Kokoro Restaurant

Excellent authentic Sushi restaurant. The location is not the best but the food here is exceptional. The inside of the restaurant is cozy and the staff are all friendly.Highly recommend to get the omakase sushi. I have been here many times and regular sushi is also good but omakase offer better type of fish. Regardless of what you order, all fish here are very fresh and flavorful.

Kokoro Restaurant was mentioned a long time ago by a friend as one of his preferred places for sushi. It's a little off the beaten path next to Subway in a Serra Mesa plaza. They have reduced their lunch service to Thursday through Sunday while dinner was offered from Tuesday through Sunday. We were the first ones to arrive for dinner recently and had our choice of seats from the eight person sushi bar and the tables in the dining room that could hold another 16 customers.A sushi order slip was provided along with a booklet that contained pages for Omakase or Dinner courses, preset sushi and sashimi combos, side dishes, dessert (panna cotta), saki, and other beverages. The two courses were customized for the month of July and cost $150 per person. I was tempted to try the Omakase but decided on an assorted sushi combo. We also ordered three side dishes... Nori-Ten (layer seaweed tempura), Eggplant with Miso, and Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura.Ten pieces of sushi, an appetizer (spinach and tofu dish), chawan-mushi, and miso soup made up the $67 combo. The sushi consisted of...* Toro (tuna belly)* Hamachi (yellowtail)* Tuna (bluefin)* Mejina (opal eye)* Ebi (shrimp)* Ika (squid)* Sawara (king mackerel)* Hotate (scallop)* Ikura (salmon roe)* Anago (sea eel)The Sawara stood out because it was much softer and had a less gamey taste than the mackerel I have eaten at omakase-only restaurants. Perhaps it was because this cut was king mackerel versus Aji which is horse (or Spanish) mackerel used by some places or even Saba mackerel which was listed on the order slip. I also liked the Hotate as the scallop meat was delicate and soft. The chawan-mushi was loaded with more ingredients (ginkgo nuts, shiitake mushrooms, shrimp) than usual for this egg custard dish.The service was fine because we were the first party of the evening and placed our order before those that came after us. There was nothing flashy about our dining experience at Kokoro Restaurant, just solid quality sushi at a reasonable price.

I met my friends here for dinner a couple of times lately. Both times I had assorted sushi 10 pcs and some a la carte items like miso eggplant and assorted tempura. The nigiri sushi rice has a stronger vinaigrette taste compared to other places, which I like and I think makes the sushi here tastes better. Sushi is good overall but the fish here is a bit dry and small. I prefer a little larger sushi pieces, both fish and rice. Jazz is nice but got a bit louder than we wanted at times for having quiet conversations. You know those high trumpet and saxophone tunes... The waitress was courteous and checked on us.This place is tacked away from the crowdedness of Convoy and has easy parking that is definitely a plus in the area. It's a nice place if you want an intimate setting for Japanese cuisine with the Chef's personal touch.

This place is great! I was browsing some articles about the best omakase places in San Diego and this restaurant came up. I didn't go for their omakase but I went for their lunch specials and loved it! This restaurant is tucked away in a plaza. A very unassuming location. I arrived right at 11:30AM when they open for lunch. My friend and I were promptly greeted and sat. A sweet older woman took care of us through the experience. This is a very small restaurant so come early or make a dinner reservation. I ordered the sushi lunch and my friend got the sashimi lunch which came with miso soup. We were both still hungry so we ordered a spicy tuna roll to split. Everything was top quality and the portions were perfect. Can't wait to come back for their omakase experience some day!

Overall, this restaurant was great but not amazing. I came here for lunch for their chirashi bowl and it was not bad. The server was very kind and accommodating. Ambiance was intimate and quite, which I enjoyed. I wish the restaurant served hotter, more vinegary and sweet sushi rice. The rice had no distinct flavor or any value that stood out. It was authentic Japanese flavors but I would honestly rather spend the money else where for not so authentic sushi for more bang for the bucks. I may give it one more try for dinner but would be very considerate on what I get.While I appreciate the boutique, cute, and intimate setting of the restaurant, I wish the food were better!

Overall experience was decent. The place is extremely small. Food is great but I am not sure if it's actually that great to match the price charged. Staff was friendly but the kitchen probably gets busy. I feel the food was serviced very slow though it wasn't a big deal since we were hanging out while waiting for food. I don't intend to go back there. I personally like the sushi place in liberty station more Given the fact that its about the same size but the cost was lower there and food was great there as well. No complain to the food here. I think it's great but will not go back or take friends there based off overall experience.

After a long day working - the team wanted some real sushi and Kokoro delivered. We called 20 min before arrival and they were able to seat us so I would recommend calling beforehand since it's a smaller shop but so worth going there. We enjoyed squid tempura, chirashi bowls and assorted nigiri. The negitoro was also so good and we LOVED the panna cotta (not pictured because it was inhaled)All items met our expectation. The fish was super fresh, the service was great and my only regret is we didn't do omakase (next time for sure)!This was seriously a last minute find that is an absolute gem. I loved that it was so traditional as we were not looking for dragon rolls or anything of that sort. The sake menu was smaller but a bunch of gems. We went with one of my favs since it add available and priced so reasonably!I honestly can't praise this place enough. Pricing is so reasonable for what you get and I'll definitely be back if I'm in the area in the future!!

Awesome service and amazing fish! We did the omakase and loved every bite. They were really busy on a Saturday night but still delivered top notch service and the chef made sure to check how we liked our food multiple times throughout the meal (even though he was the only chef for the entire restaurant!). Looking forward to coming back.

I think the cheapest omakase I have ever been $120-$125. I guess going to more expensive ones have set the bar high for me when it come to omakase. Overall, the sushi and everything tasted good but you don't get the excellent omakase experience. Not too much interaction and definitely fish quality is on the average range. I think it's a good place to try if you are new to omakase and you want cheaper options but yet it's not really that cheap lol. I had the main course and got only two sushi which was disappointing and sashimi platter was small. I think their prices should be little bit cheaper for the amount of food they have for the omakase. Bottom line, not impressed.

We loved this place, everything was top tier and very authentic. It felt like we were in Japan! This rivals all other top sushi restaurants in San Diego