Kaya Korean & Japanese Restaurant

Kaya, you’re killing me! I LOVE Korean food, but you’re making it so hard for me to love YOU. I stopped in for lunch today with my partner and it was the most bizarre experience. Same song looping over and over our whole time there, the waitress was trying to train someone new (who was doing a good job!) and was being repeatedly mean to her in front of us, and the food was super lackluster. There were several exchanges between the waitresses that left us quite uncomfortable. This woman was clearly on a major power trip.
Food has dropped in quality and prices have risen ($ 41 for lunch)… Not good!
Kaya, there’s no way college kids can afford your food, and based on your location, that is your key demographic.

Really liked this place. The food was fresh and tasted really good. It is definitely one of the best places in Carbondale. The sushi was fresh, prob the best in Carbondale. Service was a little slow but the food was worth the wait. I would definitely recommend this place.

New owners with a full fresh menu! The grilled at the table pork belly with the chef’s special ginger sauce (fresh ginger) wrapped in fresh red leaf lettuce was awesome. They make their own daikon radish in mild red pepper paste. Their other sides, including fish cake are fresh and tasty. We tried a mango sushi roll with snow crab had a wonder sweet sour flavor. I sent my husband a picture of the meal during his fifty trek on a bicycle to which he joined us for the cold bibimbap with a crisp fried egg. Definitely worth trying!

I had to drive back home before too late last night, so I’m writing this now.
I come to Carbondale at least 3times a year for business trips or my kids’ swim meet.
Few years back, I was so happy when I found a Korean Restaurant in this town, and immediately I was so disappointed how bad it was then.
After my son’s swim meet yesterday, he wanted to have soon-​doo-​boo (spicy silky tofu soup), so we decided to go to Kaya.
Found out they recently had new management/​ownership.
I ordered Yuk-​ghe-​jang (spicy beef soup) and my son of course had soon-​doo-​boo.
Two thumbs up!!! I loved them. Now I know where to eat when I come back here. I want to try few other dishes when I’m back in town. Great service as well. Very happy over all.

Kaya is under new management and is now, officially, a real Korean restaurant! The food was fantastic and our waitress was super nice. They had some of my favorite dishes — Naeng Myun and Dukbokki. I literally had to keep looking out the window to remind myself that I was in Carbondale and not back in my old neighborhood in Chicago where I had access to seven Korean restaurants just outside my door. I cannot wait to introduce people to Korean food and reintroduce them to Kaya.

Under new management. Had the lunch bento box and it was very good. Loved that you can ask for Korean spice in your meat. I can’t wait to go back again. Very friendly.

Just love the food, the spicy level is just right, it makes me just want to keep having one spoon after another, love everything we had last night.

I lived in Japan for two years and made a number of long trips to Korea. I’ve been here twice and really enjoyed the food. It’s far better than anything else I’ve had here in Carbondale. They’ll certainly continue to get my business.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Carbondale. It’s slightly pricey and the service isn’t that great, but it has the best seaweed salad I’ve ever had and delicious sushi!
Basically this place is great if you’re not in a hurry and want some good food.

When your desperate for Korean food, this will do. There are no other choices other than cooking it yourself out here. Service is less than desirable.

I’ve never been dissatisfied with the sushi I’ve gotten at Kaya. I’ve never tried anything else from there, so I can’t speak on that. The service has gotten a lot better since the first time I went there (2011). The owner will close the shop if there isn’t any business so beware: it might not be open when you want to go. One thing that stands out about Kaya is the fact that you get salad and soup included with your sushi which the other sushi restaurant in town does not do. Overall this place is pretty good when you want a sushi fix and I’m a bit perplexed about the ultra negative reviews!

This place has so much potential, but I heard with the change of ownership, the service and quality of food went downhill.
My fiancé and I wanted to try this place even though we heard bad things about it. We should have listen to those people.
The décor was nicer than I thought. They have an area where you can sit on the floor and eat like in real Japanese restaurants.
First off, the host who seated us was lazy and had really bad customer service. I didn’t care that he was slacking off and took forever with our drinks and the menus, but when I asked him about a particular dish, he said he didn’t know. How can he not know what the dish was? That surprised me a lot.
The food was mediocre and expensive. The quality was below what I’m used to. The food didn’t taste too bad, but you could tell the quality of their meat wasn’t great.
We ordered the beef bulgogi and some beef stew. The bulgogi was stringy. The stew was filled with mainly onions. Too many if you ask me. The salad was good thought. That was probably the best part. You also don’t get an ban chan like you would in other Korean restaurants.
What bothered me the most was that the host was very lazy and would sit down and look at his phone in between serving us. Also a couple came in to pick up a to-​go order. He took FOREVER to help them out. He was in the bathroom the whole time. I understand that when nature calls, nature calls, but that was ridiculous. My customer service side was wanting to go over and help them myself. After ten minutes, he finally came out and helped them.
I heard that this place used to be super nice and good, but once they switched owners, everything changed for the worse. I will not be coming back here again.

Used to be better. Seems to be going down hill.

This place is a little pricey, for what you get. We were expecting to get authentic Korean and Japanese food, but it wasn’t very good. I honestly doubt we would go here again.
The service was nice…