Sakanaya Restaurant

Reviews 6

AD

Adam Lee

For a Japanese restaurant in the middle of a small suburban farm town, in a state that has no connection to the ocean, Sakanaya is the oasis of Champaign. The sashimi and nigiri are fresh, with none of the old "sea" taste youd find in lower quality pieces of fish. Being an aficionado for the pure flavour of seafood, without all the sauces, Sakanaya holds up to the standard that I would find at home in Vancouver, Canada (where sushi is no joke, and anything less is blasphemy). The rolls here have good variety, ranging from the basics such as California roll or salmon rolls, to a selection of 15 signature house rolls. Their signature rolls are definitely a step away from traditional palettes, but they serve well as a step towards being more adventurous with your choice in trying various raw fish. My suggestions for those starting their sushi adventure is to go with the staple, California roll and salmon roll. Trying to explore different flavours? Try the kamikaze roll, Yaya roll, spider roll, or playboy roll. For the experienced, you already know Botan Ebi nigiri (raw sweet shrimp) or ikura nigiri (salmon roe/eggs) are the way to go. Next, Ramen. You may wonder why anybody would pay $12 for those dried noodles you pick up at Walmart for 50cents. Wrong, whats being served here is the proper form of ramen you would consume in Japan. Not to be fooled with the conventional instant noodle you eat when youre on a college student busget. Give the real ramen noodle a try. Adorned with "chashu" (marinated pork sliced into thin cutlets), placed along bamboo shoots, seaweed, and simmered in a bowl of soup mixed with either miso or shoyu. No other place within at least a 100 mile radius can properly provide you with this foreign dish. Last but not least, the unsuspected surprise is Sakanayas chicken wings. There may be restaurants dedicated to only poultry, but they dont hit the spices quite like Sakanaya. The choice of flavours is limited, but I would suggest you try the spicy/hot wings, which I swear tastes like Shin Ramyun seasoning. Only downside to these bad boys, is wings are only available after 9pm. In terms of the ambience, Sakanaya is a small but modern/chic restaurant. Seating is very limited and fills up immediately. It hurts that there is no way to reserve tables, but understandable since space is tight. Service is quick and friendly, but also understandably becomes rather rushed closer to the end of the night. Perhaps our server had an overly busy/rough day, but he was snappy when taking our orders and also when remarking certain items werent available anymore for the day. We get it, we can order other things, and we offered to leave since it was close to closing. No need to show attitude, especially when it was your coworker who allowed us to sit a larger group for dinner 15 minutes before the kitchen closed. Otherwise, all my previous experiences at Sakanaya have been pleasant. Prices are a little higher than what Im used to, but Ill make do since its the best in Champaign. Had only one small incident with service that was sour, but it doesnt take away from the quality of the food produced by the chefs behind the counter and in the kitchen. My only suggestions for the restaurant would be to update their website because as of today, August 7, 2016, it says the restaurant is open til 1am, not the 10 pm we learned when we arrived. Lastly, Sakanaya please pick up Sapporo beer. I gurantee customers will be dropping in just for the Sapporo to accompany the wings.

---

CH

Chul Shin

Sakanaya is a nice and cozy place to be. Servers are nice, place is clean and, most of all, fish quality is above expectations! If you have a chance to talk to the chef in Sakanaya, you will know how seriously he thinks about the food quality. Also, unlike most Japanese restaurants in the US, Sakanaya has a modern cuisine concept interior that will give you a whole new experience. As all other good restaurants do, Sakanaya has a heavy traffic during the meal time. I would have said this is not good for most other restaurants. However, Sakanayas parallel seating waiting area will give you a good chance to be more intimate with your date/significant others. (I am giving you a big tip here) So, go to Sakanaya; it is not only the food. It is the environment, pleasant and romantic waiting time and more time to be with your date. Not only the meal time, they also provide happy hours, which gives you several good deals. So, check out their happy hour as well. I really enjoyed my time there, and I am sure you will experience the same. So go out there and enjoy your sushi!!

---

YU

Yueyang Chen

March 6 update -- The manager Jennifer contacted me on seeing my original review, she made an apology for my bad experience and promised to address the issue with that server at the restaurant. She is very sensible and helpful; Im happy with the solution, and how the restaurant takes their customer service seriously. Lets hope it wont happen on other people in the future. March 3 -- I never had a worse dining experience than my last visit to Sakanaya. The food was fine, but the service was unbelievably disrespectful to me and my friends to the point where my friend left the restaurant. I felt hurt and offended by the waiter who was arguing with us and belittling us, which is an example of how not to treat your customers. The server made a scene at the restaurant and put me and my friends at an uncomfortable place. If you go to Sakanaya, you will probably enjoy the food as other reviews mentioned, but be aware that your dining experience might be ruined by the service.

---

EL

Elena Lee

Sakanaya is one of my favorite places on campus. It has a great night ambiance with a comfortable and chic space. For the appetizer, I suggest the Willis Tower. It never disappoints :) As for the rolls, I suggest the Sakanaya and the Gold Rush. If you also want a nice sample of sashimi, I suggest the Chirashi. It has a nice variety of sashimi with well-seasoned rice. However, I think the sashimi tends to taste a bit more fishy during the hotter seasons. As for the ramen here, I dont think theyre over the top delicious, but they are an okay choice to order. Their late-night food is perhaps the best in my opinion! Sakanayas chicken wings are amaaaaazing. If you cant handle spicy, dont get the spicy wings. And the twist potato is really good as well. Overall, Sakanaya is always a great place to go! If youre not a fan of sushi, definitely go for the late night food :)

---

GO

Golden Neckbeard

Solid service, oddly unnerving decor, delicious food. Just pretend youre out with your supervillain friend. Admittedly I still have a thing or two to learn about sushi, but Ive never seen nigiri this big and gorgeous before. Theyre almost too big to eat in one bite! To be honest Id prefer they were smaller and cheaper so I could try more, but they certainly do impress. I was hoping for a marinated salmon in my spicy salmon roll and it turned out to just be a "normal" salmon roll with Sriracha drizzled on it, but it and the hamachi roll were delicious so I wasnt exactly disappointed. The copper tumblers are cool... literally, once theyre filled. Mine conducted ambient heat into my beer most efficiently. Stylish as they are theres a reason glass is the standard. Certainly will have to visit again.

---

MI

Michael Ammer

EXTREMELY FRIENDLY STAFF, There was a 2 hour wait when we got there, so we decided to hang around (they do offer a service that texts you when your spot in line is available, but we decided to just wait in the restaurant anyways). The host overheard me say "Oh shoot! Ive gotta go put more change in the parking meter because of the wait" , He sprinted behind the counter, and grabbed 2 parking hours worth of quarters and handed them to me. Then when we sat down he asked where we drove from and we told him from Champaign but we lived near Chicago... He gave us a spicy sushi roll on the house for "driving out so far" ...If only I liked sushi! This is a great place with fantastic service! highly recommend!

---

---