Yama Sushi Roll House

Reviews

• Hondo Q.

  star star star star star 15 October 2026

  In town from Ohio helping the young one get settled in to her new home in Portsmouth, and wanted some sushi. We're semi familiar with the area, and our mainstay used to be Mahi-mahs down at the beach. The girls did some searching online and opted for Yama's.  So we got in the car and headed there. The area was "hopping", and lively (pleasant for a Friday night), and the parking garage around the corner had plenty of room and was only $5.
  The only "downside" to the restaurant is it's small size. Which for my preference, I would consider a plus. The service throughout our stay was perfectly timed and pleasant. The ambiance was clean, cozy, and has an authentic Japanese style. The bulk of the five star rating weighs in on the cuisine  We started with the edamame, potstickers, and shrimp tempura, and shared a bottle of plum wine with our meal. Our first second course was the Miso and Yama salad with ginger dressing. For our main course we had several rolls; the Dream, the Salad, the Ichibam, and the California roll. And finally we were presented with mini-eclairs for desert.
  I cannot over-emphasize how absolutely perfect every dish was. Preparation, timing, presentation, paring, flavor, and textures were all outstanding! All of the rolls were great, but my favorite was the Dream roll.  I think it got this name, because after you have it you go home and dream about it.  
  Next time I'm in town I definitely plan on returning!

• Kristen K.

  star star star star_border star_border 14 October 2026

  Heard this was the best sushi in the area so I had to try it out but I was pretty disappointed. I should start by saying I have a high standard for sushi.
  
  The ambience is lovely and relaxing, the place is quaint and clean, and the service is excellent-my waitress was on top of her duties. I was in and out within 30 mins on a Tuesday evening.
  
  I got the Yama Roll combo, which is 2 rolls and a salad for $16.95 (plus $4 glasses of wine for happy hour, can't be beat). Really greet deal! Salad was just some lettuce with a peanut ginger sauce, it was fine. The rolls were just not good. I ordered the shrimp tempura and the Dancing roll. Both came out warm and slightly steaming still, since they had just been fried. The dancing roll was so fishy from the crab stick (menu said crab meat so I assumed it was real and not crab stick but it wasn't) and the batter gave it a gummy texture from frying. There was no crunch, there was just a single flavor and mushy texture throughout. Couldn't finish the roll. The shrimp tempura was ok, it also was soggy after frying, and it's not like I waited long to start digging in. Overall, I was just unimpressed with the quality and taste
  
  They did give an order of shrimp tempura and a cute little eclair for dessert on the house (neither of which I asked for), which is a nice touch, and admittedly, were the 2 best parts of this meal.

• Julian B.

  star star star star_border star_border 12 October 2026

  Ambiance was good.
  Service was good, very friendly and courteous.
  Edamame was ok, I typically like it with a little more salt.
  Food.... Could have been better. I was excited to try it. Presentation was wonderful. but the tuna roll was not good quality fish and the Salmos and crab were similar. Just did not seem fresh. It was food lion grade in my opinion. The sashimi was excellent.
  Lastly, the desert was good. It was two mini eclairs courtesy of the Chef.
  
  Overall it they did a nice and it was good. As stated just a few improvements. We'll give it another shot soon.

• Luis J.

  star star star star star 4 October 2026

  The real crab on their sushi is why this place is 5 in my book. The restaurant is small and the waitress was attentive and knowledgeable. Her picks were dead on and the freshest crabs I had while in Norfolk. Try this place out

• Chris M.

  star star star star star_border 30 September 2026

  Yama has been one of my favorite sushi restaurants. I've been to the one at General Booth and Princess Anne, and I was glad to see the newly opened location off Granby street, which has been open for a couple of months. This location really is different than the others. It's a LOT smaller but more trendy looking with a lot of wooden beams throughout the restaurant.
  
  As we were browsing the menu, we were served edamame. I was hungry with a bento box in mind, which is a usual lunch special I get when having sushi. I did notice they do not serve kitchen items, such as teriyaki, yakisoba, katsu, etc as the other places do. The reason, I'm told is because this location is too small for a kitchen and they're leaning towards healthier menu options.
  I couldn't decide between the iron man or candy cane roll but it must've been my lucky day, because the candy cane came out complimentary. Everything tasted fresh and at the end our meal, we were presented with eclairs and a gift card to come back! Obviously I'll be back again very soon. Yama really does know how to take care of their customers.