Kanpai Denver — Restaurant in North Carolina

On the evening of 2/19/2024 a close friend of mine and his family decided to try Kanpai, excited based on the buzz around town about the new restaurant. When having dinner, he and his family were told about 'half-off Monday' where the waitress specified the items on the menu that they could get for half off. Trusting his server for her word, him and his family ordered their food and enjoyed their dinner until it came time to pay. When receiving their checks, they saw the discount was only a few dollars, they asked the server for clarification. It was at this point that she told them that the deal is actually a BOGO type deal taking the cheapest items that are paired to receive the half off. My friend voiced his concern that this was not what they were told, but it wasn't a big deal. One of his family members had a bit more of a problem with this than he did and she told the server as much. The server became irate and pointed at a miniscule sign by the bar that vaguely mentioned the BOGO 1/2 off deal. Not aligning with what the server initially told them. The server gave a $25 discount on one of the checks (which totaled $50), but also gave a $25 discount on a $130 check. The family member of my friend saw that this was not equitable and asked further about it. The manager came to speak with my friend and his family to which she began to verbally berate them. When it was obvious the manager didn't know what she was doing, they asked for the owner. The manager then told them, "You can get the owner yourself." and pointed to where the owner was sitting. She then walked over to the manager and spoke to him for five minutes while looking at my friend and his family, but never making to move to address them. Still not having paid for their food, my friend and his family motioned to the owner for him to come speak to them. When he did, he yelled at his server in front of the entire restaurant, and the proceeded to yell at my friend that he didn't want their money, and didn't want them to ever come back again. Do what you will with this story, but just know that the owner and his manager don't feel they need to be accountable for their words in order to run...

I have been a patron and fan of Moon’s restaurants and Hibachi food style since “Sushi @ the Lake in Cornelius” many years ago, but I was extremely disappointed in my visit tonight, and all I had was take out.

We know that the food here isn’t fast food like the competition around the corner and don’t mind paying more, and waiting a bit longer for takeout to be ready.

Tonight I placed my order just after 6pm and was told it would be ready in 20-25 minutes. Upon arriving at 6:27, I met a bustling restaurant that I was happy to see as they are typically slow when we visit for lunch or dinner on a week night. I was eventually greeted by the hostess and provided my name as was requested when I placed my order. She then asked if it could be under another name? Oh no! She shuffled to the back and upon return told me she had found my order and would let me know when it was ready. I paid and even left a few bucks tip for takeout. Then I sat…..watching one order after the next go out the door. Another 25-30 minutes pass and my order finally arrives. Great! The ever optimist in me thinks….this food has a chance of being still “dine in” hot when I get it home. We live 7 miles from Kanpai. I rush home and unpack the to go bag and realized we were missing a few items. For both meals, I had not received salads or soups that are included in the almost $60 price point. In addition, the food was cold as if it had been sitting in the back for the 25-30 minutes that I waited.

I called and spoke to the manager who ensured me that nothing could be done to remove the charges for either left out item unless I drove back to the restaurant, which I declined in order to spend time with my family on Valentine’s Day.

Unfortunately I will probably be back out of sheer necessity and a hope that they can correct some timing issues and ensure orders are packed properly, even when busy. That’s what makes the difference in $6 vs. $60...

I wanted to like this place so bad. Tonight was the third time trying and I have been disappointed each time so unfortunately will not be back.

First time was a Togo order and thought it was overpriced for the quality

Second time was dining in and the food this time was decent (ordered hibachi since I didn’t have a good experience with sushi the time before) but the service was HORRIBLE! We had to get up and get napkins, soy sauce, plates, silverware, chopsticks OURSELVES. Because we could never find our server.

Third time we sat at a high top in the bar area closest to the kitchen. Service and food tonight were horrible. Took an HOUR to get two orders of sashimi two orders of nigiri and a chicken hibachi.

We watched my fiancés hibachi sit in the window for 30 mins. During this time the chef placed a bowl over his rice. Then about 10 mins later took the bowl off and put a bigger bowl over the whole plate. Then took that bowl off and held his hand right over his food (I’m assuming to feel if it was still hot) WHICH IT WAS NOT. It was cold. When our server that was also bartending came to ask how the food was I told her his was cold and she said oh no let me fix that. And my fiancé asked her to put the new one Togo since again we had been sitting there an hour waiting for it and we’re ready to leave because of frustration.

She brings the bill and the “new hot food” Togo. He opens it up tries a piece of the chicken and it is still just as cold. And she still charged us for the cold food.

Do yourself a favor and if you live in Denver just make the extra drive to go to EEZ...