Amanda U.
Yelp
Sagami is a HIDDEN GEM! It's extremely hard to find, since it's right off the freeway and the parking lot entrance is kind of tiny. But, when we did find it, we walked in and let them know we had a party of 9.
We called ahead of time to make a reservation, but unfortunately, they do not accommodate parties larger than 6 for reservations.
Upon entering, the take out table was transformed into a table for us to sit since no other table was large enough. It was right by the door (which kinda sucked because it was cold, but after sitting there for quite some time, the breeze from the door opening was pleasant)
ANYWHOOO -- it's a BYOB place (which we love woohoo). Upon sitting down, the one thing that kind of bothered me is that it took the server about 30 minutes to come to our table to take our order. We were sitting there for quite some time waiting for someone to attend to us. But, I understand a little because the place was PACKEDD!! and when I mean packed, you are basically breathing on the person next to you. The place is super quaint and super tiny. It reminds me of an authentic Japanese restaurant in japan.
The atmosphere was lowly lit, and you could see the sushi chefs prepare the sushi at the counter.
We ordered quite a few things since we had a large party. We started off by ordering the Hamachi (fried fish), but unfortunately, they didn't have any more :( booo. As for the rest of the appetizers, we ordered the tofu, edamame and gyoza. For entrees, we ordered Sushi A and Sushi B, Charishi, Salmon Skin Roll, and Unagi Tobiko Maki roll.
The one thing about the appetizers that stood out to me most was the tofu. It's 4 pieces of soft tofu with a little crispy outside in a swamp of this light, delicate, sweet soy sauce. It wasn't overpowering and complemented the tofu so well.
The sushi assortments from both A and B were amazinggg!! The sushi rice is flavored perfectly, you can taste the sweetness and vinegary-ness. And the fish is high quality. There was no gamey or fishy taste left behind. It melted in your mouth and was so tender and soft. The charishi bowl was the same. Super high quality fish on a bed of fluffy, soft, sushi rice. The sushi in both the A and B combo had a hint of wasabi. So, if you aren't a fan of that, just beware. I think it was the perfect amount added :)
The Salmon skin roll was a little too salty for my liking, but it did have the perfect crispy crunch. But, the unagi tobiko maki roll? AMAZING. you HAVE to order this roll, no questions asked.
The reason why this place didnt get 5 starts is how long we had to wait in order to get our order taken. We spent a total of 2.5 hours in there, and it was a little frustrating because of how hungry we were. The time it took the food to come out was pretty long, but looking at how delicate each fish was placed, and how the cuts were - you can tell they took the time to make sure that there was the perfect balance of rice and fish and that the presentation was appealing.
Definitely will come here again with just me and my husband. The place is a good date place and it's super intimate :)