Eating sushi around the world, I'd simply say get better fish and get the food out faster. I see that there are only 9 reviews. More people should review and the owner NEEDS to read them. Yelp is about finding and helping. Sushi quaility is B, should attempt to get A grade fish if possible in Fairfield. Thicker sushi. Sometimes the pieces are paper thin but the prices do not reflect paper thin sushi. I have not receieved my sushi in less than 1.20 hours from time of order. I've eaten here atleast 5 times and the average time from order to eating has been growing. This is highly dissapointing even when the place is half filled, especially if it's not awesome A grade fish In summary, this place is less full everytime I visit each month, but it's the only sushi sit down restaurant in town so help by offering suggestions. I also noticed larger take out orders, which could be the reasons he wait has grown. Suggestion: Hire someone to handle take out orders. A place of this size (table count, bar count and take out) should have 4 sushi shefs on the busy nights minimum and turn their tables 4x per night. A fan wanting you to sustain. read more

Love their Firecracker sushi! If you have not tried it, you must. They are kind of expensive for Fairfield, though.

Food service extremely slow for no larger of a place than this is. 1.5 hrs + for 4 rolls of sushi is unacceptable. All while the sushi chefs were drinking beer. Another customer left before getting his roll because he was tired of waiting and had already paid But the bartender was good. read more

We went back again while in town. And now, they have it right. Must be new management. We know other people who live in FF who say it has gotten much better. When we are in town again, we will stop in if we want sushi. Our server, the sushi, and saki were all good, ample size, and served with a great smile. We were greeted coming in the door by the sushi chef and also bid farewell when leaving. Reminds me of the sushi spots in Chicago we frequent. Thank you for upping your game! You get it! read more

If you want Sushi in Fairfield, go to HyVee on West Burlington or fly to San Francisco. I do not understand why this is such a popular place. My friends swear by the spicy chicken wings and other things. As I'm gluten-free, I don't have much by way of menu options, but I'm used to that. The sushi is always just OK IMHO. I can enjoy the edamame and a California roll well enough. The mixed drinks are inferior - not worth it. But, in this case, my beef with the place is the service. Honestly, I just don't get it. Hire some more staff or something. I've gone here mostly for other people's birthday parties. The wait to have your order taken can be excruciating. The wait for the food is ridiculous. It is NOT the server's fault - it is management. Bad management. I should have known - my first time here was lunch and it took 2 hours. Not COOL AT ALL. I only go here when someone else is making the choice and then I do my best to try and talk them out of it. read more

Actually they have really good sushi. . Especially since this is iowa. Try the sashimi diner. .. also the firecracker roll gets good reviews. read more

I'm a big dude that likes full platters of food but let me tell you. This place will easily fill you up. Take it from me, I love a juicy thick steak or hamburgers piled high to the sky but these flavorful creations are an amazing savory delight. The staff is very welcoming and friendly. My only complaint is that there isn't much room, however, I hear due to their success and popularity they are moving to a bigger place. When you are there order the Godzilla. You are welcome. read more

A fun and trendy place with a great selection and full bar. Now that they've moved into their new location, getting a seat is not a problem. They are also great at carry - out if you have a craving, but don't want to dine in. Food is always top notch and the staff is friendly and courteous. read more

Staff was attentive and friendly. She was great with giving us suggestions, as this was our first time; her recommendations were delicious. I would definitely forward on her recommendation to try the rice balls! I'm giving four stars instead of five because our order took 45 to come out, even though there was only one other couple present, and they came in 20 minutes after us. read more

Delicious and fun! One of our favorites! We love the fried rice balls and udon noodle dish!

Normally I would say this place will give you sushi as good as you'll find in the Midwest, but they can be hit and miss. 4/5 times I've gotten great food with passable, but not great service. However, last time I went the pho was underwhelming and I got the saddest salmon nigiri I've ever seen. I can see how it would be temping to get lazy when you're the only sushi option in town. Go for the sushi and saki-bombs, but don't take your date if they find fault easily. read more

Went there many times and each time they always took forever to prepare the food. Like seriously?! Why do I always have to wait for almost an hour for SUSHI? The last time I went there I asked what's taking them so long. They didn't seem to care that I was really upset and disappointed at their service. They explained that they had to make take out orders that came in before mine. WHY didn't they tell me in ADVANCE that it'd take THAT LONG to get my food ready? I was hoping that it was just a one time thing and I kept on coming back. But each time they always left me upset and disappointed. read more

The food at Shokai is amazing! They have a little something for everyone. From the avid sushi lover to someone that is timid about eating sushi. I've had a wonderful experience every time I have gone in there and would recommend it to anyone. Anyone that has ever accompanied me has loved the food as well! read more

Best sushi in south east Iowa. That may sound like I'm damning with faint praise, but it's actually really solid sushi. Love the late night drinking and karaoke too. A little pricey, but I can't imagine it's cheap to get quality fish when we're about as far from an ocean as you can get. read more

Coming from California I'm used to hundreds of sushi restaurants all over the place, so coming to Fairfield only left me with one close place to eat good sushi which was here. Place is a small venue which can fit very little and is no doubt to be packed on weekends. It has that chill sushi lounge vibe which is nice and is the only oriental place I would eat at in town. Come on I'm Asian, so my options here in Fairfield are quite limited but I'm happy with the menu they have. Being Vietnamese I saw they offered pho which is probably the only place in town which serves Vietnamese noodles if you didn't know what that was. I came here on valentine's day ordering the spider roll for myself. The food didn't take too long to come out and when it did it was great. Food is filling for the price and the time they took to make it. It's not cheap on the daily but they do have happy hour which makes it cheaper than usual. The waitresses that I've seen here are really cute and nice, and haven't had any problems with them. I also met the owner who was nice enough to greet me when I ate at the front bar. Also I met the Vietnamese chef who is pretty funny to talk to. Great food if you're craving high quality sushi. They also have karaoke nights too for the 21+ crowd. Overall great sushi joint that didn't disappoint. read more

The food here was excellent and the service was fabulous! i wasn't so sure about a sushi restaurant in a small town in Iowa but I am glad we gave it a try. The restaurant is small -- nothing fancy! The food is great and the atmosphere is fine. The waitress was extremely helpful. read more

Awesome small sushi bar which was an awesome surprise in Fairfield. The fish was excellent and they had a great selection of apps, sashimi, rolls, martinis, cocktails and beer. The best sushi I have had in a long time. I went on a Saturday when it got pretty busy so it took a little longer than I would've liked but after getting our sushi it was totally worth the wait. If you're in the area it's worth the stop. read more

Great food SLOW service. I've been to shokai a handful of times and every-single-time I wait 40 minutes +++ for my food, even if I am the only person in the restaurant. read more

Only Sushi in town so not much to compare it to... I would say it is B+ Sushi at best. I'm a fan every now and then. Reminds me of the touristy Sushi Places on Washington Ave in Miami Beach or around Time Square in NYC. I'll be back again when I feel like it. read more

Their sushi is delicious. Their service is atrocious. I've been coming here for years, and have always loved it, but the last 3 or 4 times, we've had to wait for upwards of an hour to get our full meal. I say "full" because they bring things out in dribs and drabs, not all at once. We've had full tables of people where one person's appetizer is the only thing to arrive for a long time. It's awkward: does that one person start eating before everyone else, while we're all hungry? Do they offer to share their appetizer with the rest of the party? Or do they wait out of respect for everyone else's food to arrive, only to let their own go cold? Speaking of cold, the (seemingly only) server they have now does not know, or does not care, what good customer service is. We went just last night, and I felt almost guilty for imposing ourselves on her - she didn't smile, didn't introduce herself, and was very impatient and acted like we were inconveniencing her by even being there. In fact, she was so impatient to get us out of the way, that she clearly didn't listen and wrote down the wrong dish after we reiterated TWICE which dish we wanted (we're vegetarian and are very careful to order correctly), so after waiting for almost 40 minutes, we were brought a dish with meat in it. I had to finally go up to the counter and speak with someone else after my attempts to get her attention proved futile. They corrected that error immediately, but by that time, with a combination of starting to eat a dish with crab in it before we knew what it was, and the wait it took to get it, I had lost my appetite. During our ENTIRE mealtime, she didn't ONCE check on us, bring us drink refills that had long run out, and didn't once apologize for her order screw up. She was absolutely silent as she bussed our table and brought the check. When I looked at the check, not only was the wrong order still on there as though I was to pay for it, but that order was more expensive than the vegetarian dish we had ACTUALLY ordered, and no correction had been made. I went up to the counter, again, waited for her to get off the phone, and said, "I am not paying for this dish, and frankly, would appreciate some additional discount, because this was very unpleasant." I wasn't rude, I didn't yell. I was just matter-of-fact. She took an extra $.50 off our entire order besides canceling out the incorrect dish. Whoop-de-shit. No apology. No "thank you for dining with us," not even a smile. For the first time in my entire life, I left no tip. This situation warranted that. I have never had a more unpleasant dining experience. I will not be back to Shokai unless and until they clean up their staff, their staff's attitudes, and hire more people so that what should be a simple, enjoyable dinner out with friends doesn't take up the majority of an evening on merely waiting for our meal. Extremely disappointed. read more

I almost passed on lunch at this place today based on the one very bad review that was posted. I am really glad I ignored it as lunch was quite good. We ran into friends who were just finishing and they said they find the food at Shokai to be the best in town right now. My friend and I both had teriyaki vegetables with tofu and rice. The miso soup that came with this special was very good, the best I have ever had. It was very simple but had a lovely delicate flavor that was new to me. I also had some tempura veggies that were good with a good dipping sauce. The teriyaki veggies were simple but nicely done. $20 plus tip for 2. This is a new place so I am hard pressed to figure out how our experience could be so different from the first poster. The wait staff was competent and pleasant, and the food was good. I'd give this place a try. I'll go back for sure and will try the sushi next time. read more