Kanji Izakaya — Restaurant in Arlington

Decent Fare for the Price, But Room for Improvement

We recently visited this new Japanese restaurant in Arlington, hoping to find a great spot for some authentic Japanese cuisine. Unfortunately, the experience didn't fully meet our expectations, though there were some positives worth noting.

The quality of the food was average, nothing memorable; it wasn’t the authentic Japanese taste one might hope for, but it was reasonably good considering the price. We ordered a variety of dishes, including sushi and yakitori, which the latter we had to ask for sauce. While the taste was generally satisfactory, the presentation and authenticity left a bit to be desired.

Service was another area that could use some attention. When our first dishes arrived, we had not yet received proper plates to eat from, which seemed a bit uncoordinated for a dining establishment aiming to make a good first impression. This could be growing pains for a new restaurant, but it's an area that definitely needs improvement.

The ambiance of the restaurant was quite pleasant, and the food pricing is fair, but potential patrons should temper their expectations—don't expect a top-tier Japanese dining experience. Given the competitive culinary environment of Washington D.C., where numerous Asian eateries vie for attention, this restaurant will need to step up both in terms of food authenticity and service quality to carve out its niche.

In conclusion, if you’re in the area and looking for a casual place to grab some Japanese dishes without spending a lot, this might be a decent option. However, for those seeking a genuinely authentic Japanese culinary experience, or the distinctive flair of Genki Izakaya, you might want to...

Unfortunate. Sorry all I'm not buying all of these 5 star reviews and I tend to rate higher than lower. After 15ish years of waiting for something to occupy this space, disappointed is another word I'd use.

Hibachi: filet was cut as if 3 people were instructed to cut steak with no guidance. Some small cubes, some thin slices, some random chunks. It's a tough way to cook the steak to order that's for sure! I can only assume the steak is prepped/cut into a container then cooked when ordered. The fried rice was soy colored white rice with no flavor no veggies and a few specs of egg. The veggies on the side must have been sitting in a pan with a high or low heat source which delivered warm, cold, and room temp pieces. The yum yum sauce was sweet and lacked flavor. The ginger sauce was thicker and chunkier than the norm but I didn't mind or modification. Overall it was the lowest of my hibachi experiences.

The sushi was average for a low to mid range sushi spot.

The bar offered "specialty drinks" like rum punch and Long Island iced tea... and you have to walk over to the bar to see what other drinks can be poured because the server wasn't sure. Employees could be seen on devices ranging from laptops to cell phones sitting or standing around empty tables, while a few employees waiting on tables and ran food. For a Saturday night, there was plenty of seating.

I hope this place receives some guidance from those with restaurant experience. It needs help from website, to service, to attention to detail. I'm local and enjoy waking to the many fantastic spots in Ballston. This is not one of them but hope it...

While the sushi is decent here, I was really disappointed by the hibachi, I found it inedible and also by the fact that it didn’t seem to make a difference whether we’d barely touched our food.

We ordered one chicken and one steak hibachi as well as a salmon cucumber roll. I started with the steak hibachi but found the steak chewy and flavor weird, so I traded my partner for the chicken, I also couldn’t eat that due to texture and taste. The chicken was rubbery and I actually had to spit a piece out. My fiance thought the steak was marginally better but also wasn’t able to eat most of his. The yumyum sauce was also very off. We ordered the check with over 90% of my plate left and the server didn’t ask if there were any issues with it or even if we wanted a box to go (assuming we’d liked it—but did not want a to go box anyway). I think part of service is making sure your customers are actually enjoying what they ordered. I do not like to complain and also don’t like undertioping servers, so paid about $80 and will still need to get dinner. Unfortunately, based on this experience we won’t be back, even though I have come here on a couple of other...