Kidari Sushi Yatai

Came here for dinner tonight and I saw a sign that they are closing on April 26. This makes me extremely said, since Kidari has been my neighborhood go-​to when craving Japanese food. The raw fish has always been quality, the ambience is very laid back, and the service is excellent. Their lunch specials are especially affordable. Plus, they deduct the ATM fee from the bill!
I’m going to miss you, Kidari

Tied for best sushi I’ve had in Philly so far. The beef app was on point and my lover and friends all got different kinds of sushi and I got sashimi and didn’t hear one complaint. The staff was nice and gave us amazing suggestions. It is BYOB AS WELL. BOOM

I had a group dinner here for my birthday. They were really attentive and flexible with our group. I also liked how it was not very loud in the restaurant, allowing me to actually be able to have conversations with others. It also helps that it is BYOB.
The food was good but I do believe that Philly has a lot more competitive BYOB sushi restaurants that I would go before going to Kidari.

The service was great. Unfortunately, this was the worst sushi I’ve had in the city. The sushi rice was completely unseasoned. The quality of the fish itself was fine, nothing to write home about. I may have gone on an off night, but it was *really* off.

Went there the other day for lunch. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the fact the prices seemed better than what I remembered reading a few months ago online.
I did a lunch special. Had Miso Soup, Salad, and then the main course which afterwards I was pretty stuffed I could barely finish it. Sushi overall was decent, not bad, but not phenomenal. Being from Alaska I might be a bit of a sushi/​seafood snob but I would definitely go back to Kidari sometime.
FYI… it’s CASH ONLY.

This is my neighborhood sushi place. I have had several meals including lunch and dinner here. Every experience is really positive. Today I came to lunch, I have an allergy and they were really accommodating. I had a sushi lunch plate and my brother had a similar spicy tuna plate. I haven’t been to another sushi place in a while. Highly recommend. Cash only is a draw back though.

Love this place. The sushi is really fresh and tastes great. It is fairly reasonably priced. The service is exceptionally friendly. Even though it’s cash only, they partially reimburse your ATM fee. And it’s BYOB which is fantastic. Definitely the best sushi in the area.

Great BYOB sushi
I had great company on this trip, but the food spoke for itself.
I had the rainbow roll. Awesome
The good looking girl across from me had a shrimp tempura roll which was awesome as well.
Instead of dessert we went with the fire rainbow roll and added some crunch to end the night. Again a great roll.
You definitely don’t need three rolls for two people, but we wanted another bc of the 1^st two.
I recommend this place, but remember it is cash only (ATM on premise).

Again, 5 stars!
This time I had the tangerine roll and the texas roll as well as some salmon and yellowtail sashimi. All was excellent. Such a uniquie combination of flavors. The fish was so fresh and everyting tasted exquisite.
Service was amazing.
I could eat here every day.

You can count on Kidari to use fresh ingredients to make some excellent rolls. Their takeout service was great and the prices seemed fair for the sushi (the shrimp special we ordered was expensive and not worth it). Nice atmosphere but I haven’t dined in yet but plan to soon. Give it a shot.

Wow I am shocked at all the great reviews because we were so so terribly disappointed by our meal at Kidari. Honestly, if it had not been for the Salmon Skin Salad, I would have given ONE star.
We had made a reservation for or 8:30pm Saturday night dinner, but from the looks of it it was unnecessary. There were only a few full tables (which maybe should have tipped us off from the beginning). The ambiance was quiet, I am guessing since there weren’t many full tables.
This is a BYOB which was great for my other diners who were able to bring their own bottle of wine. I am pregnant so sadly I had to refrain from drinking as well as the raw items on the menu. We got the Salmon Skin Salad to start which was EXCELLENT and give us the impression that the meal was going to amazing, however it ended up being the sole highlight of our entire meal.
For the non-​raw rolls, we got the Dragon and shirmp tempura. Both were OK but honestly we could have made it at home for that quality. The oil in the Shrimp Tempura roll was overwhelming and left a strange after-​taste. For the raw items, my companions got the yellowtail carpacchio (sp?), the sushi and sashimi samplers. Apparently ALL of these items were terrible, the jalapeño completely overtook the yellowtail and the fish for both the sushi/​sashimi tasted like they had been previously frozen.
Although the server was nice, she couldn’t save our meal from being poor quality. I have had better sushi for ¹⁄₃ of the price so there is no chance any of us will ever be returning to Kidari. Ok ok, maybe I would come back and get the salmon skin salad to go.

Got some takeout sushi from Kidari that included a variety of fish and veggie rolls.
They were all well-​made, fresh looking, fresh tasting, and yummy.
The ordering by phone was fairly easy; they could hear me, I could hear them, they confirmed the order, and had it right. They provided an estimated ready time for pickup, and the order was ready in time. It came with all the sushi accoutrements you might need.
Prices seem reasonable.

Kidari is a cute little sushi restaurant on South Street. It’s right across from Penn Medicine’s Rittenhouse location. I can see this place being well appreciated by sushi aficionados who live in the Grad Hospital area.
We had the Cy-​catu roll (spicy tuna and panko crumbs on top of a California roll), the Fire Dragon roll (eel and avocado on top of a spicy tuna roll), the avocado roll, and the sushi sampler (four pieces of tuna, salmon, suzuki, and hamachi).
The rolls were sized generously and really filling — we ended up taking a few rolls home as leftovers. Definitely a great addition to the South Street food scene!

I was pretty toasted when I ate at Kidari Sushi Yatai, not gonna lie. I had been day drinking (yes, Erin Express, yes, I’m 26) and for some reason was craving raw fish and rice (CARBS!).
Me and two girlfriends brought our own wine, started with dumpling soup (a steal at $ 4/​bowl) and continued our meal with a handful of fresh, sizable rolls. Service was great and we closed the place down. I think this place may compete with my fave (Umai Umai) and I am eager to return when I’m a little more sober next time.

Service, 5 stars
Atmosphere, 5 stars
Food, 3.5 stars
BYOB, 5 stars
I’ve wanted to try Kidari Sushi Yatai for serval months, ever since I saw they newly opened in my neighborhood. My boyfriend and I came here saturday night around 7pm. There was no wait, which was a nice treat for a Saturday night. The place was small, but we were pleased with the romantic setting and the spacing of the tables was perfect. We didn’t feel like we were on top of our neighboring tables, which happens a lot at small restaurants around here. The hostess was also a waitress, and she was so sweet and welcoming! She brought us a table-​side bucket with ice to chill our BYOB wine & beer.
We ordered the PORK WASABI steamed dumplings, I LOVED these! It was the perfect amount of sinus clearing goodness in between two chopsticks. So freaking good! We also started with the Avacado house salad, which was very good, lots of avacado and the ginger dressing was great. For sushi, we had a Dragon Roll, which was great, but no better than any other Dragon roll I’ve had before. Had the ½ maki combo which was boring, but my fault for ordering the wrong thing. It was small rolls with no other ingeredients (I thought I was ordering sushi or sashami, not rolls). My boyfriend had the TEXAS Roll, which was expensive compared to other rolls ($ 17) but very large with lots of ingredients, and really tasty. Overall, the food was good, but there was nothing over the top that will set this sushi over and above other places I’ve tried. I wish there were some more extravagant rolls, like with kiwi or mago, there were no rolls with any fruit or sweet fillings. But the rolls that were on the menu, they did a great job at preparing and it was very good.
Overall, I really enjoyed my dinner here. The food was very good, I love BYOB to save money, the atmosphere was adorable and welcoming, and the service was fantastic. I will be back!

Cute little sushi bar in an area of South Street that is getting pretty built up.
The sushi is good and made fresh to order. I was a bit disappointed with the Mr. Crunch roll (tuna and jalapenos). I felt like it needed something else (a sauce or something to give it more flavor).
The place got pretty crowded for a Wednesday night and the service was super friendly. We’ll be back, as it’s also a BYO.

I’ve had two really great meals at Kidari so far. Once with my girl Angela J over the summer and again with my man on Friday for lunch. Both times I had the spicy tuna tartar which is delicious. It is served with some fried potato straws and two different types of sauce. I also really enjoy their miso soup, which has a bit more flavor than some of their competitors’ versions.
Normally, I’m not a fan of raw salmon but Kidari’s fish is so fresh and clean tasting that I really enjoyed their spicy salmon roll. Maybe even more than my usual go-​to, the spicy tuna roll. Their rolls are plump and filling; after the soup and shared app, two was more than enough.
During the summer there was an awesome half-​priced sushi happy hour. Not sure if they are still offering this deal but if so, it’s a total steal for some really quality sushi.

HUGE improvement compared to what’s been in this spot before. Yes, I did like Pinky’s (RIP) but it was an admittedly disgusting place, and everything that’s been there after hasn’t improved the spot much, if at all. Kidari finally did, with minimal changes at that, and the restaurant doesn’t feel like a gross and cheap spot anymore.
I dropped in at lunch on a Saturday and ordered the Spicy Roll Combo — it came with a Cy Tuna and Cy Salmon roll, which basically means spicy. For $ 13 (it came with a miso soup) it’s certainly on the pricy side, but the rolls were delicious and the soup great as well. I also added in a Jalapeño Yellowtail roll ($ 7), which again was yummy though admittedly a tad bit expensive.
Overall the food I’ve had here has been top-​notch. I chose to give 5, and not 4, stars only because the prices, including the lunch specials, are a tad rich for my blood. I don’t argue the quality being high enough to justify the prices, but with the location and other nearby offerings they could do to lower each roll $ 1 or even 50 cents. That being said, I’ll definitely be back time and time again!

Ah, Mr. Yoon, you never fail us!
With a seasoned chef behind the counter Kidari Sushi Yatai is one of my go to favorites. Quality fish (you get what you pay for), friendly non-​pretentious service, and a warm neighborhood vibe make Kidari byo a risk free choice. Bring a bottle and make it a date, bring a case and make it a party, or go out with your fabulous self and dine solo at the sushi bar.
Hamachi kama & the salmon skin salad are my seafood loving partner’s favorites. Always fresh & flavorful! As a vegetarian I’ve got plenty of choices including some gigantic specialty rolls. My avocado salad last night was almost too pretty to eat (almost) and the shiitake roll is not to be missed.
Thanks again for dinner Mr. Yoon, we’ll be back soon!

Update: Sushi happy hour is back, and is probably here to stay… the only difference is it’s now cash only. Monday — Thursday 5 – 7.
Right now my belly is full of their delicious sushi, and I would like to rave about it again! This time, I dined alone… I have nothing in my fridge the night before a big test and was craving sushi, and I knew that Kidari would hit the spot (unfortunately you can’t get the 50% off deal with takeout). I had eaten a light lunch, so I went all out and ordered 3 rolls for myself. I chose the salmon and avacado, spicy tuna, and yellowtail and jalapeño roll. All delicious! It was the first time I had tried the yellowtail jalapeño roll, and I really liked the kick it had from the jalapeño.
The waitresses were very nice, as was the sushi chef who personally thanked me for coming. I will, of course, be back!