Sansei Seafood & Sushi Bar

DelishDelish! Pictures explains how delish it was… But we had da most Amazing Server named Anna (hope I got dat ryte) very attentive, never failed on anything… Made our dinner wonderful… Nd dat dessert Is a MUST! Trust me, ill be bak

The food was quite good, not great. Creative dishes on the menu for sure, good flavor, but for the price and hype the wait staff gives the food in presenting the menu, expected some wow-​factor I didn’t get. The place is loud, too loud for my taste; between the kitchen nose and the unnecessarily loud top-​40 music, not the atmosphere for me.

I’m not sure if I chose poorly or the food just wasn’t that great. I just wasn’t overly impressed by anything that I had.
Definitely will head back for a redo the next time I make to the Kohala coast though.

We arrived early and were seated without fuss. We ordered a few items off of the chef’s house specials list. We went for the Sansei’s crab mango salad hand roll, an order of the DK’s crab ramen and truffle broth. From the Kitchen Specials we got the Marinated Ko-​Chu-​Jang spiced chicken wings. And to add simplicity after truffle broth I got a simple cucumber roll, since I knew that truffle broth would be quite heavy.
My crab ramen truffle broth dish was a perfect delight for the senses! The noodles were cooked to perfection. The crab was a delight. Though for the price I could have hoped for more crab. I’ve had better ramen noodles in other ramen houses. (Read: they were hand made, these were not.) Despite these things, the truffle broth was noms! The sushi rice seemed a bit off. A bit too much vinegar taste.
My other half was a bit disappointed with his Ko-​Chu-​Jang chicken wings. They diluted the mixture too much. For the Asian palate it should be a bit more fiery. He did like his mango roll. But he said it needed a different accompaniment. It seemed a bit bland.
For dessert we ordered the tempura fried macadamia nut ice cream. It needed more nuts sprinkled on top. But otherwise, fun!

I made a reservation through Open Table for 7 pm but decided to go early, arriving at 545 pm. We asked for an earlier seating as the restaurant was less than 30%filled. Both Hostesses said all tables were booked and the earliest we could seat was 630 pm. It seemed so odd. We found the Hula demonstration about to start to we sat mesmerized by the show until 7 pm.
Back to the restaurant where we were seated promptly in the back section, passing empty table after empty table. 2 groups were turned away as no reservations were made, another small party of 3 girls were told there was a table in 45 minutes and told to wait in the bar.
Our server was not ineffective but I thought a bit forceful and condescending. I asked for tea, she said green tea, but I wanted black tea and she quickly corrected me that this was a Japanese restaurant and only serves green tea.
Prices match this egotistical overrated restaurant. The sushi rice wet and gummy, the ramen soup acrid, the spicy crab wet and mushy; only the pickled ginger delighted.
I refused to go further with the meal and looked desperately to returning to Island Market to fill my still hungry belly.
On my way out, counted 12 tables still waiting for patrons and hearing more people turned away by the 2 inexcusable caricatures of hostesses.
For me, the treatment of potential patrons who looked at all the empty tables as I did and were turned away was insulting. From 545 till 830 pm, it was clearly standard practice to refuse potential patrons with so many open tables and ownership/​general manager directed the hostesses to treat guests in this manner.
If sushi is really what you want,.head to Island Market. Better less expensive and guests treated as welcomed guests. Better still… take a trip to Red Water in Waimea..

My taxi driver had recommended this restaurant to me, it’s located inside Queen’s Marketplace by Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. It’s tough finding good places to eat around this area (we stayed at Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel) luckily they have a good selection of shops/​food court in this plaza.
The only thing you need to eat here is the Shrimp Dynamite! I could eat 5 dishes of this. We ordered a bunch of appetizers/​rolls between the 5 of us to share. We also ordered the Panko Crusted Ahi Sashimi Sushi Roll, Crispy Fried Calamari, the Spider Roll and the chicken — all were decent but nothing spectacular. This place is a bit pricey, so I would only recommend eating here during happy hour between 5:30 pm to 6 pm their starters/​sushi is 50% off. Be careful because they do have some rolls marked on their menu that are not included in their happy hour.