Yama Sushi & Sake Bar

Yama Sushi & Sake Bar — A Must-Visit Sushi Spot in Portland! We had an amazing lunch here today and everything about the experience was spot-on. Let’s start with the food — every piece of sushi was beautifully presented and incredibly fresh. • Uni Gunkan (Sea Urchin Sushi): Creamy, sweet, and melts in your mouth. The freshness was top-tier — no fishy taste, just pure ocean goodness. • Salmon & Red Tuna Nigiri: Perfectly sliced and served at the right temperature. You can tell they take care in how they handle their fish. • Fatty Tuna & Yellowtail Nigiri: Rich and buttery — legit melt-in-your-mouth texture. A real treat! • Signature Sushi Rolls: We tried the Yama Roll — loaded with eel, shrimp tempura, avocado, and topped with tobiko. Flavor bomb! • And of course, everything paired beautifully with a cold Asahi beer 🍺 The ambience was cozy but classy, and sitting at the counter gave us a front-row seat to the chefs preparing everything with precision and care. Staff were friendly and welcoming too! Prices were very reasonable for the quality, and guess what? No sales tax in Portland! 🙌 That alone made me extra happy — high quality without the usual sting of tax. Highly recommend this place if you’re visiting Portland and craving premium sushi in a relaxed setting. Would definitely come back next time 💕

Good sushi, salmon roll rice was too thick and somewhat hard. I had better sushi at Yama sushi previously. Tuna tower is highly recommended. Toro tuna was my favorite amongst the 3 different items in the sampler (salmon and yellowtail)

My friend and I ordered the Chirashi sushi, baked lobster roll, and sweet shrimp. While the baked lobster roll and sweet shrimp were passable, the Chirashi sushi unfortunately resulted in severe gastrointestinal distress for both of us -- including intense diarrhea and stomach pain that persisted into the following morning. Concerned that something may have been off -- particularly the escolar, which seemed questionable -- I reached out to the restaurant. Unfortunately, the staff showed little interest in my concerns and hung up on me. This experience was especially disappointing, as I had been a regular customer and had never encountered issues here before. Needless to say, I won't be going back.

When Judgment Replaces Hospitality On June 14, 2025, I decided to go eat at the Yama Sushi & Sake Bar restaurant at the foot of my building with a friend who had just arrived from Europe. I’m almost a regular there, as I’ve been ordering takeout about once a month for the past two years. The waitresses greeted us and seated us quickly. When it came time to order, my friend and I wanted to have two beers. The waitress told me she wouldn’t serve my friend because, according to her, he was already intoxicated. Surprised by this comment, I asked her what made her think that. She gestured that he strongly smelled of alcohol. I explained to her that he hadn’t had anything to drink all day. The waitress insisted. Shocked, we decided to leave. I was outraged by this attitude, which seemed more like profiling than a genuine concern for someone’s health. It’s shameful to label someone as drunk based on a hypothetical assumption. Being welcomed, seated, and then refused service like that is just strange. What’s even more absurd is that the restaurant is filled with a nauseating smell of cold fish — it spreads onto the sidewalk and even inside my building. That’s actually why I’ve always ordered takeout instead. I’ve seen their kitchen, which opens directly onto the trash room of my building. If the health department ever came by, I’m pretty sure it would cause a scene. In short, the waitress’s inappropriate, judgmental, and insulting behavior opened my eyes to the values of this restaurant. I won’t be going back. Besides, there are far better Asian restaurants in Portland.

We came in for dinner this week and found the fish to be extremely fresh. The sake selection was really good here too. The service was quick and attentive. All in all a fantastic place!

One of Portland’s finest. It’s solid service with decent prices, and the food is good. 5 stars would be overrating it though, but it’s a solid 4 stars and you should check it out if you’re craving fresh sushi/ nigiri.

A friend asked to meet there; I usually only eat sushi at Bamboo (I know!) but thought I'd give it a shot. It was lovely! I had the fish soup and my partner had the sizzling beef. My mom has sizzling veggies. I wish I hadn't been full at the end because I really wanted to try the foie gras 🤤 It's a great place if some of you want sushi and some want cooked food.

Have been a loyal customer for years. I’ve gotten to know Kristi and she is always so sweet and works extremely hard. This is a wonderful local spot to stop in to treat yourself or enjoy a special occasion with loved ones. The team here is so great and they always strive to make all customers happy and have the best experience possible. The sushi is always fantastic!! There is always consistency with quality. The warm dishes are also always consistent with quality and flavor. You won’t be disappointed

Best Sushi bar in the Pearl hands down. Yama roll and miso soup w/ clams is my go to order. I'll add some pics next time I order

This is an incredible place for sushi and sake. The place is cozy, with nice seating both inside and on the sidewalk. The staff are super friendly. They go above and beyond to accommodate children! Try the dry earthy sake flight , get some karaage chicken, and dive into the fresh sushi rolls, the crispy rice tuna and salmon sampler sashimi platter. One of the best places for sushi in Portland!

Maybe one of the best sushi places I've ever been to. We walked in last night with our 4-month-old daughter and every person on the wait staff made her full of joy and laugh and smile the whole meal, anytime someone would walk by! It was such a pure joy and family friendly place. That alone will bring us back again. Culture aside, their food was also incredible. I had a salmon teriyaki tempura Bento box that had the salmon and tempura veggies cooked to perfection and full of flavor with all the right sauces, and their plum wine was a perfect addition. The miso soup also had more flavor than I am used to having in miso soup, so I enjoyed it all the more! We also had the Yuma sushi roll since fly was their signature, and it was gone in minutes we enjoyed it so much. Can't wait to return to this sushi bar! Highly recommend.

Sushi is my love language and I will climb mountains to get it ..but too bad that's too far from where the fishes are . Well good for me that Yama however is located very conveniently in pearl and hence its an easy drive . We came in around 8 ish and were seated immediately. The Yelp page says they close at 10 but on weekdays its 9 so be aware of that .However for weekend I did see people come in as late as 9:30 pm . We ordered right away and got - Lovejoy Yama Roll Flaming jack Flying fish roe and Hamachi Nigiri The food was delicious and arrived quickly . Apart from the Flaming Jack everything was bang on . We also got sake that our server recommended . Service is good and friendly and prices at par with other sushi places.

Yama is easily some of Portlands best sushi. The food is always fresh, they have a great selection, and the back room is perfect for small gatherings. During one of my most recent dining experiences I spilled soy sauce on the sleeve of my white shirt and without being asked the waitress appears with club soda to help take it out. The service is always top notch. This is a great date night, place to take clients, parents or in-laws if you're looking to win someone over with great sushi in Portland.

Love it every time. My fav to-go order is the crunchy spicy tuna roll, Oregon roll, and plain tuna roll. Like, so good.

In Portland for the weekend found this amazing Japanese find Yama sushi. The food was tasty and delicious. Lots to choose from you would not be disappointed.. located in the Pearl district..

Yama Sushi was really happening when we walked in on a Friday evening. We were lucky to get seated relatively quickly. We decided to order some uni nigiri, the wagyu with foie gras, the Kumamoto oysters, spider roll, California roll, Oregon roll, salmon avocado roll, and salmon scallop roll. The uni was fresh and sweet and was definitely a winner. The oysters were good also, but the dressing overpowered the oysters' natural sweetness. All the rolls were tasty and had a good ratio of rice to filling. Unfortunately the wagyu and foie gras nigiri was underwhelming. The beef put up a bit of a fight which i did not expect from wagyu. The most disappointing part was how the foie gras got lost in the flavor of the beef. I ended up eating the foie gras separately just so I can savor it.

Yama might very well be one of my favorite sushi restaurants ever. Plus the workers here are the nicest people!! They also have natto which isn't on the menu but as a Japanese natto lover I was so happy when I asked one day. 10/10 recommend everything here

Went off of recommendations and yelp reviews of this place. Highly disappointed in the quality of the seafood. Most items were not fresh and the wagyu was extremely tough. Don't think I would ever come back here again.

So good!!! Great food great service! The black cod appetizer is pricey but ohhhh soo good! Delicate tender white fish. Salmon skin everything was so delicious, they just fry it so perfectly! Hamachi is the best here! All the rolls we had tonight were all delicious, no complaints. But the hamachi rolls were my favorites for sure! Con: got bit by a mosquito :(

My go-to sushi restaurant in downtown Portland! Typically, I come for a quick lunch. Service and cleanliness are fine, and I like the dark wood ambience. Can't speak for the sake or cooked foods, but over the years I've tried much of the sushi and signature rolls on the menu. Excellent quality nigiri (albeit pricy - note the single piece ordering) and sashimi (the salmon sampler is a treat). Wide variety of enjoyable rolls, although some days are randomly better than others. Baked Lobster is a personal standout with its crunchy tempura pieces on top, and other solid picks include Crazy Monkey, Yuzu Hamachi, Oregon, and Orange Blossom - but to each their own tastes for saucy, heavier rolls. Whether you prefer traditional sushi or other styles, there's likely something you'll enjoy at Yama!

The nigiri is so fresh, it melts in your mouth. Their sake menu is delightful and extensive. Atmosphere is upbeat, and conversations roll in at every table. There is always a wait, but it goes by quickly. Staff are friendly and are always available. This is our weekly go to. No regrets.

There are a few higher end sushi restaurants in town and I've always wanted to go to at least one of them and with my daughter in town for spring break, we got the chance to make it to Yama sushi and we were not disappointed. Simply amazing food both visually and taste. All of the nigiri was fresh and the textures wonderful. The Yama roll had so many things going on and was a great choice by my daughter. We had a few hot options as well, including some seared waygu nilgiri, karaage baby octopus, Kobe beef with green onion roll and a curry tonkatsu. The table next to us got an incredible sushi boat that easily had enough food for six people and it was just two of them. The service was attentive and they didn't rush us . I've picked up food many times from Yama when I do food delivery and I now know why it's the most popular out of the high end sushi restaurants in Portland. I will make the effort to come back. Simply amazing food. Enjoy and support local.

Drinks: - We ordered a custom drink: iced green tea with rice shochu. They don't usually serve this but I appreciate their willingness to make this custom for us. Honestly not bad for an ad hoc request. Mine was a little more strong due to more shochu in it, but even still the green tea does a good job of masking the alcoholic taste from the shochu Food: - The chicken teriyaki, tonkatsu, and salad bento box is a solid pick. I normally don't get bento boxes but I'm glad I did this time around. The tonkatsu isn't that great, the chicken teriyaki and salad are the stars of the show here. The salad had so much depth of flavor, I believe the dressing is some kind of ginger & carrot dressing it was fantastic. The chicken was so lean, clean, and juicy. The teriyaki sauce was on the sweeter side. The chicken quality is what really shines - The Waikiki roll was okay, it wasn't neither amazing nor bad - The Wagyu w/foie gras special was also okay. For wagyu I was expecting something more decadent, and buttery but it was surprisingly chewy and tough. I also couldn't taste the foie gras at all nor did I get the texture from it Ambience: - The place cool shelf displaying their drinks behind the bar, it's cool to look at - The furniture was nice, but nothing noteworthy - When we went for lunch it was dim inside which I kind of liked since the outside was so bright and hot - The entrance felt a little crowded with stuff, maybe clearing front entrance up would make a better first impression upon walking in Overall: The service was accommodating. I honestly would rather come here for the bento box over the sushi; however, I think I need to try more of their sushi to justify this claim. Would recommend this as a spot to grab lunch with coworkers or something

Yama sushi has great quality fish and service!! The manager is incredibly polite and we were impressed with the freshness of the fish. I love the ocean roll for a no rice sushi option! The lunch and dinner menus offer a wide variety of items and we were very happy with the taste of everything we ordered. There is a lot of indoor and some outdoor seating available as well.

Nice spot for a casual dinner or a date. We went for a date night. My husband got the Chirashi Bowl and I got the Sushi Sashimi Combo. Both were amazing. Sushi was good and fresh. We also ordered the small plate Kobe Beef Negi Maki. It was very tasty but small, wished there was more of it. Would definitely recommend and we'll be back!

Yama sushi was a nice dining experience. Though I expected a little better from a nicer sushi sit down place in The Pearl. The tempura was well done. I love how they do their batter so I highly recommend the tempura here. The salmon rolls tasted much better than they looked. You can tell in the pictures that time and care was not taken when cutting the roll to serve. Maybe a dull knife? The toro sampler was mostly good. The tuna was quite fishy but the yellowtail and salmon were excellent. The service was quick and polite. All in all, the food fell a little short of the great service. Maybe their other location has better results?

I had a really great dinner here with friends on a Thursday evening. We made a reservation but probably didn't need it since we sat for dinner relatively early (around 5:30). As it got later into the evening, the pace picked up and all of the tables were full. I chose this place upon a friend's recommendation and not on the reviews. There were a lot of reviews about bad service and I wonder if it's dependent on specific individuals or shifts because all of the waitresses were very kind and attentive to our table - a complete opposite experience from what I've read in the most recent reviews from the past year. The beef Yakisoba was the best I've had in a long time! I also got the Mardi Gras roll which was pretty filling and detailed - there was a house made sauce accompanying the crawfish, mushroom, fried onions, and fish eggs. It was nice to have a new sauce rather than spicy mayo/eel sauce slathered on, as many rolls lack originality in the sauces for the special rolls. Would definitely come again during my next visit!

Umpteen options for our Lunch stop, served 11:30-2:30, with more unusual options for their Bento Boxes including agedashi tofu, saba shioyaki/grilled mackeral, spicy pork or chicken, King Salmon teri, Ginger Tofu, all with organic salad and checking in around $15, bar the 9 pc Sashimi $17.95, + option add-on 6pc sashimi $8. Many featured items come as a lunch entree for about same price, Udon & fresh Yakisoba menu, Sushi & Omakase sets, as well as a special market fresh fish menu. Greeter grabbed menus and just disappeared around the corner when she asked us, how many lol. She not like my mask? She never asked us to follow her and got the feeling she was checked out as we entered in the last hour of lunch service. She eventually returned and asked us to come around, was sorta relieved she wasn't our waitress, though she did clean our dishes off and run our card, it seemed she was very task oriented and not into talking much. On a first visit, thankfully our waitress had a much nicer tableside demeanor. --Salmon Misoyaki Karaage Bento $15.95 leaned much more sweet than salty miso we were hoping for, and while the skin was nice and crisp, the salmon was overcooked, flaking solid firm; would request a softer medium next time. Karaage, bite size was nicely moist inside with crunchy exterior, no oily residue , creamy sriracha mayo type dip was spicy hot. Dressing on side salad was thick and sorta flavorless, like an orange mayo. Accompanying miso with both lunch sets was a full bowl but barely warm, and again more bland, no smoky dashi and missing pronounced miso saltiness. --6pc Nigiri, 9pc Sashimi $30.95 had a lovely selection of fish but only really loved the fiery red tuna sashimi which was amazing, smooth and tender, striped bass texture was a gelatinous crunch like biting into gristle, scallop with a yuzu oil was butterflied and also too firm of a mouth feel for my liking. Nicely presented on a live edge wood board, garnished with shredded daikon & fresh shiso leaves where most would send away untouched, made a much better salad than the Bento one! No extra rice with the sashimi so I would need an extra bowl to be full were it not for sharing the Bento with hubby and brown rice is available $2.50/side. Pot of green tea $3 served in nice white porcelain cup and teapot had no leaves inside or bag? so pre-brewed, came hot but unsure how it is prepared. Bottom had nice green sediment but gimme some leaves, I like to see the leaves! haha Sidewalk seating out front was stacked and not in service, maybe because its below 50 deg. No Vax check but door sign, masking required. Smaller Dining Room with about 10 tables and Sushi Counter. Largest Sake selection I've seen especially given the smaller dining room but the namesake, "& Sake Bar" is no joke: note monthly 1st Thursday is Sake Tasting though no other details online as to cost/hours. As yet not a sake fan, may need some more 1st Thurs understudy haha, we stuck to the bottles Asahi & Sapporo (no draft, sigh) @$6 a pop. Dinner Hours 4:30-9PM. While -Presentation, -Fresh Fish (with a whole online page on their seafood sustainability), -Not too thick or thin sliced fish, -Decor & Ambience is pleasing, -4 Japanese sushi chefs on a lunch shift was highly impressive, lunch was just okay, left with an overall deflated tasting today. Fingers crossed, with one of the most varied menus esp at lunch, will keep on the list to try something else, in hopes of converting the tasting experience to a 4* next time.

Great sushi spot in Portland. We particularly enjoyed the Waikiki Roll and the Baby Octopus Karrage.

We are visiting from the East Coast and met up with a colleague who recommended this place. Super easy to walk to and to find. Went on a Sunday afternoon, so it wasn't busy or loud. The place is quaint, clean and Sushi was fresh. Reasonably priced for sushi. Service was ok. It was slightly confusing with who our waitress was, bc we seemed to have 2. Not sure if this is common for PNW for this type of restaurant or not.

i was a little disappointed with this place. we were in from out of town and were looking for sushi. this place was open late we decided to come here. we wouldn't arrive until like 30 mins to closing so i called to see when last call for the kitchen was. it rang for 3 whole minutes; no answer. i wasn't going to call an uber and risk not making it in time so we ended up somewhere else. still wanting sushi for the weekend, we went back for a normal dinner the next day. they weren't busy at all and sat us immediately. staff was pretty friendly. we ordered 4 rolls and a green mussel appetizer. the rolls came out quickly but they didn't taste very good. it was a little fishy and otherwise flavorless, even with sauces. the worst is that i ordered a riceless "ocean" roll and they garnished the dish with lovely little cucumber cutouts, but it had a number of little flies on it. like more than five. buzzing around the whole dish. i would have said something to staff, but they never checked on us. only once to say the mussels would take a while. and even then there's not really anything they can do about flies, you know? so we ate all our rolls before the mussels even came out. first, she brought them to the wrong table. and they were just mussels and mayo. no green onions or masago. very lackluster. i could see this being a nice restaurant and the family next to us really enjoyed their noodle dish but i just don't think it hit the spot for us.

Good quality fish. Their sushi has tiny bit of rice which I like. Toro is very fresh and oily. Tuna tower has this beautiful presentation. I guess you have to smash the tower and eat it like a poke bowl. And yes it tastes like poke too. Uni is very fresh ($12 a piece). My fav is Las Vegas roll. So delicious!! Pretty busy on a weeknight but no wait. We arrived 8 pm and saw almost every table was full.

Me and my friend decided to stop in here during our latest trip to Portland based on the good reviews. We got there around 7 on a Monday and didn't need to wait to get a table. The restaurant seemed pretty busy already. We ordered our food and ended up waiting around an hour for it to come. The server let us know that the sushi chefs were understaffed and overwhelmed with to go orders. We ordered Unagi Nigiri, Salmon Sashimi, and Seared Wagyu Sashimi. The Unagi was super flavorful and they gave a good portion of fish to rice ratio. The salmon sashimi tasted pretty fresh. The Seared Wagyu was a bit tougher than I would like and not super flavorful. We also ordered two rolls. The Kobe Roll and the Oregon Roll. The Kobe beef was pretty tender and the roll itself was really good! The Oregon Roll was pretty good as well but more of a simpler roll. The servers were all really nice and apologetic about the long wait.

TL;DR: This was lovely! We had some friends in over the weekend and they had a craving for sushi, so we ventured off to find somewhere. We stumbled across Yama and it looked cute, so we decided to sit. We got to sit outside at their well set tables. We got served water almost immediately and then set off to find what we wanted to order. The menu was very large with tons of delicious looking options. Small thing - I wish that all the options gave a description of how many pieces to expect. (Before you come at me, I know that most of the menu does. It's just helpful when gauging some of the other sushi options to know what to expect.) But this is such a tiny note. We got a couple different sushi rolls as well as the gyoza. All of it was so delicious! It tasted fresh, well balanced, and had plenty of "condiments" (for lack of a better word) on the side - ginger, sauces, etc. The gyoza were HUGE. Three were enough for a meal themselves. They were super juicy and flavorful. The staff was beyond attentive and nice - always knew what we needed before even we knew ourselves. It is on the pricier side but I think worth it for the quality and quantity of food. Overall, a lovely place to treat yourself to sushi :-)

The baked lobster roll is the best dish I have ever had. A wonderful place to eat overall.

I've been here countless times, food and service are impecable. If you're after more of a traditional sushi restaurant with top level nigiri and sashimi, this is the place to go. After living in Hawai'i for 13 years it's difficult for sushi restaurants to impress me here in the mainland, but this one is the one i go to when I want to leave completely happy and satisfied.

Unfortunately I really wanted to love this place Came here tonight with two friends and ordered two rolls crazy monkey and love joy and a platter of sashimi deluxe. Nothing was that fresh and the sushi was not rolled tightly Also took forever to order and there was not hand sanitizer anywhere at the tables Wish we had a better experience

This was a great sushi place for dinner on a Saturday evening in the Pearl District of Portland. We made reservations a few days prior over the phone for a table of 5. They placed us in a room with little flow of Ac so it was hot and humid in that room as it was a hot day in Portland, especially since there were two other tables in there too making it more hot. Besides that, the sushi was great and all dishes were tasty. Our favorites were the Baked Lobster roll and the Hurricane roll. I would definitely order those rolls if you are looking at some of their specialty rolls to try. It's great to go with a bigger group to try more rolls! Overall, solid sushi place. Staff was friendly and attentive besides the atmosphere/AC issue.

I go to Portland about once a year or so to meet up with old friends. I always like to seek out good spots for great meals and make reservations. We arrived on a balmy Saturday evening and were seated almost immediately. Friendly and patient staff answered questions, made suggestions and allowed us to chat and order a few items at a time. I love nigiri sushi so I ordered Toro, Albacore, Uni and Unagi for the table. I was impressed by the quality and taste. Very, VERY nice. We also had the chicken karaage which was piping hot and tasty. Edamame and miso soup were also solid choices. This place was busy, yet somewhat small and pleasantly quiet. We thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely meal and the service was excellent.

Food was wonderful! Sushi was fresh and the Sake was some of the best I've had! I highly recommend this place and the service was also excellent. I'm definitely coming back next time I'm in Portland

This the best sushi place in Oregon. I really enjoy the food every time I come and eat here. Even our waiter recognizes us every time we walk in and greets us which is so kind and helpful. I really recommend this place. I will always remember this place forever.

What's going on with this Yama? The one on the east side is so much better with many more food options but the price of food is the same. The waitress was very impatient and rolling her eyes when we asked what does one of the Japanese dish name means (because the English description only says "Yama style") like we are supposed to know. The interior design in this one is shady and the food is not as fresh. The space is very small and it's impossible to hear people from the same table talking because of the noise in the restaurant. And they were using plastic utensils that the painting has already chipped off. Will never come again.

Food and service was great. The sashimi was very fresh, especially their uni. Only problem was I was sat next two a couple of friends, one of which did not stop talking the entire time I ate. The restaurant was a little difficult to find even though I had yelp and Apple Maps open. After locating the restaurant, ordering was fairly quick. Once I was ready to go home I noticed not many people were inside dining on a Monday night.

WOW! This place was a nice surprise. The sushi was fresh and the staff was friendly. We started off with the Jalapeno Hamachi Carpaccio. The waitress recommended this and it was killer. The sauce on it was insanely good, tangy with a little bit of sweetness. For rolls we got the Lovejoy, Salmon and scallops and the Yuzu Hamachi. We are only in town for less than a week but we are going to make it a point to come back before we leave. HIGHLY recommend this place!

I really enjoyed this experience! The staff was attentive and the sake menu was impressive. Lots to choose from! I sat at the sushi bar and it was fun to watch the art in action!

- good innovative rolls! the flaming jack roll is AMAZING (I would order 2 honestly, because I want my own) - quick and attentive service - can get pretty busy and the 2 person tables tend to be a bit closer than I'd like

Had a wonderful lunch with seaweed salad and edamame to start and for my entree a rainbow roll. Service was quick and efficient.

Last Friday before the re shut down boooooo I was super excited that they actually had uni but then the piece that I ordered was the last lol It was tasty I don't know about the freshest but still good. I order the salmon sampler which I would pass on next time. Three different types of salmon and 2 smell just too fishy. Yes I know it's fish but, you know that weird fishy smell..... I also had a sweet shrimp, it was really good as well but for $9 a piece I'd pass next time. The rolls looked and tasty awesome. Service is good, people are friendly, social distancing blah blah blah. I'd come back it felt very cozy and clean

Wow! The best quality fish I've had in a LONG TIME. The Hamachi belly nigiri is AMAZING! It's so worth the money!

Had dinner here this past Saturday. There was about a 25 minute wait to get seated but it was worth it. Our party of 3 ordered the Volcano Roll, the Sake Bomb Roll, the Dragon Roll, and the 18 pieces of Sashimi Deluxe get down. First off, the sashimi was absolutely fantastic. There were 6 different types of fish (chef's choice) that were paired by 3's. Definitely fresh and with perfect cuts. Our sushi rolls came out plated in gorgeous plates and the presentation for everything we ordered was 5/5. Service was a bit of a roller coaster but it was Saturday night so all of the servers were obviously a bit roped. If you're a big 'service' fan - this place probably isn't it but if you don't mind it and are all for the freshness and quality of the sushi -- then Yama Sushi and Sake Bar is a pretty safe bet. Indoor and outdoor dining are options as of the weekend of September 26, 2020. Menu is pretty rad.

good food and atmosphere. I was there on my birthday and love it! also thank for amazing service, we went there 30 min before closing and they still have us:)

Lots of great choices but I really loved their signature Yama roll. Need to head back to try more.

LOVED this spot! The sushi was extremely fresh and tasty. There were so many options on the menu and each roll came out wonderfully. The portions were perfect! We're looking forward to returning soon!

Honestly food is great but they have a really bad gnat problem. At least 10-15 gnats around my table and on the walls, with a few constantly landing on our table. Will increase stars if they take care of the problem. 4.5/5 food

This is my go-to sushi spot in Portland. It is always consistent with the quality of fish and satisfies my sushi cravings. I have never had a problem with getting seated quickly and service is attentive. Highly recommend Yama over the more popular sushi restaurants in the city.

Ambiance was great, got seated immediately on a Thursday evening. Service was good but the food was outstanding. I liked that they had riceless options, a good selection of sashimi, and cold and hot dishes. Definitely recommend for a casual but upscale sushi dinner.

The chefs deserve 5 stars as the food was very fresh and delicious. However, the waiter works in the front ruined our experience. It's a hot day in Portland (95 degree) so we chose to sit indoor. We were told by this waiter that we need to wait outside due to COVID, totally understood. While we waiting, we saw another couple came and the guy knows the waiter. We overheard him asking the waiter to "squeeze them in". The waiter not only let them wait inside with cool A/C (by breaking the COVID rule) then later he gave them the indoor table that's supposedly ours! We didn't confront him as we don't want to make a scene. We waited about another 15min and finally got seated. I read negative reviews about their service on Yelp -- totally got it now. Very disappointed experience overall.

To full to put into words, other than DELICIOUS! can't wait to come back -1 star for the Pearl district surcharge. A bit pricey for one role.