I don't usually bother to leave reviews but after the wonderful experience I had, I felt the least I can do is spread the good word. My sister took me to Kintaro as a birthday outing. From the time we arrived to the time we left, the staff were incredibly kind and courteous. Our server Reuben was especially great. As my sister has been here a few times already, Reuben immediately knew her choice of drink and starting appetizer. Any time he was checking in on us, he was incredibly kind and offered some very helpful recommendations. As we were being seated, my sister had mentioned offhand we were celebrating my birthday. Before we received our check when all was said and done, several of the staff took a moment to wish me happy birthday along with a slice of cheesecake! Obligated or not, it was incredibly sweet and I was truly humbled. The food itself was superb. We chose a variety of sushi rolls and each were bursting with a distinctive combination of flavors; everything from sweet and tangy to spicy with the perfect amount of bitterness. Each roll was well crafted had the presentation to match its splendid umami. I can't speak on behalf of the more busy nights but at the time of our meal, the restaurant was pulling in some steady business without feeling noisy or chaotic. Tables were clean, staff were attentive to customers and I just felt so very welcome there. Needless to say, I left Kintaro positively beaming. I'm already looking forward to my next visit which will likely be sooner than later. read more

Excellent food and service at Kintaro! Some complained about the price but the sushi was SO good and everyone was so nice and friendly. Honestly I ate so much and it was well worth it. The menu has a huge variety and you can order as much as you want as long as you eat it all. The decor was simple and classy and felt clean and bright. I will definitely be coming back maybe for lunch if I want to save a few bucks. The sushi was so good, everything was so good! read more

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The food, service, & ambiance are awesome here! Casual & laid back. Music isn't too loud. The wait staff was very professional but fun. You talk about great value? Be careful on the All You Can Eat- these are LARGE but really delicious rolls!! read more

Kintaro - All You Can Eat Menu - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

First couple times was great here, but I noticed the service and the sushi going down in quality. They don't cut the salmon nigiri properly anymore, which is one of the few things I eat. The atmosphere is still great, but the servers are less friendly and knowledgeable than they used to be. For instance, last time a few people came in 10 minutes before dinner time and were made to wait in the hall and outside in the hot summer despite asking if they could get a table and wait at the table. They were willing to pay dinner prices and had babies. The music also had a lot of cursing words in it and I had my toddler. Not pleasant. P I guess I'll have to try the new one that opened where Izumi used to be. Last time the salmon had a lot of skin and even a few scales and I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but it was the same today and I'm afraid it might be the new norm. Unfortunately I can no longer recommend this place. read more

Kintaro - Salmon nigiri - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

We decided to come back for a celebration on a Saturday evening, and the food was almost as good as last time. Even though there was a mixup with a duplicate order, I still enjoyed my visit. Since there were so many options, I'm only going over highlights. Favorites: Salmon Volcano, Dragon egg, Salmon Roe sashimi/nigiri, Naruto roll Salmon Volcano: (5/5) Spicy imitation crab wrapped with 4 cooked salmon slices and topped with spicy mayo and sweet eel sauce. Presented beautifully and tastes even better. Dragon egg: (4.5/5) Lots of Imitation crab wrapped with thinly sliced avocado to look like an egg and drizzled with eel sauce and spicy mayo. I mainly like this one because how it looks, the taste is decent but not exceptional. Salmon roe: (5/5) This dish is usually limited at other ayce sushi restaurants because of how expensive it is. At kintaro, it's unlimited, fresh, and you can order it without rice to enjoy more. (Order as sashimi and not nigiri) The taste is very salty and umami. I like to think of it as big caviar. Naruto roll: (4.5/5) Salmon, tuna, other fish, and avocado wrapped with cucumber served in a slightly sour sauce. It has NO rice. Honestly a good pick if you like fish but not rice. Least favorites: snow crab hand roll, fried scallops, miso soup, surf clam Snow crab hand roll: (1.5/5) I'm 90% sure there is no snow crab. It tasted like imitation crab to me. Fried scallops: (1/5) Tasted like imitation crab/fish. It lacked both the slightly chewy and springy texture of scallops and the scallop flavor. Miso soup: (3/5) Last time we were here it was loaded with tofu and seaweed but this time it was just the soup. Surf clam: (2/5) It didn't taste like anything. One issue was the service. The food took 15-30 minutes to come out per order, which was understandable due to how busy the restaurant was, but the worst part is that it came out incomplete so I couldn't tell how much of an order was left before I made a new order. The 2hr time limit doesn't help either. On top of that, our server got our old order confused with a new one so that we ended up getting duplicates of a huge order which we couldn't finish. Luckily, the manager was nice enough to not charge us for the extras if we didn't take them to go and offered us to take the leftovers for $20 if we wanted to take it to go. For the ambiance, it's pretty nice. Music loud enough to mask out the other tables and decorations on the wall. Overall the sushi was mostly fresh and the ambiance is nice, just the food comes out a little slow. I would still highly recommend kintaro. read more

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Nice spot for a date or small group and good vegan options. The bar seemed busy and there were multiple screens for FIFA games. Looking forward to coming back to try all their plant foods. read more

Good value, great service for the AYCE. The hamachi sashimi and nigiris are my favorite. Only drawback is they do not include unagi (fresh water eel) on the AYCE menu. However, the Kintaro roll is ample sized and has eel on top and is on the AYCE menu. The potstickers and siumai seemed oily. The hibachi 'meals' had a lot of rice but tiny piece of fish. The mochi is great and is on the AYCE menu too. But definitely would stick to the sushi and sashimi more. The drinks including alcohol drinks are a pretty good deal for the price. They have both indoor and outdoor seating and the leaves decor make for a nice indoor dining experience. Great place for groups and one side of the restaurant actually have big screen TVs which they play the World Cup currently. Overall, great place to go to for AYCE sushi. read more

Kintaro - top to bottom: lobster roll, soft shell crab roll, dragon roll - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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Food was excellent! Ambiance is good - has a bar area with TVs. Screened off from dinners. They have a lot of people making sushi so food arrives fairly quickly. My husband really enjoyed the sushi. He ordered that all you can eat - a miso soup, edamame, three rolls ( see pictures), teriyaki, steak, eggrolls, tempura shrimp. He got his moneys worth for the all you can eat. All the rolls were excellent, but the best part was the teriyaki steak. He said it melted in his mouth. Serving size was a little small, but you can order multiple if you get that all you can eat, which he did. I ordered à la cart and got the Kani salad, which was excellent. We would both order that again. I --also ordered - one serving of salmon sashimi and one of tuna, both came with two pieces. I felt the serving was a little small since I was paying à la carte, but it was very appropriate for all you can eat. My husband's very excited to go back again and has already created his plan of attack for the next time. One suggestion for the location is - the waiter had difficulty answering my questions about the à la carte menu. Plus, every time he brought food out, he placed all my husband's food in front of me. If I'm ordering off the à la carte menu and I'm not allowed to eat any of the other food, it should definitely be served on his side of the table. I kept shifting it over, but every time he brought new food, he would do the same thing again. Overall, an excellent experience we can't wait to go back again and are already planning on bringing family next time. Prices are really good for all you can eat $23.99 for lunch especially if you can eat a lot of sushi rolls. The manager was also very friendly and kind. read more

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3.5 rounded to 4. The restaurant was decently sized and had a small wait on Sunday evening. The good: the rolls were massive, but it was mostly filling not rice! Service was friendly and I liked the diversity of the menu. Many options! The bad: Service was slowwww. And for some reason my sashimi took longer than the rolls? I do wish the rolls were smaller so we could sample more flavors. Overall not the best AYCE sushi, but not bad either. Would be down to go back if I'm craving AYCE badly. read more

I have experienced AYCE sushi places, and this will be my favorite one so far! The sushi that my friend and I ordered was yummy and delicious. However, they get pretty busy on Saturday, so it's best to have a reservation so you can skip the wait. Also, I ordered the steak fried rice, and it was decent; nothing spectacular. Although, I wish they put more steak in my rice. Overall, it was a good experience and the waiters were nice and professional. read more

Kintaro - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

This restaurant opened recently and I had to check it out. We came in at 6:30 for dinner. The parking lot was already full, there is additional parking on the street. This place does not take reservations for small parties and since it was 3 of us we came in without a reservation, which isn't my favorite thing. We were seated right away ( they will not seat you unless the whole party is present). Not my favorite rule either. If you order all you can eat you better read the rules on the menu... Our waitress did not want to be at work that day. You could clearly tell by the way she was responding to our questions. I ordered a squid salad which was very well prepared and I enjoyed it. I also ordered a Godzilla roll...it is deep fried and huge. It had a very tasty combination of snow crab, salmon and fried eel...I will definitely go back to try other things on their menu. read more

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The food and service are impeccable. From the moment we walked in we were greeted and seated. We ordered all you can eat lunch special 23.99 great deal read more

Kintaro - Lunch menu - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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I am a huge fan of Kintaro Sushi & Hibachi! I saw it on TikTok and have gone three times in two weeks. Honestly, I could've gone a fourth. I'm a big sushi lover, so I stuck mostly with the sashimi and nigiri options during their all-you-can-eat experience, even though the do have other options, and the quality impressed me every single visit. The fish is fresh, clean-tasting, and the fish-to-rice ratio on the nigiri is wonderful, generous without being heavy. I went twice for lunch and once for dinner. Lunch is a great deal, but dinner comes with the perk of being able to order full slabs of sashimi, which made the higher price totally worth it for me. If you're a sashimi person, don't skip the dinner menu. The staff have been consistently lovely each time. They've been super patient, never rushed us, and let us take our time enjoying everything. If you love sushi (especially sashimi!) and want a reliable AYCE spot in Tucson, this is absolutely the one. read more

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Good: service, ambiance, and price Not so good: subpar sushi Went in for lunch and tried the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. At the time, I did not realize that à la carte ordering was also available. Overall, this is a good spot for a school or college crowd looking for a reasonably priced "eat as much as you want" sushi experience. The restaurant has clearly designed the menu to be filling and budget-friendly. Sashimi is not included, and most specialty rolls are very rice-heavy, with lots of tempura and mayo-based sauces. You will get full pretty quickly. That said, I did enjoy some of their nigiri offerings. The red tuna tasted a bit stale, but the white tuna and yellowtail were good. Their spicy tuna hand rolls were also enjoyable. read more

$32 for AYCE sushi, hibachi, and appetizers -- absolutely worth the price. The sushi rolls (including specialty rolls) were delicious with great quality and solid portions. The sashimi really stood out: perfectly served with generous, well-cut slices -- no skinny, skimpy pieces here. Thank you, Kintaro! Service was attentive, friendly, and fast. The manager checked in with guests throughout the meal, which felt genuinely welcoming and showed they care about the experience. Everything tasted fresh, and for all-you-can-eat, this is hands down the best value I've had. Much, much better compared to other AYCE spots. Side note: I've visited this building over the years when it housed other restaurants like Lotus Garden and Serial Grillers, and what Kintaro has done with the space is impressive. The ambiance is warm and comfortable, with a modern copper design and wooden panels. Simple, elegant, and inviting -- they truly made it their own. Highly recommend! read more

Kintaro - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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East Tucson just got better with the opening of Kitaro, an AYCE Japanese restaurant. With only a handful of AYCE sushi spots left in town, I was excited to try it. When we arrived, there was already a line out the door. We were given a pager and waited over an hour. Parking was also a challenge; I had to circle the surrounding neighborhood a few times before finally finding a spot. Once seated, we were greeted right away and placed our order quickly. The first round came out without issue, but after that, service became a bit inconsistent. Our waiter disappeared for long stretches, often heading into the kitchen and not returning for quite some time, which made ordering additional rounds slower than expected. That said, the food itself was enjoyable. The sushi was well-prepared and tasted fresh, with the hand rolls and squid salad standing out as my favorites. The grilled teriyaki meats: steak, shrimp, and salmon were a bit underwhelming, lacking smokiness/spices and relying mostly on the sauce for flavor. Despite a few negatives, I still enjoyed the experience overall and plan to come back. I love the location, and having AYCE sushi on the east side is a big plus. TIP: order a lot 1st round, in case the waiter disappears. Teriyaki meats are served in small portions, so order more than 1 order if you know you will eat it. 1 1/2 hour limit and they will charge extra for leftovers. read more

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Finally went here on a Sunday afternoon. My husband and I have driven past it but there was always a line waiting outside. We had a party of 8 total with 3 kids. They do take same day reservations if you have a party of 6-9 people. We called them around 1230p and they said we could come in around 1:45-2p for a table. We showed up and checked in around 1:30 I believe and only waited maybe 5-10 minutes before being seated. We had Jason as our waiter and he was very tentative. We never had to ask for more drink or to order more food. He would notice our drinks were running low and refill them right away. He'd also take the ordering menu, I think we placed an order maybe 3-4x during our visit. For it being an AYCE, I was surprised how good the food was and also how good the sushi was. You get full rolls, they don't skimp on anything, and the rolls are not falling apart like other places that serve sushi. The appetizers and other food like the yakisoba was very good as well. We met one of the owners who was so kind! We will definitely be going back. I fully recommend this place. Just be prepared for a long wait of about an hour if you do not have a reservation. read more

Kintaro - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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This spot has some tea good sushi and all you can eat on Saturday's. We went and had the Kintaro roll, Riches Roll and avocado salad. Everything was really yummy. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. I need to go back for All you can eat or maybe not lol. Try them out for sure. It is right next to a Pickle Ball court too. read more

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Ok ! I'm editing review because after waiting months to come back , they seem to have worked out the kinks . Lotsa options for vegans ! Great pricing and I really enjoyed the sweet potato roll. read more

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This place is new and was worth a visit for the All-You-Can-Eat sushi I think for the right person, this place is excellent and could be a great value, but as someone who can't eat that much, I'm not sure if the value was there for us. We showed up on the early side of the dinner hours, and as a party of two still had to wait for about an hour and 20 minutes. After ordering, it took close to another hour to get our food. That being said, we did enjoy most of what we ate- especially the sushi. We tried a variety of rolls and some sashimi, and all of the fish was very fresh and the rolls were a good portion. The hibachi was a miss for us and came out less than hot. The udon we tried was also not our favorite. In the future we would stick to the sushi if we came back here. Surprisingly, the mochi were really good and probably the highlight of our meal! read more

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Since it open, this restaurant is always busy whenever we pass by, so today we decided to stop by for early lunch. We came just around the open time. Not busy and easy to park. Inside is spacious with plenty of seat and it also have patio sitting. Nice layout & clean. Staff are friendly, quick & helpful. Food comes out in reasonable time. (because it still early, once it gets busy it will takes longer for the food to comes) Delicious food with pretty good portions. Once we're done it already pass noon so, it was already full seat and saw people start lining, the parking area also full. read more

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All You Can Eat Sushi! It's our new favorite spot. Food is delicious and service is better indoors. Seem to get forgotten about if you sit outdoors, but is nice if weather is good and not in a rush. read more

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Excited to try this new AYCE sushi spot on the east side of town! They're still working out efficiency with food coming out, but how the ordering process works was explained well and I think flow will improve with time. Lunch is $21.99/person, and the menu includes not just sushi/rolls but also soup, salad, tempura, hibachi, teriyaki, fried rice, and dessert. Drinks are a separate charge. I'm always a little hesitant with how the ratio of fish to rice will be for rolls and nigiri at AYCE spots, but these are solid portions of fish and not overwhelming amounts of rice. We decided to try a variety of things. The shrimp tempura was good - not too greasy and better than the crab tempura. The seaweed salad was a good portion; don't think I'd get the avocado salad again because it was avocado topped on some lettuce (not bad but I'd rather fill my plate with more sushi!). The nigiri is where I feel you get your money's worth; the fish had good consistency, was flavorful, and was nicely sliced in terms of portion size. We tried the salmon cucumber hand rolls which were tasty and refreshing, but had a tad bit too much rice to easily eat. The BMW roll was delicious - I would definitely get it again. While eating, we learned that the dinner menu also includes AYCE sashimi so we definitely want to be back to try that as well! read more

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Kintaro is the newest AYCE sushi spot in Tucson. Most aspects of this restaurant get 5 stars, ambience, food selection, and food quality. The service however, is painfully slow. We were sat at 6:10pm and promptly filled out the AYCE menu. Our waiter didn't round us for another 20 minutes. We put the order in and our food didn't come out unit after 7pm. Food came out in waves and the we missed a whole tray of nigiri (14+ pieces). We let the waiter know, but it was 8pm at that point and we didn't want to wait any longer so we cancelled the order. Our waiter was apologetic, but it was still a bummer. They've only been open for about 4 months, so I would wait until the crowd dies down before going back. read more

Kintaro - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I am super excited that there is now an all-you-can-eat (AYCE) sushi spot in Tucson! You can also order à la carte, but why not try the AYCE experience? The fish is super fresh, and sashimi for an AYCE? WOW. I love the nigiri and sashimi! The owner recommended the scallop, and boy was he was right. That was fresh and delicious. Highly recommend the scallop sashimi! The cuts of sashimi were big and super fresh. I am so happy with this place. The only downside I see is the rice was a bit hard for the sushi, but the rice-to-fish ratio was spot on. I also tried the hibachi and thought it was absolutely delicious. The wait for two was about an hour for dinner time and they are newly open, so the wait time makes sense. Definitely budget time for waiting! Worth it around the $31.99 price point! I am beyond excited. Can't you tell by my review? read more

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Arrived at 3:35, short wait, we recieved reservation tracker from hostess, seated before actual posted time. Hostess, server,& manager on duty were very hospitable and welcoming and they answered all our questions about menu & seating. Food and beverages were great. read more

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This was our first time to Kintaro and we were celebrating my birthday. The server was so nice and the service was excellent! The sushi was awesome! My son and are more about sushi than the rest of the family and the variety and quality are amazing! The restaurant is clean and well lit, they were singing happy birthday to different parties (including me ) and have us a complementary slice of cheesecake that was delicious. The service is also speedy, our food was brought out after what I would consider a short wait. Much shorter than in other sushi restaurants. They have sliced salmon in ponzu sauce with slices of jalapeno that were out of this world. The salmon had incredible marbling and color! We can't wait to go back! read more

Kintaro - Our first round with a vegas roll (so delicious) California, spicy yellowtail, TNT roll, sliced salmon appetizer on the right side - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

It's not a well oiled machine. Glad I went when it was slow. The hostess was slow and it took her a few minutes to seat me at the sushi bar. I didn't know I had a server as I tried to order from the sushi chefs. She finally came and got my drink order. Overall she was just OK. She took my folded chopstick rest which is a 1st for me at a sushi restaurant. I guess she doesn't see that too often. They did a good job updating the place from being a Serial Grillers. The space is modern and nice color scheme. The food was good and the portions of fish given were good. read more

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I would've given it a 5 if I didn't have to go there 3 times and leave disappointed since the wait time was more than an hour Their sashimi and nigiri are fantastic The rest of the sushies are good too but those are the best in my opinion The service is very slow and maybe that's why the wait time is always that long read more

We went for lunch AYCE on a Wednesday. The service was a little slow but our server was really nice. The place was clean. We loved all the sushi we had, very fresh. The only small complaint we had was the portion for each type of rolls was big; we couldn't try multiple options before getting super full. read more

Kintaro - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

The food is great, but It's always busy and it sometimes takes long to get your food . We went there a few times because it's good food and great prices. To tell you the truth our last visit went better than the last. Sure do plan to go back soon. read more

This is a pretty good AYCE sushi restaurant in Tucson, but everything outside of the sushi was slightly below average except for the sweet potato tempura. 4 stars for the sushi itself. For example, the shrimp tempura looked like they were originally frozen in a box (think Costco shrimp tempura). The avocado salad was an iceberg lettuce-heavy dish with half an avocado on top. In terms of the sushi, the hand rolls are really good. I tried spicy salmon, and eel, but the rest of the table ordered yellowtail and some other hand rolls, all of which we enjoyed. Everything is sauced or seasoned well, and they don't skimp on the cuts of eel or toppings. The presentation of the hand rolls is very nice as well. One menu quirk to note is that there is no eel nigiri--you can only find it in hand rolls or in their specialty rolls. I also would have liked some scallop rolls or nigiri. Overall, the fish was fresh and satisfying. My personal favorites were the salmon (not too fatty/greasy/fishy) and yellowtail. A local brought us here and encouraged us to arrive at opening, which I would recommend as well since people show up quickly after opening. read more

Food was amazing, but the waiter was rude never refilled our drinks and rushed us to leave. We went has soon as they opened it's was not even packed. read more

Excellent food! The menu was a little confusing at first but the waiter did an awesome job explaining. I ordered off the ala carte menu while others ordered from the all you can eat. Definitely will return! read more

Very affordable sushi lunch! All you can eat of a fairly extensive menu that includes things like tempura and teriyaki as well as sushi. As with most all you can eat plans, you get charged a fee for waste (food not eaten, rice left behind in nigiri ). The waitstaff was very friendly and helpful. The only downside is that there are favorites of ours which weren't on the menu (tako, salmon skin maki for example). Come hungry. Am curious to come again during dinner and see what's on the menu. read more

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Got a large restaurant vibe. Not cheap ($72 for 2 people) but the food is exactly what you'd find at a regular sushi joint. The rolls are full size with plenty of options and they even have sushimi along with fried rice and hibachi. Service was the fastest but very friendly. I left full and happy. I will go again. read more

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We had a amazing dinner at our favorite Tucson sushi Tucson sushi usually we are here once a week it's always amazing so fresh great service we had Angelina as our waitress she did perfect friendly and on top of it we will be back thank you read more

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For all you can eat sushi this is a pretty good deal, especially if you like sashimi. The cuts of fish were good and while the rolls were large, it wasn't an excessive amount of rice. Better to go and split with a few people to get your moneys worth. It's still new so there is always a line. The service however was SLOW. At one point someone dropped off food and when we asked for ginger and wasabi they said oh your server has to get it. It took another 5 minutes for us to flag the server down to ask for an item that at a sushi restaurant should be readily available. Maybe it was because they are new or it was a Friday night, but the slow service and empty water glasses didn't help the $32 a person price tag. read more

Cute renovation of Serial Grillers location. Seating was slow, but service was super speedy. I am not a huge all you can eat fan, but you can order a la carte! Enjoyed the salmon and yellowtail nigiri and there are some tasty roll options. Ambience is casual. read more

Kintaro - Rich Roll and Rainbow Roll - Japanese Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

AYCE sushi is back in SAZ. For 6 years, many sushi spits around town decided to stop offering AYCE. AYCE was a good bang for your buck and Kintaro opened up and filled that gap that was looking like it was never gonna be filled. The atmosphere was very casual, and the menu was extensive. Most AYCE places have very limited options on their menu, but Kintaro was generous. Their sushi rolls were also generous and were out pretty fast for me. Overall, I felt it was a good bang for my hard earn money. read more