Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar - KIHEI, Maui
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About
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Sansei, meaning third generation, is a locally owned contemporary Japanese Restaurant offering new wave sushi. The force behind the food is Chef/Owner Dave "DK" Kodama. An Oahu native, he is fearless when it comes to flavors and one of the most adventurous chefs you will meet. At Sansei, he has combined his Japanese heritage with Hawai'i's incredible ethnic mix and the flavors he experienced in his travels to create a New Wave Sushi, Japanese-inspired Pacific Rim, Contemporary Japanese type of cuisine. Call it whatever you like. What you will taste are unique combinations of flavors and textures.
Shrimp dynamite was fabulous! We chose well on our sushi rolls, all very fresh and fast service
Always a treat - love this place! Highly recommend if you’ve yet to try.
Excellent food and service. Would recommend either Maui location.
We were looking for a sushi restaurant close by in Kehei and Sansei was highly rated. It is in a strip mall and is tiny and narrow with only a few booths and a bar to watch the sushi chef and eat. There was a wait, not too long, but it would be worth waiting quite a while for the delicious, creative, tasty, affordable sushi. For some reason, the best sushi restaurants we have ever been to are unassuming, maybe because they focus on the presentation and the fish rather than the decor. The staff was very helpful in making selections. If we had discovered this gem earlier in our stay, we would have been back multiple times.
Needs a good renovation, plastic tablecloths need to be discarded. Maybe a little separation between tables for privacy. Food was just okay, very expensive for what you get. Probably menu is too extensive and quality is compromised because of that detail. Service was very efficient. Probably won’t return again.
Good food not overpriced
Friendly & knowledgeable staff
Brian has very good memory
Anniversary; no special anything because of that, no real mention
Great food though!
We love Sansei!
We took guess from the mainland. To be honest, the first impression is not good due to the overall appearance of the plaza.
The concrete in front of all the businesses is filthy.
We are looking forward to their new location. I hope the general maintenance is improved.
If I had a business there- I would power wash my entrance.
Love this restaurant. Food is excellent, staff is super friendly. Look forward to coming here every time we’re in Maui!
This is one of our favorite places to visit when we are in the area. The Dynamite Shrimp is excellent along with the various types of sushi. Unfortunately they were out of the Hamachi Kama but the Salmon was an excellent replacement. We will be back again!
The Ramen on the chef's special was the best! It was fast surface, pricey but good.
Great place to go for good, quality sushi. They bring dishes out in no particular order; we actually received our appetizer after our entrees but we didn't mind. It all tasted great and came out quick.
I have eaten at Sansei, in Kihei, twice and have had good food and service each time.
One of the best dinner's we have enjoyed at Sansei! The food came out quickly and was prepared perfectly. We enjoyed several sushi rolls, the Maui Style Teriyaki Beef (so ono!), and tempura fried macadamia nut ice cream. Excited for the new location to open.
We sat at the sushi bar and enjoyed chatting with the sushi chefs! Nice low-key environment fun personalities good quality sushi!
We have been to sansei several times and have great experiences. The miso butterfish is my favorite. Our server Jar was excellent as she managed to get our orders in ahead of larger parties so we had minimal waiting for our food.
Sansei is always good. Lots of variety on the menu. Reasonable prices. Go early for discounts.
Awesome dining experience at Sensei Kihei.
sushi sushi sushi sushi sushi sushi sushi sushi sushi
Always a delight to dine here. Still looking for that bad tasting dish. Haven't found it yet and we're about 3/4 of the way through the menu 😁👍🏽
Very good food. The vibe inside the restaurant is nice. Outside, you are at a strip mall, which is of putting at first. But the food is worth it!
We were there to celebrate a fiends 60th birthday (they were visiting from the mainland). Took a long time for anyone to come to the table. Apps came before drinks. We ordered sushi. Everyone’s came at different times, one did not come til after the rest of us were finished. Waited 45 minutes for our last roll. Very disappointing as we have been there before sitting at the bar with much better service!
Had table ready for us per our reservation.
Ordered a couple sushi rolls and tempura shrimp. Rolls came with ingredients not listed on menu, and raw carrots, sushi came with wasabi on it which was not listed on menu. Food came Randomly over a 35 minute period and took forever even though restaurant wasn’t super busy
Was a very nice meal with attentive service and good sake
We were with locals who knew what to order. Excellent service, delicious and fresh food.
This place had great sushi food and was great value. good wine selection and we went for the cocktails also good. will come back again next time in Maui
Food and service was excellent. Waiter was very attentive. We will be back.
Our server was awesome. Food came out fast. A little crowded where we we seated. Not enough room to slip in & out for restroom breaks.
Very busy night very loud but food and service was fantastic as usual
The sushi was not great. They added this unknown stuffing in the sushi rolls. The nigiri was warm and didn’t feel fresh. Everything was mushy. On top of that, our table was way back of the restaurant with no others around us. It felt like we were dining in an empty restaurant.
Never had a bad dish there. We will always keep going back and recommending it to everyone.
Post Valentine's Day dinner
Excellent dinner four. Loved the Mango crab roll, the panco-coated tuna, the crab ramen and shrimp dishes. Having a reservation helps to enjoy the evening. Our server was excellent.
Came for my parents 40th anniversary. Food and ambiance were fantastic and waiter was very knowledgeable and fun. Great experience.
Very enjoyable.
Valentines Day
Average sushi in an average looking restaurant- wish we’d tried the delicious smelling Indian place in the same strip of stores. The Blue Hawaiian was yummy.
We've vacationed on Maui and in the Wailea/Kihei area every year for over 30 years and have eaten at Sansei dozens of times. It's a very good "sushi" restaurant - in quotes because the food ranges from true sashimi and sushi to all varieties of Japanese food, cooked and raw. Sansei is perhaps best know for its "early bird" 50% off "deal" on Sunday and Monday nights - to get this you have to be in the restaurant when it opens at 5:30 and to do that you have to stand in line for 45 minutes to an hour. BUT if you do this you'll save an amazing amount of money!
Honestly disappointed, we try and visit Sansei every time we come back to Kihei, and it seems like things have kind of gone downhill. Our server was distracted and impatient, she seemed more focused on odd jobs tidying the empty tables around us than she was with serving us. In a mostly empty restaurant they also seated our party of 6 at a 4 top table with two chairs at the end. It was crowded and inconvenient. It was a late seating, although they called us over an hour before our set reservation and told us to come anytime, and we even came 30 min earlier than our reservation. The ambience was pretty bad, felt like we were just holding her up from getting home. The serving sizes seemed smaller than previously, especially the panko crusted ahi. Kind of sad, I used to really love this restaurant for the friendly service and the pride they took, and always used to recommend to friends, but it wasn’t the same this time around. Unlikely I’d recommend this restaurant after this last meal, which is a shame because the food was still quite good in spite of the poor service and experience. Hopefully you can get Sansei back on track and maybe we’ll come back again... that being said, there are plenty of other great restaurants providing a better experience here though.
Sushi was above average but not outstanding. Seems to have slipped a little each year for the past few years. But still very enjoyable.
FAQs
Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar - KIHEI, Maui is rated 4.5 stars by 1655 OpenTable diners.