Opened in July 2016 in The Oaks at Lakeway center, Sakura—Japanese for “cherry blossom”—is meeting demand in Lakeway for quality sushi and offering an alternative to the all-you-can-eat style, Legocki said.
“We decided to really highlight our food quality and make that a priority,” he said. “We decided that we wanted to be a dynamic restaurant. We do weekly specials, and they change every single week. We’re really all about the food.”
Fresh fish is flown in five days a week from all over the world. Among the fish used in sushi and sashimi are bluefin tuna; butterfish; goldeneye snapper; and shima aji, which is a type of mackerel. Other fresh seafood on the menu includes uni, or sea urchin; kani, or snow crab; and hotate, or spicy scallop.
Sakura also features a number of traditional Japanese dishes, such as yakisoba, chicken katsu and ramen noodle soup.
The food not only tastes great, but it also looks great, Legocki said.
“A lot of people are taking pictures of dishes that we make because they look great,” he said. “Our chefs do a really good job with garnishes.”
The head chef is Po Lee, who has worked in Austin-area sushi restaurants for over 15 years.
“Everything we use is really high-quality,” Lee said. “Not just the fish—the rice, the vinegars, everything we use. That’s what makes us different from other [sushi] restaurants.”
One of the most important ingredients to sushi is rice, Lee said.
“Here at Sakura we use really good Japanese short-grain sushi rice,” he said. This authentic Japanese rice is better for sushi than the longer-grain rice found at some area sushi spots, he said.
Sakura has a daily happy hour with food and drink specials.
