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Mon-Fri. 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
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Was desperate for a decent, affordable Japanese option near work, Surukis just isn't worth the time or taste bus abuse. Stoked to run across Kai's, it's a great lunch spot at the very least. Decent service, good menu with staples as expected, healthy range of options to oversize and do some heart damage too..
Prices were very reasonable and man, they heap up the servings, impressed. Quality was medium, not amazing but very enjoyable, the side salad on the bento box has crack like dressing, mmm, the noodles are delicious too, add to that a huge serving of very tasty, fresh chicken katsu. The katsu sauce is a little too like western bbq but still enjoyable.
Veggie tempura was good too, all in all I'll be a regular here. Katsu bento for $6 flat, awesome. Might have to come back after hours one day too..
Solid Lunch Spot in Downtown Oakland. Me and my lunchmate both had the 2 item bento boxes at $9.95 each. The 3 item costs 2 bucks more at $11.95.
I ordered the Beef Teriyaki and Chicken Katsu. I've had better Beef Teriyaki but it wasn't half bad here. The Chicken Katsu was fried very well and dayammmm.... they gave a lot of it. No, no, no... I mean they gave a LOT OF IT....
It also came with Miso Soup, some rice and the regular Japanese green salad with miso dressing. Another thing they gave was some bean thread noodles too. Kinda like the ones you might order at a Korean restaurant, which was a nice little bonus.
I think this might be the closest Japanese restaurant to Oakland Chinatown now that Sushi Zone has been closed for a few years now and I'll certainly return when I am in the mood for some Japanese again....
one sentence sums up this place:
"If you're looking for a ton of food for dirt cheap that gets the job done for less than $7-8 bucks but it's nothing to write home about, come to Kai's"
It sounds like I'm hating on Kai's, I'm not. I go probably twice month because I often look for a ton of food for dirty cheap that gets the job done.
I went to the Kai's today with a coworker. In and out of there in 30 minutes....
I am on this new diet crave called the caveman. Well basically I just eat meat and veggies, so I ordered the chicken terriyaki with extra green salad instead of rice and potato salad... Why do they give you potato salad at a japanese place? Anyways, it was like 7 or 8 bucks. And they give u atleast 2 times the chicken u get compared to one of those bento box servings.
They serve green tea too. I drank a lot and peed a lot at work.
I love this restaurant because it is a lot little expensive and exquisite. My special favorite articles include spuma and the grassy carpet (seam of California with l' eel of barbecue and the gambero of the tempura in a giant seam, guarnito with l' insalata dell' seaweed, the seam of the spider (granchio of the soft-covers, egg of fish, avocado crunchy) and the king Roll (salmone cooked of the lion in top to a seam of California of the tempura).
The boxes them of bento are much saporite and it very gives food to it for a great price. The teriyaki of the pollo it is carbonated slighty and cooked and the karaage of the pollo it is my absolute favorite that I have never had wherever. I can eat thousands of these and, if not there were consequences to my weight and format and health. All the boxes them of bento come with insalata, rice, the minestra of miso and l' insalata of paste lateral. You can ask nessun' insalata of paste and the rice if you are trying to being in good health or are on a diet.
The minestre of tagliatella of the udon is moreover exquisite. The brodo it is assay a po' used cake and the many rich and ingredients hardly are made and not soaked. The version vegetarian comes with the marinati fungi that they are sweet and carnoso assay.
Highly I suggest this place. The service is usually not bad equally and the owners are thus pleasant and wide awake!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
NOTE: The passion I feel for this place is such that I translated my original review from plain, boring, dull, standard English, to the beautiful language of love and food and passion, Italian.
But then... it was sort of hard to understand, so I translated it back to English, and thanks to Babelfish, the review is a little fishy.... but still great tasting!
our out-of-town pal nancy treated us to sushi today at kai's. the food was fresh & delicious, the wait staff friendly & attentive & dishes were well-priced.
this visit we sampled:
cucumber salad (4 stars) delicious, crisp & light
alaka roll (3 stars) nice w/smoked salmon
california roll (3 stars) good
dragon roll (5 stars) a favorite; delicious w/unagi & avocado
new york roll (2 stars) ok but not stellar
spicy scallop roll (3 stars) rolled w/red pepper flakes
spicy tuna roll (3 stars) rolled w/red pepper flakes w/light spicy sauce
super maki roll (5 stars) delicious w/avocado, shrimp tempura
tekkamaki roll (3 stars) ok but preferred spicy tuna roll
cold sapporo (4 stars) cold & a perfect accompaniment.
if you're in downtown oakland, near 7th street, and are looking for a great lunch spot between 11-3, try kai's. you won't be disappointed.
we're hoping to return before the big move.
Went to Kai's for lunch with two coworkers.
Pretty basic on the inside. The menu was very extensive from rolls, salads, bento boxes (which, after sneaking a peek at the table next to us looked good and plentiful), tempura.
As we sat down the server brought us a tea pot and tea cups. I love that. Many places nowadays you have to specifically order the tea.
For the 3 of us we ordered three rolls: 2 speciality rolls (Cherry Blossom and Spider Roll - both with a really good sauce that we didn't know what it was except for yummy) and a basic spicy scallop roll, which definitely gave a good kick.
After we ordered we were brought miso soup, which I liked. The 3 rolls were just enough for the 3 women since the specialty rolls were huge. Be aware if you're doing specialty rolls with coworkers that you are not comfortable with since you'll be putting huge pieces in your mouth and will look like a fool attempting to carry on conversation.
Overall it was + or - $30 for the three of us which I didn't think was bad at all. Passed it through as business expenses. :)
Service was OK. We got there around noon but the place was packed by time we left. Kai's does a healthy lunch business.
Gave them one more try, ensured that there would be no puddle of cream sauce under my shrimp tempura roll, and there wasn't. But there was FREAKIN MAYONNAISE in it. Seriously? Who taught these people to make sushi? Costco? I give up.
I agree with other reviews about quantity over quality here. I appreciate the great prices and… Read more »
I'd give this place 3.5 stars if I could.
Service: They're nice people, but from a professional standpoint they could do better. Like refilling water, checking on your table once in awhile... most of the time you have to flag them down.
Product: Decently sized rolls, and fair prices. The requisite California Rolls are slightly above average, and the sashimi is usually prepared quite well.
Overall a good place to check out on your lunch break if you can beat the crowd.
Continuining our explorations of the O, we came across Kai's.. Prices are decent.. (a trend we've been finding in the O.) and the food was a great lunch retreat..
The first time I've been stuffed (like i couldn't drink water cuz i was so full) after sushi.. The rolls are pretty sizeable and tasty.. My only thing complaint was wid the spicy tuna roll.. The tuna wasn't diced and it wasn't spicy.. The Dragon Roll was quite savory and delicious..
Definitely roll thru here for lunch anytime..
My buddy and I were in Oakland for the national homebrew conference and my friend was in the mood for some sushi. Kai's was right around the corner from the Marriott so we decided to give it a shot.
My buddy ordered the sashimi and it came out with 3 different types of fish. Tuna, salmon, and a white fish. It looked real good and he scarfed it down and looked pleased.
I ordered the teriyaki chicken and it was awesome! Lots of chicken and just the right amount of sauce. Some rice and macaroni salad on the side.
The service was cool and refills on the water came quickly. The prices were reasonable, i think the chicken teriyaki was like 7 bucks.
A lady was waiting for the same thing in take out form and got it within 5 minutes.
The only complaint was the lame iceburg lettuce that came with it with some kind of dressing glopped on top.
Overall though, an awesome Japanese place with good prices.
Good quality Japanese food. Original location in Alameda. Nicely remodeled in Old Oakland. Too bad they don't open for dinner anymore. Good service. Parking is difficult on the street during lunch. Depends on business district lunch crowd now.
the sush here is the best and it s really huge
lion king is the best to get here!
Sigh, as much as I don't like sushi and as much as I want to just be mean and give this place 4 stars, I can't.
Yes yes yes, their chicken katsu is fresh and the bomb. There is no comparison when talking about Kai's and L&L or Ohana Hawaiian BBQ because when eating at Kai's, you can really taste the difference... your wallet will feel different too. Unlike L&L and Ohana's $5.50-$6.50 per plate prices, Kai's is only $4.50 for better quality food and a bigger portion as well.
I'm not really a fan when it comes to sushi but I did try some of it. Those are actually decent of a sushi-hater like me. But let me tell you about my most favorite part of Kai's that gives it the 5 stars... the MISO SOUP. I can honestly say that NO ONE LOVES MISO SOUP MORE THAN ME. So therefore, no one could possibly rate miso soups better than me either. Here at Kai's, I had 3 bowls of Miso soup. I had my bowl, my boyfriend's bowl, and ordered myself another one AGAIN. I couldn't stop having it. I probably would have eaten that the whole night but my boyfriend would've yelled at me for only eating 5 million bowls of miso soup at a Sushi joint.
The workers here are extremely nice and friendly. They treat you like family. After telling them it was my first time there, they were excited as if they've been wanting me to eat there for years or something. They're really great over there. Five stars for sure.
Hmmm...this review hurts. I love Kai's sushi, the one time I was able to get it. Of course, living two blocks from Kai's, you'd think I could get it any time I wanted. Yeah... No. Because Kai's is a neighborhood restaurant NOT for the neighborhood. It's open for the business crowd. And so, like I said, it pains me, but I must give it 2 stars. Both of those stars are for delicious sushi. But those three blank stars are for the absolute snub of old oakland.
Came for lunch (11:45a) and beat the rush so had a nice choice of tables. Problem was given that there were only a few customers, it took a while to get seated and get our orders taken.
Like most of the yelpers we tried a few rolls. You can't resist ordering from the wide selection. Pictures help too. From the specialty rolls ($9.95 give or take) there was the Cherry Blossom (maguro and avocado) and the Crazy Roll (hamachi, maguro, sake, avocado, and cucumber). Both were decent. There were also cheaper rolls like the Unagi Cucumber for only $6. We thought the rolls were going to be small but we were wrong. The rolls were like 8 to 10 pieces and of an inch to inch and half dense. While not the best quality, neither of us got sick.
Kai's is relatively cheap, clean and bright. Just need improvement on service (e.g. taking order, refilling water/tea cups).
The rolls are big and the prices are low, just don't expect to get more than you're paying for.
I ordered some of the bigger rolls the first few times I went, and was given complementary miso. Then I became addicted to the $4 fried California roll (which is definitly enough to fill me up)-and stopped receiving the soup. I'm not sure if no soup is because of the cheap roll or not?
A big plus=full bar. Six beers are on tap, and they have sake, liquor, etc.
Just make sure you have 45-60 minutes to spend here, as they can be pretty slow in getting food out.
Wanted:
1. Cheap prices (at least compared to many south bay sushi places)
2. Friendly service
3. Big fat rolls
Found: Kai's
FYI - the Oakland location is only open during the weekdays. . .head to Alameda for weekend cravings.
I really don't know what it is. For some strange reason, Oakland restaurants always underwhelm me. I almost have gotten to the point of considering not going to an Oakland restaurant cause I don't want to have to write another bad review. I want the Oakland dining scene to survive, I will do my part to spend money, but it seems they always come up short on their end.
I could sum up my review pretty short, ....Kai's gave me NO reason to ever want to come back. .......Yeah, I could stop short of that, but with all these Yelpers being sued, I better back up my position.
for one thing, I have spoke to many business owners and very few ever read Yelp or other reviews. It always makes me wonder why? It would take a business owner maybe a good 20-30 mins to read over reviews and maybe take a few tidbits of constructive critisim....at least, they could learn a bit of what their customers want. ....Ok, so that gets me thinking, does someone who opens up their own business, really want to sell me on their vision, or do they want to provide what I the customer wants? I think in order to be successful, you have to do a bit of both, .....no one wants to be the guy on the street corner who makes music that no one wants to hear...
Ok, so I am tired of eating half-assed sushi from places like the public market, or Whole foods pre-made stuff. I hit Kai's today for lunch with high hopes, and a thought that at least the stuff will be made to order.
It is around 2pm and the place is empty. I place my order, the Deluxe Sushi/Sashimi dinner @$18.95. It is supposed to come with 8 pcs of California, 8 pieces of Nigiri (Chefs choice) and some Sashimi. ..Ok, here we go:
1. nothing in my order is cooked, so why is it taking 20 mins to get my dish to me?. I am the only person in the place
2. the waitress has disappeared, she dropped off my tea, soup, and asked the odd question "is that all ?" when I ordered the most "deluxe" thing on their menu.
3. the food comes. Scan it the dish, there is a salad which looks like the plastic versions they have in some Japanese restaurant windows...there is a glob of salad dressing over the top of iceberg...I will pass on that.
b. So, I ask myself, did i piss off the Sushi chef? did I walk in and rub him to wrong way? I get 6 pcs of California, the other 2 were the 1/2 sized ends. ....For the Nigiri, the photo on the menu shows Nigri, like Maguro, Hamachi, ...I get Egg, cooked shrimp, Fake crab meat maki style, some maki spicy scallop thing, that nasty Mackrel stuff, a wafer thin Octopuss. ...all the most least wanted pieces you can ask for......there was nothing Deluxe about the 8 "Nigiri" pieces I got.
d. there were 4 pieces of Sashimi, ...wow, actual Sashimi, I was shocked.
Some random, Macaroni salad and that was it.
I had to track down the waitress to pay, I just paid at the counter to avoid further indifference from her.
I hate when people use the term, "in these hard economic times", but really, If someone like me decides to drop $21 for lunch in these times, ..I would hope an establishment would cherish the business and do what they can to keep a customer.....Today at Kai's, there is NO way I would ever come back, ....well, maybe if they pulled a Denny's and offered free meals all day....in that case I would go, to break even on the $21 i dropped today on a sub=par meal.
This is where me and my BFF go to get lunch everytime I'm in town. This review is more my fond memories of the restaurant then it is about the food.
The food is decent and parking is easy to find. I like watching my friend order food so that it is low carb, low sauce, and waist friendly, and how Kai's is totally acommodating about it.
I remember when Kai's was just a restaurant on Park Street in Alameda that we went on rare occasion we actually had some money for lunch. Even then, the teriyaki chicken was delicious, the portions were a nice size, and the restaurant had comfortable seating.
It's the same now, only they have two restaurants and we go to the new one in Oakland.
NEW UPDATE 1/2/09:
They have drastically shortened their hours for this location! Boooh! Now I can't get a sushi dinner in the middle of the week unless I go to the Alameda location. That sucks!!!
As promised, I went back to give Kai's another shot. No more cucumber explosion this time, thank the… Read more »
I am very much surprised to see that this place has had serveral one-star-ers. It was my first time eating at Kai's and I was eating with a group of 12, including a fellow yelper, Angie. I was sent in to secure us our tables in case our wait would take awhile seeing as it was a large party. The place isn't that big nor is it that small yet the host and waitress that helped us were very friendly and very much accommodating.
I ordered the Surf N' Turf Roll because I've already indulged myself on a Sushi binge the previous days and figured it would be light on my stomach. Boy, was I freakin wrong, that shit was HUGEE! I wish I had gone to Kai's first before any other sushi place because the rolls all my friends ordered were just as big and the expense was nothing far from cheap and reasonable! I also ordered a pitcher of Stella beer and that just made things even sweeter.
All in all, it was my first time but I loved the food, loved the service, loved the experience.
I can't wait to go back and try more!
Way better than expected... the rolls are HUGE. Unfortunately I'm vegetarian now and just stared as everyone consumed their gigantic rolls.... but the vegetarian udon soup was delicious!
Great Tasting
Great Service
and Cheap.
Where? Kai's Japanese Restaurant.
Kai's is always good anytime of the day. Ive been going to the Alameda
location back in the days, but they've been closed due to remodeling.
Ive came to this location a few times already. The service is always a
breeze. When your done, the plates are gone in a quicky. I tried alot
of the rolls here already, and they are all very tasty. My favorite
would be the Lion King, each piece is so big you need a few mouthfuls to kill it.
I mainly go to Kai's for either for the Delicious Chicken katsu or the
Delicious Chicken Teriyaki bento. It comes with rice, salad and
macaroni salad. I dont know what kind of salad dressing they use, but
its always good. the macaroni is alrite, but im used to the Alameda
Kai's which gives you potato salad instead. The potatos were cut into
small slices, very delicious. Anyways, this plate is a filler and its under 5 dollars (VERY CHEAP). 4.60 to be exact.
Basically, I cant wait until the Alameda Kai's re-opens. I'll have two
locations to choose from. Lucky me.
Peep out the pics, you'll see what I mean.
If you are eating L&L hawaiin bbq or ono hawaiin bbq or those stupid fake bbq place.. please call your doctor and have your tongue checked out.
Kai's is the only place to be. They serve all the bento box you need. Thats not the great part, the great part is it's only $4.50!!! you can't go wrong because the food is delicious, the miso soup is the best i ever tasted, i have not yet to eat at a sushi place where the miso soup is as good as kai's
Another thing is, the worker/owners are super nice to you. You want more miso soup? You got it! They usually charge you extra, but damn it, never have they charge me extra for anything.
5 stars, this place deserves it, extra clean interior, extra clean tables and chairs, great and quick service, and cheap. thats 5 stars well deserved. Can't wait till the alameda spot opens up
I love sushi, but I work in Oakland so thank goodness for Kai's! The quality is good and the prices are awesome. Whenever someone new joins our group at work or leaves the company, you can be sure we're going to Kai's. I'm not sure if they take reservations but if you come early (they open at 11:30) there is always space.
Most of their specialty rolls are huge and under $10. The place is clean. It's a Japanese Restaurant but the waitresses are Chinese, not surprising nowadays.
The funny thing is when they try to do the Japanese greeting when people walk in, but it just sounds like some garbled Japanese. I seriously don't think they're saying the right words. I don't know how to speak or understand Japanese but I've been to enough Japanese restaurants to know better. And since I already know that the servers are Chinese and I am Chinese myself it sounds like some lame attempt to sound authentic. One day I'm going to bring a Japanese speaking person with me to verify this hunch.
We ate dinner at Kai's on a whim.
Service: Several mistakes were made concerning seating and drinks. I normally expect poor service in Oakland, but this place is trying to be an upscale Japanese place. The general confusion behind the bar led me to believe that the place is staffed by a bunch of high school girls. We ordered a mixed drink, but they were out of ingredients (after looking up in the manual how to make it) and tried to upsell a more expensive pitcher of something else. In the end they forgot to charge us for drinks.
Food: We ordered two rolls. Neither the lion king nor the deluxe dragon roll looked anything like the depiction on the menu. Tastewise, the "baked" lion roll was completely cold and soggy, and both were drenched in some sugar-goo that made the fish taste like donuts. Yes, unagi salmon donuts.
If you think you know anything about Japanese food, eat somewhere else.
It is so great to see Old Oakland thriving. When this area started to enjoy its resurgence, it was never really very crowded and I always worried that the businesses down here weren't gonna make it.
Well, that was a needless worry. Saturday evening fairly early, we tried to get a seat at the table or the bar without a resie at:
The delicious B Restaurant - "So sorry, maybe next time?"
The delectable Levende East - "Oh, we're totally booked. Can you wait an hour?"
The beautiful and drool-inducing Tamarindo Antojeria - "Lo Siento Senor"
So that's how we came to dine at Kai's in that same neighborhood. It was pretty empty when we walked in at 7:30, which is always a little concerning when every other place is packed to the gills. But by 8:30, the place was packed and people were waiting for tables.
Maybe I am just not a sushi connoisseur, or maybe I am just distracted by the big portions, but I thought this place was great. The Miso was some of the best I've had, the Hamachi roll was super fresh and huge, and the Bento box also huge and had tons of really great crispy white meat teriyaki chicken.
We were initially put off by the limited wine selection - choice of generic red or white - but the white, whatever it was, was pretty good. After a few glasses of that, I decided to try some Sake. I am kind of a sake virgin, so I asked the really helpful young waitress for a suggestion and she brought out a bottle of unfiltered Sake. I liked it pretty well, but I wasn't totally thrilled at first, and she could tell without me saying anything. She practically insisted on bringing me a different bottle, an offer I refused cause I don't send back wine unless it's gone bad, but I love that kind of service. The sake grew on me, though, and I polished it off.
It's always fun to find another new place in town to stuff my face.
Will probably return to try the chicken katsu and teriyaki dishes. Fantastic price point there. As mentioned they have a good miso soup. I like it a touch saltier, but there wasnt denying that it wasnt solid. it was. Their gyoza and tempura were low quality to mediocre.
I don't think its worth it to nitpick their sushi. In short if you know the Japanese names of more than 5 types of fish then don't eat the sushi here.
Portions are huge. Rolls are good. The first time I came here, the boyfriend, the sister, and I ordered about 6 rolls and 2 entrees. The waitress was like, "Wow! You've never been here before, have you?" Because the portions are HUGE.
Well guess what. We finished everything, except for a couple of pieces here and there that were packed in a tiny take out box. That's right. We finished everything. Cus we're beasts, yo. And we walked across the street to have Quickly's afterwards. YEAH.
I've been back here twice I think, and I just order the rolls. Unless I'm in a mood for an entree. But mostly rolls. I can't remember the names of the rolls but everything's awesome. Just keep in mind that they're kinda heavy on that sauce they drizzle all over the plates.
not bad at all. clean and quaint. lots of windows, i like.
the customers are largely composed of people working in the area, courthouses, etc. i guess if you're in the area and hankering for some japanese, this is the place to go... but i think this place is popular due to convenience rather than great food...
PRICE - rolls run from $3 something to like $13. portions are good. you can stuff yourself by spending less than $10. very good deal for sushi.
FOOD - its edible. they have a surprisingly wide selection of rolls. i'm a bit of a sushi snob though. the tuna sashimi wasn't the freshest. the avocados in the cali rolls weren't so lush. the ginger was very pink.... i'd come again only if i were starving.
ah well what can be expected of sushi in chinatown?
might've gone on an off day? went with 2 of my aunts and i ordered the assorted sashimi plate that came with about 9 pieces of sushi [3 salmon, 3 tuna, and 3 hamachi] costs about $13.00. comes with a small salad and macaroni salad. the only thing good on the plate was the salad because the dressing had a pleasantly tasting peanut buttery sauce to it. service was meh, and i have to say the tuna slices were so obviously not fresh, they were turning brown, that was very unappetizing. the salmon also didn't have that luster like fresh salmon sashimi usually has. my aunt was going to pay with a $100 bill and they asked if she had a smaller bill and she didn't, so i spent $20 for food & $4 for parking. won't be dilly dallying around this place again.
Come here for the bento box/rice plates but don't come here for the sushi. Their sushi is loose and breaks apart really easily. The sizes of the sashimi is inconsistent and sometimes unappetizing. One time, the rice in the sushi was wet/mushy/cold.
If you're coming here for something like the chicken katsu, it's totally worth the price and not bad tasting at all. You need to be patient with finding parking during busy hours though.
I went here on a fluke last week I came to old Oakland to meet a friend
owed me money. I did not mind driving there because when somebody
owes you 1,250 you will dry from the city to get your shit feel me.
Anyways after I got my money which was short by $250.00 this is all I
have yadda yadda whatever give me my shit.
I am freezing and I decided to pop in Kai it was not crowded and I was a little iffy because it only had 3 customers. To my suprise it was pretty good and really inexpensive. I called 2 of my friends down to meet me
While I wait I started to drink.
I ordered a large bottle of Sake and an Oshi Tashi to start. My friend was taking a long time so I ordered another bottle. By the time my friends got there I was feeling great . 3 rolls an order of shrimp tempura 3 shots of Flor de Cana and two beers later I was drunk and the next day slightly hung over (headache) but $80.00 for all that was worth it so I am going back again sometimes soon
I go here with my lunchtime luvr (who is currently experiencing dietary restrictions in his effort to get lean & mean for a high profile fashion show).
Kai's is by no means, extraordinary quality Japanese food. But what they do, they do well...QUANTITY!!! The sheer magnitude of the rolls here is scary. I've tried their fried chicken appetizer which is delicious...Udon not so good...lunchtime Bento Boxes are a great value - tons of food.
And if you're on a "diet" - you can easily have them put sauces on the side and eliminate the fried stuff for ya. Yum Yum.
A perfect lunchtime spot, though it gets crowded so get your butt down there quick, in order to get a seat right away.
Open letter to Kai's: Please embrace your Korean-ness.
Apparently you are not Korean. But you serve those bean thread noodles with a sashimi platter, and those yellow pickled radishes, and you don't know what oshitashi is but you'll bring me a "sesame spinach salad".
The Korean touches are good. They separate you from the typical sushi joint, and round out the flavors of the meal pretty nicely.
So come on. Bring on the kim chee, the hwae dup bap, and the marinated beef dishes (none of which are currently on the menu, but easily could be). Maybe even offer brown rice as an option, and up the ante on actual Koreans who insist they have the healthiest diet in the world.
Guess I'd better put a "review" here too: This food is competent. Not amazing. The portions are very generous, not just on noodle and cooked dishes, but on sashimi plates as well. The raw fish, while nothing special, is fresh and edible.
It just needs something extra... like... being more Korean.
I just don't know yet.
Yes, living in Old Oakland we have been anxiously waiting the day for Kai's to open. We almost gave up hope, and driving home last week we realized it was finally open.
Anxious and excited, we went for our first meal with HIGH hopes. Ehhhh, I was utterly disappointed. I heart sushi. I LOVE sushi. I'd it eat every day if I could. All of it. However, I left with a stinging feeling that we just didn't get what we paid for.
We had:
Double Unagi Roll (Unagi inside w/ avocado, covered w/ more unagi outside)
Rock N' Roll
Spicy Tuna Roll
Spicy California Roll
My major complaints:
Spicy Tuna Roll was NOT served as indicated in the photo. Looking forward to preciously minced & spiced tuna, we instead received a chunk of tuna (not spiced!!) with cucumber, and the rice was ROLLED in 'spicy' seasoning.
Spicy California Roll was nothing more than a California roll, rolled in the same 'spicy' seasoning.
Just because it's red, doesn't mean it's spicy. And this had absolutely NO kick. More than that, the pictures on the pretty menu do not adequately depict what you will be served. That sucks.
As it was the first week, someone came over to ask how we enjoyed our dinner. I was very forthcoming and let her know we were very disappointed. I felt (and somewhat expected) for her to comp the dishes we were unhappy about. But she did not.
I know good sushi restaurants are far and few in between. This is a hop, skip, and a jump from home and though I'm just not anxious for a second visit, I'm sure we will give Kai's a chance to redeem themselves.
We live in Old Oakland and are so thrilled that Kai's is open for business. It's still in a "soft opening" according to the very sweet owner but it sure felt like the full experience. Great Rolls! Huge! Bigger than a baby's arm, if you know what I mean.
The service was great and with the size of the rolls we left the place stuffed and with two containers of leftovers. Usually, I wouldn't feed leftover sushi to my cat (which is stuffed, but that's another story!). But this was good even the next day! We gobbled it up.
As usual, there were few people when we got there, but the place was full by the time we left. That's known as the Food Faerie Effect. We are happy campers now that Kai's is open. Once we met the owner, we felt like family and can't wait to go back on a regular basis. Great Sushi in a nice new place with a friendly clean atmosphere.
Very yummy and reasonably priced. The service isn't the best...the waitresses aren't very friendly.
Their lion king roll is very good!!
After winning a few hands at cache creek I felt like eating some good ol Kai's. Everything from the service to the food was great once again. Good thing I came by because they put up a sign saying that the Alameda location would be open on December 1st. They been closed in Alameda for a year now, I'm glad its finally going to open. Hours here at this location is also going to change. They will be closed at 3pm so that means lunch only no more dinner. But you can always wonder off to Alameda for the new Kai's.
I just finally tried the tonkatsu, the pork katsu instead of the chicken katsu. And wow it tasted… Read more »
Alameda, CA
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Downtown Oakland
Category: Sushi Bars
Neighborhood: Jack London Square
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Uptown
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: Japanese
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