Kanpai Japanese Restaurant

I just moved in to this area. The first time I came in the restaurant and seat down for ten minutes no one gave us the menu. Doesn't matter. The second time I came in to buy a takeaway, no one was at the casher. But there's a woman next to the casher and there's a sushi bar. She asked me what I wanted, and I said I wanted to buy an egg roll. She was very rude to say that we don't just sell this. I was wondering why you'd be so polite if you didn't sell it? I thought it was a Japanese restaurant only to find out that it was Chinese Japanese restaurant. Aren't Japanese restaurants polite? I'm not coming back very badly rated this woman. I read all the review to know that they all know this woman. A restaurant service is bad never good business. Give a star review too high if you can choose this I don't even want to give a star review.

I’ve been coming here for years. The lady here is probably one of the hardest working on chapel st. Love the sushi and all of the entrees. Very quick and efficient service.

What can I say? Go see James and Mai for the best japanese feed in Melbourne! You never know who you might see there.

25 years on and I'm still a regular to Kanpai. It's one of those institutions that you can go to for a guaranteed Japanese comfort food. Oh and it's quality comfort Japanese too. Favourites are the beef tataki, the stuffed chicken drumsticks and the mixed meat tappanyaki.if you're new to this area and haven't been to Kanpai yet, then best get yourself down there!

The food is super yummy here. I got the beef udon and it had great flavour and was nice on a cool night sitting outside. The service could be a little better and the atmosphere sitting inside was a little awkward and not so pleasant. Sitting outside is much nicer.

Poor service, the lady at the counter is insanely not easy going. If you see her, look for other staffs. Their foods are decent.

Best casual Japanese food been going there for 4 years now and was never disappointed reasonable prices

We haven't had sushi in a while and we were excited to visit this place. Unfortunately, massive disappointment. There's nothing good I can said about the food, we order two sushi rolls (8 pieces), tempura fish and vegetables and gyozas. Food was flavourless, sushi size and filling was a joke and the worse were the gyozas (yellow, super fried and no flavour). I would definitely not recommend this place

Worst experience due to their poor customer service. The middle age lady here simply yells at you. We were two and asked for sitting in a bigger table with four seats as the place was very quiet that time. However, she suddenly shouted no, so we sat in a smaller table. And when she got us the menu, she looked extremely angry.

Though their foods are quite decent (not recommendable for a fancy night tho), they have no specialty at all. I’d rather go to Ohaio Sushi right cross from here for lunch.

The katsu don is standard, and not supposed to be called katsu don with the egg served as a side. But the yakiniku and the salmon teriyaki was excellent.

If I could give 0 stars I would. Probably the worst meal I've had in Melbourne. Tasteless, oily, dried out meat and the worst bento box I have ever seen. Put simply, it was insulting. Don't waste your time or money going here.

We ordered salmon teppanyaki and it takes almost 30 minutes to come out, and we tried to cancel the order, they say that the food is already coming up even though i have asked to cancel the order so many times. Then I ordered ice green tea and they gave me green tea Lipton from the bottle and poured it onto a glass it tastes like lemon tea when they said that the ice green tea is in house made and not a bottled, taste disgusting and they even lied about it.

Reasonable food offerings - we shared several dishes and the quality definitely varied between them, some good, some less so. Hard to tell if they just can't cook some dishes or the consistency is simply lacking, after only 1 visit.
They were not particularly busy, but sometimes it was hard to get the staff's attention.
Probably need to go again to be sure. ;-)

I order a katsu don. Not some fried eggs on rice. Btw why katsu don have green bean onion and carrot and broccoli. You should keep the dish simple.

Other staff is okay and friendly but only 1 staff (middle age) she is wearing a glasses yelling at me and very rude! Even she was also yelling to her staff! We are 6 people and she only provides us table for 4 people and put anpther 2 chair at the middle. I keep insist I want another table, she keep yelling at me! Even until we paid she was still yelled at me and said see I told the table is enough with a high tone! And at that time the restaurant was not busy! Very disappointing

I have been coming to eat seafood tepanyaki for 30 years. Still the best and hope that it stays that way.

We dined here on a friday night.food was hot and delicious.service was good.our only gripe was few young adults being rather loud at the table next to us

Best reliable and casual Japanese restaurant in the area! Have been going since it opened 25 years ago! James is the best in friendly, fast service with great quality food! Highly recommend it. Always pretty busy but you won’t have to wait long for a table. Thanks and see you again soon. I have added some pictures of my favorite foods to order

Fantastic tasting food! Tender chicken and beef! Fresh salmon and very delicious sauces! Nice place to dine! Friendly staffs!

I love this place! The food is always delicious! Service is fast and they are very accommodating (we like to keep a mentee and continually order dishes to share for a long meal).
They also prepare the food in an area visible to patrons, which I like because it comforts me when U feel restaurants have nothing to hide:)
There is a good variety of foods on the menu.
The restaurant is target small and cosy, but this means it can get quite full, especially on a Friday night.
That being said, we usually go without a booking and don't have much trouble getting a table for between 2-5 people). I believe we have sometimes been told that we need to wait for 10-15 min or so, which had never been problem for us as we just have still down chapel Street.
There are steps up into the restaurant, so sadly this venue *may not be wheelchair accessible (however I have never asked, so there may be an alternate entrance or they may have another way to enter the restaurant). From memory (I haven't been since my grandfather passed away as it's been a bit too sad because this was a favourite place to go together) I think there might be some outside seating, but I would certainly call ahead of you need a wheelchair accessible venue.
I'm hoping to take my sister's parents in law here next week, so I may be able to update this information afterward.
Overall I would recommend this restaurant for small and larger groups. It is appropriate for a family dinner, yet sophisticated enough for a business dinner or date, so basically I recommend it to everyone!
Ik forward to returning next week!