Kanda Sushi

What a disappointment. Walked in with friend to an empty restaurant with only a couple eating at the sushi bar. The hostess asked where we would like to sit. Once we said the bar, she raises a sign saying a 3 roll minimum per person and if we’re sure we could eat that many. How rude! How do I know how much sushi I can eat!?! I would understand if the restaurant was real busy but c’mon! Then we get seated at a table. The sushi list had a selection of about 7 – 8 items, ONLY. I asked if I could order a rainbow roll and the hostess (who was now the server) said that they don’t do any specialty orders. I would’ve walked out at this point but this was the second place we stopped at as my favorite place, (Kaminari) had closed their business. We were real hungry so we were stuck. We ordered two sushi servings, three rolls, and a cold Nigori Saki. All the rolls looked like California rolls as they were about an inch thick, wide, and plain. They tasted like any other pre-​packaged sushi rolls you buy from Trader Joes. This order was extremely over priced as the bill came out to about $ 70. We were still hungry when all said and done so we stopped by Paul Martin’s across the freeway for more food. We’re never stepping foot in this restaurant again.

Fantastic assortment of exotic fish. Prices are high but quality was there. The toro from Spain was outstanding. I enjoyed everything except for the Uni from Japan.

Just had this place for lunch, all I can say is the sashimi rolls were the bomb. The sashimi melts in your mouth.
Will be back for sure! I think I just found my new place for lunch! You won’t be disappointed.

Ever since we first came to Kanda sushi, we have had trouble enjoying sushi anywhere else. The fish here is the freshest. The sushi is the most authentic. And the chef is so passionate about his work. Other places just don’t compare anymore. Now seeing some of the negative reviews on here I feel it is important to say that if you like spicy mayo and tempura rolls or those happy hour sushi restaurants, Kanda is not for you. It is very simple and the emphasis is on the subtle taste of the fish and the freshness and quality. When it comes to that, this place has no competition anywhere in Los Angeles or Ventura county.

We found kanda sushi because we were looking for a place to have a nice dinner before Frankie valli at the kavli theatre. What a wonderful treat. We sat at the sushi bar and sampled many of the items on the special board. Everything was fresh and delicious. We had fresh oysters, pompano, black mouth snapper, golden eye snapper, calamari tempura, black cod, waygu and green tea cheesecake! We’d like to come back if we ever are in the area.

I went by here during open hours this evening (6pm on February 5), and there was a closed sign on the door, and no one answered the phone the three times I called. It was over an hour into business hours and no one was inside. Are you permanently closed? I never got to try the bone cookie. :-(

Walked in at 5pm and we were the only customers. We weren’t even seated yet when the older women rudely told us there is no spicy sauce, mayo or rainbow role. We thought how rude and odd since we didn’t ask but decided to stay since the restaurant was really cute. Then she told us to review the menu because we will most likely not like it. It was as if she wanted to get rid of us. My husband wanted to leave but I decided to still give this place a try. The lady was disappointed that we stayed and quickly took our order. To be honest, we didn’t enjoy the food since we were both upset by now. Once the expensive check arrived, the lady decided to be a little nicer to us because of her tip. My husband asked her why our appetizer choice was served last and she blamed the cook and said he doesn’t know what he is doing. Hmmmm…
We recently moved to the area from Manhatten and have been fortune to try some of the best restaurants but never have we experienced such rudeness!!! From what we remembered, the food was just OK so definitely not worth the price and HORRIBLE service. You are better off eating at Onyx.

I really can’t recommend this spot. Nigiri decent, and traditional without being butter-​fresh. Spicy tuna not tasty at all, tasted off actually. Overpriced. I was so hoping this was as good as Tomadachi, but it’s not. Big bummer as we live very close.

We just moved back to the area and wanted to try a new sushi place that we have not visited. When we walked in, we were quickly greeted and sat at the bar. There were about 7 others at the bar and 2 at a table on the other side of the restaurant. We were given the hot towels along with our ginger and wasabi. We opened the menu and it was very short. We noticed there was not a good selection of items on the menu and they had some sushi with prices and hand/​cut rolls without prices. We noticed the sign in front of us saying minimum of 3 sushi orders per person and had a no cell phone use as well. No problem however, the prices were more than most places in the area but we have not been here. My fiancéé ordered wild salmon sushimi and I ordered a salmon handroll. We got our order and kinda wanted to laugh. The sashimi was more of a single piece of salmon from an order cut into smaller pieces. Literally about the size of a thumb for all the pieces as one. Mine, well lets say my handroll of salmon was like putting your thumbs together and that was the size of the roll. I would say 60% rice, 30% salmon and 10% avocado. It was like a bites worth. Due to the limitations on the menu and our current eating habits, I discussed with a server if we can just close out our bill at that point as we did not know they force you to eat 3 items or more and well, selection was pretty bad. They said yes but we cannot do it again.
So I am thinking, no cell phone use because maybe they don’t want people to text friends to see how crazy the prices are, Unilocal while they are there or simply to be polite.
Our sashimi was $ 18 and handroll was $ 8. Keep in mind we ordered a basic salmon for the handroll and wild for sashimi however, it came from the same plate of salmon behind the glass.
So we left and headed to a place we frequent and felt like we needed it. After we spent $ 26 for something smaller than a slider in size if we put our 2 orders together. The guy to our right ordered salmon sashimi and it was what it should be, 8 large pieces and not the slice we got at Kanda. In total, we got 2 premium rolls, 2 handrolls (1 premium), 2 specialty pieces of fish and cucumber salad and the bill was $ 51.
So we will not be visiting this sushi place again.

Visited this place twice now. The nigiri is quite strong (both the quality and the variety) and the prices are reasonable.
This is Thousand Oaks, not Little Tokyo, so parking is a cinch.
Both times the restaurant was busy enough not to feel dead, but not to the point where there wasn’t room for everyone to spread out. To me, that’s perfect.
It’s a classy place, where they give you a warm towel before the meal (IIRC) and quickly clear empty plates off the table.
Highly recommended.

The food is pretty good. The service is terrible. The server Kie got our lunch order of spicy tuna/​california maki wrong. She gave and charged us for a nigiri/​california maki because we mentioned we thought it was sushi combination #1(which is what the other server had called the spicy tuna/​cali combo for the past 2 years). We specifically clarified we wanted the spicy tuna roll and pointed to the words. She sent us on our way with the wrong order and said there was nothing she could do about it since we mentioned #1. Cleary a miscommunication (her English was not good) but she was rude and unwilling to correct the error afterwards. No wonder they are not very busy. Also lunch prices went up by 50% this year.

My wife and I decided to give this place a try. Disappointed in the quality of the food. THe rolls were small for the cost with no taste to them.

Extremely authentic and well prepared sushi (nigiri). Fish is very good quality, some from Kyushu. Mitsu-​san is a true sensei — infuses saba with smoky flavor, serves natto te-​maki with nori that is highly aromatic, and out of nowhere came the iwashi — stellar! Premium sake available — Kubota Manju — for those with more modest funds, there is Kikusui — a steal at $ 13/​bottle. We feasted on maguro, iwashi, aji, saba, ikura, hotate, and had a wonderful dinner — very reasonably priced, compared to Nobu (as an example), which doesn’t hold a candle in terms of quality of fish. Service was perfect. Finished with mango/​green tea cheese cake and genmai-​cha. Those in search of giant pieces of nigiri or Americanized «rolls» need not bother. Wife speaks Japanese and this is a purist venue, to which we will return very soon.

Play it safe and bring cash. My wife and I ate lunch here which was pretty tasty but a little over priced. When we went to pay I was told my debit card was declined, so we used my wife’s card. However when I looked at my statement I saw that I had been charged indeed, and $ 7 over the amount that we were supposed to pay. My wife’s card was also charged twice for the correct amount. So our $ 31 meal ended up costing $ 100. I called and was told that this happens sometimes with their machine (?) and that we needed to wait for the holiday weekend to be over. You’d think they’d have gotten a new machine if they already knew about this issue. Shame because I really needed that extra money the other day: P

The service was good. Atmosphere was nice & authentic but the price for the portions they serve was outrageous. For two ppl ordering miso soup, one roll each (which was tiny) and a chicken skewer– the total was 70 $. Considering the amount, I don’t think that’s very reasonable. Although I liked the service, atmosphere and quality of the sushi– I don’t think it was worth what we paid. I left hungry :(

Service was poor. Only two chefs feeding an entire restaurant. Orders were small and slow to come. The chef would continually forget orders. Had to ask for everything. Ginger, Wasabi, Water? The fish was mostly all good (but small portions) with the exception of the albacore. I would prefer the chef to say they are out of something, or they don’t recommend it rather then serving bad fish. (and a sushi chef knows when the fish is not fresh).

Love the traditional way they give you a hot towel and serve you sushi. Totally ok to use your hands to eat the nigiri. Loved the grilled shishito peppers which weren’t too spicy. Will come back for sure.

Looking for an authentic, TRADITIONAL Japanese sushi? Sick and tired of fake, saucy sauced sushi rolls? Well, this is it boys. We’ve been to multiple so called «sushi restaurants» around the Ventura area and this is the only place where they served real, fresh, traditional sushi. I went with my brother and we both stuffed ourselves with about 10 sushi each and the total price came out to be about $ 180 (You get what you pay for).
Venturaから車で30分程ですが、またお寿司を食べたくなったら迷わず行く予定です。

My wife and I made our monthly visit to Kanda last night and once again left truly amazed by Mitsu and his sushi creations. I have posted here before but feel compelled to give Kanda five more stars. This place is truly incredible. While you can find most of the same choices here as at other local sushi restaurants, there are several differences that make Mitsu the Rock Star that he is.
1. The sushi here is fresh. It does not smell like fish.
2. Kanda offers varieties of sushi that you cannot find anywhere else in Ventura County. Akamutsu is one of my current favorites.
3. Mitsu will instruct you on how to eat sushi the Japanese way. Word of caution: Don’t let Mitsu see you mixing the wasabi in with the soy sauce.
4. There are no Made-​in-​America sushi rolls (like the 1010 Freeway Roll) that would insult any true sushi lover.
5. Mitsu himself is part of the show — as lovable and cantankerous as ever.
Sit at the sushi bar and give yourself plenty of time to savor the sushi and the ambience. Kanda is Nobu without the celebrities and the price tag.

Kanda is good, fresh fish BUT…
seems they «get you» with something
My issue with it is that I ordered sushi & it’s tasty, & at usual pricing… Then BAM– I ordered 1 skewer of Kobe beef about ¹⁄₃ of an ounce & I got charged a complete rip off of $ 20 for it —
In my opinion if you have something that’s 2 – 4 times the price of everything else on the menu it should be advised to customer… The lady next to me ordered 3 skewers cuz I said, yea it’s good —, $ 60 for 3 bites of meat — just not right in my opinion to be blindsided

Wow. Kanda is a terrific little sushi restaurant tucked away in the corner of a Thousand Oaks strip center, right behind the StoneFire Grill.
Plenty of parking can be found in the lot. The space is narrow and long. It used to be a cool little Mexican restaurant that had the best garlic soup (you had to try it), but new owners have transformed the rustic Mexican look with a clean and modern Japanese vibe. Well done…
As you enter the sushi bar is right in front of you. It’s rather small with space for perhaps 10 – 12 patrons. The back of the restaurant has simple tables and chairs.
The star at Kanda is the fish. I love my Nishi in Calabasas, but when in the TO neck of the woods Kanda is not only good but it’s memorable. There is a sign on the wall that the chef will not do all the foo-​foo stuff that other trendy sushi places do, like jalapenos and chili sauces. This is a traditional joint in a friendly but Soup Nazi-​ish kinda way. You won’t be disappointed with old school, though, as the fish is melt-​in-​your-​mouth good. It’s all the usual fare: yellow tail, salmon, mackerel. Sushi, sashimi, hand or cut rolls. All are outstanding.
Service is average to above average, and prices are average. Overall Kanda Sushi is a 4 star experience.
I

Kanda Sushi was our final stop in our day-​excursion to Ventura County.
The restaurant has an outdoor patio area if you want to bring your dogs. However, there are no heat lamps and nothing to really shield you when the wind is blowing like crazy.
We were seated immediately on a Saturday night and ordered:
Wakame Sunomono
Yellowtail Hand Roll
Salmon Sushi
Albacore Sushi
California Hand Roll
Shrimp Tempura
Shrimp Tempura Roll
Green Tea Ice Cream
I love the vinegar-​y flavors in the wakame sunomono. It was absolutely delicious and a great starter to our meal.
The Hand Rolls were good, but be warned, the sushi chefs put wasabe in the rolls themselves. I didn’t know this beforehand. So I created my soy sauce and wasabe concoction and then dipped the hand roll in the sauce. My nose started to burn and I realized that I may be in a little trouble. Luckily, the wasabe attack was short and I just used soy sauce for the remainder of the roll.
All the fish tasted fresh, and looked great.
The Shrimp Tempura was battered and crispy on the outside. The tempura sauce complemented it perfectly.
I only had one piece of the Shrimp Tempura Roll, but wasn’t really impressed by it.
The Green Tea Ice Cream had a strong tea flavor. I prefer my green tea ice cream to be a little more sweet.
Our tummies were happy and full, and we were ready to head back home to La-​La Land.

This is Sushi at its best !!! A very special experience here with the very best fresh fish in a very comfortable setting. I love to have the Chief do his choice Sashimi specials for me — I’m always delighted. Very nice place for a date night with the special lady or another couple. We like to eat at the Sushi bar and oversee the Chiefs preparing their special dishes — too bad we can’t eat it all as everything looks and tastes super.
Enjoy !!!

Kanda has fresh sushi. The presentation and portion sizes are average. I felt rushed when they served the miso soup and the sushi at the same time. The kushiayki is very good, with the shishito peppers being outstanding. The seating and atmosphere are comfortable. They do not offer mixed sushi or sashimi dinner combinations, except for the chef’s choice plate for $ 50. I personally found the chef & his assistants to be unfriendly, slightly frantic, and pretentious. I am by no means a novice to sushi, but I felt a little uncomfortable here. It had been four years since my first visit, when they were having grand opening difficulties. Those issues have since been ironed out, but Kanda is just not my kind of place.

This is a clean little restaurant with a nice outdoor seating area. The area is small; not a large amount of seating indoors. There is a sushi counter you can sit at, or one of a few two or four person tables. I dined here today for a light, refreshing meal and was not disapointed in that regard. Service was good; staff were friendly and polite. I was given a hot towel when I sat down, which is customarily used only to clean your hands, but I’m white so I pressed it to my face and it felt damn good to do so.
I ordered a sunomono (cucumber salad) and a shrimp tempura roll. Both were small portions and while this selection might fill you up at another restaurant, I did not leave full from Kanda from only this. The sonomono came with some shredded bonito on top. Ordinarily I would avoid bonito as I’m turned off by dried fish, but I ate it since it came on my salad, and it wasn’t offensive. The fish flavor was very mild. The salad didn’t have all that many cucumber slices, and was mostly other preserved greens. Seaweed perhaps? The flavors were all very subtle in a pleasant way, and I couldn’t identify all the ingredients by taste.
My roll was attractively prepared and I appreciated that they had soy paper for it, as well as that they took the shell off the shrimp’s tail, leaving only the last fins inedible due to exoskeleton. The ponzu sauce delicately included with the roll was fantastic, with a very lovely citrus flavor.
Overall I would return to this restaurant if I feel like ordering more things and spending some cash. My lunch for the small salad and small roll plus a soft drink was $ 22 with tip.