Kanpai Sushi — Restaurant in Pismo Beach

The finest Sushi & Japanese food bar none in this area. The owners & waitpeople are super-nice. There is often a wait, but it is well worth it, if you are craving good Sushi. The Sake & on tap Japanese Beers are another great offering. For this area, the prices are quite fair.

If you opt for the traditional Sushi Bar experience, Tony & his team will craft you some amazing treats. Tony, the "Pop" of this Mom & Pop place, is a great conversationalist & chef. He has an amazing memory for his customers preferences & names. At the Bar area, you will never know whom you may network with that also loves great Sushi.

If you are more into a hefty meal, the "Cheers" assortment, which has tons of great assorted eats, will surely fill a table for two. If your companion is a light eater then you will have left overs for sure. They will also modify the choices based on diet...such as Vegetarian.

Some of my favs here are the Soft Shelled Crab App., the Hamachi Collar, Fried Shrimp Heads, & whatever the Chefs can dream up.

The Japanese Beer sampler will give you a better idea on which to select. On the last rotation, they offered a Bonito "Unmani-enhanced" Beer, which was light, yet addictive.

The only drawback here is that they are so truly excellent, that it is hard to get spot if you come later.

Since I have tried hundreds of Sushi places in my life, and most in the area, I feel that this local place is far & away superior to all others within hundreds of miles.

No hype here...only a truly great experience. The Shell Beach locals are so blessed to have Tony's place...

This past September when my wife and I were vacationing in Avila beach, we were hungry and looking for a reputable sushi spot to satiate our palate. After much back and forth and a lot of hand wringing, we decided to go to dinner at Kanpai. Initially we were going to reserve our table but because of our indecisive delays we ended up missing the window for reservations but decided we'd walk in anyway. When we arrived we were told the wait was approximately forty five minutes which for a weekend night seemed pretty reasonable. So we hit the nearby Depalo & Sons market and shopped for some souvenirs and after dinner libations while waiting. My wife and I walked back into Kanpai with about five or ten minutes to spare and they promptly called us back to our table. Our server, a shorter young lady with a very cheery disposition, was a pleasant and welcome sign of things to come. When we ordered an appetizer (the name of which escapes me for the life of me) that was unavailable, she suggested the pork belly as an alternative and it was insanely good. It was thick, crispy and the sauce paired with it was a fantastic addition that helped cut through some of the richness of the pork. The rolls we ordered were delicious but my favorite was the spicy tuna with yellowtail, jalapeno with sriracha on top. The fish was crisp, fresh and spicy - all the beautiful things I love about properly crafted spicy tuna. So if you’re around the central coast or Pismo Beach and you’re in the mood for good sushi with excellent service and a wonderful ambience, Kanpai is the...

Every time I come back to the central coast to visit my family I have to come here! Best sushi around. Went on a Wednesday night and we were there right at open with a reservation at 4:30. The food was excellent as usual but the service was not great that night. They were pretty staffed it seemed and most tables full, but I've been there many times where it was much busier and line out the door. Our server checked on us ONCE the entire 2 hours there. It took forever to get food because she was waiting on a larger table that came in after us and kept going back to check on them. My friend and I spent well over $200 and had to flag down the busser and hostess to even get food and drinks. When our waitress did come back I ordered some house hot sake and, she mumbled something, never made eye contact and walked away. She finally returned with it 15 minutes later and had gotten the order wrong and gave us a cold bottle of sake that we had not ordered. Before I could say that we had ordered hot, she ran on to the next table and I again had to flag down another waiter not serving our area to correct the mistake. She then came back with the house hot sake and told me I had ordered it incorrectly and to speak more clearly to her next time which I thought was incredibly rude. The table next to us even told me they heard me correctly and she just seemed frazzled. Will still come back over and over again because it's my favorite, but maybe more staff or less tables per waiter to alleviate some stress and blaming...