Dragonfly Sushi & Sake Company

Finally went here for the first time and it was so delicious! Highly recommend the mango tango roll and am excited to try out more! They also serve a delicious nigori sake and the pan-seared pork dumplings were paired with the perfect dipping sauce. Our server was an absolute delight and was so helpful and friendly!

I truly enjoyed my dinner experience here. Robby was a fantastic waiter and recommended some great options! Ask for him! I truly enjoyed the Japanese scallop shooters (recommended by Robby), the chief roll, o-toro nigiri, and cobra Kai (substituted the krab delight for tuna for an up charge, check picture). I can not wait to return, I would highly recommend this restaurant. This restaurant does not accept reservations, so plan accordingly.

Wow! What a treat. Dragonfly is exceptional, great service. Kitchen staff goes above and beyond. Seated quickly. Table set well and happy hour came quickly. Dumplings were perfectly crispy. The server kept up with us and there wasn’t a single moment we felt without. The restaurant had lively music but audible and intimate at the table. Mochi surprise for the birthday person at the end! The sushi chef needs a special shout out for the beautiful presentation. More food then we could eat and fantastic overall experience. Highly recommended. Don’t miss this special Gainesville one of a kind treat!

Sat at the bar outside facing in. What a great spot. Excellent service from the bartenders Michael and Bailey. Went during happy hour which is before 7 pm. Food was awesome. Took advantage of the specials. Place was packed early on a Thursday evening. A must try.

Stellar rolls, drinks, and ambiance. The wild mushroom ragout app is a MUST if you're a mushroom lover. The rolls are about 8 pieces each and are stuffed with fresh fish. I love that they let you pick your sake cup - a very unique experience :)

Allisa was phenomenal waitress, she was so confident in her recommendations and created such a fun and lively yet relaxing environment

Amazing food and service. The bar staff and wait staff were absolutely on point. The bourbon and whiskey selection were top notch. The price points for the top shelf whiskeys and bourbons can't be beat. You need to try them for all of your sushi needs and your drink fixes...

Best restaurant in Gainesville! Always want to returnon date night. Been here over 25 times and everytime 5 star service and food. We enjoy the Bomb and the Black and Blue rolls after enjoying Waygu Carpaccio. The only bad thing about this place is the pan handlers asking for money if you are trying to enjoy a nice meal outside.

Although we had a reservation and still had to wait almost half an hour (something I hate when restaurants do) the food made up for it. Everything was delicious. My favorite roll actually didn’t have any fish but had raw beef and horseradish instead and was one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. I can’t remember what it was called but I highly recommend. It’s definitely a loud restaurant so if you have trouble hearing you might not enjoy it. Our waitress was nice. The hostesses were clearly stressed out. It’s definitely more on the expensive side so naturally gets really busy when parents are in town.

Update 12.2023:
Exceptional catering for the first holiday office party that I organized. The owner was extremely polite despite the holiday rush of catering orders. Very accommodating for UF events. Order pickup with Juel went smoothly - she was great 👍. Definitely recommend the Refreshing and Deluxe Platter for a smaller guest list (10 people max). I'd have other office events catered by Dragonfly again 😀.

11/10/2021:
My husband and I decided to go here for lunch last Saturday since I was in the mood for a little sushi. We haven't tried any sushi places in Florida since we both moved from the northeast over a year ago, and we were skeptical of eating out during the height of the pandemic. I triple checked the reviews of the other potential sushi places in Gainesville before choosing Dragonfly.

Parking was a bit of a challenge since the street spots tend to fill up fast, but we were able to find a good one near the end of the short one-way street. We walked over to the nice corner location and decided to enjoy the outdoor seating looking out at the sidewalk since the indoor dining area was very crowded. It had just rained, but the sun was peeking out, so it was a nicer day than when it had started.

Matt was the guy behind the counter who took our order. Friendly, polite, and he made sure to ask the chef if the NY strip steak was lean (not fatty) before we finalized our menu selections. The employees are all wearing masks, even if the customers weren't. (We still wore our masks between eating, even if we were outside, but to each their own on that topic.)

The pricing is decent for the quality and quantity of what you get, especially if you're not super hungry. The dumplings were $6, beef tataki was $15, tuna tataki was $17, rice bowl $1, and the Japanese whiskey Suntory Toki (2 oz. in a scotch glass) was $10.

The meat and fish were tender and tasty. Lean and cut very well. The sauce for each was on the salty side, but we expected it from the ponzu (soy sauce with a citrus additive, usually lemon), so my order of the bowl of rice on the side was very important👍. The whisky was smooth and paired well with the meal. My husband is my designated driver so I enjoyed my drink on my own.

The entire meal was very satisfying 😌 and the Japanese whisky was a great palate cleanser to offset the strong tasting food. We decided to eat dessert at home since we don't go usually to Japanese restaurants for the dessert items 😅, so I don't have any opinion on those🤷.

We had a courteous server with red hair and a headband (worn Karate Kid style) that made sure we had our plates taken away and our meal was up to par. Overall, I would say that customer service is about 4.5 ⭐ since we had to wait about 7-10 min for Matt to finish making drinks for his bar customers before my husband was able to add my tuna tataki to our order. It was a busy Saturday afternoon, after all.

With the tip, the bill was about $65, which was about right considering how fresh the food was and this is around the same price we'd pay for a sushi date in the northeast. We would return to this restaurant for another special occasion, but not an every day thing.

[Sidenote: Since Gainesville has a population of homeless folks, chances are, if you're eating outdoors facing the street, you might be approached for change / money. During the middle of our meal, a shirtless and disheveled man, who was walking by asked us "yo, you have a few dollars?". We politely responded, "no, sorry", and he left. The restaurant workers shoo-ed him away as well, but customer be aware...outdoor seating has its dangers. There was also this one pesky fly that tried to divebomb my tuna and my husband's steak, but we were fast enough to wave it away while we finished our food.]

What an awesome place! A crowd was already gathering outside when we got here at 5 for happy hour and now I can see why. The place was immediately busy but the staff were clearly used to it and handled the rush with ease. Our food and cocktails were delicious and I was legitimately surprised at how great the happy hour deals were! My partner and I ate and drank our fill, enjoying the flavors, the presentation, and the atmosphere, and only spent $80 (before tip).

Tldr: Great experience, surprisingly affordable, highly recommended :)

My girlfriend and I visited Dragonfly last week and impressed is an understatement. As soon as we walked in we were greeted with a smile and sat right away without reservation. We had a great experience and we owe it mainly to our server Steven. He made great recommendations such as yellowtail hako sushi, pitchfork roll and big boss roll. He exceeded all our needs and made the dining experience very pleasant. That along with the drinks will 100% make us return when we are back in town.

I loved this place! 1st off our waiter was top notch, very knowledgeable and professional. The food was delicious well balanced so as not to sweet or overpowering sauces to hide the elegance of the sushi or main flavors. I mean this was so much more than I thought Sushi in Gainsville would be. 😅 the ambiance, mood and overall appeal of the restaurant was high scaled and I loved that too. Must have the sake of your choice with the meal it's amazing.

I recently enjoyed happy hour at the bar with a friend. The food was tasty and our server - Bailey - was friendly, helpful, and attentive! She helped to make it a great experience by recommending a wine selection and chatting with us!

Must say great quality, amazing server with fantastic service. Highly recommend it

Came here for a spontaneous date night. Had a 20-25 min wait. First time here and saw the reviews, setting the bar high. Glad to say the bar was met. Quality all around was great, even in the miso soup. Definitely pay for the premium. Prices reflect quality. Ordered the Miso Soup and Wontons to start. Miso soup had great quality ingredients such as mushrooms usually not found in other restaurants. Wontons had very interesting flavors and were super creamy, would’ve preferred some real crab chunks though, but that’s just my personal preference. All the sushi rolls were to die for. Black Dragon could use a bit more eel but overall tasted great. Smoky dragon had a great balance of smoky flavors and great taste. Mango Tango felt more on the presentation style rather than true sushi taste but if you want a fruity roll with some sweet potato chips, go for it. O-Toro Nigiri met the standards but probably wouldn’t get again for such a high premium. Not a must have but a great experience to taste premium quality. Ended it off with the Tempura Fried Cheesecake which also tasted great. Overall a really great restaurant that gives a premium experience for a premium price. Would come again.

Get. The. Wagyu. (Get it sashimi) So good. I've had the braised rib ramen, pork pan seared dumplings and the beginner Saki flight. All are worth the visit. Service is a little slow so expect a slightly longer dinning experience but the food is worth every minute of your time.

Cory at the bar took great care of me. Despite how swamped they were. Lovely location, and the food was superb. Will definitely come back.

LOVE THIS PLACE! They may say there is a long wait but it never is nearly as long as they say! Don't leave stay, start off with the wontons. Best I've ever had. So much is good, we drive 1hr here regularly because it's that good. You'll crave this place for sure. They have stuff for everyone, whether you are new to sushi or hard core.

I told my wife good sushi is good sushi. Can't really make it "great" then we go here and were pleasantly proved wrong. We tried 4 different rolls and all were fantastic. You could taste every flavor on its own. This place set the bar higher than I thought it could go for sushi. Service was good even though it was slammed on a Sunday night. Had a reservation for 8pm and was seated before our time. Highly recommend making a reservation. I could see the wait times for a walk in to be long. They do serve your food as it comes out so if you are in a party all the food will come out at random times. We had 3 different deliveries for our 4 rolls. We had no problem with it but may not be to your taste if you want everyone to eat at the same time. The sushi in my opinion is worth it to eat as soon as it makes it to the table. I say definitely give this place a shot if you want to see and taste something a little different than your normal sushi place.