Kinza Sushi and Asian Izakaya — Restaurant in California

Ended up trying this place based off Yelp reviews. We wanted to eat sushi based off the request of the birthday girl We came straight after an entire day at Six Flags Magic Mountain so we were tired and hungry! It's a popular place so make a reservation or be prepared to wait a little. We were a party of 4 and waited about 20 minutes for a table. We were seated upstairs and be ready to be super indecisive about what to order. The menu is a HUGE list of sushi rolls which is definitely my kind of place! And if you don't know what to get but know what you do want in a roll, they will make it for you! I didn't go with this option and chose their sushi dinner, Nik n Tara roll, and heart attack app. The sushi was fresh and I only needed to chew the rice. My roll was yummy but the heart attack app (its a jalapeno popper) was too spicy bc they don't gut out the seeds. You need to with jalapeños or expect to be sweating the heat. My daughter , the bday girl, seemed to enjoy her rolls (dragon roll and Nemo roll) and she even got a complimentary banana tempura with ice cream dessert for her bday. I loved that. My bff ordered 5 rolls for her and her 12 year old son to share. Nothing was left from her side lol. She thought the Sexy Lady was too spicy for her but I thought it wasn't that spicy. Our server was great and was friendly and silly. The only con is it's a busy place in a small space. They should definitely expand. Seems like a lot of people...

I drive up to the bay area often for work, and came across this place during a gas fill up. Kinza is located just off the freeway in a strip mall.

Walking in, it seems to be just like every other generic sushi place. I honestly didn't expect much. As I was greeted and ushered to my seat, I saw something promising that 99% of sushi places don't have... A board with what their fresh fish of the day is. At kinza you can find all the regular tuna, yellowtail, salmon, and all the basic stuff that every sushi place has. But they also bring in some of the non normal stuff like kampachi, big eye tuna, uni, and toro. At this point I was feeling like it was going to be great.

Upon being seated they serve you a moist towelette, and a side dish of something crunchy topped with a sweet glaze. Pretty yummy. Generally when a place has some of the more exotic fish, I've gotten used to being told "No, we are out." So far, everything I have ordered has been on the menu. The chefs and staff are very attentive too.

Being in a strip mall, you'd expect a place to be drab and dreary inside. Kinza is decorated nicely and appears to be very clean.

Aside from the fish of day board, they have 2 large boards on the wall detailing all of their custom rolls too. I don't eat rolls, but they do read to be quite tasty. I've seen many come out from the bar, and the presentation is really nice.

I highly recommend Kinza.

Until...

Came here for lunch and it was super busy. They have an upstairs but they don’t open it until dinner…which kinda sucks. They have plenty of outdoor tables as well, but the weather wasn’t great the day we went. Inside it was cramped and you have to ask people to get up if you need to leave or use the restroom. The food made up for it, though! I ordered the Lady in Red roll, saba (mackerel), and Spanish mackerel. I also ordered the cucumber salad. My sweetie ordered a rainbow roll, garlic edamame, salmon belly, and I think otoro as well. I really enjoyed everything. The Lady in Red was the best roll I’ve had in a while. The mackerel was incredible! Especially the Spanish mackerel. That was a real treat and I’ll be looking out for it from now on. My sweetheart enjoyed his food as well. We don’t drink but we noticed information for their designated driver program at the table, which I thought was very nice, and speaks volumes on the kind of person who owns this place. The sushi chefs were very talented and it was nice seeing the manner in which they interacted with the customers. Overall good food, good people,...