Kanpai Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill 2

Great sushi and delicious ramen! The staff us super friendly, location has a lot of prking, and the prices are reasonable. They have a rotating list of sakes and fish daily! A must!

Cold and stale rice with our sushi. The spicy miso ramen was so mediocre I had to stopping eating and write this review. The prices do not match the service or the quality of the food!
Shin noodle prepackaged ramen does a better job, how did this place have 4 stars? I’d suggest going to Yamadaya or daikokuya.
Extremely disappointed with this whole place, I wanted to believe too! :(

Surprisingly good ramen for the location. The Yuzu Shio ramen had a delicious, tart broth. The agedashi tofu was good, but a bit overpriced for the amount given.
Overall, really good ramen, but the price points are nearing the top of how much I would pay.

This restaurant is located next to LAX and all the nearby hotels. I ordered takeout from here several times and finally came in for dinner. Their Happy Hour menu is pretty good — I liked the Blue Crab roll the most. In terms of dinner menu — the selection is HUGE. I always get the uni and last time, I got the udon. The udon portion was just right — great flavor. I’ve also had their tuna sashimi salad, which is HUGE and definitely good for a lunch-​sized portion.
Their gem, however, are the onigiri balls. Ever since I got back from Hawaii, I have been craving mentaiko onigiri. I’ve tried multiple places with disappointing results — Kanpai’s are very simple, but super tasty and $ 4 for a GIANT piece.
Definitely my go-​to for meals near LAX. I’ve also never had issues with parking.

This is more of a 3.8 star. Came here for lunch and ordered a small miso tonkotsu ramen. So pleasantly surprised at how good it was. I would order a large next time if I am only eating ramen. Tbh, I had low expectations since it’s a Japanese joint near the airport. I saw a guy that seemed like the boss and he was Japanese, so that’s a good sign. Also, during lunch time, there was only one waitress. Service was a little slow cause of that.

I started coming to Kanpai 10 years ago when I needed someone to feed me Japanese comfort food late at night. On the outside it is unassuming but very well known and respected in the area– especially for the fact that unlike may sushi places that close between lunch and dinner it is open throughout and closes at 1am. Their ramen is unmatched. I would highly recommend the following items: yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño, Ikura sushi with quail egg, and the tuna sampler (Chef’s choice). The staff are amazing. My faves are Peter who runs the show and Chef Katsu who cuts the best sushi.

Went in at happy hour, $ 2 draft and $ 8 pitcher, we ordered off both happy hour and regular menu, sushi bar seatings are better than two ppl tables, more spacious and comfy.
The very good:
Three kinds of sashimi platter with hamachi, albacore and tuna, King crab sushi, snow crab and salmon skin hand rolls: the raw fish was very fresh, cuts were generous, King crab sushi was so good, loved the light flavor, hand rolls were from happy hour menu, but it was fully loaded, very tasty!
The good:
Spicy Ramen with pork: the broth looked a little oily to me, but that’s how hubby liked it, very flavorful and comforting for him!
Shrimp dumplings, with mustard sauce: dumplings were so delicious, very soft with nice light flavors, the mustard was extremely spicy, be careful!
Green tea cheesecake with green tea ice cream: very light, we liked it a lot.
The OK:
Seaweed salad, miso soup, box mackerel sushi: salad and soup were OK, nothing special, didn’t like the box mackerel sushi rice, not sticky enough, but the taste was yummy.
Food was so good, portions were big, we got very full in the end. Service was very friendly just a bit slow at times. Their happy hour and lunch are great deals, definitely worth a try when you are in the hood!

Came in tonight around 7pm with my hubby as he was craving his favorite (sushi). Sat right at the bar.
I had the baked blue crab roll with soy paper and it was yummy. I also had the Cha Shu ramen which was delish!
He had the K8 which was good, rainbow roll which was excellent and the albacore roll with crispy onions which he said was a little dry. Onions could have been more crispy and fresh.
Service was good. Especially our guy at the bar. Prices were a little high though.
Overall, a great place and we would come back.

Came here for lunch on the 1 day it was pouring rain from el Nino. Perfect rainy weather food!
Tried the yellowtail sushi. It was good.
The guy I was with has been here a number of times and recommended the Spicy Yuzu Ramen. The menu says its tangy. I’ve never had a ‘tangy’ ramen before. I’m in!
Spicy Yuzu Ramen: Tangy, yes! Spicy, yes! nice combo of flavors and a wonderful twist to the typical pork or soy sauce ramen. Chashu was thick and tender. Noodles were normal. Could have gone with a little less bean sprouts, but overall this is a dish that has such a unique flavor I’ll probably crave every now and then. Unique and well done!
Yellowtail sushi: Fresh and good flavor.
Roll #?: Forgot which specialty roll we got but it had jalapeño in it and it was pretty good. They have a number of rolls that are just numbered so its hard to keep track of. It was decent.
I’ll have to come back and try more of their menu.

First of all, take note that there are two Kanpai locations now. My friend put in the address of the second location when we intended to go to the first one. Nevertheless, it all turned out well as we had an opportunity to check out the new location. The restaurant is right off Sepulveda.
I decided to try one of their lunch specials for $ 10. Miso soup was nothing special and a bit watery. Salad was good and I liked the dressing. Grilled mackerel was quite large and had a nice presentation. However, it smelled really fishy (no pun intended) when the server came with the plate. When I examined the meat of the fish it looked ok but it definitely had a very strong fish taste that I tried to douse out with soy sauce as I was too lazy to ask the server to perhaps give me a more fresh fish. My friend got a ramen bowl which she said was good.
The restaurant itself is rather small and cozy. I probably won’t get the mackerel if I come back here again but there’s definitely a lot on the menu to try, from udon to sushi rolls.

We stopped here for a quick dinner on the way to LAX. The front room of the restaurant was packed and we were seated in the back area. There is a sushi bar in the main room which is connected to the kitchen. We had the agedashi tofu for appetizer which was okay. We also got a tonkotsu ramen and spicy miso ramen. The ramen bowls are large with a good amount of toppings and a decent size serving of noodles. We liked the broth but did not care for the fatty chasu pork served with the dish. There is a notation on the menu that ramen leftovers cannot be taken home, which I thought was odd but did not have time to stay and inquire.

PAPAYA SALMON — I really love this dish. The sweet fruit complements the saltiness of the salmon which, by the way, melts on your tongue
I love their CHIRASHI BOWL, which comes with a bunch of MASAGO over RICE.

This place provides awful service! My boyfriend was trying to get the waiter’s attention for water for 10 – 15 minutes. I swear he looked directly in our direction multiple times but quickly looked away as soon as we had eye contact and proceeded to walk in and out of the room as if he was busy tending to other things. I even waved animately but still got no response. I finally got so frustrated that I had to loudly say «Excuse me!» for a different waiter to pay attention to us. After that, waiters came every few minutes to check on us.
Food: we ordered spicy miso ramen, chirashi bowl, and a blue crab roll. The ramen was so flavorful and delicious. It’s different from places in Norcal like Ramen Dojo and Ramen Parlor but I still very good. The chirashi bowl was good — lots of rice, nothing spectacular. The blue crab roll wasn’t very good. We also ordered ice cream to-​go but he took so long to pack it! We waited in front of the dining area until other workers noticed and told our waiter to hurry.
2 stars for the ramen but I don’t think I’ll be coming back.

Most disgusting place ever! Walked in on a Sunday night at 7:15pm. Expected to wait, given the time but when we walked in we were not greeted for at least 8 minutes. After that time passed I saw two seats at the sushi bar, and asked if we could sit there and the gentleman at the bar put his hand in my face and said «you need to wait». Sorry sir, but had I been greeted or had any idea what was going on as this was my first time there, I may have waited more patiently.
Once we sat down, no one greeted us at our table for another 5+ minutes and we got up and left. Sorry excuse for customer service and really unfortunate bc I was looking forward to trying. I would give negative stars if possible for the rude worker who ruined my evening!

I have heard tales of their ramen for quite a while. It was time to experience it. The spicy miso broth was like pork fat crushed red velvet. The noodles were so wet that I wanted to spank myself with them. Mmmm. Their ramen game is on point, level: gangster.
Our server accidentally brought me a Sapporo when I ordered an Asahi on draft. He said «Why the hell am I bringing you this shit? I’ll get you a real Japanese beer.» This place is rad. I’ll be back again soon enough.

Best For: Spicy Miso Ramen & sashimi specials like Fruity Albacore (inventive)
Pass on: Bento boxes — they are fine, just not better or worse than other restaurants
First Timer’s Ramen Pro Tip: Relax, breathe in, move shoulder’s back, breathe out, then slowly breathe in the aroma of the ramen while stirring it slowly a few times. Acknowledge the smell of the ingredients and how much it differs to popular ramen chains like Shin sen gumi and Daikokuya. It’s got more of a crackling garlic sensation. If you’re like me and like cha-​su on the tender side then, just like phở, let it swim under the broth and noodles for a bit. As you chow down, appreciate the little things that sum up the ramen — it’s not just meat, soup, water, and veggies… notice the thin and cripy like green leaf floating around. It’s kale, fried, mixed in some sesame and black garlic oil-​like flavors, that you’ll want to add to your bites. Swirl the soup around a bit and you’ll notice a clove of sweet onion. Incredible. So thoughtful — it adds good flavor to the soup but even more special than that… a distinct personality.
I can’t do the ramen everyday — it’s rich, bold, and hearty in a small package. But what I can do everyday is live the symbolism that the ramen represents — hardwork, thoughtfulness, purposeful, and quality crafting. That purposefulness is what strikes my energy the strongest — what is has is just as important as what it doesn’t have. No egg? No onions? Compared to it’s competitors? That’s ok, it has no competition, because it’s the most memorable of them all for all the right reasons. It’s the one ramen I would choose over all if I had to. 4 smiling faces before, during, and after the meal reaffirms these thoughts!

Spicy Miso Ramen Is Dank
The broth is delicious. It was one of the more cheaper things on the menu during lunch time. They also run Kobe beef i think it was like 30 bucks for 2 oz. which was kind of expensive imo.
This place is doing well, probably 3 stores now. They have Kirin 12 oz tap for 2 dollars.
I didn’t try the sushi, its pretty pricy but looking from afar it looks like good quality. They are also running Unilocal ads. haha.
This is like their 3^rd store so they’re doing pretty damn well.
TD:DR THE RAMEN IS DANK and its also the cheapest thing on there.

Service: 2 stars
Food: 4 stars
Average: 3 stars
We had a reservation for 7:45 PM and when we got there, we weren’t seated until 20 minutes later! The dinner was already off to a bad start at that point. There is no hostess so whenever a waiter is free (basically never), they will seat you. I got so fed up with waiting that I went straight up to the cash register and found the manager just standing there. It was hard to understand him but he kept assuring me I would be seated promptly (given that I had made a reservation). When we were seated, they initially put us in this back room where it looks like employees only sit. No one came to our table so I got up to complain and they moved us into the main room so we could actually be seen. Service throughout the rest of the night was spotty. After we ordered, the food came out pretty quickly (thank god, I was fuming at that point). However, whenever we wanted something, it took a while because the waiters were running around everywhere trying to serve other tables, inattentive to our requests. A table next to us even canceled an order of food because it took so long.
The food is the complete opposite of their service. We got a wide variety of sushi orders and my favorites were the uni, salmon and unagi. The uni was PACKED… it was literally 2 layers of uni which was fantastic. It literally melted in my mouth. The salmon and the rest of the sushi tasted really fresh. You can tell that they used top-​quality fish. The unagi also had the right amount of sauce on it. Some places put too much eel sauce and it can be too sweet at times. Food was on point, no doubt about it.
At the end of the day, this place needs to train their workers or maybe hire some more waiters. This place gets really crowded but if they keep up this poor service, it won’t be crowded anymore… Not sure if I’ll be back for a while. Maybe they’ll have better service by then.

I’m so happy that they have opened this second location. I love this place. I’ve been dinning at the other location for years.
They are typically booked up in the evenings.
I love that I have the option to drive 5 min to get here.
This place is amazing!!! The sushi is fresh and always delicious.
They apparently serve ramen all day at this new location. I’m not a ramen fan but from what my friends say this is the best.
The sushi is fresh and I highly recommend this place.
The spicy tuna is outrageously good.
Always excellent service.
I love Kanpai!!!
* big huge parking lot in the back.

It’s a rarity to find a full Japanese restaurant (sushi, izakaya, noodles) in this town, so Kanpai is a welcome addition!
THE GOOD: Their wide-​ranging sushi menu doesn’t Americanize everything with gobs of mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce (as so many other places do) on their «special» sushi rolls.
THE BAD: Their large menu shoots for the stars with unique dishes, but the quality isn’t consistent.
For example:
— SALMON SKIN SALAD: generously large pieces of salmon, and plenty of them, make this almost an entire meal. It was perfectly done with fresh burdock root and just the right amount of ponzu to add taste but not overwhelm the salmon. A winner!
— YELLOWTAIL SCALLION ROLL (negi-​hama): a basic, traditional roll (and one of my favorite to get), so it’s a good quality test. It was just ok, with too much rice for the amount of fish (so the taste was mostly the seaweed and rice). And I always notice when they don’t use the same (higher) quality cuts that go into nigiri or sashimi in a roll. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great.
— SEARED SORBET TUNA: I got this because it was the only item on the menu that said «must try,» and I’m a believer in going with what the chef recommends when you’re a new customer. It was just fully cooked (not seared) tuna with a boring brown sauce, on top of hard rice. Pretty bland.
— WASABI FLAVORED OCTOPUS: not very interesting, I expected a wasabi flavor (or any flavor actually) but it wasn’t there, it was just octopus in a clear light sauce. While I didn’t enjoy it, I give them credit for creating a dish out of the the norm that had a nice presentation.
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I *SO* WANT KANPAI TO BE BETTER, BECAUSE I WANT TO COME BACK HERE — because they have such a large, interesting menu. They just need to refine their dishes, and maybe drop some weak ones. Next time I come I think I’ll go right for the ramen, which seems to be highly rated.
If you’re just ordering on the sushi side, it’s easy for this to become a $$$ meal (and not the $$ it’s listed as), most of the specialty rolls are $ 15+, and basic sushi rolls are $ 8+.