KYOJIN Sushi — Restaurant in Washington

I think Kyojin is going to be a Georgetown staple restaurant. This place is no joke and is an incredible Japanese food experience. EVERYONE should put this spot on their list of new restaurants to go to.

The atmosphere is phenomenal and the restaurant is stunning, it's kind of where the old school style of underground hidden speakeasy / cellar atmosphere meets modern colorful Japanese mural & tapestry designs, bright colors on old school bricks and rocks. Also a stunning bar and like an open room to room set up with fitting music in the background.

The staff is well informed, attentive, alert, and very professional. The perfect amount of info was given as each dish was delivered, with tips on the best way to eat each dish. Great service and timing for the food.

The menu has a perfect mix of rolls, sashimi, nigiri and more fun sharables. One of those menus where it's so hard to choose because everything seems so good, and a great diversity of options to explore. They mentioned they're also developing more of a hot plate menu which will compliment what they already have beautifully, and I can't wait for what is yet to be added. From what we ate, I think this chef is amazing and will be put into a bigger spotlight by the press very soon, and he without a doubt deserves it. His spins on the cuisine here are incredibly creative and innovative incorporating beautiful combinations of seared foie gras & caviar atop different cuts of proteins with phenomenal plating and cool sauces. Each dish was so finesse driven, with notions of salty, sweet, spicy, and sour in pure harmony, and they all looked as delicious and elegant as they tasted. Also THE best calamari I've ever had, like eating a lightly spicy cloud of fried squid. The signature dish The Winner is an absolute MUST to order. The food here is bomb. The menu is also very correctly priced for what you get.

The cocktail I had (Kyoto in Jerez i think) was so simple but so delicious, I could down 10 of those easy, and was on point with the food, and the rest of the drinks seemed on point for the concept and food menu. The wines were also set to pair great with the food menu in general. We had Billecart Brut Champagne and it just added another dimension to our food in the best way.

I am really excited to see the full potential of this restaurant going into the fall and I will definitely be back many times more. HIGHLY HIGHLY...

From the moment we walked in to the moment we left, Kyojin was an unmatched experience. The ambiance, decor, lighting, and art were all perfectly curated and beautiful.

I'm sure all of the servers are incredible, but if you can, I would highly recommend asking for Dokie. She was the cherry on top of our evening. She listened to our preferences, helped guide us through the menu and had wonderful recommendations. We ordered the following items.

EDAMAME (spicy basil garlic sauce) (8/10) - Fresh, hot, tasty. The spicy basil garlic sauce was super flavorful but definitely has a bite, do not recommend unless you have a decent tolerance for spice.

KYOJIN SIGNATURE BUN (8/10) - A pretty standard bao bun, which I love! The A5 made it special though, very tasty.

KYOJIN HOUSE MADE GYOZA (10/10) - The combo of A5, pork and lobster made this an exception Gyoza packed with flavor. Wish it came with more than 3 - I could have eaten 3 myself!

YUSUZUKURI STYLE White Fish (9/10) - This was a special and unique plate to Kyojin. You are able to pick the fish and flavor style. This was a Dokie recommendation, and was delightful! Super light, white fish that melted on your tongue and paired perfectly with the finger lime caviar, wasabi truffle, chili yuzu, white shoyu garlic ponzu, yuzu oil

THE WINNER (12/10) - BEST BITE OF THE NIGHT! The eel melted on your tongue and the tuna could not have been fresher. The truffle oil, balsamic reduction, eel sauce, pink ginger sauce, black bamboo salt and red lava salt further elevated this dish. This is a MUST order and again, I thank Dokie for the recommendation!

All of these rolls were recommended by Dokie. We were a bit overwhelmed by the long list of rolls, so leaned on her expertise to guide us to the best ones on the menu. She was candid with us and led us to the following 4 rolls, all of which were unique and delectable; two of which having ingredients I didn't previously enjoy (uni + scallops) but have found a new love for!

SPICY TORO WITH UNI ROLL CREAMY SCALLOP ROLL SOFT SHELL CRAB ROLL YUME ROLL

Truly a beautiful experience from beginning to end. If you have not yet visited, I highly suggest planning a special...

It pains and confuses me to see this place receive reviews that are anything less than five stars. Kyojin is THE go-to spot for an elevated sushi experience, delicious cocktails and incredible service. I say this as someone who got to experience Kyojin amongst the first few weeks they opened (and typically, with new establishments, service and menu knowledge is kind of rough because of the staff and team members being new - was not the case here).

Came here to celebrate a girlfriend's birthday - we had Jess (or Jen) as our waitress - she was incredibly knowledgeable of the menu and gave incredible suggestions of things to try based on our group's interests/preferred fish/preferred ingredients.

We started with the Iberico pork gyoza, Calamari and the Tuna Tartare - all three starters were delicious and I'd highly recommend starting with them all - the gyoza was so flavorful, the calamari was crispy, tender, and the batter and the orange chili sauce it comes with, I wanted to drink - it was THAT good. I'm usually not a tuna tartare person, but this was so fresh, and unique soy Toro wasabi chips they're served with were the perfect accompaniment.

For dishes, we got the Toro prepared Tatatki Style which was out of this world - I typically wouldn't order something like this (one of the girls that was part of our group did and she made me try it - I am so glad that I did!), the Kyojin roll, which was INSANE - they do not skimp on the lobster, either.

Lastly, cannot end this review without discussing drinks - one of my friends and I got the lychee martinis - they were top 3 best lychee martinis I've ever had - our other friend doesn't drink and the chef made her this super cool mocktail and even invited us to the bar to watch us make the mocktail because mocktails shouldn't be boring. The mocktail was fire (no, literally, there was fire involved in the crafting of the drink) and it was so fun to watch.

All in all, Kyojin gets a 10/10 from me. From the vibe, the service, the food, the drinks, seriously, I cannot wait to come back and sit at the bar and the...