Review Satori Lounge - Mount Maunganui

We had an amazing experience at Satori Lounge, the service was great. Food was so fresh and delicious and we did not have to wait long for our food to arrive. We have been looking for an awesome sushi restaurant and this met our expectations. Thank you

It was a fairly typical Friday evening in our house, I couldn’t be bothered to get creative and the Favourite Husband didn’t want gin and cheese for dinner. Preferring something light and potentially masquerading as healthy, we agreed on Japanese. Meaning the only option this side of the “dreaded bridge” was the Satori Lounge. We had previously discounted returning here after a dinner that left us feeling full and, frankly, quite nauseous. So I had reflected on this and concluded that the responsibility, or part thereof, may have sat with us and some ill advised ordering. So we returned, with trepidation, and a new found adult wisdom. This time we would choose smart. And did we ever. Sashimi. Big, chunky slabs of the freshest, most tender, tuna and salmon. Outbloodystanding. The seaweed salad was a hard pass from me. Too chunky, too “actual” seaweed. Like off a beach. I like my seaweed to not resemble actual seaweed in the slightest. I like sanitised seaweed. So I’m not going to judge the seaweed as I appreciate, my personal taste doesn’t really come in to it. On to mains of a chicken and avo sushi roll (no cream cheese - see earlier note re: nausea) This was lovely. And a Satori rice bowl with panko fried prawns, salmon and chicken. Very nice, but I felt like the chicken was processed. The service was of particular note. We interacted with, I think, 3 staff. All of whom, without exception, were so friendly and nice and polite. Let’s be honest, I’m sure they had places they’d rather be on a Friday night, but you’d never have guessed.

Always such an amazing feed of japanese goodness. Love the seaweed salad (fresh and chewy not like the preservative rich supermarket version) and the salmon/tuna/prawn tataki is to die for. Love sipping hot sake throughout. Used an entertainment book voucher and got 25% off. The lychee gin cocktail is fantastic - best cocktail menu in the city imo, many more nice ones to try - feijoa too!

It was pretty good, i really appreciate variety and very good combinations in the rolls nevertheless i’d like to make a recommendation for the “acevichada sauce” which is a sauce originated in peru, my country. The sauce is a mayonnaise sushi version of the “leche de tigre” which is the main ingredient for a real ceviche. real “Acevichada sauce” : In the blender, 1 egg, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 50ml fish stock, 50ml lime juice 1/2 tsp garlic; blend while slowly pouring the oil until getting a mayonnaise texture. Try it, everybody will love it guaranteed.

Always soooo good! Food is fresh and beautifully styled, a pleasure to visit every time I visit The Mount!

My absolutely fav japonese restaurant. Lisa and her team are great. We have been coming to Satori for years and we absolutely love it. We always recommend this place to friends and to our Airbnb guests and we always get a good feedback. Wasabi Wednesday is a great night and recently they have gluten free night on Tuesday which is an amazing idea for those can’t have gluten. Delicious cocktails too This a must try in Tauranga

First time dining here. Partner brought me here for lunch on my birthday and what a fantastic choice. Great service, high quality tasty food and an amazing atmosphere. Will def be back and highly recommend to others.

Went for a Birthday dinner and the service was amazing, even with how busy it was. Food was delicious and our server Josephine treated us like VIPs. Would definitely recommend.

Great evening. Sushi is always well presented and delicious. We had a mishap with our entree but it was deducted off the final bill which was unexpected and a pleasant surprise. We will definitely return.

Have been to satori lounge a few times now. Best food, amazing flavours, gorgeous presentation, great service, very comfortable restaurant to eat in, lovely atmosphere. Can't recommend it enough.

First visit and it won't be the last. Enjoyed our Sushi & Satori dipping sauce. Great staff & service.

Hadn’t been in a year or so and we were really happy with the food! I was also gifted a free cocktail as it was my birthday dinner - really nice gesture!

Amazing food, the Ceviche Roll is a must, with a cold Asahi on tap, and for desert the Fried Ice Cream, yumm!! Thanks for a great service, chefs and staff.

Friendly, helpful staff and the food we selected was tasty and well presented. 6 year old enjoyed her handmade sushi and had a second helping. Only unfortunate aspect was the poor acoustics which promoted a very noisy environment

A bit fancy sushi place! Sharing plates and reasonable price for great food. Will definitely come back.

The best sushi place in town and they make amazing cocktails too.

I would highly recommend this restaurant. We are a challenging group to serve with a coeliac and vegan. But plenty of options to choose from. They even have gf soy sauce. We all agreed best sushi we’ve had. The outdoor area is nice too.

An enjoyable dining experience. We've been a couple of times before, enjoyed ourselves, and decided to return. However, the menu has significantly changed now and for a slightly above average intelligence straight kiwi male, I struggled with deciphering the menu. My wife also had trouble. Soon after a quick chat with our waitress food appeared and it was delicious. Perhaps not as amazing as the previous menu items, but enjoyed just the same. My advice if you're struggling, ask the friendly and helpful wait staff.

Food is always fresh .. and the service freindly ... one of my favorite places to eat. And the do take away food as well

Everything was specified gluten free however the kitchen managed to sneak in some gluten which is not great when your partner is Coeliac. She is now seriously ill because of this. Staff were helpful when we complained and gave us 10% off the bill but unfortunately that doesn’t make up for the reaction a Coeliac gets when they ingest gluten.

Went to the mount for the weekend and got told to try this place. The service was a let down after immense delays on getting us our food even when the restaurant was not busy. Cannot fault the food but being told it’s 15mins away and then comes 30mins later is a bit annoying.

We came here for dinner last night and the service was SO slow. We got there at 8.15pm and our food didn’t come out for a whole hour. We didn’t leave the place till 9.50pm and the next place we wanted to go was closed because the food took so long. The place wasn’t busy when we got there and we didn’t order any slow cooked dishes as such. Each time we asked how long the food would take, we were almost fobbed off and told “15 more minutes” till it had been more than an hour!! There was no recognition of how long the food took either. Coming for a late dinner and getting served at 9.30pm (that too, not ALL the dishes we ordered) ends up killing your hunger. Food itself wasn’t bad but the surrounding experience made us really dislike the whole dinner. Cocktails were not mixed properly either.<br/><br/>Food: 3/5<br/>Cocktails: 2/5<br/>Deco: 3/5<br/>Ambiance: 2/5 (saw a few drunk people being allowed in to get drinks...)<br/>Service: 1/5

Great Sushi! A wide range and just something different as well which was a good change. Good location as easy to get a park as quieter at that end of the park. The food that isn't sushi isnt great. not a lot of flavors and done averagely. would go back. good lunch spot

We have been here many times and have never had a bad experience.  The food is tasty and fresh and the staff are just lovely.  Its nice to be able to sit outside when the sun is shining too.  We will definitely keep coming.

I was very disappointed with the vege dumplings, they tasted like vomit. It wasn't just me being fussy, my two other friends thought they tasted like actual vomit too. Otherwise, service was good and ambiance was nice.

Poor service...cold environment...mediocre food...it took a long time for the food to be served more than 45 mins.i expected a lot more as they had an average of 4.0 rating.i wouldn't go back here again.

2 months ago we gave the Satori Lounge a 4 and said" Great Japanese food and the sashimi was sublime. They would have got a higher rating but the service was slow - they wanted to wait until all of the order was ready!"<br/><br/>Went back tonight and it was terrible - miso soup cold, edame beans cold, yakatori chicken tasteless, sashimi rubbery. So what's happened in two months? Basically we will not be back.

If you're going here for a dinner date, order meals to share between yourselves. I don't have enough words to describe how amazing their sushi is. Presentation is awesome, generous portions and the taste is absolutely incredible. Their service and timeliness creates an overall perfect dining experience, giving them top marks in my book. If you want a great start to your night, make sure you reserve a spot as it could be the only thing getting you at all. Despite how busy they can get, it's never uncomfortably noisy or packed. I'd give them a 5.5/5 if I could.

Firstly the food was Devine & the service was great! Our visit was for lunch on a Sunday. The staff were happy & helpful. We had the recommend a dish which we loved! The ingredients were quality & fresh, there were definitely no regrets after. Looking forward to visiting again for dinner & drinks.

The sushi here is so fresh and tasty and the staff are always very friendly and helpful. I love the vibe at Satori Lounge. I would recommend the deep fried sushi! It is to die for. I have recently moved up to Auckland and this is the main thing I miss about Tauranga (apart from my family)

Wow! I had heard good things in the grapevine, but this is easily, the best sushi, and fusion expression of the food, I've ever had. Excellent service, the crew are smiley and having fun. A+

My first visit here was fantastic! The service was great as well as food and atmosphere. However I have recently been back a couple of times and have to say that it has be a bit of a disappointment. Our last visit the service was non existent, no one came to ask us if we wanted more drinks the entire evening or meal checked us. I mentioned we were disappointed to the manager when paying and she seemed to not care.

March 2019 - Great friendly staff, sashimi was delish although thickly sliced, Satori Tataki was nice, although sesame oil slightly overpowering (didn't stop us eating it all !), Mushroom California, Tempura Chicken Avo, and Salmon & Prawn Hot roll .  Nice sitting in the court yard with some warm sake and a ginger beer.  Cost $152 (but he can eat $70 sushi by himself for a snack on any given day, so shouldn't really be used as an indication on price !!)<br/>Sept 2014 - Have dined her a few times, very very nice sushi, especially the hot deep fried !Overall, atmosphere has been good, food has been delicious but a bit pricey for what you receive given average bill for two semi-hungry persons is around 90 - 110 with only two beers.Will dine here again.

I took my visiting sister out to dinner here as she loves sushi. We were very impressed (even me who isnt huge on sushi). The service was friendly and the atmostphere was nice. Affordable and tasty. Only thing is that the waitress could have been a little more attentive. However great night out and would recommend.

Yummy!!!!!<br/>First time diners and we loved it. Service was a little slow but the staff were friendly and the yummy food made up for the wait time. Recommend to everyone and they do take out so will be getting some more yummy food delivered.

Thank you for the beautiful dinner. Presentation was high as well as taste. The service was wonderful and venue beautiful. Our first time here after it being thoroughly recommended by many. Prices are justified alongside all other factors. We will definiley be back :)

We find the dinning experience at Satori Lounge very inconsistent. I will say that we have had fabulous experiences maybe a year ago or more, but of recent visits the standards seem to have dropped or management changed possibly? <br/><br/>Previously there was always banter between staff and ourselves as diners, however now the staff almost seem burdened in having to offer service. Wait times seem to have doubled, and this is with comparative numbers of patrons. <br/><br/>The food itself is still good, although something is to be said about the so called Soy Sauce which tastes very watery. <br/><br/>It is a real shame to see and hear from others that Satori Lounge seems to have lost the passion for their business, and standard of dinning.

I eat at Satori regularly with friends &amp; family (for several years)and always enjoy the experience.<br/>The food is tasty, fresh &amp; ambience relaxed - with pleasant staff &amp; friendly service.<br/>It may be not what some expect from a "sushi" restaurant -it is much more than that. <br/><br/>It appears rare to find a sushi restaurant that appeals to family or business meetings equally -always leaving us feeling that we have been looked after well with a reasonable price for great dining. <br/><br/>I appreciate the job that these guys are doing.<br/>Thanks lots.

Being from New York where there is practically a sushi shop on every corner, with all sushi being made to order, I had a hard time adjusting to all the premade sushi displayed in cabinets in NZ so discovering Satori Lounge was a dream come true for me! Coming from Greerton, a lunch at Satori Lounge becomes a bit of an outing so have been a bit disappointed upon noticing that there doesn't seem to be true schedule of when it's open. The past few times we have tried to come on a weekend around lunchtime (the 1:00 area) we got there only to find that it's closed. The last time this happened we also saw several others standing outside disappointed and confused as to why it was closed during prime lunch time on a weekend. We've been a bit discouraged from going recently to avoid the risk of driving all the way there for it to be closed! Also, a bit bummed that the prawn gyoza (one of our main reasons for going!) is no longer available. The food is great so once we figure out when it's open we will be back!

Satori Lounge has been by far one my favorite places to eat since it has opened. The service along with the food has always been amazing, the staff are always friendly and willing to help &amp; they have a great sense of humour. The food has always been of a very high standard, and has never taken any longer than it should to produce FRESHLY made sushi to your liking. <br/>The atmosphere is awesome &amp; my friends and I have made it our weekly treat for lady dates :-) <br/>Thanks Satori keep up the good work.

We are now regulars at Satori and absolutely love the food especially the hot rolls and sashimi.<br/>Its hard to go past it for great sushi.<br/>We were there on Valentines Day and it was lovely to see the tables of people being offered a glass of bubbles and/or a chocolate mousse dessert complimentary!

To begin with coming from a hospitality background I would highly recommend a staff training program. We booked a table and waited 20 minutes before menus arrived and a further 15 minutes before water arrived. This was a real let down after highly recommending it after previous experiences with a South American waiter. After finally ordering, the meals took an hour, which I believe is fair enough to say unreasonable with the amount of patrons in the restaurant. Our order came out wrong, I was then argued with by the waitress, who had made the mistake. We weren't offered drink refills and only once got water once our glasses were empty with blatant glares around being noticed. Overall extremely disappointed, will not be returning and recommending others to look elsewhere for Japanese food.

Went in last Friday &amp; was lucky enough to get a table only because people were leaving! We saw a couple of people walk in and were unable to be seated as fully booked out. Advise to book if you want to get in over weekend just to be safe, but you never know you might walk in and get lucky like us. What a treat and selection of sushi. I won't be going anywhere else now. Try the hot roll sushis YUM!! Great &amp; friendly team at Satori Lounge. Helped us out with our selection of sushi. I won't be going anywhere else for sushi now. And I also saw they do takeaways while we were dining in so great! Highly recommend. Thanks for treating me to real sushi. Thanks team at Satori Lounge!

I am always impressed when I eat at Satori. It is hard to stray from firm favorites to order, but I am never disappointed when I do. I like th hot rolls, but also the tempura platter is a good ne to start. Fresh sushi at its best with a warm friendly and relaxed vibe.

I took my daughter to Satori Lounge for lunch today as her friends had been raving about it, and I'm so glad I did! As we had not been before the menu looked daunting, but the waitress was lovely and explained the different kinds of sushi, we tried a hot roll and a beautiful avocado roll and they have changed our perception of sushi forever. We will be back!

I have been to Satori lounge 3 times in the past month. While the food is good, it is ruined by the fact that the soy sauce is diluted down. When I asked the waiter about this he said it was a common complaint and that I would need to talk to the manager as he was sick of dealing with it. <br/>Also on all three times, despite the fact that we were one of only maybe three tables in there, I had to get my own menus, go to the bar and ask for my drinks as they were never delivered (took about half hour for them to pour a glass of wine). The staff are rude and lazy and are always eating or drinking at the bar themselves. I always feel like I leave having interrupted their dining experience....Weird!!<br/>Not going back again...there are better sushi spots at the mount that use real soy sauce

We have visited Satori many times. Each time it is exceptional. The food is fresh and divine. The service is excellent. We have been with large and small groups and each time the service is amazing. They accommodate our very busy toddler without a raise of an eyebrow. They treated our birthday guests like kings. Would recommend with complete confidence. We need more places like this!

Amazing sushi!!! Just went for the 100th time, love, love, love! Food is always amazing, hot rolls are a MUST! I tried their fresh cocktails as well tonight, which are made by their new 'cocktail expert'…these were also great, all fresh ingredients that tasted fantastic!! Service is not always great….but I do not think this is always intentional. Regardless of this I will continue to go back, food this good I am willing to sacrifice a little bad service!!

We were visiting the Mount and returned to Satori Lounge for the 2nd time last night. Again the sushi was absolutely amazing. The waitress was helpful and explained the menu. We are in our late 60's so not really sushi experts. The restaurant busy and nearly full inside so we sat outside in the courtyard where it was quieter. The staff offered to turn on the gas heater for us but we were warm enough without it. We waited about 15 minutes for our food to be made and it was worth the wait. It was so fresh. We couldn't pick up the sushi with chopsticks so the waitress provided us with special chopsticks so we didn't have to use a fork. We will definately be returning when we are in the Mount again.

Spot on everytime, fresh and yum.. The hot rolls are the best, I would definitely try one. The gyoza are also really good. The service is also good, quite relaxed but I like that. If you are a stressed out city person, you might get a bit impatient but hey, you wouldn't enjoy the mount generally. Would throughly recommend.

I had lunch at Satori Lounge today with my Father and 5yr old son. The service was great, right down to the menu being explained and specials pointed out. The food was absolutely amazing, I have eaten sushi at many restaurants and this most definitely tops the lot. The ambience was very relaxed and comfortable, with some upbeat music, giving it a great energy, a nice change from the average sushi bar.

A group of us had dinner there on Sunday as its my favourite sushi restaurant. The food was lovely but the service was not good, which was really disappointing. We were the only customers, we had to ask for our wine to be topped up, at one stage 5 glasses were empty and no one came to serve us. No water was offered. One friends order was mucked up from entree to main to dessert. We only got dessert and coffee by asking, its like they wanted to close up for the night and wanted us to leave. It was only 9pm. I will go back because I love the food, but the other 7 friends are not keen to revisit. A real real shame, if only the service was better!

I am so obsessed with satori lounge. <br/>ive been there probably like 6 times and every times its been amazing.<br/>i agree with the other reviews that the service isnt the best but i dont care. <br/>the food is amazing. <br/>ive been to heaps of places where teh service has been good and the food crap. so satori lounge is the bees knees :)

the food at Satori is always fabulous. Iam just addicted to the hot sushi rolls, by far the best I have had in NZ. And great value for the money!<br/>Always nice chill dj music playing which adds a nice touch away from the annoying japanese music at some other sushi restaurants. <br/>I will definatly be returning for my fix again soon thanks guys

I love the food at Satori Lounge! You can taste the difference from other sushi places... this is FRESH! The staff always make me feel welcome. If I want to change something about the roll I order.. swap for something else... it is never a problem. I totally recommend you visit this restaurant.

Total disappointment - We had made a reservation during the day - turned up at 7.30pm only to be told they had no booking for us and they were full. We returned 3/4 of an hour later. The restaurant was by now probably half empty. <br/>We ordered entrees and Sake. We received 3 of our 4 dishes and no Sake. Eventually after asking for our fourth dish we received it - still no Sake.<br/>The staff were very very inattentive and did not remove any of the finished bottles on the table until we sat them on the edge of the table so they could not miss them. This was because they were too busy at the bar drinking!!! not a good look. <br/>The small Soy dishes were chipped (3 of the 4 of them)<br/>When I tried to get the attention of the waitress by saying to her "Excuse Me" - her reply was "WHAT"<br/>Eventually after asking for our Sake again we received it. <br/>All of the Rice dishes tasted exactly the same - the only difference between them was the meat/shellfish that was added. Same flavour to them all. <br/>The music was not authentic Japanese - it was Rap.<br/>All in all this was a terrible experience and I would not return.

Went to Satori for V-Day. They had a set menu which was unbelievably cheap and the best sushi we have ever had! The drinks were sensational. The only down fall was probably the service. Some of the waitresses were not very cheerful and looked to be un interested in servicing you. I didn't find the wait times very long. We only waited 45mins before the first meal came out which was fine, we had a couple of drinks and as soon as the first lot of food came out there wasn't a huge gab in waiting for the next lot of food. We did hear alot of people asking were their food was but lets be real, to make sushi and a lot of it for a full restaurant would not be easy. If people want food in a hurry- go to MacDonald's!! The food was amazing and presentation was out standing. Definatly recommend!! 8.5 out of 10 overall.

beautiful restaurant and lovely food, we noticed they did not have much staff on and we were waiting over an hour for our food. we left, and came back a couple of days later to find we STILL had to wait an hour for our meals. but i must say the food was well worth the wait.

Amazing food, great concept, lively atmosphere. Even after 10+ meals at Satori, it is still at the top of my list- The Speical Rolls are mouth-wateringly delicious, and are always served with a generous portion of wasabi and ginger. My only hope is that wait times would be cut down, as it can take upwards of an hour to get your meal. Otherwise, congrats Satori Lounge for providing a great dining experience!<br/><br/>UPDATE: We miss Alex! Service has been slightly poor since he left : (

Wow. Food is amazing I recommend the Furay Salmon sooo good. Thanks for an excellent dinning experience. Hot Sushi rolls are the way to go at this joint. Live, original music on a Sunday night! Super chilled and easy. You will be addicted to this one.

Perfect combination between freshly made sushi, beautiful Japanese drinks and cocktails, and awesome music and ambience... I was very impressed. Highly recommended!

They have spoilt me! I cannot eat sushi anywhere else now! This would have to be the best sushi I have ever tasted anywhere!<br/>Freshly made for you, melts in your mouth! <br/>Just have to groom them a bit on bringing the alcohol out faster to you! <br/>Its a must for sushi lovers!!