Kanau Sushi & Izakaya — Restaurant in Houston

First off, apparently when we came dine in was their second week opening.

We arrived around 4:05 pm on Sunday, August 20, 2023.

We were greeted by the Manager, Cara I believe that was her name, told us she will get a table for us. The restaurant max capacity is 68 people so that restaurant isn’t necessarily big. I scanned the restaurant and right behind the hostess stand is 2 open tables. It took them approximately 10 minutes to set up the table and then got us to finally sit.

When we finally got sat, we were not greeted by our server, Anna, for almost 15 minutes. Not only in that 15 minutes we were greeted. The manager, Cara, who was the one who set up our table and sat us, did not even give us menus. We had to flag down the other hostess to get us a menu.

Finally it was time to order. This should make these terrible situation better right? Food should bring us to our happy place.

So I started off with this exact order and conversation.

2x takoyaki 2x gyoza 6x order of smoke salmon sashimi, but then the server said they don’t offer smoke salmon. Yet they have Philly roll and the tiger eye roll which have smoke salmon in it so instead we went with 6x regular salmon sashimi 2x Hama chili 4x different rolls 1x pork belly 1x yuzu tuna. Order of ponzu and spicy Mayo. Then which Anna said they recently ran out of spicy Mayo.

We waited 30 minutes for the first food to finally arrive.

The 6 salmon sashimi, the Asian lady dropped off the sashimi and I asked her again for ponzu. She brought wasabi, ginger, and SOY SAUCE(not ponzu) . Then proceeded to sit at the bar to eat her edamame. Still no ponzu. We tried getting our servers attention again after 10 minutes she finally came. Asked her for the ponzu and she said okay and never shown back up. We never got any other food.

After waiting for another 15 minutes and seeing other people not really eating and food isn’t coming out. I examined the open kitchen to see 6 chefs standing there doing absolutely nothing. We finally called our server and told them we don’t wanna eat anymore and will pay for the salmon sashimi. Cara, the manager finally came by and told us that 6 slices of salmon sashimi will be $96 dollars.

THATS APPROXIMATELY $16 A SLICE. AND THE SLICES WERE THE SIZE OF YOUR THUMBNAIL.

as for the menu goes, it said $15 for three pieces.

The manager tried to apologize and she will cover our $16 per thumbnail salmon sashimi. She then proceeded to offered us 20% off on our next visit on a sticky note with no signature. How tacky and unprofessional. I threw away the sticky note because there is no chance of me ever coming back to such establishment.

Interesting enough, my coworker also works there and she told me everything.

First off, there were plenty of spicy Mayo. Second, most of the stuff I ordered wasn’t even offered. Next, it was the managers first day on the job. How are you promoted to manager position but don’t know the basic actions to take in the food industry. Costumers should be greeted and have menus ready. How do you think we were gonna order the food? With 2 red solo cups attached to the kitchen? Finally, our server, Anna, lied on her resume and experience and she actually don’t have any server experience at all. That’s why it made so much sense why she was a complete amateur.

Overall the place is very beautiful. But the service was utter garbage. I can’t say much on the food because we only got to taste the thumbnail size salmon. The salmon was good and fresh. But it sure wasn’t $16 per slice good and fresh.

Make sure your ponzu and spicy Mayo when you do go to visit. Also, your life savings and maybe your own...

I want to start by saying this experience happened 2/22/2024 and has been to date the worst place I’ve ever dined at. Especially for a special occasion. So much so that I dug up my drafted review as it’s made me actually lose sleep thinking of how awful I was treated at this restaurant. I found this place on Instagram through one of my favorite food content creators in Houston, specifically for the premium sushi menu. I came here for a birthday which was booked a month in advance so let’s start there. The day I called back in January, I tried to make a reservation for 8, as the website explains “book your party here,” I was then dismissed and told there was no ability to make a reservation, if it was less than 12 people I would just be waitlisted. Okay, fine. I called back to confirm a week later because I also wanted to confirm it was known it was for a birthday, and that the premium AYCE was still happening. I was told yes. It wasn’t until a week before the reservation that I called and spoke with Tyler. He assured me everything would go accordingly and that I’d be allowed to decorate my table even, finally I thought it was going to be a great time…wrong. We came in and the premium menu was unavailable because they didn’t order the shipment, even though I called to confirm 6 days prior and that’s when Tyler assured me it would be offered, something told me there was a reason to double check. With getting what ended up being 7 people to drive out an hour away to be here I can’t change it over one small inconvenience, so last minute, so we stayed. The service though? It was down right awful, I’m a server at a very prestigious restaurant in Houston so although I’m a tough critic this was beyond bad. The only women working the night of February 22nd grabbed a friend of mine’s phone to take a photo, as we asked, and when asked to wait one moment so my friend could get up and stand closer to me for the photo, she counted down from 5 obnoxiously and then took some random photos and said “these photos are awful.” The food was mid, the vibe was foul, having the flag down wait stay to order more drinks. All food is ordered on your phone so thankfully we didn’t have to rely on their awful service to get food items started. Not many places offer the premium cuts of sushi, that look as great as their Instagram advertises it as, but it is all a facade. The food was eh, the service was as terrible, and their lack of communication amongst themselves and their guests was unfathomable. I definitely will not recommend to anyone on any occasion this place should...

I was so excited to try this AYCE Sushi place. I drove 40 minutes into the city on a Wednesday night. Got here around 4:10 and there was only one other table.

I'll start with the Pros. The restaurant was decorated and designed very nicely. I like the look and chill ambient music playing. Bathroom has nice designs, was clean and smells very nice. Mirror was smart touch to turn on backlighting. I like that the service was fast but it was probably because they weren't busy. I like that you can scan a QR code on your phone, see the menu and order directly to the kitchen. As soon as you ordered, you can hear the receipt machine spit out a ticket. The squid salad good. The fried calamari was good.

Cons: Almost all the fish was super bland with the exception of the mackerel. I've tried many AYCE restaurants and the fish is the lowest quality fish I've ever had. The salmon almost didnt completely thaw as the center was still a bit icy. Presentation of the sashimi when it comes to the table is is cut up fish slices throw on a plate made of rock. There are no garnishes or special designs or bowls to brighten or live up the fish. The rice was regular cold hard white rice. Didn't have the taste of sushi rice at all and were almost undercooked. Sushi rice is supposed to be the most important ingredient. I avoided all the rolls after trying a nigiri with he rice they use. The crab salad was just imitation crab shredded up with no extra ingredients on top of a bowl of cucumber. The pork belly and beef skewers were extremely dry.

Side note: level of service from wait staff is between poor and medium. With the ability to order directly from your phone and pay the bill, interactions are just limited to them bringing you the food and taking away empty plates. My server also had earbuds in one ear while working. I get it's slow but very unprofessional.

At $36.95 per person for dinner is way overpriced for the quality of food they serve here. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for an AYCE Sushi place.

Edit: Owner responds and says they don't know if it's the food or the service that I was dissatisfied with but I clearly wrote why in my review. It seems they only read the first paragraph...