Kaido

Kaido is awesome! A small gem of a restaurant in West LA/​Santa Monica. Food is delicious and priced right, staff is friendly, and ambiance is cozy. I typically order the unagi don, if you like fresh water eel, you have to try it at Kaido. The omakase meal (chef’s choice) is also good. A typical omakase dinner will run from $ 50 – 80. Came here the other day and sat right next to Katherine O’Hara who’s a regular here. Four stars all around.

Hands down best Japanese food anywhere and I’ve been to Japan. Kaido special rolls are the absolute best. Family friendly. Not too cheap though

After packing all day for a move my husband and I were craving sushi and thought we would get take out from this place. The arson told us it would be 15 – 20 minutes so my husband drove up there 20 minutes later and had to wait 30 minutes for the food. When he got home we ended up with raw teriyaki chicken and my sushi rolls that fell apart as soon as I picked them up with my chopsticks. Called them to see if they would refund me for the chicken (since half of it wasn’t cooked) and they said they would only do it if I drove all the way back with the raw chicken pieces. R u kidding me really??? Poor customer service.

Ordered for pick up. Took the 20 minutes they said it would until ready. Got there. Place is Empty. Waited 30 minutes while they made it. Got home and the chicken teriyaki was not cooked. Then they want me to drive back up there to prove its not for a refund on that. And as I had just spent the day packing my house up I declined. So they are supposedly going to credit me half the cost of the dish.
Well. Also the sushi sucked so I will make sure everyone in LA I know passes on this turd.

Food was sub-​par. We ordered the beef teriyaki/​sashimi combo and a couple of sushi rolls, salad and miso soup a beer and sake for $ 68.00. For that price I could get good quality sushi from Noma or for much less $ a ton of sushi from Sushi Stop. The ginger looked old, the sushi tasted slightly off and the decorative fixings where brownish. Service was attentive but the food was served haphazardly, had to ask for ginger, no soy sauce dish. Ambiance — dated. Won’t be back.

I like this place for lunch. The fish is acceptable and the price is reasonable. The lunch menu is your best bet.

I liked this small sushi place. The service was a little subpar and I felt rushed. Me and my two gfs really enjoyed the food though. The sushi was very good quality. Their veggie sushi was about 6.50 each and they have about three different types. They also have a variety of veggie appetizers as well.
I liked the dimly lit atmosphere of the restaurant too. It seemed like they had parking in a small lot but we parked on the meters on Wilshire anyway since they are free after 6pm.

I found this location on Unilocal.I have to give it a 3 out of 5 stars. The girls that were helping me out were very kind. The menu was kinda hard to understand and it was kinda cheap looking, (paper)
I ordered two rolls, a CA and a crab. Both tasted kinda fishy and just not all that great.

This is more of a 3.5, and maybe 4 in Santa Monica, but I have had better at other places. However, it is close to my work with some good lunch specials which is when I have found myself here. I have tried the tri-​color seafood bowl (salmon, tuna, albacore I think), the sashimi bowl (more of a chirashi), and the large sashimi plate. The sashimi plate wins, hands down. You get the most pieces of fish with a good amount of rice. The bowls tend to have too much rice and not enough fish. I’m also spoiled with chirashi from sushi go 55 in little tokyo, so there’s no way this place can win.
Fresh enough fish. Good price. I’ll be back. Maybe I’ll try something else if I ever make it here on a non work lunch day.

Been here many, many times since 2012 and now 1^st review.
These guys NEVER disappoint. They know how make the rice and the specials are always great. They know how to pick the fish, SO fresh.
And you don’t have to sell a kidney or mortgage the house for it!
This is becoming my fav sushi spot in the west.
Keep it up!

Simply loved it
The albacore was the best but i loved allll the sushi the had there
I think we ordered all them

I went to this sushi spot which is located in a small corner strip mall, mainly because my friend wanted to kills two birds with one stone and go to the aquarium store next door. Otherwise he said he would not go to this sushi place by itself. I ordered albacore sushi which came plain; wish there was ponzu or green onion to dress it up. I also asked for two rolls– the spicy tuna and crab leg roll. Just so-​so. As far as ambiance, it left something to be desired. It was a meh lunch. I’d rather go to Hide sushi on Sawtelle even if I have to stop and grab cash first (cash only.)

I miss living a few blocks from this place. We loved coming here every week and sitting at the sushi bar. My favorite thing, the salad. I could eat that every single day. We would mostly eat the nigiri and it was always fantastic. I would sometimes get a shrimp tempura roll which was warm and crunchy drizzled with a little eel sauce. Perfection. The toro hand roll was always a favorite, too. Always check out the chalkboard behind the bar for the fresh specialties.
We miss seeing you guys every week Kaido and we hope to be back again soon!

Never disappointed coming here. The service is great and they are so welcoming. Fish is fresh. This is my usual lunch spot once a week. Thumbs up for recommendation.

New favorite sushi place in SM. Great seaweed salad, great veggie options (miso eggplant, shishitos). And, great sushi. The fish was very fresh, melt in your mouth. I thought the portions were surprisingly large and the prices were great.

Surprisingly good sashimi specials for dinner at a reasonable price. The service is good and the parking is decent. Not really expected since it’s hidden away in this little parking lot deep into Santa Monica. But what a great way to wait out the traffic after a work day. I like Sushi King as well nearby for the same price range but this place is second to that place.

I came for lunch and enjoyed what I had. They give you a lot of food at a good price point. Most lunch specials range between $ 9-​$ 17. I found the sushi to be average and nothing to rave about. I would go back if invited by a group of colleagues for lunch, but I don’t know that it would pop in my head on my own accord when I’m craving sushi.

Came here during the week for lunch with my co-​workers. The place is small and located in a tiny strip mall (so there’s free parking), but don’t be deceived by its location. Overall, the quality of the food and service was good. The entire staff was friendly and accommodating.
I had the Sashimi Large Plate, and shared several sashimi and rolls off the sushi menu with my group. The scallop sashimi was my favorite – fresh, delicate, and slightly sweet. Surprisingly, the tuna was good quality (not sinewy) but the salmon was not fresh at all.
We shared the Ginger Ice Cream and Tempura Green Tea Ice Cream for dessert. I was looking forward to the tempura ice cream, but actually ended up eating more of the ginger ice cream.
I definitely wouldn’t mind eating here again, especially considering how close it is to where I work!

Kaido has great lunch specials so you can enjoy generous cuts of chef selected fresh fish. Their lunch specials are reasonably priced but the rest of their menu is a little on the expensive side. Even still, I tend to splurge and get one of their tasty rolls.
*TIP* For some odd reason, their specialty rolls are not listed on the regular menu. They’re on a different menu which they don’t automatically hand out and I usually have to ask for it. I have no idea why they do this because plenty of people are undoubtedly missing out on that deliciousness.
Kaido has one of my all time favorite sushi rolls ever — their Spicy Dragon Roll is just addicting. On paper it’s a standard spicy tuna shrimp tempura roll but in reality it’s some 5 out of 5 deliciousness. Maybe my addiction is thanks to a combination of the light creamy + eel sauce and some of the most delicious shrimp tempura I’ve ever tasted. It’s definitely on the expensive side ($ 13 I think), which is probably a good thing or I would be here all the time. Their salads are also fresh and delicious especially when paired with their miso dressing.

Capsule review: If you are a regular here and a pal of Victor’s, one of the sushi chefs who prowls the bar (who’s been at Kaido for 13 years, working his way up from the fry station), you will get treated EXCEEDINGLY well here.
A friend of mine, who has been a weekly regular here for many years, invited another friend and me to join her at Kaido. It looked like a non-​descript strip mall sushi bar — just like umpteen others in West LA. One I’ve driven past a zillion times and never noticed.
At first glance, I was unimpressed. The décor was mediocre, the space not vast, and there was no line.
When I walked in and saw my friend sitting at the sushi bar, rather than at one of the empty booths, I was a little hesitant. I like to face my friends when I’m eating with them. But she seemed sure of herself, so I followed her lead.
Putting myself in my «Kaido-​regular» friend’s hands proved to be the right move. She ordered a sashimi salad, then a platter of sashimi (carb-​free, as she and her hubby were on a low-​carb diet for a while). She humored me as I ordered an agedashi tofu appetizer.
The sashimi salad came out first. And WOW was it good. It sported huge slices of peppered ahi, albacore and possibly one other fish. Quite a generous salad, and enough for each of us three to have two helpings.
Then the sashimi platter came out. I have never seen, or eaten, anything like it in any sushi restaurant. I’m sure any sushi place would be happy to create something similar, but I had a feeling that this was a special off-​menu dish for my friend, the regular.
The photo describes it best. I’ll try to reconstruct its contents from memory: Salmon, albacore belly, seared strips of albacore fin (I think), two different varieties of seaweed salad; tomago (Japanese omelette), shiso leaves; shrimp on crab meat instead of rice; tuna, avocado and krab «rolls» made of cucumber; some other whitefish… it was more than enough for the three of us.
As we were greedily chowing down, Victor pulled out three of the shiso leaves on our platter, then quickly battered and fried them tempura-​style, dousing them in a yuzu ponzu sauce. Delectable!
Just when I thought the meal was over, Victor delivered the final savory course: Cucumber unagi rolls. The unagi was hot, having just been broiled. Who needs rice anyway?
For dessert — and I don’t think we ordered or were charged for this — Victor brought us decontstucted orange wedges surrounding an icy slush of a drink infused with rice wine. What an amazing way to finish a great meal!
If you noticed that I didn’t mention the agedashi tofu, it’s because it was good, but honestly couldn’t possibly compare to the other dishes. I imagine it’s that way here — stick to the menu and get «good enough,» trust Victor and you get «oh my heavenly god.»
I wish I knew what this sushi extravaganza cost, but my exceedingly generous friend picked up the entire tab for us three. I have a feeling that it wasn’t a cheap meal. Certainly, some specialty rolls on the menu seemed overpriced at around $ 14 or 15.
I’m asking myself why I didn’t rate Kaido five stars. I think the reason is that despite the impressive food orgy to which my friends and I were treated, this really isn’t a fine dining experience. Presentation is a little inartful and clumsy. Sitting at the bar gave me an unusual view into the restaurant’s «behind the curtain» cooking and storage methods, and I was a little discomfited to see certain condiments and garnishes being plucked from greasy little jars. Plus, if I were to compare the food OR decorative aesthetics here to — let’s say — Katsuya in Brentwood, the latter would win, hands-​down.
So four stars it is — which is no slouch. A special place, with a special sushi chef who really cares!