Kaiyo Grill & Sushi — Restaurant in Islamorada

We were looking for a nice restaurant to visit at the end of our trip and chose Kaiyo. When we arrived at the door, there was no host. A minute or two later, he appeared and seem annoyed that we had entered the restaurant in search of him. He then explained that they were short-staffed and sushi would take longer than other items as they only had two people making it. We sat down to order. Our server was nice and consistently attentive. There were consistently 3-4 people staffing the sushi bar, as well. They didn’t have the wine we wanted in stock so we were offered a pricier substitute. But the food is our major issue:

Brussels sprouts: doused in an excess of brown sugar, not maple syrup. Underroasted yet charred. Served with grocery store quality chili sauce.

Vietnamese meatballs: some meatballs were warm, some were room temp, all had the texture of raw meat. Rice was underdone and sauce coating it all was obscenely salty.

Pork belly with bok choy and pineapple: “compressed” pineapple is apparently just simply canned pineapple in small bites, at least according to Kaiyo, and pork belly was under-rendered and tasted like a torch. Bok choy was barely par-boiled and only charred on the edges with a torch; the center was raw. Basically this dish tasted like a plate of salty pineapple kerosene.

Cashew chicken: a massive plate full of mostly sauce — which was the saltiest sauce I’ve ever tasted — a few chunks of chicken, giant chunks of undercooked red bell pepper and snow peas, underdone rice, and cashews that appeared to have been just shaken out of a can.

Sushi rolls — I’ve had better rolls at a hole-in-the-wall sushi place in the suburbs. Spicy mayo was not spicy. Rolls were sloppily assembled. Fish was not flavorful.

Stuffed avocado — avocado was not ripe, tuna was fine but exceedingly spicy. Served in an manner that made it difficult to eat, though it was tasty.

By the end of the meal, our palates were blown out by how unnecessarily salty everything was, which seemed to be the cover the Kaiyo’s chefs use for boring and badly seasoned food. There is absolutely no reason why any of the sushi rolls exceeded $10 and the meals were $30+. Our water bottle wasn’t refilled at any point in the meal, either. We left without dessert after paying a bill that seemed disproportionately expensive given the ambience, decor, quality of food, and general attitude of this disappointing restaurant. This place needs an entire overhaul if it must...

While I’ve always found the cuts of beef and assortment of fresh fish to be the same quality as most on the Island, the presentation, atmosphere, specialty drinks, tasty sides and consistency more than made up for the higher prices. Attending at least twice a week at $200 - $300 per visit, I was pleased to share the experience with my followers and friends, that is until recently. My last two visits left me in bewilderment. The first of the two, I received Sushi that wasn’t firm and fell apart when consumed by chopsticks, an almost impossible task. A hostess that seemed eager to leave you uncomfortable because she was busy, steak orders improperly cooked, and I was shocked by the poor presentation. My second visit the béarnaise sauce was a smear beside my flat potato bed that was barely warm and without any merit, the filet was destroyed and reduced to a flat iron steak in quality and flavor, and when asked for more béarnaise sauce, it came after the meal was complete. While this all may seem a bit harsh, spending $300 on a meal warrants scrutiny and satisfaction. I am no...

Ridiculously expensive for marginal Japanese food, at best.

Started off with the miso soup which had the incorrect type of tofu, barely any wakame, and was $8 for a small bowl. F.

General Tso's Cauliflower was thick, unevenly cooked, and so overly salty it ruined my palate. F.

Korean Bulgogi Tacos were awful: overly salty, steak overcooked, and the kimchi tasted weird and inauthentic. They served this dish with four paper thin pieces of red leaf lettuce (an entire head of crispy romaine is standard) which was placed directly on a steaming hot plate so the lettuce was completely limp and soggy upon arrival. As a Korean, I was offended by the entire interpretation of this dish. F.

Lastly, the fried rice...I ordered vegetable fried rice with a fried egg and shrimp which was a whopping $39. Greasy, vege was cooked unevenly, and small shrimp that were clearly frozen and the texture was mushy. No fresh thai basil, no love. F.

I was so excited to check out Kaiyo, but left with nothing but a large bill and...