|
Kai Sushi Shabu-Shabu
738 State St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 560-8777
- Category: Japanese
- Hours: Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30pm, Sun-Thu 5:30pm-10:30pm, Fri-Sat 5:30pm-11:30pm, Sun 1pm-10:30pm
- Price: $10 - $20
- Serving: Lunch, & Dinner
- Map
- Web Site
- Menu
- Write a review of this location!
|
 |
 |
Reviews by the General Public
old fish, ill traind sushi chef, 9/26/2009
Reviewer: Richard
from Santa Barbara, CA
My family went to Kai after a weekday movie downtown. Kai has been around for years. We went to his Montecito location several times. We had sushi. All the pieces smelled like fish. The yellowtail had sauce on it to mask the smell and mushy feel. The sushi chef probably was slicing ham last week. He was gruff and didn't speak English very well. He certainly was not Japanese. The drink waitress was pleasant, but not attentive.
|
Like Eating Sushi in Tijuana, 5/2/2009
Reviewer: Brian
from Santa Barbara, CA
Weird title, I know, but this was what I was thinking the whole time I was there sitting at the sushi bar. The same kind of careless service, funky smells, and mediocre food you would expect in a Tijuana tourist restaurant catering to gringos, complete with mostly native Spanish-speaking staff.
This may offend some people, but when I go to a sushi bar, I expect to see at least one Japanese-looking person behind the sushi bar. Call me overly traditional or a "sushi snob" but I had a really hard time believing that the guys making our sushi had any serious training other than watching someone else make sushi for a while. The usual "artfulness" of sushi making was completely missing. Watching them handle everything with bare hands and not washing between different operations was unsettling as well.
The table tents describing the offerings were filthy, the sushi was slapped together hastily, and the service at the bar was gruff and unfriendly. I happen to speak Spanish (and am often confused for a native Mexican because of my accent), and when I tried conversing with one of the guys behind the counter in his native language (he had been carrying on a lengthy conversation in Spanish with his co-workers and the people next to us) he acted like he didn't understand me. I repeated myself three times in Spanish, then finally in English before he acknowledged my question and gave me a terse answer in heavily accented English. So much for my attempt to bridge the cultural divide...
I will definitely not return, and I don't recommend that you try this place. Maybe their Montecito location is better, but other than one of the hostesses who smiled and was attentive, this place was a zero-star joint in my book.
|
Overpriced and poor service
Reviewer: Janet
from Santa Barbara, CA
We stood at the door for about 10 minutes before being seated. The restaurant was only moderately busy. It was 15 minutes before we got menues. Our beverages came fairly quickly but the rest was all downhill. One of our party didn't get even their soup until the rest of us were almost done eating and they ordered a tempura dinner. Tempura does not take long to prepare! The portions were small and over priced. The food was just average. The most and friendlest attention we got fromt the staff was when we left. Even the sushi chefs said good-by. We won't be going back to Kai.
|
Poor Service - Poor Layout and Low Quality Amenities
Reviewer: Mario
from Santa Barbara, CA
I ate at this restaurant Kai around 7 times. I tried to give it as much of a chance as I could. First of all, the service is really poor. You typically have to wait quite a while and most of the time have to flag down a worker to get any attention. The restaurant is very narrow and all of the tables leading to the back are adjacent to the bathroom where the opening and closing of that door causes quite unpleasant odors to come out at times similar to having a seat on a plane next to the toilet. In the bathroom it's hard to even wash your hands because after you push down the button the water comes out just for a second or so like you get at a beach toilet. You will be served water in giant plastic cups that you would expect to get in a hospital cafeteria. The owner is a good sushi chef, but his self trained help is unathentic. If you go, call to see if the owner will be present first and sit at the sushi bar. It is like a different place when he is gone. The others are relatively friendly, but mediocre at best. Arigato is a classy place. The two cannot be compared. I will not return. Sushi is a typically high end meal for me and I expect to be able to wash my hands without having to dart my hands down under the tap at high speed and be served water with a quality glass, not cheap plastic when shelling out that kind of money. The sunimono salad is watery and tasteless. Don't bother asking for a nice hot steaming towel, they don't have those. No more for me. Thanks, Mario
|
BAD SERVICE
Reviewer: peter
from santa barbara,ca
I like the food of Kai,but i really don't like the service.i had dinner with my friends,one japanese waitress served us at that night,she is very rude,unrespected to us,it made me mad. i saw that already had a lot of customers complained about her, why can she still be there? the owner should be think about that.
|
Service is good.But not GREAT
Reviewer: Jerry Hernandes
from Santa Barbara Ca
I read your rules and you may delete if you must. In my humble opinion service makes or breaks any food serving business. Add the quality of food and a fair price for both. A gratuity can be squeezed in for atmophere, location, etc. However the defining factor is managment. This was my experience.
I was invited to the Kai Last night. My own reservations from previous visits were outweighed only by the quality of my companions. I capitulated and we arrived about 845pm.
We were seated at the sushi-bar within 12 minutes (quite acceptible for Santa Barbara). We received two menues for three people(not good).
The third menue arrived seven in minutes (ding) and it took another 12 minutes to receive our drinks(ding). It was busy and they may have been under-staffed so lets forgive and eat.
I decided to order the dinner(Teriyaki)which comes with rice and house salad. the price is about $20. I also noticed the ocean salad which I know to be enjoyable and asked if we could subsitute because I would not be eating the green salad anyway.
The answer was "no subsitutes" due to price. Further examination revealed that yes indeed the house salad was one dollar Less. I understood and offered to pay the extra. I did not have a problem with that.
The server said "I will ask the manager."
That is a great answer.
The server handled that perfectly.
In most establishments if will pay the difference in price they would accept. The answer came "Yes, for three dollars additional."
I asked to clarify because the six dollar dish of a seaweed and spices just shot up to nine dollars. She affirmed the owner manager said three dollars.
I changed my order to a calimari apetizer for $8.95. and I paid one dollar less then the "Endless Summer Cafe" at the harbor and received halve as much. the quality of the Kai is slightly better but not so different.
Chef Kaz Sato your service is only as good as you are Sir. Your staff was nervous and forgetful... That is due to your training or mood not them.
If you are going to charge competitive prices you should have the proper support for your staff. Otherwise your eatery is no better then the average for State. Just my opinion.
PS the server got $5 from myself for her service and how she handled the situation, not because of her looks. In rebuttle to some previous reviews... Cute is not on the menue boys. Stop thinking with your body and contribute.
Sorry... Someone had to say it.
|
Have you eaten here? Write a review of this location!
Terms of Service
|
