Kabuki Japanese Restaurant

No surprise, Kabuki has closed down. A new owner has remodeled and opened a new Japanese restaurant. Will review it in March during my next visit to WA.

My 1^st and last time here! Seriously 50 dollars for average at best sushi and at lunch? Ouch! Service was slow and overall not great. They were out of all the exotics my husband tried to order. Asked for no fish eggs on my rolls and they did it anyway. Miso soup had no seaweed or tofu in it :(Rolls were sloppy in presentation and some even fell apart. My husband used to come here all the time 10 – 20 years ago and he was really disappointed how much this place has gone downhill.

This restaurant is definitely worth it. The atmosphere is very quiet and calm (unless you happen to walk in during a random karaōke night), the waiters and servers are very friendly, and the food is well prepared and delicious. They even have small, Japanese style rooms where you can sit on mats around a low table for a more authentic experience.
Also, you didn’t hear this from me, but if you ask VERY nicely, they MIGHT provide a very small complimentary dessert if you come for a special occasion.

I like this place. It’s homely and comfortable. But in a good way like a good neighbor next door. There’s no gimmicks. Just solid sashimi at reasonable price. It’s not quite fancy joint YET it’s not a teriyaki-​selling sushi joint. It’s somewhere between those two niches and I like that about it. And you know it’s authentic by all the Japanese-​speaking customers.
It’s not in the best of locations. It’s in a strip mall near Tacoma Mall. But the boyfriend and I enjoy walking off our satisfied bellies treasure-​hunting at Ross — Dress for Less. Or I should say… I enjoy it and the boyfriend tolerates it.
P. S. Happy Hour is Mon-​Fri from 4 – 8 pm.
On a side note: my Japanese teacher in high school used to take us here once a year to practice our Japanese! I’m too shy now to practice my broken Japanese though…

Wow, what a hidden treasure. Most strip mall food spots are questionable upon entering, Kabuki is very upscale & beautifully appointed. We were greeted by Keiko our hostess /​server who treated us like Royal Guests. The food was skillfully prepared by a team featuring a lady and man who obviously were At the top of their craft. The dining room had 13 little elderly Japanese Ladies obviously having a great time (sake?). I won’t recommend any of the great food dishes as I challenge you to grab a special date or your spouse and become a dining hero/​heroine. You most possibly get very lucky if you get my drift. Bön Apatite.

Solid and inexpensive. I confess, the first time I went here I was a bit too inebriated to really appreciate it, but upon returning, I was able to safely add it to the ‘decent places to get sushi in Tacoma’ list. In addition to good, fresh sushi, the tempura they offered was quite delicious and a lot lighter than certain other Tacoma Japanese food restaurants, plus, the portion was a little outrageously huge (hot a bad thing). The people working their were super smiley, super fast, and super friendly. Good experience all around.

3 stars for food & service. There was only one waitress and it took her about 5 minutes to get us seated because she was so busy serving everyone else.
She was this little japanese lady who looked pretty stressed out about being the only one so we didn’t give her hell about lack of customer service.
Chicken teriyaki wasn’t good at all. Their sauce tasted a bit weird.
Miso salmon was good, the california crunch roll was good… nothing to really rave about.
I’d give it 4 stars only because it was an actual JAPANESE restaurant w/​actual Japanese workers.
No chinese or korean food on the menu at all.
It’s hard to find a real authentic japanese restaurant around here so I’m happy about this.

I met my mom in Tacoma for lunch and was really craving sushi, but am not that adept around Tacoma. But it’s a major city… I knew we would come across a sushi joint eventually. We found ourselves on S. 38^th St (between the mall and So Tacoma Way) amidst strip malls and fast food places. Kabuki Japanese Restaurant was in one of those strip malls. I had a feeling it was one of those BBQ places where they cook the food on your table, which wasn’t what I wanted… I wanted raw, not cooked. Fortunately, it was more sushi than BBQ. It was EMPTY for lunch service. I actually liked the Japanese-​themed décor, though some may think it’s a bit much. Our server was very sweet and attentive. I had the sashimi mori which was an array of chef’s choice sashimi accompanied with a bowl of rice and miso soup. My plate included ahi tuna, white tuna, salmon, shrimp, red snapper and mackerel. It satisfied my afternoon sushi craving and was actually pretty affordable. My mom had a combination of sashimi, vegetable tempura, soft boiled egg «soup», grilled mackerel, fried potato and other things I couldn’t recognize. She was very happy with her lunch potpourri. This was my first Tacoma sushi experience, and I’m happy to have a sushi go-​to next time I find myself in T-​town.

I was impressed with the good service (don’t expect not to get heckled if you ask for a spoon for the miso soup though), abundance of food and clean restrooms (yay!). We wanted to start with the poke, but they were out — boo! Make more poke! I hope you, the reader, knows what I mean by poke because I can never figure out how to get the e with the slash above it. Anyway. Instead we got edamame and it was hot and salty and delicious! The salads that came with our meal had a yummy asian style dressing with a nice mixture of greens. The miso was delicious — not the powdered stuff. My boyfriend had the chicken katsu platter (bo-​ring) which he said was yummy. I didn’t try it — no room!!! I had the platter with sashimi and tempura. The tempura was fine — it’s tempura, you can’t really screw it up. 2 pieces of shrimp, a zucchini slice, a taro slice, and a little mixture of julienned veggies which was a nice touch. The sashimi was interesting I must say. I’m fairly new to the world of raw fish and this was my first time not specifying which types I wanted. Probably won’t do that again. I tried… I really tried!!! to eat a piece of octopus. It touched my teeth and it was hard and I almost died. But I digress. The rest was very good — tuna, salmon and I believe mackerel and halibut but I could be wrong. They left the skin on those last two — is that normal? If someone knows, let me know. I ate it, so, I hope so… Overall a great experience, but only 4 stars for me right now.

I had to check this place out after the 2 star rating from Ms. California. Interesting that she was knocking the restaurant because of the area, yet living in San Francisco. As I recall, many parts of San Fran could use a paint job and the streets cleaned, and that’s an understatement.
I ordered the salmon nigiri. Wasn’t off today as the other post stated. Was actually quite good. Also had California roll and rainbow roll, both of which were good. Waitress was friendly. No issues.

Surprised I have never reviewed this place. Went to our annual Valentines Day Dinner Buffet. My idea of a romantic evening involved all you can eat Japanese Food and Sushi! It was again fantastic. They provide many tastes of different dishes such as Saba, Teriyaki Salmon, Teriyaki Chicken, Tofu Dishes, Mussels and Oysters on the shell and plenty of great sushi and sashimi’s. Fish is always fresh as well as the preparation. They do not do this buffet thing daily (only on most major holidays). Looking forward to Mother’s Day!

Quality sushi and friendly service. I didn’t care much for the squid steak appetizer, but my chirasha sushi had a delicious variety of seafood. Yum!

My definite favorite Japanese restaurant in Tacoma. The food has always been exceptional and the service is prompt and courteous. Karaōke is offered on Wednesday nights, but if you can’t speak/​read Japanese, will be quite hard to participate. The crowd is usually a mix of the older generation Japanese of Tacoma and local diners with a love for authentic Japanese cuisine.

Pleasantly surprised by this place. (Japanese food actually served by Japanese) We had dinner recently here. The food and service were both great. We had gyoza, they were awesome. I had the katsu chicken dinner with tempura. All very good. Very relaxing athmosphere. We will be back again soon.

I haven’t actually eaten here, but the review I read online will definitely make me check this place out. Read it here:

I would venture a guess that eating sushi by the Tacoma Mall is a bad idea. Eating any kind of anything (unless you really REALLY into Burger King or Taco Bell) close to the T-​Town Mall is not advisable but raw fish especially… rash decision. Just take a glance at the surroundings and it should become clear why. That area is nasty nasty business. Kabuki is located right next to the dingiest of dingy Goodwills. I mean, seriously, what about Kabuki seems inviting?
The salmon nigiri seemed extemely off when I was there, the miso was mediocre at best and absolutely nothing good was memorable about the place.

After moving to Tacoma I spent each Wednesday for a year I trying all of the Japanese restaurants. The Kabuki quickly went to the top of my list and I’ve become a regular there. It’s warm friendly atmosphere and tatami rooms for large family dinning and party experience is perfect for when all my siblings while they love the feel of the restaurant, what we all really love is the food. Everything on the menu is great. This family runs restaurant truly makes you feel at home and treats you like royalty. Joe, the owner, will even come over and sit down and catch up with you. It’s my favorite place in Tacoma.