Kanpai of Tokyo

The Sushi happy hour was awesome! I got three rolls and a glass of wine for less than I would have paid for one roll and wine elsewhere. I thought it tasted great and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

I ate in the «sushi pub» section of this establishment, so that is the only part I will be reviewing. This is a 2 star establishment. Cleanliness is very poor. Service is even worse. There is one bartender and one server. The bartender is expected to also wait tables so needless to say, he is overworked. I watched my sushi sit and wait to be served to me for over 10 minutes as the bartender kept passing it by, handling the tables that, in my opinion, shouldn’t be his responsibility. Also, a carton of milk sat out on the counter since before I arrived. I was dining for about 45 minutes. Soooo. Also watched an ice scoop get dropped on the ground and not be picked up for several minutes and then not washed off before using it again. Meanwhile, 2 hostesses sit out in the foyer and do absolutely nothing. Perhaps they can step up and help out a little? This place earns an extra star for the really awesome happy hour prices. Three 8 piece rolls and a beer cost $ 12, and the rolls are quite tasty for the price.

Worst experience of my life, in terms of restaurant service. After being quoted a wait time of 1 hour we were finally seated an hour and a half later. One of the chances you take in hibachi dining is meeting new people. Sometimes the experience is that you get to meet delightful people whom you would have never met had fate no placed you at the same hibachi grill at the same time. Five of our fellow diners fit that description, the other two, however, were complaining the entire meal. «Do they still serve appetizer shrimp?» Five minutes later, «Appetizer means before the meal…» «Do we get appetizer shrimp???» The problem with the appetizer shrimp was that there was a young lady at our table that had an allergy to shellfish. Our gracious chef, Andy, in an effort to keep this little girl safe, asked if it would be OK to do the appetizer last. Apparently, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were talking (complaining) and didn’t hear him. The problem could have been a avoided had the appetizer shrimp been cooked in the kitchen and brought tonight table, trying to appease the impatient couple, Andy cooked it away from everything else. After, having the problem explained to them they complained a bit more and ultimately left. Yay! Problem solved! One bit of advice though, if you eat Japanese expecting a salad with ginger dressing ASK FOR IT! I assumed as with all other Japanese establishments, it’s the default dressing. Not at this one… Mustard is their dressing of choice. You’ve been warned! Oh another warning, you may want to order a pizza before going to this restaurant, after waiting an hour and a half we still had to wait about 30 minutes for our chef to arrive.

I love kanpai on Monday nights for sushi happy hour. Basically their usual happy hour last night all night. However, the management completely under staffs the sushi bar. The place gets packed and only 2 people to wait on the entire room and bar tend so the service is very slack. The servers are working very hard, but its just difficult for them to keep up with so many customers.

Absolute best sushi for your buck. Happy hour sushi is practically free, and it’s delicious. Keep on keeping on Kanpai, we love you.

I always come here for sushi and I am NEVER disappointed. As a matter of fact I can’t find any other sushi restaurants in the area that even compare to kanpai. Not to mention the fact that they have happy hour lunches where some of the best rolls are only three bucks and they offer the same deals on dinner happy hours too. I’m a regular here and I love it!

TWO HOURS to be seated and finish a meal with reservations. 75 minutes at table with kids before any food started. Food quality, service and equipment is olé and dated. Our grill hood for 9 people did not work and they smoked us out without offering to relo us to another table. Caucasian kid was NOT a chief PLEASE !
Was great in the past but seriously needs an upgrade. Greenville has much better — do not waste your time and money !!

Usually the best hibachi in Greenville. Tonight however wasn’t as good. The shrimp had not all been prepped properly and most still had tails. Not a big issue for adults, but for my kids it was not good. Especially since we aren’t given knives to cut the tails off.
Probably an isolated incident, this place is usually very good.

When we went we sat at the grill and had the hibachi cooked right in front of us. The cook was friendly. It was a bit pricey but the food and the service was good. They cooked the steak exactly how we wanted it and we were so full we ended up taking some home.

Get there early for happy hour and sit in the bar section if you don’t want a grill table. We love this place! I get sushi every time and it’s so delish. I love happy hour because I can get a ton of sushi for half the price! The wait staff is always friendly. All around a fun, yummy place!

This used to be one of Greenville’s best Japanese places! Not anymore, I would rather have Joy of Tokyo anyday!
They have let the building décor sit unmaintained, the food quality is not very good, and the chefs seem uninspired. The salad dressing (one of my favs here) is completely different and not very good. In fact, all of their sauces seem very bland. My daughter liked the white sauce but that was it. Our chef acted like it was his first day and did not say very much or do any flashy tricks. The server was almost as timid. Then came the overpriced bill…
Overall a horrid lunch and with so many better choices in town, we won’t be back!

If I could just return magically, to the days when Kampai was a quintessential staple of the Greenville culinary experience, I could bask in the grandeur of a truly unique gastronomic experience. Gone are those days, never to return. Upon my most recent return to Kampai, I was greatly saddened to see that such a Titan of Greenville had become so derelict. To illustrate my point I’ll refer to my most recent experience there. As i walked through the door i noticed a noisome stench, perhaps from the layers upon layers of vaporized grease that had embedded itself into the walls and carpet. Appetite gone… Conceivably during a time of higher volume, the smell is less noticeable since all the «flat-​top» grills would be generating robust pleasant aromas, but I’m not too sure.
I began my experience with a salad which was absolutely drowning in an ocean of «ginger» dressing, which, at best, tasted flat and lacked any character, much like a sweet mayonnaise. That was followed by a couple of their «bargain» sushi rolls. I didn’t expect much here, how can you screw up a simple tuna roll? Well, here we go… The tuna was an overly soft texture, probably indicating its age, and the entire roll was barely holding itself together, as I clumsily attempted to reach my mouth from plate. Others in our party had «Chirashi» bowls, which were nothing more than piles of rice with a light broth, and a small bit of protein layered across the top. Overall extremely lack luster in appearance and flavor. I even observed my companions sullen faces as this piteous dish was placed in front of them. My heart actually sank and grieved for them as their expectations of a «memorable lunch» faded, replaced by indifference, apathy, and finally a persistent laxity about the whole experience.
As my readers know, I will give every restaurant the benefit of multiple visits, and I do regularly occasion those restaurants who have severely disappointed me in the past. I just feel like Kampai has fallen behind the curve so far that I have visited for my last time. «Farewell old friend, we had a good run didn’t’ we…»
Cheers,
Cary

Service was acceptable but not extraordinary. The food was marginal, but not horrible. The chef did accidentally drop some of the filet he had prepared for someone in our party down the disposal trap and then accidentally knocked that same person’s drink into his plate.
I’ll pass next time.

Everything about this place was almost perfect — price, cleanliness — service — menu selection and taste-​worthiness — a sure «return» will be applied!
The staff were very pleasant — the price was within reason and the amount of food you get will mean «doggie bags» for sure!
My tip here would be NOT to leave it in your hotel fridge!

Extremely slow and unresponsive staff. Disregard for customer service and drinking on the job.
Further, bartender and manager both continued to do shots while we were waiting on our checks. Absolutely horrible experience. Kanpai isn’t what it used to be.

I visited this restaurant later in 2012. The restaurant is very busy and the service could have been a little faster. The lighting is very dim and the smoke from the grills seems to hang in the air.
The food is served in I guess what is called a hibachi grill style where the chef cooks on a large grill in front of the guests. I think it’s fun to watch and the chef was entertaining. The food was good but not outstanding. I ordered some sushi as an appetizer and was pleasantly surprised. We came during Happy Hour so the rolls were almost half the regular price and pretty tasty.
I haven’t been back to eat at the restaurant, but I take advantage of their carry-​out service during Happy Hour all the time.

The wait was gonna be 1.5 hrs so we decided to eat in the bar area and also we didn’t care to have the «show». We were told to seat ourselves and menus were already on the table. There appeared to be 2 people servicing this entire area of about 25 tables but they were not all full.
We waited about 10 minutes to get our drink order placed so we went ahead and ordered our food as well. Ordering in this area is a la carte so I had the Ribeye steak, fried rice, and broccoli /​carrots. My brother had the salmon, and fried rice.
My steak was okay… a bit tough. The rice was mushy but the flavor was okay. The broccoli /​carrots were steamed or boiled with absolutely no seasoning at all. I could not eat it. I expected it to be cooked in with the steak but it wasn’t.
My brother’s salmon was fishy tasting according to him and he also commented about the rice being mushy.
Bottom line is we will not be back… there are plenty of other places like this to try and I have had better food at some of the «fast food» versions around town.

The sushi is great, the staff was. friendly and they have great happy hr specials on rolls and drinks. Bring your reading glasses, the menu font is like 8)
I had the Spider roll and a Rainbow roll — I have had better, but it was still quite yummy.

The sushi was mediocre, but my wife and I went during happy hour, which made it worth it.
Each roll was only $ 2.75. We ordered the Midori Roll, Nemo Roll, Salmon Avocado Roll, and Spicy Tuna Roll.
My favorite was the Salmon Avocado Roll, mainly because of the spicy paste they added to the roll. The other rolls were unspectacular, but worth the $ 2.75 we paid for each.
The service was friendly and prompt, which was a nice plus.

Growing up outside of Boston, I remember when Benihana of Tokyo was the hot thing. It was always exciting, as a kid, to go there and watch them flamboyantly toss the food around.
For whatever reason, after childhood I stopped being excited by the Japanese Steakhouse thing. In fact, until the other night, it’s probably been 15+ years since I’ve been to one. We went at 6:30pm, so we got the happy hour meal prices… quite reasonable.
Kanpai was not as exciting as my memories of Benihana. The chef was actually quite subdued. He tried one trick (juggling eggs), and managed to drop one on the grill. Thankfully he didn’t try to flip any food from the grill straight to our plates :)
The food itself was quite good, and definitely worth the Happy Hour meal prices. The folks at the table that ordered fried rice got absolutely ginormous portions of rice… way too much to eat in one sitting. Everyone left with to-​go boxes.