We've been there twice. First time was very good, very fresh sashimi and great service. Second time the sashimi was very fishy, the calamari was scored but I couldn't even bite off a bit, even trying from several angles. and the service excruciatingly slow. Ambiance is comfortable. Will go again, as we want to support local, but not overall blown away. read more

First time here and am not disappointed. Great atmosphere, service, and food. I ordered the beef Bentonville. The beef was tasty and tender. The tempura was hot, not too greasy. Everything, 5 stars!​ read more

Kinja Japanese Restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Yelm, Washington

Could use some more waitresses for help other wise great restaurant. Udon was tasty. Bento was big enough for lunch for the next day. Great choice. read more

See all

Very warm and inviting inside. Huge portion sizes. The dressing on the salad is so tasty. The vegetables in my noodles were very fresh. Service was outstanding. read more

Kinja Japanese Restaurant - So many fresh vegetables! - Japanese Near Me - Yelm, Washington

The best sashimi in Pierce County! Mr. Kim is a perfectionist and I taste it in the sashimi he serves. Top notch quality and presentation. IF I lived closer, I'd be eating at Kinja everyday. My sister likes the sushi rolls and orders every time. A must stop in in the tiny town of Yelm for outstanding sashimi and sushi, support this family owned and excellent service restaurant. read more

We had lunch here and it was ok, but pricey. The food was ok, nothing out of the ordinary for the flavor, service was ok.

We were returning from our one day trip to Mt Rainier. We stopped in Kinja looking for some food. I was very surprised with the food . Full of flavors and really amazing. Not sure why this only has 3.8 reviews it should be 4.8 at minimum. If you are around definitely stop and come and try it. read more

The food is well worth the price. The service is great. It's a calm atmosphere. I love bringing my family for a nice meal.

Did take out this time. The food is always yummy! I love sashimi and my hubby likes tempura...so it's a nice selection. Service is friendly too. My order was on time and correct. read more

After eating here at least 40 times, it went bad. A $50 meal was so very bad. Even the rice was extremely mal-shaped, and didn't taste like sushi rice. The fish was irregularity sliced and stingy. Confused, I asked the server if they had changed chefs. She put on an innocent face and pretended nothing was wrong. I ate a little, then took it home for the chickens. I have let that disappointment sit on me. The server should have acknowledged the mess and I should not have paid for it. I even left my normal generous tip. Beware... read more

We always have a great time here we ordered the bento box with teriyaki chicken! The service is very friendly too! Very easy to find in a nice location with a nice ambience ! read more

The food here is generally good quality, and I've enjoyed it in the past. But now they want to charge an extra $3 for the miso soup that normally comes with the entrée. If you dine in, it's included, but if you order to go, suddenly it's not. That just feels like another way to squeeze a little more money out of customers. It's a small thing, but it leaves a bad taste and makes me think twice about coming back. read more

For my husband's birthday he picked Kinja Restaurant for us to try. We were the first people in for the dinner crowd so when we first arrived it was fairly quiet. As the night went on there were a lot of pick up orders and the seating started to pick up but we still felt evenly spaced. We liked that the drinks were fountain if we wanted a soda and it wasn't just a can which we experience often at Japanese restaurants. We started with gyoza which was wonderful and a generous helping! We then ordered the chicken teriyaki kids box for our son which he loved and for us we got a crunch roll and the Kinja special without spicy mayo. Even though we ordered it without spicy mayo the roll itself still had something spicy in it and we couldn't pinpoint what. It was way too spicy for me so my husband ate it which was a little disappointing. We really liked the teriyaki chicken which was served on grilled onions and delicious. Overall it's a really cute place. They have cute tea sets up from that you can buy which I enjoyed since they were cats. Well definitely be back to try more roll selections and other bento boxes! read more

See all

Best sushi in Yelm. Friendly staff, always quick and quality service. Takeout is great and the dining in experience is good also.

Stopped by to check this place out while in Yelm with my wife and I was blown away! The pricing was amazing, probably the best priced sushi bar I've come across. The ambience in the dining area was superb and made the dining experience exceptional. Service was spectacular, as what I've come to expect of the Japanese people. Our server was awesome aswell giving us a window into her previous life in Japan while we talked about sushi culture. I'd definitely go back in a heartbeat!!!!! I had yellowtail shashimi btw. read more

Excellent Service! That is very important to me. And DELICIOUS FOOD AND PLENTIFUL! Definitely going back!!

Ordered dinner to go from here tonight and it was decent. The teriyaki chicken was very good & cane with a generous portion of chicken. The vegetable Yakisoba was a bit disappointing - it lacked flavor, the veggies should have been cooked a bit longer, and it could have had more noodles in my opinion. I would give the food a 3.5/5 but I will go back and try different dishes as well. read more

Kinja Japanese Restaurant - Vegetable Yakisoba - Japanese Near Me - Yelm, Washington

See all

We've been here multiple times and never had any issues. The food is always good and service is always attentive.

The food is just bad. The worst sushi I've ever had. The brought the food out to everyone and I waited probably 15 minutes or more before my husband had to ask them where my sushi was and a few minutes later here it came. It as deep fried but the batter was not cooked all the way. The sauces were fake tasting and it was just plane bad. read more

I came here with my wife. I ordered the vegetable tempura! Absolutely delicious! I ordered their egg rolls, also super yummy! Service was excellent! And the ambiance was great! Cute cozy spot! I loved this place, I will totally be coming back with my wife! Next time I'll order some of their delicious sounding sushi! I totally recommend this place to all my friends read more

Food was amazing I ordered California rolls with some chicken teriyaki and it was great 5 stars I highly recommend an I also got my food really fast. read more

We were craving sushi so decided to try this local place where we live. We had heard good things about it. It took a while for us to get a waitress to take our order, but I think there was only 1 waitress on duty. The sushi came out fast and tasted fresh. Talking with a local, we found out the owner gets his sushi fresh from the Phillipines because he can get a good product at a cheaper cost. I would like to go back to try different rolls ( I couldn't eat much b/c I was pregnant at the time) but what I had was good. read more

I'm writing this review in mind with a few reservations. I went to this establishment in their last 90minutes of being open on a Friday evening. My friends and I love sushi so we wanted to check it out. We ordered various things but the things I'll speak on are the chicken teriyaki, chicken karage and various sushi. The chicken teriyaki tasted good to me, but i only had a piece since it was my friends entree. He however stoped eating it when he pulled a bone fragment/wooden stick, we didn't investigate too heavily, out of his mouth. The chicken karage didn't seem battered and fried to order, felt like it was reheated in an air fryer. I ordered sushi such as salmon, yellowtail, scallop and tuna. Unfortunately they were out of toro. The yellowtail wasn't yellowtail i suspect but that tuna didn't taste fresh to me at all. That scallop was probably the best scallop I've ever had though! I think the experience was ruined from beginning because the host/server didn't really acknowledge us and didn't give us menus. We ended up grabbing menus from the host stand because she never handed us any. She didn't seem to know what they had or didn't have, she and I quote "order what you want and I'll let you know if we have it". That is very disheartening because now I have to pick what i want and hope it's not unavailable; when you could just find out. There were 2 other tables, they weren't busy. One table left because they ordered and she came back and told them they were out of everything but their appetizers. The other table and mine exchanged looks as if this didn't make any sense at all, but like I said it was within 90min of them closing on a Friday so I understand. I think the biggest downfall was the server. If she is the face of your business, she should be more knowledgeable about the menu or atleast be somewhat welcoming to guest. We felt like such a burden that we literally went next door to Pizza Hut and Taco Bell just to eat. I'm not in the Yelm area often but I hope things change, I'd love to patron them again. read more

Kinja is my go to spot in Yelm and surrounding areas for Sushi. The rolls are consistently fresh, taste delicious, and the owner and staffing are a joy to be around. Kinja Japanese restaurant is the Best sushi in yelm! read more

Kinja Japanese Restaurant - Crunch roll - Japanese Near Me - Yelm, Washington

See all

We decided to give this place another try. The service was very kind and sweet. Our waitress was very attentive to us and was constantly checking with us to ensure we were okay. Her warm welcome and happy attitude made a big difference honestly. My husband wasn't too much of a fan of the sushi, and I mean I thought it was okay, but still at it all lol. Willing to give this another shot possibly. read more

Sushi rolls were great! Gyoza was hot,crunchy on outside and tasty. Very understaffed. We had an early dinner at 4:00pm. One waitress, one cook. Wanted to order another roll and was told 30 minute wait! Also, husband ordered sliced Serrano pepper as add on 1/2 thru meal. Chef says he was too busy. This is 2nd visit in 3 years. Disappointed. Please hire more staff and be ready to make our food. Our bill was $75. read more

Service has always been great and speed of food. I haven't tried much from menu besides their sushi which is a little high but over all size and quality it fits the value and only place in town that I know that you pay for what you get. The wife usually get Tofu with fried rice in which she enjoys. I would 100% recommend if you in the mood for sushi go here. read more

Fair food quality. I ordered take out. Pick up by me was easy. Well decorated. Won't be back. All the best. read more

I can say I love this restaurant with all of my being! Their bentos have the tastiest beef & chicken teriyaki I have ever had! Their sushi rolls mmmm chefs kiss perfection! Every time I order over the phone or go into the restaurant staff is always super sweet and attentive. Overall whole vibe of the restaurant is soo relaxing and usually pretty quiet even when there's a bunch of people inside. It exudes elegance and comfort honestly. I love even bringing my daughter with us inside bc they are always so sweet to her & give her stuff to draw with or color & always check up on us & her to make sure we are having a good time. I highly recommend coming to this restaurant especially when you have family visiting! My sister in law loved it immensely! read more

Just sort of found this place on my way to the Tahoma Vista Fiber Mill and was certainly glad I did. The service was very good in spite of the fact there was one person manning the guest experience and there several tables filled. The server was pleasant, kind and helpful with suggestions. The timing was just slightly past the lunch rush and several tables hadn't been cleared, but it wasn't horribly unsightly. The food was good. Not just 'hey this is good', but nice! This is good food! Give it try, relax and enjoy! read more

I've been past here a couple of times, but today felt like the day to come in. As an Asian I do look for that touch of home when you walk into a restaurant that claims to be authentic. It's a beautiful (bigger on the inside) building with plenty of Japanese decor, but needed to taste the food before deciding on the decor alone. Cousin and I ordered udon soup, a lunch bento, hot tea and Sprite. The woman working was friendly and accommodating. She even complimented my wallet and the video we were watching on my phone. Udon was yummy and the tempura was the veggies of the season and one tender shrimp. Happy and stuffed enough Will come back again. read more

See all

stopped in for a dinner before a long night shift. I had not been here before. I am so glad I passed by the greasy fast food places. I had the Chicken Teriyaki dinner. it came with sala, soup, and rice. the plating was elegrant. the chicken was properly charred on the ends. the teriyaki sauce was not the typical gloppy syrup. the restaurant was comfortabl. a tea light candle added class. jazz music was going. it was nice. service was excellent. overall a significantly healthier, tastier, and better experience than any quick fast food meal at the same price. read more

Ordered shrimp tempura and sushi. Sushi was dry because the rice had been sitting especially being a rice eater I can tell. The server claims that the shrimp tempura was not frozen then fried. I disagreed with her because the shrimp was sliced in half and the tempura coating was stuck to it exactly the same kind that grocery stores sell frozen. I'll never eat here again not only is it pricey but the food was terrible. Looked decent when you walked in but don't be deceived read more

We had a really nice lunch here and will return when we can. The staff was friendly and the food was great.

Kinja is a fine dining experience, y'all should definitely give it a try because it is the best restaurant in Yelm. read more

Kinja Japanese Restaurant - Mr. Kim's Love Boat! - Japanese Near Me - Yelm, Washington

See all

The sushi is pretty good and the prices aren't too bad, but the service seems hit or miss. They have some gluten-free options, but I wouldn't recommend them. The two times we went, I requested gluten-free soy paper, mentioned I was gluten-free, and they still used a sauce with gluten. The second time, I specifically requested no sauce, but it still came with sauce that contained gluten (they also took a long time to answer if the sauce had gluten, blamed me for not mentioning it even though I had said "gluten-free" multiple times whole ordering, and then charged us for their mistake). Tamari was not offered even though they have it. read more

This place is absolutely wonderful. I came here for lunch with my boss and they even made a special sushi order for him. I ordered the Bento A off the lunch menu and not only was the presentation amazing but the taste was full of flavor and super fresh. My boss ordered two different types of sushi. One was a combination of sushi types with raw fish and the other was to test their ability to make a super spicy roll with flavor. They succeeded in making my bosses sushi roll packed full of flavor, crunch and spice. Deffinately a place to visit when in Yelm. The price is perfect for the amount of food you get. The service was also equally as amazing and our waitress was super kind and funny. read more

See all

The Servers are always very polite and very helpful! They have a great selection of Japanese foods for everyone to try and enjoy. The restaurant is always very quiet and sociable with great people. I highly recommend trying this restaurant out if you're in the area. read more

Big sushi fan, this place lives up to the hype. Wonderful service as well. The food was served swiftly and was wonderfully crafted. read more

Kinja Japanese Restaurant - California Crunch (Left), Crunch triple fire right - Japanese Near Me - Yelm, Washington

See all

Love the food! Have only been once for my daughters sixth birthday *she loves sushi* and unfortunately there were only 4 people working. 1 in kitchen, 1 on sushi bar, 1 on floor, and 1 running back and forth. If it wasn't for the slow service I'd do 5 stars but the food was really great and my daughter and I definitely enjoyed the time together! read more