Kamakura is a nice Japanese restaurant specializing is sushi as well as other traditional Japanese foods such as tempura, sukiyaki, udon and cutlets. Open daily for lunch and dinner. When you first arrive you get the traditional shout-out from the sushi chefs which is always fun.
There is a small amount of seating at the sushi bar the rest of the seating is upstairs and on the main floor. Unfortunately they don't have any outdoor seating.
Our favorites are the California Roll (ok, so we may be sushi light-weights) but also love the unagi and in the winter our go-to dish is the beef sukiyaki. We've enjoyed the tempura too (we typically get the appetizer portion). They have a large selection of "specialty" sushi too. The presentation is always attractive and I've never had a bad meal here.
The menu includes several Japanese beer options, some wine options (not a large wine menu but the basics) and you can purchase either hot or cold saki. There other options including soft drinks.
There is some street parking but if you can't score a spot out front there is a town parking lot (free) located between Santa Cruz Ave and University Ave. You print a copy of the map of parking lots here.
This area has several restaurants within a half block including:
North - Vietnamese, lots of hand crafted cocktails and specialty small plates.
Coup de Thai - Great Thai food.
The Palms - Pacific Rim cooking, lots of outdoor and indoor seating
We Olive Wine Bar - Wine taste, olive oil taste or have a meal inside or outside on their patio.
The town is all abuzz over the news that our pasta fave, Pastaria & Market is moving to 27 N Santa Cruz; the location vacated by OPA! We don't have a date yet, but as soon as we get an update, we'll let you know. Personally I'm super-excited about this one!
For Some historical fun, here is the history of the businesses that have been in this location in the last forty years or so: