This positive review is based on six visits to Sagami with groups of two to four people tasting each other's orders. Sagami offers good authentic Japanese food with friendly service.
The very best Japanese food is ethereal and simple -- a yu-dofu restaurant on the grounds of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, a tiny sushi place with no sign near the Tokyo fish market where one leaves choice in the hands the chef, an extraordinary feast prepared from the freshest imaginable local ingredients on a farm on the Inland Sea. No Japanese restaurant I have tried in the United States rises to those standards. Sagami does not pretend to be a fancy place. But iIt offers traditional relatively simple dishes prepared with care and does so with reasonable prices.
The appetizers were a delight, with a fine selection of seaweed salads, an excellent vegetable tempura, perfectly prepared cold asparagus with gome, great eggplant with miso. Also the usual gyoza, pickled vegetables and edamame.
The sushi and sashimi were excellent, with carefully selected fish, urchin, and shellfish that was fresh and properly sliced. The rice were handled correctly -- the texture and flavor were spot on. Good quality nori. Sushi was properly formed. Sitting at the sushi bar irecommended here. The guys working the sushi bar know what they are doing.
The entrees included well prepared simple dishes like the kitsune udon and soba, a perfectly balanced yosenabe, and the usual sukiyaki and teriyaki. I would have liked to see even more traditional fare such as a yu-dofu dinner and grilled salted mackerel on the menu.
The soup and salad provided with the full course dinner were pretty ordinary. The deserts ran toward redbean and green tea ice cream. Not bad. But I would save stomach space for the appetizers and entrees.
Service: The kimono clad server was very good with the novice diners at the next table. The folks next to us asked lots of questions and got what struck us as very good advice.
Location: Bad. The location on bucolic Route 130 and 1975 strip mall ambience are not reasons for going to Sagami.
Directions: First timers going to Sagami on southbound 130 take note -- they must make a very sharp right up into the parking lot just before the underpass carrying the Lindenwald High Speed line. Some of the online maps were inaccurate.
Pros: Good selection of traditional dishes at reasonable prices
Cons: Location was not the strong poin
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