Kenichi

First and foremost, the food was good. So that’s a great start considering its a restaurant. I went in a group of 5 and had no expectations as no one had been before. It was pricey, but quality sushi usually is, especially in a great location with upscale digs.
We got a free app, through Unilocal check in. The Blue Fin sashimi was amazing… we had multiple orders. The rolls were creative, but personally I’m more of a sashimi fan. It was my birthday, and someone must have told them, so they gave us a pretty amazing chocolate dessert.
The service was good, the atmosphere swanky, the customer well dressed and young, and the food was amazing. It was pricey, but worth it. Overall, I’d give them 4.5 stars if possible.

Yes the food is excellent. But WAY WAY WAY over priced. And the service had so many errors — including an aloof, condescending, snobbish edge.
It was a weird crowd. i really do think the hype surrounding this as a place to be seen seen holds water.
I had a scallop, unagi and faux gras that were excellent but VERY small single portions. My unagi (smoked freshwater eel) was not cleaned well and I got several spiny bones in the very meager portion. My friend laughed when he saw my small portions. He ordered the ribs, which we both agreed, were some of the best we’d had on our week long culinary trip through Texas. But that’s all he got. He was grossly disappointed by the al a carte aspect of his over-​priced dish. The salad was out of this world delicious, but again, the food just didn’t account for the poor service and really high prices.

This place was excellent ! The fish was fresh. The rolls were unique. The menu has a great variety! The Austin style yellowtail was my favorite dish. The Blake roll was our favorite roll! The duck gyoza was good. The bartender pours right. Can’t wait to come back. The vibe is great. It’s classy but not stuffy. They play house music but it’s not loud.

Expensive and well worth it.
Order the Hamachi Toro. Amazing.
We order the Kenichi Roll; no soy sauce needed. Try without and experience a truly unique flavor combination.

Best meal we have ever had! This is sushi on a different level! Chef Richard is incredible! Try the duck, kung pap hamachi and ribeye. The menu is amazing. We tried so many different types of sushi and were never disappointed.

Seated promptly, not busy at all, but took 9 minutes for the waiter to come by. Waiter brought us free edymame,.so that made up for it.
Firsts round of sushi was awesome! Very yummy!

This place it this awesome! If you read some of the reviews that tell you to go to Uchi or Musashino for better food, they are full of it. The food here is just as good if not better. The atmosphere is more of a party than the other sushi restaurants, so I guess if you want a quiet meal, I would go to one of those.
Like steak? Kenichi has the best steak in town… no lie! When I’m in a carnivore mood, this is where I get my fix.
Sushi is insanely good as well. My favorite is the Austin Style sashimi and the scallop ceviche but really anything you get is awesome.
Such a fun place to go and have an amazing meal. Happy hour is kick ass as well, lots of stuff is half off!

Defiantly recommend the Happy Hour, due to pricing… But for sure on a Sunday, seeing it’s Happy Hour all day.
Never had an issue with seating, suggest sitting at the sushi bar. Partly you meet your chef and they’re cool people. Who have great suggestions on what you should order. For instance like the torched escolar, so tasty. You will be drooling for more, seriously be dreaming about this till next Sunday.
Also tried the beef on hot rocks, so COOL! Food is always fresh and very tasty.
Unclear about the other complaints or the compare of quality to Uchi… Seeing both are on different levels. But highly doubt anyone has taken that into consideration or the fact one of their Sushi Chefs used to work there. HAHAHA
But anyways who cares what I think, come check it out on a Sunday to guarantee bang for your buck and sit at the sushi bar. You wont regret that decision

I’m still not sure why I decided to go out for sushi in Austin, but I did, and surprisingly, it wasn’t half bad. Kenichi is located downtown, and the ambiance is very modern and trendy. Service was kind of on the slow side, even though the restaurant was not too busy. It took 25 minutes to get my first cocktail, but when I did get it, it was very good (the Cherry Blossom). My table of four shared an appetizer and four rolls. While there was nothing exceptional about the sushi, it was quite tasty. If you’re jonesin’ for sushi in Austin, Kenichi is worth checking out.

Absolutely fantastic food. The yellowtail was incredible and the vegetarian options were super tasty… I really liked one with baby asparagus and portabello mushrooms in a spicy sauce.
All the deserts I tried were great, but my favorites were the blood orange Sorbet and the chocolate Fondant.

Happy hour is great! I definitely enjoyed the Cobra roll. It’s definitely worth it. Our server Kristyn was great as well, super friendly and helpful! Will come again for sure.

GO FOR HAPPY HOUR FROM 4:30−7 PM Tuesday-​Friday and All night Monday and Sunday.
I’m really surprised that Kenichi only has 3 stars because I had a very pleasant experience. Setting was nice: dim lights, separated areas, bar seats. The food was really diverse; they had anything from sliders to BBQ pork buns to sushi. The sushi is pretty good, not top quality but definitely a few steps up from HEB (which I personally think is decent).
Tip: Get the torched escolar! It is soooo good and only $ 6 during happy hour.

I came here for the first time a few weeks ago… Kenichi proved to be a very nice conclusion to an afternoon of prowling the wine bars in town. And we even managed to get out before my friend started yelling and manhandling the waiters!
We came in right before a crowd started to form in the restaurant and were seated immediately. A bottle of wine was whisked to our table, where we promptly ordered appetizers. One person in our party pointed out the different areas of the restaurant, which are partitioned in a way that makes the dining area intimate, but not claustrophobic.
Our appetizers arrived in all of their deliciousness, and we ordered several rolls of sushi while we dug in. The presentation? Lovely. The taste? Divine. Another bottle of wine, please. I love the ambience, the waiters’ helpfulness, the delicious sushi. The more I come to places like Kenichi, the more I love Japanese cuisine!

Kenichi is not really raved about in the Austin food scene, so I wasn’t expecting to walk out of there with a 4-​star rating!
My manfriend and I decided to go there after an Austin Aztex game and we were pretty hungry. It was a little awkward going into the restaurant and realizing we were way underdressed (shorts and a t-​shirt), but we were seated immediately. Granted, it was almost 9 p.m. when we arrived.
We raved about each dish that came out. We had the red snapper, Austin Style (yellowtail with a hint of spice), bass, and the Blake roll. Every dish tasted fresh and delicious, which is really satisfying when it comes to fish, cooked and raw. After these dishes, we were pleasantly satisfied but not completely full.
The service was very attentive and I loved the dark, intimate setting. There are great intimate spaces (curtained booths and separate rooms) for more private parties.
My only con about Kenichi was the price. Fancy Japanese food does require your dollars, but if you’re wanting to get dolled up, be around other fabulously dolled up people and enjoy a special dinner downtown, try Kenichi.

I’ve been meaninf to post this review for a long time coming! From the start the impression wasn’t good. I meant to write this a while ago. The hostess Erin I believe was her name was so rude & had an attitude. I don’t appreciate some lil girl with a snarky demeanor at all & my friend though mych the same!
Then our food was mediocre & the service poor. Go to UCHI or Uchiko if you want sushi of this kind but better & with service that leaves an impression. I have no idea how a restaurant like this could keep a hostess so rude. There’s much better out there. Disappointed & won’t be back ever.
With sushi establishments such as UCHI, Uchiko & others in this town, Food is King, but Service is still the Queen! And if mama ain’t happy, no one is happy! ;]

Had dinner at Kenichi while in Austin for the day last Friday.
The restaurant was clean. The service was good. The drinks were good. The food was good. But nothing stood out as memorable. And at this price point, something should WOW me.
We had a couple of martinis, some edamame and a couple of their signature sushi rolls that were recommended. The presentation was nice. The fish was fresh. But again, nothing that says, wow, I have to have that again. One of the rolls had a chili powder on top and that flavor just took over and covered the flavors of the rest of the ingredients.
The only other thing to mention was the limited selection of rolls. The menu seemed to have a myriad of other options for sashimi and nigiri, but only a few rolls???

I heard that this was one of Austin’s best places to get Japanese, so I went here for dinner over the weekend. I was incredibly disappointed. It seemed like this restaurant attracts a younger pretentious crowd. Loud music, dim or lack of lighting. I ordered some maguro and hamachi sashimi. I tried one of their rolls too and it lacked flavor, too much rice! Nothing on the menu seemed intriguing to me to try. For the price I paid, I felt that the food was not worth it and neither was the service.

If you have a hankering for sushi, this place is not for you. I recently purchased a $ 25
gift certificate to Kenichi and we headed over yesterday to try it out.
We called ahead to make sure we could use our coupon during the all-​day happy hour as there was no mention on the coupon of it not covering HH. It said «not including alcohol or holidays». By my definition, HH is not a holiday much as I’d like it to be! Regardless, the friendly lady on the phone went to check with the powers that be and came back to inform me that no, the coupon would not work and that the food is already «crazy discounted».
Undeterred, we trotted over to Kenichi. We sprung for two rolls: the Blake and the Diablo. At $ 19 and $ 16 a roll, respectively, I was expecting there to be a party in my mouth. The Blake delivered and was tasty all-​around. However, the Diablo looked like it would be tasty but didn’t end up tasting like much of anything.
My boyfriend ordered a quail egg which they brought out with a shot of hot sauce in it. Now I don’t know about you, but if the menu doesn’t say that it will be doused in hot sauce, would you expect it to come out that way?
We also tried the pork belly sliders, the akaushi beef sliders, and the duck foie dumplings. All of them were disappointing. The pork sliders were overly sweet and had a bun that’s sole intent was to stick to the roof of your mouth. The duck foie dumplings were passable but certainly not great. As for the akaushi beef sliders, the original price is $ 17 for a pair of them along with some truffled shoestring frites. It would be the kind of burger I’d say is «good» at a friend’s BBQ but would balk at paying $ 17 for. Even at half price happy hour, it was still overpriced.
Having said all that, we won’t be back…

4 Stars for the food, the sushi rolls were great (our fav was the scorpion!). The hot rock and calamari were also fantastic
1 Star for the Service. We were here for a birthday dinner with a group. I had bought the
coupon where I paid $ 40 to get $ 100 towards food. The coupon’s condition is that 20% gratuity is added on the total bill. What a mistake to show that coupon to the waiter first! He was so unattentive and aloof after that. We had to flag him down for a second round of drinks and food. Incredibly rude. Our bill ended up being $ 250 for 5 people so it’s not like we were being cheap and he was tipped well at $ 50 so I’m not sure why we were ignored. I was very disappointed. And then he didn’t even take the $ 100 off. We had to remind him and he had to adjust. I mean seriously, am I at Chili’s?
In addition they charged us for the birthday girl dessert. I don’t know any upscale restaurant who does that. I mean not even Denny’s charges you for the birthday girl scoop of ice cream. Come on Kenichi.
It made what was supposed to be a special occasion not feel very special. If that’s how your waiters are going to treat people who buy
coupons, why don’t you just not offer
coupons.

5 stars for having my favourite menu item in the Southern USA.
The Kenichi smoked squid salad. No trip to Austin is complete without it.
On my last trip, I detoured on the way to the airport and asked for 2 orders to go. In terms of sushi, it’s as classy and creative as I’ve seen in Austin, and it’s a great place to enjoy a cocktail.