Kai Sushi Shabu-Shabu

Don’t come here for sushi. Terrible experience, I ended up paying over 50 dollars for poorly wrapped, over priced sushi. Couldn’t even finish it and just left. Miso was microwaved. And the waitresses were not attentive and very rude. Go across the street or anywhere else for that matter to get better sushi than this place. Can’t speak for the other things on the menu though.

Don’t come here. This is not Shabu shabu. Their Shabu doesn’t have a soup base, no broth, they literally want you to cook your food with boiling water and eat it. This isn’t the Asian cuisine you should experience. Plus they never smile lol, bad atmosphere here. I regretted giving this place a chance. Beef doesn’t look fresh either.

Best sushi I have had in a long time. Prices are on the high end, but quality makes it worth it. I sampled many different rolls and enjoyed every single one. Kaz is a great sushi chef.

Small place, nice people, great food. Best Plum wine ice cream! Had Indian roll and beef dinner dish.

this is the only shabu shabu in Santa Barbara. I know it can’t compare to the best Japanese restaurant in LA but it’s good enough for me. I’m not super picky person but this restaurant should worth more than 3 stars in my opinion.

I haven’t ordered anything but California Rolls here, so I am only really reviewing this place based on that. The California Rolls are awesome and came out to our table so quick, the place itself could use a bit of revamping, the staff is alright. Literally giving this place 4 stars because I love their California Rolls and how fast they make them, and the location is great.

Seriously, I shouldn’t have given this place a chance even after reading their reviews. I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. I’m a fan of Shabu Shabu and it’s the perfect when the weather is cooler. I happened to be there on a cooler night and I stumbled upon this place and this is apparently the ONLY Shabu Shabu you can get in the Santa Barbara area. I think this place has potential, but it needs a lot of work.
The Kobe beef didn’t seem fresh at all and they barely give you any veggies. They don’t have flavored broth here, too, so my soup was plain. My wife ordered California Roll and caterpillar roll which was $ 18. Overpriced much?
Our bill ended up being about $ 50 for not even mediocre food and this place was overpriced and customer service was lacking, too. I think we were only checked up on once and it wasn’t even a busy night.
*The parking here can be tough since it’s on State street, but you can find street parking or park at the parking structure.*

Horrible experience
Terrible food and bad service
I only a bite, very fishy
They didn’t care I told waitress to stop making the other staff I order she refused very rude
I ended paying $ 50
For 3 dishes that we never ate
Don’t waist your money!

The shabu shabu beef was very good-​Kobe beef. Although, it could have been a better selection of vegetables for how much money the dinner was. My main issue, though, was the yellowtail roll. Tasted very fishy and unappetizing. Didn’t taste fresh at all. No good. But their more elaborate rolls I do recommend (the «Montecito» roll is so good!) Overall, I would definitely recommend ordering the shabu shabu and funky rolls– not the plain fish rolls.

Sushi rolls are quite good.
Shabu Shabu beef and pork are great. Better to order large.
Overall good stop in SB downtown

We were seated at the sushi bar that had a dirty countertop. We sat for about 10 minutes and still no one cleaned it. Whatever no big deal, The food itself was not at all fresh, Service was just OK but the vibe of the place was just rude. If I could give it a negative star I certainly would. I should’ve looked on Unilocal before we sat down. Either way I’ll let you know tomorrow if I get sick. LOL.

The short version: overpriced, inedible entrees, serviceable sushi, and inattentive service in an uninspired atmosphere. Further details below.
Kai was all but empty, which should have been a tip-​off to our group of four adults and two kids. They didn’t have any tables for large parties except for the back patio which was generic enough to have been a bar and grill. At least it was nice & kid friendly since it was empty. When it arrived after a wait in random order at varied times, the food was rather unfortunate. Lemme break it down for ya:
The best thing seemed to be the sushi which was serviceable. Mind you our table got stuff that wasn’t high art, California roll and some specialty stuff w/​jalapeños. Can’t vouch for anything sashimi-​ish.
The meals were your standard Japanese restaurant deal w/​miso soup, rice and a salad. Thank goodness for those sides because the entrées were pretty much inedible. Teriyaki chicken tasted like it was from the deli section at Ralph’s and had been sitting out too long. Consensus was the flavor was reminiscent of «wet dogs.»
A ramen bowl was so-​so, main issue being not enough ramen. Negimaki– thin sliced beef rolled around scallions & served in teriyaki sauce was swimming, if not drowning, in sauce. And again– the sauce tasted like something you’d find at the supermarket, not a high end Japanese restaurant. Salads were iceberg lettuce served with a half cup of overly-​creamy-​barely-​sesame seasoned dressing mercifully on the side.
We declined to-​go boxes and the (included) desserts. The server did not seem concerned, even though there were entire entrees left on the table, uneaten. Any normal restaurant staffer might have investigated further.
Here’s the thing. I get if your thing is shabu shabu. Then stick to shabu shabu and sushi, and skip the paperback novel size menu of other teriyaki stuff. Our waitress stopped someone at our table from ordering a certain combination in his noodle bowl. I suspect she could have recommended we all reevaluate our orders. I wish she had.

Love the Shabu Shabu!!!
Hear the beef & pork are best.
Fun to sit up at bar as well!
Everyone is sweet, attentive and helpful!

Like most Japanese owned Japanese places, people tend to talk about higher prices… but that’s because they’re usually more legit. I usually get the shabu shabu only because there really aren’t that many shabu places around, but I’ve had their sushi and it’s not bad. Prices are medium.
The Shabu here is very traditional. Clear broth, a piece of seaweed, vegetables, and whatever you order as your main protein. They have different sizes and choices in terms of their meats and I usually opt for their larger option. Meats are pretty quality slices and you dip the cooked meats in the 2 sauces they give you. The peanut sauce is savory and mild. The shoyu type sauce is a little sour but together, they are simple and good.
Clean flavors, simple setup. Narrow building. Separate sections of the restaurant for shabu versus sushi.

As somebody who spent quite a bit of time living in Tokyo, they do have a few things I crave, from the chicken katsu (ok, i crave the original pork but this is California I guess and the menu is clearly localized) and the various donburi. Unfortunately none of them approach anything I used to have. And the sushi here is just too inconsistent

COME FOR SHABU
I cannot vouch for sushi since I explicitly came here for Shabu. In Santa Barbara, this is the only establishment that offers it. What they serve is basic, the standard beef, pork, chicken or veggies to cook in boiling hot water. Two order sizes offered are 4oz and 8oz. Your order comes with a plate of Nappa cabbage, spinach, carrot sticks, tofu and udon noodles. Also, two dipping sauces to flavor the meat: ponzu & sesame.
At bare minimum, this restaurant satiated my craving for Shabu and it was also perfect on a cold rainy night. I’ll definitely come back and hope that others will give it a go!

way overpriced for what you get.
i thought most of the menu was creamy and greasy specialty stuff. i could be wrong but that was my impression. they do a great california roll but for anything else i prolly wouldnt come back here

The service was a bit slow and aloofy but I really enjoyed every dish we ordered. Came out pretty fast. Monkfish liver was yummy. Seaweed salad was great. Fairly affordable.
The atmosphere was blah but you know what? They were one of the few restaurants still opened during the state street blackout and I was glad we stumbled in.

It was quite a long wait to get 1 sushi roll at 2:31 not very busy, although I do appreciate decent hand roll, but I don’t appreciate an extremely long wait time at the end lunch hour.
I can anderstand a mediocre reviews as that staff isn’t very attentive but they also seen understand however I would like to add it’s not very busy maybe they just need stricter management.

I really enjoy the Shabu Shabu here. You can eat at their counter, or they can set it up on a table (though it takes up a lot of room and the restaurant is small so they will try to dissuade you from doing it this way). The beef is cut thin and tastes fresh. The plate of veggies and noodles is good, though usually they give you very few noodles.
My only complaint and the reason I knocked off one star is I’ve eaten here many times and it is very hard to get the servers to help you beyond the very minimum. Drink refills, extra plates of stuff, or additional requests are hard to get filled.
Overall the food is very good and the place is clean. Pricey, but that’s typical for Japanese restaurants. And Santa Barbara in general.

Es war okay, nur die etwas eigenwilligen Kreationen sind doch etwas speziell. Auf meiner Sushi-​Platte hatte ich auf einmal Zucker im Mund. Meine Begleitung erhielt überbackenes Sushirolle mit Mayonnaise oben drauf. Es war ehrlich gesagt schon besser. Der Fisch ist ab sehr frisch.