Kanki Japanese House of Steaks & Sushi Review

Max was great . Thank you for a fun night out with food and drinks

Good food, easy parking, the chef was entertaining but not overly conversational. The wait was minimal, overall good experience.

Food could have been better , proportions are getting smaller

The food is amazing, but the hostess stand was very unhelpful. My boyfriend and I were sat at a table of 9 people and it was EXTREMELY crowded. When we asked to wait for a later table they said there would be 9 people again. We've eaten at the Crab tree location & I know they only sit 8 people at a table there. We will not be coming back!

Show was good, food is over priced, very average, not worth the inflated price. Absolutely no flavor in food. Will not go back.

The food was great as usual, but the customer service wasn't so great. Drinks never got refilled, they messed up our sushi order and instead of fixing it, they were convincing us not to get another one because it will take long to make because thier busy. Give this place a shot when they are not busy. They don't seem to care about service when they are busy, so try them when they're not

Nephew s birthday dinner at kanki never disappoints. Great service, entertaining and fun atmosphere. We re always made to feel welcome and leave happy with lunch for the next day.

Eaten at this establishment many many times and never been disappointed. Service and food is always top notch. Highly recommnend, best hibachi in the area by far!

Entertaining, good food. The place was very busy and the parking is a nightmare. Perhaps it is not so busy at night when the shops are closed.

And you can get my car and the money to get a break 7jh huh huh huh huh a GVC GVC GVC GVC

We went for dinner and it was very entertaining!

TIP: if there is a long wait , go to the sushi bar & wait .... Time goes by fast & tables are ready quicker than they say!

Great food and great entertainment! Request for Omar, best chef here.

Fast, Friendly, Courteous, Professional Service, as always EXCELLENT food me and my wife go to a Japanese Steakhouse for our anniversary usually here

Called ahead and was told "we don't take reservations on the weekends". Waited in the lobby with a party of 8 for over an hour and were informed they actually do take reservations on Fridays. I actually cannot give this 0 stars, but I should because I didn't even eat. Extremely dissatisfied customer

Food was good but the real treat was the Chef, Carlos. Truly entertaining and made the visit worth it. Without him would of just been another meal, he made it a great experience.

Great place to eat, great ambiance, great entertainment

The chicken and filet are amazing, but the real star is the fried rice. I could live off of it and be happy.

Very good food. Entertaining chef, preparing the food at the table. Fairly reasonable prices.

Food is always awesome! Waiters are very attentive. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because there is one hostess who is quite rude - especially in comparison to the other hostesses. I am not sure of her name but she never wears a smile and is very quick with you.

Went here last Monday with my husband. We went around 5:30 pm. Our cook put on an excellent show and had a great sense of humor. The food was great as always. I recently started eating low carb so they substituted more vegetables for the rice, and I was very pleased. the only critique is my husband asked about bears on draft and ordered a Sam Adams, however it was the Sam Adams Seasonal Hopscape which taste nothing like regular Sam Adams and there was no mention by the server that is was a seasonal brew.

Service was great...over priced and seating was too many at a setting

Worst experience I ever have in all my years I have gone to kanki!!!
I will never give them my business again in this life time .. and that go for my friends and family .
I was mistreated, by the server and the manager..who pretty much blame us for their mistakes. We were over charge .. and they have threaten to call the police on us more then once on my child birthday !!!!
Huge disappointment..!!!! I feel so disrespected and the worst feel bad that it happened on my child s birthday.
Worst service by far of all my visit to kanki!!!!!!

Overpriced for what you get. No desire to return to this location. Food was ok and chef was funny. Wait staff needs some help with their skills. An empty glass should indicate refill but my server didn't seem to grasp that point.

RENATO is AWESOME!!!! Despite us getting there late he still gave us amazing service!! Definitely had a great time and will be back bcus of him

I visited the Raleigh location for the $18 Banzi lunch special consisting of ribeye, chicken and shrimp. I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for a total of six years. I enjoyed the grill fire show and grilled vegetables but there was an overwhelming amount of rice before the meats were served. The ribeye was grilled with butter to add flavor as the chef cooked each meat type to order. I was not impressed with the dish as there was a complete lack of flavors and an overwhelming amount of rice.

It was a awesome experience, food was excellent, service was great, would recommend it to anyone.

We ate here for my wife B-day and really enjoyed it. The food was delicious. Whenever we visit Raleigh again we will be coming back.

Outstanding place to take your family and friends and enjoy a wonderful dinner

Great food and good fun. Kids plates are huge. You can really split them. I still like the one at the mall better

To go orders are not nearly as good as eating in the restaurant but food is good. Got sesame dressing for the salad but instead it was some really hot wasabi or horseradish brown dressing that was not good...salad ruined. Otherwise usually a good place.

If vegetables we're this good all the time, I would be vegan!! All the food is great!

This place is by far my favorite place to go for Hot Sake and some good sushi!! GREAT atmosphere and very amicable service at the bar! The lighting and seating make you feel comfortable and happy. I know everyone says hot sake is the same here as other steak houses .. but this place has the temperature set right and when asked, the waiter definitely knew what he was talking about in regards to the sake and how it was prepared. Their Hot Sake was just the right temperature and did not have the bitter burnt flavor some places get from overheating it. It was sweet and delightful. We also got a Sake Sample platter at the recommendation of the bar tender - which ended up being very tasteful as well! I'm definitely more of a fan of the hot sake but the presentation and atmosphere all played into and overall great experience! I will definitely be back in the near future.

We had a bit of a wait for a table, which seemed odd (there were available tables) and we waited for our drinks to come but otherwise a good visit. The staff was courteous and engaging. Everyone had something a little different but we were all satisfied and happy with our choices. If recommend to anyone.

Great service and good sushi. By no means the best in town but not bad for a chain.

The cooking routine (at your table, with a chef that makes jokes) has gotten old, since I've been here quite a few times, but the food is delicious!! And the portions are plenty generous!

Great place. Not at all what you expect when someone says "there is this great sushi place at the mall..."

You don't feel like you are at the mall when you go in. The service is good. The food is pricey but what do you expect? You can sit at the bar and watch them make your sushi, or sit in the Hibachi lounge and watch them cook food, or just sit at a table. The Hibachi dinners come with Miso Soup and Salad and two sauces for dipping. Great lunch deals. For two people to eat Hibachi and 2-3 rolls of basic sushi is usually around $60 for us. The soup/salad/sushi usually fills me up and I take the other food home and eat it for the next 2 days. Its a lot of food! Atmosphere is also good. Great date location.

Thanks so sorry for your I was like a little too crazy for me to come over and get you a little something for you to come home was a big day and we have decided that I was gonna we were going on to the next few weeks

Terrible location and they don t let you make reservations they say.

Their customer service is terrible. First there's no one to greet you walk in the door, Next they get an attitude when you have a problem with what they do as an employee or cook. Third they have to get their manager because they feel that they can't solve the problem themselves. I as a minor am expected to be treated as a nice and valuable customer and right about now I do not feel that way .

Needs updating and a good cleaning. Food ok. Great entertainment for the kids watching the table chef.

This is my favorite Steakhouse in the town. Get the boche shrimp and steak the filet mignon is to die for

Delicious food, clean inside, short wait time, friendly staff!

The food is good!

Front desk people aren't personable. It's a "Can I take your order? Ok - here... " type thing. (I always get take out.)

Great spot for a tasty lunch. Be prepared to spend a bit for it but it's MUCH cheaper than dinner. The filet mignon is always on point. Get the Samurai or Bonazai.

Jo preformance was awesome thanks to Jo my first experience was a 5 stars

Waiting nearly an hour every time I order sushi is ridiculous. I came to your Wake Forest location today hoping NOT to get the same feedback from the Crabtree one.... and unfortunately it s the same. Additionally most sushi restaurants offer some form of special or BOGO on sushi... you all never offer any specials on your sushi. I m not sure what the issue is but you need to offer better service for your customers especially considering it s as expensive as it is. 15-20 minutes... ok. 45 minutes to an hour ridiculous

Gave us a 15 min wait. Turned into an hour wait or longer afterwards. Wasted my time.

In my opinion the Best Japanese restaurant in Wake county period

If you are lucky, you'll get a Good Chef, that cooks welll, serves the food almost all together, and is Funny. Most if them are Good. Omar and Ken are really Good. Perfect Birthday place.

Fantastic food and service. Everything was prepared perfectly and our Chef, Omar, knew tricks I had never seen before. So much fun for my nephews bday!

I ordered food they said it'll be ready at 5:31. I got there at 5:25 tried to call to let them no I was there as they instruct you to do. I got a busy tone 3 times and then just no answer one. I finally got my food and it was soo cold it was gross. I would not recommend this place especially with there prices. I would go to one of the numerous hibachi options around over this place any day. I live less than a block away from kanki but I'll be sure to drive somewhere else next time. Horrible food for the price.

I think this place is pricey but I must be alone because it's always jammed. If you like the knife and onion show and want a big table definitely go at 5. Their food is good if you like rice and chicken, steak or pork. Also my husband has discovered they have good sushi. We're not an expert in that but he finds it very well made and clean.

Love this place! I came here for my birthday because I've always had a great experience here. Its entertaining as well as delicious. The miso soup has fried onions added into it now which adds extra flavor. I took away one star because as expensive as it is, when they are out of something (i.e mushrooms) they should compensate for that whether it be on the bill, extra vegetables, etc. They just expected us not to notice but, I wanted my mushrooms!

Hibachi chicken to go with a variety of delicious sauces, Japanese soup and a salad was very good. Service was wonderful. Nice atmosphere Friendly. Fun to watch while waiting. Followed covid safety guidelines
Returned for dinner. Such generous servings. Chef Victor is is so talented. Very nice server & hostess Emilyann is so sweet
Really enjoy the atmosphere

Though this place was under construction and extremely crowded, the chefs at the sushi bar were very professional not only in their presentation but also preparation of the food prepared. I reserve the right for a second review after Construction is complete. In the meantime I recommend at least calling for reservations. ~V.

Just enjoyed a dinner here with my wife and it was amazing! Victor was our chef and he was very entertaining and on top of the orders! Our waiter was also very good with prompt refills and attention to detail! From what we could tell, the other tables with kiddos were having a blast and they even sang happy birthday to a table as we were entering! Highly recommended!

The Wake Forest Road location continues to be my least favorite location. The food is always subpar and it wasn t any different last night. I ordered the steak & shrimp. A little salt & pepper would have been helpful. In addition to bland food, the customer service was horrible. My beverage was empty majority of the meal. When the chef did notify the waiter I needed a refill it took about 10 more minutes. The waiter name was David and overall wasn t an attentive waiter that seem to be in distress. Between the lack of seasoning and bad customer service, I definitely will not be back nor recommending. There s hundreds of restaurants in that area and more importantly, better Japanese steakhouses in Raleigh.

The worst customer service ever! Don't make a reservation here, IF you can get through on the phone which is hardly ever, they are sloppy with the reservations, and rude! Claimed hey didn't have our reservation for 12 today and looked at us like we were making the story up. Never coming here again

Very good hibachi, I definitely would recommend going here for good food. The atmosphere is pretty cool as well. I also got the shrimp appetizer and it was really tasty

Kanki is really good. Usually there is a bad wait and put on a good show. If you go at lunch, it is about half the price, but portions are plenty big.

Great place to eat! Cool atmosphere, friendly and patient staff etc. Can't wait to go back!

Hostesses were very rude and not helpful with seating whatsoever, WILL NOT be coming back.

Fantabulous food and service and show! A place where YOU CAN SEE HOW THEY COOK YOUR FOOD!

I love the dine in experience at Kanki, but take out doesn't work for me. I specifically said only small amount of rice, but both times recently I ended up with almost all rice, and very few vegetables.

My favorite place to go for birthdays and special occasions.

Good enough. Our cook was great but in my opinion for the price they should use filet mignon over ribeye.

Kanki is the standard for habachi. If you want dinner and a "show" - this is the restaurant to go to!

The experience has deteriorated and is not like it used to be. The cooks do not tell jokes or show any flare tricks. It is so boring now. Many people are complaining and the cooks don t care.

There is one cook who is super arrogant and nonchalant. (See the picture) He doesn t care at all. He just cooks to get you out of the way and barely says a word. He rushes the food and provides a terrible experience.

If you are celebrating something special, then you will be disappointed going to Kanki.

I will start to go to the Red Bowl now. Kanki is terrible.

This is my wife's favorite place to eat.
We have been eating here on a regular basis for more than 25 years.
Lately the service has not been up to par. I am allergic to sessame seeds and tell them every time. The last three visits they have messed up my order by adding the seeds.

Last night was family night and the kids had a blast! The chief was very entertaining and had a awesome sense of humor. The food is always great including the service. My family will be coming back, we appreciate Kanki :)

My first time here and I'm very impressed. The grill master was very entertaining. The soywrap and cucumber sushi was very delicious.

Best hibachi in raleigh. Great service, and yum yum is off the chain!

It was great first time there service go entertainment good highly recommend

Rice was hard in the middle and they put way to much better on everything. The noodles, the steak, and even the chicken had so much pepper I could taste anything but pepper. My nose was running it was so bad, my wifes food was the same. I don't plan to come back.

Food was pretty good... But had better. The Hibachi Bar was full so we had a seat in the general seating area... Big mistake! Our waiter was slow and inattentive. He would walk off and be gone for 5 or 10 minutes then we he did return he began to bus his own tables and we had to flag him down several times. If you eat here I suggest trying the Hibachi Bar instead.

Better than Crabtree but the chef forgot my vegetables and rice

On 02/22/20 I took my boyfriend to Kanki on Wake Forest Rd. Raleigh around 4pm for his birthday dinner I wanted him to have a good meal and experience for his birthday... so when we got there we had to wait for a table so we went to the bar and had a drink it was good vibes we were having fun, then we got called for our table and had an awesome cook whom was entertaining and made his 36 out of rice for his birthday, I had previously set up for them to bring him his birthday brownie and icecream instead of the sherbert that they give because I wanted it to be special, almost as soon as the cook leaves a guy comes over and started cleaning the grill I remember thinking why is he cleaning the grill as were sitting here eating no sooner I thought that he splashed the juices from the grill up on my chest on my brand new white sweater going through to my chest and I felt the burning sensation so me not wanting to cause a scene I excused myself to the bathroom, when I went in and took my sweater off my chest was red and was already starting to blister... thank God I had a cami underneath my sweater because my sweater was ruined and my chest was burning so I went back out to the table feeling very exposed and asked for something to help with the burning and pain when the manager came over she said I will see what I can do for you, I was waiting and waiting still not eating just asking for some burn cream and fanning my chest, the people sitting at the table was more concerned than the restaurant's Staff/Management the guy that took our order then comes over and sits down the checks and was like they took care of yours... I'm like I need burn cream so my boyfriend gets up and goes to look for the manager who was completely untrained on how to handle a serious situation apparently and says do you have some burn cream or antiseptic or something she is in pain... so she gets this spray and hemorrhoid cream and comes to me I spray my chest down and questioning the hemorrhoid cream she responds we deal with a lot of burns here so I put that on as well she immediately leaves again... sitting there for her or somebody to come back and talk to me for about 10 minutes I looked at my boyfriend and said I'm ready to go it's burning again and I wanted to get some aloe burn cream on it, he grabbed a card on the way out and we left... ruining the rest of our celebration day now because I wasn't up to doing anything else the entire birthday was RUINED!!!! My chest was burnt and blistered, my sweater ruined and the only thing I was feeling was how horribly the situation was handled. I have been a GM for 20 year's and have received countless training on how to handle different kinds of emergency training for staff as well as customers and I honestly just couldn't believe what had just taken place...
So a little after getting home we had went on the website and made sure that corporate was aware of the situation and expressed our concerns for the lack of training...
A woman called me 2 days later at 9pm when I was already going to bed because I get up for work at 330am and asked me how my burns were I responded that they were doing much better then she goes into this questioning mode and was like wellll they took care of your bill and she offered me dry cleaning, she told me to go have my sweater dry cleaned and bring them the bill and they would take care of it was only on the phone for 2 minutes and 22 seconds that's how much they cared , there was no I'm so sorry we ruined your entire experience and birthday, what can we do to make it up to you?
That's how I was trained I'm not sure what kind of people you have that expressed no concern but it's definitely not okay...
I'm literally disgusted and distressed by this because of the way it was handled, I know accidents happen and I handled it with grace just really wish Kanki would've done the same so I wouldn't still be stressed about it a week later

Very good service. Cook was excellent and food delicious