Kahala Sushi

Came by on an afternoon on 06÷15÷16 with my BF. Service was definitely on point. Our server’s name was Matt (?) I believe. Not too sure, but that’s what it said on our receipt. Either way, his customer service skills were awesome. Food was great. The only downside was that it was too pricey.

This is a small sushi place located inside Zippy’s. Small, intimate, and very good food. Three people in our party had the chirashi sushi, which was very fresh and tasty. I had the tempura zaru soba, a delicious lunch for this hot weather. Tea and water refills were prompt and the service friendly. Will definitely be coming back here.

Wow. Zippy’s has sushi? Well, actually it’s Kahala Sushi WITHIN Zippy’s. Unlike Zippy’s they’re not open 24 hours. Still — you’re technically at a Zippy’s location. Went with some folks to Kahala Zippy’s — I’ve seen the building with the Zippy’s sign right under the freeway before for ages but this was the first time I’d actually been to it. Inside it still sports a fast food look — there’s a small dining area for those who want to get sushi — separate from the regular dining area and we were the only ones there aside from one other table of people. I got the sushi combination B — which was a lot of sushi for one person but I scarfed it down with my beer. Never thought of Zippy’s as a place to get either sushi OR beer so I thought that was pretty cool. I got sunburned earlier in the week so I’m sure that had a lot to do with it but I think their AC was blasting pretty darn cold too because I had to drink a lot of tea just to keep warm. Quality was decent and prices weren’t bad. Would definitely come back. At the northwest corner of Waialae and Hunakai streets — adequate amount of parking in the parking structure.

Japanese food is the center of me and my family’s culinary appetite. Living in Hawaii, on Oahu, we are lucky to have boundless choices of Japanese restaurants. One of our favorites is Kahala Sushi, located in the Kahala Zippys. We enjoy frequenting Kahala Sushi for many occassions. They are affordable while offering enough food to satisfy your appetite.
Not typically a creature of habit when it relates to food, but I always tend to order the Chef Special, formally known as the Kahala Special. This special comes with sushi, udon and tempura. The sushi is amazing — fresh and big pieces. The udon is perfect — oishii and warming. The tempura is on-​point — crispy and golden. These three together make the perfect combination to satisfy your Japanese food craving.
Great service. Great food. Kahala Sushi is a must for those searching for a good option to authentic Japanese food outside of Japan.

Let me just be clear the 2 star is not for the service but for the store.
Ate here wednesday and this poor boy works the whole sushi area by himself and the place is packed! All tables taken the bar area is full and he even has to do take outs. The waiter was very attentive and still found time to do the little things like walk the take outs to the customers refill drinks and even service the bar at a less than convenient location. I asked him if someone called in sick and he said no. Its like this every Wednesday! I hope zippys knows how lucky they are to have this young boy. We waited a bit but that’s to be expected. Once he comes to your table you feel like you have his undivided attention. Even asked some questions and explained the menu to us while he clearly has so many things to do! Food was great service was exceptional. Zippys please take care of this waiter. Its always sad to see good service leave because the business doesn’t appreciate them

When somebody says take out party platter from Zippy’s, I think about sliced and seared Portuguese sausage and chicken katsu. When somebody says take out sushi, I think about a Kozo sushi platter that is just OK as far as quality but very good in terms of pick up ease and convenient locations. Kahala sushi is a mix between these two. Decent quality sushi at a higher price.
On New Year’s Day, I sampled the 52 piece Deluxe platter. There were four nigiri pieces of ikura, tako, ika, ebi, salmon, hamachi, tai, eight maguro, and two cut up rolls, about 12 pieces, of California roll. Presentation was very nice with the wasabi molded into the shape of a leaf and a couple of lemon wedges carved into something Swan-​like. There was the usual plastic greenery to separate the fish. I ate many pieces and all in all it was very good for take out sushi. Definitely recommended!

Came here for a quick post-​graduation lunch since it was nearby, open, and convenient for the most part. It’s been over a year since I’ve been here last, and sadly, the quality has gone down.
The waiter was attentive and gave good service; it was the food that disappointed.
I ordered the sashimi and sushi combo, most of which was good. The portions of fish were large and thick, the fattiness of the fish made for rich bites. Oddly enough, the salmon nigiri and salmon sashimi tasted different — the nigiri was fishy therefore not fresh while the sashimi was not fishy. I could tell the sashimi were previously frozen, and I could look past that, but the fishiness of the salmon nigiri threw me off, especially since I ate it before eating anything else.
I did like that they rearranged the space to allow for more seating compared to before.
Considering the price, I did not expect old fishy sushi.

This is THE spot for quick, delicious, fast and GENEROUS cuts of sushi. It is like the official sushi hangout for my friends and I. Freshest Hamachi I have had since the fish market in Tokyo. I don’t know if the chef does it for everyone, but because we were regulars, he always slid us extras and special things he was trying. I love this place, it’s no ka best!

Well, this is a first for me – having to write a scathing review on Unilocal!So, I’ll just state the facts. Yesterday (TU 5÷26÷2015), my husband and I attempted to place a take-​out order 5 or 6 times, but no one answered. Finally, a young woman answered my husband’s cell call, and proceeded to place us on hold for 9 minutes or more — by which time we had driven to Kahala Sushi, just a few blocks from our Kahala home.
When my husband went inside to place the order, he still had his cell on hold, showing the girl with whom he had spoken (who lied about being alone), as well as a male «manager.» He told them that this horrible customer service was just unacceptable, placed our order, and told them what time he would return to pick it up.
The «manager» said, «Is there a problem?» To which hubby responded, «There will be if our order is not ready when we return,» and left it at that. /​/​Picked up the kids at Punahou, and returned to retrieve our order. Uneventful. /​/​
Had dinner. /​/​At 4 a.m., hubby and I both awoke with rocketing diarrhea and projectile vomiting, preceded by stomach-​crippling cramps. It reached its full impact at about 7 a.m. this morning.
Now, 12 hours later, I still am too ill to drive anywhere for food, or to pick up the kids. THIS IS THE WORST CASE OF FOOD POISONING THAT EITHER OF US HAS EVER HAD! And the worst part is that we both believe that 1 or 2 of the people with whom hubby spoke when he placed the order in person INTENTIONALLY TRIED TO MAKE US VERY SICK — AND SUCCEEDED.
State Health Department involved:
Earlier today, we filed formal complaints with the State Health Department regarding the individuals involved, and the events that transpired. We believe that they likely committed a criminal act. We are now cooperating with law enforcement to the extent requested by such.
Since neither hubby nor I ate anything else at all yesterday, except for our usual bottled waters, and since we both ate ALL of the sushi and sashimi, and nothing after, we are 100% certain of the source of the poisoning, and are pretty certain that their malfeasance was intentional. And that’s a CRIME. /​/​
DO NOT EVER RISK YOUR HEALTH BY EATING THERE, and if you do, don’t get anyone mad at you — because God only knows what they put into our food in retaliation.// If I were able to give them zero or negative stars in this review, I would, but 1 is required to be able to post.
A word to the wise is sufficient. Stay away, and stay healthy!

Love their sushi! Really nice large fresh cuts and soo reasonable. Had better sushi here than at Sasabune!

I had eaten here before and I enjoyed the noddles. So last night I decided to dine in for some dinner. The waitress was decent. I asked for some tea and she came out with a nice cup of hot tea. If I didn’t inspect the cup before drinking the tea I would have been drinking straight out of a dirty cup that still had a previous lady’s LIPSTICK stuck to rim! Right then and there I would have stood up and left. But since I was hungry I decided to just stay. Be aware of how clean the utensils and sliver wear are before eating or drinking.

I had the spicy ahi bowl here. It was the right size, with the right amount of fish and the right amount of spice. I think it was about $ 14-​$ 15 dollars and came with miso soup. I do like salty, but I would say everything is just a tad on the salty side. Service was underwhelming — with my daughter waiting and waiting just for water. The food came even before the water did.
I would come again… I mean, it’s a sushi joint in Zippy’s. Parking is easy and abundant in their structure.

Kahala Sushi @Zippy’s:
We used to frequent visit here for take out sushi. Sushi was decent 15 years ago. We stopped coming here due to we found better places to visit. Recently we received a gift card for Zippy’s and for the first time we learned this place is a part of Zippy’s!
Lunch take out, 20+ minutes wait but sushi was decent still. But the set menu volume is so much, and additional rice and miso soup. I recommend you order individual sushi’s what you really care for.
I rate 3.5

Kahala Sushi used to be one of my favorite sushi places back in college. They had decent quailty sushi for an affordable price. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed during a recent vist there.
Overall, the only way describe my visit there tonight was that it was very uncomfortable. There was only one sushi chef making sushi and the restaruant was packed — when we got there, there were only two seats left at the bar. Given that the place was so packed, I understood that the wait for our food would be long. What I didn’t expect was that there would be 2 – 3 waiters/​waitresses crowding around the poor sushi chef demanding for their orders.
For example, one waitress from the Zippy’s dine-​in side was terrible andi would come in every 5 minutes demanding for her order. The first time she came, the chef said that he had many orders in front of her and that it would be about 15 minutes. The waitress had a little hissy fit and kept asking the chef why couldn’t he make her order faster. She came back every 5 or so minutes thereafter, continuously asking where her order was and asking why the chef couldn’t work any faster to get her order. I really wanted to scream at the waitress and say, look around lady, the sushi side of this restaurant is packed and everyone wants sushi. You just have to wait your turn!
I seriously felt so sorry for the sushi chef and it was a very uncomfortable experience to witness. I really think that Zippys should not let people order sushi from the take-​out or eat-​in side of the restaurant. Either that, or they definitely need more sushi chefs to make sushi.
After this experience, I really don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon.

I had been here once before and hadn’t returned there since, for good reason too. I had forgotten how junk the service is and even though the sushi is good, I’d rather spend good money on the whole experience elsewhere.
I recently went to kahala sushi for a late night dinner (they close at 10pm, not 9:30). It was pretty empty and we sat at a little booth. Seating here is pretty limited, but I guess you could get take out and eat in the seating area right outside if it was crowded.
We tried to order a salmon skin salad, but they were out of lettuce. The conversation went a little something like this:
«We don’t have anything with salad»
«So can we order the teishoku (which comes with salad)?»
«Yes, but it won’t have salad»
«Can you substitute something in place of the salad? Soy beans perhaps?»
«We can give you soy beans, but you’ll have to pay for them»
Hmmmmm. Guess were not ordering that. We ended up getting the Kahala special which comes with a small variety of nigiri, tempura and udon. We also ordered the salmon battera. I wasn’t quite sure what battera was, but it ended up being pretty good. It’s pressed sushi rice with a layer of shiso leaves and salmon sashimi on top. There was also a weird jelly thing, but it worked well. Was it worth $ 13? Ehhh, it was ok. The Kahala special was good. The udon noodles were decent as was the nigiri. The tempura also had a decent selection of vegetables. Was it worth the $ 17? Ehhh…
This place is weird. I feel like I’m in a zippys but they serve me decent sushi and I’m paying way more for food than if I just ate on the regular zippys side. They have specials that change monthly like the zippys specials, but the specials didn’t really catch my interest. I’d rather have sushi elsewhere, I’ll stick to coming to zippys for regular zippys food, not sushi.

I’m not sure why there is so much criticism of the prices at Kahala Sushi, as it is pretty much in-​line with any other sushi place in its class. I think it is because the sushi bar happens to be located inside of Zippys that people expect it to be similarly priced. By that logic, people would be happier if it were lower priced and lower quality simply because it is more in line with people’s expectations. Gotta love the internet…
Many of the other reviews of this restaurant seem to only compare it, price-​wise to Mitch’s or Sasabune. I’m not sure if it is to build credibility by name-​dropping two of the most elite sushi restaurants on the island or what, but I can think of a few other places with similarly-​priced sushi (within a dollar or so for Nigiri) to Kahala Sushi: Tadashi, California Rock n’ Sushi, Maguro-​Ya, Mr. Ojisan, Doraku, Odoriko, and Sushi King, to name a few. The price for chirashi and sushi/​sashimi combinations at Kahala Sushi are also similar to these restaurants, and in a lot of cases less ($ 23 for Chirashi at Kahala Sushi, $ 27 at Tadashi, for example). In my opinion, the complaints about price in these other reviews don’t hold up, because by those standards pretty much any of the other restaurants I’ve named above would also fail the «price test» when compared to Mitch’s and/​or Sasabune.
With that said, If you have the mental fortitude to overcome the fact that this sushi bar happens to be inside of a Zippys and if you can stand being in the same room as the common-​folk who happen to eat at Zippys (/​sarcasm), you can find yourself a pretty decent sushi meal, both here and at the sushi bar inside of the Pearl City Zippys. The pieces of fish served for nigiri are quite large, as are the temaki orders (especially the two soft shell crab hand rolls for $ 10). The chirashi is also good value for $ 23.
It isn’t all good, though. Like another review mentioned, the miso soup is pretty blah. Also, the service can be spotty as they seem to be understaffed at times.
As with any restaurant, all it takes is one bad experience to earn a low rating. I’ve eaten at Kahala sushi a number of times, and I think I am safe in saying that it’s a pretty decent place to go for Sushi in East Honolulu, especially if you like big pieces of Hamachi.

GPS says we are on the location. Ooookayyy, it’s the parking lot under Zippys. My friend said, your locator is broken. Heck no it ain’t. So we walked up to Zippys and my friend said he sees people eating Asian food. I was like, maybe Zippys serve that. Apparently, Zippys and Kahala Sushi are working together? So this sushi place is hidden on your left side of Zippys when you walk in. A very small area.
It wasn’t busy when we came and got seated at the sushi bar. So we looked at the menu and we ordered the two June specials. My friend got the teppanyaki steak and tempura don with miso soup and I got the Asian chicken with miso soup, salad and rice. The sushi chef behind the counter was nice to get our orders because I don’t know where the servers were. He served us a mini appetizer. not too sure what its called. It had this green noodle mixed with salmon and mayo. OMG! It was sooooo good. It didn’t take long when our food came. I love the chicken with this red and orange looking sauce. It was soooo goood! My friend seems to enjoy his meal but he said he rather get my chicken meal.
My friend and I never had our tea and water refilled at all. Both our cups were left empty when leaving. They never came up to ask if we were okay or anything. We had to ask for everything except the bill. They gave it to us right after I packed my leftovers. I would come back for their specials only since the sushi menu are expensive.

I don’t understand why people hate on this place… for the price you pay it’s well worth it.
I used to order the combo set but now I’d just rather order ala carte.
I was like… uhh i’m hungry. combo set A, Hamachi, and Toro please.
When i got my Toro and Hamachi I was like… where’s te rice? LOL. Huge cut of fish. Yes, thank you. That’s what I wanted. And i feel that the rice Temp. and feel is better than with the set combo.
I love my sushi-​san dude standing in front of me with the awkard frown-​smile. And yes, my sushi was good, thanks for asking.
Friend ordered chicken karage. Didn’t eat it. But wanna try the Kahala special… sushi, noodles, and all around deliciousness. Yes!
I think with everyting I ordered came to around 30 per person. Exactly the same anout i paid at Kuru Kuru… Plus i got awesome service.

Best Chirashi EVER! For $ 22 you get ridiculously large pieces of sashimi and just a large of bowl of sushi rice. I never really expect to get too full from chirashi but this is my #1 stop from now on. MUST COME HERE!
Service is always really friendly and I need to comment on the green tea which was also probably the BEST tea I’ve ever had. It was so strong and the green tea bursting with flavor.
Got to sit in a booth next to the sushi bar (score!) Can’t wait to come back.

This place always hits the spot for me when I’m wanting good japanese food in a no-​frills/​quiet/​less crowded environment. The sushi is always fresh and most of the patrons are visitors from japan, which to me is a good sign and usually indicative of quality. The place is rather small with only 3 or 4 tables and a sushi bar (they seat you on their outside tables right across from Zippy’s pastry counter when they run out of seats inside).
The price is a little more expensive than some places but you definitely get your money’s worth. The cuts of fish are thick! We usually get this cute older Japanese waitress that’s always so sweet to us. Like a breath of fresh air, she always makes our dine-​in experience fun with her witty charm.
Raw Hamachi (young yellowtail) isn’t my cup of tea but their fried Hamachi Kama ($ 17.25) is tasty! This meaty portion of the collarbone or cheek is prized for it’s rich, fatty flavors. Kahala Sushi serves it with a huge pile of daikon oroshi and ponzu (I like mines with just the daikon drenched in shoyu). It takes some chopstick skills to get the succulent morsels out from around the bones, but it’s worth it.
For the first time this week, I ordered take-​out from them. I was craving some chicken karaage ($ 10.75) on my longer lunch break so I gave them a call to place my order.
I got there a little late and was worried that everything was going to be a soggy mess. Not so! The fried chicken and green salad was still crisp and the miso soup was still hot.
Have to add that they forgot my salad dressing, no biggie though. The only complaint is that I don’t really care for their potato salad. I’d much rather get more pickled veggies or maki sushi thrown into the boxed set.