Gaza Modern Japanese Cuisine

I really enjoyed my fine dining experience "on a budget". I travel for work, so I'm getting to know the offerings of Bloomington, IN fairly well. And I was glad to stumble across this spot.

The sushi was faaaaaaaantastic! And the wine selection was equally as enjoyable! I appreciated the lovely china set out before me, but the fact that it went unused did crowd the table a bit. I went with 15 co-workers, and we shared multiple sushi rolls, so I got to experience about 8 different types of sushi, and I enjoyed them all!

And to top it off, the chef made us fried oreos!!! OMG!!!

Our waiter was nice enough, but he was fairly new and possibly not equipped to handle such a large party because he did forget several items (until it was brought to his attention). And for that reason, I did not rank the space higher. But overall, I really did enjoy the experience!

Finally yummy sushi in Bloomington!! Our salmon and eel sushi and spicy tuna speciality roll were really fresh, tasty, and reasonably priced. We will definitely be back, and I can confidently say that this will be our go-to sushi place in Bloomington.

The decor is a little bit intense/feels out of place (see my photo of the place setting), but overall I'm not complaining for having a quality sushi restaurant in town!

Tried Kiku today for the first time and really enjoyed it. Have been searching for good sushi here in Bloomington for the past two years and perhaps have finally found it.

We went for lunch. Kiku is in a strip mall which we have learned is not necessarily a bad thing. There was plenty of parking. We were the first customers there for lunch (at 11:30AM). The interior is a bit surprising for a sushi place. Heavy silverware, fancy napkin rings. Not the usual chopsticks in a paper wrapper either.

We ordered the bento box lunch with teriyaki salmon and the sushi lunch. Both came with miso soup. The miso was a bit watery. Probably could have used a bit more miso paste. Not bad, but not the best I've ever had.

My sushi arrived, beautiful presentation. The tuna and salmon and shrimp all tasted fresh and good. The California roll was also good, made with fake crab meat but had good flavor. My partner enjoyed her salmon teriyaki lunch. In addition to the salmon, her bento box had some sushi, a couple gyoza and some tempura veggies.

The service was good, our server was very nice and attentive.

Lunch for two came out to about $12 each, very reasonable. Look forward to returning to try some of the other sushi rolls.

At first, this was going to be a three star, but after thinking about it, the sushi was really good. You forget just how bad some supermarket sushi can be until you get the good stuff. The taste, freshness, and ingredients count.

It's not a manufactured feel. This is is about takeout, during the lock down. We ordered a variety of rolls, plus the stuffed jalapeno poppers.

Then we remembered. Yeah, decent sushi. Maybe better than decent as the quality of the ingredients was good and consistent. Presentation was good and it made it to its destination six miles away as though we were eating it inside their restaurant. I haven't eaten sushi/sashimi in a while. I'm going back when the times are better. It's not cheap here, but quality isn't cheap, either.

Their menu isn't as extensive as some I've seen. But it's not sushi-on-the-hoof, sushi-buffet, etc. This is the handcrafted stuff well done. We'll be back.

I very rarely write reviews BUT:

Ordered takeout for dinner for a sushi combo with extra ginger. I realize that with the virus and quarantine that restaurants are extremely busy and for them to stay open for takeout is extremely generous. However, the food I received today was unacceptable!!

When I got home and opened my food, there was a RANCID smell coming from two of my three boxes, sort of a sulfur/wet rag smell from the ginger (it was also noticeably warm) and likewise from the rice/imitation crab side dish. I tasted the imitation crab and had to immediately spit it out, as it had gone so bad to the point where I couldn't even smell it without gagging on it. The rice underneath the crab had gone bad also and you could tell from how sour it smelled and from the mushy texture underneath.

The entree itself was fine- not expecting fresh sushi in Bloomington anyway, but the smell from the other boxes was so bad I didn't even feel like eating. Please, please do not serve food that has gone bad!!

When Kiku first opened it was known for being all you can eat and they utilized a tablet to review the menu and place additional orders. The food was average but if you were really hungry for sushi it was a decent value. In December 2017 I noticed on their Facebook page they had a new owner, were ending all you can eat, and were attempting to improve the quality of the food.

We decided to check it out on a Friday night to see how the quality was. We were quickly seated on a Friday night with only a few other tables in the restaurant. Their menu is huge and they almost seem to have too many products vs. focusing on doing a few things well. They had sashimi specials at $2.95 (half off) the night we were there and until 7pm offered $5 appetizer specials. Many of the special and appetizers were items previously on the all you can eat menu. We opted for a combo that consisted of spicy crab, spicy tuna, and spicy salmon rolls at around $14, a salmon sashimi to try, and a black pepper tuna specialty roll that was around $13 or 14. Overall the quality was average and didn't blow us away but the price point wasn't terrible and the quality didn't seem to drastically improve from the previous ownership.

It's worth checking out but there are a few other sushi places in town we will probably keep in our usual sushi routine.

Lovely- quiet( but not too quiet) - very pretty food, very delicious and well made. Good quality sushi. This is the very nice, but not overpriced sushi place we have been hoping would come back to Bloomington. It is now my #1 place for sushi, but I can't wait to go back to taste the cooked dishes too. I hope they stay in business for a long long time. Update 6-25-19 still high quality, excellent food, calm lovely place.

Everything about Gaza was OUTSTANDING! Do not judge the place by its strip mall location. Nothing pedestrian about Gaza at all. The ambience was very high end, service was excellent, Jay was attentive without hovering. We shared the Passion Poke fom the cold dishes and the beef wrapped asparagus from the hot dishes. Hubby had the Surf and Turf from the Main Dishes choices, which we both agreed was excellent. I had the Seared Salmon Cut from the Signature Cuts menu of sushi offerings. It was FANTASTIC!! We shared the tempura cheesecake, which was delish! We will be returning, sooner rather than later. It was our first of MANY FUTURE VISITS! Bon Appetit

Seating was quick and decor was a bit gaudy and dated. The feel of the restaurant is as if it is trying too hard to be classy and the wait staff does not reflect this attempt.

Everything after being seated was a bit of a train wreck. No details on any specials, didn't ask if I wanted a drink, and when I ordered the lamb chops and steak there was not any communication in how I wanted my dishes cooked.

The food took almost 45 minutes to be served, steak was cold and over done. The lamb chops were over done and drenched in what seemed like a generic dressing that had a tinge of balsamic vinegar, completely over powering any flavor of the meat. The garnish was the exact same from the steak to lamb with a mix of vegetables that seemed to be boiled to the point it where it was mush, but to be honest I couldn't tell if it was a cooking issue or the fact the vegatables were frozen.

The main issue with the steak was not that it was over cooked and cold, it was the texture of the meat. It seemed as if the meat was boiled before it was torched in an attempt to give it a nice crust. If you look at the pictures you can see the steak having a very grey tinge with the texture in pictures revealing it could very well be boiled first. The lamb was dry and the picture you can see, even if it is reddish, the meat has no juice to it, leading me to believe the lamb chips were not fresh, but previously frozen.

I made an attempt to hail the waiter during this time period to bring to his attention that he had missed a vital portion to this dinner service, the cooking of the meat. After making him aware of what my expectation was, he still decided to serve me what is pictured. He dropped the food off and sped away before I could bring to his attention how off the meat was. It took 5 more minutes for him to get back to me and rather than making it right, he tried to persuade me the steak was not that bad. He had to bring a more senior waitress to make the decision to re-cook the steak. What was presented after was acceptable, but the garnish choices is a flaw with the dish as a whole. After taking over an hour for dinner and having to wait another 20 minutes in a relatively empty restaurant for the steak to be recooked, there was no attempt in making my meal worth my time, which goes to show how much they care about the perception of their restaraunt.

I would say stay away from anything requiring it to be cooked. Since I haven't had any of the sushi here, I can't speak to the quality of seafood, but if my experience with this dinner means anything I would stay far away.

Have been giving extremely small portions for the same price! Quality is subpar of a gas station. Don't recommend if you have a stomach bigger than a 5 year old