Kasai • Stockholm — Restaurant in Stockholm

Really really REALLY disppointed. Been to Kasai once before and really enjoyed my experience. This time I was truly utterly disappointed. I wanted to take my partner out for a nice date night that we had been looking forward to for 2 weeks (since u have to book so far in advance if u want a table). We came to the restaurant ten minutes early and got seated outside by the smoking area (was not aware they had outside area for dinner and we were never asked if outside would be alright. I even asked to sit inside and didn't get response from the waiter. We got to.move tables since the heating in that specific spot was way too strong. It took 45 minutes until I had to wave a for a waiter to give us the drink menu since we hadn't even been offered water. ( pretty sire we didnt have a waiter at all, this one was very busy taking care of thr long table behind us. Our waiter probably forgot about us). We ordered drinks and once they arrived I asked for the food menu.. since we hadn't been given one of those either.. We ordered food and they now have a different menu which in my opinions is not as good as the previous one but fortunately they still have their fantastic lobster tacos. We ordered 2 orders of lobster tacos, pak choi, side bowl of rice, miso, sir loin look dish and rainbow sushi. Not sure why thia time they skimped on all of the food. Just the lobster tacos took about 30 minutes to arrive. After another 45 minutes the sirloin rice and pal choi came. After another 30 the sushi. Don't get me wrong they do make super nice tasting food although the rainbow sushi was like any other nice sushi but like mini sized and the sirloin was 5 small pieces, was really shocked at how little meat there was... The only "hot" food that was there was the rice and the sirloin so I had a hard time understanding why the food took so insanely long... to add to this it started raining and my partner and I had to keep scooting our table and chairs so we wouldn't keep getting wet. The rainy cold wind was not very nice in my face while having my drink. We finished our meal and had to wait about another 25 mins before I waived the waiter down again and asked for check, since it bevame.obvious they forgot about us again and thr poor waiter was busy with his actual table... Lets just say I wasn't up for trying any of their desserts (which I also had looked very much forward to). Not really sure what was going on a Kasai this day but the complete lack of service, extremely unattentive staff, slow kitchen coupled with their high preices completely ruined our dinner which is super sad because they do make good food. I ended with a pretty expensive bill (which the server had to adjust as there were drinks on there we hadn't even ordered. Fortunately he informed me of it and corrected it otherwise I would probably have been overcharged..) and left cold, hungry and wet from the rain, without having dessert. Real shame I hope others have better experiences I probably won't reccomend Kasai to anyone in the near future and I am truly disappointed to write this review..hope it was a one time experience otherwise I very much hope...

Me and my wife visited Kasai last month, at it was by far the worst Japanese inspired food I have had in Stockholm - considering the price.

The waiter did not seem to have any knowledge about the menu and was not able to explain anything very well. Rather, we felt as if he was guessing when answering, for example how many Yakitori skewers were included “2.. I think..”. I believe it would have been better to confirm this with a more experienced colleague.

Secondly, he obviously got our order wrong. We ordered the sushi moriawase but got the sashimi moriawase. Being Japanese myself, I know the difference, and we did not ask for the sashimi. We also asked for our pieces to be seared/slightly grilled. And asking for 炙り/seared mean you want the fish slightly warm. Ours was however, stone cold.

Then, we ordered 2 kinds of yakitori and 2 sides. We got our sides, but no yakitori - I turned them away saying we didn’t get any main course. Then, when my wife got back from the restroom the waiter came back again with our sides asking my wife if we didn’t order them, and she said yes. But still no yakitori.

Then the head waiter came along saying that we could use the table until 8. I have no complaints about the time limit, but I was surprised being given that information since we were the ones waiting for our food.

Later we learned there had been some kind of mistake when we were served our yakitori. Our chicken was half warm still, but the Iberico pork had apparently been waiting somewhere since it was almost cold and dry (perhaps grilled twice to heat a bit?).

We wrote and complained to the restaurant, and got a reply at first - but then they ghosted me when I asked for a refund for the food I did not...

This restaurant could have been great, but missed the mark pretty bad. My first impression was excellent: Upon walking in, the restaurant had a trendy and moody interior with cozy lighting.

However, from this highpoint, things started going down hill. The single biggest problem is the slow and inattentive service. We did a five course omakase menu, and between each course, we were left sitting for extended periods of time, upwards of 20 minutes, with nobody checking up on us. After our dessert was served, a single mochi ice-cream cut in half for each of us, as well as a raspberry and a blueberry that perplexingly also took 20 minutes to prepare, we sat for a further 40(!) minutes without anyone coming to see us, and we had to flag down the bartender in the end to get our check. My next complaint is with the food. I do applaud the flavor and presentation, and if this was all I was judging, it would have gotten five stars in this category, but the portion size and value for money is almost laughable. The meal cost 600 kr, and for this we got: a bowl of edamame beans, four pieces of sushi each, a vietnamese springroll, a nigiri-sized cube of deep fried rice topped with duck, a few slices of venison with some rice, and the aforementioned single mochi ice cream. Considering the edamame beans, which I've been served for free with my meal at several asian restautants, and the mochi, which was probably bought pre-made for next to nothing, that is not a lot of value for all that money. This is a minor point, but I also find it in poor taste that they upcharged us for sparkling water while not making it clear that there was an upcharge. Upon entering, they simply asked us if we wanted still or sparkling water, and made no indication that we were choosing between free tap water and a 75kr bottle of san pellegrino.

By the time my meal was finished, I was still somewhat hungry, my parking meter had expired, and all the good will brought by the actually delicious food and moody atmosphere had gone out the window.

I will not...