As I had just found out that Kaya has closed their doors one last time recently, this is my love letter/swan song to one of my FAVORITE restaurants and mainstays in Lodi - the town I've lived in for 20 years now. Let me just start by saying there was always one waitress, a Chinese woman in her forties, who always greeted me and my friends each and every time we visited Kaya and grew to know us and our orders almost by heart - and we appreciated her patience and kindness every time. I've tried a plethora of dishes from Kaya, and each were EXCELLENT! If I wasn't particularly hungry, I could always count on their pan-fried gyoza dumplings, their steamed shrimp shumai, and their miso soup to give me a warm and cozy feeling during my nighttime visits to the restaurant, illuminated by their glass panel glowing blue at night right in the middle of the restaurant. For something more filling, I'd have their stir-fried Thai pad see ew, their Thai green curry with some steamed white rice, and on very rare occasions I would order their Teriyaki Chicken bento box combo that came with white rice, steamed veggies, shrimp tempura, a six-piece California roll and fried shumai or dumplings. Each and every dish cooked to perfection and tasting as great as a local Japanese spot in New Jersey could do (and this is coming from a girl who's originally FROM Japan!) Some people who have reviewed Kaya on Yelp have called the food "bland" - but these are people who do not understand the Japanese palate at all. Taste and preferred flavors & textures are very subjective even culturally, and it is important to understand that the Japanese palate is based on SUBTLETY; Subtle flavors that your tongue can recognize without any of them overpowering one another. This is exactly what Kaya strived to do, and what they 100% accomplished every time consistently. The loss of Kaya truly will leave a huge hole in my heart, and in the town of Lodi as well. As someone who has been visiting this location since they were still "Penang - Malaysian-Thai Fusion Cuisine" since 2015, hearing of their closure deeply saddens me, and has left me empty - with one spot less to take my friends to when they visit my town. I do hope that the owners and waitstaff find a way to open and run another local Asian restaurant in the Lodi area, and if so, I will happily visit them again with glee. Thank you for your great service, amazing Japanese, Chinese and Thai food, and a place to relax and unwind comfortably with friends and chit-chat with the waitstaff. I will miss you tenderly.

I came here for lunch for the first time and I was greeted by the hostess. She sat me at a booth. Then waitress came shortly after and asked me what I wanted to drink, she took my order of hot tea. I got the drink and food menu and I was searching for the lunch menu and couldn't find it...I thought hmmm maybe they forgot. Then I decided to look it up on Google, and there it was! So I took a look and then found what I wanted... and when the waitress approached I told her I want to order lunch....she says no sorry because today's a holiday, Valentines Day we don't do lunch. Man I was heartbroken...lol here I am having business lunch by myself and not a night out w my wife expecting to pay lunch prices instead of dinner prices. So I ended up getting Beef Yaki Udon. It was quite sweet. But what I expected.

Solid asian restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised with the variety of food that they serve. They have everything from sushi to Thai to curry and for having such a diverse menu, the food was pretty good. The sushi tasted fresh and the hibachi was sizzling with nice portions but just a tad too salty. I didn't see hibachi tables, it looks like they prepare it in the kitchen. The atmosphere was pleasant and the waiter was nice enough but did not seem very enthusiastic and just brought out the check at the end and never asked if we wanted desert. The price is decent. We are a family of four and the check came out to be just over $100 which is actually a bargain in this day and age. I would definitely come here again. I think they would be a lot busier with just a little more attention to service.

Sushi i ordered were good! Enjoyed it! Fresh fish! Salmon and eel were delicious!!!!!!!!!

This hidden gem has quickly become my favorite of many sushi places that I like. Everything tastes so fresh and delicious, they have fantastic miso soup, and I love their cone-shaped hand rolls which are almost an onigiri take on sushi but with less rice and more of the good stuff. Exceptionally nice stuff, great decor, service is excellent, but the food is absolutely exceptional. Highly, highly recommended. Go and enjoy!

So happy we found this local sushi bar! Ordered for pick up and was not disappointed with the quality of the sushi. Ordered a nice mix of hand rolls and specialty rolls. My favorite by far was the volcano roll which was a perfect balance of spicy and savory. The scallop and tuna rolls were light and delish. Miso soup with lots of flavor which separates itself from many of the other bland miso soups I've had. Restaurant staff was very helpful and nice when I arrived. Would recommend!

Finally decided to give this place a shot for sushi. I had hesitated since it is an Asian fusion restaurant and has quite a large menu with sushi, hibachi, noodles, Thai curries, cajun seafood, and Chinese options but the reviews were pretty good. We actually ordered this 2 days in a row because we enjoyed it so much. I ordered on their website (on seamless it costs more money). The food arrived in about 30 minutes, both times. The prices are higher than expected, but to us it was worth it for good quality creative rolls. We tried kaya, golden lobster, spicy scallop, tiger, spicy tuna, Lodi monkey and angry dragon rolls. We enjoyed every single one. It was hard to decide which was our favorite, but the angry dragon rose to the top. My 2nd favorite was actually the regular spicy scallop roll but they were all great. I think we found our new go-to local spot for sushi! Curious about how good some of the other non sushi offerings are.