Yamato Restaurant

I ordered take out from here today and oh my goodness gracious. Loved the food. Ordered the gyoza, California roll, and a salmon teriyaki lunch box. I didn’t know how big it would be so I orders this much. Wow!!! The salmon was fresh and delicious. There was so much food. I have lunch, a snack, and I’m able to save the salad and rice for dinner after a late night of work. I absolutely recommend this place!

Considering the price and taste, this is the best ayce that I’ve been to in Boston. The sushi is made to order which is nice, but a lot of the rolls have too much sauce, and some of the other food you can order is terrible like the fried ice oreo, sometimes then salad has a cup of water at the bottom, which isn’t too bad but its not ideal. The service is pretty rude imo, but the food is fine and it meets my expectations.
$ 1 off per person if you pay cash. Only order what you can finish otherwise they’ll try to charge you. Gets busy sometimes so make reservations.

Well, since the last experience it’s been a year and I decided to check it out again. Well, they changed I would say in quite good way. When I called to make a reservation, the girls aid in a very nice way that I need just to show and will be seated (I asked for 5pm — not busy time). Which was true, we have been seated right after we walked in. The waiter was very nice and friendly, kept coming to us to ask about if we were alright and don’t need anything. The food came within few minutes from the kitchen and 20 more minutes from sushi bar. The food as usual was good, but this time the service was excellent. I would def give it a 5 star now. I would love to go there again and recommend it to my friends. Thanks Yamato for experience of good food and service.

This is a review for the AYCE sushi. 3.5 stars.
I’ve been to Yamato a few times and it’s always constantly fine. You are paying for what you get, so don’t expect outstanding sushi. However, I have never had any issues with the sushi I ordered and I always leave full.
I think it’s nice that they have other items include in the all you can eat section, even though I’ve never ordered them (only sushi).
Yamato never disappoints me, but also never really wows me either.

all you can eat is great for one person. Yamato is a good choice if u want to treat yourself.

Horrible service and mediocre sushi at best

I usually get takeout from here since I live close by. I’ve tried a variety of the sushi entrees and dinner boxes. They’re usually pretty quick. My orders are ready in 10 – 15 minutes.
The food is OK. Sushi and sashimi are fine. Some of the rolls, specifically spicy tuna, are questionable. There is quite a bit of filler and not much tuna. They usually include a spicy tuna or California roll with some of the entrees. It’s really just a throw in, to make it look like a better deal.
Dinner boxes are also average. Just the typical varieties of teriyaki meals (chicken, beef, salmon, etc.) plus sides.
I order from here for the convenience. I guess the all you can eat option keeps it busy. Otherwise nothing special.

I would give Yamato a 3.5 if the service was better. The wait staff made us feel rushed each time we ordered more sushi and weren’t very friendly.
$ 23 for a sushi buffet dinner is probably the cheapest one in the Boston area, but you get what you pay for. The sushi was okay at best and I don’t recommend any of the appetizers/​entrees for the buffet. The fried calamari was 75% batter and the chicken teriyaki was basically boiled chicken drizzled with teriyaki sauce.
I’d come here for a sushi fix if I was super hungry but not if I wanted to be impressed.

I went for lunch here for the first time the other day prepared for the bad service that many talked about in these reviews. I must have either hit a very good day or they finally decided to make a change. The waiters were very friendly and fast. Service was a bit slower when the restaurant became full but what do you expect when it was only 2 waiters for the entire place.
Now for the food… it was well worth the lunch buffet price. We enjoyed a great mix of appetizers including seaweed salad, house salad, fried gyoza and edamame. The chicken teriyaki was thin and a bit dry even with the sauce. The beef yaki noodle was really tasty with just the right amount of sauce, meat and veg. We also had a few plates of all different types of sushi and maki. All was good, the only thing I didn’t care was the salmon pieces had a sliver of fat still on each and the rice in the 2^nd batch of sushi was really warm.
Overall it was a good place to go when one has a craving for japanese food and want to have a variety of different dishes. We will have to go try dinner next time as there are more available options to choose from.

Location is hidden on a side street. Parking was easy to find. Service was extremely rude! I got the sushi buffet, it was okay for the price. The quality of the sushi was decent. 6 – 8 pieces come in an order. The sushi is made to order, which is nice so you know it hasn’t been sitting out all day. They had other options included with the buffet such as rice, soups, and other appetizers, nice option. Unfortunately the atmosphere and service is enough for me to suggest NOT eating here. The place is outdated, and flat out ugly. If your hungry and can ignore rude employees and just want to eat it’s a good place. Defiantly not a good date place!

WATCH YOUR BILL!
Let me preface by saying I love this place. Made to order, decent quality, all you can eat? Screw the haters. That’s sent from the heavens right there.
Last night, however, I had to call some serious shenanigans on them.
We got our bill for three and it came out to $ 95, no alcohol. My stepfather laid down a $ 100, and they tried to walk off with it.
Turns out they had charged us for 12 Sprites.
Ok, no worries, mistakes happen.
Then after we caught it, the rebill came back for about $ 75, we gave them a $ 100 «all set, right?» Um, no, we need change.
Change came and it was $ 15 short.
It wasn’t busy, it wasn’t hard math. Just everyone triple check your bill when going here, you want to make sure this amazing deal you’re getting is actually amazing.

Came here with my boyfriend on a Sunday for lunch. Thought $ 17 for an all you can eat sushi buffet would be a good deal.
The place opened at 12pm and when we arrived at about 12:15 it was already pretty packed, so we had some high expectations. The sushi tasted fine, rolls were pretty simple, wasn’t anything special. Service was fine as well.
About an hour after arriving home, I had food poisoning. Hadn’t eaten anything else so it was definitely the sushi. A few hours later my boyfriend had the same issue. I wish I could give this place a higher rating but how can I give a place that literally made us sick more than one star? Won’t be coming back.

I’ve been coming to Yamato with friends for years, and I always hope my opinions of this place will change, but unfortunately, it stays the same or gets worse with each visit.
The quality of the sushi is okay, but the price for the all-​you-​can-​eat is worth it when going with a group and ordering as many rounds as the servers allow.
That’s right, I said it, as the servers allow. The service here is really what makes Yamato, to me, a two star sushi joint. Once the servers come by to pick up your first order, don’t expect to get another sheet to order another all-​you-​can-​eat round unless you are doing jumping jacks to flag them down or are going up to them to get a sheet yourself. With that being said, they give out small cups for water that they barely come by to refill, and give you an even harder time if you as for more water.
Here’s an idea, if you don’t want to fill up the water as much for consumers, get larger glasses.
The moment you flag down a server for a bill though is when they appear as fast as Dobby does for Harry Potter — almost instantaneously.
I’ll still come for some sushi with friends, but I’d probably rather be elsewhere if I weren’t outvoted.

Yamato is a relatively small all you can eat sushi buffet located on comm ave nearby BC campus area. Amongst the Asian community, this place is pretty well known but if you are not Asian or you are not really into sushi that much, then this place can be easily overlooked because of its obscure location (on the corner of some random street perpendicular to comm ave).
Yamato offers a variety of appetizers along with their sushi selections. They give you a menu and a pen and you just select whatever you want. They will charge you for any leftovers so make sure to only order little by little so you don’t end up paying extra. For appetizers, their spicy seafood noodles, donkatsu, and seasoned seaweed salad were pretty good. I thought their miso soup was a bit light but it was still good to have something to wash down sushi with.
In terms of their sushi quality/​taste, I don’t think they are spectacular or anything but it is not bad compared to other sushi places that I have been to. I thought their sashimi pieces were great, sushi rolls were well made and presented, and their customer service was also up to par.
On the negative side, they do not have fresh crab legs, oysters, clams, and other sorts of raw bar seafood selections so it is really hard to get your full money’s worth (if you are looking for raw bar + sushi experience, I highly recommend Takusan located on Beacon St. nearby Coolidge Corner area — For more info, see my review for Takusan). Also, dinner price for Fri-​Sun is pretty expensive so I recommend coming here either for lunch or dinner during the weekdays.
Overall, Yamato is a good place to check out if you live nearby and you want to satisfy your sushi craving. However, if you are anything like me and you love making the most out of your buffet experience, then Yamato might not be the best place to really get your full money’s worth unless you plan on eating 5 full plates of sashimi and sushi rolls.

AYCE SUSHI & ENTREE & DESSERT
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
For $ 25 per person, you can get AYCE sushi, sashimi, rolls, entrees, and dessert for dinner! You don’t even have a limit on how many times you can order. This is definitely the best deal around.
HIGHLIGHTS OF AYCE:
+ SALMON SASHIMI
+ TUNA SASHIMI
+ WHITE TUNA SASHIMI
+ SPICY SALMON HAND ROLL: I usually don’t like hand rolls because there is typically too much rice, but this worked. There were tempura flakes, sauce, and a good amount of salmon in each hand roll.
+ SEAFOOD YAKI UDON: We got this three times. It’s really good.
+ GREEN TEA ICE CREAM: Best way to finish the meal.
NOT SO GREAT:
— WHITE BASS: The quality really wasn’t great.
— DEEP FRIED BANANA & ICE CREAM: The dough is too thick and not enjoyable. We only ate the filling for both.
TIPS
* Skip the sushi. Why add rice? Sashimi is the way to go when you want to try the fish.
* You can leave rice on your plate if there’s too much rice in the rolls. At other AYCE restaurants, you have to eat everything.
* If the fish looks or tastes bad, you don’t have to eat it. This happened several rounds for us and we mentioned that the fish was not good.
When you first order, your food comes out very quickly. However, as you keep putting in more orders, they start taking longer and longer to serve. I think this is their way of making sure that you’re full. Make sure to plan out your biggest portions first, because it’ll come very quickly!
When our server was collecting our receipts after we paid, she almost yelled at us because they didn’t tip on their bills. We told her that all the tip was on one card, and she shut up. We thought it was rude for her to assume we wouldn’t tip after an AYCE meal.

I suggest trying to come here on off hours and weekdays, to let the lunch prices and a less crowded restaurant. Not sure if people mentioned that you can also order side dished like gyoza and udon noodles along with your all you can eat sushi.
Also, beware of the older male waiter (we have had him a few times) he is less that happy to be working there and to take any of your orders.

Let’s get real here.
Yamato is not a fancy place that you want to go to on a first date. But for $ 24.95 (dinner price) where you get to eat your fill of sashimi, I’d say go for it. Our strategy is always to fill our tummies with salmon sashimi. Considering we are a fanatic of salmon sashimi, Yamato serves some pretty decent salmon. FYI, they do pretty thick cuts of salmon sashimi here. Not the skimpy silvers you get elsewhere. Fine by U.S. As we love the juicy thick slices of them.
Skip the tuna though, they are not the best of quality. The mackerel is good too, nicely marinated and you can taste that it is fresh.
If you are a maki lover, they do offer a good enough varieties although the $ 1 extra for each fancy rolls is unnecessary.
Beware though, they charge for food wastage. You want to order in smaller quantities and go for seconds or thirds. The rule is eat more salmon sashimi and nigiri sushi. You can’t go wrong for the price. Oh, make sure you save room for the green tea ice-​cream. They are good.

I’ve read/​heard so many mix reviews for this place and kinda glad that I finally got the chance to try it. I was warned about the service beforehand and I definitely agree that the service can use a big upgrade.
We went around 5pm on a Saturday and it was for a group of 7 people. I guess we beat the rush since we didn’t have to wait for a table at all. The host was not the most articulate and he was mumbling something that I could barely understand. When it came down to our service, I noticed that they were very scattered-​brain. Now this could be a contribution to management — for servers to constantly put down plates at the wrong table (which I observed 10+ times) is clearly telling me that there’s no system in place. Maybe we got lucky that day but the servers got our order correctly and did come back time to time to refill our water. The food came out slow which might have been a good thing since it kept us hungry and had us devour everything very quickly.
Now for the sushi part — it was really good! I mean the quality of the sashimi was surprisingly tasty and the fact that it was unlimited was a nice touch. The only big NO-​NO were the bones swallowed by two people in my party… not the best impression and I was fortunate enough to escape that fate. My suggestions to the sushi lovers are go with the sashimi and the regular sushi rolls. We had the volcano maki and spicy scallop roll and those were highly disappointing. We also had green tea fried ice cream and that was really yummy! so glad that was an option. Overall I would make a trip back to the establishment if I was looking to binge on sushi!

Yamato requires preparation and I mean that in the most serious way possible. Girls, wear your leggings and a huge sweatshirt. Guys, come HUNGRY. This place was created for binge eating to satisfy that sushi craving you’ve been having for the past week & who cares if it’s low quality fish?
Pro-​tip #1: get in your first order as soon as you sit down so you don’t have to wait too long
Pro-​tip #2: DON’T BE GLUTTONOUS! you get charged for leaving any food remaining on your plate, so be aware of how much you can actually fit in your tummy.
Pro-​tip #3: avoid getting charged by flattening out your rice on your plate and covering it with random stuff, hiding it in your miso soup, under your salad, etc.
Pro-​tip #4: ask for the check before you finish your last dish, so if you can’t finish your sushi/​hand roll, they can’t add the charge because you’ve already paid!
Pro-​tip #5: let’s say they (the waiters) are hawk-​eyeing you and making sure you finish your food… get a diet coke. it helps ease the pain. I speak from experience.
Lunch came out to be about ~$ 20/​person and I ate so much that I can’t look at another maki roll for a good month or so… eh, who am I kidding? I’ll probably be back next week.

I was contemplating between giving 3 and 4 stars, but after my most recent experience here, I decided on 2 without hesitation.
Why the change of mind? I had food poisoning. I came here with a group of friends and had a few plateful of maki and sashimi. I felt completely fine during the meal and was enjoying the glorious amount of sushi until my stomach started twisting and turning on my way home. As soon as I got home I ran to the bathroom. I’m not going to go into details here. All I can say is that the food here is not fresh, at least not that evening.
I’d like to think that was an isolated incident, but one of my friends had a stomachache after that meal as well. I have been here several times in the past few years, and this was the first time that I had such an unpleasant experience. I was in shock! I have always enjoyed coming here for the all you can eat sushi, a variety of appetizers, and green tea/​red bean ice cream. However, after this experience, I’m not sure if I will ever come back. I value my health and would rather play safe and take my appetite and money somewhere else.