Kenichi

I work in finance on commercial real estate, involving many restaurants. This restaurant is currently in OFF season. I went in to buy a friend dinner for his bday and sushi was the same price as ON season. It was $ 21 for a spider roll, which can be found at $ 7 in your local Denver sushi joint. This is 300% more than regular price. I get that it’s Aspen, but the owner is clearly not a finance major. In competitive season, you raise prices; off season, lower prices. Yes, competitors are mostly closed right now, but most hotels are currently booked, and we were the only people there! In the bar area was happy hour until 6:30pm (I came in at 7pm). However, looking at the individuals in happy hour, everyone was solely ordering drinks! I unintentionally argued with the waiter and told him the owner needs to lower prices to bring in occupancy, thus meeting his utilities pmt for the month. He said «we’re already losing money on happy hour.» Look, it costs, what, $.50 to make a roll? And you then sell it for $ 7, you’d still make a profit. Now multiply that times 4 rolls per table, times 20 tables. See? Plus drinks. Do the math. Anyway, don’t waste your time here during off season unless it’s happy hour. And owner… Lower your prices ASIDE from happy hour or close during off season. I’ve worked in the seafood and Chinese industry. Please feel free to call for help. Thanks.

First of all, the sushi is uninspired and soggy. Secondy, the servers are borderline incompetent. Huge mistakes on the drink orders, the food order, and overcharging on the bill. Last, but not least, the charged a 23 percent tip on the table. After the crappiest service ever, on a group of just four. The place has gone downhill is the biggest way. Sad to see. Go to Matsuhisu, it’s worth the extra bucks.

Liked it so much my daughter and I ate their twice in a row for dinner… what else is there to say!

We dined here twice during our stay in Aspen– once with a large group and once for date night. Each time, we turned away the menus and had the server just bring us the best and most fresh dishes. Neither time disappointed. The wild boar gzoya was one of our favorite dishes in all of Aspen. The rolls were great, but the appetizers and crudos were the best. My favorite sushi spot in Aspen.

Great sushi and sashimi. Ask for Japanese rock peaches as dessert. It’s not on the menu.

This my second visit of the season and I’ll say I had a much better experience. The food was as I always knew it to be. The staff, especially Scotty, was great! We arrived at 6pm (early) before the kitchen staff was overwhelmed and each dish was great! I highly recommend the crispy tofu, dynamite shrimp, black cod, Negimaki, wok seared spicy edamame, I could go on & on. The key is to get there early before the chaos ensues.
Great meal!

This is a review for a large group experience in the private room. We were blown away with the price of our meal by the end of the night. BEWARE when the server offers to do the menu for you — we really should have set more guidelines with him. We definitely mentioned that we wanted sake for the table, and nothing pricey (we specifically used the term «good value»), and the server sent out 4 – 5 bottles of $ 130 sake. These were not big bottles, they were small. I’m sorry but that is not value. We really felt like the waiter took advantage of racking up the bill on us and we will be extremely aware of this if we visit again. However, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for him to double check with us before he opens 5 damn bottles of $ 130 sake. Totally taken advantage of at this place. Just beware.

Food was ok. The experience was less than wonderful. We felt rushed through our entire meal. Finished and out in an hour.

It was good! Not as pricy as I expected!

Fabulous place, great food and atmosphere. Must try the hamachi with jalapeño/​basil sauce, yum!

Excellent food! They had several delicious options for vegetarians as well. The staff was wonderful and food came out quick. I would highly recommend eating here!

The food is excellent! The service is also very good! My son fainted at the restaurant and the staff was very attentive and concerned. We loved the food so much we went a second night without a reservation. Again, they were very accommodating to us.

So many gluten free sushis, lay back, friendly, really tasty dishes.
If you are by yourself, seat at the sushi bar: Jason, Leonardo… are really friendly while they are making your sushi.

Food is delicious. Service is terrible. Our waiter continually tried to up sell without regard for the number in our party. One of our orders was cancelled in the kitchen but we were not notified. Our waiter ‘got busy in the back’ he shared when we asked where it was. Our table was not ready when we arrived (booked for a birthday celebration) so the tentative hostesses sat us in the very back of the restaurant. Buying us a drink at the bar while we waited for our booth would have been a nice touch.
There are other great choices in Aspen for sushi– we will choose those next time.

Didn’t know that they had happy hour! Super excited to find that out. Half off sushi rolls — but I think they only do that in the off season. They had some very creative rolls. Pretty good. Good atmosphere. Loved sitting at the sushi bar and watching the chefs. Amazing!

I now understand the extremely diverse, love it –or –hate it Unilocaler mentality about Kenishi. We were there on a slow night. First timers. I discussed my concern about «dynamite lobster» being too spicy with our server, who promised they could make it mild. It came completely doused in spicey sauce and was not lightly tempura fried as expected but thick, crispy battered fried, like chicken. Yuck. But I was too ravenous to send it back. What saved the day was 2 pc appetizer of exquisite tuna sushi that melted in your mouth. I wish I’d stuck with sushi. My companion’s chicken teriyaki had a strange flavor I did not enjoy, although I give credit for being full of nice green broccoli and asparagus… For a $ 100 meal, I was greatly disappointed.

Excellent! No Krab served here! We had Rainbow Roll (Great!) Kenechi Special Roll (Great!), Spicy Tuna Roll (Great) and the Lobster Roll (Great). All tasted very fresh! The even served an orange and pineapple after, nice touch — something that reminded me of my favorite Japanese sushi joints!

It is always nice when I am home to go and eat some world class sushi. I have traveled all over the world and had some phenomenal sushi. Kenichi can hold its own when compared. The blacken cod is just amazing! People have complained about the prices being high, but factor in rent and food cost for high quality seafood, roll that up into the fact it is Aspen then you have to choose if you want to pay the price, it’s Aspen! Playground of the rich and famous.
If you want to step up your dining experience. Sit at the sushi bar (when it’s slow) and ask them to just make whatever. This is one of my favorite ways to dine. But be warned that this can set you up for a more expensive tab by the end. Mainly because you will want to keep eating and experiencing the array food that is placed in front of you. Grab a nice cold sake to pair with the meal if you want to go all out.

The best dining experience in aspen… Where do we start:
Wait staff — so nice and patient. Or server let us taste a few different sake before we ordered bottle
Sushi bar — insane. We sat next to a local who ordered beers for the sushi chefs — how awesome
Fish — amazing — fresh — and delicious. We had a few Custom rolls that blew me away.

The prices at this place is pretty up there. But apparently sometimes they have a happy hour menu at the bar. The sushi I got I thought sas just mediocre and the cooked foods were alright, nothing that really wowed me. In fact I’d like to point out that the fish was not cut properly and the calamari was just too thick. The sauce that came with the calamari though was really good! If your going to pay full price just go to Matsuhisa instead. You’ll get your money’s worth there.
This place primarily gets more locals coming in. But that doesn’t mean it’s more authentic or that it taste better. I think it’s a more loyalty thing. Overall though it seems that if your travelling alone and not wearing some top notch they’ll a little weird about serving you?