Kawa Hibachi & Sushi — Restaurant in McCandless

This was a chance visit, being famished while I was in the area. The eatery itself has a good ambience, with very good AC providing respite from the heat.

The menu is what one expects from a sushi/sashimi eatery. The sad / lamentable thing however 🫤🫤🫤 is the listing of sushi selections containing cheese and so-called crab rangoons. —If the idea is to call convey Japanese cuisine, then cheese is an appalling inclusion / corruption to a great cuisine 👎👎👎👎👎. Cheese is NEVER a Japanese ingredient. Crab Rangoon is a horrible american concoction.

Then there’s the large list of “rolls” that have sauces. Sushi is about clean, fresh and simple preparation of fish; sauces are extraneous horrible additions that detracts from the fish👎👎👎👎👎.

The sashimi plates are however very good; truly clean, simple, and fresh. It turns out, one may request what kinds of fish are available that day.👏👏👏.

Curious about their rolls, I ordered WITHOUT any sauce. It turns out, they make a very roll, very thin layer of rice (which should be)…. Conclusion: PLEASE get rid of sauces!!!

While I did not order any Hibachi, the ones served to the neighboring table is glistening with oil👎👎👎. —Like shushi and sashimi, cooked Japanese food is all about simplicity; oiliness being typical of very poor americanized version.

Service is very good, the waiter is very...

Almost as good as ichiban, but priced exactly the same…so go to ichiban!?

The food was great, and we did takeout. No complaints at all except for an observation...

Ichiban’a food (and shrimp sauce) is AMAZING. Kawa is priced the same as Ichiban, and Ichiban offers the entire hibachi experience, so why would I choose Kawa and not just go to ichiban?

I think Kawa would do better as a less expensive version of Ichiban. You have a much smaller space, you aren’t having to pay a bunch of cooks because you only have 1 kitchen (and I’m sure those grill / dinner table setups aren’t cheap either) so you should have to way less overhead than an Ichiban and should be able to undercut their prices. Maybe have a steak & shrimp hibachi dinner cost $17 instead of $24. (Or somewhere in that ballpark) but I don’t think going toe for toe with Ichiban and their prices when they’re offering the entire experience, is the right move for Kawa.

Perhaps you’re banking on location and convenience, and that might be enough…but I think you’d make more money overall through increased sales following my logic. We wanted get hibachi tonight and my wife said Kawa, and I responded and said “I just can’t justify it…let’s drive down to the waterworks”

I hope you take my feedback as a good faith suggestion, like I said the food was great and we had...

This restaurant is a fantastic dining experience, please try to experience it in person, not takeout. FYI—there are no hibachi tables, only dining tables and a sushi bar, just as a disclaimer. I personally prefer this atmosphere. Attention to detail everywhere is evident. Their food is a step-above. From their gorgeous plates, platters, bowls, etc., to sturdy chopsticks (I know it sounds crazy, but their individually wrapped chopsticks are so nice) to fresh food. Steven is doing a great job at creating a welcoming atmosphere. I love the decor, the people, and the food. My photos are from two visits. As I said, everything is fresh and I’ve loved every dish so far. Their sauces are housemade. The vegetable dumplings are delicious, the fish is fresh for the sushi, they have bubble tea—which I love, the vegetable fried rice was so flavorful and beautifully garnished, the miso soup had a lot of tofu, and we even got to try their spicy tuna pizza, which isn’t on the menu but it was fun testing something new! I’ll keep going back. It’s BYOB, no corking fee. I hope this encourages other people to visit this restaurant, they...