Yamasake Review: New Sushi Spot in Neptune Beach

Yamasake is the newest sushi restaurant in Neptune Beach, and I love sushi, so I was excited to try it out and experience their kaiseki style omakase Japanese cuisine. Read on for my review of Yamasake. It has potential, but when spending $200+ for two people, I expect a bit more out of the experience.

Yamasake Sushi Restaurant Review

Yamasake is located at 556 Atlantic Blvd., Neptune Beach, FL, in the plaza with what locals call the “baby Publix.” They offer high-end Japanese cuisine and a full bar with sake and specialty cocktails.

I forgot to take pics of the decor, but the inside is nice and spacious. It has a dark decor (black, purple, blue) with low lights and looks like a very “date night” kind of sushi place.

We sat at the bar, because it’s often fun to watch and interact with the sushi chefs. These sushi chefs were too busy cranking out food to ever even glance our way. The restaurant was pretty busy, and the service was very slow. After waiting a bit, my husband finally got up to go find a menu.

The service overall was pretty slow, but they are new and still experiencing some growing pains, so that is understandable. I’m sure they will get in their groove with time.

Yamasake Menu, Sake and Starters

The menu offers the usual sushi fare plus a few interesting appetizers and the omakase option. We started off on a high note with a delicious appetizer called the Bird Nest.

The presentation was great, made to look like a nest with little eggs. They were crunchy on the outside and filled with tuna. Highly recommend trying this one!

We also ordered edamame, and nothing special to report about that. It was ok edamame.

Their cold sake selection was limited, and they were out of the first one we tried. We were left with the option of the house sake or the $30 and up bottles.

We tried the house sake, which they serve cold or hot. It didn’t have much of a taste at all, so we tried a nice bottle (I forgot the name) and of course at $30 at was a great bottle of sake.

Unfortunately, it was also a small bottle, so be prepared to spend a lot of money on sake if that is your drink of choice and you like good cold sake.

Omakase Japanese Cuisine at Yamasake

Because omakase is their specialty, I read up on it first and it sounded pretty amazing. I ended up being a bit disappointed because it’s pretty much just a chef’s choice sushi platter.

Omakase (お任せ) is a Japanese dining experience where the chef curates a meal based on the freshest and highest-quality ingredients available that day. The word “omakase” translates to “I leave it up to you,” meaning that diners entrust the chef to craft a multi-course meal without ordering specific dishes.

This approach allows for a personalized, seasonal, and often artistic culinary journey, making it one of the most immersive and refined ways to experience Japanese cuisine.

The Yamasake omakase options can be seen below, with the pricing. We went for the sushi one for $60.

At Yamasake, their omakase is a single dish, presented all at the same time. The waitress went through the sushi on the platter naming the fish super-fast.

My husband was in the restroom and when he got back, I could only remember half of it. So, we had no idea what we were eating or what was special about it.

There were no other courses involved. In fact, there was nothing else involved unless you ordered it. No soup or little holiday roll like when we go to our usual sushi spot. No extra pieces or anything special. And no little dessert at the end, not even a fortune cookie.

The sushi was all very good and very fresh. The cuts were on the thin side and the rice under it was pretty skinny. I had actually chosen the sushi omakase instead of sashimi, thinking it might be more filling with the rice. I was wrong on that one.

I guess I had set myself up for a bit more after reading about omakase and this being their specialty, so while it was delicious, it was also a bit of a let down. It felt rushed rather than a special dish.

We were still quite hungry after that, so next we ordered sushi, sashimi and a Tropical Spice roll.

Yamasake Sushi and Sashimi

We ordered it at the same time, but our plate of sushi came out first, and about 20 minutes later we got the roll. Everything took a while, and we were there about three hours overall.

The sushi presentation was pretty plain. I did see some fancy looking dishes going to other tables, but ours was pretty standard presentation.

The sushi was all very fresh, though the cuts were smaller than we are used to. Some were thick but short. The king salmon and toro were excellent, but the shrimp and eel were a little lacking. The shrimp was just small and plain, and the eel was also pretty small and unimpressive.

When the Tropical Spice roll finally arrived, it was good but not actually spicy. It was just served on a plain plate, like an afterthought. It took so long to get it, that it probably was.

Not Really a Kaiseki Omakase Experience

The bill came to over $200, and we left still a bit hungry. We usually spend less than half that for a sushi night and leave stuffed.

I feel like Yamasake promised a lot but didn’t deliver. The best part of the evening was the Bird’s Nest app, because that was something I’d never seen before. But everything else, was mediocre in presentation.

The freshness of the fish was excellent, and I feel like there’s a lot of potential there. It would be great if it really was kaiseki style omakase, but I feel we didn’t get to experience that.

Understanding Kaiseki Cuisine

Read the explanation of kaiseki cuisine and you’ll understand why I was expecting a bit more-

Kaiseki is Japan’s equivalent of haute cuisine, rooted in traditional tea ceremony culture and emphasizing balance, aesthetics, and harmony. A typical kaiseki meal consists of multiple small courses, each carefully arranged to showcase the season’s freshest ingredients. Courses follow a structured sequence, often including:

• Sakizuke (先付け) – An amuse-bouche or appetizer to awaken the palate.
• Owan (御椀) – A delicate soup, often with seasonal seafood or vegetables.
• Mukōzuke (向付) – Sashimi course, highlighting the best fresh fish.
• Yakimono (焼物) – A grilled dish, such as fish or meat.
• Agemono (揚げ物) – A fried dish, often tempura or lightly battered seafood.
• Nimono (煮物) – A simmered dish, bringing out the depth of flavors.
• Gohan (御飯) – Rice course, often served with pickles and miso soup.
• Mizumono (水物) – A light dessert, such as seasonal fruit or wagashi (Japanese sweets).

That would have been amazing if it was anything like that! In fact, our usual sushi spot is closer to a kaiseki cuisine experience, and I didn’t even know it.

Would I Eat at Yamasaki Again?

I would like to go back maybe in a couple months and see if they are better with their service and presentation. While some things were lacking, the overall sushi was fresh and tasty.

It is definitely worth a try if you like sushi and are looking for a new spot for dinner. Just lower your expectations (mine were too high), be prepared to spend big bucks and make sure you have plenty of time to spare.

You can learn more about Yamasake on their website: https://www.yamasakifl.com/