Kanpai has been around for many years and, honestly, I don't remember dining here much, or ever, before Koma Sushi Menlo Park closed down. Nevertheless, I am glad that Kanpai still resides at their Lytton Avenue location in Menlo Park as they are now my #1 sushi spot in the area. Their little spot (maximum occupancy can't be more than 75 persons) is conveniently situated one block away from the hustle and bustle of University Avenue in Downtown Palo Alto. This said, parking is easy to find along the street. Similar to Koma Sushi Menlo Park, the restaurant's entry serves as a tiny waiting area leading to the small dining room with a sushi bar as the focal point. Diners are seated in a simply decorated room with hardwood floors and wooden tables and chairs. Heads-up: I recently sat on a chair with sharp pieces sticking out of either one of the legs or the seat which stabbed the back of my calf and nearly made me bleed. For the most part, the venue has appeared to be fairly clean and tidy during each of our visits. Minimal outdoor seating is available here. Service can range from ok to under par, an average of 2.5 to 3 stars out of 5. Not sure why they bother taking down reservations when they don't even have a book to refer to when you check in...nor do they ensure that your table will be ready at the time of your arrival. Additionally, waitresses can tend to be pretty checked out; I have had to wave a server down with my napkin in the air to catch her attention. Evidently, we don't go to Kanpai for the venue nor their service. Their food is what reels us in. Below are some recent menu items that we have ordered: Sake Tasting Sampler ($16.00) - The 3 premium sake from a daily selection of 2 Junmai-Shu and 1 Ginjo-Shu is fun and nice. House salad ($5.50) - Good. You can tell that the small bowls of greens were prepared ahead of time, refrigerated, then dressed because they are served within a snap of a finger, noticeably cold in temperature. Agedashi Tofu ($10.25) - Very generous serving, especially for a starter. Big enough to be a meal for some people like me. At our most recent visit on Saturday, September 27, 2025, the deep-fried tofu were excessively topped with bonito flakes which made the dish too fishy in taste for my liking. Mom and I had to scrape off quite a bit of the fermented, dry fish flakes to eat the tofu. Horenso Ohitashi ($7.25) - Yum! If you like spinach and seaweed, this salad-like starter is for you! Soft Shell Crab Roll HR ($11.25) - Kanpai offers the same sushi menu that Koma Sush Menlo Park did, so I am happy to be able to order my favourite soft shell crab/spider hand rolls from here. The hand roll order still comes in a lot of two; however, they definitely have significantly shrunken in size and crab amount, but I still love them. Goma Wakame (Seaweed salad, $5.50) - When they say "small bowl," they are not exaggerating here. The serving size is just a tad bit bigger than a ramekin. The taste is simple and delightful, though. Shrimp Tempura Roll w/ Avocado& Tobiko ($9.85) - Ok. I mean, the taste is good, but with only four pieces, that's about $2.46 a piece, a hefty price for something bite size. Tempura B. Shrimp Tempura ($9.50) - The sizes of these shrimp, deep-fried to a golden crisp, is between small to average. The plate comes with four pieces, so at about $2.38 each, it's a better deal than the Shrimp Tempura Roll w/ Avocado& Tobiko. Omakase is offered for $85, but I'm not adventurous enough to leave everything I eat up to the chef. Boo to me, yes, I know. Checking out some of the omakase courses have piqued my interest, though. One day, maybe... read more

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Run down but authentic vibes for a sushi spot. Most of the sushi was fresh, but the salmon sashimi was a little off. However toro and wagyu were delicious and fresh. Service was good, nothing special but solid enough. read more

Kanpai - toro and wagyu - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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The place describes itself as cozy but it's looks a little run down. I am always concerned about going to eat sushi at a place that doesn't 'look' good. Though I was pleasantly surprised with their quality of the food. They didn't have enough variations like some of the other sushi places. The servers were very kind and made us feel at home. read more

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Always fresh! Wonderful staff! Great selections! Fun, local sushi restaurant Highly recommend! read more

Kanpai has my favorite Grilled Chicken Udon in town! I preferred the Special chirashi this time. I felt this bowl was a bit over price. However, the real crab meat California Roll was the highlight. read more

Kanpai - Special Chirashi - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

5/5 agedashi tofu 5/5 ume cucumber roll (not listed on menu) 5/5 maguro nigiri/hamachi nigiri Small quaint little spot. I enjoyed the sushi and how homestyle this place was. Glad we stopped in for dinner. read more

Came in for lunch and this place that is usually busy was actually empty. I am thinking because it was a Friday and most businesses work from home on Fridays. Got seated right away and ordered a bento box. The chicken was fresh as is and it was nice that it wasn't covered in sauce... could actually taste the grilled chicken. The California was nice as well and made with real crab. Overall this place was good and service can be a tad slow, but that is because it is all freshly made. Cute place and smaller than what I would imagine, but they use the space well. Parking can be tough as it is on a Main Street, but there are plenty of side street parking. read more

Kanpai - Bento Box: Chicken Teriyaki, California Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

We come here often and like it a lot. The Google maps rating is a 4.3 - a whole point above the Yelp rating. Almost all of their 1 star ratings are 3-5 years old - thanks Yelp for keeping that around! Great algorithm. Any way, the spicy scallop rolls here are sublime, really like all the rest of their sushi, have eaten our way through most of the menu and it's all really good, plus the staff is super nice and super helpful. I would highly recommend. It's delicious! read more

We came here for lunch date. Super clean and quiet place. We are vegetarian we ordered some vegetarian options like cucumber sushi, mushrooms sushi and avocado sushi all were Super fresh food. We cleaned our plates and less than 10 minutes. my husband ordered spicy tuna and he loved it. Check it out when you're in the area and parking is not a problem. read more

Kanpai - Delicious vegetarian options of sushi . - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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Great food, great prices, and even more amazing service! I honestly do not understand why this place has such a low rating because this is probably one of the best sushi spots in Silicon Valley! Shoutout to the servers who were really sweet! read more

Another stellar lunch! Ordered some of our favorites - quick friendly service. read more

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Food is delicious and fresh, service is fast and very friendly, and the ambience is quiet and calm.

I was looking for a new sushi place to try and would always see this restaurant as i drive around. Overall it was fine, i went during lunch hours and was greeted immediately. I was handed an order sheet to quickly select sushi on top of the menu. They did have a bento boz special and as customers came in that seemed to be the popular item. All in all, it was okay. Not the worst but definitely not the best in terms of flavor. The fish tasted the same as ever other sushi place and it lacked any uniqueness in flavor. They did use thick cuts for the nigiri. Also the tea is served very hot that you can't drink it until it cools. Even holding the cup would be a bad idea. read more

Kanpai - Dragon roll Rainbow roll Salmon avocado roll Suhi nigiri - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

Hands down the best sushi in the area!! Authenticity is all about it. Sushi chef Jun-san is you wanna see. Also, kitchen chef Kazu-san who was trained in Japan is there Wed to Sunday, if you want to have real tempura and cooked food, this is the place to go. Compared to other Chinese or Korean owned Japanese restaurant in Palo Alto, Kanpai is Japanese owned most reasonable and worth place to go. read more

Kanpai - Yellowtail roll, Saba, Ika and Ikura - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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With all the sushi options on the peninsula and south bay, this is not one of them. Though the menu and specials listed higher end selections of Toro and Ankimo, the taste of them were bland and didn't meet the price point that was listed. The rolls such as the Rainbow, Spicy scallop, Salmon/Avocado were below average as the rice was not seasoned and the rolls were not cut and packed very well, as they fell apart when you grabbed a piece. The bento boxes were ok as the agedashi tofu was well prepared but the tuna sashimi that came with the 2 item option was on par with the other sushi as it was not sliced properly and lacked flavor. The service was excellent as our waiter was very attentive and the food came out quickly. There seems to be something positive about the other items as the place was packed during lunch as we were finishing up unless they were all first timers like myself. So if you are in the area and craving sushi I would move along. read more

So a very strange thing happened to me today. My wife had lunch at Kanpai and ordered me a sashimi salad to go. She handed me the bag with the container and we both noticed that it was super light and hardly weighed anything. When I opened the bag and then opened the container, there were two decent size containers of liquid oil salad dressing and a half a container of lettuce and about 6 quarter size sashimi's thinly sliced, that's all! When I took the two containers of liquid out it really weighed like nothing. I regret not taking a picture and weighing the salad on my mail scale because it didn't weigh much at all, maybe a few ounces. Basically it was about two to three dollars worth of food at the most. The liquid containers were not labeled and looked exactly the same so I assumed it was just a massive amount of dressing so I poured part of one container onto the salad and it turned out to be super spicy then I tried the other one and it was mild. It would've been nice to know that they were different and why not just ask my wife spicy or mild and just include one of those salad dressing containers. Hate to say it, but not sure if you're just trying to weigh down the container to make it feel like there's more food in the container in the bag. Why else would you include two large containers of salad dressing. It took me a couple of minutes to eat the salad since there wasn't really much there. Then I had to figure out what to eat for lunch at home. I should note that I've eaten in this restaurant before a few years ago and I've had the exact same sashimi salad and there was a lot more sashimi there and other ingredients on the salad. Then when my wife came home again later I asked her how much she paid for the salad and she said $14!!!! What a massive rip-off! DO NOT ORDER TO GO FROM KANPAI!! And maybe don't even give then your hard earned money to even dine in. What a joke! read more

I've come here on several occasions and it's just really bad sushi A friend likes it here so we've gone maybe three or so times, but I've always left confused and disappointed. They have Japanese chefs so I had high hopes and I hate doing this to my own people but please go somewhere else if you want sushi and save your money. Idk if it's the not so fresh fish (it's not spoiled or anything, just doesn't taste good) or maybe the rice isn't great, or a combination, but it's average at best. I feel like they think it's okay because PA doesn't have as many Asians as other places and they don't have competition??? Idk I have no explanation. And of course it being PA, it's not cheap! Yes, no decent sushi place is or should be, but for this place it's bad value. read more

Reasonable pricing for Palo Alto, but the sushi's neta quality was very disappointing. The subpar freshness and taste were so bad that its lower pricing couldn't justify it. Not worth the visit. read more

Ordered shrimp and vegetable tempura udon noodles from this restaurant for lunch via Postmates today and I can't wait to go back. The order was completed as I walked into the restaurant so it was still piping hot when I enjoyed it back at the office. The noodles were perfectly soft and the broth was incredibly deep and flavorful. Perfect for a cold and dreary winter day! read more

Steven is a wonderful server. He remembers our favorites - down to extra lemon for my water to extra ginger. The food is so fresh and delicious. Chefs are friendly acknowleding guests. My favorite place! read more

Basically you're typical japanese sushi restaurant. Homey vibe, several tables large, welcoming chefs, wooden decor, cultural art on the wall. Came in on New Years Day and got seated immediately (restaurant was about half full). Miso soup came out in about 5 min, followed by the salad. Main dishes came out 10 min later. The food itself is quite good. I got the Chirashi dinner while my family got a few sushi rolls and the salmon teriyaki dinner. Rarely do we finish our food (because we eat very small amounts), but this time around we actually did, due to a combination of the reasonably sized portions and the delicious taste. The only reason I'm giving 4 stars is because the prices are a bit higher than I normally would expect at a restaurant like this. I guess given that it's located in the heart of Palo Alto, I'm not surprised, but $20 for chicken teriyaki dinner (chicken, rice, salad, miso soup) seems a few bucks too many, especially given the portion sizes. If you're looking for good japanese food, come here. If you wanna save a few bucks for slightly poorer quality japanese food of the same kind, I recommend going down the street to Ruby Sushi. read more

Kanpai - Appetizers, salads, plates from the sushi bar, plates from the grill, udon noodles, dinner - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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Three stars is pretty good considering the competition. Cuts are not huge, but decent.. freshness and taste are good. This would be an excellent regular spot for some relaxed sushi dinner with friends. Excellent service was friendly as well. read more

Definitely our favorite sushi spot on the Peninsula. Sushi is fresh and expertly prepared. Friendly fast service! read more

Kanpai - a plate of sushi with sauce and chopsticks - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

Okay I don't know if my first visit was a fluke or this most recent visit was, but this recent visit was not good. Ordered the lunch special: tuna and ebi sushi (1 piece ea.) + tuna sashimi + pork shumai + tuna avocado roll + salad and miso soup for around $17. Sounded like a great deal and delicious so went for it... The tuna sushi was NOT fresh. Like hard-to-swallow not fresh. The sashimi was decent but not amazing and was of a different variety than the sushi, thank goodness. Tuna avocado roll was incredibly mediocre. The pieces were abnormally large and a bit unappealing. Service was great though. read more

Very average sushi restaurant. I saw the reviews on yelp, but it was nearby and someone in our dinner group wanted sushi...so I gave it a shot. I should have pulled a diva move and made us walk further in the name of good food. Oops. First off the service was sloppy. It took a while before they asked for our orders, the food came out at very different times, and they didn't clean a piece of sushi I dropped on the table. I was staring at it awkwardly for a good 20 minutes after they had bussed our plates away. The food wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't eat it again, given the multitude of dining options nearby. The gyoza was the best thing I tried. Good flavor on the filling, thin skin, and nicely fried. The sushi was poorly made. My nigiri salmon sampler was falling apart (and one piece literally fell apart onto the table..oops). The fish quality was average. The knife-work was shoddy. The miso chicken dinner was tiny and over-cooked. Presentation overall was not impressive as well. read more

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Kanpai was a surprising PA find on Saturday night and I LOVED. It's rare to encounter something local that makes me so happy & satisfied. Inviting, warm interior and a nice range of prices for sake. Ordered the Elegant Omakase. A steal for $65/pp. The sauces were light, savory and were well balanced. The meats were cooked perfectly medium rare. Lots of yummy Japanese imported greens. Tempura seaweed was something new I had never seen-simply delicious. Portions are not itsy bitsy. Fantastic presentation and a huge variety of dishes w/twists I have not seen in Japanese cuisine. Call them about the September Sake Tasting. Definitely on my short list in the lower Peninsula. read more

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Three stars at absolute best. I don't know if I'm rounding up or down here.. the service was very good, friendly, etc. but this just did not hit the spot. Stopped by here for lunch with a few coworkers. I got the Dragon roll and house salad. The house salad had this interesting dressing (but way too much of it) over greens and tomato. It was okay. The Dragon roll looked amazing but it just was not that great... interesting flavor to the eel sauce. Lots of avocado though. I would not make the trek out here again. I'd rather go to Fuki or Jin Sho. read more

Average sushi, nothing special, nothing bad. It's not crowded on a weekday lunch, so that's a positive.

Friday night after reopening, dying for sushi bar experience for a celebration. Checked the 9:30pm closing time on Yelp, showed up at 7:45pm to be told the new revised schedule now they close at 8pm (because CA just reopened?!) Owner/manager was polite, but with restaurant and sushi bar only half seated, said they can only accommodate us if we don't order sushi since there are 4 tables of people just ordered sushi and they won't be able to serve us sushi until everyone has to leave this sushi restaurant at 8:45pm. Was going to drop big bucks on two omakase sushi dinner and go to town. Too bad had to go farther for Fuki Sushi instead who gladly take our money and serve us sushi. read more

I came here during dinner time and ordered bluefin tuna from their special menu, as well as the volcano roll, vegetable roll, and asparagus tempura roll. I wasn't a fan of the bluefin tuna. It tasted really fishy to me and the only way I could eat it is with a lot of soy sauce and wasabi. My friend who I shared it with also didn't like it either. The volcano roll was pretty good though. It was a little bit spicy from the spicy tuna and the sauce gave it a lot of flavor. The vegetable rolls were mediocre and forgettable. The service here could be better. After I ordered something, I waited about 20 minutes for my order. I got impatient and asked a waiter if my food is coming. Turned out somehow there was a breakdown in communication between the waiters and the kitchen because the kitchen never received my order. They prompted made my food but I was pretty annoyed already. read more

Kanpai - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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Honestly the worst sushi I've ever had in my life. The food is so bad that I'm literally taking the time out of my busy schedule to write this review, it would be disservice to others if they entered the restaurant without prior warning. We ordered spicy tuna roll, salmon avocado roll, and yellowtail scallion roll. The rice was mushy and tasteless, they also really skimp out on the fish for their rolls. For what you're paying ($18 total for three rolls), the food quality is not worth it at all and the taste is just absolutely unacceptable. I'm so baffled by my experience here and do genuinely wonder how this place managed to survive the pandemic, perhaps it is one of the only places that serve sushi in Palo Alto? This establishment would not stand a chance in metropolitan places like New York, where the competition and standard for sushi is a lot higher. This whole experience is making me rethink about dining out in Palo Alto. read more

It's not cheap, so when you do Kanpai, you want to do it right and get what they're best at: - Sake: they've got tons to choose from, whether you like it cold, light, sweet and delicious or nasty I mean sharp and warm. They regularly offer flights which I think they might call "pours." Drink up! - Grill items: their lamb chops and braised sea bass are epic winners on small plates. Yeah, I know you came here for sushi but just trust me. - OK, since you just had to keep reading, you can order the sushi. It's fresh and tasty, especially the white tuna, but not a great value. Best to order a roll with spicy tuna inside: yep, it's creamy like spicy tuna is supposed to be! read more

Kanpai - Braised Sea Bass. HFS this was good. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

Disappointing dinner...took a really long time to get seated even though there were clearly tables open. Food was fine but portions are pretty small, so keep in mind. Their card machine broke so everyone in the restaurant was offering to pay in cash. I think they were trying their best but it was still kind of a bummer read more

Despite what the website says, they don't do happy hour anymore. Maybe take it off your website then. We left. Also, the last time I came here the service was not good, and when I asked them to tell me more about the specials (I had never heard of the fish they had listed on the whiteboard) they looked at me like I was asking them something insane. read more

Good quality sushi for a really reasonable price, especially at lunch. I always get the Combination Lunch option. Best option is the grilled mackerel, so good! People there are nice and service is efficient. Also, I love that the noise levels are low, so it's easy to have a conversation. Great place to catch up with a coworker during lunch if you have an hour. Honestly, a hidden gem in downtown Palo Alto where everything costs an arm and a leg! read more

Kanpai - Yellowtail with jalapeño - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California

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Kanpai is some of the best sushi in Palo Alto. The servers are so kind, and do an amazing job. We will usually order the specials for each night. We have been getting take out from here, or when we can going into sit down for the past five years almost every week! Give this place your support! They works so hard and it's an amazing addition to the community! read more

Im surprised by the middle of the road reviews. Maybe I had a good day meal? Sat at the counter with an old co worker and both had the omakase: 2 sushi bar appetizers, 1 dish from kitchen, chef's 5-piece special sushi plate, miso soup, and dessert for $35 Not too bad a deal considering it's Palo Alto. Mixed tempura, Agedashi tofu, Nabeyaki Udon, Sawara, Unagi, Tai, Uni, and Shiro Maguro hit the spot. Sitting at the counter you get a rapport with the chef. We ended up sitting next to someone that was into cars like my co worker so we ended up chatting for a bit. Solid sushi and some unexpected company to boot. read more

I have mixed feelings writing this review, which is appropriate because I had kind of a bi-polar experience at Kanpai. I got the sashimi. I always get sashimi because (for me), it's the only way to actually taste the fish without all of the other stuff getting in the way. The sashimi was delicious so that would have earned this place a 5-star rating. However, my friend got the "Firecracker Roll" which was completely disgusting. Maybe it's her fault because she assumed the Firecracker Roll would be like a spicy tuna roll, only more so. Instead, she got this deep-fried monstrosity covered in some kind of sauce and other strange garnishments. It was horrible. I don't understand deep fried sushi rolls. I mean, I generally LOVE deep-fried food. Mozzarella sticks? Yes, please. Tator tots? Give me seconds. Funnel cake at the fair -- can I get two of those? But don't deep fry sushi rolls, please. It's really gross, and also the fish gets fully cooked so you're not even eating sushi. You're eating bland steamed fish surrounded by rice and then crunch greasy seaweed. Weird. If the roll is deep-fried, maybe Kanpai should make that clear on the Specials board. I would like to update my review with 5 stars. I hope to come back and have a better experience. read more

My staff and I frequent Kanpai regularly, to the point that server Stephen always remembers our names. The 'spicey shashimi salad' is my favorite, and I'm always pleased with special dishes like Ankimo and good quality Uni. By far my favorite place in or around Palo Alto, and I've tried them all. read more

This place is right across the street from my office and people love the grilled chicken udon. I have had mediocre sushi in the past that was tolerable. The do an interesting Lunch Board Special that sometimes has some authentic items. This mediocrity slid into bad at lunch. The addition of "crunchies" and rice, to the spicy tuna filling, yes in the actual spicy tuna, was it for me. So nasty. Who does that? This place. I also ordered the "Crab Shrimp & Avocado" salad. What would you think that salad would have in it? I bet you thought wrong! Its a bunch of overdressed lettuce(unagi sauce, ponzu, spicy mayo) with four small pieces of avocado, one piece had a nice black, rotten corner, canned bay shrimp, and little, teeny, short strings of canned crab. Oh and "crunchies." Dont forget those! In a pinch I might go back for Udon and see if its decent but I fear Jamie C is correct about this place. Gross. read more

Kanpai - Thats RICE and "crunchies,"inside the spicy tuna filling. Ew. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Palo Alto, California