FOOD

Kaji Grill’s all-you-can-eat menu works best as a conversation between the sushi bar and the hibachi grill. The grill gives the meal a hot anchor: chicken, steak, shrimp, salmon or tofu arrive with broccoli, carrot, zucchini and onion, while fried rice, lo mein and udon provide more substantial detours. Hibachi steak is an especially useful change of pace after a run of rice and raw fish, shifting the meal toward something browned, warm and straightforward.

The sushi side moves from familiar rolls into more elaborate constructions. California, Alaska, Philadelphia, eel, shrimp tempura and spicy salmon or tuna cover the recognizable center. Then the house rolls get busier. The Kaji Roll layers shrimp tempura, spicy crab and cucumber with spicy tuna, avocado, spicy mayo, sweet soy, tempura crunch and masago. The Lava Roll pairs spicy tuna and avocado with tuna, Japanese dressing, scallion and masago, while the Christmas Roll finishes shrimp tempura and cucumber with spicy tuna and honey-wasabi sauce.

Fried rolls push farther into comfort-food territory. Sunday Morning combines salmon and cream cheese with spicy mayo and sweet soy before the roll is fried. Godzilla brings tuna and crab meat into the same format, while Dinosaur adds jalapeño and cream cheese to spicy tuna. Philly Cheese Steak goes even farther from the sushi-bar template, wrapping grilled steak, onion and cheese into a deep-fried roll finished with spicy mayo and sweet soy. These are the indulgent end of the AYCE spectrum.

The most distinctive bridge between sushi and snack food is the sushi taco section. Crisp seaweed shells hold sushi rice and combinations such as salmon or tuna with cucumber and mango, grilled eel with cucumber and avocado, or tempura shrimp with cucumber and lettuce. Sauces, masago and crunchy toppings give them the layered personality of the specialty rolls, but the taco shape changes the texture enough to feel like a separate stop rather than another variation on maki.

Appetizers give the early rounds plenty of range. Harumaki, gyoza, fried shumai and edamame are easy starting points, while fried oysters, calamari, shrimp tempura and octopus balls make the section more interesting than a basic sushi-house warm-up. Kani salad, spicy kani salad, seaweed salad and salmon or tuna salad provide colder resets between fried dishes and hibachi. The first twenty minutes can become its own small meal if restraint disappears early.

Dinner broadens the raw-fish side with sushi including salmon, tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, octopus, eel and cooked shrimp. A ten-piece sashimi add-on costs $5 with any AYCE order. That small upgrade creates a route through the meal that leans more heavily on fish and less on rice, tempura and sauces without giving up the unlimited format.

Dessert stays compact but appropriately Japanese-leaning. Mochi ice cream comes in strawberry, mango, vanilla and green tea, while Japanese ice cream adds red bean alongside vanilla and green tea; cheesecake is the familiar alternative. By then, the challenge is not finding another option but deciding which branch deserves one final round. Kaji Grill works because that answer can be hibachi, raw fish, a fried roll, a sushi taco or something sweet without making any of them feel outside the same meal.