Sakura Japanese Restaurant

Osaka Moline has been great every time I've been there. You can either sit on the hibachi side or the sushi bar side, depending on your mood. I love them both.

The hibachi side features a bunch of large flat-top grills where the chefs will come out and prepare your food in front of you. There's various forms of merriment, like spatulas being tossed about, pools of lighter fluid being ignited with a dashing flair, and morsels of food being haphazardly thrown into your mouth from a short distance, etc. These things can be entertaining, at least for the first couple of visits. At this point, I've been there so many times that I prefer to dispense with the fanfare and just get on with the process of shoving as much in my mouth in one sitting as possible. In cases like this, you can sit on the sushi side and order hibachi anyway. Rather than wheeling a portable 5' x 3' grill over to your table, they just cook the food in the back and bring it to you on a plate like most places would. You could also flip it and sit on the hibachi side while ordering sushi, if you crave sushi but happen to feel like watching utensils being thrown around that particular day.

The food is always delicious. The hibachi meals really just amount to a huge pile of fried rice with chicken / beef, etc, but it's goooooood. It's a little pricey when you think about it like that, but I typically remedy this by not thinking about it like that.

I would not consider myself a sushi connoisseur, but all the sushi I've ever had at Osaka has been very good, and seemed fresh. I've only dared to try the sashimi once (since I'm not a big fish person), and it was as good as pieces of raw fish would be expected to be to somebody who is not a big fish person.

I'll keep going back, and this is always a good place to bring guests from out of town.