- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Samurai Blue
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
8 reviews for Samurai Blue
Came here with coworkers who love sushi. I am not the biggest fan of sushi but thought I would go along. The types they offer are many and they have what I call 'safe' sushi for people like me! I have eaten there now three times and can say each visit was great. The first two were sit down and the third visit was take out. On the first visit, I had the salmon with rice and it was wonderful. My fellow diners allowed me to try some of what they had and I have to say it was not your normal sushi! I truly enjoyed it! On my second visit, I had some of the sushi dishes that I tried and it was great. My take out order was done at the back bar and I waited only 15 min for two meals and an appetizer. I have read of others waiting a long time for food but I thought 15 min for my order was fine considering the place was packed.
I truly enjoyed my meals there and the wait staff was fine for me. Everyone had different ideas of what service is so hopefully you will not be dissapointed by them. Enjoy!
I wanted an early dinner on a Thursday and figured I would try Samurai Blue. I could see it getting really noisy inside because it's all hard surfaces, but it was pretty empty (but like I said it was early) and I figured at least the staff would be on the ball, right? Two of us got seated with one menu. The hostess ignored it and walked away. Oookay. Got up to get a second one. I mean, the menu isn't super long but I shouldn't have to sit and share it, especially if there's a whole 3 other people there.
Back to that short menu. I ordered the shu mai to start off (why are these even on a "Japanese" menu? I knew I should have avoided them) and the short ribs. Also ordered: edamame and seared tuna. Our waitress asked how we wanted it to all come out. Logic would dictate the edamame and shu mai come out first, followed by the tuna and ribs. Edamame came, 7 minutes later (give or take) the shu mai followed. Wash and repeat for the tuna and the ribs. It turns out that the shu mai were over steamed and became mushy. Tolerable, fine, but it's hard to mess them up, come on! I hope for better with my main dish. I was disappointed, guys. I struggled so hard just to cut the meat. It was sitting on 3 cups of fried rice so every time I tried to cut it normally it would just sink and rice would overflow onto the table. The pieces I did get were somehow tough AND fatty. WTH? Did I order jerky? I got so frustrated with it that I just threw them all off to the side and went for some rice (thinking maybe eating some rice would reduce my cutting issues). More disappointment. Christ. It was a case of quantity over quality. I love fried rice - peas, carrots, onions, sometimes pork, scrambled egg, pineapple if you're going for exotic... They managed to screw up fried rice. The peas were obviously previously frozen (they were hard on the inside), as well as the carrots (or they're using carrots that have been chopped up for a week... dryyyy). There was nothing else in the rice. No egg, no nothing. It reminded me of the uncle ben's microwavable pouches you can buy in a grocery store except less appetizing. How is that possible? I don't understand!!
Our waitress was kind of flaky and I declined a to-go-box when she asked (I don't think I would have even fed it to my dog). My struggles with tough meat left rice all over my side of the table, and I left hungry. Starving, actually, because I skipped lunch. I was pissed off too because that pile of crap was like $20. I didn't want my money back, or a do-over, I just wanted out. I walked around the corner to the crepe shop and drowned my hunger in delicious. If the option existed on Yelp, I would check off "Good for: nothing"
A little pricey for what you get, but the quality of the fish was high and the service was good.
Overall, Samurai Blue isn't that impressive. The decor at the ybor location is great. Nice and dark, with amazingly high ceilings, very industrial. But decor isn't what makes a great restaurant.
I've never had their sushi, but have ordered multiple times from their kitchen menu. It's mostly Asian/American fusion, leaning more away from the Asian on the entrees. It's all fairly good, but for the price, you could go to a number of other places for equal or better food.
They do have a fairly large sake menu though, which is a bonus if that's your thing.
All in all it's an alright restaurant, but the prices (and often times the large wait) are what drop this down a couple notches.
Nothing exceptional about the sushi here. I would rate it at OK. Their specialty rolls lack creativity, almost every specialty roll involves asparagus in some manner. If you drink they do have a fairly extensive Sake menu, but personally that made no difference to me in the rating of the restaurant. The food is mediocre at best, but not terribly priced. I will say that the wait was entirely too long, and the service was not "on-time". If you want great sushi, skip this place. If you're in the area, and want sushi, swing by if the wait isn't 30 min for a table.
By far the worst sushi I have ever had. Their "Japanese mayo" tasted like Big Mac sauce. Their fish in the maki rolls were ridiculously small pieces. When asked if the blue crab was local we were told all the crab meat was imitation crab meat, and yet it was in almost every single roll. Overall the sushi tasted like prepackaged sushi from the supermarket with really piss poor flare added to make it seem like fine dining. Don't ever eat sushi where there are no Japanese working.
Shitty shitty sushi.
I have eaten at Yoko's and it is not the best but leaps and bounds better than this over priced and pretentious slop.
Hands down the best sushi i've ever had. Honestly, the service sucks big time. The waiter had no personality at all. I had the Spontaneous Combustion roll and the Kamikaze roll and they were to die for. Would definatly go back even though the service was horrible.
You gotta love the sushi at Samurai Blue's newest location in the ever ritzy Westchase neighborhood. The dining room doesn't have the stunning 40-foot ceilings like the place in Ybor, but what it does have is more space and more tables with big 'ol booths snug up against the windows. The decor is more elegant, a beautiful wooden lattice meets you as you walk into the front door and an eight person, wooden-high backed chair bar is situated on the right. There are still plenty of seats at the way-impressive sushi bar also.
Start with some of the fresh nigiri or sashimi and wash it down with one of the most delicate and incredible mix of flavors I have ever had in a glass, a saketini they call the Geisha's Plum. It's a perfect mix of sake and plum wine with Japanese plum floating around at the bottom of the glass. It's not too sweet and will not take away from the fresh sea flavor of the fish. Then move on to one of Ryo's Specialty Makimono. These are rolls of sushi with the rice either on the inside or outside (depending on what it is) with anything from tuna to squid on the inside. I had the Tuna Summer Of Love and was blown away at the combo of spicy sesame tuna wrapped in thinly sliced rice paper with scallions and smelt roe.
The service was professional and friendly. I think I saw a couple of the girls that work over in Ybor at the Sushi Blue in Westchase. I got stuck at the bar for a while and the bartender was really helpful (if really busy!!) and seemed to know his stuff. Oh, By the way, if you happen to go at prime time on Friday or Saturday night be prepared to wait, I was getting sloshed on Sapporo's for a good 45 minutes to an hour waiting for my table.
