Kema by KENAKI — Restaurant in North Bethesda

Much like Kenaki, the menu is full of innovative and exciting Japanese dishes, with inspirations from other cultures.

Restaurant: The wait staff and employees are very friendly and will check up on you often to 1) clear out any empty dishes, 2) ensure that everything is to your likings. Something to note: you order at the counter and give your table number and the food will be brought out to you. The entrance to the restaurant is inside the mall and not accessible from outside. As soon as you enter the mall, it's on your left. The place is small and looks like it's designed to accommodate dine in and allow you to do takeout very quickly.

Food and Drinks: Their Guava Lemonade is very refreshing especially for hot summer days along with some of their appetizers like the spicy cucumber, which was pickled very well along with an occasional spicy kick that makes it very fun to eat. They brought over many popular items from Kenaki, things like Kuromame (black edamame), and their signature Maki Rolls (black magic, old bae, etc), but also feature new items that I opted to try this time around. The shrimp tempura was very delicious, fried and battered well, and the roasted garlic aioli added a very creamy, intense umami pairing that highlighted the shrimp very well. The Hamachi Grapefruit Crudo was very delicious and wasn't too sour from the grapefruit, actually balanced the fish perfectly. If you like raw fish and want a party of flavors in your mouth, this one is a go to. I was also able to be first to try their special uni handroll! If you like Uni, like me, definitely give this one a try, they added ikura on top which bursts with flavor and added a shiso leaf in the middle which adds an almost minty flavor that complements any fish. Lastly I had the Chu-toro Don, it comes pre seasoned and you just mix the bowl around and enjoy the fatty tuna over rice and this one is a banger!

5/5 would recommend this place to anyone if you're looking for good quality food! Very excited it's close to where I live so I'll definitely be coming back soon! Thanks again to all the staff for their hospitality...

Housed in a cute mini mall, you might not realize the absolute gem this place is!

We ended up here for a family celebration, as hubs paid off his student loans and we wanted to go somewhere new and good.

I will say this, every time I end up at a midrange sushi place on the East Coast I am thoroughly disappointed. I literally will eat sushi for 7 days straight when I'm in Seattle or LA to get my fill, and then not eat sushi here till my next trip west.

Recently I've been on a mission to find decent sushi joint out here as my west coast trips have declined in frequency.

Kema does not disappoint! From the concept (high quality food at a midrange price point), to the presentation, to friendly staff, everything (as the kids say) slaps!

We ordered: The Deep Sea Hand Roll - this was fantastic. Flavorful and quite large.

Crispy rice + spicy tuna - flavorful, lovely texture from the rice to complement the tuna on top.

Karaage - my husband loved this. Will probably try the Hot Chick next time.

Black Magic - my son's fave! Although he did say, nothing here is not my taste (high praise from a 9yo!!)

Green Monster - this one blew me away! The smoky flavor was an unexpected flavor punch in the best possible way.

Edamame - standard fare, good to munch on through the meal.

We finished off with the Strawberry and Banana Parfait, which I think my daughter could have eaten 3 of. This is their signature dessert - it was the perfect balance, and most importantly not overly sweet.

This place will deservedly get many...

Not giving the empty window seats to us Asian customers on your opening day, when there is only one white group there was a kiss of death for my SO. We were delegated to the back with the rest of the Asians. Han Gong did that to us years ago on soft opening and we never ordered and never returned. Second problem was you have to go to the register and pre-pay like a Chinese take out cause in da hood, you don't know whether the poor folks of Potomac will dine and dash. Stark contrast to the decor which was nice, with a nice ambiance. The menu was kinda strange, not typical of your Japanese places. The prices fair, but the quality of the food reflects that. It has fancy souped up presentation but low on substance. Making the crudo over-priced. The rolls, were typical of what you would get at a Chinese take-out in Germantown. The staff did well to serve us. Overall, I am sad that it's looking to be a lower end Asian place for the non-foodies. It does not have what it takes to be one of your higher end Potomac Asian places at this point. So back to our routine weekly trips to Rakugaki. Mind you, Rakugaki has mostly Asian customers but we kinda know our...