Pie reviews Sake House in 5 Points

Sake House

824 Lomax Street

Jacksonville, FL 32204

(904) 301-1188

www.sakehousejax.com

One of the old standards for sushi in the 5 Points area of Jacksonville, Florida, has been Sake House for the last several years now. When you visit Sake House one of the things you can count on is good food and inconsistent service. There have been times I have walked out on Sake House due to the service. Mind you, it takes a lot for me to walk out on any restaurant. But the quality of the food is always very good if not great.

Back Dining Room

 There are two entrances to Sake House on either side of the 5 Points intersection. With plenty of parking in the front of either door, you should give them a try. The door on the Margaret Street will put you in to the larger and more romantic dining area. Another feature to the Margaret Street side is the out door covered area to dine. Another reason for people to sit in the patio area is this is the smoking area due to the no smoking law in restaurants in Florida. The other door is on Lomax Street. If you enter on Lomax you will be able to sit at the sushi bar and watch them make your order right in front of you. The sushi bar is nice and seems to be popular for the happy hour crowd.

Sushi Bar

Before we ordered I wanted to wash my hands. When I entered the rest room I noticed that it is your standard small facility. The room is a one commode room with a sink. It is obvious that they wanted to make it very accessible for the handicapped. The room is clean and the only drawback I can see is if the place gets busy you will need to wait. I can only believe that it is the same for the ladies room. When I got back to the table I was happy to see mushroom soup waiting for me. As a fan of the mushroom I looked forward to the bowl, and I was not disappointed. The soup was hot and refreshing.

Usually when I go to the Sake House, I enjoy a salad with ginger dressing. On this stop, the salad was not even offered to me. However, I am not going to complain (this time). If you have read my ‘about me’, then you know that I am not a sushi fan. On this particular visit I decided to go the sushi route even though Sake House offers Hibachi, Teriyaki, Katsu and Tempura items. In every sushi place there are different names for certain items that may be offered at other places. What I ordered was the Egg (okay, this one is basic. Just chilled scrambled egg on rice). Also a JB Roll which is smoked salmon and cream cheese. The last of the rolls I ordered was a Jimmy Smith (named after the former NFL football player no doubt). The Jimmy Smith consists of smoked salmon, crab, cream cheese and deep fried with a spicy sauce on top. As a side I ordered fried rice and some shrimp sauce to pour over it. The staff never even offered a fork to us. For me this was not an issue, but to others, I can see how it would be. In my opinion chopsticks are not that difficult, but that is just a personal belief. 

The rolls took a little longer to come out than I had expected. But they were well worth it. The amount of food was perfect and the flavor was wonderful. One of the things I have not experimented with is the wasabi. It has been enough of a challenge to get me to eat sushi mind you, but on this visit I decided to put a little wasabi on the JB roll, then dip it into the soy sauce. Oh now that was good! This will be an item that I will absolutely have again. The Jimmy Smith was hot in both temperature and spice. The rice was a great topper for my meal. If you noticed I did not mention the egg item. The egg is always the same at almost every place you visit. The one thing about the egg and rice is that if there is a distinct flavor then you can be sure that there is a cleanliness issue there. You see, the egg will absorb any odor (good or bad) that may be in the cooler.

Tempura Fried Ice Cream

The server came to take our plates and leave the check. Before she left she offered us ice cream tempura. We could not refuse, well I could not refuse. Rhonette has the gluten allergy thing going on so I ate the outer shell and left the ice cream and whipped cream for her. Well, the shell was good and the little bit of ice cream I had was too. They did a great job on the presentation of the dish as well.

 This whole meal was under $40 which for sushi is not that bad. There have been times when I have gone for sushi with friends and it has cost almost double what it was for us per person. Now I will point out to you that we did not have any alcohol with our meal. I had a Diet Coke and Rhonette had a Hot Tea (which she said was very good). Just an FYI for you that the Sake House offers beer, wine and a very extensive sake selection.

 There are two locations of Sake House. This review is in the 5 Points area, the other location is on the South Bank near downtown Jacksonville. The location that we visited offers both dine in and carry out. They also accept reservations. Now I have never thought of doing reservations here, but on certain nights when 5 Points is busy you may want to give them a call. Otherwise, the hours for Sake House are as follows. Mon-Wed 11am till 10pm, Thur-Sat 11am until 11pm and finally on Sun 12pm until 9pm. These are the hours that are posted on the door. However, the hours on the take out menu indicate a two hour break from 3 until 5 on Mon thru Sat. I look forward to seeing you at Sake House.

Review by Pie, email: pie@piesplate.com