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Kokoni Izakaya
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese [Edit]
459 Church StToronto, ON M4Y 2C8
Neighbourhoods: Church-Wellesley Village, Downtown Core
(647) 346-0886
- Hours:
Mon-Wed, Sun 4:30 pm - 2 am
Thu-Sat 4:30 pm - 4 am
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
12 reviews for Kokoni Izakaya
12 reviews in English
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Review from Duncan P.
Toronto, ON
This place is so good. The food is exceptional, the service is impeccable, and the freebies are awesome. I would come here every week if I didn't live so far away. My girlfriend is vegetarian and they accommodated her really well, making her custom rolls and a custom avocado sushi pizza. One of my biggest annoyances at sushi restaurants is rolls with too much rice that are slapped together lazily. The sushi rolls are artfully prepared and delicate, delicious and perfect bite sizes. This place is awesome, worth every penny!
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Review from Shari L.
Toronto, ON
3/4/2012
How I remember this place:
1. Food poisoning. 48 hours in bed.
2. Gelatinized gravy on pork made of salt.
I would not go back again, even if I were starving and drunk. -
Review from Justine H.
Toronto, ON
12/12/2011 1 Check-in Here
Restaurant: Kokoni Izakaya
Cuisine: Japanese/Korean
Location: Gay Village
Address: 459 Church St
Price Range: $10-15
1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very Good 5: Excellent
Food: 2
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 3
Extra information:
*Specials all through out the Week
*Sushi bar & Izakaya
*Korean owned
I randomly passed by Kokoni Izakaya while walking up to pick up a bottle of wine with a friend, saw their weekend special and decided to give it a try. I noticed they have specials throughout the week, Sake & Saporo for $3.99 on Monday, $1 sushi on Tuesdays as well as $1 oysters on Thursdays. I thought if their weekend special turns out to be great, it would be worth it to come back during the weekday to try other specials. Well, that 'dream' was very short lived.
Once I walked in, I was surprised by how empty and dead it was inside (it was the weekend!) Also, I wasn't sure if this was a sushi bar or a izakaya...I know it could be both, but the atmosphere was just confusing and the fact that they were playing some country music did not help at all.
When I saw the menu, I realized Kokoni Izakaya is Korean owned, and they serve Korean food as well as Japanese food. Many Koreans (and Chinese) own Japanese restaurants and this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but at Kokoni, mix up of Japanese izakaya items and random Korean dishes made the menu really inconsistent in terms of cuisine. Overall, price isn't that bad and the izakaya items vary from $4~10.
Weekend Izakaya combo was to choose one of the dishes priced from $25 to $48 and you get to pick 1 alcohol on the side (shoju, sake, sapporo or domestic beer)
Regardless of what you order, they give you a small bowl of rice noodles. This was bland and tasteless. Because Kokoni Izakaya is Korean owned, they give you some sidedishes. For sidedishes, it was green onion pancake, potato salad, pickled radish, salad and korean tofu. None of them stood out to me except the pickled radish (which is really hard to mess up).
Ordered: SKEWERS 4/5
*Bacon wrapped enoki mushrooms, Bacon wrapped asparagus, Pork Belly
*These were decent size and well grilled with just the right amount of sauce
*I believe they were around $3 each so they are not cheap at all
*Would be good with beer cause it is kind of salty on it's own
Ordered: STIR FRIED PORK WITH KIMCHI 2/5
*This is served with rice and soup on the side
*This is dinner size and it's good for 2 people to share
*There wasn't very hot when it was served
*Overall, there were more kimchi than pork
*Not spicy at all, almost a little too sweet
Ordered: ASSORTED KATSU 3/5
*Tonkatsu, Calamari and Takoyaki
*This was one of the weekend special
*Big platter to share between 3-4 people while drinking
*Too much sauce on top of Tonkatsu, would prefer sauce on the side
*All of them weren't served very hot
*Shouldn't deep fried items be served really hot right out of the fryer?
*Takoyaki was decent (frozen food standard)
*Fried Calamari was decent but didn't like how they used same sauce for every single item on the plate
*Wasn't sure what the sauce in the middle was for, it was very bland
Summary: Food was mediocre (and I am being nice), service was alright and the atmosphere was awkward. Unless it's meant to be a fusion place, Kokoni (or any restaurant) should really stick to one cuisine, either Japanese or Korean and do it well. And really, burn some decent CDs or play one radio station...Will I go back for their weekday special? Probably not. -
Review from Emily H.
11/12/2011
I should've gone to Guu.
My bad for being tricked into entering a restaurant self-titled "Izakaya". I should really be less of a noob and not trust Japanese food in Toronto anymore. The atmosphere is alright, very spacious... but it is yet another Japanese restaurant run by Korean people.
To have a successful Izakaya, authenticity and energy is so important. That's why Guu is as successful as it is. I really wondered during my meal at Kokoni if any of these servers and chefs have even ever been to Japan. It really hurt my feelings that they screwed up ODEN. Oden is such a classic comfort food, and I found it extremely deceitful that they would have the nerve to call it Oden. And worst of all, other patrons may just be led to think that that flavour is oden. It is so not. (Can you tell I am kind of angry?)
The sushi is ok, same as what you'd have in most sushi places. Okonomiyaki was small and could have been better executed with more toppings and ingredients. Grilled squid was flavourless and dry. And I've already mentioned the infinitely disappointing oden. There is one item that I would give a 5/5 for... the Wasabi Octopus. I'd perhaps go back for a beer + wasabi octopus.... but it would probably only happen if Guu had a five-hour line up.
Atmosphere - 3/5
Serivce - 2/5
Food - 2.5/5
Price - 2/5 -
Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
4/6/2011 12 photos
I was ready for my solo Izakaya experience at Kokoni Izakaya... so I can sip on some hot sake or sake cocktail while munching on some Japanese tapas style snacks...just like all those Japanese men does getting drunk like silly...
But when I saw the Tuesday Specials: SUSHI for $1 each!! I just could not resist Specials... and specials for sushi.. I am IN!!
Almost all the sushi are $1, except Toro, Uni or the more pricey one.. So I have to just try everything!!
- Sake (Salmon)
- Siroi Maguro (Butter Fish)
- BC Tuna
- Tako
- Tobiko (green)
- Unagi
- Spicy Salmon
- Spicy Tuna
- Spicy Crab
All nicely done and presented!
I was honoured to be the first customer to took advantage of this special...
Korean owner was so nice and accommodating and made me feel right at home.. even asking if I want extra miso soup...and of course my cup always stayed full!
Now I guess I need to be back and try out their other things aside from Sushi!Listed in: Japanese Restaurants in the…, Izakaya in GTA!!
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Review from Gabriella K.
Toronto, ON
10/3/2010
I tried this place last night with my family. There was a total of 6 of us and i had been in line at Guu south of KOKONI for 1hr. It started raining and my grandmother was with us, so i decided to walk on over to this place.
Environment: the restaurant was completely empty. During the duration of out stay there only 2 tables had filled up. (Saturday night, 7-930 ish)
The restaurant was clean and the decor seemed decent.
Service: i'd give this a 5 star. The waitress were completely helpful and recommended a good sake and perfect amount of food for us to order.
we received grilled salmon on the house as well.
My teacup was never empty.
food:
we ordered:
takoyaki
tako wasabi
japanese pancake
fried kaki (fried oysters) (kinda greasy)
cream corn croquette (kinda greasy)
grilled mackerel
seafood udon (Grandma gave it two thumbs up)
20pc assorted sushi tray (rice was perfect)
10pc assorted sashimi (amazing assortment)
3 orders of uni sushi (not so fresh)
warm sake -$8 /bottle (great deal for 8 shots worth)
comp salad, noodle soup thingy, miso soup. (grilled salmon on the house)
i understand that this is not guu, but its still pretty good for an alternative and its definitely worth a try if you are not down for a 3hr wait line and you have a big group of people. -
Review from WaYnE c.
Maple, ON
8/5/2010 6 photos
If I had KNOWN that this would be my last stop for dinner this Wednesday night, I would have ordered a few more items here. Right beside Chino Locos we went inside and was totally awed by the setting which was how Izakaya should be.
The Lantern/Sake Bottle shrine right at the entrance is very representative of an IZAKAYA and others should take note but understanding it's downtown most other places rather have seating space rather than decor.
We were greeted by a gentlemen in full Japanese Chef GEAR and was very friendly but noticeably Korean. This will later on be a beneficial as you read on...
Takowasabi($3.99) was delicious with raw Octopus bits and that recognizable Wasabi KICK. There were some dried Blueberries scattered on the side.
Takoyaki($4.99/7) was lacking as it was GOLDEN brown meaning it was deep fried. Katsuobushi was almost nonexistent and the Mayo made the appearance very sloppy. I would give this place 3.5 *Stars*.
To what I believe to be Korean hospitality, even though we ONLY ordered 2 items and a Beer my friend and I were both given our own portion of a yummy Appetizer Soup Noodle(Which I believe all places should provide), Salad and Miso Soup. I give this ADD-ON 0.5 *Stars* bringing this Izakaya a total of 4 *Stars*.Listed in: 4+ ****Stars****, Oishii
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Review from Ander R.
Toronto, ON
1/31/2012
Sushi was so-so, nothing remarkable, Loblaws is better. Okonomiyaki quite disappointing and inedible. Nice space, service ok.
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Review from Tony D.
Toronto, ON
5/3/2011
What a great addition to the area this place is! Finally some good food in Church-Wellesley. I finally got a chance to visit this place with my partner, and we loved it! The menu is a mix of all kinds of foods. The Chicken Teriyaki Dinner came with the chicken on a bed of veggies, along with salad, and rice for $14. It was big! We ordered a Dynamite Roll as well, and it was both delicious and super big. Miso soup was nice, as was the salad we got. A pleasant surprise was the small bowl of crunchy noodle soup that we got at the start of our meal. I wasn't sure what it was but my god, it was amazing! Our meal for 2 (with 1 beer) came to $40, and it was probably enough to feed 3 people. I can't wait to go back!
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Review from Penny C.
Toronto, ON
6/6/2011
my frds and i went there after dinner around 9. this place is similar to guu but more reasonable price and no long waiting list!!! the portion of food is not as small as other Izakaya places~ all the special rolls are 12 pices.
if u r a big fan of Unagi, u should definitely try the Don and Black dragon roll (ell on top of dynamite roll). btw the service is pretty good too!!!
Quick tips: wanna go for sake. go thursday~~~ they have sake special -
Review from Chris E.
Toronto, ON
8/3/2011
This was pleasant enuf, but I found the menu quite limited in variety. Prices were good. The sushi was amply portioned, but kept falling apart. The fish was very fresh. The music! Holy moly! Started with light piano jazz, kept getting louder, then turned to blaring disco. Decor is nice & subdued. Service was impeccable. I'll go back if I'm craving sushi, as Tuesday is $1/piece.
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Review from Gordon C.
Thornhill, ON
8/7/2010
it's not guu. but it's still pretty good. great service, tho the restaurant was pretty empty when we ate (~ 6-7pm) .. so no waiting, but also a bit too quiet. food was good, nothing spectacular. And the menu had less variety than guu. like the previous yelper mentioned, there was complementary salad and soup. i think this place stands on its own as a japanese restaurant, but i just have higher expectations for places named izakaya ever since guu.
