Sagami Japanese Restaurant

09/19/09

Well prepared authentic food with down home service.....

by aversetospam at Citysearch

This positive review is based on six visits to Sagami with groups of two to four people tasting each other's orders. Sagami offers good authentic Japanese food with friendly service.

The very best Japanese food is ethereal and simple -- a yu-dofu restaurant on the grounds of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, a tiny sushi place with no sign near the Tokyo fish market where one leaves choice in the hands the chef, an extraordinary feast prepared from the freshest imaginable local ingredients on a farm on the Inland Sea. No Japanese restaurant I have tried in the United States rises to those standards. Sagami does not pretend to be a fancy place. But iIt offers traditional relatively simple dishes prepared with care and does so with reasonable prices.

The appetizers were a delight, with a fine selection of seaweed salads, an excellent vegetable tempura, perfectly prepared cold asparagus with gome, great eggplant with miso. Also the usual gyoza, pickled vegetables and edamame.

The sushi and sashimi were excellent, with carefully selected fish, urchin, and shellfish that was fresh and properly sliced. The rice were handled correctly -- the texture and flavor were spot on. Good quality nori. Sushi was properly formed. Sitting at the sushi bar irecommended here. The guys working the sushi bar know what they are doing.

The entrees included well prepared simple dishes like the kitsune udon and soba, a perfectly balanced yosenabe, and the usual sukiyaki and teriyaki. I would have liked to see even more traditional fare such as a yu-dofu dinner and grilled salted mackerel on the menu.

The soup and salad provided with the full course dinner were pretty ordinary. The deserts ran toward redbean and green tea ice cream. Not bad. But I would save stomach space for the appetizers and entrees.

Service: The kimono clad server was very good with the novice diners at the next table. The folks next to us asked lots of questions and got what struck us as very good advice.

Location: Bad. The location on bucolic Route 130 and 1975 strip mall ambience are not reasons for going to Sagami.

Directions: First timers going to Sagami on southbound 130 take note -- they must make a very sharp right up into the parking lot just before the underpass carrying the Lindenwald High Speed line. Some of the online maps were inaccurate.

• Pros: Good selection of traditional dishes at reasonable prices
• Cons: Location was not the strong poin

05/12/09

don't bother...

by chugskid at Citysearch

Let me first say I've never been to Japan...but if this is as "traditional" as it gets...I'm not impressed. I eat sushi from various restaurants at least 3-4 times a week (i know...mercury poisoning...whatever) and this doesn't even compare to a few other places I've been...Mikado, Yama, Akira, POD, and many places in the Philadelphia area. I also don't prefer Japanese fusion (See Akira if you do), which is partly why i was excited to try Sagami. 7 of us went there before a play in collingswood, and everyone we were with was unhappy and said they wouldn't go back. I opened the menu and thought it was the app menu at first...only 10 rolls TOTAL to choose from (Mikado has 2 pages front and back of special rolls to go along with their regular menu of sushi), ranging from 5-12 dollars. it's small, dark and very cramped (i'm 6'2" and my head touched the ceiling). We brought 2 bottles of wine, and instead of them opening it for us, they just handed us a bottle opener. we were packed in and the family behind us had a 2 yr old who banged his spoon on the table for about 15 minutes until I gave his parents the "are you serious" look 3 times. the phone rang off the hook and was as loud as a pay phone. the food didn't come out together, and my friend's order was wrong. i told myself i wasn't going to judge the place on these other unpleasant factors, as long as the sushi was good. it finally came out (not with everyone else's food...i was almost done by the time my gf's food came out) and the presentation was ok at best...what kind of respectable sushi place thinks that plastic paper grass they give you in the mall sushi represents good presentation?? anyway...my sushi wasn't great...got 3 rolls and didn't even bother finishing them (and i can house sushi). all we heard about was how fresh the fish was...but it was VERY fishy...which to me means...it's not very fresh. all in all, none of us said we'd go back and I told my buddy i'd try it one more time (to be fair) with him...but he has to pay.

• Pros: inexpensive
• Cons: small, cramped, loud, poor service, ok sushi

03/18/09

can't say

by majinbuu258 at Citysearch

I always believe the services is just as important as the food. Base on the reviews I was excited to go to Sagami.

My g/f work in haddonfield and she get out of work at 5:00pm on Sat. I figure, it's a perfect time to try Sagami out. When we got there, it was packed. I figure there is going to be a long wait but didn't mind. When the lady as if we had reservation, we said no. After that, we were ignored. No comment about we NEED to make reservations. OR if will be a long wait, or a simple, sorry we are full today and can't take you guys... after we said no, it felt like we no longer exist anymore.

• Pros: ...
• Cons: RUDE