Sogo Japanese Steakhouse

Sogo’s Japanese Restaurant–
The first night the restaurant opened a number of years ago… the opening night was great. The cook’s came out into the dining room. and greeting the guest… and offering great Hors d’ oeurve’s
.Something they only did that night… Since then every time I have gone over the year. it has let me down in everyday shape and form. The booths if you look around by the walls behind the booths are filthy as well as the ceiling. and corners. It looks like no one ever cleans.
Once it was 2:30 pm and I wanted to order Sake… and no one ever turned on the Sake machine to warm it up… so at 2:30 pm I couldn’t even have that.Ridiculous.The they started with the construction inside as to why… I don’t know. The were using all kinds of loud machines during lunch hour and dinner hours… making it horrible to try to enjoy eating there because of the screeching of the machines… and the dust.
The time after that. We got there about 6;30 pm. were at​.at 6:45 pm. They weren’t to busy… we put our order in. the appetizers came out 30 minutes later which was ridiculous. Then my wife’s entrée cam out an hour late. and mine came out 45 minutes after hers. so we couldn’t even eat together… then when mine was brought out it was cold and not cooked all the way and had to be sent back… If i know anything about restaurants. All entrees for each table are Supposed to come out at the same time… no one first and the other 45 minutes after the first one… They are supposed to be times so that they are done at the same-​time and ready to go out…
Now they have this really ridiculous board right when you walk in with peoples photo’s all over it. i guess guests… it looks like a buffet… or a place like Cheeseburger Cheeseburger… where you get your picture up on the wall or even T’s Family restaurant… Very under classed. The windows are beyond filthy inside… makes ya wanna vomit how dirty it is in there… like no one has ever heard of Windex!..
The trip the other day at lunch time. the restaurant was very cold inside… My wife’s sushi came out… good timing. and mine right afterwards. again not at the same-time.and there was nobody in the restaurant except for us… The appetizers were good… and OMG i was to throw up… of all my bad experiences here… this time there was a freaking hair in my food. We bother lost our appetites… We told our waitress. and she apologized and took the food up to one of the brothers who apparently owns one location and the other brother owns the other locations… He didn’t come over to our table to apologize… he didn’t come over to our table at all… very un-​professional in-deed.instead he walked back into the kitchen as to hide from the whole experience. and sent the waitress over to us… and had her take $ 6.00 off of the cost of the entrée… I was like «What» are you freaking serious… most restaurant would take off the entire cost of the entrée… send the manager over to apologize and even offer the gust something to replace the entrée in it’s place…
Sogo’s I don’t know what the heck you are thinking. but” REALLY” Get a grip…
I’m not even a food critic or a restaurant critic… but I should get paid for my opinion and comment’s about this dump!

The owner thinks he’s a sushi chef. Ordered two rolls ones being a rainbow roll, did not make it properly so o had it sent back and taken off my bill. He insisted on giving me one free of charge, gave me a second roll that was again made improperly with very bad presentation. I sent it back and his reply was, «what kind of rainbow roll are you referring to?»… Take a look at your menu. Reasonably priced, but lost all interest in ever returning.

We decided to give it another try in terms of ordering for pick up. You would think that a business values all their customers but this is obviously not the case. Not only were there only a few pieces of steak. yet again. The other darker sauce had a very distinct smell that something was not right. Good thing we never use that type of sauce although we ordered extra yum yum sauce and each one was barely half full. I think we will pass and stick with a different restaurant.

Awesome dinner! We love hibachi and this is definitely the best we’ve had in Rochester! The server was great, our chef was awesome– personable, engaging, entertaining. He even offered my husband some of his personal hot sauce after a conversation they shared about hot sauce. The meal was well cooked and both my two small children gobbled it up! Such a great experience. We will certainly be back!

I think the place is in trouble. I’m sad to say that because we had a few good meals there before the last trip.
I’ve been there with my Family, usually my Wife and I our two kids and Grandparents and either a Aunt, Uncle, Brother in-Law…we typically have a full Hibachi table just for us.
Last time we went the food was awful. The server was great but was up against some challenges. When she took our drink order, they had literally no booze at the bar. They had to go across the street to the Liquor store. The salad they tried to serve us was visibly brown around the edges, I mean inedible. So they went back and got fresh salad, which tells me they chose to sell us the disgusting salad.
We ordered Saki bombs, and instead of shot glasses — which settle to the bottom of the beer (it’s like a boilermaker) — they served Styrofoam cups which floated on top and never mixed with the beer. We could hear them talking to one another saying they had no shot glasses.
The Hibachi chef was great, very fun, he was nailing fried rice down everyone’s shirts with great accuracy! The Chef and Server were the highlights and if not for them we probably would have walked out and demanded a refund and a health inspection.
The food was awful. You could smell the Lobster and Scallops and Shrimp from 30 Ft away when they brought it into the room. The Fillet was mealy/​grainy, disgusting. The chicken was like a rock. The kids ate just rice, and we had to feed them when we got home.
I had cereal when I got home.

Went as a party of 4 on a Friday night. The restaurant was busy but not overly loud. Everyone in our party had sushi. The sashimi is delicious. We got the Webster Roll, Volcano Roll and Rainbow Roll plus the sashimi trio. Presentation is exceptional. Wait time was longer than expected but worth it. The only reason for 4 stars was the price. $ 210 for all four in our party.

My true score for this restaurant would have been a 4.5, but I shall round up.
We made reservations for 5pm, and were seated immediately. We started off with appetizers which I chose the Kaki Fry and Sogo Mussels. They were out of the Kaki fry so I chose the Kobe Beef. Surprisingly, we were brought a complementary Calamari appetizer due to running out of the Kaki Fry. It was unexpected, but a nice gesture. The Calamari was surprisingly tender and not tough. The Sogo Mussels were tasty and the Kobe Beef was absolutely delicious. I love the concept of cooking it yourself on the little hot plate they give you.
We moved onto sushi and here is where I would have given this restaurant a 4.5. I ordered nigiri and they were out of a few choices. What I did indeed order was Tuna, Scallop, Fluke, Sea Bass, Yellow-​Tail, and King Crab. Each piece had a nice flavor and tasted fresh. No complaints there. We then ordered a few of their rolls which we went all out on. We got the Ichiban, Webster, and Lobster Dragon. Beautifully wrapped, but for special rolls, I personally would have preferred them on separate plates vs. all three on one. My only complaint is, the accompanied sauce was a bit overpowering so you don’t taste what’s inside the roll/​fish. I would preferred the sauce drizzled more lightly.
We also ordered the King of Sea entrée which had an absolutely stunning presentation. Scallops, Shrimp, and Lobster were nicely cooked, tender, and had a very nice light sauce.
In the end, this actual restaurant’s atmosphere is really nice and I love the lights and colours used. I’d definitely return and recommend to friends and family.
On a side note, I would like to thank Adrian who was an absolute pleasure. His professionalism and service started off on a high note, and ended on a high note. Not only was the food we received very nicely presented, great flavor, but the service was very attentive. Overall, a very great experience. Cheers!

*Sushi review*
Oh no Sogo… oh no.
The man and I went last Friday night around 7:30. We ordered the Lover Boat for two for $ 42.00. We were so excited because it came with tons of food and seemed like an awesome deal! We asked to switch the «chef’s choice» roll out for the Webster roll… after much confusion and 10 minutes, our waiter came back and told us it would be $ 5 more. No problem!
The Lover Boat came out 25 minutes later, which was not too long of a wait time, but we both wished the meal came with soup or salad first.
Anyway…the fish was so bad. We were so so hungry, and we tried to keep eating, but after gagging on multiple pieces and spitting it into a napkin we decided to be done. We left more than ¾ of the food on the plate and we both had belly aches and nightmares… no joke!
Why not 1 star? Our waiter Aiden/​Adrian/​Andy (he told us after we ate… I was distracted by the strange taste in my mouth) was very sweet. Also, the butterfish was good!

Service was excellent and so was the food. We did dining instead of hibachi. Only two complaints:
1) every time the door opened the dining room became freezing and was cold the whole meal
2) I ordered a dinner entrée and my boyfriend ordered a hibachi meal, mine was steaming hot when served and his was not which seemed odd.
I would definitely recommend this place!

I went with a few friends last Friday and we opted for a hibachi table. The salad and soup were okay. The lettuce leaves were a little brown so it was obvious they weren’t freshly cut. The soup was not cooked properly because when we received it, we tasted pure hot water. When we advised the waitress, she immediately apologized, took back the soup bowls, and had the cooks make fresh soup. 15 minutes later, we received delicious soup and another apology.
The hibachi was excellent. The cook teased us and we gave it right back. The food was fantastic and we had a lot of laughs. I ordered steak and scallops. It complimented the rice well.
Overall, it was a great experience. I would return.

I’m gonna stick with three stars because the sushi was very bland to me. I had the three roll sushi dinner for $ 12.50 so very reasonable! Comes with miso soup and a drink

I’ve been to this place twice now and each time has been wonderful. When you first walk in, you enter the rather small, but nicely decorated bar. In the back is the hibachi. A waitress brings your drinks and takes your order. Then the real fun starts. The hibachi chefs do really neat tricks that both my kids and I enjoyed. They are also super funny! TIP: bring extra cash to tip the hibachi chefs. As the waitress is different from the actual chefs. The food is delicious also! I’ve gotten the salmon and scallops hibachi. It’s so much food! When I take the food home I still have a giant meal leftover. It’s paired with rice and vegetables. Definitely worth a try — a great place for a first date or night out with kids. They won’t be bored here that’s for sure :)

I really loved this place. As a self proclaimed «sushi snob» I was very impressed. The sushi was great and well put together. It didn’t fall apart. The fish was fresh. I got a salmon hand roll and a tuna maki roll as well as white tuna sashimi.
The hand roll was great. Again, it didn’t fall apart, even when I got to the end of it. There was a good portion of salmon.
I was little disappointed with the portion size of the sashimi. It was very small. I was kind of expecting that as the prices were a little less from other places around. It came with 3 pieces but they weren’t very thick or large.
As an appetizer I got the Age Tofu. This was amazing and is a definite must try. It’s tofu fried in tempura batter. They make it so perfect here. There’s not too much batter, they don’t over cook it. The sauce that is drizzled over the top is bursting with flavor. The outside is crispy and the tofu inside melts in our mouth. So. Good. The portion size was also good and the price is pretty regular with other sushi joints around.
The waiter was also fantastic. Very attentive and nice.
The restaurant itself is very clean. I love the décor of the place. Very trendy. The music was up beat top 40 stuff and a little lounge/​house type music was playing. It wasn’t loud, just nice, trendy upbeat music that matched well with the décor on the inside.
I gave this restaurant 5 stars. The prices are very affordable, the atmosphere is laid back yet trendy, the staff is attentive and kind and the food is amazing. I will absolutely be back and I will be recommending this place to others!

This has been the best sushi experience I have had in a very long wile. Everything was extremely fresh and flavors were well paired. Also the textures made my mouth so happy! The colors and beautiful designs on the plates with sauce and atmosphere as well as the very attentive and helpful staff made the whole experience a very memorable one.
PS they have great prices!

Everyone loves a good hibatchi, right? Well. this place is standard that but when I have sandy scallops I’ll start viewing the place a bit more negatively. Also, not to be too judgy but the chefs and their neck tattoos and difficult to understand English (and these are not Japanese chefs) kind of put a damper on things. They may need more practice with the tricks. However, the kids loved it, the steak was very tender and the wine is a nice pour. Overall it’s not the worst but I’ve had better.
Oh… we also got stalked by the hovering managers if we took too long w/​the check or afterward even if we were finishing our drinks. It made us so uncomfortable because they were obviously trying to kick us out but it was more rude than understood.

Fantastic hibachi chef ! Very personable and fun! Food was terrific and top notch! Our waitress was rude and pushy to the point where we thought we were on a hidden video camera show (candid camera, anyone?). She told my one guest to «wait!» And another of my guest to «stop!» When he tried to tell her what beverage he wanted. There was a large language barrier. We had to flag down the host to get cocktail refills. The bus boy agreed that waitress was a «witch» and to try not to take it too personal, blaming it on cultural and language barrier. Waitress brought one round of drinks, took order and never came back once to our table. Not once. We did saki bombs, they were so fun and tasty! Our chef placed order for saki bombs for us and host brought them out. We handed a 40 dollar cash top to chef and tipped zero to waitress. I’m sorry, we base tipping on service! Great ambience. We loved everything but the waitress. Only took off one point for her being a total b! tch because everything else was fantastic! Highly recommend and will be back ! Omg hibachi steak was succulentttt!

The food was great and the service was horrible.
I met my friends for dinner one night, now don’t live in Webster, so I got there later than my friends but it was no excuse not to greet me, and not to bring me water after I had asked for it, or even a place setting. I had to go to the kitchen and ask for my water. Later in the evening another member of my group had to get up and ask for the bill. No, it was not busy. There were only two tables in the whole place, and a couple of servers on staff. This was the worst service I’ve ever experienced.
But the food was good enough to give the restaurant another shot.

The service continues to be great, the rolls very saucy. Also if you rate a place on bathrooms, which sometimes I want to do, they have a nifty bathroom.
We ventured to try the sogo mussels, oh my hello mouthful of mayonnaise. The memory makes my shudder and gag just a little bit. Japanese mayo, bbq, eel, eel sauce, spicy sauce. Notice the quadruple sauce fest.
Ichiban roll, spicy tuna, cucumber, crunchy lobster tempura, eel and orange sauce. This was good and the sauce wasn’t too heavy.
Hollywood, pepper tuna, cucumber spicy tuna, pepper tuna (yes they list it twice), crunchy, miso wasabi spicy sauce. This was the worst bite of the night, the tuna was choke-​ably dry.
Volcano roll, snow crab & spicy tuna on top crunchy, spicy sauce, scallion, masago. The massive lumps of crab and spicy tuna toppers were welcome but render the roll impossible to eat in one bite.
Sweetheart spicy tuna, tempura, flake, tobiko, fresh tuna outside. Best presentation and a solid well flavored raw roll without sauce.

Sogo is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants overall — I live in the area and go here regularly.
Considering I have been here more times than I can count, I think I have been able to experience the restaurant in all aspects so I disagree with a lot of the reviews saying the «sushi isn’t fresh» and it’s «expensive».
The sushi has always been delicious and fresh when I have went, the service is fast — and I admit, the servers are NOT completely knowledgeable of the menu — but, for what they give you, the food is delicious and they are happy to accommodate. I don’t think I have ever had a bad experience here.
Definitely one of my all-​time favorite restaurants.

This was my second time to Sogo’s sushi bar. The sushi was good but nothing amazing. The sushi chef on both visits spent more time carrying menus and glasses than making sushi. They haven’t figured out service yet.
The seaweed salad was quite tasty but a bit pretentious and expensive for the portion size. See the attached photo. This isn’t SOHO.
If you want a sushi place convenient to Webster it may be a good choice if you’re not in a hurry. Otherwise drive an extra fifteen.