Kanpai BBQ & Shabu

Very good price for all you can eat premium waygu meats. Very simple and to the point menu. Only wish their sauces was a little better and they had one extra side like steamed egg or japchae. It's just missing one or 2 things that would make it excellent, but for the lunch price of $35 and dinner for $40 you get your value. The parking isn't too bad either compared to other spots in clairemont.

Great Birthday Dinner!

Went here 6/11 to celebrate getting engaged and for my birthday, my fiancé and I had the most wonderful waitress who truly made sure we knew all of our options for the broths/meats/sides.

Like others have said it is either bbq or hotpot, which we didn’t mind because we saw this ahead of time and just wanted hotpot anyways. There are plenty of meat options, tons of sides, soda/tea/water are included in your total and ice-cream as well.

Overall amazing staff, clean restaurant, amazing options. Would 100% come here again!

I come here all the time, & was a fan of this place from the first day they opened! Their service is always good. There were many times where the entire party hadn’t arrived yet but they allowed us to be seated earlier. The servers are always really helpful and nice, they check in with you multiple times to see if you want more meats ordered and to refill your broth. I never, & I say NEVER liked hot pot until I ate here. And this is the only hot pot place I keep going back to - even after trying Haidilao, Shabumi, and Momo’s Paradise. The meats are always high quality and cut thinly, the broth is always flavorful (mala isn’t too spicy but perfect amount of heat and tonkotsu tastes elite after all the meat is boiled and adds to the taste), ice cream and drinks included, & everything I need for the perfect hotpot sauce.

Every person I’ve brought here always comes back and ends up loving this place. I’ve ran into old coworkers since we had a company dinner here, and it’s a winner for my family and friends. I don’t think I can love any other hotpot place more than Kanpai. Only thing I would complain about is their music choice, why the EDM music? My friend even agreed they couldn’t enjoy their meal without feeling anxious. 😆 First time I came I was really enjoying the old school R&B.

Riley was very helpful! He gave good recommendations and checked up on us regularly. The food was amazing, definitely recommend

Kinda unorganized. Came in today right before they opened, couldn't get parking, there was already a line. 1105 got on their list, they didn't mention a wait time. And when they finally got folks seated on their limited tables, all of a sudden an hour to hour and a half wait. Tried to call ahead to get reservations a few days back for Mother's Day but no one picks up. But clearly you can make one coz these 2 tables have a sign on it. (There were tables reserved on the shabu-shabu side as well.) They said the reservation was for a group at 1230. So IMO they could've used this for a group the at 1105 when we were there instead of not using it the whole hour and a half. The waiting area outside is a 2 seater bench. Thanks to the flower pots we got a place to sit. Servers kinda didn't care and were a lil bit rude, mind you they just opened, there was a group done with their table and it wasn't cleaned up immediately even tho they have a long wait-list and limited tables. The same thing happened when tables around us were done, it took a while to clean, they took forever to set it up, and they didn't seat the people in a timely manner. Ice cream was out, salad/shabu-shabu sauce self serve messy and was running out of some items. Food was good, but service was awful. It was a disaster of a mothers day. Thanks Kanpai. I would highly avoid it during the weekends. Maybe services are better during the week. As for now a 1 star for me. Maybe we'll give it another shot.

Very disappointing experience. We came as a group of 6 and ordered multiple rounds, each plate only had 3 pieces. Despite this, we were unexpectedly warned mid-meal about “wasting food” — which felt really uncalled for and ruined the mood. Even worse, they pre-charged a 18% tip without letting us know, which is not okay. On top of that, the drinking cup was visibly dirty — wipe it with a clean napkin and you’ll see it for yourself. Poor service, questionable cleanliness, and an overall uncomfortable dining experience. Not coming back.

Food was really good! I probably came on a bad day but this was my first impression.

I asked for a table for 2 and we waited almost a hour and 30mins for seats at the bbq area. I didn’t think much of it until they let in a group of 4 people who came in 30mins after us and also asked for bbq. A little irritated I asked when our turn would be and we waited an additional 10mins. It irritated me even more that we sat right next to the people who came before us LOL. Total wait time was almost 2 hours. We came in around 6:20 and got seated at 8.

The atmosphere was great! But not worth waiting a hour and letting in other customers before us😭😭

What a great place, I come here all the time. Foods delicious and the service is without peer. All the staff are so friendly and accommodating.

Only thing I have against this place is that the drinking cups are super small.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

For the price, wait time, service and meat quality during our first visit; Kanpai is our new spot for Japanese AYCE BBQ!

We were there right before opening on a Saturday so there's still spots for parking.
We did the BBQ. You can also have the option for Shabu experience. The assorted meats are to order. Service was quick, got our additional meats in 3-5 mins. There's 4 dipping items/sauce available.

We ordered the following:
Prime Cut Steak- the most tender meat that we ordered so we requested it twice. Recommended!

US Wagyu Brisket - it was tender also and only took couple of minutes grilling. I like the amount of fat in the meat. It was delicious. Recommended!

M8 Wagyu Steak - another meat that we're satisfied for its tenderness. Recommended!

We weren't a fan of the Wagyu cubes..I had it medium rare hoping to be more tender but it was chewy same as when I cooked it well done.

Also ordered chicken karaage; it was crispy and well seasoned Sriracha Mayo.

Sides, "free" assorted drinks(soda), soup were available in a corner that you can keep going back. All the sides that we tried were all good; seaweed salad/cucumber salad/edamame.

Definitely will come back if we're craving for Japanese Boq.
Our server asked if we need anything multiple times which is great. Great customer service!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

YEP YEP!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

authentic japanese food delicious sushi ramen

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Excellent all-you-can-eat. We chose the barbecue. We will be back for the shabu. The servers were super friendly and very fast. An absolute plus of this restaurant is that all the non-alcoholic drinks, including soda from cans, are included in the price. That's pretty unheard of.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Delicious, accessible, clean and great service?

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5