Kabooki Sushi - East Colonial — Restaurant in Orlando

We visited Kabooki on Saturday 1/9/21 for our one year wedding anniversary. One of our favorite things to do for special occasions is go out for some great sushi. We've visited several other local sushi spots in the Orlando area and we've had our fair share of sushi ranging from cheap to excellent quality. While we have never dined at Kabooki before, we saw some pictures online and read some of the reviews and thought it would be a fun place to try on our anniversary. We were blown away by the food and the service!

My wife and I met while working in a restaurant many years ago and we fully understand the importance of the steps of service to ensure the guest has a fantastic dining experience. They nailed it 100%! Our server James was fantastic. He had an in depth understanding of the menu and took the time to fully explain the specials they were offering. In my years of restaurant experience I have to say, always go with the servers recommendations. We are so glad we did!

The Atmosphere: The restaurant has a great ambiance, the music wasn't too loud, but loud enough to help drown out the conversations of the other guest. The lighting was dim and romantic while still light enough to see what you're eating. The décor was very modern and well designed. It was a blend of wood and porcelain tiles on the walls accented by some beautiful up lighting behind the booths.

The Service: We never had to ask for anything. James was very attentive, always seeming to be present when we needed him. He was one step ahead and anticipated our needs before asking. Water glasses never empty, plates cleared moments after a course was completed. And the food was delivered quickly and presented beautifully.

The Food: It's hard for me to describe the experience we had with the food. At times I found myself speechless while enjoying our Nigiri moriawase. The chef selection of fish was beyond exceptional. Each piece of fish was presented with a garnish that added complexity to the fish while not distracting from the quality of the fish itself. Each piece was treated delicately and almost melted in your mouth. Often times my wife and I will talk about which piece was our favorite, and as big otoro fans we expected that to be the star of the show. Looking back it was hard to say what was the best, the hotategai (scallop) was mind blowing, the hamachi was phenomenal, the saba was unreal. We also enjoyed the Waygu Tartar, which was absolutely out of this world. The Focaccia bread was warm, and crunchy on the outside while soft and delicate on the inside. The waygu was chopped beautifully and seasoned perfectly, while still being able to taste the beef as well.

We finished the meal with the Chai Crème Brule and again, they absolutely perfected it. It was topped with a beautiful pear compote and a cream with what tasted like yuzu and fresh basil. The combo paired perfectly with the chai spices in the crème Brule. Well done!

Final Thoughts: This may be one of our new favorite date night restaurants. Go there for the food, Stay for the ambiance and feel like royalty with the service. Be sure to try the tastings from the specials menu. They are well thought out and done to perfection. While this dining experience was not our cheapest sushi stop, I feel it was well worth it for this...

The Orlando area is fortunate to have a few pretty good sushi spots. Kabooki is one of my favorites and really should be at the top of your list if you love good sushi.

It's fairly unassuming and stuck in a tiny strip mall plaza. Nothing super fancy looking and far away from the high rent districts and fancy tourist stuff. It's not a huge place, but has a mix of fun 2-seaters and booths as well as sushi bar seating. The decor is nice and the restaurant is always clean.

Most nights there's likely to be a line out the door, so make reservations. They're on Open Table so you can see availability and book easily.

We've been here quite a few times. This time Kimberly was our server. Super nice and knew the menu well. Was able to make suggestions and tell us about her favorites. She kept our drinks full and checked on us regularly.

No appetizers tonight, but the edamame has always been a go-to. It was all business and we went right to the rolls (from left to right in picture). Descriptions taken from the menu:

Akami & Unagi⭐⭐⭐⭐ spicy tuna, tempura kampyo, topped with BBQ eel, avocado, kabayaki, micro kaiware, furikake

Hokkaido⭐⭐⭐1/2 lump crab, tempura flake, avocado, tobanjian, aioli topped with scallop, black garlic, orange chili sauce

Louis Vitton (LV)⭐⭐⭐1/2 lump crab, tempura flakes, asparagus, orange chili, topped with blow torched wagyu steak, shiitake crema

Heat Roll ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was the special. Very delicious and best of the rolls we had. Kill me now, because I can't remember exactly what was in it. Looks pretty, though, right? It had a spicy kick with Serrano pepper, but not bad at all.

Chill Roll ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ora king salmon, hamachi, masago, chives, tobanjian aioli, avocado

Star ratings are somewhat subjective. All of the rolls were good! The special Heat Roll was obviously the favorite, but the Chill and Unagi were delicious as well. The LV beef wasn't quite as flavorful as I've had before. The Hokkaido just had a different citrus-y flavor that wasn't quite my thing, but may work for you. The scallop and crab were very fresh on that roll as I could say for all of these choices.

Of course we had drinks, too! I prefer my saki warm, and the Sho Chiku Bai hit the spot. The Touresella Rose paired well.

We'll be back again soon. Might have to check out their other location near Dr. Phillips one of these times. If you're looking for great sushi then you have to try Kabooki! Don't forget that...

We made a reservation through Resy for a 5:30 pm reservation and let them know we would be celebrating our 5th anniversary. We dine at this location monthly and have always given it no less than 5 stars. Last night was totally different and quite upsetting honestly.

We arrived on time to an almost empty restaurant. Upon stopping at the hostess stand I was told they called to confirm reservation but whom even answered said they had no clue about dinner. They had the wrong phone number. It was my old one that had been changed 6 months ago and we have had numerous reservations with them.

It really didn’t matter as the restaurant was empty anyway. I asked if she had my special request and she said the 5th year anniversary. I replied yes. She then took us to the worst table in the restaurant. The one directly straight from the front door which is centered between the bar and the kitchen preparation. Noisy to say the least when every single booth was available. This was my fault and I should have spoken up.

The server Madison was very nice, personable and knowledgeable. She helped us with the menu and made some great food suggestions. We sat down at the table at 5:33PM and our bill was stamped 6:05PM. So in approximately 30 minutes we spent over $180.00 including tip. At no time was our anniversary recognized. Not only did we sit in the worst table, served and digested our food faster than McDonalds, no offering of an anniversary dessert or verbal recognition. I asked for a manager who finally showed up and the first thing she said was we had your phone number wrong in the reservation. What a brilliant manager she was skill with zero sense. We will not come back here again; but the food is always delicious so we will eat at their other location.

So sad of an experience as like I said we eat here regularly and the food is always delicious. I find that a lot of businesses are failing due to the apathetic nature of some employees now a days. I hope the owner of this restaurant reads the review, confirms what I am writing and try’s to improve on the experiences before it is too late and another restaurant failure that must close there doors because solely of...