese spicy sauce) - both very tasty and filling, especially enjoyed the slight crunchiness of the fried fish. This was fourth or fifth visit. Always good food good service and nice variety. read more

Yamato - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

Almost zero ambiance but the food is excellent! I dine there often. The sushi is made fresh and the plated dinners are as well!

Love their food. Can't go wrong when you dine here. The Service is great always a good experience.

always delicious fresh food, nice service, and decently priced. the restaurant is nice too.

The food here is delicious! I'm so glad we got a place like this to add some variety in Crawfordsville. I ordered the fried friend roll and it was really good. I have never been a sushi person, but Yamato may change my mind! Unfortunately, the service did not come close to meeting the standard of the food. Our waiter did not check on us (even once) throughout our meal, even though we could plainly see the wait staff standing there talking. Our plates were empty, our glasses were empty, and I was jonesing over the dessert at the next table over when the waiter brought us the check. The restaurant missed out on a sale and the waiter missed out on most of his tip due to the service (or lack of). I am hoping that when we try Yamato again the service will have improved and I can give it the rating the food deserves! read more

Yamato - I would recommend the Friend Roll (fried). It's delicious! - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

I go to school at Wabash college here in town and have been to Yamato numerous times. The sushi is always on par with my expectations, and the service is splendid. However the seaweed wrap can sometimes be a bit tough, regardless, quality establishment for a small town. Anyone who tries to knock on this place has been to very few sushi bars. Reasonably priced and competes with any other restaurants serving 5-15$ rolls. Give it a try you will be pleasantly surprised. read more

It was awkward going inside, they have the dining area blocked off and they just randomly sit at a table to take your order. The clear soup was meh, the sushi was meh. read more

When my family and I get food from Yamato we get chicken and rice or just rice with yum yum sauce i recommend it is so good

If I could I would give no stars. Came into town to visit family and wanted to enjoy sushi and Japanese food. Only place in town. We came in for a late lunch early dinner. No one was in the restaurant and right away got treated so poorly, we are a multicultural family and I could tell from the looks on the staff phase that we were not welcome. Was not greeted when we asked questions they looked at us like they could not hear what we were saying I then had to repeat myself at which point the female did answer me when my husband went to speak to her she acted like she could not speak to him she was very disrespectful at that point my husband said no we're fine we stood up and we left we will definitely never be back and I would recommend this place for nobody. read more

It really sucks when you are supposed to have reservations somewhere and then them just not be open. I called and made reservations 3 weeks to a month before valentines day. We drove 30 minutes and they ended up being closed. If they wernt going to be open why would they let us put in a reservation? And if they didn't know they where going to be closed they should have contacted us and I'm sure there where others and let us know so that we could make different plans. read more

Great little family operation. Food is fabulous. Courteous service. And the price is right.

The food was amazing! Sushi was fresh. Definitely will be back. Ordered the Boston roll, hibachi yakiniku, and salmon teriyaki bento box (soooo much food!) The super nice young man that was our waiter was a delight! His service was attentive and prompt. He was also very personable! Don't overlook this place! read more

It's pretty good for what it is...which is a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in a small town. As long as you keep your expectations on the right level, this is a nice place to eat. The quality of food is nowhere near what you would find at a hibachi Japanese steakhouse, but you don't pay nearly as much. The sushi isn't as good as most places as Indy, but it was solid for Indiana and priced right. We ordered a hibachi meal and some more standard sushi rolls (Alaska, New York...) and we had no issue with them having sauce on them like others mentioned. However, we did see others with food drenched in sauce, so just order accordingly if you want to avoid that. If we're ever in Crawfordsville again, we'd definitely go back. Suggestions for the management: please put actual ginger dressing on the salads, not spicy mayo. It's weird. Also, it would be nice to have more specialty sushi options that aren't deep fried. Almost every roll is at least partly breaded and fried. read more

I live about 2 hours away for most of the year (as I am a college student), but EVERY time I am in town I make sure to get Yamato's at least once!! It is so good and for the price you pay, the quantity is great. I love their hibachi chicken & tempura california roll! The only thing to make it better would be a revamp to the interior-- it is very dark inside and a little natural light would brighten it up for sure! read more

Not horrible but far from your standard Japanese steakhouse taste. Yum-yum sauce is bland. Filet is definitely lowest quality meat they can pass for filet. Save your money read more

Wow! I'd say I'm shocked that any one has given this place a good rating...but then I remind myself that it's Crawfordsville. Yes...it IS nice to see C-ville get some variety, but this is FAR from delicious. The Sushi rolls are boring, fried and sauce-drenched, with no quality fish in sight. The hibachi sauce is disgusting and overbearing, and you can get better fried rice at China Inn. Over-cooked chicken and where's the shrimp? Seriously, if you want GREAT sushi, make your way to Sakura, Naked Tchopstix or Sushi Club (for a GREAT DEAL) or for GREAT hibachi - Sapporo, Tomo or even Benihana in Indianapolis. This place would have to get a new chef for me to dine again. read more

I was impressed with my first visit. There were a lot of menu options. They have a decent selection of hibachi items to choose from. They have over 40 different sushi rolls I counted but I don't eat sushi. Yuck. I got the hibachi chicken with edamame for an appetizer. I thought it was good and had good flavor. I will definitely be back to try more. read more

Yamato - the interior of a japanese restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

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Excellent food, great service, really fast, like it a lot. Looks like is a family business that might be the difference of the chain restaurants in Crawfordsville IN read more

Excellent Sashimi, and excellent prices. This was my second time here. I got a salad with grilled shrimp, SEA scallops, and imitation crab all served warm over an iceberg lettuce mix with a sweet mayonnaise based dressing that was all excellent for like $4.00! Heaping edamame for $3.99 And 5 large, fresh pieces of sashimi. (Chose snapper, tuna, eel (cooked), and salmon) for $5.99!! I haven't ever tried steak or chicken but the sashimi is excellent. read more

I'm hard to please when it comes to sushi. I love to visit new sushi restaurants but I'm always disappointed. It was so wonderful to finally find a place I like as much as my favorite place in Indy (Oishi). I had Lobster Rangoons, a Tuna Avocado Roll, and a Friend Roll. The Friend Roll is truly one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten. It was so good, I wish I could go again tomorrow. read more

Yamato - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

Visited today with my kids. The menu is very reasonably priced, and the service was good, but that could be because we were the only table in the place. Admittedly, it was 4:30 pm on a Sunday afternoon, and the weather had turned nasty with snow and ice. We ordered two sushi rolls, a spicy tuna and a vegetable roll. The ingredients were pretty fresh, and the rolls were ok but nothing special. I ordered the chicken and filet hibachi, my kids each got a teriyaki bento box. As I said before, very reasonable pricing for the amount of food you get. I ordered my steak medium rare, and that's what it was. The chicken was overcooked. The sauce was on the sweet side. I would agree that it's nice to see some variety in Crawfordsville, we only come down here for swim meets and there are precious few places worth taking hungry swimmers to after racing before getting back on the road. Given the choice, though, I'll keep looking for better options. read more

We have been to Yamato numerous times with family and friends. The food is always great and the service is fantastic. read more

Yamato - Hot tea on a beautiful tea set!! - Japanese Near Me - Crawfordsville, Indiana

Great food and service all around. I'm not a sushi fan but the Yamato roll is great. It's breaded, deep fried and topped with a sweet and spicy sauce. I eat here at least two times a week. read more

All I can say is don't waste your time or money the food was not good at all. We took a few bites and said it did not taste right and the staff argued and said it was right we left after them tell us we were wrong. This is a place where customers are never right. read more

The sushi here is the BEST! I'd never liked sushi before I tried the sushi here, but now I can't stop getting it! It is fantastic!

Awesome service and good sushi. I really don't like when I go out for hibachi though just to find it's cooked in the kitchen. My husband and I were headed out for a nice sit down meal and while this place isn't bad, it's not what we were really expecting at all. We ordered the Filet Mignon that was a lil overcooked, on the greasy side and the rice was very bland. read more

Woohoo! Sushi in C-ville, and it is good! Went here with a friend for lunch. I had the Alaskan and the Boston rolls, and I watched them being made. They were yummy and very fresh. Both were $5.99 a piece so lunch was $12. My friend got the teriyaki chicken bento box, and it was huge. He said it was very good and well worth the $10. read more

I don't claim to be a sushi connoisseur, but I love this place. Yamato's got me craving sushi all the time now. So glad to have the option in C'ville! They do have non-raw options and a full menu with plenty of other items for the less adventurous eaters. The dining room is pretty small, so I don't recommend for a very large group, but other than that - highly recommend! read more