Yui Marlu

Oh my lord. Hands down the tastiest/​freshest and most beautifully presented sashimi I’ve had. Small place, busy, but authentic, delicious, and they are super nice. So happy to have found this place.

I love love love this place! If it is your first time here, you must try the chirashi. Go all out and be completely blown away by how fresh and masterfully cut the sashimi is. I also enjoy having an attractive plate of sashimi to take picture of and show off with my friends haha. The garnish is pretty and the plating in general is definitely a work of art. Be warned: it does take a while for the chirashi to be made. The longest I’ve waited is approximately 20 – 25 minutes for dinner. Both my friend and I ordered chirashi and they brought it out together so I did not mind. It is just slightly more expensive than other locations but the taste and the service combined are too phenomenal to miss out on.
The many times I come here, I consistently get chirashi because I crave it too much. However, recently, I ordered the deep fried trio (salmon, oyster, and shrimp) and Orangevale roll (scallop, salmon, and masago). I recommend both dishes, especially the roll! Most places are usually very generous with the sauce, which can overwhelm the flavor of the fish but this place douses the roll with just the right amount so you can still enjoy the raw fish in the roll. My friend got a salmon teriyaki and he let me try some of his food… damn that salmon though. Perfectly cooked to a tender and juicy taste. Salmon skin is crispy, not flaky and having no strong fishy smell. Teriyaki is given as a side so you can dip in however much you want.
Shoutout to the generous and nice okasan for giving me miso soup and salad even though my order didn’t have it! Each time I come here, I can’t help but feel giddy and happy because of her contagious and kind smile. This place really has the best service and I can’t wait until the next visit!

Fabulous service and the freshest sashimi in the area. I had the sashimi lunch plate and was not disappointed. I will be back when I’m in the area.

Searched on Unilocal when we left Lake Tahoe and on our way home to south Bay area after cold, snowing days. We had huge craving for Japanese foods after having many meals of pasta, fries and burgers during our stay in Lake Tahoe. We found this one on Unilocal and wanted to give it a try.
This restaurant is like a hidden treasure in a plaza that is not very busy. Like other reviewers said, it has real Japanese feel, small and authentic.
The FOOD is great!
We ordered udon, ginger beef with rice, katsu, gyoza and other stuffs. All are good, kids ate a lot and were really happy to have some hot soups after playing in the freezing-​cold snow parks. You can tell the freshness and the food quality from the first bite of gyoza. Unlike other thawed frozen gyoza, the wrapper and the stuffing of gyoza are equally tasty.
Ginger beef is another unique item not often shown on menus of other Japaneses restaurants. It’s seasoned and cooked so well and it tastes delicious.
Since our young kids do not eat raw fishes, so we did not order sushi. Otherwise we will definitely want to try the all-​time recommended chirashi and other sushi platee, if we go without kids.
Later we chatted with the restaurant owner and learned that the food style is actually originated from Okinawa. No wonder it’s so unique and so satisfying to our taste buds.
We will want to visit Yui Marlu if we drive to Sacramento area again!

Best sushi in Sacramento hands down. Fresh fish everytime i eat there. The best. The few bad reviews glad you wont be back more for me. I dont mind waiting however long for the best sushi in the area. Have fum at those other places. Yui is the only place i go for sushi.

Excellent small family based sushi place.
I had to wait a little longer but it was definitely worth it. Will go there again for sure.

«Do you have a reservation?!» This is the first thing the stressed out looking hostess asks every time we’ve visited. The food was great… sushi fresh and beautifully presented; plenty of vegetarian options including an amazing miso eggplant BUT they sadly don’t know how to handle their popularity and so the wait is LONG for your food. We waited 45 mins to get our sushi order. Cute, small home style Japanese restaurant but TOO popular and TOO SLOW. We’re not likely to return for these reasons.

I totally dig this place! The people are incredibly nice, the sushi is fresh, the beer is cold and the ramen and sukiyaki are delicious! On my second visit the host totally remembered me and what I liked and made me feel really welcome. I’m becoming a regular already!

The chef, Masa, assembles the most beautiful sushi chef I’ve ever seen. He’s an artist. Very quality sushi — not cheap, but worth the price.
Small place. Can be VERY SLOW as there’s only one chef. So don’t be in a rush.

Truly the best quality sushi in town. The chef goes to the fish market in Sacramento every morning to get the freshest product and he does not disappoint on preparing it. We have also seen that if he doesn’t find something good enough, he doesn’t buy it, which may mean running out of a certain type of fish for the night. I find a chef telling me the tuna wasn’t good today try this instead very refreshing, it’s high standards and we can trust all the raw fish there is fresh and amazing in flavor. The service is very warm and welcoming but do keep in mind it can get crowded as it is a small humble place. And you may wait as only the traditional Japanese sushi chef himself makes the sushi. Also as mentioned if your desired fish was not available fresh that morning they may not have it (which you should thank them for). So if you love real sushi get over there and try this best kept secret!

I still give 5 stars.
I tried this japanese restaurant because it says traditional lol. Yeah the place looks simple like your in Japan .
The food I wanted to try they don’t have it :/​first I asked Fish Livers. She said they don’t have it today. And 2^nd attempt their different appetizer for $ 7 something. we wait about 6 – 9 minutes then she said. They don’t have it. :)) only the TAKOYAKI good thing that TAKOYAKI is my favorite. So I ordered for $ 7 lol and I ordered Ramen my boyfriend order 2 kinds of Nigiri. Its all good thou lol I hope the next time I’m come back here again they have all I wanted to try! :((ugh I’m dying to try because their food is so good. :(sad to think I didn’t even try any I wanted. Also there UNI with mushrooms soup I forgot the name but I try that when Im going back again. Because that is special order. :|

This place is just wow! By presentation alone they should get 5 stars. We got fried oyster, mixed tempura, sashimi plate and chirashi sashimi.
The fried oysters were super delicious. I don’t know how they fry their stuff but it’s really clean! Same goes for the tempura. I think it’s the healthiest tempura I’ve ever consumed.
The sashimi was arranged very very beautifully. There’s not many places that serve sashimi that just melts in your mouth. The thin sliced cucumbers that came with it were so fresh and very good as well.
Service is what you’d expect from 1 waitress working the whole restaurant. She works hard to please, and is very pleasant to talk to!
Sushi is expensive as always, but it’s definitely worth it for this place!

I’m so glad I was able to try this place before I move back to the Bay Area! This place was something else! It was refreshing to eat at an authentic Japanese sushi place compared to the many Korean-​owned «Japanese» sushi restaurants popping up all around.
I came in on a Tuesday night and it was packed! With only a few employees (2 servers & the sushi chef), the food took longer than most would prefer but the wait was so worth it! The fish was super fresh and melts in your mouth! And the presentation was absolutely beautiful! On top of that, the servers are so friendly! I will definitely come back next time I’m in town!

We had the Chirasi. Beautiful presentation and attention to details. Very good quality fish. Will be back soon.

Yui Marlu is still the absolute best Japanese restaurant in Sacramento and one of my favorite restaurants of any cuisine. I come here as often as I can, and to me there is really no true substitute for the quality and authenticity of Sushi here. Come here for the experience and be prepared to wait, this isnt a dine and dash restaurant. Bring your friends and enjoy the meal together while sipping on some sake or Japanese sochu. For appetizers, I’ve had the deep fried gyoza, chicken karaage, softshell crab, and fresh oysters. All have been excellent. If you are more interested in rolls, the Cashew, John’s, and Justin rolls have been a favorite. But without a doubt, the Omakase is where this restaurant shines the brightest when Chef Masa prepares several courses of nigiri for you. Each course builds upon and complements the last.

So, the sheen is gone. This place has finally quieted down enough that I don’t have to call in beforehand to make sure the wait isn’t too horrible and now it is what it should be, a hidden gem.
I grew up in Carmichael when I was little and there’s like this pocket population of Japanese people in the area that might surprise people but if you think about the original names of all the nurseries in the area it makes total sense. Yui Marlu reminds me of those little hole in the walls in Osaka near the outdoor marketplace (even though the owner and his wife are from Okinawa). The fare is great, and the owners actually care. This was supposed to be a neighborhood place and it’s back to it’s original form and I love it.
The feeling I get from Yui is that Chef Masa was pretty good in Japan… and in America where most of the kids cutting fish learned from non-​Japanese roll makers, this place stands head and shoulders above the rest. Literally everything is good here. I come for the Ramen often esp during lunch because they make a super simple donkotsu ramen (pork bone soup stock) that tastes like something you’d get at home, if your family knew how to make it. Otherwise, you should go for their nigiri/​sashimi plates if you’re on a budget (20~$) or a omakase if you have 50 $+ to spend.

LOVE THIS PLACE!!! Since I grew up in Japan I am a fiend and am ALWAYS looking for a great spot for authentic Japanese food that I love. I am so glad we stumbled across this place. The waitress knew of the area that I grew up in and she stood and talked to me about the area for a bit, which I loved. I ordered katsudon which is my ultimate comfort food. It was excellent. My boyfriend had two different sushi rolls that were great… unfortunately I forget which ones he ordered. After I got the chat about Japan with the waitress, my boyfriend kept telling me how cool he thought this place was and how authentic it seemed and how neat it was to see me get to talk with someone about my love for Japan. Thank you for the hospitality and the excellent food. We will be regulars going forward!

This review is incredibly overdue! Yui Marlu is hands down the best authentic Japanese restaurant we have found in the states. I tried almost every KCRA A-​List rated spot in the region, including a plethora of restaurants in the Bay Area, SoCal, and Seattle area, and nothing compares to the quality of the Nigiri and Chirashi at Yui Marlu.
The fish is so fresh and tasty, not to mention the incredible presentation, and friendly service. My wife is from Japan, I lived there for 3 years, and go back at least once a year, and can honestly say we have a hard time finding Sushi restaurants in Japan that are as good as Yui Marlu. The lone sushi chef is from Japan and was professionally trained there. If he can’t come to work, they close their doors because they will not risk their reputation. It’s a small hole-​in-​the-​wall in a strip mall on the corner of Dewey and Madison.
With that said, if you prefer an all-​you-​can-​eat spot, or primarily rolls with deep friend tempura and other stuff inside with sauces poured all over so you can’t taste the fish, this may not be your spot, However, if you want the best authentic Sushi and Sashimi, don’t waste your time elsewhere.
I am not affiliated with them in any way except for being a regular customer who rarely misses a Friday evening meal there :)

Delicious, tiny, blink-​and-​you-​miss-​it Japanese restaurant in a strip mall buried within likes of Jasper’s Burgers, Godfather’s pizza, and Adalberto’s…but don’t let that fool you. This place is fantastic!
My fiancé and I went for dinner tonight and had the chirashi, tuna steak, and vegetable gyoza and they were all amazing. The fish was really melt-​in-​your-​mouth fresh and tasty. I also really dug the vegetable (looked like edamame, ?taro, onion) gyoza as there are hardly ever any meatless gyoza options at restaurants and these were so good. Our server was really nice as well.
We’ll definitely be coming back!

I’ve been coming here for almost two years now and I still love it to death. The chef’s knife skills never cease to amaze me, the waitresses’ warm attitudes always make my day, and its my go to spot to have a meal by myself.
The main thing I did want to update is about the quality of the fish. Since I started coming here two years ago I’ve had a LOT more exposure to a variety of sushi and I’ve come to realize that the fish here isn’t as spectacular as I once thought. It’s still as fresh as most things you’ll find in the area but when I ordered the omakase I realized that each fish’s taste was very neutral. Not bland but none of the combinations really popped and none of the fish flavor was very distinctive and for the amount I paid (~$ 80), I was honestly a bit disappointed. However, this place made up for it with the beautiful plating.
Despite the fish issue I still love this place. The food is authentic, the service is nice, and the chirashi is top notch.