Drunken Fish

Drunken Fish is a hip little place in the heart of KC. Love the downtown feel as we chose to sit on their rooftop patio. It was a beautiful night to top off a great evening to celebrate my anniversary. Power and light is a block away so we were able to listen to the summer concert series while eating dinner.
Jesse was our server who was waiting for us when we arrived. Did a great job in explaining the menu, though we had been, but also being friendly and personable making for a pleasant experience. Definitely will be back to this little gem, especially their rooftop!
Had the starburst roll. Wife had the Philly cheese steak roll. Both delicious!

Came here with a large group on a Tuesday evening, without a reservation. We were seated promptly and our server proceeded to get our drink and appetizer orders. We ordered a variety of sushi and asian fare. Food was good, nothing spectacular. Our server was relatively new, we ordered our desserts (mochi ice cream) off the dessert menu, only to be told they don’t serve it. Overall, decent meal but not sure I would return.

Hahahahahahahahaha. And they say this is the best KC has to offer. Ugh. Bad service and terrible food.

Used opentable for making a 4pm Fathers Day reservation and when we arrived the restaurant opened 6 min late (no real problem), and then the reservation wasn’t in the system.
Very Nice waiter but needs more training. Didn’t know about several of the drinks and dishes. Needed reminding to keep water glasses full (we were sitting outside and was quite hot), forgot to bring drinks a couple of times, and needed to ask for a plate and soy sauce cups. I’ll stop there. Very nice which made up for the training-​not his issue; I think the management needs to shadow their staff and see if their training is working.
As for the menu, they were out of toro tuna and didn’t have mochi (apparently for quite some time per our waiter). Would have been nice to know the key items that were not available as we were ordering (again believe this is the restaurant not waiters issue), and then offer a substitute that is of market value in place which they did not. White tuna sashimi we had tasted quite old and not good-​hoping we won’t be sick tonight. Very small sashimi pieces given the cost. Their three pieces of sashimi are similar to a single piece at most other restaurants.
Recommend trying another restaurant as there are so many options in this area!

Great sushi restaurant! Within walking distance of our hotel. Service was exceptional and the décor was really modern. A little on the pricey side but once you taste the food it is well worth it.

I LOVE SUSHI AND I LOVE DRUNKEN FISH.
While I have been to various Drunken Fish restaurants in the past, I went just this past weekend for their happy hour starting at 10 PM and ending at 1 AM (kitchen closes at midnight).
I highly recommend going during this time because the prices are cheaper and the atmosphere downtown at this time of night is a blast!
I got the Supeman Roll and that is another HIGHLY recommended bite from me!
Go to Drunken Fish I promise you won’t be disappointed!

The fried rice and noodles were yummy! A little too many veggies but overall enjoyable. Service was not that great because it took a while for us to be served each time. Sushi rolls were mediocre, nothing stood out to me

I see a lot of negative comments on here about this place and I’m not exactly sure why. My experience was awesome. Granted, I went by myself, during happy hour while visiting KC for work but I found both the food and the service to be outstanding. I sat at the bar and the bartender Rob was not only friendly, he was a down-​right, all around great guy. He took my order promptly, my food was ready fast, easily separated my beer from my food on my tab (since I was dining on the company dime I didn’t want alcohol on my tab). Being that it’s close to Power & Light, maybe it gets a little crazy there sometimes but my experience was totally positive all around. I will go back next time I’m in KC.

Starburst roll is delicious. Highly recommend.
My take on drunken fish is great tasting sushi at a premium cost based on location and being a corporate restaurant. So prepare to cough up the dollar bills when going to eat here.
Service is decent, but I always expect to wait a bit longer than a normal dinner.
Parking at pnl is a bit of a pain– park at one of the local garages. Nights of events it might cost up to $ 10-​$ 20.
They have a decent selection from raw sushi to specialty rolls to noodle dishes to salads.
Cocktails are tasty, but expensive.
Summertime is fun when you get head up on the rooftop and overlook pnl, live music, and have cocktails with your friends.
Also highly recommend making reservations on the weekend especially with large parties as they always seemed to be packed.
They have a rewards card which is nice, 10% back on every purchase. So After a couple visits you can get a couple dollar bills off your check.

I came here on a Sunday a month or so ago because Nara was closed (I know) but I was actually pleasantly surprised. I guess maybe it’s because it’s in Power & Light and it’s considered super trendy that I always avoid it, but I was pleased by this experience. The menu is pretty extensive and my friend and I each got 2 rolls and we split them. We both like spicy, so we definitely steered more towards the spicy rolls but each of them was delicious. They have traditional rolls and then specialty ones but what’s great is all the rolls are pretty decent size. They each come with 8 – 10 pieces so it’s super easy to share.
The joint itself is really hip. I hear they have a great happy hour but I’ve never tried it. I also want to come back for lunch some time. When we were there, it wasn’t too crowded. My friend and I were catching up after not seeing each other in a while so we took a bit of time to order and our server was very courteous and not rushing us at all. Kudos to you, server guy. Just because it is P&L I will avoid this place on the weekends, but if you’re looking for a good afternoon sushi pickmeup on a Sunday, this is your best shot.

Awful. Simply awful…
Caveat, I never actually had the opportunity to eat here because the service was so terrible. The young lady that answered my phone was very curt and impatient. I called twice to get information about placing an order. Each time she seemed annoyed to be taking the call. I’m not sure what the food taste like but don’t think I’ll know given the terrible customer service.

A better name for Drunken Fish might be «Douchy Sushi». It is your pretty typical Power & Light District restaurant: poor lighting, modern furniture, and overrated food. Drunken Fish feels like the kind of restaurant a 21-​year-​old who can finally buy alcohol and who knows everything in the world about sushi because he ate it once would open.
The following is the conversation with the person who took my call-​in order:
Me: Can I get the yakisoba with chicken?
Her: Is that an appetizer?
Me: No, it’s a dinner entrée. It’s stir-​fried noodles.
Her: Oh. Are they the big noodles or thin?
Me: Thin.
Her: Okay, what else?
Me: Can I also get the White Tiger Roll?
Her: Niiiiiiiiiiice.
Me: [facepalms, wonders if Her knows what the White Tiger Roll even is]
My girlfriend astutely noticed that the soba noodles either weren’t soba noodles, or they were of poor quality. It is extremely soupy and overloaded with veggies.
I’ll simply say that Drunken Fish is extremely overpriced. The sushi isn’t necessarily bad (but certainly not the best I have even had in Kansas City), but the craft is poor. The rolls aren’t rolled tightly, and the noodles are pretending to be authentic Asian. As is the entire restaurant. It would almost be better if it weren’t pretending to be Japanese food, since the employees apparently don’t even know it’s Asian («Yakisoba???»). Also, check out Annie C.‘s review, because she also noticed the sticky fries lie, too. Good stuff.
Sushi: 2.5÷5
Lighting: Pink
Asian Factor: ⁰⁄₅

I had never been to Drunken Fish before, although there are several locations in St. Louis, my hometown. My boyfriend had been trying to get me to try it to see what I thought.
So, after giving what I think was a fair shot, I ruled that Drunken Fish simply left a lot to be desired. We did do carry-​out, so I can’t comment on the service in the restaurant. When we placed the order, the chick who answered the phone didn’t even know what yakisoba was. She asked if we wanted the «thin noodles or the thick noodles.» Soba versus udon, essentially. If you work at a «Japanese» restaurant, I expect you to know the proper names from the menu. Her cluelessness worried me, and I wondered what the heck we would end up with.
What we got was not yakisoba, even though it is listed on their menu as such. It was thin noodles, alright, but they were not soba noodles (at least not soba noodles of good quality). Whatever cheap egg noodle mix they used ended up being mushy because it was obvious that it was not properly prepared. They loaded up on the veggies, which I’m usually okay with, but it took so much away from the dish. Especially with all the cabbage they used, which took up about half of the dish. And for the cherry on top, the sauce that they used in the stir-​fry wasn’t even close to being authentic. Mind you, I know Drunken Fish isn’t touting itself as authentic, but it should still at least be worth the invasion of my tastebuds. I guess you could say that it was just way too Americanized for both me and my boyfriend.
Now comes the order of sticky fries. They use Japanese sweet potatoes, which are not the same as your regular orange-​colored Covington sweet potatoes. It’s as though they needed to seem more Japanese, so they used the Japanese version. Bad move on their part. Japanese sweet potatoes are starchy and taste almost like a regular russet potato. So, the caramelized syrup they used didn’t mesh well at all with it. They should have stuck with the Covington. The sticky fries had potential, but it flopped with the wrong type of sweet potato.
We also ordered two rolls, the White Tiger and Spicy Butterfly. The White Tiger was the better of the two, but neither of them impressed regardless, especially for what you pay for it. Everything at Drunken Fish was priced on the higher end of other comparable Japanese food in the KC area, which is probably so they can pay for their high rent in P&L.
It’s highly unlikely I will ever pay another visit here for less than mediocre food. I rather spend my money on actual good Japanese food.
Overall: ¹⁄₅
Food: ¹⁄₅
Service: ¹⁄₅ — Knowledge of the menu of the chick who answered the phone.
Atmosphere: N/​A

The mango salad actually was pretty good. But the Sushi & sashimi combo, it’s at the best supermarket box sushi level. The nigiris’ rice is fridged cold and hard, and those six cube of fish? That’s their take on sashimi? There is no presentation at all, everything squized on to a plate. Sorry amigos sushi makers, not everyone can make sushi. It’s an art, not just assembly.

My husband and I had a very meal here. Kelcie our server was very helpful and knowledgeable about the menu items. As I had lots of questions. My husband ordered sushi and I ordered fried rice. Everything was tasty. I was too full to order dessert. We had a nice experience here. We are sure to come back next time we are in town.

The food is subpar for my preference, however my latest experience and service was very pleasant so overall 3.5 stars. Our server Elizabeth was very nice and took great care of us.
What brought me here was a painting event which they set up on the second level of the restaurant. Clean, modern, and overall a warm atmosphere. My date and I arrived early for the event and had the entire space to ourselves. We were served our hot tea and soup in a timely manner, followed by the edamame hummus courtesy of checking in on Unilocal.I liked my miso soup. The hummus came with fried wonton strips to dip, altogether not a standout appetizer.
Just as we finished our appetizer, our rolls came out. We ordered three rolls: spicy tuna, spicy butterfly, and the mango roll. I loved the mango roll! The other two paled in comparison.
For the price of the rolls here, I definitely know of better sushi places I could invest my money; so I would probably stick to their happy hour menu.

Really. Yummy. Sushi. Just go already.
Enjoyable Appetizers:
–Gyoza with spicy dipping sauce
–Edamame flavored hummus served with chips (I really like hummus and thought this was a cool unique take by adding edamame flavor)
Entrée: Drunken Fish. (8 big pieces). Appetizing to the eye, delicious and filling.
Dessert: Strawberry Cheesecake Makimono. (Basically a tempura batter coated cheese cake, cut in the shape of sushi! It was a fun treat to end the evening)
Happened to have arrived here during happy hour (4−6PM) which lists different drinks, appetizers, and features some of their classic and signature rolls for a great deal. Classic rolls listed on the happy hour menu will only cost you $ 5, signature rolls going for $ 10, saving you $ 5 – 10 that you can go torwards dessert or stash away for another day!
Parking: honestly don’t know the parking situation because I found it to be a reasonable walking distance of Kansas City Convention Center and some of the hotels.
Service: attentive, friendly
Appearance: clean, modern décor. Clean bathrooms
If you don’t go during happy hour, I think the prices are reasonable and typical of a Japanese restaurant. If you have time to eat before attending an event at the convention center I would highly recommend eating here! For the same price of food you would pay at event venues you can eat restaurant quality food!

I could see why this place averages 3 stars on Unilocal.The food is pretty bland. We had the vegetarian roll and the rice seemed like it was just blah. We started with the edamame hummus and that too was just ok.
The manager suggested than we use their spicy mayo dip and it was great. But I don’t think that is the point of good sushi.
But for a busy Saturday night the staff was awesome and everything flowed nicely.

Probably my favorite place for sushi, just wish it wasn’t in P&L. It seems a bit pretentious… or like they’re looking to be so.
It’s not just the fun names of the many menu items; the sushi is DELICIOUS!
My favorite rolls: Spicy Eskimo, White Tiger, Drunken Fish, Wonder Woman.
The rooftop is a great place to relax.
Great cocktails. Great décor. Friendly service. Clean.

I always go to drunken fish for their late night sushi happy hour, which is 10 – 12 pm and I’m always happy with what I get.
They have a lot of basic rolls for $ 5 and a few nicer rolls for $ 9 during their happy hour. They have two pieces of nigiri for $ 3. I wouldn’t bother getting drinks there, there is always something unappealing about their drinks.
Usually the service is not so great and it gets the P+L crowd during the late night happy hour (which would explain the girl laying on the women’s bathroom floor last night), but I’m perfectly happy with eating some sushi and getting outta there!

Went for a Happy hour quickie. It was ok, the salmon skin roll is usually a fave but had no crisp to it. Sitting on the patio is the best when the weathers good. I usually don’t remember my servers by name but Zahra was one cool human being. I wanted to hang with her but didn’t want to weird her out at the same time so I will just settle for requesting her when I go
Drunken Fish is an incredibly trendy KC spot so forget just trying to show up with out a reservation. The set up is really different and beautifully hip. DF has a great vibe that works really well as a great first date place, not many can say that. Their classic rolls, sashimi and nigiri are fresh, their own creations can be a hit or miss but I’ve mostly liked them. The tab runs up quick which is why I prefer their happy hour.
Not my favorite place to get sushi but one of the best looking Sushi joints.