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Mon-Fri. 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Mon-Fri. 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sat. 4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
The first thing I noticed was the service, absolutely wonderful.
I came in, got seated promptly, and started to order. We expected the food to take a moment to be made, it was busy, but even the server came out, and apologized for taking more than 10 minutes to make. I was taken back, I would have expected at least 10/15 minutes for 6 rolls to come out.
When the rolls came out, they were prepared cleanly, the look and taste was exactly what we expected, great flavor, and it was very fresh.
*UPDATE*
I forgot to add that we spent a lot of money at Yamato Ya and were thus given a frequent buyer card. Every time you spend $10, you get a stamp, and when you spend $100 you get $10 back or something the next time you eat there. Any locals want our card? We have $80 punched on it already so you basically need to spend $20 in order to get $10 free. PM me if you're interested and we'll work something out. Did I mention I'm a whore for FUCing and fanning?
What the hell is everyone talking about on here? This place was totally overpriced for just… Read more »
Every sushi house is starting to be the same, but not Yamato, rhymes with tomato, Ya. Let me break it down, gimme a beat...
Just kidding.
I was chillin' at my room at Extended Stay and was looking Yelp for a place to eat. I was in the mood for sushi. What did I order. Either way, it cost $26.00 for a dinner and some sushi, with a $5 tip.
I sat at the bar and ordered...OH YEAH!...UNAGI. I ordered an unagi dinner which came in a nicely fitting dish for my unags and rice underneath. It was cooked near perfection, not like some places where like any meal, it could be under cooked or over cooked. I also had a somewhat of a dragon roll, but I kinda took out the prawn because I'm anti-prawn. Shrimp or prawn, the gout bringer! Anyway, if you're in the neighborhood, give it a try. The staff is very friendly and always bring smiles. Or maybe it's my presence that puts smiles on people's faces. Teehee.
I come to this spot as they are the best priced and the sushi is okay. Definitly need to get Jose. Why is there a mexican sushi chef? Why do you care? He's excellent. The new head chef is okay but no pizazz. They have increased the amount of rolls that they do. It was as you can read from the others an honest to goodness japanese restaurant. Now, who knows. The frequent purchase card is a nice touch which I wish the others would think of trying. They are very good about altering the dish for your needs. I do warn against specialty order from teh kitchen though. After asking for steamed and not pan fried pot stickers I got over cooked mushy things that fell apart and tasted horrible. Not to mention a chili soy sauce for dipping?!?
My husband's family got me started on sushi and introduced me to Yamato Ya.
Service is great, get food in a timely manner, and they are so friendly.
The service is really good here. Our waitress was very attentive and cleared plates and brought refills very quickly.
The sushi is decent; good in a pinch. You get a decent amount of food for what you pay for. They bring you salad and miso soup before you get the sushi.
Overall, not a bad place.
Don't trust these other reviews. Yamato Ya is okay, but sill below average when compared to other sushi spots across the country. The sushi is not impressive and they use far too much rice in both their nigiri and rolls. Their sukiyaki and other non sushi dishes are below average and the atmosphere is not that great. I will spend my money elsewhere.
Wonderful service? I wouldn't say that. The older waitress lady was sort of dismissive, but it was kind of funny.
If you don't like a whole lot of dressing on your salad, you might want to ask for it on the side, because they just POUR IT ON.
But, the food is great! Took some friends there and they liked it. There were 4 of us and the tab was only about $60. We had sushi, tempura, fried rice, beer and wine!
The restaurant itself (chairs, tables, etc.) isn't very nice, and the service is why I give this just 4 stars, despite the great food.
BEST...SUSHI...EVER
too bad they're such a long flight away, but hey! The scenery is worth the jaunt. We were there last July and hadn't done any research on dining experiences in and around Anchorage, so were VERY lucky to stumble upon Yamamoto Ya.
I remember when this place was owned by Ken-san, who's a golfing buddy of my dad's(he works at New Sagaya.) The food was good then. Then they switched owners. Not sure how the food is there anymore, or if they've deserted Kumagoro as the other "Japanese" Japanese restaurants in town. But this review is for the old Yamato-Ya.
A wonderful night out, with wonderful service. I know we ordered too much sushi, but it all looked so good, we couldn't pare down to just a few rolls. We at the whole thing, and cleaned our plates.
If our trip had lasted longer, we would have surely gone back for a second visit. The sushi was very fresh, well prepared, and lovingly arranged for us.
Holy Mother of Pearl.
I'm so glad I researched sushi joints before my trip to the country's 49th state this last weekend because we happened upon the BEST SUSHI I HAVE EVER HAD.
EVER.
.
..............EVAR!
After being coerced into a morning of watching fishermen catching and tossing back ginormous salmon in the river underneath The Bridge restaurant, we cabbed it over to my sushi restaurant of choice - Yamato Ya.
Yamato Ya is celebrating a well established 25 years in the sushi biz this year and after our meal it is no surprise to me why it has enjoyed such continued success.
The four of us walked in on a Friday at 12:45pm and we were able to be seated immediately at the sushi bar. I knew what I wanted. Uhh... I wanted what the sushi chef wanted me to have! Omakase style all the way baby.
Can I just express how giddy with excitement I was at this point? I was REALLY giddy with excitement! And I was not disappointed.
Every piece of fish we had was so incredibly fresh and like nothing I have ever had. Not only did the Hirame and Hamachi melt in my mouth, but the pieces were generously big, and thick. Nothin' like the girth of a piece of sushi to make me happy! Maguro and Sake were superb, and the Ama-ebi was sweet and crisp - both the raw and the deep fried heads. He mixed us up a Nama-Tako salad and normally I am not too keen on the chewiness of the ocotopus - but this was just absolutely DELICIOUS. (See pics.)
Ever had a Rainbow Roll that DIDN'T use imitation crab? I have. :) Yes, I will admit I had some Rainbow Roll when I was here, but may I remind you that this was the chef's choice? You know why? Cuz he stuffs REAL CRAB in the roll and let me just say that it tastes like no Rainbow Roll you will ever have.
We enjoyed some lovely conversation and great recommendations of what to see while in Alaska by a couple locals and the staff was nothing more than hospitable and friendly to all of us. What an awesome experience! Thanks to our favorite Alaskan "Carl", this was just the first initial spark of the beginning of our Alaskan adventures.
The total for my sushi partner in crime and I, (which included miso soup, salad, and tip) was $64. Not too bad for the freshest, bestest, delicious-est sushi and sashimi.
I might just consider moving closer to the Arctic Circle because of this place. This and the fact that the male to female ratio is like 5:1.
Hmmmmmm..........................
What am I waiting for... ;p
.
Yummy *****
Sloooo *
I was never a great sushi lover before going to Yamato Ya. It is singlehandedly responsible for the development of my sushi cravings. However, if you are hungry for Yamato Ya sushi, you should eat something else. Then go, and you will get food just as you begin starving again.
This is the BEST sushi in Anchorage. It is so fresh that you have to wait AT LEAST 45 minutes for the taisho in the back to go fishing for your order, whack it in the head, and serve it to you. Surprisingly, even gyoza are made this way.
One time I got so hungry waiting that I needed more food after everything had arrived but didn't want to wait another hour. Amazingly, they promised and delivered unbelievably fresh sushi in just 5 minutes! That is because every taisho has dark past that has imbued him with superpowers, like fish whispering and superspeed, but he can only use it in emergencies, like when you might otherwise leave.
The sushi here is delicious, and I consider myself a connoisseur. A big part of what makes or breaks sushi of course is the quality of the fish, and in Alaska you're really spoiled. You'll want to go easy on the wasabi and soy sauce to really appreciate just how delectable the fish here is -- really a class unto itself.
Someone else suggested the California rolls here, so after having the Sushi combination platter I ordered a roll. They were... ok. I hadn't been holding my breath because, after all, you need avocado to make them and it was snowing outside, but what actually made them just ok was surprisingly not the avocado but the crab, which I found a bit dry. Don't get me wrong, I still finished off every piece, but since someone else here suggested California rolls as a good starting dish I just wanted to suggest the sushi combination platter as a better choice.
----
Many months after writing the above, I have returned and downgraded this place to 4 stars. The food is every bit as good as it was before, and I still think this is the best place to go for sushi in Anchorage, but let's just say that the staff is on "Japanese time". Ask your Japanese friends, they'll explain it to you. More often than not now when I've come here I've been forced to wait, feeling myself age, for what seemed like eons just to get a bit of nigiri. Again, when a place is busy, this is something I can forgive, but at Yamato Ya you'll be waiting forever whether they're busy or not. They just aren't in a hurry. The sushi, when you get it, is perfect... but you may want to get some sake to while away the time.
As an aside, there's this waitress who works there who is not Japanese -- I think she might be Singaporean -- who did not understand what I meant when I said that I wanted some "sake nigiri". Now, this in itself wouldn't have been so bad (ignoring that a person working at a sushi shop, regardless of her ethnicity, should know what nigiri is) except that her attitude was that I was the one who didn't know what I was talking about. Finally a Japanese waitress came over, sensing the conflict, and when I told her what I wanted she wrote it down lickity-split and pulled the other waitress away.
So basically, I'm downgrading YY to 4 stars on service concerns. Slow, and depending on who you get, not even necessarily good.
But the sushi is worth the trip.
Ken-san and his staff are the best! I've been going to Yamato Ya since I was a kid and there have only between two price increases over twenty years. Ken-san buys everything in small quantities so everything is always fresh. You've got to love the family style service and the cozy atmosphere.
I've moved from Alaska and miss Yamato Ya!
P.S. Chirashi is always awesome!
Had a great sushi experience here, trying King Salmon, Stuffed Jalapeno's, oysters, et all. All items were expertly prepared and service was very friendly and fun. Definitely check this place out if you're looking for a neighborhood type place. There are only about 10 seats around the bar and the glass is cloudly/scratched up so much so you can't see the seafood:( aIso was surprised that they didn't have any Halibut (Hirame). They have a lot of tables and general Japanese fare as well, including soba, tempura, udon, tonkatsu etc. http://www.yamatoyasus...
Welcome to the best sushi place in America.
I came to AK on business and decided sushi was in order. I asked around the locals and all pointed to this place.
I'm glad they did.
We started with a california roll, as reccomended by the chef. Weird, we thought, but we ordered it anyway. Instead of being filled with shredded crab, it had several full pieces of long crab leg meat inside. Incredible....and that was just the beginning...
Piece after huge piece of the freshest salmon, toro, crab, unagi and fatty tuna were placed in front of me and business associate. We kept ordering the salmon and the crab - I've never had fish this fresh....anywhere else in America...and believe me...I've looked.
The owner came over and talked to us about his movies, his sushi place, his life in alaska....it was a truly amazing experience.
If you ever find yourself in anchorage, this place is a must go.
From all the five stars this place has been receiving, I thought I would check it out for myself. My wife and I tried the Poke, it was a bit different. The dish focused more on the favor of the tuna than the spice. The spicy tuna hand roll was prepared the same as the Poke. The quality of fish was very good and the preperation reflected that. They consistently used subtle flavors as not to overpower or cover up flavor of the fish. We also split a seafood hot pot. Again the favors were well developed but subtle. The kitchen definitely has their act together but unfortunately the wait staff and decor could use some help. Maybe they were short handed that night and/or I am being overly critical. In any case it is a very nice restaurant overall. I must agree that quality of ingredients were among the best that I have experienced. I give it a solid four stars.
I have to disagree with the other 5 star reviews. I would actually give this place 3 stars, but I will defer with the benefit of doubt that perhaps I caught a bad night here.
I will tell you why this, for me on this one night, was a 3 star sushi experience, but owing to the fresh sushi that was available, I'll reluctantly give a fourth star.
There are 2 things that make a great sushi place for the purest: First, the freshest fish. Yamato-ya has that, being that all the seafood in Anchorage should be fresh. Second, the rice needs to be perfectly made and mixed, and prepared in each sushi. Yamato-ya did ok, but not outstanding.
There is really a third criteria, and it is the most important: Sushi has to be prepared by professional sushi chefs, who take great pride in their work, and have the skills and experience to match. Only then will they stake their personal reputation and that of the sushi-ya to prepare only the freshest fish with the best prepared rice, and assemble a perfect order of sushi consistently,
Usually, I look for Japanese Sushi Chefs to insure this, however, this should be revised to be the best chefs of any nationality that prepares sushi to high Japanese standards. To be Japanese or of Japanese heritage is not enough. It is the pride and training of a top notch chef that is required. Someone who knows what they are doing and who takes a near spiritual approach to their art form and to providing the best dining expereince for their customers is what counts. Fresh fish that is sloppily prepared, without the right spirit is not enough in my book.
Our threesome arrived about 90 mintues before closing. This is a large place, with 15 seats at the sushi bar, with 2 chefs, and about 15 tables. We were not greeted and acknowledged upon sitting at the bar. This is a suicidal no-no in Japan. The chefs were busy, but we languished for 10 minutes before being addressed or served by the chef or the waitress, Yoko, an older Japanese woman who runs the support services to the chef and the room. It appears to be a family type operation with a couple of generations present, although not all related. Our young chef Ke was not to high standards of training, He was very serious, perhaps in a bad mood, and thus inattentive. He put too much wasabi on our nigiri, drowning out the fresh seafood. He didn't know how to prepare the sushi professionally, cumbersome in his creations and too thin in his knife skills and cuts. Even the single roll (spider) that we ordered, was too large to eat properly, and had limited softshell crab that wasn't crisp enough. My Italian heritage colleague, who enjoys sushi, even took notice of these deficiencies.
They were also out of mackerel and halibut (we are in Alaska for Chrisakes! There is fresh halibut in every restaurant here!) and seaweed salad. When asked what was fresh and good today, the reponse was everything, even though they were out of many common items. They didn't have Asahi beer, and it wasn't because that wasn't a brand that was part of their Keiretsu (consortium of related businesses) which might be the case in a Japanese business dinner in Japan.
Their saving grace was that the salmon (sake) was fresh, the ikura (salmon roe) as well, the uni (sea urchin) was, too, and so the ika (squid). The unagi was good. Hamachi was good but the cut was a bit off. The salmon teriyaki for my friend was good and generous. Miso was warm, not hot, and average.
The other star saver was that the prices were reasonable, with most nigiri at $4 and a lot of food for 3 people with 2 tall Sapporo was only $84, which would be less than many places in the lower 48 would cost for only 2 people.
If you are used to American standards for sushi, this place is a good choice. If you have experienced sushi in Japan, this is a 3 star sushi-ya at best. There is another place in town I want to try that I heard all the Japanese flight attendants go to eat, so I hope it is to high Japanese standards. I'll let you know if it is. Sorry for sounding like a snob, but when your grandparents owned a sushi-ya in Japan and your mother was raised there and taught you what is good sushi, you expect a little more, especially in a seafood rich state like Alaska.
This was always a favorite of mine, but what really touched my heart was when I got my wisdom teeth out, and the waitress, who knew me as a regular, chopped up a bunch of food really tiny for me and put it in miso soup, so I could eat something instead of just looking forlornly at my best friend's sushi. That's quality service. Anchorage is obviously a great place for fish, so try it every which way, and definitely hit up Yamato Ya for some delightful sushi.
it's really all about sushi here. tho the tempura is great, too.
they have some other dishes -yakisoba, teriyaki, udon which I'm sure are good
but the sushi!
the yamato roll (california roll dipped in tempura batter and flash-fried) is a winner, as are the standards: rainbow roll, spider roll, spicy tuna and unagi.
definitely sit at the sushi bar. the chef's are funny and friendly
very casual family friendly restaurant. food is not authentic. sashimi was fairly fresh and sliced large. strangely, sashimi was on bed of cabbage instead of radish. cabbage with sashimi clearly diminishes its flavor so it should be laid directly on the plate if not on top of radish. nabeyaki udon inexplicably had tempura and cabbage in it. fried rice was well done.
Anchorage, AK
Category: Korean
Anchorage, AK
Category: Japanese
Anchorage, AK
Category: Japanese
Anchorage, AK
Category: Japanese
Anchorage, AK
Category: Japanese
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