Okay, this is the second time I've been here and as bad as it was the first time, the second was even worse. Â The good service is its only saving grace because the food is just terrible! Â The nigiri and the rolls are flavorless; the rolls are not evenly cut so you get some random huge pieces that are all-but-impossible to eat. Â I guess if I were a beer drinker I might have cause to add another star. Â They really should just focus on on the bar since that's what they seem to do best.
Review Source:Kanpai is a rather small place to eat at, but it has trendy music and a lot of craft beers.
Apart from that... I'm not sure why this place gets so much hype.
There are two reasons why I still choose to go here from time to time, and that is because of their slight creativity at their sushi rolls, and their appetizers. Their crab rangoon is amazing. They're the right price ($5.25) and are made relatively big.
As for their sushi? Really terrible, in my opinion. As I mentioned above, I give them some credit because they are relatively creative in *some* of their sushi selections (ie. they have a roll called the Volcano roll and its topped with a crab mixture that is then toasted - my fave). I've eaten here many times in the past (definitely not recently), mostly whenever other sushi places are closed between 2 and 4.
For the past three times I've eaten their sushi, the sushi rice has either been undercooked or old. I can't tell, but I can tell you the sushi rice was hard. If this was a one time deal I probably wouldn't care.
Their rolls are TINY. Â At other sushi joints, I usually have a problem finishing one full roll. Here, I wouldn't get full at all from one roll.
Not a lot of rice is put onto the seaweed. Their nigiris are also extremely TINY. Their maki rolls are about 5 dollars, which is cheaper than their specialty rolls but both categories are still very small. They have some vegetarian sushi rolls, but their two vegetarian specialty rolls are $7 which I think is overpriced for what you get in it - an avocado roll with just more avocado on top? How is that "special"?
I have yet to eat their other Asian cuisine (they have Vietnamese and Korean dishes), so maybe people are having better luck with that.
Last but not least, their service is decent. I've never had a rude server, but they do not seem to understand serving etiquette. One of the main points I've learned as a server is that meals should be served all at once. Too often I've been served my meal before my friend gets theirs and vice versa, which leaves one of us awkwardly without food for quite some time. In addition, several times I've ordered to-go and they forget to give me utensils. This isn't a huge deal to me, but I do think they need to work on this a little.
Having just moved here from SF there really isn't any comparison to the seafood on the west coast.
The food is just fine. Â We started out with the Kanpai shrimp and it was tasty but it really needed some heat. Â I recommend sweet Thai chili or straight up red chili sauce.
The California role was kind of bland and flavorless and did not have nearly enough sesame on it.
The Godzilla roll was tasty. Â I think the majority of the flavor came out of the sauces squirted on the roles; perfectly crisped up roll. Â Delicious -- a little heavy on the sauce though.
I'd do it again.
My opinion of this restaurant has wavered over the last several years, but my current position is this: Kanpai is a fun place for decent sushi / Asian fusion cuisine. Â It's got a hip atmosphere, fairly unique menu, and nice drink specials, which is for a sushi place, because you're usually spending slightly more on food. Â
It can be a bit cramped for my taste, especially when you have to wait (it's best to wait outside). Â A few of the menu items seem to be a bit over-priced. Â But I do like that their salads seem slightly more substantial than what you get at similar restaurants.
I was glad to see a new sushi place in Evansville, but this place needs a little bit of work. Food was good and fish above average, however not the freshest cut.
When I arrived, it was packed....no one open seat, which tells me this is a frequented sushi place. The wait wasn't that long, but there was no real waiting area.
It was hot! ... not sure if the AC was out or it was just crowded, but it was hot and the fans just were not cutting.
Prices are decent and hot sake was hot.
All that being said, I would return.
The Bad
I was so excited to finally eat here and was really let down by my lunch. I went for the bento box lunch special, soon to realize that a box wouldn't even be present at my meal. I got a side salad drenched in an insane amount of dressing. The beef and vegetables tasted like leftovers that weren't microwaved long enough. The vegetables managed to be soggy, while the overall dish was kind of lukewarm.
The Good
Crispy wontons on the salad-- good life preserver for the pool of dressing.
California roll-- YES. Even though my lunch was ehhh, I'll probably come back for sushi.
Step up your game, Kan Pai! You could've been great!
The seaweed salad while delicious was ridiculously overpriced. Â I have to say this place charged twice the amount for the same portion I have had at any other place. Â The sushi lacked creativity. I got the spicy tuna and tuna and scallions maki rolls. They were the same exact roll but one was sprinkled with diced scallions and the other had spicy sauce drizzles over it. Â The roll themselves didn't even taste that great. Â I find that hard to say considering I must have lucked out my entire life because I have really never taste bad sushi until now. Â The roll diameter was lacking as well. Â Completely not worth the $17 I was charged for 12 tiny bites and small palm size portion of salad. Â Oh well you live and learn.
Review Source:ate dinner there last night. they have a very interesting menu. its like the most popular japanese, chinese, vietnamese, and korean dishes put together. but yesterday we went japanese (sushi). they were ok but i had much better. the sushi chef even made a mistake of using imitation crab meat sticks instead of smoked salmon in my philadelphia roll. i could barely taste the eel in my unagi roll. the dynamite roll is pretty good, just enough spice and a good size piece of tuna inside.
maybe we will try the bulgogi and pho next time.
UPDATE: 2nd act
We did go back last December to try the korean dish, vietnamese pho, and lemongrass noodle. Very disappointed with the pho and lemongrass dish. The bulgogi is OK but I had bulgogi before from other (korean) restaurants and it is not even close.
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