Sakura Teppanyaki & Sushi

A Disgraceful Experience at Sakura Teppanyaki – Beware of Predatory Parking Practices

We have been loyal customers of Sakura Teppanyaki for the past four years, always enjoying great experience until we encountered an absolute nightmare this past weekend.

We had a 7:00 PM reservation and arrived early, parking in Sakura’s designated lot at 6:15 PM. Since we had 45 minutes before our reservation, we decided to walk around the neighborhood for 15 minutes before heading into Sakura. While waiting, we stopped by Trader Joe’s across the street to pick up drinks, as we believed that Sakura was BYOB.

At around 6:30 PM, we entered Sakura, only to be informed that they were not BYOB. To avoid any issues, I immediately went back to our car to put the drinks away — and that’s when I saw that our vehicle had been booted by Innovative Parking Solutions, despite the fact that we were legitimate customers of Sakura.

As I stood there, reading the fake "parking tickets" they had put in our car door, two employees from Innovative Parking Solutions aggressively approached me, invading my personal space within six inches. They adopted a hostile and demanding tone, insisting that I pay $170 to have the boot removed. They claimed I was not a customer of any business in the lot and that I would have to pay a fine.

I explained that we had a valid reservation at Sakura, that the parking sign clearly stated we were allowed to park there, and that I had only returned to my car to store our drinks. My wife and her friend were in Sakura now with the friends we were meeting. Rather than listening, they escalated their aggression, repeatedly interrupting, dismissing, and threatening me. One of them warned that our car would be towed, which would have cost $500 if we didn’t comply. Their aggressive stance, intimidation tactics, and refusal to de-escalate made it clear they were attempting to extort us with fabricated rules.

To make matters worse, one of the employees falsely accused me of driving under the influence, despite the fact that I had not driven at all — my wife was our designated driver that evening. This baseless and reckless accusation was not only offensive but also a clear attempt to further intimidate us into compliance.

Their behavior completely ruined our evening and made us feel unsafe.

Thankfully, Sakura’s manager came outside and confronted the parking employees on our behalf. Even then, they were stubborn and argumentative, refusing to acknowledge their mistake. Only after being forced to call their boss did they realize THEY WERE IN THE WRONG AND THEY HAD TO REMOVE THE ILLEGAL PARKING BOOT. Even then, they did not apologize for their behavior, their threats, or their attempt to shake us down for money.

Message to Sakura Management
First, thank you to the manager who stepped in to help remove the illegal boot. However, you must address this issue with your landlord or whoever contracts Innovative Parking Solutions. You have just lost a loyal customer for life due to their shady, unethical business practices.

Our car was illegally booted for over. an hour — what if there had been an emergency? No customer should be subjected to public harassment, intimidation, and false accusations simply for dining at your restaurant.

Furthermore, Innovative Parking Solutions must severely reprimand the English-speaking employee involved. His arrogance, lack of professionalism, hostility, and outright false accusations made this a truly appalling experience.

Final Warning to Future Customers
To anyone considering visiting Sakura Teppanyaki — beware. You risk being illegally booted, harassed, falsely accused, and extorted by Innovative Parking Solutions, even with a valid reservation.

We will never return, and many others we know won’t either.

It is disgracefu

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

The cleanliness is not the best. The area I was sitting smelled and the silverware, plates, etc were dirty. I had to ask for a new one, and my food had a black woman's hair. If the waitress sheds, have her wear a hair net.

The food was cooked very well and flavorful. Would definitely go back and try their other items.
Had their tepp combo pick 2 (steak and scallops) and orange chicken.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Steak Teppanyaki

Best food in Lincoln park.sever so nice .so clean here. I will comeback here with my family ~

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Super fun. Food was okay but didn't pop like other hibachi restaurants we've been to.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 4

I’ve been here a few times. It’s always fun. The food and drinks never disappoint. Don’t be like my friend and say “Opa!” when they like the grill on fire.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Fun place to go to with family or friends. Hugh portions. Had chicken and shrimp. My son had the same as well as steak. Grandkids had noodles. They really like them but I was not a fan as they were too soft and the brown sauce didn’t suit me, nor was the spicy brown sauce as a side sauce for something, I know not what. We all enjoyed the cooking and antics of the chef and the service was great. Will definitely go again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

So amazing, the quality of the food and service was superb. I would highly recommend coming here for a lunch or dinner after work with friends.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Gyoza

I made a reservation at 6 PM for my birthday dinner for 10 people all coming from different places. I arrived at 5:55 and was told I could not be seated until my whole party arrived. I communicated that I already knew 2 people would be late. We were seated and told that if we did not order in the next two minutes for everybody, we would be moved. We ended up moving to a regular table since we would’ve only been given 20 min to eat an entire replant ski dinner. The staff continually rushed us, wouldn’t give us time to socialize, observe the menu, etc. Ultimately the food was great, but service policies were not appropriately communicated and negatively affected the dining experience.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 2

Great food, friendly staff. Absolutely love it!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great overall experience. Everything was amazing.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

My wife and I got here around 2:30 and got a table to ourselves. What an amazing experience to wrap up 2024! The food, performance, and service was outstanding! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Steak Teppanyaki, Miso Soup, Sushi

Great food and service. We enjoyed the teppanyaki show/chef and sushi. We will definitely be back. The atmosphere is clean with TVs in the bar. My only complaint is that there is no diaper changing station the bathroom.

Parking: Free parking in the Walgreens parking lot

Kid-friendliness: We brought 3 young children with us and they all enjoyed themselves

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Sushi, Roll, Gyoza

Called on Christmas Eve and asked if we needed a reservation for 3 people at 5pm. We were told just to come in. We arrived at 455pm to a completely empty restaurant. We were seated and immediately asked to sit against the wall at the corner of the table. We politely asked why and since we were the first ones in the place why would we be shoved into the corner. We were told “fine” just sit there but you might get asked to move later. I took my daughter to the restroom and come back to see my wife was moved to the corner and there were 5 people and 2 children one in a carrier. It would not have been so bad but the carrier had a better seat than we did. The restaurant was ok with this so we got up and walked out. We felt so disrespected during the entire process. If this was a cheap burger joint it might have okay but .. it is not.

Atmosphere: 1

Service: 1

We walked in and the place seemed descent. The service was great and the drinks were ok. We ordered the Teppanyaki and were truly disappointed. I ordered the dinner combo with salmon and tofu and it came with vegetables, fried rice, soup, and salad. All of the dishes were cooked with a very large amount of butter and oil, which I did not expect. There were barely any seasonings and the butter and oil took over the flavor of the dishes. My spouse ordered the dinner combo with chicken and their food was also covered with butter and oil and very little seasoning. My spouse and I are both non-dairy and we did not expect to have everything cooked in butter because I never thought butter went into fried rice or the other items. We were truly disappointed - we spent over $100 and ate very little because of the dairy. We will never go back.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Miso Soup