(January 31, 2013) — The sizzling sound of oil hitting the grill was audible from the moment I rushed into Sakura for a late reservation. Luckily, despite my party’s late arrival, we were still seated. Like many Japanese grills, Sakura has family-style seating, meaning that up to ten people can sit at one grill, and small parties are seated with others. At first service was slow; it took a waitress 20 minutes to take our order. The minute I opened the fan-shaped menu, it was evident that the bill would be expensive. Food started at a minimum of $25 dish. Once the table’s orders were taken, it took an additional 15 minutes for the salad to arrive, followed by the soup. Once the first two courses were finished, another 20 minutes passed before our chef arrived and began cooking. By this time we had been sitting for one hour. The chef finally arrived and began to cook the vegetables. One of the problems with the grill is that each food item has to be prepared separately, so either each dish has to be individually eaten, or there is an option of waiting until the end to eat the food at various temperatures. The service from here picked up; the chef worked quickly. His work seemed effortless; it was evident that he had been working at the restaurant for awhile. He first dropped the vegetables onto the grill, then squirted a generous amount of oil onto them, and began to dice them with a meticulous speed. He pushed the mountain of vegetable for ten to the side, them dropped the noodles onto the grill, which promptly followed by a second round of oil, this time accompanied by margarine and soy sauce. Our chef then took a quarter of the vegetables and mixed them with the noodles, completing the Yakisoba dish. He perfectly divided the portions and served them with speed. As I was enjoying the Yakisoba, the chef began to prepare all of the meat, seafood, and poultry. The grill is was at an extremely high temperature, so it was prepared in a matter of minutes. Of course, the meat was seasoned with pepper, and oil, margarine and soy sauce were added. The chef then brought the pile of vegetables that were off to the side back to the center of the grill, and added more oil, margarine and soy sauce, then portioned it out with the meat to everybody. The chef then diced up a few pieces of shrimp, and tossed them into the mouths of the people around the table. Fellow Publications member Savanna Gharibian even caught a piece of shrimp. The chef then quickly cleaned the grill, bowed and exited from the station. I hardly noticed due to the fact that I was enjoying the meal. Despite the waiting, I would definitely return to Sakura for the food and the show.