text: Ugh This place is always packed for reasons I cannot quite grasp The parking lot looks crowded every time I drive by Sometimes I am suspicious that they must hire confederate diners to make the place look popular and lure unsuspecting customers insidennI only have one thing to say about the service here This is the type of place where the wait staff will judge you by your potential to tip and then ignore you if you obviously fall into the category of poor college student If you come here regardless of your background at least dress like you own money so that you will get your drinks refilled nnOn a particularly busy weekend night I showed up with a friend and expected to wait for for a table Good news we were seated immediately Bad news we were seated at a teppenyaki tablewhen we had no intention of eating teppenyakiand we had to share the table with a large family who we obviously did not know Do not get me wrong I am not offended by cafeteriastyle dining I am a college student after all but this should not be the seating arrangement at a place that presents itself as some kind of fine restaurant Throughout the meal I had to whisper to my dinner companion to avoid disrupting a strangers family dinner awkward Be careful about bringing a date here or at least make a reservation in advancennThe food Blegh Let me be clear on thisI have tasted sushi on both the east coast and west coast and I am in no way prejudiced against eating sushi in the Midwest I even think there is some decent sushi in Champaign at other restaurants so my standards are not impossible to meetnnAgain I have always eaten at Kamakura on busy nights because I naively assumed that most sushi restaurants will bring out the best fish when serving crowds of customers Instead I received garbage that smelled and tasted like rotting fish Maybe by the time they got to my order they had to use the smelly leftovers at the bottom of the barrel When I got home I tried to purge my mouth with Listerine Even with it is advertised deepcleaning action I could not get the taste of putrid fish out of my mouth I drank some coffee chewed gum etc but there was no redemption from the haunting taste of old fish My suggestion Stick to the cooked dishes at Kamakura tempura teriyaki udon etcnnWith so many better sushi restaurants in the area I do not see how Kamakura hangs onto customers I can forgive bad service but food that ruins your breath for an entire day is not acceptable This is the kind of place that gives sushi a bad reputation