Sakura: Hole-in-the-Wall Japanese Resto and Grocery

To those people who are always in Glorietta, do you notice these line of small restaurants/cafe's on the 2nd floor just past Italianni's?

This restaurant my Mom and I tried one random Sunday evening is sort of hole-in-the-wall, and not as popular as the big named Japanese restaurants out there. Sakura Japanese Restaurant and Grocery is a restaurant you pass by when you come from Nike or Italianni's going to be SM. It's just small, and fades away against the flurry of colorful cloths being sold at the cloths store beside it.

It all started out when Mom (who has been craving for Miso soup at home since forever) saw their huge display of Japanese goodies. At first I was no interested but when I saw that elusive AUTHENTIC JAPANESE MAYONNAISE (I've been craving for since forever), it got me SOLD! Mom bought 2 packs of Miso soup and a pack of seaweed. The Japanese Mayo was mine for the taking!

They also sold other authentic Japanese stuff like teriyaki sauce, seasonings, and even noodles. They're all in Japanese, so just ask the really helpful waiters for the stuff you need and they'll bring it to you!


But it's so nice to look at the display. They're so colorful, and with the Japanese characters, not only does it prove its authenticity it also looks like a scene out of a Japanese cartoon or something!

We left the store with our goodies, but Mom seemed dissatisfied just buying from the restaurant. Originally, we were supposed to eat at Gino's Eats and Beats that night. But she once again craved for Miso soup, and so right after Sunday Mass, we found ourselves back at Sakura for dinner.

Look at their cute menu!

We ordered our usual, tried and tested, go-to Japanese food. It's like it has become our standard to saying if the Japanese restaurant is good nor not. At the same time, we wished it was not a disaster like the unfortunate incident we had at Kitaro. That was still very much fresh in our minds!

I ordered the Ebi Tempura Udon. Which is a disappointment!

It had too much stuff in it that you couldn't understand what you were eating anymore. The soup was not good at all, I was deciding whether it was shoyu or miso based. But the tempura was okay, I guess the taste will remain the same wherever you go!

We shared the Maguro Sashimi.

Now, this was good! Perhaps the only good one we ordered. It was fresh and still had that sweet twang to it! We finished this within seconds!

Mom ordered the Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box. She ordered this because it had her favorite Miso Soup.

Mom didn't finish it because it wasn't really tasty. The chicken teriyaki looked like it was just re-heated. The salad was dry. But Mom enjoyed her second round of Maguro Sashimi! :)

To be honest this was kind of disappointing. If it weren't for their friendly servers, it would've been another disastrous Sunday evening meal! Seriously I am now kind of scared to try out new Japanese food haunts. It's almost always a serious flop, and I regret not putting my foot down on going all the way to Jupiter and eat at Gino's!

I'm really hoping that for those who get to read this, you get to have better luck than we do! Maybe you could recommend other dishes we should try in these restaurants so I could slowly change my mind about it! So hit me up! :D


Sakura Japanese Restaurant & Grocery
2/F Glorietta 4
Ayala Center
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel. No. 728-2512