Yama Sushi & Sake Bar

Definitely the best sushi place in Portland. I mean real sushi, not rolls. Everything is super fresh. Chef Miki is amazing! Can’t wait to go back.

FYI: I’m catching up on my reviews because I just joined. We came here in January 2015.
I don’t understand the hype of this place. We went here for my sister’s birthday.
The staff seemed nice enough throughout our meal. The venue is also pretty, had nice dinnerware, etc. A dining area, and a bar area. I think what I was mostly disappointed over was my sashimi. Yes, a plain cut of fish. Nothing fancy or over the top. I love ika (squid), and ordered this, but it didn’t taste fresh. For the prices I was paying, I was hoping for really fresh tasting fish. My seafood udon was tasty though (I don’t remember the name of the dish).
Overall, the food was fine, but not amazing to me. Maybe I didn’t get to try enough?
Another thing I noticed was that the staff do not mind waiting on young families (we sat across from one), as long as they are really well behaved. Just be aware of this, as this place is more of a high end place and not huge.
The service got a tiny bit sour when I went back into the restaurant to see if I had left my phone on the table. It was an innocent question, and I felt like I was looked down upon for it :/

Beautifully artistic representations of the simplest to the upper echelons of gluttonous nirvana… now we eat the art!

Excellent place to stop. Unfortunately it looked so good that we did not take many pictures. We dove chopsticks first and devoured 3 rolls, 2 sashimi Escolar, tempura appetizer, and bowl of udon soup. All of which were excellent. The yama roll was by far the best of the specialty rolls but the escolar is a force to be reckoned with. Excellent stop for food at reasonable pricing.

Great food! I like Tuna Tower, Razor Clam, Baked Lobster, Lovejoy, Volcano, and Bana Scallop! I always go to Yama on Fridays and Saturdays. If you would like to avoid having to wait for a table, you should try to be there early :) Enjoy, good sushi is at Yama!

Lovely way to celebrate sushi food! Mussels was awesome.
For beginners in sushi, a tip, know how much u order before u do really. ;)

I’ve been going to Yama for years. so I guess it’s about time to write a review!
I’m adventurous when it comes to sushi as there are many places you can go to in PDX. But I always come back to Yama! You can’t go wrong with anything you order. Sushi is good for the price when you get the right sushi chief to make it, thankfully I do. The dinner entrees are great too and i always find myself craving both.
Service can be slow but that also needs to be taken in consideration of how busy they get. They do try to accommodate everyone who walks in the door!
Here are some tips to take in consideration before writing a bad review:
— last call is 15 mins before closing
— sushi bar is great, sometimes you can get quicker service BUT don’t just sit yourself there and expect to be served right away. It goes by whoever came in FIRST, there ARE people who came before you, you know. There is a SIGN at the door for a reason.
–don’t expect to fit a group of 10+ within the 10 mins or even hour, they are busy and considerate of people who are actually there.
— kid friendly, IF your child acts right. Maybe it’s YOUR job and not theirs to control your child.
For those who give low stars, I see YOU and your negative Nancy reviews.(yes, i can see your other reviews when 9 out of 10 reviews are all bad) Its the only time you write a Unilocal review. This is where Unilocal can go WRONG… and trust me, no one will take you seriously when all you do is complain w/​your 1 star reviews. It just doesnt make your review legitamate. Maybe you should change your attitude? Because no one wants to deal or serve a bad customer. It means bad service for you and they probably don’t want you to come back :)
–Be kind. They will be back, I promise! I know the restaurant industry and if you can’t understand how that works, you should just order take out :)

*parents, please read to the end*
An evening of pure delight. To start, savor the rubbery beef tongue, so inedible, you’ll want to spit it out after chewing it for 5 minutes or so. Then, witness the hostess/​waitress telling you to stop your 3 year old from making noise as the kid swings her legs back and forth knocking the bench since the waitress is some know it all 20 year old. Next, have some cucumber sunomono with virtually no vinegar and let the tastelessness wash over your taste buds. Follow up with some seriously old uni on a raw oyster to fully appreciate some weird sea funk in your mouth. Watch that same brainless waitress botch your order for nigiri when she brings 2 pieces instead of four, only to find out she was probably doing you a favor since the 2 pieces that arrived would have foretold of refrozen chopped scallop they were trying to disguise in hot sauce and mayo. Work on your manicure as you request and wait multiple times for green tea to be refill.
Finally, and for the grand finale, watch your child acquire a food allergy rash since they totally ignored your request for avoidance of a particular ingredient (in this case, egg) through a bait and switch of real snow crab with fake kani surimi.
The fastest service you will get will be obtaining the check. Check to make sure they don’t screw that up too.

Best sushi I’ve tasted Portland.
The place was very clean and service was outstanding. Huge sake selection and good beer. I highly recommend this place.
Definitely coming back.

thank you yama for another amazing meal! we had the whole back room to ourselves for a birthday dinner/​gathering and there were lots of happy faces at the end of the night.
we went in on a sunday and they were busy as always. this was my first time going in with a large group so i wasn’t sure how the service was going to be. but everything was smooth from start to finish. total of 11 folks all ordering different things? chaotic! but they handled it very well.
im not even going to comment on their food because its simply fabulous in my books. they have never disappointed me once!

Vitaly Paley, local chef and restauranteur of Paley’s Place, Imperial, and Portland Penny Diner, recently said in an interview that he rarely dines out in Portland, but when he does it’s at Yama Sushi & Sake Bar. Well, if it’s good enough for Vitaly Paley, it’s good enough for me.
I’ve passed Yama Sushi countless times, without realizing it. It’s just off the NS streetcar line in The Pearl. The restaurant itself is nondescript, clean, and the staff welcoming. I would recommend arriving early, when we walked in around 5pm on a Monday Yama was virtually empty, but when we left around 6:30 it was full. My partner and I came for happy hour (5−630pm, last call 6:15) and sat in a cozy booth by the window.
We wanted a sampling so we ordered a variety of dishes to share, which included the edamame, chicken kara-​age, spicy tuna hand roll, salmon hand roll, tempura snapper sushi, vegetable goyza and a drink each (also on happy hour) sapporo and yoshi dry sake. While the goyza, edamame, and chicken kara-​age (boneless fried chicken poppers) were good the real star of the meal was the sushi. The fish was so fresh, delicious, and light. Though we finished all of the plates and they served as a perfectly satisfying dinner, I could have kept on eating the sushi. And drinking the saki, Yama has a great selection of individual sakes as well as sake flights.
Yama Sushi was a success and made for a great date night. The service was intuitive without being rushed or overbearing. It’s hard for me to justify going to a Portland restaurant twice when they’re so many great restaurants in Portland but Yama Sushi & Sake Bar left me wanting more.

Hands down the best sashimi I’ve had in Portland thus far. I first went to the Yama in SE approximately 6 weeks ago. I have now been to Yama a total of 6 times in those 6 weeks if that says anything.
Both locations have a good ambiance, great service, amazing fresh sushi, and a great sake selection.
The NW location has a smaller, more concise menu which focuses on Sashimi, Nigiri and Maki, which I prefer. I mostly order Sashimi with a roll or two thrown into the mix (I LOVE the Lovejoy/​Clinton roll — same roll, different name depending on location!!). For the sashimi, I find that the fish is always extremely fresh, the sizing is just right, the ratio of fish to rice is perfect, and the rice is always on point (is that what the young kids are saying??). Two slightly less well known pieces that I highly highly recommend are the Escolar (very mild creamy white fish) and the Bana (Aburi style) Salmon with Tobiko.
They also have a very extensive Sake list, with a solid selection of extremely delicious and reasonably priced Sakes. The sake list is also extremely descriptive, and they offer sake flights, so this is a great place to learn more about Sake and find the one thats right for you! I personally always order the premium warm sake (only $ 7!) and i find that its perfect with the food.

The tuna tower is awesome except it probably only needs ¹⁄₃ the sauce it comes with. Instead of having it mixed by the server at the beginning, it may be better to have the sauce remain on the side for people to add how much they’d like.
Flaming jack was interesting and fun to order but I’ve come to see I’m not a fan of baked sushi as much as I am of raw or seared…
The volcano roll and tempura shrimp roll were both very good though and fish seemed a solid quality.
Next time when ordering, I’d probably stick with only a couple specialty rolls and keep the rest more traditional to keep the fish vs sauces in the forefront.

YES! YES! YES! Definitely high end sushi and Asian cuisine. In the heart of pearl district, you know this place will rock and [sushi] roll.
Interior was very clean, cultural, and modern. Service is friendly and food doesn’t take too long to get to you. You get some free cucumber to tease your taste buds. Price is reasonable for sushi and the location you are in. Came here with a group so was able to try a couple dishes.
I personally ordered the Ahi Tuna Tower. If you come here, this is the one to order. It is so refreshing and delightful; it’s on a whole other level. Presentation was on point. You can either do it yourself or have the servers mix it up for you before you eat it. It had a really good spice level and good ratio of protein and rice. Just look at the picture and you will be awed. I recommend this dish to any sushi lovers.
The ceviche scallops were, wow! Expensive for six pieces but was sooo good. Good flavors, with the sauce and spice with jalapeño. Raw scallop was tender and tasted great. Wish I had more but it was a good appetizer and left a good first impression.
The beef yakisoba came with miso soup. Miso soup is pretty standard and I am glad it was not too salty like some places are. Yakisoba came out on a hot sizzling skillet. It was very delicious and satisfying.
Sushi rolls are all unique. Flaming jack came in a foil and was on fire when arrived at our table. The fire was unique and intriguing. It was like a warm sushi dish so fish was not really raw. It was still flavorful but the main thing was the fire for this dish that made it cool. The volcano roll was pretty standard and came with scallops and sauce on the roll. The baked lobster roll was good especially the lobster on top. Real lobster meat and sushi is a good combination. Lobster was crispy from the batter and added another element to the dish.
You just gotta come try it to believe it. I posted a picture of the Ahi Tuna Tower on instagram and the next day a random friend food stalked me and went and tried it. Yeah, they definitely enjoyed it. A fancy place for any occasion. Every item I have tried so far has been impressive and I guarantee you will be glad you came here too.

Short Story:
A rather fantastic place for sushi in Portland!
Long Story:
So, I’m a big sushi fan and came here with a group of friends for a birthday celebration. We had made reservations. We arrived promptly at the designated time and we were seated right away. I immediately noticed the nice ambiance and décor. This place is pretty well decorated. You can definitely tell some TLC went into it.
The menu is pretty extensive and we opted to get the deluxe sushi boat for our group. We also ordered a la carte such as uni and toro. The toro was overpriced and the uni tasted a bit old. However, the sushi boat was darn good! We also got some cold sake which was nice! At the end there was free green tea ice cream and who can say no to free food, right?!
Verdict: I’ll come back the next time I’m in the area…

We came here on a Sunday evening and the place was very busy but there was no wait for a table. Great! Service was wonderful.
We ordered the tuna tower, sashimi salad, Kobe roll, Oregon roll, smoked salmon sashimi, qual egg nigiri with ikora, and seaweed salad.
The seaweed salad was the best I’ve ever had. It was appallingly good. We also particularly enjoyed sashimi salad, the smoked salmon sashimi and the Kobe roll. Those are really really delicious dishes.
I’ll skip the tuna tower and Oregon roll next time to save room for more delicious things. :)

I wasn’t all that impressed with Yama. We ordered the Mighty Mango, the Fiery Jack and the Volcano rolls.
I really did enjoy the Mighty Mango a lot, but the other two left me feeling a little sick to my stomach. I didn’t like all the sauce that was poured on top of those two rolls.
We ordered the Fiery Jack and Volcano because our server recommended them. Their pictures on the menu looked good but when they arrived they were drenched in sauces and unfortunately that was all I could taste.
It’s nice sitting outside on a sunny day and their green tea was really great, along with the service. If I go again I will make sure not to order a roll with sauce on it since they seem to be a little heavy handed with the bottle…

The Yuzu Hamachi roll was fantastic. The unagi sauce was the best part about it (a bit sweet to balance the fish).
I also got the Big Easy, one of their House Classic Rolls. It was good but not great. A bit on the plain side. Next time, I’ll just order 2 rolls from their Signature menu.
Overall, this sushi joint has a classy but not stuffy ambience that’s perfect for a meet up with friends or for a casual date night.
4.5

I liked this place so much that we went twice in one weekend!
The bf and I stopped by for dinner on a Friday night. They don’t take reservations so we walked in around 8pm. The only space they had open for two was at the bar. Totally fine with us! We like seeing all the action behind the deliciousness. :)
CUCUMBER SALAD — It was just sliced cucumbers in a ponzu like sauce. Very simple and refreshing.
LIVE UNI — Uni is best fresh and this was super fresh! It came with quite a few pieces. Definitely a dish that should be shared. unless you like uni-​dose (uni-​dose, overdose. get it, get it?! *Crickets.*).
SPICY HAMACHI POKE — Super fresh hamachi. I could have used a bit more heat, but this was good.
TUNA TOWER — Such a pretty dish and then you mash it all together creating somewhat of a deconstructed sushi roll without the seaweed. This is creamy yumminess. We asked for some Sriracha to spice things up a bit, but this was tasty.
YAKI UDON W CHICKEN — This was my favorite dish. The yaki udon sauce is savory and sweet and goes perfectly with the thick udon noodles, veggies, and chicken. Yum! Comes with miso soup too. Also good.
The second time we came was the very next day for an early dinner. It was our last day in Portland and the only think I really wanted to eat was the Yaki Udon… What can I say? I love noodles!
SCALLOPS FROM THE SPECIALS MENU — Sliced scallops in a very refreshing citrus sauce. Really delicious!
YAKI UDON W BEEF — This was the only think that I wanted to eat for dinner. hehe. The bf liked the beef option better. Just as good as the first time we had it!
Food is reasonably priced — the specials are a bit more expensive, but worth it! Service was good. I can see why the locals frequent this place!

Some of the freshest sushi and friendliest service in all the land! The famous tuna tower was the culinary highlight of our Portland trip — layers of rice, spicy tuna, crab salad, regular tuna, avocado, row, and spicy sauces — a perfect appetizer to share, or a meal for one person. Be sure to check out their daily specials menu, where we found a foie gras + uni nigiri dish that was divine. You can tell the fish is top notch here, but the prices are incredibly reseasonable. Our bill was $ 52 for 2, and we stuffed ourselves! God, I love Portland.
The atmosphere is classy but low-​key, with a small bar/​lounge area and a separate dining room for larger groups. Service was incredible: smiley, energetic and attentive. For sushi cravings, nothing beats Yama. We will be dreaming of it until the next time we’re in PDX.
For sake fans, there’s TONS of that too!