Sakura House

Sakura House is located in the O-Zone strip of restaurants near the cinema at Knox City Shopping Centre. Kin and I went to dinner there as Jo and Paul were busy. We said that we were going to eat something cheap, but such is the case, it always works out the opposite. Had I known what I know now, we should have gone to a top notch restaurant and enjoyed ourselves fully. More on that later.

The restaurant interior looks nice, with very tall ceilings and simple clean decor. The 2 metre water feature right next to me was very cool indeed. The only slightly strange part was why they didn't put a ceiling on. The open beams meant you could see all the air duct pipes, all grey and covered in dust. Kin was saying wouldn't a lot of dust drop down from those ducts and I would have to agree.


Kin ordered a clear Chicken Broth Soup to start and we opted for entrees of Fried Oysters and our usual must have Beef Tataki. The fried oysters didn't taste so good, with the oysters tasting a bit off and not fresh at all. It was definitely a frozen job as I've bought those frozen Canadian oysters in a packet before and they have that really strong taste.


The Beef Tataki was good, with the thin strips of beef covered in a good light sauce with the obligatory onions underneath. I like it when they cook just the outer part of the beef very quickly.


The Sashimi Platter was definitely not good. The fish did not have flavours or the right textures. In fact, some of it was still frozen, with ice crystals still in them. It didn't live up to the price at all.


The Yaki Niku was rather ordinary. The beef didn't have enough of a grilled flavour at all, more like a pan fried flavour.


The Wafu Steak with Special Sauce was not good either. Apart from the steak being rather chewy, the salad was just a mess without flavour.


Ok so now back to the issue of a cheap meal. When we looked at the menu outside, it was totally different to the menu we got inside. We realised the outside menu must have been a lunch menu. This is slightly deceptive as we entered the restaurant on the food displayed on that menu. Anyway, when we saw the prices on the main menu, we were like "What the heck, lets go all out and enjoy ourselves". The place looked very nice and obviously were trying to pass themselves as a high class establishment considering the prices. We gave them a chance, but they failed miserably.

The service was rushed and rather pushy. The lady kept asking "Are you sure you don't want rice" three times. No, we didn't want any rice. She was also very abrupt, walking off before I even made my drink order.

The food was so disappointing given the prices. The meal ended up costing $50 each, a massive amount that could get you so much more at better restaurants. Let's put the price of this meal into perspective. The Movida experience that I constantly rave on about cost $46 and included French wine and dessert. The Horoki experience that I enjoyed so much with their innovative Japanese food that included a free dessert only cost $25. Finally, the truly high class service and food that we got at Isthmus of Kra cost $60. There we weren't rushed at all and the food matched the prices.

Hence, I think it's fairly obvious that I won't be visiting this establishment again. Truly disappointing experience, with the final straw being when I wanted to use the toilet. The waitress said they didn't have a toilet, or one they were willing to let patrons use anyway. Isn't it illegal not to have a toilet in a restaurant? Speaking of toilets, my ultra sensitive stomach also had a "reaction" to their food which left me in the toilet for quite a while when I got home.

Overall Rating: 7/20, Food not good and way too expensive. You can eat at some of Victoria's best restaurant for the same amount of money.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.