A new omakase-style sushi restaurant will open in Johnson County
Thanks to a former New York City sushi chef, an eight-seat omakase restaurant is on its way to downtown Overland Park.
Kiyoshi Omakase will open at 8016 Santa Fe Drive, in the former Abol/Elsa’s Ethiopian Restaurant space.
The intimate restaurant will soft open April 3. Customers must make reservations online to secure a spot.
Omakase, which roughly translates to “I’ll leave it up to you,” describes a style of Japanese dining in which the chef serves his own creations to customers. The sushi chef tailors each course to whatever fresh fish is available. Customers at Kiyoshi won’t see a menu, but will receive an interactive dining experience instead.
The downtown OP restaurant will serve 14 courses of sushi for $98. Each of the customers will be sat around the sushi bar — there’s no table seating.
Fish will be flown from Japan daily to ensure freshness, said manager Yuanyuan Li.
Kiyoshi’s part-owner and chef Jerry Cao co-founded Zen Sushi Omakase on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Li said the chef decided to relocate to the KC metro to be closer to his children.
“He thought downtown Overland Park was a good location,” Li said. “It’s growing right now.”
Kiyoshi will serve dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Lunch will be served from noon to 3 p.m. on Fridays through Sundays. It’s closed Mondays.
This is the third omakase restaurant in the area, though the first in Johnson County.
The metro’s first omakase spot, Sushi Kodawari, opened two years ago in the Crossroads at 2100 Central Ave.
Akoya Omakase opened last fall at 106 W. 12th St. inside Hotel Phillips.
Downtown Overland Park is seeing a few other concepts launch this year. American restaurant Telia will take over the former Buffalo State Pizza space (the pizza shop moved across the street) with a connected speakeasy-style lounge called Night Owl.
Clothing boutique Heddi Monro will also soon open with attached speakeasy concept The Dressing Room tucked behind — as the name implies — a dressing room.
Abol, formerly Elsa’s, closed last September. It changed hands in early 2024 but had been an Ethiopian restaurant since Elizabeth “Elsa” and Haile Michaels opened the spot in 2011.