Hapa Sushi Grill and Sake Bar

We recently dined at Hapa Sushi Grill and Sake Bar in Denver, and while the food was fresh and the sake selection solid, the service was unfortunately disappointing. We waited over an hour for our food, and during that time, we watched multiple tables who arrived after us get served well before us. Our server, Julia, seemed inexperienced and was unfamiliar with several menu items, unable to explain them clearly. The manager, Jorge, came by to apologize and offered to bring another round of drinks due to the delay—but we never received them. Instead, he only waived one round, which felt like a broken promise. On the positive side, the sushi was high-quality, and the fish was fresh. The sake list is interesting, though it’s clear the broader sake culture in Denver is still developing. Overall, the food has great potential, but the slow service and poor follow-through from staff made the experience frustrating. I hope they work on staff training and service consistency to better match the kitchen’s quality. P.S. about banking the table for Sake bomb that’s true! Nobody will clear your mess after you spill half of your drink on the table!

Always a great time here , fun takes on traditional sushi , and a great location in Denver. Great bar tender “Hanna” made the experience even better… definitely check this place out.

Amazing experience at HAPA Sushi! Excellent service, outstanding food, great atmosphere, and a perfect location. If you sit at the sushi bar, you’re in for a real treat—Lissandro and Charlie are the best! They make the experience even more enjoyable with their skill and friendly attitude. Highly recommend this spot. Can’t wait to come back!

Excellent spot for sushi lovers! The ambiance is vibrant yet relaxing, making it a perfect place for any occasion. They recently introduced new dishes, and every one of them is absolutely delicious. The quality of the food is top-notch, with fresh ingredients and creative flavors that elevate the experience. The service is friendly and attentive, ensuring a great dining experience from start to finish. Whether you’re a sushi enthusiast or exploring for the first time, Hapa Sushi Grill and Sake Bar won’t disappoint. Highly recommended!

Went on Sunday for happy hour from 230 to 5pm. Ordered tuna and salmon rolls, typical (2 rolls for $11). BUT, the pork belly for $11 (normal $16) is a 5 star! MELTS in your mouth. Best pork belly I've had. Must order! Kenzi, the waitress and OTHERS ARE super friendly and know the menu! I'll be going again soon!!!

We have gone here for happy hour a few times and the deals are amazing! Their rolls are a great size and many to choose from. We came early and the second floor technically wasn’t open and the manager was VERY cool about seating us there anyway. I don’t think the server was thrilled because she made an overt comment about it but honestly, after that she was soooo nice so I didn’t think much of it afterwards. I stuck to saki because most drinks are on the sweeter side and I’m not into sweet drinks but the saki was perfect for my taste preferences and prices are fantastic, especially for that area in Denver.

Service was really nice. Rolls were fine, not the best in my life, but fresh and tasty. But chicken wings.. just omg. Absolutely zero salt. Coating was super oily. Generally if someone ask me to come back, I will! Just won’t order wings ever again :)

The best sushi we’ve had. Plus the spicy miso soup and the calamari fries were out of this world!

The cutest sushi vibe in Denver, kids menu is supreme with peanut butter and jelly rolls for the win

Our service was fantastic, so helpful and so attentive. Vibe is definitely more lounge bar, but still a very fun vibe. Great for a girls night. Our food was super hit and miss. The miso soup was absolutely amazing. Go back in town, we'd each order 2. It warmed our souls and was the best thing we ate. Our gyoza was nice but maybe not a repeat? The sushi was all kinda poorly constructed. We are adventurous eaters, so we were excited by all the flavor combinations. Honestly, their more unique flavors flavors were our least favorite. Things just didn't mesh. The XXX made 2/3 of us sick, the combo of flavors and textures was not it. It was hard to swallow for me. The orgasm was fun, but felt overwhelming and not cohesive. We tried a veggie plum one and it was nice. Our favorite sushi roll was by far the vegetable roll. It had just enough fun to it We ordered a miso brownie and liked it, though it was difficult to eat.

Our party of four dined upstairs, and thought the ambiance was pleasant and not too loud. Overall, we had a great dinner and great service. We tried a wide variety of dishes, and were very happy with our selections which included: * Salmon Sashimi 7pcs: $27 * Shumai steamed shrimp dumplings: $9.50 * Edamame lightly salted soybeans: $7 * Ginger Pork Gyoza - Hapa's pork potstickers with a spicy soy sauce: $9.50 * The Big Kahuna -Hamachi, negi, cucumber, and avocado inside, topped with salmon, tuna, jalapeño, yuzu miso and wakame chazuke: $22 * Karaage Sliders - Japanese-style fried chicken nestled in Hawaiian sweet bread, topped with Asian slaw and zesty spicy mayo. $12 The sliders received rave reviews, and the potstickers were nicely executed. The salmon sashimi was good, though I thought they were pricey for the portion at $27. The Big Kahuna roll was also tasty, we would order that again. We would definitely return the next time we're in Denver.

GREAT place to take a date on a Saturday night if you know sign language. Stopped in for some late night sushi (so awesome that they're open past 10 p.m. on Saturday night) and the DJ was playing music so effing loud that the waitress could not even hear our drink order and the entire night was our table screaming and saying "WHAT?" to each other. What a completely unpleasant evening. I will never go back here again and the sushi was actually good. Side note, when we asked to be put in another part of the restaurant that might be slightly more quiet, we were put in the back next to ANOTHER EFFING SPEAKER that even more deafening than the first table. What a crappy way to end the night.

We love getting hapa when we come down to Denver! Great atmosphere and really great specialty rolls. I tried the spicy miso soup this time and it was soooo good.

I hadn't been to Hapa in a while. So right before Thanksgiving a friend and I ventured out to satisfy our sushi craving. It was hard to find street parking so we ended up in a parking lot. The place was quiet and not at all busy. We were seated upstairs. I would say the server was okay, but a bit absent. Not very friendly. But can't really complained. The server filled the duties required. The food was okay as well. We ordered the calamari fries to share. Wasn't all that impressed with them. They were a bit chewy and over cooked. And had a weird dipping sauce that I can't decide if the sauce made it better or worse. Not something I would order again. I ordered the fresh water eel roll. I love eel. And it was just a good as the last time I had it. It was great and satisfied my sushi craving.

Beautiful ambiance and delicious food! We got the crispy tuna rice and it was incredible- we also ordered the pacific isle roll and we will be back for that alone but I forgot to snap a picture! I would give 5 stars, but the service was sooooooooooo slow- took 20 minutes to get drinks from the bar and even longer for our food. We had a basketball game to get to and came 1.5 hours early and still cut it a little close. We will be back and hope for quicker service!

FOOD Spicy Tuna Nachos - mango is very sweet and complements the avocado and spicy tuna. Spicy Tina is pretty spicy. Sauce on the nachos also a little bit of a sweet flavor. Nachos are very crispy and good. Unakyu Maki - the freshwater eel is really good. The sauce goes well with the roll. Very simple roll with just cucumber and the eel bucket. Good flavor overall. I will say that the role construction is a little bit flimsy like the role is not super tight so a lot of the stuff inside falls out very very easily. #9 Roll - a roll that has salmon on the outside and the inside it is tempura shrimp. The sauce which is sweet soy is very good. Roll construction is better for this one. The avocado avocado is also very fresh. This is really good and definitely fresh quality ingredients. VIBES There's a bar seating area, lower level seating and upper level seating. A bit crowded. Seating closer to the window is brighter while seating is generally dim. SERVICE Pretty good. Very accommodating for someone in our party who had a motorized wheelchair. They also accommodated for our party of eight by squishing people into a table, which is really nice.

I was expecting this to be a great experience because we got seated as soon as we got thru the door. A few minutes later the waitress came over to take our drink orders. The drinks did take a little while to come out but they were delicious so no complaints there. After 15min, the waitress did not come back. We waited, patiently. She came back to our section where more new tables were seated and their orders were taken and she never came back to us. It was 30min and most people had food and drinks on their tables and yet we were still waiting to have our order taken. She did acknowledge us and said she would come back. Again, we waited another 15min and when she finally returned we just asked for the check for the 2 drinks we had had in those 45min we had been sitting there. She looked surprised as to why we didn't want to put in a food order but the check didn't take very long to come. We were really looking forward to a nice meal and experience but we ended up having much better service at an Applebee's.

We stopped by because of their happy hour, I loved the menu that they had. I got a shrimp tempura roll and also a deep fried avocado dish that had crab meat and spicy tuna inside which was very yummy! We also had the chicken skewer and dumplings that were also good. If I ever come back to visit Denver, I defiantly will be coming here again

Came here for a surprise birthday for my friend and everything was amazing!! Hannah took great care of us throughout the night and made sure we were never left hanging! The sake and the sushi is absolutely delicious and the vibe in here is so nice! It's always great to eat out and have a server who wants to make the best of your experience! We will be back :)

This place is okay, don't get me wrong. But they're really Americanized especially since being in the downtown area and a bit overpriced. We went in after 10pm for the happy hour and also ordered other items that wasn't on that menu. They were pretty basic rolls. Wasn't bad but wasn't great. It was only pretty, basic, and overpriced due to the area. I really enjoyed their ika (squid) and saba (makarel) nigiris. Their carpaccio was also very fresh. This place makes a great date night spot especially during happy hour!

Happy to say that we have found another sushi gem in Denver! Photos attached are taken from happy hour, 3:30-5p. First stumbled into Hapa after a chilling walk from Empower Field. We weren't hungry so we warmed up with sake and miso soup. **Must note that their miso soup is much tastier than most. Decided to stop by for happy hour the following week. We were Not Disappointed. Our serve was amazing, full of energy and knowledgeable about the entire menu. All of the items ordered were fresh and delicious. Happy hour making them affordable for an middle class budget. Highly recommend happy hour for first timers.

wow this place was so good!! we made reservations & we came a few minutes early but we were seated right away. place is super cute & has lots of seating. all of the food was super fresh & flavorful ! will be recommending & returning

This is a decent food spot in downtown Denver. I wouldn't necessarily say it's very traditional Japanese food at all. The menu certainly put its spin on how the rolls are dressed (sometimes wildly). I went with friends who enjoy their alcoholic drinks. They do quite a few fruit infused drinks including a watermelon sake, and yuzu margarita which my friends liked. I liked most of the food fine. The pork gyoza was quite good. But the wagyu buns are not. For someone who has ate a bunch of actual wagyu beef in both US and Japan, the meat in these buns are tough like rubber and dry like jerky. Not for me please.

The sushi was pretty good for what it's worth but none of the other entrees were up to our taste. I don't think you can expect much from Asian cuisine in Denver as they're not authentic, but it was pretty nice portions. Service was also super friendly and nice, esp to accommodate a big party like us and make adjustments to our reservation. I would definitely recommend to order sushi over anything else if you want something good/satisfying.

My husband and I (we're from Philly) were visiting my son in Colorado and requested sushi! We had a great time! Everything was delicious, including the drinks! The service and ambiance were also amazing! Hapa is definitely one of my new favorite destinations when visiting Colorado

Service was one of the worst ever. Maybe it's just bad experience on a Sunday, but dang!! This was way opposite from my first visit. We will NOT be back. I ordered to wagyu appetizers. Came out raw like tartar but I didn't realize that. My mistake. I apologized and kindly asked for it to be returned to be slightly seared. This server rolled her eyes and offered an irritated gesture. Gosh, that was horrible. When she came back with the dish, I offered another apology but she all of sudden became mute. Worst server experience. Deserving to say, she made this place horrible. Very disappointed we have had a bad experience with a place we thought was once good. You shouldn't treat customers like that. I wasn't even being a jerk about it. Was as kind as could be. Wow. Burnt surf n turf. Was excellent the first time, which the torching only on the wagyu. This time, it was torched on the rice. Not good at all. Very disappointed. The rice tasted old and it made me think that the food's just not excellent on Sunday. C'mon man. If the rice was old. You gonna torched it to make it harder?? Not sure about the lack of care and attention to this. Soooooo disappointed! Ugh. Found out after we left that my 11 y/o son "thanked" her for a water refill but she again was "mute." No courtesy. This kind of server will run your business out! Gosh, makes me angry. I hate for anyone or any family to experience this. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE YOUR FAMILY THERE AS LONG AS THIS SERVER IS THERE. (Picture is attached).

The "green tea" ice cream is literally just vanilla with green food coloring. Paper towels were missing in both women's and men's bathrooms. Service was slow. Good was mediocre.

My second visit to this place, and it lived up to expectations once again. The food, service, and overall ambiance remain just as outstanding as my initial experience. I'll certainly make it a priority to stop by every time I'm back in Denver.

The server was amazing and very helpful. I also had a Sapporo draft which is usually hard to find especially with ice chips from the frosted glass YUM and refreshing. The sushi was well prepared and delicious. The orgasm was a little hefty so I needed a fork but really good. I wish I could've tried more and even saki but it was a rather quick lunch with good friends. Hope to return. Nice vibe cool playlist.

Sushi was pretty good here! Apps were tasty and the rolls all had pretty good flavor. Same with the sashimi, definitely have tasted fresher but these were surprisingly good and I felt pretty satisfied after the meal. Service was nice and friendly and location was great, around a ton of bars. Would definitely come back, solid 4/5.

Great place to go! Food was incredible, especially the pork belly! Jessica was our server and gave us great recommendations! She also made sure everything came out perfect and quickly.

Love this place! Super fresh tasting sushi and a fun environment for a night out. Some of the best service in town, even if you find yourself at the sushi bar. My favorite roll is the #9. We also loved the vegetable gyoza.

Service was the best I've ever received in any restaurant!! Such a positive experience. Tommy was our waiter and single-handedly made it such an enjoyable experience. I found my self laughing and just all around having an awesome time just at a quick happy hour lunch with my cousin! We will absolutely be back just for Tommy's awesome service!!

We came here as a second choice on New Year's Eve. Boy are we glad it was our choice. We did make a reservation prior to arriving This place was bustling with energy, people of all ages as customers and we could see why. As we arrived it was totally customer service since we stepped in the restaurant to when we left. Our server was a class act and our food came out at a reasonable time from time of our sitting. We had Daikon Fries; seasoned Edamame; Vegetable Roll; 69 Roll; Dragon Roll; Orgasm Roll and Pacific Isle Roll. All were delicious and prepared well! My must visit list! Ask for Madison!

The Aspen roll is to die for! Service was great and our server Paul was very attentive. The atmosphere at the restaurant was very chill and the location was perfect on Blake St

Best food love the hapa roll and and asparagus I tried so many other sushi places in town and this is the best by far a little pricy but this is a very quality sushi

Good sushi for the price point and excellent for a date night vibe. The speciality rolls were a good size and very delicious. We were just barely able tk finish the 4 between the two of us. Our favorites were: 1. Fire cracker roll 2. #9 3. Foreplay roll 4. Spicy salmon Also, the sake is a good value if you get the larger craft.

This is a really cute/cool spot for sushi! They have a bar area downstairs and more table seating upstairs. We ordered the calamari which paired really well with the sauce and the house salad was surprisingly good. Their rolls and sashimi were fresh and very good! Check in on Yelp to get a free order of gyoza. Service was attentive and our water cups were never empty.

Hapa never seems to disappoint, well other than their prices are a bit high. Even their happy hour pricing has gone up quite a bit and it wasn't cheap in the first place. Regardless, we love their food and atmosphere so we will continue to dine here. We stopped in for happy hour on Saturday (love that they have HH on the weekends too). We honestly ordered a bit too much food but everything was so good. We weren't even that hungry but all in all we got the waygu bao buns, vegetable tempura, Thai style chicken skewers and 1 order of magic mushrooms. Those magic mushrooms are the best and I can eat a couple orders just on my own. They make my mouth water. I do not remember the servers name but he was awesome. We were seated upstairs near the private dining room in a booth. He was great with making sure we were happy with the food, everything came out correctly and keeping up if we wanted new drinks. He was great! Overall, and as usual, we had a great happy hour experience and enjoyed some delicious food. Love Hapa!

Very awkward service. Went in for happy hour and was asked to wait outside (as we were 9 minutes early for happy to start). It was dead inside (very few people, tons and tons and tons of open seating). Said they'd contact us when table was ready. Never did. I saw 4 groups go in and get seated immediately, but we were ignored. Very awkward. That said, I've been 100 times and LOVED it. The happy hour is generous (in terms of price) and the food is rrreally good! I also appreciate the owner reaching out afterwards. That was thoughtful. Thank you.

I was in Denver for work, and this was my third dinner out. The first two dinners were terrible, and mostly inedible, so I had low expectations for Hapa Sushi Grill. Luckily, it was quite good! I especially loved the Firecracker Roll, which was so good, my friends and I ordered a second one after polishing off the first along with the rest of our initial order.

Favorite sushi in Denver, easily. reminds me of Dragon Kings Daughter in Louisville, KY with the eclectic roll selection and fusion-style food. WHAT YOU NEEEEED TO KNOW: * They have one of the largest Sake collections in CO * Happy Hour w/ deals on sake, apps, rolls, sashimi * Hawaiian-influenced menu, divided well visually and easy to read / decide what to order * There's often street parking, or parking garages and lots nearby for easy access (+ Union Station) * The upstairs has a fun vibe at night and is great for groups of 2-4 or a date night * Separate gluten-free menu, lots of vegetarian rolls * Catering + Family Style Meals offered * Their website has all menu PDFs, well organized -- We've been like 5 times now and it's been great every time. Service is on point too! I love the unique options and creative rolls. And the organization/look of the whole menu, yeeees plz. We've recently had the veggie tempura, edamame, Colorado style Hamachi sashimi, almost all of the vegetarian rolls, negihama maki (yellowtail/scallion roll,) Rock n Roll, Hapa Roll, Rockstar Roll, and the Pacific Isle roll! Would pass on the negihama maki, though yellowtail is one of my favorites. Everything else was delicious as usual! Crispy tempura, incredibly fresh fish, crunchy and vibrant veggies, perfect amounts of sauce and drizzle on rolls. That Pacific Isle is now my new favorite roll. Must try if you haven't! Excited to try the Hamachi Crunch roll, Teriyaki Salmon dinner, and the Pakalolo shrimp the next few times I stop by for dinner :)

Our party of six had reservations for a Wednesday night. Great experience - accommodating service, flavorful food, and hip ambiance. Parking wasn't impossible on a weeknight, either! I had Miso Soup, Dragon Roll, and Tako Nigiri (octopus). I also had the G-Spot (raspberry infused sake and raspberry vodka). In the end, it came to about $60 individually. I'll most likely come back, but I do know of more affordable and equally awesome sushi joints in the area.

Fun date night vibe! Great late night happy hour specials. Pot stickers and drinks were fantastic. Rolls were ok

We got stranded in Denver for a night and decided to head downtown to find some good sushi. We wound up coming across hapa sushi and we're pretty pleased about the decision. We got a bunch of food since we were starving from traveling and dealing with United airlines all day. I was a big fan of the nigiri and the Sashimi. Their drinks were also very flavorful and creative. The chef and server had great customer service as well. Everything was also very reasonable priced. If we ever come through Denver again I'd definitely stop through. Everything else we looked up didn't look like it compared to Hapa. Keep up the great food!

Super cute and friendly place. We are from out of town and Tommy told us a few places to go and gave us water to go for our long ride. Our sushi was excellent and they have moxktails!

The monkey brain is so good. Definitely on the list for next time we come to Denver. Also got a date flight and enjoyed what was selected for us

This review is strictly for a delivery order I did when I was craving sushi a few weeks ago but I will say this: the fish arrived fresh and tasty that it definitely makes me want to dine in as soon as Hank is ready to start dining out more! I ordered two rolls I think the Hapa Roll which was basically spicy tuna and cucumber (delicious) and I think XXX roll which had avocado, tempura asparagus, hamachi, and jalapeño. Usually I'm more of a nigiri person but damn this roll called to me. And it was fire (delicious) One thing that I appreciated about Hapa is that even though the XXX roll had something heated (the tempura asparagus) it didn't heat the cold fish while being transported like I have had with other restaurants. There's nothing worse than your cold fresh fish arriving somewhat warm because it was placed next to something heated. Kudos to Hapa; I don't know what they did but my other roll was not compromised. The freshness of the fish alone is what will have me stopping in as soon as I am able to, to get the full experience and try more items.

I love the food here, and i have come here many times. Our server Eric, was the absolute worst server I have ever had in the restaurant industry. Eric was unable to answer questions regarding plates/rolls we were considering ordering. When the food arrived, Eric couldn't name the rolls that were ordered and stated incorrect names for each roll. We were constantly asking for water and iced tea to be refilled and even then would be left with empty glasses for long durations of our meal. I save the best for last, this server would actually pick up dirty plates from other tables, and set them on our table in order to stack our dirty plates on top. I'm sorry, but nobody wants to be looking at others un-eaten food and especially not have it placed in front of them. The only thing this guy did right was inputting our food order. Absolute worst experience I've ever had with a server.

Be careful when ordering because there's a lot of pieces that came with one roll and we ordered two rolls per sushi type and it was a mistake. There was a lot of rolls to eat between three people. Each were good. I like the unagi and the dragon rolls. The spicy salmon was okay. It can be bland or salty depending on who you ask. I think Hapa Sushi is famous for the names so even if you don't order sushi from the menu, it's fun to look at.

Hands down the worst sushi we've had in Denver. We ordered three rolls, all of which were falling apart and had terrible flavor. Aside from this, our table was super slanted and uncomfortable to sit at. We also mentioned that it was a birthday and nothing was acknowledged.

We were super hungry and had heard great things about this place and wanted to try it before leaving CO. We ordered a bunch of things and everything was really ok. They are very slow in bringing the food out so make sure you have enough time when you visit them.

Amazing experience, Tommy made it the best. Was having a bad day and he turned it all around with how nice and attentive he was. 10/10 server, 10/10 would come back just for Tommy's amazing service.

Good late night happy hour spot. Came on a Saturday evening and the HH is from 10PM to midnight. It definitely fills up when HH starts. There are 2 for $12 basic rolls, discounted appetizers and drinks. The sushi rolls were a bit heavy on the rice so it made me fill up relatively quickly. My fave was the veggie gyoza which was free with a yelp checkin. The magic mushrooms were the most unique item I tried. Good to try but probably wouldn't order it again as the textures were too weird for me. Mango infused sake was delish and the hapa beer is a great light beer to drink.

We stopped in on new years weekend without a reservation, although it was very crowded we were seated almost immediately. We sat downstairs by the bar, but it did appear that there was an entire upstairs seating area as well. They have a big menu with plenty of offerings, it did take quite some time to get our food, again could have been because it was a holiday weekend and so busy.. this was the only fault. The sushi was fresh, I also tried the udon which was pretty good.

Had an amazing time at this restaurant ! Our waitress Safia took the experience to the next level and was so sensitive and helpful with my gluten allergies! Will be coming back

I've been going to Hapa Lodo for a long time so I am surprised I haven't left a review in all these years. Although Hapa Lodo is quite literally a hole in the wall, the sushi, drinks, and service here are all fantastic. However, the real gem of this place is their happy hour. Specifically, the spicy tuna nachos are my favorite. The happy hour menu selection is very large and the prices are great. If you find yourself downtown and looking for a good sushi happy hour, definitely stop by Hapa Lodo!