We came here for date night because I was craving some sushi. It was great! We ordered the spicy garlic edemame (I think that's what it's called) and it was delish but definitely spicy. It cleared my sinuses in the first few bites. Then my hubby got a pork dish, which he said was really good, and I got some sushi. It was fresh, tasty, and presented well. It wasn't terribly busy and the noise was not a problem. We ended up talking for a while and did not feel rushed. The server was pretty busy (maybe they were short staffed that night) so we had some moments of needing more drinks, but overall, it was a great date night. read more

Though the sushi here is good, I always find the service a bit slow and it's always, always freezing. Take a sweater. Drinks are much pricier than at Nanami (only 2 miles or so away) and it can be a little noisy. They try to pair sushi with a sports bar. Some would be a fan of this idea. I am not. Food is adequate. read more

The sushi is decent, though not very creative. The edamame is consistently under-salted. The water/soda glasses have a slight taste of dishwasher detergent, which I alerted them to. read more

Every time I step into a Sushi restaurant, I am reminded of a certain sequence of dialogue from The Big Lebowski, except altered a bit. It goes a bit like this: Donny: "Are these the Nazis, Walter?" Walter: "No, Donny, these men are sushi snobs, there's nothing to be afraid of." I'm sure many of you know of what I am speaking. You see gentle reader, I am anything but a sushi snob. For sometime I played in a band that also included a crazy Japanese from Nagoya, Japan. Now to be clear, I am not trying to allude to any great wealth of Japanese cultural knowledge due to this experience, but you pick up a few things. One was his continual amusement at how Americans treated sushi (and I am incorrectly using this term as a catch all for rolls and sashimi as well for ease of narrative) as this mysterious ritual that was to be treated as much as a spiritual awakening as curing a hunger pang. Although he was quick to say that there were very formal sushi situations, raw fish dishes were completely ubiquitous as fast food fare throughout the country. An analogy would be treating every meal with beef, from McDonald's to The County Line to Austin Land and Cattle, as the same dining experience. Sushi, at its core, is a relatively simple dish. It is, at its heart, just a raw hunk of fish, at least what is traditionally thought of when sushi being discussed. If the fish isn't good, then no amount of vibe, creativity, wasabi, or soy sauce will make a difference. I've been to Yanagi twice, and both times the fish has been fresh and tasty. The great thing is that once that foundation is there, everything else is just the cherry on top. Is Yanagi the best sushi I have ever had? Nope. Is it a fine example of traditional sushi? Not really. Is it pretty damned good sushi in south Austin that seems to be consistent and is reasonably priced? Yes! So while that one sushi snob in your circle of friends (and we all seem to have one - and there is a good chance he or she is from the Pacific Northwest, hehe) will probably find plenty to nitpick over, the rest of you will have a good time, have some good food, and leave happy over all. In particular, I like the Special with the Red Dragon Roll. It features a large roll and eight pieces of sushi that the chef selects, though it rarely gets very crazy. Miso soup is complimentary. This place seems to be getting better with each visit. I hope they have great success as it is great to have a good option down south. They also seem truly interested to get feedback, which I think is always a great sign as it shows the business is truly interested in its customers. Give them a shot! read more

Mediocre sushi, at best. I'm being generous with the 3 stars, I think it's more of a 2 1/2 star restaurant. The food was unremarkable, the wait staff seemed disinterested, and the decor is boring. With so many other options out there for sushi, why choose this one? read more

Delicious sushi rolls, miso soup & great service! Will definitely be back!

I have to say that I am really picky about my sushi and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and taste of their seafood especially for the location and the price! Should def go check them out. read more

Based on the lunch bento box special my wife and i got, i'm giving this place 3 stars. my wife seemed content with her tonkatsu and all the sides (tempura, salad, miso soup), but my chicken teriyaki was very disappointing. i usually go for sushi and chirashi, but i wanted to play it safe and choze something that's near impossible to messup. the chicken was thin and dry, probably straight out of the freezer. also, the sauce was a little thin compared to most places where the sauce is thick and hot. the chicken barely had any grill marks on them either. i should've gone with a sushi plate. lastly, it seems like every japanese place nowadays (whether in Texas or in California) are being started by korean people. not that that's big issue or anything since i'm korean myself, but it just takes me aback when i see things like bulgogi on a japanese menu. read more

Well, the divine miss M (margo) and I ventured out in the ominous weather recently in search of the elusive sushi roll. After yelping it up, we ran across a place in our new hood. Yanagi, meaning "slim" in Japanese, (....or so the internets tell me) is probably not the most apropos name for this restaurant. With rich full service, wonderfully decadent rolls and a very robust menu I wont stay slim at all! read more

Awesome service! Try the Las Vegas roll OMG the best! Also the chicken teriyaki is to die for I would definitely recommend read more

See all

We ate here tonight and weren't disappointed. We ordered a spider roll, spicy tuna roll and the yumi yumi roll. All the sushi tasted very fresh and they used real crab meet--no fish stick! Service was great and they let us sit so we could watch the UT game. 5 stars not because it is the best sushi we've ever had but bc it exceeded out expectations given the price and shopping strip location. BOOM BA DA BOOM DOUBLE BOOM!! read more

Not worth the $50! I stopped here on my way home, hoping to find a new sushi spot. The restaurant itself was nice, the hostess was very friendly and the take out time was about 15 minutes. Not too bad. That's where the positive ends. The food was terrible. We ordered a spicy tuna, Ladybug, Mountain roll and one more that I can't even remember. The color of the tuna was off, not a dark red but rather a pinkish color and the consistency of the salmon and tuna on the inside was like eating baby food, mushy and lacking in flavor. At $12-13/roll I expect much higher quality. We wound up tossing 90% of the food. Disappointing and complete waste of money!! read more

This is a Saturday ritual for my boyfriend and I. Mid-day sushi happy hour?? Yes!! I hope they never get rid of that. Every server we've had there has been fantastic! One of the waitresses always remembers to bring extra ginger and eel sauce for us. (It's the little things that count!) We love everything on the happy hour menu. It's truly a hidden gem! read more

It's fine- not great, not terrible. I did like the calamari a fair bit but the ramen was mediocre.

Great Sushi!!! Me and my boyfriend came here last night and everything was terrific including our waitress,Sarah. We had the avocado bomb and miso soups then he got the hot night roll and I got the dragon roll- both excellent. The avocado bomb is delicious but it is only half an avocado so two people can share if you're not TOO hungry. Laid back atmosphere, not too busy at all for a Friday night, and fun music. We will definitely be making this our new sushi spot. read more

Amazing service and great rolls. We had the Yanagi Boat Combination and our kids loved the chicken katsu platters. We had a small accident but the staff was super responsive and made us feel much better. At the end, one of the chefs even went the extra mile to create a cute bear from an orange, which of course was great for the kids! Can't wait to come back. read more

My favorite sushi in Austin. Great rolls, friendly staff and amazing happy hour sushi prices.

Wife and I have been there 5-6 times. Love the tempura as an appetizer or meal, the gulbi has good flavor and texture, and their sushi is inventive and tasty. Even their Philly roll is a good take on a classic roll. I was surprised to see such bad reviews about their staff. Our servers have been knowledgeable, attentive, and have gone out of their way to make sure we can get in & out when we have the little one. Our best experience was when we went with a group of 6 adults and when the bill came they had credited one of our gulbi meals. Apparently one of our diners had not completely eaten one of the ribs and the staff noticed that it was slightly undercooked. While it wasn't prepared perfectly the rest of the meal tasted fine and we didn't even hint that there was a problem with the plate. That was the first (and likely last) time we've had a $15-$16 entree credited without even a whimper. read more

We ate here last night and really liked it. The food was great and the service was excellent. We had a few noodle bowls and a sushi roll. We also loved the spicy garlic edamame. The miso soup was weak and one of the noodle dishes had the tiny baby shrimp, which we don't like, but otherwise it was great. One thing that would help the atmosphere at night is to turn the lights down a bit. read more

I feel Yanagi is the only decent Japanese/Korean restaurant in southwest Austin. It's nicely decorated. Actually, it's kind of fancy. Their Sasumi is pretty fresh all the time. However, I don't think they have enough customers who really know about sasumi, so some special/ more expensive sashimi on the menu are not available most of the time (if not all the time). Their rolls are decent if you request to put sauces on the side. They put too much sauce on sushi rolls in my opinion. The service is always great. Lunch specials are the best bargains. Korean food is pretty decent there too. Too bad they got rid of the seafood pancake. I am so glad we have such a decent Japanese/Korean food in South Austin. I have lived in Vancouver Canada, New york city, Seattle, Osaka Japan, so I think I know Janpanese/Korean food. read more

I am rating them 4 stars bc I believe they are the best sushi place in SW/South Austin. They have a pretty good happy hour. They also have a large assortment of rolls, which I love. I don't like driving too far unless it's a special occasion to get my sushi, so I go here bc it's close and convenient. I tried nanami in SW Austin and yanagi is 10xs better. Their pieces are large and filling, so you don't feel like you're paying a lot of $ for a small roll. I have practically tried all the places in south Austin for sushi. while I use to love some of these other places (only in south Austin I am judging) they eventually either made the rolls smaller and smaller or the quality went down. Why can't we have a restaurant that has both. I feel this place does. If you want superb real quality 4/5 star sushi, go downtown, but this place deserves 4 stars for being the best in south austin read more

I took the family and business partners here to have dinner. I like their restaurant lay out and like the server, Wanida was very attentive. The food were good. Something different from other Sushi restaurant. Over all, it is a good Local Sushi place to go. read more

So good. Great service. They say spicy, they MEAN spicy. Recommend William Cannon and Tarantula rolls and the Heart Attack appetizer. Spicy Ramen was soooo good. Great place for a date! read more

Yanagi is my neighborhood sushi place.. Love the staff. The spicy edamame is delicious. Love the tunatini.. The specialty rolls are very good. Love the Yanagi roll.. read more

Service and food is always great. Our server gave us the right attention and didn't mess up my sushi order (which happens often with other places recently). Food came out quickly. Tried the beef bulgogi, which was sweet versus spicy for those of you who are fans. Sushi was fresh and prepared well. Wished they had specials on the weekend like ankimo, live scallop, etc. Still, I would return since we've never had complaints. read more

I love this place. Best agadashi tofu! Sushi chefs always nice and they are authentic.

I had a horrible experience today with Yanagi. I have dined in at this location before and had a great meal. Today however I ordered a Mopac Roll to my office via Uber Eats. The roll was inedible. I questioned whether the fish had spoiled, and so I discarded it all. When I called the restaurant at 2:29pm, I was asked if I could be called back when they re-open as they were about to close. I did not receive a call back. I then called again and was told by the woman answering the phone that the roll I had ordered was meant for a sophisticated palate and for people who are very versed in eating raw fish. She did not actually say this to me with such eloquence, but for the sake of this post, that sums it up. She mentioned that the manager would offer me $5 off my next visit. The roll was $16. I then asked to speak with the manager who then argued with me for quite some time, challenged my claim, insulted my knowledge of sushi (which I eat probably 4x a week, and most usually sashimi not nigiri or rolls). He was unwilling to offer me more than $5 off and was as rude and rude gets. I would not recommend supporting an establishment that offers such poor customer service. There are plenty of other sushi restaurants in Austin who would never treat patrons this way. Heck, some sushi from the grocery store would have been infinitely better than the sushi I received today. read more

Tried it out since it's right next to my Golds Gym. Went back the next day, definitely going to become a regular. Service is great, food is even better, and if you catch them on a good day, one of the chefs has an excellent singing voice while preparing your food. Be back tomorrow read more

Food generally good. It's attitude of the owner that's not good. If one has a problem w/anything, he seems to take personal offense and is not willing to try to resolve the problem. read more

Okay, I've read the reviews, and I'm glad to see the great ones, but I can't figure out the ones that didn't rave about it. I am a HUGE sushi person, and I eat lots of nigiri sushi, rolls and sashimi, so it has to be fresh. This place is off the hook, and I've been eating there about three to four times a week since the first day they opened. It's uber clean, it's well staffed w/friendly waiters, and it's just amazing. read more

The susi here is not bad, this is one of my favorite place to go for sushi. The fish are fresh and the food is portion is not bad. I like the heart attack appetizer, which have a little spice to it because of the jalapeno. So far my favorite roll is the red dragon with spicy tuna and eel. The volcano roll was very interesting with the burning flame, not bad. The only con about this place is the service. Service isn't that great. We came in 15 minutes before happy hours (5:45). Took our waitress 5 min to come over and take our drinks order (5:50) by the time he came back it was 5:55 and he said happy hour was over at 5:50 when we were already there and sitted. read more

Let me start off by saying that I feel it's quite possible I'm a sushi snob. I am having the hardest time finding a quality sushi place that is awesome (and will serve yaki meshi, where can I find a restaurant that will give me awesome yaki meshi? seems that I will have to only rely on going to San Antonio for this). I'll start with the pros: -Sushi quality was pretty good. I got the Three Times Lady Roll and everything tasted fresh to me...The rolls are a good size as well. -Appetizer was good (although a little small for 5.95). We got the Avocado Bomb and 6 bucks for half an avocado...mmm I don't know... -Service was good overall The cons: No yaki meshi (this will continue to be a con for me until I can find a place that will make some good yaki meshi). It's just that important to me... I forgot to mention that we asked the waiter to split our checks and he didn't...It's not a big deal but felt it was worth mentioning since you may encounter this. Not sure if he forgot or what... In my opinion, this is one of the better sushi places in Austin that I have tried so far, but I have only tried maybe 5. So far, this place and Mikado are at the top of my list. If you know of any awesome sushi places, please message me with the name. ;) read more

I'm happy that there is some Japanese food on my side of the tracks. I got the lunch bento box and was stuffed. Very good quality, service was good and I loved the flavors. $9 for lunch isnt too bad either... Will have to keep a look out for specials and other reasons to come back other than lunch. Would have no problem having a business lunch there or a casual date night with my honey. Good stuff! Good food! I'll be back! read more

Have gone twice. The fish is fresh and flavorful. I didn't give 5 stars cause it didn't blow my mind like say, Uchi did, although I realize they are definitely a different caliber of restaurant. Good enough to satisfy my sushi craving, not overpriced and close to work and home. Both times I had wonderful service! My waitress most recently was very sweet and even gave me some tips on sake that I did not know before. read more

Being in South Austin, Yanagi is my go-to sushi place. Everything is fresh and consistently delicious. We normally get some combination of a couple of appetizers (gyoza, tempura, avocado bomb, green salad), bibimbab or katsu (if we're in the mood for something warm), and always, ALWAYS top it off with their spicy tataki roll. It's basically a spicy tuna roll that's topped with sliced tuna and shaved red onion, with this amazing soy/chili/sesame/citrus sauce..I can't begin to explain how perfectly balanced and delicious that sauce is..it's easily my favorite roll on the planet. read more

This place consistently impresses. I'm not much into rolls, as I prefer straight nigiri. Their salmon is some of the best ever. Yellow tail, amazing. Enjoy! read more

This is a nice place. I really like the sushi selection and the atmosphere. However, as good as this place is, Nanami is about a mile away and is just a little bit better. But, Yanagi does have a nice atmosphere and good sushi as well. read more

Really good sushi, great service, we came here on happy hour so prices were really low when u think u got 8 pieces in one roll. Clean and really nice place! Thank you! read more

I love this place! My husband and always go here on date night. We have been to other sushi bars but this one has always been spot on with great food, great service and really great prices. They seriously make fantastic rolls. read more

Excellent Japanese restaurant. Moderate prices and courteous professional service. All the dishes were fresh and well prepared. We'll definitely be back read more