Kampai Japanese Restaurant

This is one of my go-​to spots in Miami for sushi!
The Kampai Roll is one of their specialties and keeps bringing me back time after time. They are very generous with their portions and I always leave super stuffed.
Their Pad Thai is crazy good too!

I come here when I have a sushi craving and Umami is nowhere nearby. Kinda uncomfortable to see a reptile store next to it, but I try not to think about the possibilities.
The sushi is fresh and well-​made. However, they are very stingy with the eel sauce. To me, that’s a turn-​off in customer service. Perhaps they can learn to save money elsewhere. For example, I was the only customer in the restaurant yesterday and there were ten employees. Seems inefficient.

Went to this place tonight, waited for over twenty minutes and our order was never taken. We could not get the attention of any server.

This place looks bad from the outside. But damn the sushi is great!

Whaaat — I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed Kampai before. O_​O
Definitely a go-​to spot for the boy and me — especially when we can’t pin down any other particular place we’d like to hit up. :) From the outside, it looks like a hole-​in-​the-​wall spot, but it is quite delicious!
Our typical go-​tos include:
+ Tuna mushi (appetizer) — this is a definite must-​try. It is perfectly mixed, chopped spicy tuna with super smooth avocado purée perched daintily on top of a fried, crispy triangular wonton chip (lol, is that even a thing?). And then it’s drizzled with spicy mayo + eel sauce. Can I get an A-​MEN?
My tastebuds explode just thinking about it. Ha. :)
+ Pork Katsu Don — YES. If you like donburi, please try this dish. :D We often order this at various Japanese restaurants, and we just absolutely LOVE Kampai’s! The pork is perfectly fried, off to the side (so it doesn’t get soggy or soft — yes, we like our crisp!). And the rice bed… is… beautiful. Perfectly mixed with its light hand of sauce, sautéed onions and egg — the rice is absolutely juicy! Love.
+ Kampai Roll (non-​cooked) — Kampai’s super cool in that they let you make customizations. In this instance, my only customization is that I like my roll raw. :D Yum fish, and when paired with eel sauce, this is delish!
Would definitely recommend. And there’s something for everyone (note: that friend of yours who can’t come to terms with raw fish just yet, lol).

Lunch with Mama Vera :) Time with one of my favorite ladies.

I’ve grown up going to Kampai! My mom and her friends used to eat there all the time and drag us kids along. I ate there for the first time today in a long time and it still never disappoints. I’m so happy I saw it a little busier than I used to! That means more people have found out about their yummy sushi. That Go Marlins roll is delectable

I love the food here.
Sushi is always fresh, service always on point.
When you come here as often as I do, you expect to run into a waiter or someone having a bad day. That has not happened at Kampai.
You have to try their salad Ginger Dressing. Absolute must. I’m not a salad dressing kinda guy. In fact, I’m very careful about splurging on condiments, but the Ginger Dressing is so good that I literally, and shamelessly, drank what was left of it after I was done with my salad.

Love this place. Great service and the sushi was really good too. I ordered the tuna tower and the zombie roll both were great and the best part was that it wasn’t pricey. Im coming back soon.

This places might be in the smaller size but the sushi wooooowww, I’m obsessed with the zombie roll. For those allergic to shellfish is a mixed of 3 different fishes. DELICIOUS !! Love the chicken teriyaki. I must say i love everything i have tried in this restaurant. For sushi lovers this is a MUST!

I used to eat here every so often however the service is soooo bad, I will no longer be returning here. Food isn’t that great either. Save your time and money. Go elsewhere.

The super crunchy roll was delicious! It had Crab, avocado, cucumber, tempura flakes, mayo, and masago. You can get it topped with smoked salmon or shrimp, I choose shrimp. I also got a side of spicy mayo and the whole thing was awesome. I loved every bite! My boyfriend got the rainbow supreme roll which he said was very good as well. We also started with the spring rolls, spicy octopus, and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Both of the appetizers were alright I didn’t think the octopus was all that good, it didn’t have much flavor besides the spice. The spring we’re were your classic spring rolls with a tasty orange sauce. Over all it was a good experience the rolls were very good, the service was nice and fast, and the atmosphere was nice.

Sashimi quality was poor. You can tell by their color. Perhaps tuna should be closer to red than artificial pink? However, I might be a biased reviewer coming from Boston sushi/​seafood.
All in all, I wouldn’t visit again.

When arriving at Kampai, my wife and I were a bit put-​off by the run-​down Reptile shop it neighbored in the shabby two-​store plaza; but you can’t choose your neighbors so we dove in. We shouldn’t have.
The interior is pleasantly decorated, but definitely has that ‘seen better days’ vibe. But again we are optimistic, as many gems are to be found in slightly divey locales. Although, when it comes to consuming raw fish, we are a bit particular that a place looks well kept.
Bottom line is that this place is one of the worst quality sushi places to which we’ve been. I could go to Publix and have better fish in their packaged sushi platters. Overall critique: the fish isn’t fresh, the soggy flesh felt defrosted, and although I don’t for sure know whether the fish was sushi grade, it doesn’t taste as if it was. So now, the details:
Tuna Tower. The best thing we had, which still was mediocre. The tuna was not firm nor flavorful, and the guacamole was unimpressive. I’ve had the equivalent dish at other places, and they far exceeded this.
The «Rainbow Deluxe Roll» used a ton of cream cheese, the fish slices were thin and small. And the fish itself suffered the same problems as with the cuts featured in my wife’s Sashimi Mori.
The fish used in the sashimi mori were mealy and soft, with none of the firm texture you associate with fresh, quality fish. The flesh is watery, and feels like the meat was damaged by the ice crystals. Also the white fish tasted quite fishy. The tuna color was also not indicative of fresh, quality product.
I will say, the prices are cheap for sushi, which might be a mark in it’s favor. I truly don’t relish being one of the naysayers for a well-​reviewed restaurant. But then again, I also feel with sushi, quality is important.

Kampai really bummed me out. All the sauces were too sweet and too thin. The ahi tuna was stringy to our dismay. The rice was also mushy. Rice was bad.
$ 10 tuna tower — stringy
$ 10.95 yellowtail jalapeño — learned I must not like yellowtail
$ 9.50 zombie roll — too sweet
$ 9.50 bahamas roll
The food is actually extremely visually appealing. It’s beautifully made. The taste and texture did not live up to expectations unfortunately.
The only highlight of the trip was our visit to the reptile and Sunset Corners liquor store afterwards.

Good but not great. Rice seemed mushy– but the fish was sweet and delicious.
Service was at times cold and others very friendly and attentive. The signature dish is a Tuna Tower which is a mix of avocado and spicy mayo. Good but not great.
Would I go back? Yes, but not running back. There are plenty of other sushi places I’d rather try first.

Hands down my FAVORITE sushi place ever! the staff is so friendly! The food is fresh and never disappoints. Don’t understand why people go to the over priced Shabui but this place is so much better!
The Saba is awesome! absolutely love it!
The crab ragoons have a pinch of cilantro which give it a pop of taste… so yummy. True to its name, the Yummy-​Yummy roll is a top seller. This place is a MUST try!
TIP: if you order online, you get 10% off.

One of my favorite restaurants for great quality sushi. Always fresh and great variety! Service is fast and the staff is friendly and great prices as well.
If you love sushi this is the place for you!

The sushi here is delish!
Zombie roll is my fav. It has 3 – 4 different types of raw fish in it and it has 10 pieces not the normal little 6 piece. It has a good portion for the price.
The tom kha gai is delish. It is a coconut milk base soup and it is very hearty because of the soup base also has mushrooms and your choice of chicken or shrimp. I like it with either or it is quite good.
They also have fresh sea urchin or uni in japanese. It was the first time I tried it ever here! And I got to say it was good. Not fishy at all very very fresh. It has a creamy texture and tastes like blue crab roe (I’m from MD so we eat a lot of crabs). Very light in flavor.
Probably one of the best places for sushi I have been to.

Solid option for sushi.
The fish is always fresh and the staff is nice. I have been eating here for a long time 9its right by my house) and I have never been disappointed.
They also do take out and delivery.