Kabuki Fusion Sushi & Grill

I’ve been coming here about twice a year for the past 5 years when traveling cross country. I actually started going there when they were still a «fusion sushi» restaurant located on the other side of the complex. However, I’m disappointed that the food and service have went downhill in the last couple years. They use to serve beautiful sushi and appetizers with food art displays on everyone’s plates. The sushi was delicious and creatively paired with various fruits. I would plan to stop at this specific restaurant because they had set themselves apart from ordinary sushi restaurants. Now, they are, sadly, no longer a fusion restaurant but just an ordinary sushi restaurant with cheaply priced lunch specials and moderately tasting sushi. The service was alright, however, the waitress we had did not go out of her way to make sure our experience was great. Perhaps this place went through a change of management or ownership in the recent past, because this place has changed drastically. The effort is no longer on the food or service, but you can tell all the focus is put into making the location LOOK inviting without actually being inviting. I loved this place, but I probably won’t be going back again.

sushi is good but the waitress we had was very rude

Really 4.5 stars… Lots of varieties of sushi rolls, including many house exclusives. Very nice atmosphere, quiet and relaxing. Great service, attentive but not overbearing. Prices were reasonable. The only drawback was the lack of udon… Quite convenient to the two nearby hotels. Will definitely come back.

I’ve eaten here twice — the first time was good not great but this time… Had friends visiting from Augusta and Pittsburgh and he is Japanese and obviously know his stuff. Food overall was very good but the service? Not so much. First they brought over glasses of wine instead of the bottle ordered, then they served the wrong dish to my son and then later brought out the correct meal but the dish my son ate was for my daughter so she kind of missed out. Then they looked flummoxed and brought out a dish for my daughter and proceeded to take it back without explanation. All the while they were looking at us like it was our issue. And the server kept playing with her hair the entire time — just unsanitary. Again, the food was very good, service sucked.

Great Food! Great dining room décor. JP Roll is amazing!!!
the service however is the worst. my server is beyond rude. Sad to say — I’d rather drive to Anaba on Northshore drive than come here again.

This was an awesome dinner. I had the crab salad and California roll. It was the best crab salad ever! The California roll was ok. Not the best I have ever had. My husband had the squid salad lobster roll and «loved both!» We will be coming back here. Lots of choices to try. Nice calm atmosphere also!

Liked it a lot. Atmosphere was calming, with nice lighting. The waiters were respectful and the sushi was yummy

Having just moved to the area I haven’t found the best places for sushi. My wife and I are pretty generous when it comes to appreciating good sushi. We were not impressed. Service was good. Sounds like the specials are the best part of this place. Unfortunately I’d rather spend the money on good sushi than get mediocre food for the special prices. They also take all the decent rolls off their special menus. I understand needing to make money but make the specials more lucrative for the customer every once in a while. Will keep looking for better sushi in the area.

Wanted sushi so we wanted to try something new. The sushi wasn’t exactly super fresh but it wasn’t bad. The seaweed salad was fantastic. Shrimp was a little dry and the scallops were good. Sushi is a little overpriced for my tastes, but good overall.

When it comes to sushi, two things are very important to me — quality of the seafood and presentation. I’ve been here twice so far, and both times have been very good. I won’t say «awesome» or «fantastic» because, admittedly, both times that I’ve been, it’s during their $ 5 sushi roll night.
When it comes to sushi, I have a «sliding scale» method of rating it. If it is a half-​price (or in this case, $ 5 roll night), and it is good, then I will rate it considerably higher than if it is full price (or $ 10-​$ 11 per roll). If it is «superb» sushi, then it ranks as high as I can across the board.
In this situation, my $ 5 roll is was worth four to four and a half stars, but if I had been paying full price for it, it would have been more like two and a half to three stars. The cold rolls were good, but the cooked rolls were a little greasy for my liking. The fried dumplings were very good too, and a little greasy.
Despite it being $ 5 night both times we went, the presentation was nice. They drew little phoenixes and dragons and koi fish with eel sauce on our plates. Nice touch.
Service was pretty good, and they did pay enough attention to us to offer and bring a second round of rolls and two rounds of drinks without having to flag anyone down.
Unfortunately, there are no drink specials here, and bottled beers of Kirin Ichiban are around $ 4 per bottle, so I would recommend drinking elsewhere either before or after eating here.
Would I go back? Yes, absolutely. Would I pay full price? Probably not, but you should definitely check it out if you are craving sushi and don’t have a lot of cash.

Not the best sushi I’ve ever had but pretty good for Knoxville, TN. I got the sashimi platter and I liked everything except for a piece of fish that has some silver skin on it. No idea what it was but it was very «fishy» so I didn’t eat the other one. Wasabi was good and strong. My coworkers got some rolls that were tasty too, but I couldn’t have the rice so I didn’t try them. Fast service was nice!

This is my favorite sushi restaurant in town. I love the sushi! It is fresh and well done. They are creative and draw art on the plates. At lunch you can get 2 rolls for under $ 9. The ginger dressing on their salad is delicious! The service is just ok. I have had to wave them down to get more drink but overall a great place to get sushi.

This place is da bomb! My fav. Sushi spot in K town! It affordable and good! They have a very large sushi menu! If u go sit at the sushi bar beware the waiters will bombard you! But for real tho, this place is bangin!

Quality has dropped somewhat over the last few months, but my experience tonight will probably be my last time coming to Kabuki due to an incredibly poor customer service experience.
I typically go to Kabuki every Monday night after the gym for the $ 5 rolls. I order the same thing every time without the need to look at the menu, and the waitresses know me and know what my order always is. Tonight, the sushi was average. Not great, not horrible, but for $ 5 a roll I certainly wouldn’t complain. Except that when I got my bill, the rolls were $ 11.99 each. I told the waitress there must be a mistake, and she informed me that most of the previously $ 5 rolls were removed from the $ 5 menu. I told the manager I eat there every Monday, and they should have told me of the price change before I ordered. His response: «The menu was changed last Monday so if you eat here every Monday you would have known.» Ok, sorry I skipped one Monday…
Doesn’t a major price change seem like something they ought to tell a regular customer BEFORE they order? Or nah, just spring it on me when the bill comes. It’s not that I would have minded paying $ 24 if I knew that was the price beforehand. But the way they intentionally baited and switched me and offered no help when I questioned them on it has landed Kabuki a spot on my list of restaurants to which I will not return.

Kabuki has really lost their way.
I ordered tuna sashimi and it came out with freezer burn on it…
Sent it back and got no feedback on it from the server or a manager. When the two rolls we ordered came out, they were bland and the fish was too cold again.
Quality control needs some work. Be prepared to send things back if you have the patience.
I want to have more options in the area, but not if they’re like this.
Regards,
Matt

Excellent alternative to the highly overpriced (and overhyped to be honest) Nama. Sorry Nama. You’re good… but not THAT good.
Mon and Thurs is $ 5 sushi, sashimi and great rolls! Great prices on wine and sake. 4 pieces of sashimi to one order for $ 4! You cannot beat that.
Give this place a try. We like Nama but feel ripped off every time we eat there. This is our 2^nd time here and we will keep coming back!

Kabuki was great. The food was delicious, the service was fast and courteous, the environment is quiet and relaxing! I will be going back regularly!

Went on a Thursday night and there were only a few couples there. It took forever to get the food because the waitress was talking with other waitresses. Stingy with refills as well. Try somewhere else.

I would like to start by saying I absolutely love this place. I have eaten here several times, and the food is always fresh and the dishes are presented beautifully.
My most recent visit was definitely the worst. It was a Thursday evening around 7pm, so it was packed. The service was terrible and both my appetizer (seaweed salad!) and sushi came out substantially later than everyone elses. I watched as my sushi sat on the bar long enough for the sauce to harden on the plate. It was pretty bad. I will return, and I sure hope that was a one-​time occurrence as I really enjoy the food here.

Nice place with good, creative food! Tip: come on Monday & Thursday for the $ 5 menu. Well worth it!

Grading on the curve here — I was pretty excited to find out there was a decently rated sushi place within walking distance of my hotel. The menu is pretty standard in terms of choice — maki, nigiri, sashimi and some Chinese dishes. It looks like they have an extensive list of $ 5 specials during the week as well as further specials on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That said, prices were fairly reasonable for regularly priced items.
I went with a Dinosaur roll (crab, shrimp and «tempura beets»…ok) and a Spicy Girl (spicy tuna, snapper, avocado). Both rolls were fairly large and filled well –not just rice. The fish tasted fresh and the presentation was good too. All in all, it wasn’t the greatest, most creative sushi I’ve ever had but it was quite good and I enjoyed it.
Definitely a place I’d return to, especially to take advantage of specials.

Always stop in here when passing through Knoxville. Superb food. Check out their lunch specials.

Well, the sushi was ok. Not the freshest and just not to appetizing or even appealing. Went in trying to have an open mind (coming from California there are tons of awesome sushi places) but the sushi just lacked the freshness and the rolls where limp. We ordered six diff roll to share none of which even stick out in my mind however the hibachi lunch meals where great!
If we return it will not be for the sushi.

Came here on a Friday night. My girlfriend ordered miso soup and a crunchy shrimp roll. I ordered a Philly roll and a shrimp entrée. The sushi was mediocre. It came with only a few pieces, was thinly sliced, and was not very well put together. The rice in the entrée had no flavor, either.
However, the shrimp sauce was very good and the sushi came out quickly.
Won’t be eating here again.