Portland
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Kappaya Japanese Restaurant
Just plain good. You're not getting charged extra for over the top decoration or or presentation. Just good honest sushi. Sit at the bar if you can, super friendly peeps. This is a spot that locals would like to keep a secret.…
Authentic, Delicious Food.
I don't claim to be an "expert" just because I've lived in Japan, but this is my favorite Japanese restaurant in Portland. The owner/sushi sensei, Terry, is as friendly as others have written about,
and the staff is all Japanese (except for Terry's co-sushi chef). That means that the food and flavors are all delicious and authentic.
It's true that the decor is not the best, but are you going to a restaurant just for the decor? Also, people here have complained about the wait times, but I just went there tonight at a busy time with three friends, and we had absolutely no problem with the service at all.
I love this restaurant and have no qualms about recommending this place to friends and family.…
Favorite Neighborhood Sushi. We love this place. It is often overlooked but well worth it to stop by. Once we started coming here it is now the only sushi we will have in SE, and we live right across the street from ichidai.
Served me well for years. I spent years as a regular at Kappaya and found it to be a wonderful little jewel. The food is down to earth, delicious and I always left feeling wonderful and full of energy. The prices were alway reasonable. Go for lunch and you will see there is a real community that surrounds this place. Thank you to the staff for all their kindness! This place if full of good people and healthy food. I have moved now, but will visit you when ever I can. Best to you all.…
Eh....
There was a little lost in translation. I asked about the tempura appetizer, and told the waitress I wanted it with my sushi. We went back and forth 3 - 4 times about it, and finally I got my tempura
well ahead of my sushi anyway. Oh well. As someone else mentioned, the oil may affect flavor a bit.
People say the portions of sushi were big, but I found them to be not so big. Takahashi serves sushi that takes most often two bites to eat one piece, where here one bite is more than sufficient. So I ended up spending more money than I would at Takahashi.
The owner and sushi master, Teri, was a nice man. Pleasant and helpful.
The sushi was top notch and very fresh.
We had to ask for tea as well as a refill, so service wasn't as great as it could be. The third refill, she did bring on her own.
The decor was very bland indeed. I felt like I was in a brightly light office.
Tamago wasn't too sweet, which was nice. I do not like eggs too sweet.
I liked the natto roll, although found it was made more into a paste than actual full beans, which I think I would have preferred for the texture.
I tried the umejisho roll, which had a very distinct and fresh shiso flavor to it. It was green, and not pickled. I recommend not dipping it into soy sauce or wasabi, but just eat it straight.
Of course, the ebi (shrimp), kuni (crab) rolls were very good too. The veggie rolls. Masurgo, Sake (salmon), oregon albacore rolls... all good.
My mother tried the udon noodles, which she said did not contain too much noodles in it. She liked the flavor, but thought it had a lot of broth compared to amount of noodles in it. The noodles were not homemade, but very flavorful. She got the tempura udon, and was disappointed it did not have any fish or shrimp.
All-in-all, we enjoyed it, but the value wasn't quite what you might find at Takahashi. Still, both are good places to eat.…
