Kiwami

Whoever gave this place anything over 1 star has never had good sushi. This place is very over rated. Ive had better sushi from whole foods. Small portions, cold when it’s supposed to be hot, more rice than flavor. Worst spicy tuna ever, not even close to decent.

I love getting the omakase here. I come here when I want to splurge on quality sushi and they always deliver. I leave it to the chef to give me the best cut because who knows better than the chef right? It’s great for a date night and won’t fail you! Service is always on point with a friendly staff and quick.

This is our favorite sushi spot. These are our favorites. Spicy tuna crispy rice w/​rice extra crispy. 4 ½ roll. Baked crab hand roll w/​avocado. Seared albacore w/​crispy onion. White fish w/​yuzu. Not in that order but order all of those and you will be happy as a raw clam

I wanted to throw up. Don’t go here.
Waited for an hour and when they finally came they’d clearly FORGOTTEN our order. They asked what we were still waiting on when we HADNT RECEIVED ANY FOOD. And then when they finally brought the sushi, it had HAIR in it. We just left.
Really sucks cuz I heard it was good, but really just bullshit.

If you are looking for an adventure in sushi this is the place. Numerous specials unique to the place, rolls galore, solicitous staff. They honor reservations, do not come without one on a busy night. Valet parking is free at lunch. Many options for now sushi eaters, teppan, both chicken and shrimp, tempura, teriyaki both fish and chicken and some beef dishes as well. and if you are into TV stars, being just down the block from CBS and Universal makes this a hotbed of activity for them at lunch time

My first time at Kiwami was last night with some friends and it’s a beautiful little sushi bar (I eat sushi now! Look at me Alexa growned up!) that is quiet, has a genuinely peaceful and authentic (not that I’d really be the expert on that one) feel to it… and some slammin’ sushi.
Oh the albacore. The spicy tuna rolls. The edamame (best I’ve ever had). The miso. Yum. Yum. Yummy.
My friend, who comes here often is a regular and so once we were recognized we got that little bit of extra special attention that makes you feel valued. Not that we got anything free (I would never expect that) or that they spent extra time chatting but they were very friendly with my friend and kindly explained to my other girlfriend and to me how to order properly in a proper sushi restaurant (I.e., not a whole foods).
Vegan options were not plentiful but my vegan friend was well taken care of. My other friend, who has to be gluten free due to a medical condition, was given extra assurance that there was no cross contamination, which relieved me because this friend used to work for me and I’ve seen what happens when she touches gluten. Poor woman.
This place is a gem. The fact that it’s in walking distance of all my other favorite places is even more amazing.

Sorry not sorry. I went in to this place last night after avoiding it for a while because I just had a feeling that it wasn’t good contrary to how busy it is and other reviews. Moved to the area recently and we are hitting every restaurant in that little stretch of restaurant/​sushi row.
I’m all about the whole dining experience, especially in a sushi place. Went in on a Wednesday, so I’ll attribute the extremely bright light and no music to that. I like to sit at the bar, which the chairs height didn’t match. I’m 6′ tall and the bar was pretty much at my chin. Fail.
Ordered salmon belly and yellowtail belly sushi. The width of the sushi was literally no wider than my pinky. I was shocked. We proceeded to order the cold dish special of the night which was toro tartar with black caviar and gold flake on top. The tartar was the consistency of foi gras. I think they are trying too hard. We sent the dish back. We stopped ordering food so that we can walk across the street to save dinner at a really good gastropub. Won’t be eating here again. Not what I expected from a «Katsuya» restaurant.

They are good… not that great…
but outside patio is pretty cool :)

LONG REVIEW — read below.
SHORT REVIEW — skip to bottom paragraph that says conclusion.
MAKE RESERVATIONS
You don’t want to come here without a reservation, even on a weekday.
PURSE HOLDERS
I like the baskets for your purse thing. Hate putting my purse down onto the ground and oftentimes end up just putting my purse on the chair behind my back so that it’s off the ground.
SEATING
There’s a patio area and indoor seating. I checked the forecast and found that it was going to be chilly at 8pm when I booked the reservations so I opted for indoors, and am glad that I did, because the patio is pretty open. People commented here that its patio is cute, but walking by it didn’t seem like all that. If you want a nice patio area view there are better places for that, like Firefly down the street, or Aroma Café nearby. I didn’t like that we were seated inside smack dab in the middle of the restaurant so I requested a table by the wall so we were out of traffic and they were pretty good with accommodating that request, despite the busy 8pm time that I was there, so kudos to them for that. Didn’t have to wait to be seated with reservations,
but then again, it was on a Thursday. Parking is valet.
Now onto the crux of the meal:
TRAY FOR 2 RAKU MORI
We started with Raku Mori (Happy Tray) which has 3 types of sashimi served on ice, and came with spicy tuna crispy rice and choice of a handroll (one was something sashimi and another was seared bass. because my friend doesn’t do sashimi, I requested they do their seared thing for her).
Sashimi was masterfully done, the fish was marinated just right. They had halibut, salmon and some scallop over sliced kiwi, which was so sweet, tender and fresh it was like a dessert, the texture like lychee. Too bad there were only 2 pieces of it!
ROBERT ROLL
Spicy tuna, crab and shrimp topped with avocado and spicy sriracha mayo. It was good.
FAMED SPICY TUNA ON CRISPY RICE
No doubt it was good, but then again can you really go wrong with fried white sweet rice? You can get the same thing at Gyoro Gyoro in Encino with their spicy tuna pizza, which is their equivalent to this and just as tasty. I was expecting more from the rave reviews — perhaps those people hadn’t been to Gyoro.
TEMPURA POPCORN SHRIMP ROLL
I ordered this and requested an alternative to spicy tuna because we already had that in the robert roll and crispy rice dishes, so they gave us the option of it being over a california roll, which worked out great. The shrimp was good (again, how can you go wrong with tempura, shrimp and a sweet sauce?) You really can’t mess this up. It was good, but left much to be desired in the way of portions. They shrimp were very small and batter could be fluffier? For this being the upscale version of Katsuya, I was expecting something different.
CONCLUSION
I am glad I browsed Unilocal ahead of time because they didn’t give us the menus that had items
I saw here on Unilocal until I requested it from the waiter. Then they brought out a laminated plaque menu that included the tray for 2, which I ordered. They ran out of oysters so didn’t try that, and didn’t have time to try their banana crêpe that looks so good in pictures here — next time!
I would say all in all Kiwami is good, but nothing that any other moderately priced competitor can’t handle. Portions here are small, and I ended up eating a second dinner once home. My friend ordered their lychee drink which came in an impressive tumbler (impressive because it was a big lychee ball). The drink came in a separate glass that you pour over your lychee ball. I’ll have to try it another time. I would suggest Gyoro in Encino if you haven’t tried it. If I come back to Kiwami I’m curious to try their Sunset Roll and crêpe dessert with the caramelized banana. Can’t complain that any dish here was lacking — just saying I had higher expectations.

The restaurant is nice and clean. They offer complimentary valet parking during lunch and they charge less than $ 5 for dinner.
Our server was attentive as well as the rest of the staff. We ordered the lobster tempura, it was crunchy and topped with a sriracha cream sauce. So good! We also ordered the spicy tuna cut roll and crunch roll on rice paper, also very delish. The green tea tempura ice cream is a must have. Everything was scrumptious!

If you like sushi then you will like this. If you KNOW and LOVE sushi then this may not be the place. It is far from traditional, contrary to other reviews. The happy hour wine is served in an offensively small glass (but is only $ 3…). Costumer service is great! I certainly did not have a bad experience but I do hold my sushi to higher standards.
Reference: Served at an actual traditional Japanese restaurant for 2 years, 10+ years sushi guru

Not the best sushi I’ve had, but the presentation of the food was very nice. Portions are very small, we had to order a lot to get some what full.

Were do I start?! This place had it all… Starting by excellent service, orders came in promptly, and every single thing we ordered was delicious and great quality, but the roasted duck definitely stood out! It was the slowest dish to show up, but the waiter kept letting us know it was on it’s way. And when it came it was soooo worth the wait… It was beautifully cooked to perfection, it would just melt in you mouth… Wonderful experience, specially after having lunch at a pretty bad mexican food place called Loteria earlier …

I always get the Kiwami tray. The best!
@ lunch for $ 20 you get
2 pc albacore with crispy onion in ponzu sauce
3 pc yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño
2 pc salmon sashimi with chopped avocado and onion
Baked crab roll
4 pc spicy tuna on crips rice
So fresh, so tasty, beautiful prsentation, great variety of the best things Kiwami has to offer. Love it every time!
Also, the ceviche special is very good too!

How can you go wrone with 16oz $ 1.50 Kirins! They were great, staff was very friendly and their happy hour should not be missed. I got the three hand rolls that were amazing. Worth a shot to check it out if you are in the area and and want some great sushi!

This restaurant is basically like every other Katsu-​ya owned restaurant. The menu is very similar, with some very minor differences. What I really liked about this particular location is that they have an outdoor patio which is very nice to sit at especially during the summer.
I have to say, the portions here are much smaller than other locations and the prices are somewhat more expensive. Nonetheless, the food is very delicious. We ordered the crispy rice, albacore sushi, baked eggplant with albacore, salmon with caviar, creamy salmon roll, spicy tuna roll, baked crab handroll and a few other dishes. Essentially the same things we order at other Izakaya and Katsuya locations/

Ventura Blvd has many great sushi places, probably best collection of sushi restaurants in all of USA. This place combines a touch of modern décor and traditional sushi. For modern sushi lovers like me this place has a lot to offer. It is pricey, not a place to pig out on sushi. Elegant dish designs but small sizes.

Everything is terrific and many unique and original dishes.
Salmon with crème frais and caviar is a standout.

My baby brother Peter C. just finished high school, and after his graduation, my family came to Kiwami for a celebratory lunch. It was a good choice – casual and relaxing with good food.
The place was pretty busy, maybe in part because of graduating seniors (my brother ran into at least a couple of his classmates), but it didn’t feel crowded or hectic. We got a comfortable corner table near the sushi bar. Service was good. Our waitress seemed to be attending a ton of tables, carting around a board listing daily specials, but she was always there when we needed her, and seemed generally pleasant.
The food was solid. We get take-​out from Katsu-​Ya in Encino now and then, and Kiwami was as good or better. I know there’s a lot of top notch sushi on this stretch of Ventura, and Kiwami is probably in the upper mid-​tier when it comes to price and quality. It’s affordable for lunch, and I imagine not insane for dinner. We shared a bunch of lunch combinations, and this worked well, with plenty of food to go around.
We started with a Kiwami Tray, an assortment of little appetizers for a reasonable $ 20. This came with seared albacore with crispy onion, yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño, salmon sashimi with chopped avocado and onion, baked crab roll, and spicy tuna on crispy rice. Not much of each or anything, but a good spread nonetheless. I missed out on the salmon and the signature spicy tuna on crispy rice, but I had bites of everything else. I enjoyed the seared albacore, which came buried in sweet fried onion, and the yellowtail with jalapeño and ponzu hit the spot. The baked crab roll was nice, too, mild and sweet, wrapped in rice paper.
For the rest of the meal, we ordered a few things a la carte, and then went in on a few sushi lunches and a sashimi lunch. Each lunch set came with a small salad and miso soup, and a side of rice for the sashimi. The miso soup was good, and I liked the salad, which came with a bunch of greens and cucumber, tomato, crispy wonton bits, and a light dressing on top. I don’t think I can name all the fish that came in our sushi and sashimi combos with much confidence, but I’ll do my best. The sushi lunch came with nine nigiri, a mound of spicy tuna, an eight-​piece California roll, and a little salad of vinegary cucumber and seaweed. I think the nigiri were tuna, yellowtail, salmon, snapper, albacore, octopus, egg, shrimp, and eel – I could be wrong about the yellowtail and the snapper. You know white fish, they kind of all look same to me. (I know they’re not necessarily white fish – just let me have the dumb joke.) The sashimi came with a few pieces each of a similar spread, with six varieties – I think tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore, snapper, and octopus. Basically, nothing in these lunch combos was top shelf, exciting stuff, but it was all pretty fresh and tasty. For the kind of sushi that pops up in fancy omakase meals (which Kiwami does offer), you have to go off the daily special menu. I got some live sweet shrimp from there, and this was good – slippery and chewy in that nice raw shrimp way – though not the best I’ve had. It came with the heads deep fried on the side. We also supplemented our meal with some good old spicy tuna roll. I’m not picky about spicy tuna rolls – I love them from grocery stores and cafeterias – but I do think Kiwami’s was very good.
I was happy with our lunch at Kiwami. I liked the food and atmosphere, and thought the price point was a reasonable match for the quality. It was a good place for Peter’s graduation lunch, and I’d go again pretty readily for a nice sushi meal.

Came here for a lunch date yesterday afternoon, I’m glad we had a reservation because it was sooo busy.
We were seated right away and the hostess offered a basket for my purse and warm towels for our hands.
We had a bottle of Frank Family Chardonnay, 2 Kiwami Trays, the lobster roll grilled and the spider roll.
All of the food was divine! So, so good. I definitely recommend for a nice lunch!