Cocoro Restaurant

Really enjoyed everything. Haven't been this excited about my food in forever. Grilled Octopus yum. Grilled Mackerel...was sooooo good. . Although servers were stretched WAY TOO THIN a busy Saturday night. Be ready to order everything because you'll only get their attention once. Not a complaint...just a fact.

My roommates and I went to Cocoro after we visited the Christkindlmarket. It was a perfect dinner to have — the sukiyaki warmed us up immediately, and the overall food quality here was indeed good! 🫖🍲 If there were at least one or two more staff members to oversee the customers, our dining experience would have been more enjoyable. However, the owner lady was so attentive, and made sure we were enjoying our food! 😉 I would definitely return to try other things on the menu too — for me, this is a good casual date night or friends night out place to visit ✨!

For traditional authentic Japanese restaurants in the area, this place is not bad. We have been patrons to this restaurant on and off for over 10 years, we don’t go very often but this is really the only place in town that serves authentic Japanese with a full menu, and not one of those fusion sushi wannabe ramen places around town. The reason we don’t go very often is because the service is very unpredictable, I would say 50/50 you will get prompt service and the other half, you could wait 15 to 20 minutes just standing there with a reservation and the restaurant only at 80% occupancy. You could also wait at least 30-40 minutes for your appetizer and another 30 for on trays. In other words, easily a two hour meal where 80% of that is just waiting. There are 2 servers, 1 sushi chef, 1 busboy, and this guy who answers the phone sometimes and spends a long time chatting with patrons but does nothing else. This is on a weekend. So what we figured out after all of these years, is don’t go during the weekend if you don’t have the time to waste, if the restaurant is busy, look at the number of order tickets at the sushi bar and how many tables have been served, you need to order the right combination of dishes in order to get them faster. Sushi is fast, but not when there are 10-15 tickets ahead of you. The price is downtown price, more than the burbs for sure. The quality of the food is Ok, compare to the same type of restaurant in Japan, they will get about 3 stars only but for the US, 4 star is good. Most of the dishes to me are a little under flavored, especially the nagasaki champon and Curry, the Sukiyaki is one pot style, so you cannot really choose what to eat when and how well to cook each item. But at least it is better than the pre-cooked style over rice. I still prefer the traditional way better, not many places in the US has that now. I would recommend this place if you are downtown since this is it anyway and you have not spent any extensive amount of time in Japan, because if you have, it would make you miss visiting Japanese even more.

Until coming to Cocoro, I had never had sushi before. My friends thought that this had to change, so we made our way over here for dinner. In order to get a taste of everything, we got the sashimi plate as well as a dragon roll (apparently that’s a good starter sushi roll). I honestly had some mixed feelings about the sashimi for my personal taste palate, but it was still delicious. Also, I understand why people buy expensive bottles now because we ordered a nicer bottle of sake and I’ve never had a smoother drink in my life. I highly recommend getting one to pair with your dinner.

The establishment and service seems homemade but charming, in an anti-corporate sort of way. In a great location in River North, I would highly suggest to them an investment in a professional branding/marketing designer, because I had not heard of it, and the only reason I found it was because I really wanted Udon. Their beef Udon soup was the epitome of savory, umami goodness. Somehow it heated up even better in the microwave the next day. I ordered mine extra spicy and they gave me cayenne and chili oil on the side. Delicious! If you’re not a fan of mushrooms, I would ask for them taken out; if you are a fan of a variety of Japanese mushrooms, you’re in luck! Fried chicken appetizer was d e l i c i o u s, crispy and savory dark meat in a unique breading, I REALLY wish it came with sweet & sour sauce. Gyozas were delicate and also savory. Did not care for the tough texture of the octopus balls. Service was okay, it was hard to get their attention when we wanted to leave. Bathroom was unfortunate :(