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    Kanpai Izakaya

    3.7 (393 reviews)
    Closed 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
    Updated 1 month ago

    Order Kanpai Izakaya Takeout or Delivery

    Kanpai Izakaya Photos

    KANPAI IZAKAYA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Trendy
    Good for kids
    Happy hour specials

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    Recommended Reviews - Kanpai Izakaya

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    Reviews With Photos

    Boss roll
    Nava L.

    This updated review is for the takeout I recently got. Super easy to order online. The food was ready in a very timely manner. They only do takeout (maybe unless you try another delivery service) but we live close enough so walking over isn't an issue. The one thing I'd HIGHLY RECOMMEND and honestly might get exclusively from now on is the fried avocado appetizer! It's stuffed with seafood and is truly perfection. Highly recommend!!!

    Dmr P.

    I tried kamakaze and shared the nigiri dinner with my friends. The nigiri dinner came with soup, salad, spicy tuna roll, and 9 pieces of chef's choice nigiri. To be honest, I don't like spicy tuna. It tasted different from other sushi restaurants, much spicier than usual. However, I could tell that all the fish were of high quality. Overall, my experience here was perfect

    a platter of sushi on a table
    Jay A.

    I walked into this place expecting greatness. Besides it being sparsely occupied, the atmosphere and music were on point. Sat at the bar ready to go: the service from Maxwell was legit. But then comes the but... The food. So I mean, read my reviews. I eat a lot of sushi, so I feel like I should be your trusted arbitrator of all things raw, like Ol' DB. When I see negri served a la carte, I'm like, "Okay, let's go for some bomb sushi!" However, I must admit that this place fell short in terms of flavor and quality. Let's just say it was quite average. I've had better rolls from Whole Foods that were both cheaper and higher in quality. With the exception of the hamachi, everything else was lacking. The fish quality was comparable to what you'd find at a sushi belt restaurant. Yeah, I said it. Man, I really wanted this place to be amazing, but unfortunately, it left me feeling underwhelmed with mediocre sushi. Even the soy wasn't good. Like how do you mess yo soy sauce? Don't give it a try haha. There are much better places close by.

    Love Boat for two
    Bruce K.

    Got a last minute reservation on a Saturday night. Place was busy and service a little slow, but it gave us time to enjoy a few Kirin. Ordered the "Love Boat" for two. Assorted sashimi, nigiri and choice of two rolls. Food quality was great!

    Jeff R.

    3 diners - a large assortment of maki and nigiri. 5 stars - Food: cut, flavor, quality, size, freshness. 4 stars - Service. A bit on the slow/negligent side, but okay. Didn't know the menu as much as I would expect. 3 stars - pricing. Nigiri was per piece and seemed expensive by other comparisons who usually do a two-piece order for about 25% price increase. 0 stars - Service/food prep. What turned out to be a 2-hour dinner was started by the longest wait time for food to be delivered. To my knowledge (seen) there was only one chef. Wasabi & Screaming Tuna have multiple. WAY too long. And the restaurant was not crowded. 0 stars - a menu listing snow crab on many items ... but when asked and confirmed ... wasn't ... but was (imitation) Krab or pollock which usually contain wheat. As Celiacs (GF) this is paramount. AND, the soft shell crab was said to be GF, but was deep fried in cross contaminated oil !! Wrong, wrong, wrong. 0 stars - Asked for two different cocktail menu item drinks. Neither were available when ordered, (bar was out of xxxx) etc, etc.

    Rainbow, spicy salmon, spider
    Mark M.

    I am not originally from the Milwaukee area and have only been here for 3 years or so total. I have tried a lot of the sushi places in the area. I also have a few friends and family members that love sushi as much as I do. Between all of us I thought we pretty much had all of the sushi places in the Milwaukee metro area covered. When a supervisor at my work told me about this place, I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. I had never even heard of it or had any of my friends or family say anything about it. I have to admit I am pretty mind blown as I sit here writing this review. The place I thought was "the best sushi place" in the Milwaukee area has been topped by this place! I arrived on a Monday right at 5:00 PM, so it was not very busy. My server, Jackie, was very friendly and attentive. I didn't get a chance to see the whole restaurant as I was seated in a booth up front. The front area/bar area is very nice and I could see where this would be a great location to hang out with friends or even for a nice date. I ordered 3 rolls: rainbow, spicy salmon and spider. Everything was delicious! The freshness of the fish was outstanding! I also liked how the wasabi was blended with a bit more moisture in it so it easily dissolved into my dish of soy sauce. I have eaten at dozens and dozens of sushi places across the country and this is the first place I have seen do this! I will definitely be back to check out the whole restaurant and to enjoy the incredible sushi here!

    Melissa B.

    We had the Oyster Shooter (which had a nice bite), Stuffed Avocado (which was absolutely amazing), Menage a Trois, Dragons Den, Boss, Blue Fin Nagiri Atoro, Truffle Parmesan Akimi (an interesting and savory blend of flavors) and Vegetable Udon. All were extremely delicious, and the presentation was beautiful. Our reservation was taken without hassle, and followed up with a confirmation text. We were seated in a well lit booth near the sushi bar, which is always a showpiece. Unfortunately, there was no bartender the night we were there, and they were down a host. This meant the owner and on-site staff had to work extra hard to service the guests. While there was a wait for drink and food, the quality of what we had was worth the wait. I will definitely be going back to eat my fill of sushi!

    Hawaiian Volcano, Rock n Roll, Veggie Makin and of course Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc!
    Kelsey R.

    I love Kanpai, they have a great variety of sushi and I love that their menu really spells out the dishes so you know exactly what to get. Their prices are a bit higher than other local sushi restaurants but definitely still worth the price. We felt that they took great measures to keep their staff and customers safe among the pandemic. Had a great time and will be happy to return again.

    Hanna P.

    YUM! And oh so welcoming. The minute I walked in the door with my date, I was greeted with hellos and welcomes from the sushi chef and our server Jackie. Jackie was wonderful and made our experience oh so special. We ordered a few appetizers (edamame, hamachi ponzu which I highly recommend!) to start. Followed by a couple of rolls. The space was great!

    Left to right: Side salad w/ginger dressing; 1/2 order of the Green Bay roll; Fried gyoza
    Clare O.

    I'm crazy about Kanpai's salads. I could eat one of these every day of my life. First of all, they are huge for the price, and the ginger dressing is to die for. The ingredients are always fresh, and the addition of avocado to the salad is a nice contrast to the crunchy greens, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. The salad is so big it is about two meals worth of salad. 100% worth it. My other go-to order from Kanpai is their friend gyoza. It's a never-fail app that I absolutely love- always fresh, crunchy on the outside and warm and filling on the inside. I always get an order of gyoza with my salads if I'm feeling extra hungry, and they make the perfect complimentary meal together. The sushi- in the past, I've never had a Kanpai roll let me down, so I was a bit disappointed in the Green Bay roll. I got half an order (4 pieces for $8). I was willing to pay that for a half order of a special roll, but would not do it again with the GB roll. The Green Bay roll is supposed to be really creamy, but it tasted more like it was just doused in mayo and no other flavors were added to it. I usually don't throw rolls away, but this one did not get finished. May have been fluke, but I likely will not be ordering that one again. Overall, Kanpai is almost always consistent with their food, which is tasty, fresh and totally worth it!

    Loveboat for two
    Samantha L.

    Amazing experience at Kanpai! Delicious vegetable gyoza and edamame to start. Ordered the loveboat for two which was amazing, lots of nigiri and sashimi with two fun rolls. Soup and salad included. Food took slightly longer than expected so they gave us an extra carafe of sake on the house - our waitress was so kind and attentive. Highly recommend!

    Rock n Rock and Roll Maki
    Damaris Natali H.

    Very good food, good size rolls and amazing ambiance. The ménage a teoría roll and Rock n roll maki are definitely my favorite. The seating area is very private in the booths felt like I was in my own world with my friends. Will definitely be coming back

    Chilean Sea Bass
    Megan L.

    We came in for downtown dining and boy was that a good deal. Lots of food for $35. We knew that we probably wouldn't be frequenting this place, so we opted to get two different entrees to split and ordered two extra rolls outside of the DD menu. The bad: every roll is so saucy except for the Trio roll. Each of those rolls had an element that I hated/took over the flavor, which made the rolls unappealing (cilantro, Serrano pepper). I just took out the elements that I didn't like and they made the rolls 100x better. Prices are obnoxiously expensive. $5-7 per sashimi/nigiri roll?! No. Even the fried gyoza was too saucy. The Thai Chili sauce was just too much. We scrapped a lot of it off, plus it just overpowered the flavor of the pork filling. So that app was a huge miss for us and would not recommend it. Why the cream cheese?! Cream cheese has no place with sushi. The good: the fish was absolutely delicious. For being in the Midwest, I was pretty impressed with the fish itself. I got Buri Toro and Sake nigiri; absolutely delicious. If it weren't for the price, I would have got more. These two pieces and the Trio roll were the best parts of this meal. Highly recommend those rolls. The fish is really what makes sushi, sushi. The rest is just fluff. And although I can appreciate an inventive roll, these just didn't stand out to me and I wouldn't get them again. The rolls that came with the DD menu were the Trio Roll, the Boss roll and the Kamikaze roll. Trio was delicious, Boss roll was okay and the Kamikaze roll was overpowered by the Serrano pepper. I would probably do DD again, but choose the sashimi/nigiri option. The two extra rolls we ordered were the Double Tuna and the Ménage a Trois. The Doubke Tuna would be so good without the crap ton of cilantro! Why does a roll need that much cilantro. For me it was too much so I took it all out and then enjoyed the roll. Ménage roll was okay, not worth the $17 it cost. Overall experience was good. Service was friendly. Seating was so awesome and private. Like I said, Downtown Dining is such a good deal from this place and I think we'd go back for this, but probably won't be back otherwise.

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    3 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    Han K.

    Hi Nava, thank you so much for your patronage and your honest review!

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    2 years ago

    Food was pretty good, I just thought it was a bit overpriced for meat and rice to go.

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    2 years ago

    The food was great. An the service was even better.. love the outside sitting area .the pizza was amazing..restrooms clean an neat.

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    Ask the Community - Kanpai Izakaya

    What are the options available for vegetarians?

    There is a vegan sushi roll, although it's a lot more 'salad' than actual roll. There are the usual vegetarian roll options: sweet potato, etc. There's also a really yummy dish of rice, veggies, and a Korean type barbecue sauce. I am vegan and I… Read more

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    Room Service

    Room Service

    4.7
    (235 reviews)
    1.9 mi

    I visited with my cousin, cousin-in-law and BF to celebrate her birthday. We got a 5:15 reservation…read moreon a Tuesday. The greeting from the hostess was warm and friendly; she is an asset and really makes you feel welcome. Once we were seated and finally finished our struggle with what to order, we got our drinks. I had to go with the One Night in Bangkok again because it's just a really nuanced and complex mix of tangy, spicy and a hint of sweet. The smoke show also is impressive. My cousin tried the Berry-cation from the summer menu and it was perfect for her - very fresh and a little sweeter. Cousin-in-law got the Thai Goddess, with tomato, and it was very interesting - not quite fruity and not overly vegetal - very cool. Our food was amazing. The first several minutes were just a series of different people saying "Oh my God" as we tried different things. There was no weak dish. We enjoyed a good mix of seafood and meat dishes, that included Golden Fungi, Phuket Jor Pu, Namya Pu, Kurobuta Pork in Panang Curry Sauce, Hung Lay Short Ribs, the Samurai Signature Set, Kinnic Crisp Shell, Nam Prik Aon, Waygu A Rockfire, Mango Sticky Rice and a complementary birthday Yuzu Cheesecake. This restaurant has a way of really creating a special experience and hits on all the important points. Stunning,

    What a lovely establishment, very cute, somewhat smaller than most fine dining restaurants. Very…read morekind staff I wish I could remember the servers name but he was so attentive!! The food was wonderful, I loved the summer cocktail, and the crab rangoon was the best I've had in quite some time. The golden fungi was pleasantly spicy and so crispy, my friend who doesn't like mushrooms enjoyed it. I loved the chashu bao buns, the pork was so tender and the softness of the bao buns was very nice. Definitely have to stop by and give them a try, I know I'd like to again.

    Photos
    Dining room Valentine's week
    Dining room Valentine's week
    Pork Belly Bao Bun
    Pork Belly Bao Bun
    Royal Flower Dumplings

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    Royal Flower Dumplings

    Kanpai Izakaya - japanese - Updated June 2026

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