Kawaii Sushi, located at 8385 West Deer Valley Road in Peoria, is not the valley’s average sushi spot. From its comfortable yet elegant upscale dining room, spacious patio, bright sushi station and bar — featuring a wide array of wines, sake and import beers from Japan — to its highly educated staff and combined year of experience in both management and food and beverage, Kawaii offers West Valley diners an unmatched approach to freshness and authenticity.

Everyone at Kawaii takes pride in serving sushi and Asian cuisine made with only the freshest ingredients including high-quality fish, meats and vegetables and that are free of additives and MSG. Menu starters include a large selection of soups including traditional favorites including Miso, Egg Drop and Wonton, as well as Tonkotsu Ramen with pork, boiled egg, shitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, green onions, fish cake and seaweed; and Seafood Soup with shrimp, scallops, crabstick, tofu, peas, carrots and egg white.

An array of hot and cold appetizers are also on the menu from Salmon Tartare Cucumber Bites served with spicy soy sauce and the Screaming O — seared tuna in a special creamy sauce — (cold) to the Deep Fried Gyoza, Chicken Lettuce Wrap, Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crab, Tempura, and Stuffed Tuna Jalapeno featuring spicy tuna and cream cheese stuffed jalapeno deep fried with a special sauce on top (hot).

Yellowtail, Salmon, Albacore, Red Snapper, White Tuna, Mackerel, Octopus, Smoke Salmon and Seated Tuna are available in either nigiri or sashimi while Fresh Water Eel, Smelt Roe, Flying Fish Roe, Shrimp, Egg, Sweet Shrimp, Bean Curd Pouch and Crabstick/Crabmix is available as nigiri. Sushi lovers can truly find their utopia here, as the sushi selections include a long list of Deep Fried Rolls, Classic Rolls, Vegetable Rolls, Fresh Rolls, No Rice Rolls, Tempura Rolls, and Baked Rolls.

But it’s not all about seafood and sushi at Kawaii. The restaurant also prepares a variety of authentic entrees such as Orange Chicken, Beef or Shrimp; Ribeye either pan-seared with a garlic oyster sauce or chopped and stir-fried with black pepper sauce and vegetables; Walnut Shrimp; Sweet and Sour Chicken or Shrimp, as well a large selection of Fried Rice options and Noodle dishes.

However, before any plate ever reaches the customer, it receives great care. Kawaii Head Chef Raymond Wang and Lisa Selamat have more than 30 years Cantonese cooking experience and Kawaii’s Head sushi chef Bruce Lee learned his sushi skills from chefs with 25 years of traditional Japanese sushi experience. Kawaii’s mission includes always doing something to improve the environment and the ambiance inside and out of its doors. They take training very seriously and each employee receives thorough education about food safety as well as allergies like gluten or nut allergies.

In addition to careful attention to their food, Kawaii is very conscious about presenting and maintaining a clean environment. The restaurant regularly receives A+ ratings from the Maricopa County Environmental Services Department and CBS 5 news also rated Kawaii’s clean kitchen 5 Stars. The company attributes the time and attention they pay to these intricate details to their success and great relationships they’ve built with their customers. For more, visit www.kawaiisushiaz.com.