Kata Robata Sushi & Grill

Looked up the Sushi Club of Houston’s recommendations while on a business trip and Kata Robata was listed #1. They factor many things into this rating, like value, service, rice, and quality of fish. I’ve been to many of the top choices, including Uchi, and I will say when you take all those factors into account, I agree. «A» quality fish, great service, professional chefs, perfect rice, and while expensive, it’s worth it. Great Sake list. Happy hour menu, too, if you’re looking to try a few great things but not break the bank. Will return.

Really good. We loved the Ocean Picante, which had just enough kick to it. The tropical spicy tuna practically melted in your mouth. Gyoza as a starter was delicious but we got 4 pieces, which felt more like a tease than a starter. Another plus — my husband’s double scotch was a proper drink, not a thimbleful — always a good sign!
The place itself is very relaxing and open — but the Monday lunch rush meant it got busy and loud quickly. That was also the point at which service slowed, which is the opposite of what you want in lunch service. Overall we enjoyed it and would return again when on this side of town.

Favourite sushi to-​go place in Houston! I am giving it four star purely because it is overpriced so it always deters me to dine there as often as I would love to (which makes me frequent Blue Fish at Downtown).
Sushi rice and ingredients are «fresher» and better prepared. The rolls are more delicious because they are more daring in trying out different combos.
Note: For someone who has eaten sushi in Japan, Singapore, London: Houston’s Japanese food is Americanised but it’s not a bad thing — I actually like all the crazy inventive rolls American sushi chefs has come up with. Carl Rosa’s sushi class w (Google him he is the founder of The Japanese club in Houston) which my partner and I went would definitely open your eyes more to what real sushi is.

For starters, I’m giving this place 4.5 stars, but Unilocal doesn’t allow that. This is my favorite date night place. I’m typically a person that eats extremely fast, but when I’m here, I slow my roll and actually savor my bites. Haha.
Their menu has a large variety of items with very different flavors. You can walk out of many sushi restaurants and feel like all the dishes you ordered tasted the same, but not at Kata Robata. Every dish is carefully crafted and the flavors that present itself when you take a bite make that evident. I’d take the time to describe some of the dishes I ate, but I’m a lazy Unilocaler. Some notable dishes include the toro and short rib roll (very unique mesh of fatty flavors), U-​10 pan seared scallops, salmon carpaccio (delish!), and the foie gras and scallop nigiri. Everything I’ve eaten at Kata Robata was unique and enjoyable.
The service here is nothing to write home about, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. They get the job done with no issues and that’s how I like it. It’s good to note that their competitor (Uchi) actually wants their service staff get right in your face with the sushi connoisseur attitude, but I’m not a big fan of that. I know some people actually would prefer this, but to each their own.
The atmosphere is a pleasant place for a date night, but it’s nothing unique. It looks like any other upscale sushi restaurant in town. I have nothing really to write about here, besides from the fact that it’s clean and there’s ample parking outside.
Anyways, I am hoping to update this review to a 5 star in the near future. I’m a huge sushi fanatic, and this place has got to be my favorite sushi place in Houston. It’s definitely on the pricier side, so it’s not a normal place for me to visit, but I look forward to my next month-​iversary dinner. :)

Packed on a Saturday night. One of the Rockets at the next table.
Clearly on par with Uchi on the quality and presentation of the food. Not quite as «hip» and Uchi is more of a tasting menu. Found a superb «seasonal: sake at $ 40.
Service was a bit slow but they were packed.
And unlike Uchi — they don’t block reservations at prime times.

Oh Kata Robata I love you so!
This is our go-​to «treat yourself» spot. We ALWAYS get the Hawaiian Amberjake and Foie Gras. It’s continually the best bite I’ve ever had. The miso lonster mac and cheese is creamy goodness and I’m a mac and cheese snob. The bone marrow with toasts is also so mind blowing my phenomenal. Melts in your mouth. This trip we tried the Foie Gras and Scallop sushi and were not disappointed. If we hadn’t already run up the bill so much we would’ve gotten a second round. You can’t go wrong here. Their ramen choices are always amazing as well.

I had a great experience here!
Though when I went here with my boyfriend one random day, we were dressed so casual. Like I just came from the gym casual and we felt so underdressed lol next time I know to dress up a little bit when I come here! Also the food is great here! Sadly, we didn’t try any of the fancy dishes here, we just came here for the sushi and the ramen.
I’d have to say, the spicy soy ramen was very good, very flavorful! The egg was perfect. I almost didn’t want to eat it but that’s crazy talk because I loooove soft boiled egg. It was a lot for me to eat so I split it with my boyfriend. What else are boyfriends for, you know? lol jk.
We got the salmon roe nigiri by accident because the server accidentally brought it to our table and never picked it up so he just said it was «on the house» meaning he messed up lol (my bf was a server so he can relate.) Also it was my first time trying salmon roe too and it was decent. It’s like fish-​flavored popping bubbles (I can’t believe I just described the flavor of a dead fish’s eggs that). We also ordered the usual, spicy chopped scallops and it was the highlight of my meal.
Hopefully next time I can try the lobster Mac and cheese and the other fancy dishes!

Damn. Okay this place has some dank ass sushi. After watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi my craving for sushi was off the charts! This place did not disappoint at all! Most of the dishes we ordered were superb!
Salmon & Soft Shell Crab (4.5÷5):
Toro & Short Rib (⁵⁄₅): Unique flavor! Never had short rib on a roll before :)
Texas Hamachi (⁴⁄₅): I ordered this dish and it was my least favorite. Personally, it was because I didn’t like the flavor of the jalapeño
Foie Gras + Scallop (¹⁰⁄₅): This was AMAZINGGGGGGG. If I could, I would only eat this because it melts like butter in your mouth!
Horse Mackerel (⁵⁄₅): Rich in flavor. The difference between horse mackerel and normal mackerel is that there’s a less fishy taste
Oxtail Ramen (⁵⁄₅): I didn’t really get to taste the oxtail, or maybe I didn’t notice the flavor? The broth is amazing and the texture of the noodles is perfection. Just the right amount of chewiness– not soft and mushy but not hard either
Pork Belly and Fresh Papaya Salad (⁵⁄₅): Three pieces of a decent size pork belly
Green Tea Soufflé Cheesecake (⁵⁄₅): Dank on dank on dank. Texture of soufflé with a taste of cheesecake
Don’t forget to grab some andes mint candies when you’re done with the meal :)

This place is packed for a reason!
Kata Robata is one of our favorite sushi restaurants in Houston — the quality of the fish is always excellent, there is a large variety on the menu, and the prices are not crazy. It’s a good spot to go with your beloved, or with a group of friends, just make sure you get there early if you are going with a large group (especially on a Friday or Saturday night), because the place gets packed! There is a small bar at the front of the restaurant, but it gets jam-​packed, so getting drinks while waiting may take a bit.
It is not a big restaurant, and space is very limited, but once you are seated you are immediately immersed in the hustle and bustle of service, and they are quick to greet you. The servers are not overly friendly, but will guide you on the menu if you are not familiar with some of the items. They have specials that change frequently, so be sure to check that out, but below are some suggestions to try!
Favorite Items:
Hamachi Sashimi
Salmon Sashimi
Rising Sun
Ocean Picante
They do great sake bombs — so if it’s that kind of night, definitely try one (or two)! :)
Cheers!

This is my go-​to place for sushi to spoil myself after a long week of work. It’s casual but trendy and the atmosphere is fun and lively.
They have a page of menu items that changes daily (I believe it is daily). I usually order one thing from there to try and then get my usual which is salmon sushi and foie gras sushi– it’s absolutely melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious!
All of the ramen options are also very delicious too! Large portions and very flavorful.
Service is usually good and food comes out relatively quickly.
Parking lot is available, but can get busy during certain times and they also offer valet parking. If you decide to try Kata Robata, I recommend making reservations!

Yum yum yum!!!
Their food is delicious and the service is wonderful! I highly recommend the lobster Mac and cheese and spicy chopped scallops! Their Mac and cheese had a lot of flavor and tasted different from other places. The lobster pieces were yummmm as well. The spicy chopped scallops… Ugh so YUMS. I can’t even describe them. My fav.
A lot of people rave about the spicy soy ramen but I don’t really like it. It’s a little too sweet and milky for my taste.

Grilled Oyster Mushroom: ⁵⁄₅ (wonderfully smoky)
3 Sashimi: ⁵⁄₅ (fish was flawless but the sauces did not belong)
Hamachi: ⁵⁄₅ (not even sure what it was but it was on happy hour and it was good)
I think i may have eaten something else but i did not take a picture and i was too drunk to remember… i guess the sake could be the culprit.
Overall I had a great experience and I plan to come back next time I’m in Houston.

I’m amazed the reviews are so overwhelmingly positive. Let me say I didn’t have a negative experience, but I wouldn’t come back.
First, I read that this place had the best ramen ever. In what world? Adding soy milk to ramen, yucky. I wasn’t a fan! I could’ve gone across the street to fat bao and gotten a far better bowl of ramen.
Second the sushi. There were very few roll choices. It made ordering something difficult.
Third the drinks. The bar was crazy busy with only bartender… no really just one. So we waited at the bar for about 30 minutes just to order a drink. When we were seated our server advised us against ordering additional drinks because of how backed up the bar was, wow.
Forth the dessert. The desserts were awesome. We got the green tea cheesecake (note: doesn’t have a cheesecake texture) and the crème brûlée. Both were excellent. This is as the highlight of the night.
Finally one more note: as our server greeted us he told us what they were out of. Why are you running out of stuff on a Monday night???
All in all it was just OK. I won’t be back though.

I have never experienced true love until I ordered the Sushi Platter here…10 different pieces of nigiri and the tropical tuna roll will make you wish you could experience it all over again. And again. And again. There are a couple of weird ones– the fish egg nigiri is quite the salty experience and the shrimp nigiri is a hefty sweet & slimy 1 – 2 punch– but the other 8 more than make up for it. Their fish is fresh and well-​prepared, and the wonderful service and romantic ambience create a rare and unique dining experience.
Do yourself a favor and visit this restaurant now, regardless of your age, gender, ethnicity, political affiliation… you get the point. This place will turn you into a sushi snob. Highly recommended and one of the best spots in Houston.

Summary– Some damn fine Sushi with a few small misses.
Food– 5 Stars
All the raw fish was fantastic. O Toro, Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail
Rolls–
Toro and Short Rib was disappointing, kinda muddled flavors
Rising Sun was fantastic
Sexy Scallop was top 3 rolls I have ever had
Wagyu Tartare was excellent
72hr Kobe Beef skewer was sinfully awesome
Pork Belly with 60deg egg was great
Miso Gyoza– Good but not in the same league as all the above
Special Truffle covered fish (Snapper I think) was meh, the truffle totally overrode the fish and that was all you could taste
Dessert was also excellent.
Service– 4.5 Stars
Very good server.
Drinks– 5 Stars
Nice sake menu, good hot sake, and some very good cocktails
Atmosphere– 4 Stars
Very nice inside, the booths are definitely the best option, next time I am going to specify that I want one.
Value– 4 Stars
Not cheap and it shouldn’t be.

Great service, got the same as usual except this time I tried the octopus crudo. Thumbs up! Great citrusy, chewy fresh octopus. This will be a must every time I come now.
Tried the Kobe beef tacos and these were a bit tasteless and tough than when I had tried it at Mochi Sushi, no Bueno. No wonder it was on the happy hour menu.
We also had lobster Mac and cheese, light tasting and even better with a little truffle oil on the side.
Everything was fresh and delicious as always. Thank you!

Kata Robata has been on my radar for… ever. I had the opportunity to kill some time before meeting a friend, so why not hit up happy hour at the bar there for dinner?
First off — Kata most definitely has HH, but it’s not widely advertised, which is kinda tricksies to me. In my opinion, HH should be a great introduction to the restaurant’s food, even though the cost is much, much lower.
Fortunately, Kata’s HH is pretty good and has items from the main menu; I ordered the yuzu salmon carpaccio, longhorn roll, and salmon & soft shell crab roll.
The salmon carpaccio was thin slices of raw salmon treated with some citrus, and it was a surprisingly large portion, especially for HH. The dish was fresh, a perfect appetizer for my rolls.
The salmon/​soft shell crab is pretty self-​explanatory and tasty, but my preferred roll was the longhorn roll. Aside from having the namesake of the mascot of the best university, the longhorn roll was stuffed with fried shrimp and topped with avocado and caviar. Total indulgence for me!
I plan on coming back in the next couple months to try their omakase, but in the meantime, Kata has some good stuff going on. A little pricey but definitely worth it, especially if you come with friends and share!

Definitely the best in Houston.
The fish is the freshest while being so smooth that it melts in your mouth.
The king crab uni spoons maybe expensive at $ 7.50 a spoon, but certainly worth it. The tender and chewy king crab meat is marinated in a light but refreshing sauce that is topped off with a creamy flavor packed uni with caviar on top. The Japanese way of eating everything in a bite, really brings out an umami seafood flavor, but light and very refreshing that you can’t resist but get another one. ** it will leave you licking the spoon over and over again.
The amberjack and foie gras is something I ALWAYS get when I go because the foie gras wrapped in the amberjack just melts in your mouth. The oil brings out the sauce, and if you add some of the greens on the side, it gives it a light crunch which is superb and definitely recommended.
The red snapper and topped with Asian sauce and truffle is just superb. Although truffle looked to be hard and crunchy, surprisingly, you could barely tell it was there except for the heavenly taste when on top of the fish, rolled around in the sauce, and in your mouth for a taste that spreads in your mouth wanting more. — green are suggested for that nice crunch again.
The ramen was okay ramen in my opinion. There have been better ramen, but for a store that doesn’t focus on it, it’s made very well. The chashu meat is very tender and melts in your mouth!
The Kobe beef skewers are great. Slow cooked for 72-​hours and melts in your mouth. Although everytime I’ve gotten them, they’ve been a little burnt but it adds to the flavor.
The lobster Mac n cheese, the first bite is always the best. After ³⁄₅ of the plate, it does get a little tiring, but the first impact is what makes it worth it!
The blueberry cake and earl grey ice cream is by far my favorite dessert. The blueberry jam on the side compliments it well, and follows the theme nicely of eating all flavors in a bite. This also gives an English tea time experience and is well worth it. The earl grey is spectacular and sits on a crunchy delicious crumble that adds an exciting texture to the whole piece.

Shout out to our server Andrew who spaced out our meal perfectly and was on it and very kind.
This meal was literally the best birthday meal we have ever had and it was sooooo worth the HOUR wait! (Make a reservation to avoid the wait times!!)
Sushi — So here’s the deal, their rolls are alright. While we were waiting they were passing out free rolls to try and the two we tried were not that impressive, BUT when we sat down we ordered some nigiri and everything about that was fresh, perfectly sliced and delicious. Honestly I know I’m down playing this a little but seriously the sushi here is delicious and is played beautifully. You go here for the sushi first! That being said! (like my segway…)
Warm Apps — We had the Kobe Beef Skewers which technically I guess are Wagyu Beef because I believe they said it was from Texas, but I digress… it was so melt in your mouth tender and delicious that chewing was option but in a good way. Hahahaha! yummmmm!
Shrimp tempura — The sweet potato was seriously so good, I now want to do that at home. The shrimp was great especially for my mother in law who doesn’t really love sushi but loves shrimp. The breeding was nice and thin with a crunchy pillowiness that one expects from tempura. The sauce just brought it all together.
Lobster mac and cheese — WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!? I got it on a whim because people were raving over it on Unilocal.Seriously, never have I ever eaten a mac and cheese this good. My mother in law who literally will eat anything over mac and cheese got seconds!
The Bar & Atmosphere — This restaurant in a strip mall has a sexy, sultry vibe that I enjoy. The bar was packed but very efficient and generous! There was only one guy mixing the drinks but there were several people back there.
The price — Expensive! This a fine dining experience. Even the quality of the ingredients, it’s worth it for sure but it is expensive.
The service — I gave a shout out to my server who is probably not there anymore but he was amazing!
All in all, four and a half stars but bumped it up to five for Andrew!

Atmosphere is not as pretentious as the website made it out to be, so good for them. I hope you’ve come prepared with money because some of the items are rather pricey. This place does have some pretty damn good dishes though, but there are several setbacks that put me off at this place.
Right off the bat I’ll tell you that the Kobe beef skewers is the number 1 item of the night. The only drawback is the stupid pesto sauce they bring alongside it that does absolutely nothing for the beef other than make it oily (and it’s kobe beef so the fat content is already stupidly fat enough, why add more fat?). The flavor of the beef is fantastic and the texture was layered, as if I was eating really good pork belly where the layers are distinguishable yet doesn’t hinder the tenderness of the meat.
The green tea soufflé dessert is also marvelous. The azuki (red bean) ice cream melts rather fast, so be sure to eat it up quickly. Soufflé was nice and fluffy and had a perfect level of green tea flavor in it.
Lastly, the miso-​cod was very well cooked on the inside and fall-​apart tender. Nice flavor to it. However, you left it on the grill or whatever too long and the outside was too charred.
Now then.
Lobster mac&cheese is like any other decent restaurant (I’m talking $$-level on Unilocal), so there’s nothing to write home about here. It tastes exactly how you think it would taste.
For sushi, I had the octopus and chuu-​toro sashimi. I chose the tako just b/​c you can’t really mess it up. Flavor was mild, as it should be. Chuu-​toro however, for 7.5, was a huge disappointment. Fishiness taste was heavily present (indicator of non-​freshness). The more mild the flavor of your tuna, the fresher it was. Trust me, I’ve had fish from Tsukiji market in Tokyo. If you’re gonna charge me 7.5 for slices like this then it should at least come to HALF the quality of what I had in Tsukiji. I also got a piece of Unagi sushi and that’s nothing to write home about either. Just your average unagi; they didn’t mess it up, they didn’t really make it any better than unagi you can get at say, a grocery store. I WILL say that if you get the hot rock unagi entrée, it tastes better. Maybe it’s because you can douse it in sauce to hide the «normalness» of the unagi itself.
Also, I asked our waiter for any recommendations and his answer was «whatever you want to eat». The menu here is EXTENSIVE, guys. There is absolutely no freaking way they can possibly make every item on the menu perfect, therefore, there are obviously some dishes that are better than others. Thanks for the help mate, you really helped me narrow down my choices. He did keep my water glass full for the most part… ish.
As for prices… yes, like I said, it’s pricey. You knew that coming in. However the only things worth your money in my opinion are the kobe skewers, the green tea dessert, and maybe the cod.
7/​10, would come again once in a while.