Kaizen Tavern

Kaizen Tavern has some of the best Sushi you can find in the area. Their tempura fried philly is also a unique hot roll, and definitely worth a shot. All of that would be worth 5 stars, but then somehow they also manage to serve delicious tacos! I recommend the pork belly. I do agree with the other reviews about the price, it is expensive. I do hesitate to call it overpriced though, I think the price is appropriate for the quality, and if you want a better value then you can find acceptable sushi elsewhere. It’s also really only the specialty rolls that will cost you, the house sake is a great value, enough to share and still get an appropriate buzz. I won’t be back here often, but when it’s in the budget the sushi is a must-have.

Excellent little local sushi restaurant in Del Ray that has indoor and outdoor seating. The staff is friendly and ready to make recommendations if you need them. The sushi chefs are killing it behind the bar and even let us try a new creation as they developed it. Highly recommend for happy hour, date night, or a bite after work. Try the lengua tacos. Or any of their tacos.

Kaizen has the unique position of being primarily a sushi bar but also offering tacos! All of which is excellent, the presentation is superb and much better than I would have expected, the flavors were great and the had a good selection as well. I also want to note that the iced tea was fantastic, one of the best I've had. Considering the quality of the food and service, and pairing that with the beautiful location right in the heart of Del Ray, Kaizen is a great spot to enjoy an early spring evening dinner on the patio!

After a quirky start... (it was like pulling teeth to get clear responses and it seemed like no one working here had a pulse - personality, welcoming, engaging ... needs work.) -- things started looking up. Cocktails were put together based on our likes and both were great fits and worth a second round. The poke tostadas were fantastic. The smoked pork taco pretty good. The ceviche was the only miss: one of the more pricey tapas - and seriously a thumb sized bowl of ketchupy pic o de gallo with a a couple tiny scallops and shrimp bits that seemed precooked and not ceviche cooked. Skip this. The hands down winner was the squid salad -- a great portion of smoky, sweet, savory squid and veggies. So good a second order was our dessert. Definitely worth a visit.

If I could, I would give them zero stars. The four stars they have here are probably fake. We went there for dinner over Thanksgiving and here is my feedback regarding food taste, food quality, hospitality, prices. Firstly, my wife burned her mouth with unevenly heated cheese in the hot rolls. She was suffering for more than a week and could barely eat because of the pain. We have been to many sushi places but we did not experience anything like this before. Secondly, the “Tavern” was not heated and we have not been told upfront that the heater broke until we got very cold and asked about that. Thirdly, the taste was awful. Even basic stuff like miso soup was just oversalted water. But it cost more than in any other place we have been to. I strongly discourage you from going to Kaizen Tavern. Word “Kaizen” means constant improvement in Japanese. I don’t think that the Kaizen Tavern team knows the translation. The DMV area is not rich for good sushi, but there are definitely better sushi places and they are not that far.