Kabuki

Great resteraunt! Traditional Japanese like food, with amazing sushi and diverse sides. Definitely recommend.

Where shall I begin with this place. It was recommended to my girlfriend and I to check out. When we arrived we found it a little odd that a Japanese restaurant didn’t have any employee of Asian descent, but we didn’t want to judge too quickly so we went with it.
On a scale from 1 – 10 for quality of food, we would give it a 1. The food was a poor example of what high quality Japanese should be. The the shrimp «ceviche» had two pieces of boiled shrimp that lay on top of a pound of unwashed, «earthy» lettuce. It was smothered in a vinaigrette bath that was mainly just vinegar.
The chicken wings we waited 45 minutes for were nicely presented, however the glaze consistency was a combination of motor oil and molasses. At one point I tested the strength to see if I could pick up the plate with the strength of the glaze. Didn’t work — so at least it had that going for it. The taste wasn’t much better, it was like eating a pack of Marlboro reds and chasing it with Pennzoil. Before you go be sure to have good health insurance so if it causes cancer you won’t be slapped with a pre-​existing condition.
The Salmon tartar was probably the best thing we had, although we weren’t sure why the avocado topping was «torched». It was like they wanted to make it seem fancy, but it didn’t add any value to the dish… it just left a soot-​like taste. Which is cool if you’re a chimney sweep on the side.
The worst part of the experience was the time it took to get all of our dishes. We hadn’t gone during a peak hour, and we waited at least 45 minutes to get our food after ordering. Every 10 – 15 minutes our server would say «your plate will be right out». Several times throughout the course of the meal we were sure Ashton Kutcher would pop out and say we were being punked.
Definitely wouldn’t recommend this place unless you are obsessed with vinegar, the Marlboro man, or a chimney sweep.

I went to Kabuki last night for the 1^st time with my parents. I heard about so decided to give a try. Overall, the experience was fantastic, but the food was okay.
Kabuki feels like a restaurant you would find in the City (Manhattan). It’s small, unique, and expensive. It was a little nostalgic for me when I first walked. The décor is simple, but elegant. They have some Asian paintings on the wall; one of them I kept staring at because it was mesmerizing. The waitress was really, really nice. She never missed a chance to say «your welcome.» She was very helpful. The one thing I found odd about the restaurant is that there aren’t any Asian employees. It is an Asian restaurant, but I guess it was created by a non-​Asian. The food definitely has an American twist to it. Also, they don’t sell soda. At first I was surprised, but after having the black cherry lemonade I ordered, I didn’t miss my Sprite. I loved the lemonade so much I asked the waitress where I could find it. She didn’t know personally, but asked her manager. I was really impressed with her dedication. She should get watiress of the year, if they have such an award.
Okay, onto the real reason I’m writing this review, the food.
For appetizers, I ordered shrimp tempura sushi roll, and the lobster and goat cheese rangoon. The sushi roll tasted great, but the rice was toooooo soft. Just as you picked up a piece, the roll fell apart. Not good. The rangoon was different. Never had goat cheese before; it was a very robust taste. I liked it, but my mom did not at all. For dinner, I ordered the pad thai with chicken, my mom had the duck breast and my dad had the salmon special. The pad thai was okay. I feel it could have had more flavor. I’m not a big fan of pad thai, but nothing else on the menu really caught my eye. I tried a piece of my mom’s duck breast, and did not like it all. Something about it turned me off. My dad’s salmon was okay; the skin was too thick.
The menu is too small. They have a lot of appetizers, but very few entrees and sushi rolls. Is this supposed to be an Asian restaurant or a tapas restaurant? I love Asian food. I frequent different ones all the time. I’m guessing my palate for Asian food is a little more conservative and traditional. The service was phenomenal, but the food did not live up to my expectations. I hope they do improve and expand the menu because I would love to go back again. But right now, I can’t say I would.

My boyfriend and I ended up here on a day trip. The place was very small, but all of the wait staff were friendly and on top of everything. We ordered the Kabuki roll as an appetizer which was delicious, but not wrapped well enough to which it was falling apart as we were eating it. My chicken dish was great and my boyfriend enjoyed his meal as well. It was a little pricey also.
We are close enough that we’ll be back, but probably not before we try out other places to eat around the town.

Small and crowded restaurant. But a welcome dining option for Skaneateles. Not much in the way of designer rolls and their selection of nigri sushi is very limited; and by that I mean just tuna, yellowtail, eel, shrimp. They have the basics covered.
They do offer some sashimi during specials. Have not tried their non-​sushi dinner entrees so can’t quite comment on them.
Their signature seems to be a «poop» dropping of wasabi. Seriously — it looks like a poop drop! Pretty funny.

Really? I went on a Sunday night with my boyfriend expecting a nice night out. We ordered the special that they ran out of, but were «making more»… but not really. After about a half an hour wait, it was «suggested» that we change our order to something else on the menu. The actual food that came was alright — it was literally just fried fish with some sort of lemony mayo squirted on top.
Beside the lemony fried fish thing, we ordered the mussels for an appetizer. Now. The sauce was DELICIOUS, but I think that the tendency of the cook was to rely on the deliciousness of the sauce to cover the overcooked mussels (rubbery).
I’m taking the advice of a previous reviewer and not commenting on the service. The food that is not sushi is mediocre. Ultimately, we left knowing that we would not be back. (Total time to receive food: 1 hour.)

Solid, fresh, delicious. Definitely try this place. I’m not a fan of long winded reviews on how poorly people were treated. I’ve read a disgruntled review of practically every restaurant. Food is king and Kabuki delivers.

I have always been a fan of Kabuki and have been there at least a dozen times over the years. The sushi is fresh and the small limited menu ensures that the kitchen can produce a quality product time and again.
We recently had reservations for 8:00 on a Saturday evening. A little late for Upstate NY, but hardly at closing. As Kabuki is so very small, reservations are mandatory. We waited patiently at the bar with a glass of wine while we waited for the table of young people to clear out from our reserved table. I know this because the server said loudly «We are waiting for this group of young people to clear out so that we can seat you». Very passive aggressive and I felt it was a little awkward, but it did accomplish what she wanted as they cleared right out.
We were seated right by the door and as it was FREEZING outside, we were chilly. We didn’t really mind and just bundled up in our coats. What we really did mind was the fact that they were out of so many items… the sushi of the day, the oysters, the Reisling I wanted and the pickled ginger for the sushi we did order. Not really certain what kind of malfunction allows a sushi restaurant to run out of pickled ginger… but that is sold at grocery stores… that is certainly something that could have been picked up.
The waitress offered us several complimentary items to make up for so many things not being available… free edemame and a double large saki for the table. She really should have asked us about that as we were all driving and had each had 2 glasses of wine already. She was upset when we told her no, but thank you. She then insisted on bringing us free desserts and brought out two for us to share. While we appreciated her willingness to make our experience a little better, it would have been much better to just have some pickled ginger for our sushi.
I am only giving 3 stars for this visit as the ball was dropped on ordering. Small place, limited table turn, its easy to figure out exactly how much product will be needed on any given night. Even if we did have reservations as the ungodly hour of 8 pm on a Saturday.