Samurai Japanese Restaurant

I ordered quite a variety and it was all pretty tasty. Can't wait to experience the environment once the pandemic is over, the staff is friendly and does their best to cater to you. I'll be coming back again for sure.

My favorite sushi place in Salinas! The best rolls are posted on the walls. I love so many options and they are always ready to help of you have questions. Order ahead if you're on lunch break. Only thing I don't like is the hot tea.

They have really good food and it is filling. The soft shell crab is good. The sushi seems fresh. A bit on the higher price but you get what you pay for in the portioning. Definitely will return for more.

This place has a variety of sushis and are creative. All the sushi rolls are affordable. A little gem in Salinas. A definite worth to visit 👍

I have been come to Samurai Sushi for 20 years. This place is a Gem! Peter the owner is an amazing person and a good friend. I will always support his business. This is the best locals spot for sushi PERIOD!

Great food at a good price. The atmosphere isn't great, but the food, more than makes up for it! 👍

This is my favorite sushi restaurant in Salinas! I ordered the Spicy Chirashi as well as the Garfield roll! Absolutely delicious as always!

RUDE!!!! Worst, rudest service for no reason. I was ordering takeout. Told the owner and got a blank steer. She didn’t even acknowledged my dissatisfaction. Like she is used to people complaining about her. Such a shame that there are people like her.

9/10 Great sushi spot honestly the best sushi I've had in Salinas so far! Starting off with the salad, and it was a pleasant surprise. The portion was generous, the veggies were crisp, and I loved all the little additives that gave each bite a different flavor sometimes tangy, sometimes a little sweet. It made something simple feel refreshing and unique. The sashimi was the real star. Every cut was precise, clean, and incredibly fresh none of that chewy or uneven slicing you sometimes see elsewhere. Every slice had that melt-in-your-mouth quality, and you could tell the fish was handled with care. The Tekka Maki was another favorite. A smaller roll, but perfectly rolled and balanced, fresh from the first bite to the last. Definitely a staple always in my book. Service was another highlight. The servers were quick, efficient, and genuinely kind, making the whole experience smooth and enjoyable. Food came out in a timely manner without feeling rushed. Ambiance-wise, I'll admit it's not the coziest place. It was clean, but the lighting felt a bit off and the seating was arranged in an unusual way. There were also quite a few menus displayed on the walls, which gave it a slightly cluttered vibe. That said, the most important part the food was excellent, so it's easy to look past the small details. If you're looking for fresh, quality sushi in Salinas, this is absolutely the place to go. Fresh fish, precise preparation, and service that makes you feel welcome. I'll definitely be back!

Ordered the 911. It comes with: inside: spicy tuna. Top: salmon, avocado , spicy sauce, habanero fish eggs Requested no "spicy sauce" and was not exactly what was given to us. See picture below for reference. Pointed out to the female server that the roll was lacking avocado. Female waitress said "that is how it comes and" Also, was missing the fish eggs. After requesting, the fish eggs were given on the side. What a huge disappointment!!! It was on 6/13/2025 friday 12pm. I have never had a problem with the food the many times i have eaten here. New staff?? Either way, unsatisfactory. Will stick to coming on the weekends. Seems like the service is better.

As always service was great and the food was delicious! The feel of the restaurant is old school and refreshing. No frills just super delicious food. My favorite sushi place for sure! The Harley Davidson roll is it. Thank me later!

I love a combination of great value and great quality. I had two large beers and saki along with spicy hamachi roll and spicy yellowtail roll. Staff was so nice and great. Rolls were amazing and beer was ice cold. Vibe was great and can't wait to go back.

I've been craving samurai's sushi for ever. Their mortal kombat and pink lady rolls are mandatory. Service is great and it's a great location. If u like sushi or if u don't just come try it.

Bento Box was yummy! I had gyoza and chicken teriyaki and my friend had Tempura and CA roll. All very yummy and extremely fast.

Wow totally overwhelmed by a menu this is the place you want to go. I have never ever seen so many selections of rolls. Way too many to even look at. Ask very nicely in the Miso soup if they get out of extra tofu so I don't normally know if they just have one piece of tofu in there and that's why she gave me two but that was a little disconcerting. Just way overpriced for me now granted I'm used to really nice sushi places in San Jose that are a lot cheaper and a lot better. I don't think I could recommend this place to anybody that lives down here. Their prices are just way too much for what you get. I have to meet the waitress was very nice though.

Delicious Food. Everything on the menu. Nice friendly service. Call in ahead of time for to go orders. You'll have to pay on the phone but that just makes it easier to pick up your order. Nice and clean inside. I ordered a roll and some clams. $21. Worth it.

The food is excellent, and the service is always amazing! The menu is extensive, and we love trying new things. The prices are very reasonable, and we go pretty often. I highly recommend this place!!

Bomb food, but service has gone down. This was my go to sushi spot for along time and last two times this older man who works making sushi and the service were really rude to all of our party.

Been wanting to try this place for a while.. finally did and was so disappointed The way the dishes are prepared aren't well thought the agedashi tofu is soaked in sauce couldn't finish it fast enough before it turned into mush, seaweed salad was mostly garnish under to make it look like a lot for the price it is its not worth it and the veg sushi I ordered came with loads of ginger inside of it, I dislike ginger a lot in the menu said nothing about ginger being inside but instead had onions.. unless onion means ginger to them ? It's deseiving .. then at the end I know I ordered the 8$ veggie roll and on the tab it said 12$ I brought up all concerns and they did fix it quickly for sure but with the portion sizes and the price I don't feel it's worth it.. they themselves are great people seems very family like in there but I've tried better at other places unfortunately

Keep this restaurant open forever because it is my favorite of all time. I have spent numerous big moments at this restaurant and keep coming because of how cozy the restaurant is and delicious the food is. 10/10 would recommend always

Great food and amazing service! had the Samurai lunch box and for the $15 it's not only well served but very fresh! Truly recommend the Melissa Roll was super tasty!

The food is amazing. The lunch specials are great, the service is good. Great investment.

Amazing food and customer service! Will be coming back again. You have to try the mortal combat roll. It really is my favorite and recommend it to anyone and everyone who will come with us here.

It is a favorite of me and my partner. There are so many sushi roll combinations, they have the full extent of their menu taped on the walls. It seems like many were customer inspired or customer favorites. The service is always prompt, polite, and the food is awesome.

Some time has passed since I was here. Maybe three years. The same wonderful atmosphere and service was found today. Excellent sushi and sake. I'm so happy that they are still here and have not changed. Hamachi kama and the street fighter roll were prepared perfectly.

Always A Treat To Eat At "SAMURAI" Gonna Try Somethang Different. Sushi Box #3, 1/2 Pink Dragon Roll, 1/2 Dragon Roll, 5Pc. Sashimi Tuna, Miso Soup, And Salad. My Fiancée Is Having The Last Call Sushi Roll, Stepson Is Having The Calamari Katsu..!!! All Good...!!!

Great sushi, and great selection of sushi! I also loved the tempura teriyaki chicken! Very friendly staff. Nice, casual environment. We really enjoyed our dinner there! Can take family there and have a nice dinner.

Amazing! The staff was extremely nice. The dragon ball z roll stood up to it's description. I hadn't had a spicy tuna roll that good! You must also try the cheesecake tempura.

I picked up a bento box with salmon nigiri, sashimi, and veggie tempura which came with rice and salad. The fish was fresh and this was a satisfying meal overall. The location itself is pretty bare-bones, go here for the food and service and not the ambiance. The all-women crew was super nice.

my coworker and I placed in order for pick up today during lunch time. Order was repeated back to us and we confirmed when we got there. We noticed that we only had two containers which seemed light so we decided to look at them. We noticed that we weren't missing a role in an appetizer so we asked that we can be charged for it because when we got the order repeated back they were said. They ended up only charging us for an appetizer and the role was never made so we were just waiting and the staff seemed upset because they couldn't understand what we were missing but anyways, finally the role was made and the owner was very upset and gave us attitude for I have no idea what reason we were just trying to get our order resolved and we were going to pay for it regardless. he threw our last roll on the table with attitude and and one of the servers packed it up for us the service today was vey rude. Yes the sushi is good but you can go to a different place where you will get treated better for cheaper. Total for 2 Rolls and an appetizer were 65$ and not to add we bought 2 canned sodas and 2 sides of sriracha for 11$! Each soda was 4$ when they are a dollar at santa fe! sorry but not coming back

Great food! One of the best sushi places in Salinas ... my wife used to place pick up orders at least once a week. Our orders are usually for a family of 5. As you can imagine, it about $100 each visit. Well ... today 5/3/22, she was banned from placing orders ... here's why: Some customer placed an order had a hard time with it, then the girl taking my wife's order placed my wife on hold right before taking credit card payment. My wife was on hold about 5 minutes on hold then gave up. I think we can all agree that 5 minutes is plenty of time to take someone payment and get back on the phone to take my wife's payment, so she gave up and placed an order at a different restaurant. About 10 minutes later my wife gets a call saying "we can take your payment." My wife says "that was like 10 minute and you left me on the phone so I had to call somewhere else." My wife ended the call, then someone else called her right back saying that they "were busy and if your not paying, then we can't take her orders anymore." Who's at fault here? I think it's the restaurant, not my wife. Yo each their own, but this place just lost a longtime regular customers. A. Family. Of. 5.

So i ordered the Mortal combat roll for pick up.. The presentation actually looked very nice and edible.. Once i ate the first two pieces of my roll i realized it was all rice.. With avocado slices and sauce on top.. That was very disappointing.. I normally don't order sushi..my go to had always been the house salad.. Which i was very pleased with as always.. However i did not pay for a roll of rice.. Digging through my roll i managed to discover a slither of unagi skin.. Some tempura breading and a tiny piece of shrimp tail at the end of my roll.. I did not eat this rice roll i just happened to inspect it.. Looking for ingredients as advertised.. I would say this was false advertisement!

I can't believe I've never reviewed this place. I come here all the time. The food is always fresh, the staff is usually ok, not the friendliest but not rude. I'll post some pictures next time I go.

I enjoy Japanese food, specifically sushi. They have quality service here and are fairly quick with the food. We've eaten here with two small children before and they're always so sweet and bring the kids food out first. It's spacious for strollers depending on where you sit. Their rolls are good, they used to have a happy hour special on them but I haven't gone to happy hour since the virus. Their bentos are fantastic as well. Really anything you choose from here you can't go wrong. I've never had a bad experience here, nor have I ever questioned the quality of their fish. I choose them over any place in Salinas.

I love all the choices you have to choose from. My fav is chicken teriyaki, shrimp n vegetable Tempura, and their California Rolls plus they provide you extra fresh ginger. Place is small and quaint. They have an area for floor sitting n dining

I love Samurai! Sushi is fresh and the owner Peter is a wonderful host! Try it you will love it!

Wow. Used to really love this place; been going here for at least a decade, but...the young waitress with the black cap/hat did not even bother to greet us. She just tossed the menus onto our table and walked away. Ordinarily, we would have dismissed this if, at least the food was decent. But, nope, the House Salad arrived with brown edges. What's worse the restaurant's charging 2x more for lower quality. (We used to order it all the time.) We were planning to order more food when the young waitress put the check on the table without even bothering to ask if we were done! Well, we just took the check and tipped her accordingly. (We're usually very generous tippers 25%-40%, but she does not deserve any for such horrible service. ) We don't plan on returning, especially since there are better quality options in the area

I called for a PICK UP a order. It would be nice if they disclose over the phone that their $24 dinner bento boxes doesn't come with the typical miso soup. It's just salad and rice. What a rip off.

So delicious and great pricing! The food is fresh and the service was quick. I can't wait to try more rolls

Service was horrible, I had a table of three and waited 10 minutes for a menu and 20+ minutes for our drinks. The waitress did not take our order properly, she only put in one roll and didn't put in for the rest of our food. It took one HOUR to get our food and it wasn't even the whole order, one roll!!! We left after that it was so disappointing. We will never be going here again there are much better sushi places in the area. They had one sushi chef who was overwhelmed and slow. They had one big party next to us who got good service and forgot about us. Would give zero stars if the app let me.

We'll, where to start. We arrived at four-thirty and were seated, and after several questions, our drink order was taken. When the drinks arrived, our order was taken. It was now around four-forty. As time passed, others were seated and served, and several people came in for to-go orders. Around five-twenty, I went up to the register to ask when our food would be coming as we had a deadline. This is where the fun really started! At first the owner/manager said that our food would be right out. We only ordered some sashimi and two rolls. I then asked her if she could tell me a time, and she responded that they had many to-go orders, and that they were doing those first. She then deferred to one of the sushi chefs, and he stated that they'll get to our order soon; after having it for nearly forty minutes! The owner/manager then drew my attention to a plate that was being plated as proof that our order was coming. The plate however had food on it that we didn't order! The owner/manager then just went back to speaking to the sushi chef about something I couldn't understand. I canceled the order, paid for our drinks after having to insist that I wanted to pay for them at that moment instead of waiting for a check to be brought to our table. This has to be one of the worst customer service experiences that I've ever encountered in a restaurant in over sixty years, and across the globe. The rudeness and indifference from the owner/manager, and the sushi chef, but not the waitstaff, coupled with no desire from the owner/manager to rectify the situation, causes me to not recommend Samurai Japanese Restaurant! Don't ruin your evening!!

Good food but the service has been going down hill lately. Always messing up my orders. Walked in at 7:40pm and they would let us sit down to eat because they close at 8pm. That's just wrong.

I love this sushi place! It's by far my #1 sushi place to go too! I would highly recommend it to a friend for their first time! the Owners are super nice! I took my dad for his birthday and she treated us awesome! The type of hospitality you look for at a restaurant! I always recommend the deep fried mortal Kombat! And the Philadelphia roll !! :) thank you for always cooking the best of the best!

One of our favorite sushi places to go. The food is really good, we always just order the rolls and nothing else. I'll try to order the potstickers or something in the future, but when we are craving sushi, this is the place!

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. Every time I get the chance to get sushi I go to samurai. They have so many different options to choose from. I really recommend sweet bee it's my fav. Also the food usually only takes 10 min to arrive to your table.

Samurai never disappoints. The service is always great and the rolls are always delicious. Probably one of my favorite sushi places in town.

This is one of my go to sushi places when in town, the staff is always very nice and the food is always good! The only thing is, sometimes there is variation between what I see and order on the menu and what I receive to eat. Nonetheless the sushi is always good with whatever they add, it would be nice to have an idea of what to expect from my food.

I have been coming here for about 5 years and I have yet to have a disappointing meal. Their fish are fresh and the service is premium. The serving sizes are perfect and so are the prices.

Never disappointed here. My favorite rolls are the Spongebob with added cream cheese (it's a warm, fried roll)... and the French Kiss that has Chile and lemon, So bomb! Setting is nice and cozy. A good place to meet up with a few friends for lunch or dinner.

Moving from Reno NV I had access to many All You Can Eat (AYCE) sushi restaurants. Paying $14 and being able eat as many muscles, nigiri, and rolls to my hearts content was how I learned to love sushi. Moving to Salinas CA was shocking. There are no AYCE sushi. The average cost of a sushi roll in Salinas is $14 and I can't say I found the quality any different from any other restaurant that had AYCE I've been too. I've been to 3 different sushi spots here in Salinas and I'm happy to have found Samurai sushi. It's my new favorite restaurant and here's why. 1. Price; I stumbled into this restaurant during its 4:30-6:30 happy hour and I was able to order 2 rolls, 2 hand rolls, and 1 hot sake for under $25 that's the best bargain I've run into to date in Salinas! They even have 2 nigiri for$3! 2. Atmosphere; when you walk in you're greeted with a welcoming "Hello!" And told you can sit anywhere you like. The walls are covered in different sushi concoctions some printed and others hand drawn in fun colors which I think adds a bit of character and at homeyness to each roll I read. Our server was helpful letting us know about the happy hour up front and was always checking in with us for refills and if we needed anything else. 3. The actually sushi; When I eat sushi I look for freshness in the seafood I'm eating. Good sushi shouldn't have a super fishy smell and should melt in your mouth feel in my opinion. Samurai Sushi delivered that for me. Overall I'm already planned my next trip here, ready to take advantage of the great sushi and the great happy hour!

Update. Any review before about early April 2023 concerned the old (original owner, Peter). Under his leadership, the restaurant was superb. The restaurant was bought by a supposed experienced restauranteur. I was not impressed, and I'm sad my favorite sushi place is no more. Granted he might step up the quality when he realizes there is competition in this town, but I'm a bit skeptical.

Great prices Good sushi Good service recommend take out, its a small spot but very interesting walls to look at, lots of pictures

Portion sizes extremely small compared to what they used to be. Prices outrageous! Lost my business

Samurai is a Salinas staple and my favorite sushi place. There are enough options to please every palate, the restaurant is spacious while feeling homey and cozy. The service is friendly and quick.

Best sushi in town I love all the their menu great food really recommended. For a great sushi their is nothing like the Samurai.

We haven't been here in a couple of years since moved. Still really good. Tried the Amigo and Diablo rolls for a quick lunch on June 4th. I love hot and crunchy! Our waitress was a darling. She made our time very pleasant. Making sure we were taken care of. What a gem this joint is.

I loved my sushi! I forgot what I had but it was very good. Came here for the first time and didn't even know this place existed. Great service and lots of different type of sushi rolls. Very delicious!