Kaiyo Grill

Best meal of our Islamorada vacation. The dumpling appetizer (steamed), the Brussel sprout appetizer (with yummy dipping sauce), and the sushi rolls were delicious. They serve mostly beer and wine along with sake, sangria and bellinis. If you like sushi, you NEED to go to Kaiyo Grill when you’re in Islamorada.

After a disappointing anniversary dinner earlier in the week I decided to head to Kaiyo Grill.
Overall the food was outstanding and the service was solid. The Brussel sprouts were unbelievable and the pork dumplings tasted outstanding and freshly made. You may have to wait a little longer than expected for sushi rolls but it is all worth it. You can tell they take great pride in their ability to wow you with their food presentation.
I would definitely come back and recommend anyone to try it out.

I have eaten here many times, the food is amazingly good and service is both pleasant and fast. I highly recommend it.
Charles and Bella

It really pains me to write this review because it’s one of our favorite restaurants in the keys. My friends, residents of the keys, go at least once a month with groups of 7 – 10.
Last night we went and had a great dinner with some friends and their kids. The restaurant was full and loud as it usually is. Our kids, 3 of them, ages 8,9 and 4 where telling us funny jokes and stories and the whole table was enjoying themselves. After we asked for the bill, Mel who works there, came up to my friend to ask for our kids to keep it down. That they were screaming and people were complaining. I am usually very sensitive to our children being rowdy and loud, as I don’t want them disturbing others, so I would have noticed if they were being loud. It was completely uncalled for specially given how loud the restaurant was in general. I’m sure it had to do with the fact that our table was the only one with children. Moral of the story, don’t bring your children unless they are consumed by their iPhones.

So so!
We Brussels sprouts to start and I thought they were tasty; salty and sweet. I ordered the fillet which I thought was overly salty. It came with potatoes and asparagus and they were even more salty. My husband and friend ordered rolls. Our friend enjoyed his rolls and sashimi but my husband thought his were just ok.
While the food was a mixed bag, so was the service. The hostess and our server were nice. But the woman who poured our water and bused the plates was not friendly and even gave our server nasty looks and mumbled under her breath. This made me uncomfortable and changed the atmosphere of the meal. I probably wouldn’t go back…

While Kaiyo still delivers fine food, for those who loved the original sushi-​based restaurant with its enthusiastic and high-​energy ambiance, it is disappointing to see the new emphasis on the «grill» element of the menu. For now, it is an excellent restaurant — it is just not so special these days.

A lot of very solid things about this place! First off, we didn’t have reservations on a Saturday night and they fit us right in. Second, the appetizers are unique and really enjoyable (the eggplant chips and asparagus tempura are amazing). Third, the salted caramel cheesecake will change your life.
The points that could use improvement are sadly the sushi, which I was really excited about trying. It was just okay, which is a shame for how fresh the seafood available was. Our waiter was also slow, but one of the owners was there and very attentive. Overall it was a good meal, with just a few tweaks to get it to 5 stars!

The Mac and Cheese App is a must! Every time I’m in islamorada this is a must… I love it and the ambience is great inside and out. Cute little bar as well! Make sure go make reservations!

My girlfriend and I had our first visit to Islamorada, and everyone kept telling us about Kaiyo Grill. So we decided to try it out. It was our one year anniversary so wanted to do something a little upscale.
We got there, it wasn’t too busy; found parking easily and we were seated right away. Sat outside because the inside seemed loud. The hostess (possibly manager) brought us some water, then it took a good 15 minutes for a waitress to come out and say hello. This is the main reason for the 4 stars vs 5 stars.
The food was delicious, it took us a while to figure out what to get. I saw great reviews on the Drunken Scallops and the photos looked like it was delicious. So that was my choice. It was very good. The scallops were cooked great, nice and tender. The sauce was phenomenal!
My girlfriend is very new to eating fish, she tried the hogfish with the Macadamia Crust and mango sauce. She loved it!!! It was very good.
After we finished our meals, it again to a little while to come out and bring us the check. Another turn off was, that she didn’t offer any desert, rather she just brought the check and that’s it.

This is by far my favorite spot to eat at in the keys and one of my top favorite restaurants ever. It never disappoints. Service is excellent, food is amazing, and restaurant overall has a great atmosphere. The menu is diverse ranging from sushi, to fish entrees, duck, chicken, etc. If your looking for a delicious restaurant to eat in the Keys, this is it! Recommend any of the sushi rolls, Hirosa Style Fish, and the dumplings. Oh and their daily bread pudding dessert is always to die for

After two visits, I have landed on three stars. At a slightly lower price point, they would have earned four stars, but part of my ratings are value based, and this restaurant is a bit overpriced for what you get — even for the Keys.
The Good:
— The rack of lamb special was amazing! Really, really, really good and a generous portion. They presented us with a full 8 bones of meat. It was just ever so slightly overcooked but still tender and flavorful. Too bad it’s not a standard menu item.
— The sushi and sashimi are very good (but see my note below in the Not-​So-​Good section).
— The Kale Caesar salad was a nice change from the regular romaine lettuce that everyone else uses. We liked this enough that we ordered it on both visits.
— They have some great recipes and know how to prepare fish very well.
— I’ve never been to a restaurant before this one where the sushi, sashimi, and entrees were all top notch. Usually restaurants that try to do all of this either fail on the sushi or the entrees, but Kaiyo Grill hit it out of the park on both sides of the menu.
The Not-​So-​Good:
— The sashimi prices are absolutely ridiculous. My fiancée ordered a roll and four different sashimi selections (three pieces per selection). That added up to $ 64 just for one person — and it took that much to be a meal — Ouch! That’s about double what a typical high end sushi restaurant would charge. It’s our fault for not asking, but the «Market Price» sashimi were $ 11 – 12 per three pieces.
— Service can be a little spotty. My iced tea glass was empty as much as it was full.
— It is VERY noisy inside.
— There are mosquitoes outside and they don’t have any mitigation strategies (such as a citronella candle, or even a bottle of Off to offer).
— They allow smoking outside. I find it ridiculous that restaurants of this caliber would allow smokers to ruin the evening for non-​smoking guests — or basically force them to go inside to get away from it.
4 star food, 3 star service, 2 stars for the mosquitoes and the smoking being allowed outside, 2 stars for absurd sashimi pricing = 3 stars overall.
If you don’t care what you spend and don’t mind getting ripped off price-​wise, you will love the food, and quite honestly, we’ll probably be back next time we’re on Islamorada.

Always absolute perfection.
We always make one Islamorada dinner out a Kaiyo night and this last visit was just as good as it has always been.
The ginger pork dumplings and grouper cheeks are delish and do not leave without a piece of the white chocolate macadamia pie! It was so good we took another piece to go.
Aside from the food the aesthetics are great and they are kid friendly.

Been great for as long as I can remember coming in… 8 or 10 years maybe?
B28 (sushi) was amazing! Great staff. Great wines which is a challenge to find if the keys if you drink vino. (Green Turtle is awesome too for vino!). Prices are good (except the specials) quality is great, place is cute better for a date than a family thing and clean

Nice place. Little bit noisy, but friendly. Expensive and «worth it» food. Great outside tables. Blueberry salad must have;)
We was waiting so long for sushi. After NYC, 25 min for sushi Plato is too much