Kanji Sushi & Ramen — Restaurant in Brandon

The wait is finally over. It's newly opened, and you can tell that everything about this place was so well thought out. The entrance way leads you to an open & modern dining area lay out with elegant lighting & ceiling features. The restaurant has an izakaya feel, yet it's more fancy than that. The staff is happy to be there, and it shows. The service is fantastic! There's an attention to detail here that I haven't seen anywhere else. You'll just have to see for yourself.

I knew exactly what I wanted. I selected the ramen lunch special which allows you to choose your type of ramen, 2 side dishes, and a dessert from a set menu. It also comes with their house salad. I almost changed my mind after hearing Alona's recommendation of their special wagyu roll. Her face lit up with joy when describing it to me. She said it has such an amazing taste. Well, that's definitely a sushi roll that I want to try next time.

Anyway, I was really surprised at how much you get for the lunch price. It's great for those who want a little of everything with their bowl of ramen. The fried calamari was fresh, light, and crispy. There were a few rings, but the best part were the tentacles. The seaweed salad was also delicious. The ramen had a wavy noodle that was cooked just right. The broth was full of pork flavor, and the soy egg was very tasty. I instantly regretted not ordering an additional soy egg. The chashu was probably the tastiest one I've had in the area. It had a perfect char that made it even better. It was a very good bowl of ramen, and nicely presented. I think the only issue that I had was the temperature of the broth (lukewarm), which can be easily corrected. I was asked to give honest feedback, and it's especially important since it's their first opening week. The manager came by to check on me as well. Everyone was open to feedback, and they totally understood.

Now, I must tell you about the dessert. I was blown away by the choices from the lunch special. These desserts are all made fresh daily, and in-house. I selected the Perfect Pair. It has a top layer of red bean mousse, and a bottom layer of matcha cheesecake. It was so delicious & unique! So much so, that I can't wait to go back and try Alona's favorite Mango Mango dessert.

I'm so tempted to try their sushi rolls, hand rolls, yakitori, and more of their tasty starters. The Happy Hour menu even looks great. The ambiance and service makes it a great place for a romantic date night. There's lots of seating for groups of people. It's even a great place to dine alone. I can't wait to go back. This may even become a weekly lunch visit. There's just so many great menu items. It will be hard...

This place actually lives up to the Facebook hype and postings. We had the weekend Ramen deal which included your choice of desserts and some side dish. This is $27 on the weekend and a really good deal on weekday for $20 since you get the same full size desserts and sides. The pork belly bun that came with it was on point. Soft bun used at most Peking duck place with a very generous slice of pork belly that is the same one used in the Tonkatsu Ramen. It has a nice contrasting flavor with the pickled cucumber and scallions and a sauce that compliments it nicely. We like it so much we added two more order of Pork Belly bun.

The other side included a samplings of squid tentacles and calamari. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't fishy like the one I sometime get at Izakaya Tori. It also came with a salad and two Gyoza. The Gyoza is definitely made in house because I've tried every frozen varieties from the oriental market. It lacks the crispiness but it made up for it in flavor. I'm not sure if the appetizer portion is made crispier.

Since we were looking for an alternative to Izakaya Tori which is often very busy, we also tried the Mentako fries an one order of Karaage bun. The fries has the right topping and right kind of mayo but lacks the coating that is unique to Izakaya Tori. The karaage is nicely breaded thin chicken breast piece and not the flavorfull thigh with skin that's unique to Izakaya. It had the same sauce and cucumber and scallion and sauce as the pork bun that we love.

I added one order of NY Strip skewer. I don't know why. I've never had good steak on skewer since it'll be likely overcooked due to its thinness. This one was no exception so I agree with the other review.

The Tonkatsu Ramen is unlike 90% of the ramen in the St Pete/Tampa Bay/Orlando area. It is not salty and has a nice flavorfull broth. I've given up on Ramen but love the flavor of the one here. The noodle is on point. Not over cook and good texture.

The surprise was the mango mango mousse cake that the server recommended. I was leaning toward the matcha green tea/red bean option. One bite and it reminded me of the patisserie at Disney Springs except it's even better. It's way better than the Paris Baguette or the Sweet Hut or Sweet bun or even the one I've had in Las Vegas. It was Lady M like in quality. Not overly sweet, moist and just the right sweetness in the whipped cream underneath. I had to ask the server where they but this stuff and I was informed that except for the New York cheesecake, all the the desserts are made in house.

We'll be back weekday for lunch for sure to try other sides and desserts that come with the order of...

We weren't super impressed. On the menu there is a lunch page but it does not say Monday - Friday only, just that it is 11am - 3pm. I would recommend adding that note to avoid confusion. The server had even used that page to point out the good deals even though we could not order from that page due to it being Saturday. The fresh vegetables were the best part of everything we ordered which is not what I wanted to say when going to a sushi restaurant. We ordered the skewers that seemed over priced for the size (very thin strips of meat, we had the steak and the lamb). Sauce was good on these. I ordered two maki rolls, salmon and crunchy crab (imitation crab). The price was again too high for the rolls, max should be $5 for a basic salmon roll and the quality was average. The crunchy crab was good but the flavor got boring very quickly. My husband got the ramen meal that came with three sides and a dessert as well as a pork bun. The ramen was good but it took over 30 mins to get and I had already finished my meal before he received his meal as the sushi came out in 10 mins and I eat fast. The best part of the shouju ramen was the green onions. The pork was lacking in flavor and the noodles were under cooked. The three sides were two orders of gyoza and one of the calamari. Very disappointed in the gyoza, they are not fresh and very obviously from frozen. The oil needed to be changed and could be tasted when eating them. The calamari was okay but the old oil ruined the flavor there as well. The pork bun was inedible, the bun was not made from fresh and very gummy and hard. The pork was gross on it as well. The saving grace of the whole meal was the dessert. We got the mango mango and it was hands down the best thing we had the entire meal. We will probably come back just for dessert but not for the rest of the food. The server was very nice and did a good job taking care of us.

Overall, it's an okay place. Prices are high for the quality you get and for the serving sizes but that is probably due to them trying to hit profit margins after how much money obviously went into the design of the restaurant. It was worth a try but we will be sticking to our normal spot after this. Also just an addition that this not a place for kids. We did not bring ours but there was nothing offered that they could have ate so I would not bring...