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    Kawa Japanese Restaurant

    4.3 (233 reviews)
    Closed 11:30 am - 9:00 pm

    Order Kawa Japanese Restaurant Takeout or Delivery

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    KAWA JAPANESE RESTAURANT ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Trendy
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Kawa Japanese Restaurant

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    Jessica J.

    After having driven past Kawa (about a thousand times), and telling my husband (about a thousand times) how I want to go there, I finally made it in. Too bad for him though because I ended up going with a friend ;) To echo the many other reviews here, the sushi here is realllll good. And the presentation? Equally as good. My friend and I popped in for an early dinner on a Monday night. The place was surprisingly busy for a Monday. We decided to sit inside which had a low key atmosphere. In quick succession came our glasses of chilled white wine, much to our enjoyment, and then our sushi platter! Let me tell ya, we had a tough time deciding because this menu is stacked. In the end we chose the crunch dragon roll (spicy tuna), amazing roll (shrimp tempura), and scorpion king (tempura soft shell crab). They were all delightful, but I think my fave was the dragon roll. I'm a sucker for tuna. These rolls came out on a decorated platter, with some stacked on top of eachother, and some kind dry-ice situation giving a smoke effect. So fun! Our neighboring table even noted they were impressed. I shall return. And maybe invite the hubby next time, lol!

    Kelsey J.

    Best sushi in the area! The fish is so fresh! Their takeout is phenomenal! One of our favorite spots!

    g Gyoza

    perfect food!!!The service was excellent. The server is very friendly and nice to us. Very patient gyoza was excellent crispy and well cooked inside! The sauce was very tangy and sour with a bit of sweetness.

    Pork Belly Buns
    Angela P.

    If you haven't tried Kawa Japanese Restaurant et, go right now. we had a great team lunch their. The portions are great and all the food was delicious! As someone who doesn't eat sushi but when everyone else at work/in the friend group does this provides the best of both worlds. I had the Chicken Teriyaki lunch entree which came with a flavorful salad! My coworkers got to enjoy all the sushi.

    Yuzu Chicken Ramen
    Steve G.

    We play trivia at the Third Street Market here and there and I keep getting the ramen. One of these times, I should try something else since there are so many interesting food choices. But I'm a big ramen fan who seldom gets it, so to Kawa I go every time. It's just really dependably tasty. The portion is good for a dinner. Nice fresh flavors. Have always found the staff to be friendly and reasonably speedy too. I just got the edamame as a side for the first time and that was good too. All in all, nice reliable place to get your ramen fix!

    Shrimp Tempura
    Cookie A.

    This was my first time. I ordered shrimp tempura. It came quickly. I hadn't time to drink my soup or eat my salad. So. No wasabi. Had to call him over. He brought it and regular soy sauce. No ginger. Had to call him over again. Got ginger. Ok. The shrimp was excellent. The veggies I think had cement powder as part of the coating. Hard!!!!! The broccoli was Mushy and hard. Yuck. Usually Japanese restaurants have a different soy sauce.....one that is not so thick to add ginger and wasabi to it. Not the case. I loved the soup. I'd never really considered the soup to be tasty but Kawa's was delicious. I think the chef needs to check his tempura flower. Eliminate the cement.

    Sasahmi Sashimi Regular
    John S.

    We were greeted promptly and seated. I was very impressed with the hot house sake of choice quality but also the large quantity of high quality sake choices in the menu. My sashimi regular order exceeded my expectation with a presentation prepared for an emperor. Highly recommended Japanese restaurant!

    Sydney C.

    So yummy! We enjoyed all of the food we ordered. We started with the dynamite shrimp. Came out hot and crispy! Then we had 3 rolls- California, Amazing, and Godzilla. We would order this all again. It was our first time dining in and it had a casual vibe in the restaurant. Service was good and they took note of my peanut allergy. We will definitely be back. Best sushi in the North Shore!

    Helena L.

    Decided to check out this sushi place and I was quite surprised. The sushi was exceptionally fresh, the rolls were absolutely delicious. Service was outstanding. The place is small but cozy. Definitely recommend this place.

    Lico J.

    Enjoyed the excellent service here. Food wise, definitely not the best Japanese food that I've had, but a decent option in the neighborhood. The shrimp tempura is my favorite - so golden, crispy, light-breaded on the outside and meaty on the inside. The presentation and quality of sushis are good too. For the soba noodles, I was expecting the dark green / brown wheat noodles but they turned out to look & taste regular noodles. So that is a mystery to me. The soup w seasoning is good though.

    Megan L.

    Since I've moved to Whitefish Bay and discovered this sushi place is the relative to the Kawa downtown, I discovered new items that I enjoyed and didn't realize they had. My go to: Tuna tartar Tuna Dumpling Ninja roll Salmon sushi Dynamite shrimp The dynamite shrimp, although delicious and spicy, it's an extremely small portion. The tuna tartar and tuna dumpling are so delicious. Service is friendly. I love to frequent this place.

    Miso soup

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    2 months ago

    Sushi was incredible and the staff was extremely kind! Love that they have outdoor seating when the weather get nice too! :)

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    2 months ago

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    1 year ago

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    2 months ago

    Excellent sushi, I have tried the Incredible Roll and Endless love both have been fresh and excellent!

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    2 years ago

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    2 months ago

    The best part of this place is the staff very accommodating, very friendly!! extremely well priced for the area!!!!

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    2 years ago

    The food was very delicious and everything was great. The service was great. The food was filling and yummy.

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    3 years ago

    Nice atmosphere, friendly staff, full menu quality food reasonable prices a nice place for lunch or dinner.

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    6 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Service lovely. Very friendly and helpful. Food was meh, unfortunately. Fresh, but no flavor. Small, local place. Nice ambiance.

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    6 years ago

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    2 years ago

    This was my first sushi place and we still go here often because of its high quality and variety even if you don't like sushi.

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    5 years ago

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    2 years ago

    i really hate doing this. Take out tonight. Chicken fried rice. Disgusting. Never again

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    2 years ago

    Unwilling to make accommodations despite menu note that they are allowed for an upcharge.

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    4 years ago

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    2 years ago

    We had a lot of maki rolls, hand rolls, and sashimi. We also had the seaweed salad. Food was delicious. Service was great. Nice atmosphere.

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    Page 1 of 6

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    Room Service

    Room Service

    4.7
    (235 reviews)
    7.8 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
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    Dining room Valentine's week
    Pork Belly Bao Bun
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    Milwaukee Public Market

    Milwaukee Public Market

    4.5
    (1.2k reviews)
    5.8 mi
    $$

    Fun spot for good food and drinks in an admittedly crowded Milwaukee staple (or so I'm told)…read more I'm not gonna make it a victim of its own success just because it's super crowded and the parking lot is a stressful experience! Its heavy attended volume is well deserved; lots of interesting stalls line the ground floor, from coffee and candy to bbq and Thai. I wouldn't say it could replace regular grocery shopping; it's more like a fancy spot to shop for artisan goods like cured meats, sweet treats, baked goods, and other accoutrement. Plenty of seating on the open second floor (also a good spot to take photos of the market) if you want to eat there; otherwise grab some delicious food to go and enjoy the surrounding neighborhood!

    We visited the Milwaukee Public Market while in town and found it to be just okay. The market was…read moreextremely busy, which made it difficult to comfortably browse the different vendors. Compared to other public markets we've visited, it felt much smaller, with roughly 30 or so vendors and food stalls to explore. Parking was also a hassle and added to the frustration of the visit. Once inside, one thing that stood out was how often we were reminded that the market would be closing soon. While we understood the closing time and weren't trying to stay past it, multiple reminders from different vendors made us feel a bit rushed as we looked around. There were some interesting food and shopping options, and it's worth a quick stop if you're already in the area. However, based on our experience, it didn't quite live up to the hype and wasn't as impressive as other public markets we've visited.

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    Spice House
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    Worlds best cheese cake
    People in the Public Market fun place to hang out!

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    People in the Public Market fun place to hang out!

    Kawa Japanese Restaurant - japanese - Updated July 2026

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