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Kamakura Restaurant
Rating Details »
715 S Neil St
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 351-9898
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 351-9898
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
6 reviews for Kamakura Restaurant
First of all this is NOT one of my favorite types of foods.
We went for lunch and I ordered the chicken teriyaki box thing. It wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't good either. The portions are really small which really didn't bother me. The salad came in the upper left square of the box. It was about a 2 inch by 2 inch square. The salad was good but again you only get a couple of bites of it. What really cracked me up was the vegetables. In the lower right box (2 x2) was ONE brocille top and a half of a mini carrot!! The rice was really sticky but my friend told me it's supposed to be that way so it sticks on the chop sticks. I had to use a fork of course because I can't get anything to stick on chop sticks.
I like the chicken teriyaki from the mall better so maybe that tells you how much I know about Janpanese food. It was a fun experience and I would go again...... if someone forced me to.
Champaign has a few places that purport to sell Japanese food. Ko-Fusion and a few chiefly Korean restaurants come to mind. Yet among these, Kamakura is the only one where the image matches the quality of the food.
For a restaurant in central Illinois, especially on a road next to the middle of nowhere, there's no need to go overboard with decor. Yet Kamakura's elegant interior stands in stark contrast to the dusty cornfields outdoors. The food is diverse for a stand-alone Japanese restaurant, and makes me wonder how many of the original ingredients were traded for easier-to-obtain substitutes. The taste, like the restaurant, is elegant in spices, to make up for the decidedly bland base.
I have yet to try their sushi, or bento boxes, so I cannot review those yet.
I've eaten here a number of time and the menu is boring. The bento boxes are okay. The teppan is okay too. Nothing special. At least they don't dump sweet and sour sauce all over their food like Miko's does.
But the rolls are really dissapointing. I ordered a spicy tuna roll and they sprinkled hot flakes on top. That's not a spicy tuna roll. Save your money and don't eat here.
Service is okay. But who cares about the service when the food is just so pricey and mediocre.
Kamakura wouldn't be a great Japanese restaurant back home, but it's pretty good for Champaign, and my heart lept to see Katsu, Udon, Soba, and so many other thigns that remind me of home. Te setting is a bit too 'Orientalist,' and the food average, but I'm definitely coming back, because an approximation of the food I'm used to eating in California is better than none at all.
I've eaten here three times over the past 5 years and I've been disappointed each time. Sometimes it's because they mess up my orders, sometimes it's because the food is just underwhelming or simply not fresh. I know people who like this place a lot, so perhaps I am just unlucky.
Fun if you're a lover of Benihana and/or the "Teppan grill" concept. "Kamakura Delight" is a yummy drink. Sushi is pretty good but takes a long time. Salad dressing choices are horrendous. (I tell them to skip the salad even though it's provided with the meal.) It's very expensive. Food is good though, and with your own larger group or little kids, sitting at the Teppan grill table in back is fun. Make reservations specifically for the Teppan grill.
