Osaka Japanese Restaurant

A friend and I were looking for a place to get some sushi, and this restaurant appeared to us like a preordained sign from the Heavens.
Needless to say, the customer service was absolutely fantastic. For two people looking to go out and have some great sushi at a reasonable price, this is the place to go. We ordered the spider roll, spicy tuna, eel roll, volcano roll, dragon roll, and an order of calamari. Each bite of sushi was just as satisfying as the next without being too overwhelming. The different flavors between each roll that we had melded very well with one another, creating a blend of the sea comparable to that of Poseidon and Neptune singing whimsical acapella to you while riding seahorseback on a calm Spring day.
The dining experience itself was phenomenal. From the time we entered to the time we left, the wait staff was sure to continually check up on us, making sure that there wasn’t ever a moment where we felt any type of hunger or suffered from even the mildest of thirst. With each passing bite we grew more and more entranced with this place.
So imagine my expression when our waiter came over to hand us our check, only to then offer us complimentary ice cream to go with our already amazing meal. It took everything in my power to not just give them my entire wallet.
The one thing I wish they had done was tell me their names, so I could give them the adulation they deserve like the prince and princesses of the sea they are.
Without a doubt, I will most certainly be returning to this location for sushi again one day. Next time with a larger crowd.
On a side note, a happy hour would be cool, but this didn’t take away in the least from the experience my friend and I had. Definitely give this place a try.

Pros. The fish tasted fresh. The entrees were a perfect size. The waitress gave us complimentary appetizers and ice cream for dessert.
Cons. The tables were way too close together. We were seated next to a table, where the guy next to me was less than a foot away from me. It felt kinda awkward bc it was hard to ignore their conversations when we were practically at the same table.
I would definitely come back, but just request a booth next time.

This has been my go to sushi spot in Houston. What gets me coming back here for more is not only their amazing sushi selection but also their complimentary appetizers and dessert. They give you two shumai and one tempura for appetizer. After you’re done with your main courses, they serve you ice cream with banana tempura of your choice between green tea, red bean, mango, and vanilla. I typically order their Ricky Roll and spider roll along with a side of seaweed salad and miso soup. Their food is amazing, the place is clean and they have a full fledged bar. Highly recommend this place for anyone looking for delicious sushi

I’ve been in Houston for a decade now and had not been to Osaka. I saw on Unilocal it had great reviews so i figured I’d try it out. It certainly lived up to the reviews and exceeded expectations. The service was excellent. Our waiter was prompt, nice, made great suggestions. The food was just as good as the service.
If you’re looking for a laid back sushi spot, this is it.

Great lunch prices, plus you get a free appetizer & free scoop of ice cream with a fried banana!
I’ve been here a few times but during my most recent visit, I ordered the assorted sushi. It came with 6 THICK slices of sushi and a roll (also a soup & salad). I love the big sushi portions, but I feel as though the quality and appearance does not fit with the typical style of sushi. I finished my lunch with a happy stomach and the free items definitely don’t hurt.
**Don’t forget to get a starburst candy on your way out (or in). :)

Prefacing this by saying I’m not a sushi expert and I don’t eat nigiri or sashimi.
Automatically taking a star off Osaka because they have NO TYPE OF HAPPY HOUR at all. Ever. What? There are just too many restaurants in Houston for this situation and since it was a Friday at 6 we were sorely disappointed.
We did not like the complimentary appetizer (shrimp tempura) and didn’t see the need for it. Why not Just offer happy hour deals instead. No free desert mentioned like some other reviews.
Louisiana roll-​4/​5 — crawfish topped with peppered tuna and creamy wasabi. the tuna seemed fresh to me and the fresh cracked pepper on it was a nice touch.
Volcano roll– 3.5÷5. volcano is one of my most favorite sushi rolls. It’s a baked roll with mayo and crunchies on top. Who doesn’t like mayo and crunchies? They ruined this dish by filling the bowl (yes a huge bowl) with tempura flakes leading to a bunch of mess and unnecessary flavorless flakes hiding the roll. Was this done to make it look like there was more food? It was annoying and made the roll difficult to eat. The taste was good other than that
The restaurant and bathrooms were clean and the rolls came out fast. I guess if you’re not going to have happy hour at least bring my food quickly so I can shove it in my mouth and forget :(

This place started off fairly nicely with on-​the-​house apps (shuimai + tempura shrimp/​veggie), their salad and miso was okay, but when their rolls came out it started going downhill. The rice didn’t have very good flavor, and one of the rolls used salmon doused straight up in Thai sweet chili sauce from the bottle. Then came the sushi sampler: the fish was fishy, sinewy, and warm. So was the rice — it was also flavorless. And the sauce they brushed on top was too sour and warm as well.
I’ve eaten at my fair share of sushi places, and I would not recommend this to anyone.

I would skip Osaka. The service is good and they give a complimentary appetizer and dessert, but the food is just not worth the price. My boyfriend and I both got the sushi lunch special. It came with 6 pieces of chef’s choice sushi, a salmon roll, miso soup, and a salad. The chef’s choice sushi was awful besides the salmon and tuna. We are experienced sushi eaters and neither one of us enjoyed the choices. For the prices, we will not be back.

After seeing the reviews, I was excited to try out this sushi place. It was a bit disappointing. Like other reviewers– prices were steep for the quality of the sushi. The portions were big but it was not satisfying to the taste buds! Their specialty rolls were nothing special and just average rolls that were really over-​priced. Rather take my money to another expensive sushi place that is probably priced a few bucks more.
Don’t think I’ll come back for the sushi or specialty rolls. 3 stars for the good service and free appetizers/​dessert but not enough to get me back!

Nice place, good lighting (not like those dimly lit hipster places), service was great, food was good. Calamari came with sweet chili sauce, ramen was okay, rock n roll & salmon rolls were pretty decent. Free shrimp tempura appetizer and free desert of mango, red bean, or green tea scoop of ice cream with fried banana.

I was a little hesitant about visiting Osaka as it is mainly known for its sushi (which I am not a fan of) but I was glad to find that they had an extensive enough menu that I had plenty of options to choose from. Our table was provided with two complimentary appetizers which I heard were great but I didn’t get to enjoy as they were seafood based. I settled on the Yaki Niku Don, which is a beef and rice bowl. The food was great and had a wonderful mix of spices. I paired my entrée with my first experience with plum wine, which is a great option for anyone that likes a sweet white wine. Great atmosphere and not too crowded.

We ate at Osaka for the first time tonight, and it was phenomenal! The service was great, the atmosphere was very pleasant, and the sushi was excellent. They were so nice and gave us an appetizer on the house, and each thing we tried was excellent!
The LA Roll and Dragon Roll were both delicious, and I would definitely recommend them. The ice cream was delectable as well, we tried plum, green tea and mango, which were all delicious. Overall, I would highly recommend this place and will definitely be going back!

Food is good, but the prices are pretty steep for the quality of fish. The fish is definitely fresh but didn’t have the buttery texture (for the salmon) that you get with high end sushi. The free appetizers are definitely an added bonus and enhance the experience. Friendly staff and quick service as well.

Oh dear… According to KPRC 2 news tonight. Our local Japanese place has just been ordered by the health department to throw out 19 pounds of food which was ‘unsafe to eat’
Also 500 pounds of Ice also had to also be tossed as it was covered in green slime.
Thanks KRPC!!!

The sashimi & sushi here is comically big, which gets them a bonus star for humor and value. It seriously looks like it outgrew its rice.
Osaka is where I go when I don’t want to pay for the upscale sushi experience, and I just want some good ol’ salmon sashimi. The sushi is overall a good value, but is not the best-​ever. The interior is pleasant and reasonably stylish, parking is abundant, and service is very hospitable. Every visit has been accompanied by free appetizers (shumai, gyoza, or maybe veggie tempura) and free ice cream /​tempura banana. You can choose from red bean, matcha/​green tea, mango, and plum.
Salmon sashimi ($ 17.95) — 5 fat pieces.
Super tuna ($ 17.95) — I like my tuna non-​super, apparently. Not a fan of the flavor.
Volcano roll — comes buried in… tempura flakes? Weird.
Red Moon roll — I’d order again.
Houston roll — I’d order again.
All in all, friendly place and good value, but not one of the swanky sushi places that you can go all dolled up.

Okay, so food portions is good taste is good.
Why 3 stars??? prices are getting crazy expensive, I come here very often, and every time it’s either 3 or $ 5 more
Today I paid $ 48 just by my self (no drink)
So instead 2 dollars sign it must move to 3 dollar sign.
Bath room is really disgusting, need a lot of cleaning!

Eh, freshness is severely lacking and the nigiri cuts are absolutely HUGE. Think 3 bites (my picture has a quarter for scale). A friend warned me that the cuts are too big and I thought he was silly for complaining about generous portions of sushi but due the lack of freshness it just got kinda gross, unappetizing, and really fishy.
You do however get free appetizers and ice cream so that is a nice little bonus. Service was okay and ambiance is weird, the lighting cheapened the experience. It would’ve been two stars had it not been for the free stuff. Doubt I’ll be back. Kata is still the best available traditional sushi in town. Best bang for your buck is Izakaya-​Wa which is much fresher than this place (too bad it’s far).

Osaka offers OK sushi, but it’s too expensive for what you get – and they have no happy hour that might tempt me to go back for lower prices. Frankly, I like Blue Fish better for the taste of the sushi and for the prices (especially at Blue Fish’s happy hour). We had three rolls, all of which were fine, but I didn’t love any of them.
With that being said, the service was very good, and they brought out two free small appetizers, both of which were fun treats.

This place was randomly suggest to us by some friends who lives in the area, that had also never tried it.
Went here late on a Saturday night. There was plenty of seating available. The place is well kept and has an inviting atmosphere.
The food was pretty amazing! Fresh and well presented, not to mention a very generously sized portion. We ordered the follwoing 3 rolls, ALL remmonded:
1. L.A. Roll *spicy crawfish, avocado inside, topped with spicy tuna, crunch, eel sauce and mayo.
2. Ocean Roll **
spicy scallop, cucumber inside, topped with salmon, kani, crunch, eel sauce and mayo
3. Shaggy Dog Roll **
shrimp tempura inside, topped with kani, mayo and sriracha
For appetizers, I highly recommend the calamari and the edamame. Generously sized.
Prices: a little high on certain rolls (all the good ones) but I suppose worth the quality. They do however provide complimentary appetizers and dessert.
Over all, great sushi and super fresh! Will be back!

«That’s it? Five pieces for $ 9?»
My friend and I are used to pay a lot for sushi, but he could not help but exclaim his disbelief at how small his spicy salmon roll was. I don’t blame him: his $ 9 spicy salmon roll came in only five pieces, and though each piece was slightly bigger in radius than average, the majority was just rice. My other friend who dined with us also suffered the same fate: an overpriced roll that came in a small portion and stuffed mostly with rice.
Welcome to Osaka Japanese Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant that delivers down-​to-​earth sushi at the prices of fine-​dining sushi. I was a bit more lucky than my friends I think: my order of the lunch special chirashi ($ 15.95) had a little more fishes than my friends’ sushi rolls and even came with a miso soup and a salad. Although I was stuffed with the amount of steamed rice in the chirashi that wasn’t even the vinegared sushi rice, I was left as equally dissatisfied as my poor friends who had only five pieces of rice.
The biggest weakness of Osaka is its pricing that is much higher than the food quality. With an a la carte price of more than $ 7 per nigiri order and an average price of $ 17 – 19 per specialty roll, the sushi was although solid but was decent as best. The free appetizer of shrimp tempura leaf (shio hasami age) was a nice touch, but overall, Osaka was simply not worth the prices you have to pay.
I’m sad to say that there are other sushi places that are cheaper and better in Houston. I see no advantage of choosing Osaka over others as it fails to stand out in either value or quality.
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tl;dr version:
1) Down-​to-​earth sushi at a fine dining pricing
2) High prices of sushi outmatches mediocre quality