I've always been a big advocate of "you get what you pay for". That adage usually works, however sometimes it leads me astray. In the case of Kenji, the first time i went in, the menu made me skeptical as I'm a huge sushi fan and have been known to pay any price for it. Sometimes that doesn't work out too well (like Nobu where for $100 you get 3 rolls and an appetizer all as dimunitve as Mini Me).
Once I tasted the food and observed the quality, all my reservations were gone. The tuna was very fresh and grade a (ruby red with no white fatty stripes), the specialty rolls very creative and tasty also. Â If you are looking for a traditional sushi place
Kenji Japanese Restaurant doesn't look like much but I was pleasantly surprised by the service and food.
First of all, the night we went there was a cute little band singing music. They weren't the greatest band ever but it was still nice.
I can't speak to anything other than the sushi but it was really good. Just the right amount of spicy on the spicy tuna roll and the kamikaze roll was perfect! It was just the right price and tastiness!
Heard about this place through a $2 <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> deal. Had to spend $35 to get $25 off. Ok, easily done with sushi. Anyway. We had a variety of the rolls here and the only one I could say was really good was their 'crazy roll'. Other than that, the sushi had way too much rice in them. Also, any roll that had lettuce in it seemed to be a full salad stuffed in a roll. We tried two rolls that had lettuce. Same deal on both. We also tried their heavily promoted special 'chipotle roll' that was pretty hard to get through, taste wise. It was like someone rolled up a crappy burrito in seaweed, added hot pepper in it, hosed it down with chipotle sauce and called it a roll. Not good. The restaurant itself was nice and clean. The restaurant had a live 'band' there too the night we went. Two minors; one on a guitar singing and the other banging on some makeshift drum made of their equipment cases. Very loud and not what I want to hear when eating sushi. I'd probably go back again with another cheap coupon, but other than that, negative.
Review Source:First note worth noting: A note that read BYOB on the front of the restaurant.
Second worth note noting: The majority of the sake bill that is tabbed for us is usually billed in alcoholic drinks.
Third note worth noting: If you are a vegetarian, ask if they can make you something veggie.
Over two visits, Hans expressed that he had never wished for a place of business to succeed more in his entire life. We all agreed, stumbling back from the restaurant to the bus.
Amazingly nice staff treated us like family.
I cannot speak for the fish but the veggie rolls were delicious
(further complimented by the BYOB sake)
Great family owned establishment! However, if it wasn't for <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a>, I wouldn't have known about this place. Especially since it's located in a pretty desolate strip mall. Edit, pretty desolate scary strip mall. Despite it's appearance and lack of patrons when I went in, I was pleasantly surprised.
They offer Japanese-Peruvian cuisine, which is definitely a mix I've never seen before, even in South Florida. They have the standard appetizers, entrees and sushi rolls you will find in a Japanese restaurant but with a little flare. The flare being the Peruvian kick I guess? The food was fresh and tasted great plus I loved the family who owns it. It's nice to talk with them, get to know about the place and their food plus see them making everything right in front of you while their kids hang out and study.
Free wifi if your heart desires!
I have been here 2 times. The first was a few months ago when they were new and it was horrible. I ordered the "hibatchi" shrimp and scallops and both were so overcooked I sent the dish back and got the bento box. My friend got the steak teriyaki bento box and she spent half the time cutting fat off the steak.
The salad was ok- full of lettuce- romaine lettuce, and not too fresh. I do not think that romaine and ginger dressing go together, so was a bit disappointed. The hostess aplogized and said it was a "bad day" and to please try them again.
Well, I wouldn't have returned, but then we started hearing some good comments about the food from other people in the office. So why not?
We went, the service was much smoother, the menu still small (lunch), but the prices were a bit better. They have specials of the day, but you can order form another day- it just costs you 50 cents or something like that more.
I tried the chicken teryaki bento box and was pleasantly surprised. Ths salad was fresher, but still all romaine, and the ginger dressing was too sweet. However the chicken teryaki was good. A boneless breast sauteed and then lightly coated with sauce. The only strange thing was I think the mixed vegetable was pre-cooked and the chicken too, and then put it together, as there was no juice from the chicken or the vegetables. Which made eating it with the rice bland. The california roll (4 pcs) that came with it was ok, same thing as every where. The tempura vegetable (2 pcs) were ok, but cool and the same (sweet potato).
So I think they are better than they were and may get better with time.
They have some great compettion, and if everyone charges $10 for the same thing (in this case, bento boxes) , I am going to go where I like the food the best
Let's be honest here. Sushi is a pretty easy thing to do "moderately" well. If you can make sushi "moderately" well you will be "moderately" successful... for the most part.
Kenji doesn't make sushi very well. Let's start off with the most important thing about the business. It's ran by a group of Latinos. No offense in any way to them, but they are not Japanese and I don't know where they got off thinking they could start a sushi restaurant. So I sit down, thinking.. hey you know maybe its still good!
The menu wasn't much to look at. It may have been just a lunch menu but it didn't specify that anywhere. Appetizers (8 of them), Rolls, and Bento Box's. That was all they had on the menu! I'm thinking it must have been just lunch! No chicken Teriyaki or Katsu chicken. No seafood platters, etc.
Well I put in my order for Tuna Tataki and Rainbow Rolls. Both signature items in -any- Japanese restaurant! Well, it comes with Miso Soup and a House Salad. Great! Until I looked at the tofu in the miso soup. It was literally a dark brown color. It tasted soggy, disgusting and my soup was luke warm. Disappointing. The ginger salad was no better. It was wet and mushy. The ginger dressing tasted watery and way to sweet!
Okay time for the rest of my food. Keep in my the Tuna Tataki was an appetizer and it was no where to be found. My rolls come out first. They looked decent. Some large green leaves on the plate I don't know why. I guess for looks but they smelled weird. The rolls were all over the place. They were not smoothly rolled and looked like they were rushed together. To add insult to injury the fish was not fresh. The menu didn't even specify properly what was in the roll. My friend didn't know it had lobster (imitation) so he had to send it back. AFTER asking them what was in it before ordering!
So the sushi was bad. The most IMPORTANT part of a Japanese restaurant let me down... oh well. Where is my tuna?
There it is. My appetizer! 3 minutes after finishing my rolls. Now correct me if I am wrong... but don't most places serve the sauce separate from the tuna? So it doesn't become soggy on your plate? They didn't hear. And the tuna was DISGUSTING. Looks like it had been sitting out for a day. It was falling apart as soon as I touched it. It was a dark brown no red left in it. I took a bite and it was like drinking water from the ocean. Salty as could be! Ugh...
Oh well. No good sushi. No good soup or salad. Can't even get tuna tataki right. I don't think I will be visiting Kenji again any time soon... (Apologizes for any bad grammar or spelling. At work not much time to write this!)
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