Yukiyama Japanese Restaurant

We got back from Japan a week ago and were missing the amazing food. Thankfully, my husband found Yukiyama. Wow! It was super authentic and we loved it.

We ordered way too much food not thinking the portions would be Americanized. No matter. I’m happy to have leftovers for lunch this week. We loved the gyoza (dumplings). They were so soft, delicate and flavorful. They didn’t need the sauce but the sauce was terrific. The pictures of their sushi looked good so I wanted to try it. The tuna roll was delicious and only $6. My husband loved his chashu (pork that tastes just like bacon) ramen. There were tons of noodles, huge pieces of pork and mushrooms. He really enjoyed it and was in the mood for ramen since we loved it so much in Japan. I got the chicken katsu (basically a cut up fried chicken cutlet or breast). It was so krispy, tender and flavorful. The portion was giant. It came with white rice, miso soup and the sweet and delicious katsu sauce that I love.

We wi definitely be back to try other things when we come back out to Squirrel Hill. The man who brought out the food was so sweet. We miss Japan and found an amazing new spot.

Went here because it was the only place still open that was serving ramen at 9:30pm. The vibes left high expectations: our server was wearing pajama pants, they also sell phone cases, the place was decorated with stretched out posters of Totoro, the tables were lined with placemats that not even a mouse could use as a blanket, we were served water in off-brand red solo cups, there was a TV in the corner playing SVU, and the speakers were blasting upbeat techno that sounded like a DDR loading screen.

The sushi was phenomenal. I very much appreciated that the menu had an entire page dedicated to veggie rolls. The tofu avocado roll was probably some of the best sushi I’ve ever had.

I’m knocking 1 star off because the ramen was supremely mid and they put fish in the vegetarian bowl. Also, we had trouble tracking down the staff to get them to give us the check. We waited probably 20 minutes past close.

Amazing quality of fish and ramen is so tasty, very great food quality, owner is so nice, great service

I originally found this place after googling hibachi places cause my husband said he was craving steak & chicken hibachi, so decided to give it a shot especially after seeing all the great reviews on their sushi! I ordered myself sushi and got him hibachi & a sweet potato roll lol nevertheless he said the roll was good but hibachi was very average. I’m still giving five stars because it is hands down the best sushi/sashimi I’ve had in Pittsburgh so far. The fish selection is super fresh (I mean look at the marbling on the salmon in my photo :)), and they always include something extra that I didn’t even order! I am literally craving the salmon and Hokkaido scallop sashimi every day. The rolls are also not just all rice which I’ve noticed many Japanese spots in pgh usually are. If you look at my salmon avocado roll photo, you’ll see it’s got a lot of salmon & avocado and not all rice! Also to put it in perspective of roll size, I typically would need to order 3 salmon avocado rolls to be full. I could probably get full off one order and a side of edamame for how big the rolls are!

Sushi is my hands down favorite and I’ve made it my mission to try every sushi joint in Pittsburgh. 38 restaurants in, Yukiyama ranks first in terms of best value for your buck.

If you’re a fan of salmon avocado or tuna rolls, nothing beats theirs. It’s 6 pieces instead of the usual 8, but Yukiyama makes those pieces MASSIVE and absolutely STUFFED with fish. The salmon and salmon avocado rolls are half the price of most other locations AND taste better. The rice in their rolls is well-proportioned and consistently prepared properly (not too sour, sweet, hard, or mushy).

Plus, they’re one of two locations in Pittsburgh to offer fresh wasabi, which has a much stronger and defined kick.

Service is usually very fast especially for online orders. They take Apple Pay and Venmo in addition to your usual cards + cash.

There’s a reason I’ve been here more than ten times this year!

Decor is pretty simplistic, but still nice. The place was venting cold air inside, so bring a light jacket just in case.

The food however was amazing! Best pork belly my wife had with ramen, and the sushi was also fantastic.

This unassuming sushi restaurant has the highest quality fish I've ever had at Pittsburgh, and it's quality even rivals that of gi-jin and kiku. I had the sashimi platter and all of the fish were wild caught and delicious. The highlight though, was their tuna sashimi, which is bluefin tuna if I had to guess. Compared to normal tuna you find at sushi places (which is either big eye or yellowfin), bluefin tuna is more rare and delicious. The cut of tuna they served is also very prized (something closer to chutoro than akami). If you are a tuna lover, you got to try the tuna here. Albeit, the restaurant and service can be rather unassuming, but the quality of raw ingredients here is unmatched.