Kasai Steakhouse & Sushi — Restaurant in Lafayette

After looking at the menu, we decided to try this place out, but I don't think we will be going back. The service was good, but everything else about the experience seemed cheap and had no direction for what was described as a fine dining restaurant where traditional Japanese culinary art meets modern innovation. We ordered the following: Pork Soup Dumpling (we love xiao long bao) "Waygu" Toban Yaki (misspelled on the menu) 2x Miso Soup (never brought to the table) The Signature Temaki Set 5x al a cart Temaki 2x Japanese Soda $114 before tip The Pork Soup Dumplings looked and tasted like microwavable frozen dumplings from Wal-Mart. The "Waygu" Toban Yaki was not seared medium cooked cuts of cold steak with french fried onions on a bed of salad and sushi cut cucumber in a vinaigrette. If it was described as that on the menu, I would understand, but it definitely wasn't tobanyaki. I can't rate the miso soup because it wasn't delivered. The temaki is what threw us for a loop. Temaki is a hand roll but they have a separate spot on the menu for handrolls. The menu shows them as essentially open faced hand rolls with good ingredients so we figured we would just roll them ourselves to eat them. What we were served didn't look like the pictures at all. They tempura fry the seaweed into a taco shell shape, toss them on a street taco wrack, and load them with the ingredients. No where on the menu says that the seaweed is fried. They were cumbersome to eat and the ingredients were of varying quality. In particular the cream scallop (scallops in kewpie mayo) seemed like it had been sitting for a long time and was watery and separated. The cuts of tuna and salmon seemed very watery. The grilled eel tasted good but had a very mushy texture. The servings of rice in them varied as if they ran out of rice to fill the last 3. The tempura shrimp was 3x batter to shrimp and the cheese was a long cut of creme cheese just sitting there like string cheese. The Japanese Soda was on the back of the alcoholic drink menu. We joked that it would be silly for this fancy fine dining restaurant to bring us off brand bottles of ramune, but that is exactly what we received. When we asked about it, we were told that the Japanese Soda is a "kid's menu" item despite there not being any indication. This is mostly a silly gripe, but I expected more from the "fine dining" experience and for kid's items to be on the kid's menu. Our waitress did a good job, and the staff was checking on us regularly. There were maybe 2 other couples at the restaurant so I can't comment on how they are during rush. The vibes of the restaurant seem to really lack direction. They have some fancy lighting and ceiling fixtures that one would expect in a modern fancy restaurant, but also cheap tables and plateware like you would at a budget Japanese restaurant. They had a bar area with lots of drinks and fancy glasses, but also sitting under big sports bar like TVs. The restaurant seemed to be ran like a typical mid range US teppanyaki restaurant. Despite having stuff like foie gras, caviar, bone marrow, wagyu, uni, lobster, and bluefin tuna "otoro," on the menu and on dishes that we ordered, nothing we had seemed like the quality we would expect for those dishes. Also for a "fine dining" restaurant, we expect better quality menus not covered in typos. Whoever outsource those menu binders and the printing, got scammed or went cheap. Looking back at photos from a few months ago, maybe we waited too long to visit this place. I don't see fried seaweed, and the nigiri looks really good. In the end this place is just like so many other's in Lafayette. They might have had a good start or good origins elsewhere, but they lost sight of quality or people always over hyped it up because of the drinks.

P.S. In the hour since we left, and I started typing up this review, we have both thrown up. I thought it was maybe the scallops on my end, but we both had the dumplings, "waygu", bluefin tuna,...

I attended my cousins birthday dinner last night and I must say that I was very disappointed in the food that I had. The atmosphere was great it’s a nice restaurant. Let’s talk waiters because ours wasn’t good at all he was un attentive and was kinda rushing us to order. I was trying to ask about the different sushi rolls ( because I wanted cooked ones and not raw) he wasn’t answering my questions just asking me what I wanted so as I just got annoyed I just said I’ll do the Hibachi which I got the steak and scallops. BIG MISTAKE! hibachi Chef was entertaining, but I don’t know what was going on and maybe I might be Trippin but when I looked at my portions compared to everyone else I was getting skimped lot. I did not want rice. I want noodles and put rice on my plate. a very small portion of noodles . One of my cousins who was sitting right next to me, got a heaping pile of noodles as did everyone else they had heaping portions of food when it was time for the vegetables I got the most that’s not saying anything because they weren’t fully cooked, but it’s whatever! now let’s get down To the steak And scallops the steak was cooked good but the scallops were horrible. They were very chewy and rubbery and not good at all my experience at this new restaurant was horrible and I am very disappointed. I was looking forward to trying this new restaurant.as I watch it being built. So I was excited when my cousin said she was going to have her birthday her dinner there. The appetizer I got, which was calamari was very different from what I’m used to the cut was very different so it was very rubbery and not very appetizing. Being someone who was classically trained as a chef it just took me by surprise and for the price that I paid, which was close to $70 I was very disappointed! Because it was her birthday I chose not to cause the scene or just fight over something Which I did have the right to do, but I was not going to on this night to ruin her birthday. I say to this restaurant you have lots of potential and we need to fix a few things. One talk to your staff about being more patient when it comes to people asking questions About the different Types of sushi rolls that you sell because there’s quite a few and some people like myself don’t do the raw so we want to know what types of ones you have that are cooked so we can enjoy. Also take time to train your cooks on how to prepare different types of seafood, especially scallops as they are certain certain ways to make great scallops and ruin great scallops. I really don’t think that I’ll be returning because of this. I really want you guys to succeed as I want every business to succeed so with these things, I think you guys can fix so people can have a great experience with the atmosphere but with the food. These are my opinions and other people have different experiences. This is not to be malice. It’s just what...

My husband and I were pretty excited to try out this new place, and we were pretty happy with everything. The server was nice, helpful, and attentive. The atmosphere of the place was pretty cool. I liked the vibe and decor. We only dined in and didn’t do hibachi, but it sounded like those at the hibachi grill were having lots of fun. The food was a tiny bit disappointing. Not bad, but there wasn’t much flavor. The miso was delicious, and my husband loved his temaki (which I thought was unique). However, the fried rice was only okay. It didn’t have a lot of flavor. The rest of the hibachi meal was only good because of the sauce on it. I just wish the food had been cooked in the sauce or at least had a little sauce on it because it was so plain otherwise. The sauce, while delicious, wasn’t enough to cover up all the food. Still, my husband and I do hope to return here again. I would definitely give this place a try!

Edit: husband and I went there for a second time, and we were very happy with how everything has improved! The food has taken a step up (sushi has always been pretty good anyway); the hibachi shrimp was more flavorful, and the rice was quite yummy too! We also “splurged” on the tempura fried ice cream, which was a good price for what you got. My husband also thoroughly enjoyed his sake too. The food has improved, and I can’t wait to go back to try more! I did think it was weird that random employees would stop by our table to pick up our empty/dirty dishes while we were still eating, although I do understand the need to do so when it’s busy. Certainly not a...