With Hand Rolls and an Audio Omakase, Houston’s Newest Japanese Restaurant Is a Vibe

From the owners of the elusive omakase experience, Neo, comes Kira, a 15-seat counter Japanese restaurant with a dope playlist and hand rolls that hit the spot

The owners of the popular, yet somewhat elusive, omakase experience Neo have opened Houston’s newest hand roll experience, and it comes with its own soundtrack.

Comma Hospitality restaurant group opened Kira on Tuesday, August 6 in the Shops at Arrive River Oaks in Upper Kirby. Inspired by Japanese listening bars that emerged circa the 1950s, the new restaurant welcomes Houstonians in for hand rolls, crudo, maki, and music. Step inside the intimate and moody 15-seat counter bar, and you’ll immediately spot a vinyl collection and a record player that emits what owners call an “audio omakase” of American hip-hop, rock, Japanese city pop, and funk tunes through the bar’s McIntosh stereo system. While staff selects the music for the night, diners get a hand in curating their dining experience, choosing from an a la carte menu before watching much of the action unfold at the bar as chefs slice, grate, and roll sushi ingredients into handheld rolls.

Comma’s managing partner Jeremy Truong says that like its sister restaurant, Kira is still quite methodical in its approach to hospitality. Kira’s diners are required to place their order in full at the beginning of the meal so staff can course and create the best progression, but it’s the more “approachable” and fun restaurant of the two, with dimmed lights and louder music, he says.

Chef de cuisine Mark Wong leads the experience with a menu that boasts A5 wagyu donburi topped with egg yolk and truffle shaved at the bar, a short list of crudo, including a refreshing scallop rendition topped with cucumber and yuzu zest, and sashimi sets of seasonal fish or bluefin tuna. Of the nine prominently featured hand rolls, highlights include a convincing ode to the lox bagel featuring applewood smoked ocean trout, chives, and freeze-dried sour cream. A warm lobster hand roll, a crowd-favorite carried over from Neo, features Norwegian blue lobster dolloped with an umami-loaded seaweed hollandaise sauce, and the sleeper hit for this fish-focused spot: the vegetarian maitake hand roll. Made up of heated hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, this roll is slathered in a brown butter emulsion and wrapped in crispy seaweed for a perfect dish easily devoured in three bites.

Veteran bartenders, including Kira’s beverage director Aaron Laura and Marc Rodriquez, formerly of New York’s fine-dining Korean restaurant Atomix, team up for a drinks menu that centers on Japanese high balls served from a traditional Suntory highball tower, rare sakes, and refreshing cocktails. Standouts include the 15 Step, a cocktail made with applewood bacon-washed tequila, yuzu, cucumber, and Yondu, and the All I Need, a mix of Japanese whisky, yuzu curacao, Campari, Vermouth, and purple shiso. Diners can also enjoy beer, vintage champagnes, and a solid pandan coconut mocktail that is reminiscent of an earthy cream soda.

At the close of a meal, diners can opt for kakigori, or Japanese shaved ice, which is made with a hand-cranked kakigori machine, an exciting rarity among Japanese restaurants in the city, according to Truong. Flavors include a sweet and tart raspberry with condensed milk, and the pandan version, which features coconut jelly, chunks of lychee, and a gooey marshmallow topping with sprinkles of toasted coconut.

Brittany Britto Garley

Though Kira is a separate concept from Neo, Truong says the team has been just as intentional when it comes to its service and design. “Everything to us in a restaurant is important. Every corner matters. No detail is too small,” Truong says. The restaurant’s calming natural wood is complemented by walls coated in dark gray plaster to create a “cave”-like experience that drowns out the outside world. Diners order from crafty hand-embroidered burlap menus and eat and drink from custom glassware and vintage sake cups sourced from Japan.

The restaurant, which had been in the works since November, is a second chapter for Comma, but it will not be the last. Truong says Neo, Comma’s omakase reservation-only restaurant that launched as a pop-up during the pandemic, continues to do well, operating five days a week at its sister company location, Glass Cypress, in Montrose. And the restaurant group is slated to open two more restaurants, including another Japanese restaurant planned for the Heights, and one that will incorporate Japanese ingredients and cooking techniques, but with heavy inspiration from the culinary scene in Mexico City.

Comma Hospitality

Know before you go:

• Menu items, aside from the dessert, are ordered all at once, so be sure to take your time when considering your meal. (Looking at the menu before arriving at the restaurant can’t hurt.)
• Kira chefs hand diners their hand rolls directly. If you’re planning on splitting a roll with a dinner mate, designate one person to receive the hand rolls from one of the chefs assembling them. Take a bite, and then pass it to your neighbor.
• Just like in Japan, it’s frowned upon and considered bad luck for diners to pour their own sake. If dining with others, be sure to pour for your friends, and vice versa. If dining solo, let a Kira server pour for you.
• Kira is already booked with reservations and only occasionally allows walk-ins, so don’t be surprised if a Kira staff member politely informs you their next reservation is here. One guest is allotted 75 minutes to dine, two guests are allotted about 90 minutes, while three or more guests are given 105 minutes.

Kira is open for dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 2800 Kirby Drive, Suite 128B. Upper Kirby area, 77098. View its full menu below.