Shogun Sushi & Sake Bar

I used to live right around the corner from this place when it opened, and let me tell you. This is the best damn sushi you’re going to find in Albany. Specialty rolls are totally on point, and please try the tempura shrimp. Service was always beyond reproach and the food comes faster than you’d believe. Prices are a bit higher than the usual stuff in this part of town but it’s absolutely worth it. The best time to go is in spring or summer when the tables outside are open and you can sit on a nice sunny day with some sushi and sake or a hibachi plate.
Edit: If you see Dragonfly Roll on the menu (it isn’t always there) GET IT. You won’t be sorry.

My experience with Sushi has been limited to ones we made at home with chicken or steak. My husband and I decided to give Shogun a try and have me venture out of my comfort zone a little.
The waitress was very knowledgeable about the food, helped us pick something that would be a good introduction without being to «raw fish adventuresome» for me.
We tried a couple of different rolls and some pad thai — though the pad thai was a little sweet for our taste but we haven’t had it before and I think that’s probably typical for what Thai foods we have tried in the past.
All in all a good meal, decent price and we will definitely be going back.

Awesome place… especially when Chris is working!!!

Good sushi and excellent service, but not any better than my usual sushi spot in clifton park, so it wasn’t worth the drive (which I was willing to make due to all the «best in the region» reviews). So stop in if you are in the area, but don’t expect it to be anything mind-​blowing and don’t bother driving any great distance for it! Maybe the grilled food is what makes it five star worthy to people?!

Love going to shogun! Their sushi is the best around. I strongly would recommend the Tiger roll or the Pink Panther roll. Also, give the sakatini a shot. The resteraunt is always clean and staff is very friendly.

Shogun is, by far, my favorite Asian restaurant. This sushi is perfect, and the pad thai can’t be beat.

Agree with the rating. Quality, Presentation, all the staff were pleasant, and a great price. Nothing to add. If you are in the area, and like sushi, give it a try.

Great sushi… good atmosphere… friendly staff… this will be my husband and my new favorite sushi joint.

I am currently on a very specific healthy eating plan, however wanted to get shogun with a girlfriend to celebrate the purchasing of her new house. Although I’m not supposed to have sauces I went with hibachi BC I thought it’d be the easiest to measure out carbs, protein, veggies etc. We ordered online so I asked that my dressing go on the side (which I had intended for my salad) in the box for special directions.
The staff took it upon themselves to call me to clarify if I wanted all sauce on the side or just for the salad. I was so appreciative of the call and they were so willing and able to do it for my entire meal. She suggested next time I just asked for it steamed and that most meals can be prepared that way.
I was touched that they took the time to call, even though it really was no big deal. Shogun is and has been one of my favorite restaurants (both the Albany and Delmar location). When I’m not dieting the pink panther and mango crispy chicken are hands down my favorites.
Thanks for never doing me wrong Shogun!

Before the meal even comes, I am done eating at this restaurant in the future. After looking over the menu, I was able to find lunch specials but they were only offered Monday through Saturday. I figured that I would ask since it was Sunday and I still just wanted lunch but I was told that they do not offer a Sunday lunch special and I could only get a dinner sized portion at dinner pricing. Funny thing is that the people that sat right after us also asked about lunch specials. Time to get some Sunday specials folks.
The food came and it was good… not great. That really deals the deal… we won’t be back.

It pains me to rate this place so poorly, because it used to be my go-​to sushi spot. Unfortunately, the quality and cleanliness standards have gone downhill recently (alarming for any place that prepares food, but especially one that serves raw fish). Over the last few months, i’ve noticed a decrease in the taste and quality of their sushi (not to mention severely cutting back the ratio of fish/​meat to cheaper ingredients), and have frequently had to request new dishes because the ones i was given were dirty (normally i’d try to wipe them off with my napkin if it’s just a few water spots, but these were just plain filthy). I hope that things improve, and i’ll gladly change my review if i hear that they have, but for the time being i’ll have to find a new sushi spot.

Not as good as was recommended. The staff is attentive and nice but the food was mediocre to me.

It was okay. We were rushed on Valentine’s Day but they gave us a rose and some chocolate covered strawberries at the end of our meal. Overall, the food was mediocre. I like Asian Tea House in Rensalear better though.

Solid, good sushi. Great for take-​out, and the restaurant space is actually very nice, especially for Delmar.

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it here! The ambiance, service, staff and food are all awesome. My favorite dishes (that I literally daydream about) are the seared tuna appetizer and the shrimp and vegetable tempura. The sushi is also fresh and delicious.

My boyfriend and I were drivingg to NJ from Canada and were looking for a nice sit down meal on the way. I was hesitant to stop here because it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and really, how good could the sushi be in the middle of nowhere? Alas, the Unilocal reviews convinced me to give it a try and I’m so glad we did.
Food– 1 star
All of our rolls were delicious and fresh. My favorite actually ended up being the Hawaii roll, which was only $ 6 and the least extravagant of our order. I couldn’t believe the quality we got for such a low price.
Cleanliness– 1 full star
The bathrooms were spotless, beautifully decorated, and even had things like lotion and body spray in the woman’s restroom. My boyfriend came back before we had even ordered and said, «This is going to be good. If they pay that much attention to detail in the restrooms, imagine what they can do with the food!»
Service– 1 full star
Our server was attentive and very very polite. We were greeted warmly when we arrived and sent off with a friendly «have a nice day» as we walked out the door.
Atmosphere– 1 full star
It was very well decorated with the perfect lighting and music for an intimate evening or fun night out with friends.
Value– 1 full star
Sushi prices were on par with most sushi restaurants. $ 5-​$ 6 for regular rolls and $ 10-​$ 16 for specialty ones. The value on the other hand surpassed that of many sushi restaurants I’ve been to, even with similar pricing.

The reviews were glowing for this place and so we made a team dinner reservation. Considering my executive was coming with us, I wanted to make sure everything was great. Overall, the food was a 5 star experience and possibly the best in the capital area but the service dragged it down sadly.
For a table of 8, they gave us a comfortable section taking up about a third of the interior. The atmosphere is really welcoming, open, and modern. They even have a patio area that is sheltered for those great summer nights. When we arrived, it was mostly empty and that’s when we noticed some of the service flaws. They have a young hostess who is perpetually talking on the phone. You’d think she stop talking the moment we walked through the door to greet us? Nope… Only after a minute of waiting 2 ft in front of her did we interrupt her personal conversation.
The actual wait staff was marginally better. Our green teas were constantly refilled but sadly it took over 10 minutes to get the bill and we were the only ones in the restaurant.
Aside from the bad service, the food quality was really great. Vegetable tempura was crispy and light… No drab oily mess. The shrimp siu Mai was steamed nicely and was filled with shrimp and not filler. The tempura rock shrimp was so tasty and cooked so the shrimp still had a nice bite to it. The pork gyoza had a wonderful crispy sear and it was really well seasoned. These were only the appetizers!
As for the mains, our table ordered from both the sushi bar and kitchen. My sashimi deluxe meal was nicely presented with 6 types of fish. Compared to other Capitol Japanese restaurant, this one has really fresh fish. None of the were chewy or stringy. Every piece was smooth and tasty. I will admit the pieces are smaller than Mr. Fuji but the quality is just the same if not better.
My colleagues all loved their dishes… Beef teriyaki, seafood udon, Scallop Japanese curry, shrimp tempura, and chicken hibachi… All were devoured and nothing was left on the plates. We ordered a few extra rolls to share as well. They were well made and they were nicely balanced between rice, fish, and filler. I would say this place has the best maki rolls in the area.
I seriously would live to give place a 5 star rating but the service was really frustrating especially since I was trying hard to make it a good experience for my executive. I could understand if they were jammed pack but we were 1 of 3 tables. I may try them again but not with people I’m trying to impress.

So we went to Shogun in Delmar. It’s a beautiful little place on Delaware Ave not too far outside of Albany. We weren’t sure how to go in. We finally discovered that the door is in the back.
When we walked up to the hostess station the girl behind the station, who I assumed was the hostess, was on the phone and it sounded personal. All I could think to myself was «Uh oh, here we go». We thankfully didn’t stand there very long because a server, who ended up being our server, came out of the kitchen within a minute or two and sat us.
Shogun has a beautiful interior and a very neat atmosphere. Perhaps one of the most beautiful sushi places in the Capital Region. It was smaller than I expected. However, it wasn’t shoulder to shoulder. In a way it was as small as Sake Café but more room to walk around.
We ordered the appetizer sampler which was gyoza, mini spring rolls and rock shrimp. the rock shrimp was too spicy for me. The spring rolls were good but nothing special and the gyoza were good and nothing special. However, the gyoza sauce was AMAZING! Best gyoza sauce I have ever had. It had lots of garlic and we love garlic. So if you dipped your gyoza in the gyoza sauce they were fantastic.
Miso soup came next. I had said in a previous post that I would not be trying Miso soup. I’m so glad I tried this one. It was pretty good.
The sushi looked wonderful. We had a roll that was special they had, it was called The Firehouse Roll roll. The Firehouse roll had: spicy crunchy tuna topped with avocado, crunchies, tobiko, scallions and special sauce. It was fantastic and our favorite of the night. We also had a Delmar roll and a spider roll. They were both delicious. The spider was one of best spider rolls I’ve had. It was definitely the biggest spider roll I’ve ever had too.
Then we saved the best for last. Well, we thought it was going to be the best for last. We ate our eel and avocado hand rolls. Well, the eel was rubbery. It wasn’t that bad but it wasn’t that good. The eel at Shogun was so disappointing.
Service was good. My water glass didn’t stay empty very long and our table was cleared quickly. Unfortunately, our visit may have been tainted. I was using my Unilocal app when the waitress «snuck up» behind me and filled my water glass. My water glass was right near my phone. However, I did not see any change in the service after that happened. She was a wonderful waitress to begin with and didn’t seem to pour it on even more after the possible viewing of the Unilocal app on my phone. Note to self: even if you want to take notes so you can write your Unilocal review, don’t do it in the restaurant if you want to have the untainted «average Joe» experience.
I said in my Mr Fuji review that I was going to stop reviewing the ladies’ room, but this one was very special. It had hand painted cherry tree branches and cherry blossoms on the walls again a jade green painted wall. There was a very large mirror that faced the toilet, so in other words you could watch yourself go to the bathroom. Don’t you love it when that happens? ;-)
Other than the eel problem my other complaint was the view out the back window. We sat by the back window and all you could see was the stairs going to the second floor of the building. However, we were there for what was inside and not outside so it was minor.
In all the sushi was very good, the place was nice, there was a nice ambiance, service was good, but as I said the eel sucked. When we got up to leave there seemed to be some people waiting for a table and I guess you could say that’s a good sign. We would return to Shogun if the eel had been good. We also would have returned if we had not all ready discovered Mr Fuji and then went there a few days later. Hubby wanted to return to Shogun until we went to Mr Fuji the next day
So, sadly enough Shogun is not going to get any more of our business. We’re usually pretty forgiving and we were willing to give them a second chance. However, it’s not gonna happen for Shogun. Overall it was a good experience and I would not discourage anyone from going to Shogun. It is a good restaurant. It smelled wonderful the whole time we were there and most of what we ordered was good.

Summary– Maybe the best overall Sushi experience I have had so far in Albany. Just all around awesome.
Food– 5 Stars
Apps–
Shumai was very good
Yellowtail with jalapeño was super awesome
Edamame was good and properly hot enough
Sushi–
Overall excellent, properly presented and excellent fish. The Sushi/​Sashimi was all very fresh and nomtacular.
The only roll we got I didn’t like was the Pink Panther. All you could taste was peanut. I also am more of a pure fish guy I am sure some people less strips of raw fish friendly would love that roll.
Service– 5 Stars
Very nice welcoming Hostess. Great waitress.
Atmosphere– 3.5 Stars
Nice inside, but a bit tight. Why oh why must there always be a TV on? Always drags down ambiance for me.
Value– 5 Stars
Just awesome everything
Drinks– 4 Stars
Good Sake menu with reasonable prices.

All these five star reviews and beautiful, mouth-​watering photos are not lying. If you want the best sushi in our land-​locked capital region, come to Shogun. I have been wanting to try this restaurant for a while, but it’s a little off my beaten path and the husband isn’t a sushi eater, so I was very happy when a friend suggested we come for lunch.
The one downside for first timers is that the restaurant is a bit hidden. It has a small sign out front but the entrance is in the rear and is unmarked. If I hadn’t been with a friend, I may have had trouble finding it.
We walked through the door and the owner immediately greeted my companion by name, giving her a hug and asking how her holidays were. He shook my hand and told me it was a pleasure to meet me, said he hoped our lunch would be enjoyable, etc. My friend is a regular here, and I guess they appreciate her business. I noted during our meal that the staff was very warm with the other patrons as well.
As others have mentioned, the atmosphere here is very pleasant, tastefully decorated and with lots of bamboo. It was smaller than I expected, given it’s popularity, with roughly 10 tables plus a handful of seats at the bar. But I understand they also put several tables out on the patio during the warmer months.
We shared the edamame to start, and for my meal I chose the Delmar Roll (salmon, eel, avocado and crunchies, topped with eel sauce and spicy mayo) and the Miami Roll (tuna with kani, avocado and spicy mayo). Both were very good. The sushi was super fresh, portions were good, and prices were slightly above what you might pay elsewhere in the area, but well worth it. Specialty rolls are larger and range from $ 12 – 16, while standard options are $ 6 – 10 and sashimi ranges from $ 4 – 6 for two pieces.
I was happy to see that they have quite an extensive menu at Shogun, including various noodle dishes, Japanese fried rices, curry, teriyaki, hibachi and tempura. This means that I’ll be back for more sushi very soon with the husband in tow.