Kakuna Sushi — Restaurant in Milpitas

Summary (tl;dr): Quality sushi, sashimi, and rolls with generous (and I mean generouusss) portion sizes and fantastic presentation relative to the price in a quiet strip mall with sometimes slow service.

I'll be honest I mostly get takeout from here, but the remarks about the food are the same whether you dine-in, takeout, or get delivery.

Food (5/5 for the sushi and rolls for sure; 3/5 for the cooked stuff)

The sushi, sashimi, and rolls are definitely the stars here. The portion size is very, very generous. The fish itself is usually fairly fresh, not omakase level or fresh-from-japan level, but still pretty good. I go a lot and I have yet to have a bad fish quality experience with them. If you go look at some of the photos here posted by people, you'll see the tiktok/instagram reel friendly moriawase (aka poor-man's omakase) that they present on this wooden circular staircase-type platter. The rolls are also large and substantial and presented very well without going overboard with the rice (think - Sen Dai). The prices for the specialty rolls are approximately in the range of $12-18? Considering the sizes of the rolls you get are at least 50% larger than many other places (excluding Sen Dai) without compromising on quality, you're definitely getting your money's worth here.

I will have to say, the cooked food items are just average. The bento/combination plates are ok as a whole, but like the quality of the meats are just ok and they tend to slightly overcook them.

Service (4/5) It's a small restaurant and I think the front service staff can be understaffed most likely at times, although they've been efficient when I've been there. I'm just assuming based on the capacity of the restaurant at peak hours compared with the number of actual waiters. The waiters also perform double duty too, taking to-go orders or finishing packaging up to-go orders in between managing the in-restaurant customers.

I think the kitchen is probably pretty well staffed though, because I've never really noticed food taking all too long to come out.

Ambiance (3.5/5) It's in a tired looking strip mall with an ok-amount of parking that inexplicably fills up sometimes. I don't understand why the parking lot can fill up when the other places that command attention are one other restaurant, a liquor store, and a dance studio in one of the corners.

The inside of the restaurant was actually recently renovated and is clean and newish looking although looks fairly sterile. It was previously very tiny and now has much better capacity. I think they bought out the place next door and broke down the wall to open up the restaurant. But as a result it kind of looks like two different seating areas (one with pretty sterile fluorescent bars, and one that has more normal lighting). They've also played music before on occasion I recall? But it comes from a small bluetooth speaker so it's not like a true music system.

Other notes: They actually have two other locations. One in Fremont and one in East SJ off McKee and White. I haven't been to those two other locations but I've looked at the yelp profiles before and I would imagine the food portion of the reviews are probably...

I first came here because I've been seeing this place all over Instagram and thought I should give it a try. The fish here is pretty fresh and I loved how thick the sashimi slices were. The rolls were fairly priced which I was pretty surprised about because I feel like it's impossible to find rolls for $15 nowadays. I feel like I really got my money's worth. They also have some more creative rolls that have lobster in it which I'll need to try next time. They have an extensive menu with lots of options so there's something for everybody.

The workers were all really nice, attentive, and fast! Our bento box came out significantly late and we had to remind them about it, so they gave us a discount on the item to make up for it. How nice!

We came on a Friday night and had joined the waitlist but we probably didn't need to because they weren't very busy. The dining room is not huge but can accommodate big groups. I think this place would benefit to make their interior a little nicer. Have some decorations or color to help make the restaurant more inviting to customers.

Also, they've got multiple locations in the Bay Area like in San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont, and...

This place is BOMB! My friends randomly discovered it and we've been coming here ever since.

The fish is of good quality and very fresh, the rolls are flavorful and HUGE (like no joke, you only need ONE...TRUST ME), and the service is awesome.

My favorite roll is the Umami but I've also had the Aloha and Kakuna which are both delish.

BTW, super affordable for sushi. Three rolls (remember, they are HUGE) and six pieces of nigiri (also big) is just $65. This is enough to feed a family of 4-5.

The place is a little small, so if you're going for lunch, I would suggest getting there before noon. The first time I went, it got busy right about then and there were no tables left. The second and third time I went, it was not overly crowded, but I can see it getting busy about noon-ish. Not sure how this place does on the weekends or for dinners, but lunches seemed to get packed fast.

This restaurant is in a standalone structure so there's plenty of parking.

Would def go back and can't wait to take my family!

Yay for good sushi...