Kanpai

I have only had their rolls. I love sushi so the bento boxes are to simple for me. I would love it they had more complex and traditional rolls and not just the Americanized ones. So far this is one of two places I know that serves sushis

Friendly place with welcoming owners. I sat at the bar and had fun talking with them.

In a non-​descript strip mall sits this family owned sushi restaurant across from Heavy Seas. Extremely friendly, attentive service in a well lit space. Wide range of appetizers, sushi and soup. The food is good — not spectacular — but it is the welcoming smiles and ambience that brings me back. You should give it a try.

Kanpai is a friendly little neighborhood place I like to walk to for dinner because it’s located a merciful half block from Wilson Blvd, making it possible to enjoy the patio without as much intrusion from angry rush hour traffic, passing Harleys, and the noble but rarely quiet work of the Arlington Volunteer Fire Dept. It’s usually very calm and laid back during dinner hours — full disclosure: I’ve never been during lunch.
It’s a small, family run place, really friendly, and when you come in the door everybody working there treats you like you’re one of their best customers coming back in. I always feel happy walking in the door because they are all act so thrilled to see you. The folks who run it are earnest people who work hard for a living and it’s nice to be able to support people like that.
The best thing about their menu is that there are unusual things on it. Their sushi list pads the find-​them-​everywhere California rolls and spicy tuna rolls with more unusual options like salted plum and natto and not-​found-​everywhere big ticket offerings like bluefin tuna and sea urchin. Their regular menu has interesting stuff like teriyaki eel hiding in among the usual offerings. There’s a nice variety of options, and they pad them with small but nice little freebies including a salad with an orange zest dressing that I swear to you I’m going to hide cameras in the kitchen one day to figure out the recipe for.
Quality is a bit more hit-​or-​miss than I’d like; I’ve got my favorites, like the nabeyaki udon noodle soup, which is fantastic, and the chirashi (slices of raw fish on rice), which puts what is usually their really good sushi-​grade fish on display. There are other menu items that just don’t cut it at their price point; I’m a fan of this place but also honest enough to admit that the teriyaki chicken I had there (I’m hooked on good teriyaki chicken, even if it’s not the most adventurous thing out there) can be matched by a mall food court. As always, though — nobody is making you eat that.
Like a lot of places (especially small, family run places that don’t have focus-​group recipes and supply chains optimized by computers), they have some better days and worse days in the kitchen, but I’ve never had an outright bad meal — just some that were more forgettable than others. That’s a hazard that comes with the territory, but I still have a much more human experience and a much more genuine meal than I feel like I’m having when I go around the corner to some of those polished, branded, corporate places like Piola and Asia on Wilson and that means a lot to me.
Kanpai isn’t serving michelin-​star food at discount prices but it’s a great option for a good meal in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere, which is exactly what I’d hope for from a family run neighborhood place. Everybody should have a couple of those, and Kanpai is one of mine.

I didn’t expect much after average or bad reviews, but I love this place! The prices are reasonable, the sushi is great, and the service is attentive (granted I’ve only come here for dinner when it’s practically dead). A friend ordered a non sushi dish (I think it was the teriyaki chicken) and wasn’t so happy but as long as you stick to the sushi you should be fine.

The food was okay, nothing special. The service is what really brought down the rating. My friend and I arrived and were seated right away but then a group of ten arrived and sat next to us and my table virtually became nonexistent to the waitstaff. The waitress immediately attended to the larger group and took their drink and lunch orders and left, never coming back to my table. I literally had to go up to the front and be like hello where is the waitress?!? When she finally came back to take our order my friend asked for a roll and requested no fish roe and our waitress rolled her eyes at us! How rude! She had already forgotten about our table and then to roll your eyes is so unprofessional. But guess what, when the food came out, my friend still had fish roe on her sushi. Shows you how much the people working here care. Never going back.

I wish Unilocalers would give this local, family owned place a break. I’ve been living in the neighborhood for six years, and this place was one of the two to three restaurants in Rosslyn that provided fresh food and friendly service. My husband and I never had a bad experience here. The family who owns this place works hard and does their best to maintain the quality of their food. Five stars for taste, cleanliness and consistency. The Rosslyn-​Courthouse-​Clarendon main drag has developed rapidly over the last five years and will continue to do so, which means more food and retail options are coming to this community. Great news! Kanpai needs to continue serving fresh, tasty menu items to stay competitive, and the rest of us can either support local spots like this one or amass enough snarky reviews to squeeze them out and make room for more robotic chains.

I love sushi but everything else that comes in that lunch box didn’t impress me. I only eat california roll however the waiter told me it was best to get the lunch. Here it comes were quality wins over quantity. I only wanted my california roll and end up with a bunch of food that i dont even like! If you come here you better now your palate.

I’ve come here a few times for lunch. Always found it to be small portions for expensive prices. The sushi rolls have very little fish in them and have a lot of rice. Also I have to spend around $ 20 bucks to be full at lunch.
They have a nice patio with a good amount of space. However depending on the season the sun beats down quickly by early afternoon. Try to get a covered umbrella table when you can.
Unfortunately the most recent time I went, I requested the open umbrella table and was told I could not sit there as it was «reserved» and was put at a different table and had my table split from a 4 top to a 2 top because my lunch companion had not shown up yet (despite several open 4 tops). Several other individuals were seated alone at 4 tops while I had my table split. This confused me as I had another companion joining me too. We also ordered two entrees each given my earlier comment about small portions. Sure enough the sun started baking us and I was rushed to finish my food.
I will not be returning. The covered 4 top was available for 15 minutes until they seated a random pair there who sauntered in. I accept how expensive this place is but I will not spend that kind of money AND be discriminated against. I suspect they were hoping a bigger party would come and would want that table. All it did was lose them a customer.

I ate here for lunch the other day with two business colleagues. I was on limited time, had to be back in the office by 1 PM. It was a beautiful day, sunny and nice. My colleagues arrived first. The servers were rushing about. We ordered. Sat for 20 minutes, no food. Finally I had to go. Colleagues ate and brought me my order as take-​out. Food was good when I ate it 2 hours later. Server explained that they were short on both food prep staff and waiter staff. I don’t know if I will ever return here for lunch, guess I’ll see if it is crowded first, and turn away if I see lots of people.

Food is fresh. I would never take that away from them. But in the rolls, the fish is nonexistent If you need protein order the the nigiri. You stand a chance of receiving fish with your rice. Gyoza is deep fried instead of pan fried. I guess that’s personal preference. Meh.

Their crispy calamari is worth a try. The sushi was average.

So I’m very disappointed. I picked up an order. I ordered rolls but can barely find the fish. All rice. $ 25 later. Endo is SOO much better. Even Café Asia or Sushi Rock. FISH IS NOT FRESH.

I love this sushi spot. I come here all the time. I disagree with the person who says this is pricier than Café Asia. Staff is incredibly nice.

Living in Rosslyn, this is my go-​to sushi place. They are a little pricier than Café Asia up the street, but MUCH better and the staff is nicer. Their miso soup is on point, hot and lots of it. I’m a veggie, so for veggie sushi, they are pretty good. A little more variety would be nice. Friends of mine are happy with their California and Spicy Tuna rolls.
Staff is very friendly and great for takeout. The place itself is fairly small. They have outdoor seating which is pretty lovely. Easy location with parking.

Working in Roslyn there is a pretty good selection of lunch options in the area. Of these, Kanpai is definitely one of my ‘go to’ places, especially if I am meeting with someone. Busy, but never really packed, the staff has always been welcoming and eager to please.
There menu features the full range of Japanese options. Only going there for lunch, I will admit to usually going for one of their standard lunch Bento Boxes. But they have daily specials and I have branched out to bowls of various kinds of noodles over my many visits. Whatever I or my companions have ordered, the quality of the food has never disappointed. The soup has been hot. The sushi has been fresh and flavorful.
In the good weather, it is very pleasant to sit outside under the umbrellas!
If you haven’t tried Kanpai, by all means do so. You’ll be glad you did.

We decided to try this place for dinner because we had a groupon. Even with the groupon, it was overpriced for the food we received. The only good thing we liked were the tempura asparagus. Wierd sounding, but they did taste good. I don’t remember what my husband had, but I had the gyudon. It’s so easy and simple that it’s the comfort food I frequently ate in Japan. This gyudon was awful though; I think they put an entire onion in it. I can eat onion in my food, but it was to a point that I had a napkin overflowing with excess onion that I was picking out.
There are several better food choices in this part of Rosslyn, like Café Asia a block down the street.

I have been working in Rosslyn for over a year and half, and I have tried lunch from Kanpai twice.
The first time, in 2013, I got the chicken katsu lunch special. The katsu was deeply over fried. Failed to satisfy.
The second time, in 2014, I got the Kanpai Lunch Box ($ 8.95 + tax = $ 9.84). Per the menu, the lunch box consisted of 9 pieces of rolls, tempura, and «Japanese pickle.» I got a side salad with ginger dressing, 9 makizushi pieces (3 California, 3 cucumber, 3 salmon), tempura (1 broccoli, 1 shrimp, 1 squash, 2 sweet potato), a small scoop of white rice, and a side of 2 pieces of broccoli and 1 piece of carrot. Where is the pickle? Again, failed to satisfy.
The only thing I like is probably the ginger dressing; it is refreshing with a vinegary taste and at the same time, sweet with fine carrots.

My boyfriend and I have recently moved to the area and this place is one block away from our apartment. I got a groupon and was really excited to give it a try.
This is what we ordered:
–Fire Roll — very spicy, but still pretty good
–STTR Roll — it tasted good but I thought it was a pretty small roll (in diameter, I didn’t think you got a lot of food).
–Chicken Yakitori — chicken on skewered with vegetables. good, but nothing special.
I thought this place was just too expensive for what it was. The food that we got was good, but not great for the price. In addition, they don’t have prices listed for their drinks. So my boyfriend ordered a Sapporo and I ordered a Kirin light and those were 11 and 7 bucks respectively.
On the bright side the service was good and the place was clean. We just didn’t think it was anything special and after spending 70 bucks on just okay food, we probably won’t be coming back. There are just so many other good sushi restaurants not far from here that i’m willing to pay for.

Solid 4.5 stars mostly because this place has the best tasting wasabi I have ever had! Their sashimi portions are on the sliced thin side, but their ginger, wasabi, and ginger-​carrot salad dressing is fresh as can be. We got baby octopus with the teriyaki sauce on the side and it was cooked just right. The ama-​ebi nigiri was deeelicious and decently priced.
Most everything else was a little on the pricy side especially for the portion size, but you pay for what you get. This place is tiny and authentic and the customer service is impeccable!
Pretty sure every person on the staff welcomed us when we walked in and thanked us when we walked out. I felt like a celebrity and I will be returning. Looks like they have good lunch specials.
Make sure you call in beforehand to check the hours if not on the weekend, I think the first time we tried to come here it was closed!