Kanpai Japanese Steak House and Sushi — Restaurant in Virginia

When my husband’s birthday came around this year, we were so excited to make our first trip to Kanpai. There’s nothing better than dinner and a show for a birthday celebration! Evidently, we weren’t the only ones who were celebrating that evening, as we found out from our table mates.

After being seated quickly, and taking a moment to say hello to the good people we’d be dining with, a swift server came by and took our drink orders. My husband chose a refreshing Bold Rock Hard Cider, and I finally decided on a bright pinot grigio.

For our first course, we first breathed in the scrumptious Shoyu Onion Soup broth, then we enjoyed eating it, complete with its fried onions and full mushroom flavor. It was delightful! Next, we freshened up with a lively field greens salad, topped with a traditional carrot ginger dressing.

All the while, as we dined, the entertainment was going full-swing. You think I’d forget to tell you that our chef was outstanding? He had a fun personality, and truly elevated our evening with his little rice bites that he hurled at each of us, hoping we would successfully catch them.

To watch all the colors of our food - the yellow egg yolks, the white rice, the green broccoli, the red peppers - dance together, all on the table before us, was a spectacle to behold. But nothing compared to the fiery onion volcano he set up for us!

Magically, our plates were filled with sauteed mixed vegetables, egg fried rice, and teriyaki chicken, right before our eyes. And when I tell you that this dinner plate was delicious each and every bite, I’m not exaggerating.

The vegetables were crisp and tender, all in the right places, for a cheerful bite. Somehow, this fried rice had a perfect texture as well: it was cooked through, so it was tender inside, but there were caramelized bits along the edges for a flavorful chew.

Ah, and now for the teriyaki chicken - the main event! Such tender, juicy chicken, it really ticked all the boxes. It was fresh, full of that sweet, salty, slightly spicy Teriyaki flavor, and cooked perfectly.

All in all, this evening out was such a memorable one! My only regret is that we didn’t order more appetizers. We actually couldn't finish our plates, so that wasn’t an issue, but the apps looked so good at our table that we knew we had missed out. Don’t make...

I used to love going to Kanpai. My last experience was not good. The chef I had was new which was okay, but he over cooked everyone’s steak and under cooked scallops. The server also never gave us our complimentary soup and salad. We were there towards the end of the day so our server left after her shift without letting us know, she just disappeared and we were looking for her for a while. Completely unprofessional. We spoke with the new server who said she would talk to someone which to me she never did. I walked to the back to get someone. When I spoke with the manager, she seemed like this has happened before and she didn’t care. All I asked for was a 10% or less discount for the inconvenience on all parts but she told me “no, we don’t do that.” and “i never heard anything about the scallops” (meaning the server did speak with her but she never came to the table to address the situation), which made no sense because I was informing her just then because we just found out. I even asked for just the scallops to be taken off but she didn’t want to do that either if some of the scallops had been consumed. She wanted someone to go through her food and pick out all the scallops she had cut up and mixed into her food but if uncooked scallops are all over, the food was contaminated. I just didn’t understand the big deal. The manager just walked off and left it at that. It wasn’t even about the food at the end of the day, it was the unprofessionalism and inconsideration. I shouldnt have had to tell a “professional” that someone’s food was contaminated, that should have been a given and some sort of steps should have followed. Unfortunately me and about 6 others will not be eating at this...

Met a friend here for lunch at 1:00 on a weekday. My friend was running late so it was between 1:15 - 1:30 when she arrived. An older lady came over to seat us. She was very friendly. A female server came over & took our drink orders & brought our soup & salad out quickly. We ordered, the chef came out & prepared our food. He was also very friendly & funny. The food was good, but about halfway through eating our food we immediately felt rushed. The lights were turned out in the dining room across from us. My friend motioned a male server to come over & refill her drink (he was staring at us along with the female server.) As he was bringing it back to her you could see the irritation on his face. As we continued to eat, the male & female server just stood & watched us (like prison guards.) I yelled over & asked him, “Are y’all closing, why are the lights out?” He said, “Yes we close at 2:00.” We had no idea they close at 2:00 (neither did the other party at the table with us), but to seat someone at 1:30 & expect them to be done by 2:00 at a restaurant like this doesn’t make sense. The servers didn’t have to be so rude. I was also here a couple of weeks ago in the evening & we had the same male server. Everyone in our party felt the same negative vibes coming from him, like we were being rushed. I suggest that if you do your last seating at 1:30, just politely let the customer know that you close at 2:00. That way they are aware to go ahead & eat & not sit around & talk (or make the decision to place a to go order.) Once you’ve made the patron aware that you close at 2:00 the servers don’t need to stand around & stare at them. That’s just rude. Allow them to finish...