An oldie but a goodie, consistency plays a huge part in why Kenzan is still one of the place to go to for Japanese cuisine. Fresh and quality sashimi, simple yet delicious flavours, and amazing execution. Love the grilled butter fish, chawanmushi, tempura, and of course the desserts. Impeccable service rounds up the experience here. Do check them out if you havent yet!

Is the best sushi I have tasted in the city tasty and full of texture and flavour, the place is fancy and you feel welcome from the very beginning, the waitress are kind, pretty and always with a smile, the music have the perfect volume.Definitely Ill be back!!!

Pleasantly surprised with food quality and services. Portion of unagi was more than sufficient for us. Restaurant was very well patronised the evening we were there, yet dishes were serve according to our pace instead of rushing through to achieve higher turnover.

This is a long standing Japanese institution in Melbournes dining scene and we went here for nostalgia.We had the chefs banquet which I felt is reasonably priced for the quality and quantity of food in the CBD.... however, my companion felt that its a little on the expensive side.Fresh and delicious sashimi and sushi. The teriyaki salmon option as the main was delicately flavoured and the salmon cooked very well.Service was friendly and attentive with water and tea levels being monitored.The only thing to note is that the ambience is perhaps not what you would expect for this price point. Its a busy restaurant and the noise levels can be a little high unless you are perhaps in one of the private dining rooms.

Great CBD spot for delightful Japanese food. love coming here for the sukiyaki and a glorious sushi fix. bonus points for excellent service.

One of the favourite authentic Japanese restaurants located right next to Sofitel in CBD! Their Sashimi and sushi plater is one of my all time favourite, so fresh and delicious, well presented as well! Don’t forget the Green tea Cream brûlée for dessert! Price are reasonable and their manager provides an exceptional customer service!

We were very much looking forward to our dinner but unfortunately our visit was not that great. Service was very slow and our wait staff was neither friendly or attentive. Food was subpar as well. We had a few entrees and sukiyaki beef, all taste very average. Might give it another try for their sushi next time.

Friendly environment to dine with friends. Loved the food there.

Expensive but good quality food and ambiance

I visited this restaurant for a dinner with my partner on one of these evenings. Service is attentive and friendly, good selection of drinks, wines & liqueurs. The menu is wide with the possibility of tasting or à la carte menus.We tried the large platter of sushi & sashimi combination, delicious. The oysters fresh & creamy served with ponzu vinegar, The à la carte eel nigiri was amazing. Essential dessert list. Ill be back to try the fresh scampi prawns

Total experience is good, at least the service is better than some other restaurants. The staff are nicer. And they offer real Japanese dishes . It is with a wide space, which is not squishy to sit in and enjoy the food . Their teriyaki dishes with rice are fantastically good. Although it is on a bit of expensive side, it is worth a try.

Very traditional Japanese food. We order the recommended banquets. Sashimi is fresh and good. Love the shrimp dumplings. All reminds me of the time spending in Japan. The staff for booking is quite friendly and he called me to advise the availability. I will return to try more sashimi next time.

Love this place! Great atmosphere for mid-high range Japanese restaurant. You will be look at $70-80 per person. What absolutely need to order is the butter fish with miso marinate in entry. We finished all the way to dessert and decide to order one more dish of this...

Great food menu and wine list, beer a little less expansive. Floor staff brilliant, good numbers when busy, very attentive. Food gets to your table quite quickly given how busy it was when we dined there (Friday night). Cant believe I havent been before.

Come back here multiple times and still enjoy it.Service was just right, ambient is excellent and foods are top notch. They provide consistent services and foods quality every time I visit.Will come back

This place had some of the freshest sushi I’ve ever tasted in my life. Being a sushi fan, I’ve been to many sushi restaurants but this is hands down the best I’ve been to so far. The staff are very friendly and kind and the food is so fresh and of very high quality. Don’t expect a cheap night out at this place. What you pay for is what you get. Top quality at a top quality price. I totally recommend this place for any sushi fan.

I love Japanese food and this place has a wonderful variety of dishes.Delicate in flavours and textures, the sushi and sashimi combined dish was the star of the night. Salmon was tender and fresh, tuna was perfectly fine and beautiful.Food was fantastic!One little tiny thing which disappointed us was our waitress, who did all the service from the same spot. As a general rule of thumb, you should aim to serve from the left: that is, changing cutlery, laying down food, and serving drinks, so you will be less likely to interrupt customers movements as you serve.

Service is normal but food is outstanding！One of the best in Melbourne. Salmon is too sweet personally speaking. Fried chicken is phenomenal.

Nice foods and amazing service.

A great Japanese restaurant with awesome service

Very authentic Japanese food. Delicious and generous portions. The atmosphere was ok as it was a bit noisy but the food made up for that all good. Price was not too bad for its portions. Will definitely visit again. Highly recommended place to eat.

The unagi over rice I was served was definitely smaller than the one that was posted by another reviewer not a long time ago. However, it was good quality and was enough for me because I was not starving at the time.

This is most authentic Japanese restaurant in Melbourne! Amazing food and service!

We were there for my birthday trip to Melbourne. My favourite Japanese restaurant in Australia so far! The food is delicious and extravagant! The customer service is the best. They provided a warm towel for customer to fresh up and start the meal. The cold noodle was a free treatment. The tempura is extremely delicious 😋 I didn’t even get the change to take photos because my husband was eating it😂 For those who love Umeshu Japanese plum wine, all the umeshu wines on the menu are fantastic! Because I tried all of them 😆 We will definitely comeback when we come to Melbourne next time! Highly recommended!

Fantastic. Best Japanese food I have had in a long time. Prices were good too.

Fantastic Japanese restaurant --- sushi and sashimi are great. Service is top notch.

The food comes out quick with supreme quality. Service was excellent and friendly. Dined here to celebrate a birthday and would definitely come back.

The quality of the food is definitely high and all very delicious. Highly recommend their unajyu! Staff are well mannered and friendly. Been here twice and will go back in the future.

Have been to Kenzan for 2 birthdays now. This is a phenomenal Japanese restaurant. The sushi is really fresh and the ambiance of the sushi bar, where the chefs slice and torch the fish right in front of your eyes, is exquisite. Cannot recommend enough.

The food was amazing!!! The food is authentic and I really enjoyed it. The staff and service are also very very good and friendly. The food is expensive but because it’s so good I thinks it’s worth a try at the very least.

It was delicious and authentic japanese cuisine. my father is Japanese chef and I think I know what Japanese food is. atomosphere and quality of food is great and purely Japanese people working there.

Delicious sushi, nice environment, polite staff. Keep up the good work guys!

Amazing food, amazing service, amazing quality , one of the best Japanese restaurants I’ve ever been to and it’s kid friendly

I went for dinner here last night and ordered the teriyaki chicken. The teriyaki was cooked really well and appropriate amount of sauce coating the chicken and not drowning the dish. Ive given an average review because I cant justify a plate of teriyaki chicken with two pieces of broccoli and half a bowl of rice being $40. It was way too expensive in my opinion.However, there may be other items on the menu which feel better priced for the item.

Nice location on the lower level on Sofitel building, Wilson car park underneath which is convenient.The restaurant itself its nice and tidy, lots of different types of sashimi and sushi you can choose from.A bit overpriced, two people can spend up to A200 or more. Therefore not suitable for regular visits unless you are in a good shape financially.Toilet is clean and tidy but a bit old-fashioned.

Beautiful sushi as always. If you love a good cawamushi, this is the place to go. Very attentive staff and authentic Japanese vibes.

Great fresh sushi. SUSHI was definitely made to order and is very tasty. service was great.

Finest quality, exceptional, authentic Japanese food. Excellent service. Highly recommended.

Great food in a more traditional setting. They will cater to groups, solo diners and quick meals. Fresh, friendly and comfortable.

I would absolutely recommend Kenzan Japanse Restaurant!! The food was delicious and super fresh and the service was impeccable. 5 stars definitely deserved!!

But..$40 chicken teriyaki is ridic..very very expensive.. great service..

Saturday night. Too busy and noisy, understaffed. Service was friendly, but not personal.The Sushi/Sashimi plate was delicious as was the miso soup.I will have to try another day and time to go back, as food was good.

Great sushi bar great service if bit of a language barrier with some wait staff...highly recommended

Excellent sashimi and sushi, professional table service but off hand welcome from front desk staff

Good environment, friendly staff, will come back.

Best tuna sashimi I have tasted in my life! The teriyaki beef was also amazing.

Good service nice staff I had my birthday here except we had to leave early because the table was booked by someone else and they refused to move them

After a late finishing business meeting we decided to drop in unannounced for dinner. Whilst the restaurant was quite full they still managed to find us a table. Kenyan never disappoints. Dinner was fantastic. The service was first class and always friendly and attentive.

The best Japanese restaurant I have ever been to in Melbourne.

Excellent quality and service

Sushi, Sashimi platter so nice, medium perfect for 2 peeps, Samurai cocktail Yum

Awesome authentic Japanese cruisine, they served fresh food, great service and environment. Will be back, it’s worth for money.

Their sushi is AMAZING! So good and so fresh! if youre looking for a nice and clean restaurant with a relaxing vibe and delicious food, this is it! Wonderful staff, they were very friendly and attentive.I wish I could remember the waitress name, she was so great. We will definitely come back!

My go to Japanese restaurant. Excellent service and perfect food!

Great food, excellent service, sashimi is the best, love this restaurant

Kenzan is a restaurant that fully reflects the Japanese cuisine. While it is on the higher end ($60+ for a main), the food is delicious and is served beautifully. If you find yourself in the city and want some Japanese food, this restaurant is a great place to dine.

It is closed. But it is worth the effort.The service is excellent, equal to many much more expensive places. The range of sakes is also very good and tasting is encouraged.The food is delicate and full of flavour. The pork belly was aromatic and lightly seasoned, the smoked eggplant, served cold, a triumph.

One of the best places to get ramen in Melbourne

Food is good, and the restaurant was very crowded during weekend, unexpected noisy.

Their sushi is AMAZING! So good and so fresh! if youre looking for a nice and clean restaurant with a relaxing vibe and delicious food, this is it! Wonderful staff, they were very friendly and attentive. I wish I could remember the waitress name, she was so great. We will definitely come back!

The best authentic Japanese in Melbourne and also one of the oldest as well. No cheap knock offs here this is the real deal

This place has really nice sushi and sashimi.

Had a bit of trouble finding it but the serve staff were very attentive, the food was delicious (loved the eel), nice intimate atmosphere :)

Amazing food. Amazing service. Beautiful space. Perfect.

Perfect!

We had our Christmas dinner here with 5 people and ordered the banquet with sake. Very accommodating for individual dietary needs, impeccable service and food that leaves you smiling

The service is great. The food was okay. I was there for date night...there are better places around and for that price.

Friendly staff. Wanna visit again.

High quality sushi and fish, but no miso soup or any other small dishes provided despite the expensive price.

I took my wife here for her birthday 18/11/2020 , and we were both disappointed for a few reasons.The table seating was poor. We were crammed up in the corner of the restaurant without a view of anything except a wall holding a couple of old Japanese drawings that didnt do much for us (no disrespect intended), so expect that if you are booking a table for 2, if you book with more people you will get a better seat in the restaurant.Having never been to an authentic Japanese restaurant before, i did a lot of research and read the reviews before selecting Kenzan Japanese restaurant as i wanted this to be a special night out for my wife as we rarely eat out in the city or spend this sort of money on dinner .We didnt know what to order so we ended up going with the Chefs recommendation $80 per person banquet. The first few meals (Miso Soup, Tofu , prawn dumpling) tasted good, however they were nothing too special and the portions were too small. We were both looking forward to the mixed Sushi & Sashimi selection which was presented well , but again small portions.the Main meal was beef Katsu with rice, and 2 cloves of broccoli which was actually quite delicious.So the meal cost $160 for 2 , and an extra $20 for our drinks.It felt like we paid $180 for $60 worth of food if that, and the Sushi /Sashimi we were so looking forward to was a disappointment(although it was presented well) due to lack of variety & portion size (i am comparing this against what you can buy from nearly any Sushi shop in a shopping centre / take away store with equally as good quality and a lot better value for money).The positives were the wait staff were polite as expected , the service was speedy, the ambience in the restaurant was nice (from what we could see)from where we were seated.As you can tell from the review we most likely will not be coming back here again, or recommending it to anyone,I hope the restaurant takes on this feedback and can implement changes in a positive way so nobody else in future will feel disappointed & ripped off as what we had ,Kind regards

One of the best Japanese restaurant in Melbourne.

The foods were delicious and also excellent services

10/10 for quality, service and value. It was an absolute pleasure dining here.

Best Authentic Sushi in Melbourne

The salmon was really great. best salmon i ever had for awhile. The staff said to me i can just stay an hour but another good staff said to me dont mind him then explain that because we have some reservation we need to let the customer know. Thats the difference of good staff vs inexperienced ones. Over all experience was amazing the food was great and we tried most of it and the desserts was great as well

Exceptional service and delicious food. Our go to with our family on a week night.

True Authentic Japenese food on Collins St. Been to Japan couple of times and I can assure you that the experience is awesome and japanese. Had a massive combo of Sushi and sashimi. Great fresh taste and the sushi was done to perfection.

We went to for Friday lunch.It was very busy and noisy.I ordered sushi main, I enjoyed very much. The grilled salmon & white fish were delicious . My friend ordered lunch box, she said tempra was bit heavy and no daikon and ginger for tempra as authentic Japanese tempra menu must have them with dipping sauce . But overall was ok.

Terrific in all ways

Fish is very fresh and delicious.Customer service is unacceptable. The lady didnt look like she wanted to provide customer service to us. When paying the bill, we found out we could make the exact amount so she didnt need to give change. Guess what? She threw the bill back to us. I think they should have a meeting and provide better training in customer service.However, the food is good.

Very nice food and very nice service. Make great effort to accommodate for food intolerances. The price is moderately high for what it is. But, it is very, very nice. The only thing that could be improved is the price/serving size as its so delicious!

Amazing food and wonderful service and atmosphere. If youre looking for a great Japanese dining experience, you cant beat this place.

Good experience. I didnt order drink but the food is good...

Regular come here for work lunches. Great spot for meetings and the food goes down easily. Staff are very friendly

Friendly, attentive service. Quickly arranged for the 3 of us to get a table that was easily accessible for my wheelchair using friend. While its a traditional old school menu, the food is of good quality. That it was nearly fully booked reflects on what a predictable (in the best sense) restaurant this is.

Very helpful staff and delicious food

The fatty tuna was superb.

This place is consistently good. The food quality and service is excellent. It is straightforward and reliable. Its a bit dark, and gets busy with business lunchers. There is a bar eating zone, and tatame areas, as well as conventional general seating, with padded chairs. It gets a bit noisy.

Kenzan to me is pretty much all about quality and consistency. Nailed it every time over the past few years. Exceptional environment, professional service and delicate Japanese food.

Always come here when I pay a visit to Melbourne.The dining setting is similar to fine dining - without the cost that comes with it. Staff are very polite and helpful, sashimi is fresh and delicious, and great value for money.Also love the soba noodles all the guests get at the beginning too.

Came here with a group of 9 one night and we were offered the private tatami room. The ambience was very authentic. We went for the recommended set dinner, good spread of dishes and the sushi was really good. I have to say this would have been 4 stars if the staff and kitchen knew how to handle some special considerations. For a place with a hat and the price they commanded, we expected a little better hospitality.

Great place with good food. Definitely worth a visit, rates very highly on somatic which is why I went. Food lived up to the ratings, service was extremely friendly with authentic Japanese Wait staff. Selection of Sake was plentiful, overall a great restaurant.

Excellent Japanese food as you would expect from a Good Food Guide One Hat Restaurant.Nice selection of dishes that you would expect (sushi, sashimi, tempura, shabu shabu etc.) and staff are friendly and attentive.Has conventional seating as well as a sushi bar area so that you can watch the chef prepare the delicious fish.In addition as a recommendation for private dining, I’d ask recommend for a business dinner or lunch as well.

A top quality classical Japanese food experience here every time. My family and I love to come here when we visit Melbourne always arrive here without a reservation (our bad, I know) and they always find us a table even when it is busy (because they are so awesome). The friendly staff make it easy to relax and take your order and the food is consistently delicious and perfectly balanced. I mean the generous serving of the most tasty salmon and the way it is cut, prepared and they portion of rice it comes with is just right. I feel full without feeling that I have over ate. Miso soup, Mmmmm so good!

This is one of our favourites in Melbourne - well worth the trip from Adelaide! The best food, service, wine list, we could eat this every day for the rest of forever. Just perfect!

I really liked the food here and for the price it was excellent. High quality sushi and sashimi. Simply the best tuna I have had in a while. Each piece was perfectly uniform, you can tell their attention to detail is on point. Would definitely would go back.

Amazing food

One of Melbournes best Japanese. Best service. Great wine list. Excellent menu and, for one of us with celiac, very good gluten free options.

The quality of the food served in the seafood lunch box was excellent but for $40, I would expect someting more than sashimi and tempura. It needs something new , more creative food.

The menu is limited compared to elsewhere, we came here for few time. But this time is our very last. Ordered Sabu Sabu $53 pp came out was like water tasteless some mix veggies and a plate of raw beef. Two of us $106 for that pot, we both so disappointed. Extremely expensive ripped off.We never go back.