Kokoro

Over priced and super super super super slow. Literally waited over one hour and two sushi rolls still haven’t come. Are you kidding me? They wrote «low price «on menu cover but Curry rice for over 20??? no I don’t think so

My favorite fried rice and spicy salmon roll anywhere. Try going on a less busy day/​time to avoid the long waits. I am eating here right now Dec 1 2015 so it doesn’t seemed like they’ve closed quite yet but all of their helpers are gone it’s just ol Tony and his wife left.

Food was awesome. Expect the long waiting time though I.e. Don’t go with an empty stomach

I love the fried rice! Sushi is good, fried rice is fabulous! Steak teriyaki is very very good! Tony is a great chef!

This review is for visits I’ve had here back in 2001 and 2002. Even back then, the hot headed and arrogant Tony threatened to close but wow, this place is still open.
It’s not a sushi place persay — it’s more of a sushi rolls type of place with extensive amounts of creativity. I’d say it’s one of the better places I’ve been even living in California if you like sushi rolls.
His attitude still sucks but I think that’s part of the charm of this place.

The most flavorful fried rice ever! Portions of the rice and rolls are larger than I have seen at other restaurants, so order accordingly. This is not a place for a quick meal and I loved how the host made sure we understood that it would take awhile to get our food. Worth the wait.

First time trying this place and I have to say I was not disappointed. I’ve heard many good things and many bad things about this restaurant, but my experience was nothing terrible, yet nothing spectacular. You are warned when you walk in to be seated that it is basically a one man show. We (two of us) went on a Friday night around 730 and were seated right away. I rather enjoyed the wait time between dishes because it gave myself and the person I was with time to catch up with each other and get hungry again. Not like some places where they are trying to flip tables so fast they all but shove the food down your throat. I appreciated the wait time, and I was not in any hurry nor felt hurried. All in all, great food, decent service (even offered us a few suggestions for our next visit), and I left with a full belly. A little pricey, but that’s ok. The sauces were excellent as advertised, too!

Words cannot express how much I love this place. Every single thing I have ever tried there has been incredible. I have had sushi in many different states and even countries and this is by far the best I have ever had. Who knew you’d find that in Lafayette, Indiana of all places! You have to go in with the expectation that you’ll be there for awhile because Tony basically cooks everything himself, but it is so worth it. It is expensive, so it’s something to do on a special occasion, but there’s a reason it costs that much; it is very high quality food and you get pretty large portions. I cannot recommend this place enough. If you ever get the chance to, go there!

Best Asian food in the area. It is a bit expensive but you get what you pay for. Highly recommended.

There were consistent intervals between the courses, which allowed ample time to reflect on the superior taste, flavor, and preparation. We appreciate Tony’s aggressive kindness and passion for creating truly phenomenal food. The staff, Sadie and another gentleman were true ambassadors for this Kokoro experience. We will return with frequency.

This cannot be Japanese food. This was so messy, dirty, and I have no idea what it was. But the only thing I can certainly say is that this is NOT JAPANESE FOOD.
Instead, we need to call this «Tony’s» food.

Tony’s a unique chef. I’ve been going to his place since it was a hole in the wall in the 90s.
He prepares 90% of the food, and there’s a warning about that right on the menu. If you don’t have patience go to McDonalds.
One of my favorite places.

This place was such a joke!
— Chef is soooooooo arrogant, opposite of the modest Japanese culture
— Terrible service, like a 3-​hour dinner? You think you are dinning at Alinea or Joel Robuchon?
— EXTREMELY OVERPRICED, you can get better quality for not even half of the price there. You drop like a $ 100 eating rolls and fried rice there? Seriously?
I feel sorry for the foodies that live in Lafayette as the choices of restaurants there are extremely limited. There is no way Kokoro can stay in business in places like San Diego.

Slooooooooow. An hour to get 6 rolls. Overpriced as all get-​out. Rolls are too big to eat without them falling apart. Might as well just put the ingredients in a big messy pile because that’s where they end up. Doesn’t even taste all that great either. It all tasted a little… off.

Tony is fantastic and his good … Delicious. Truly an entertaining treat. Best sushi in the area !

Look like Japanese restaurant. But it’s kind of Americanized one.
Most of dishes are pricy n take too long time to get each dishes after ordering. Approximately half an hour or longer.
I love Japanese restaurant. But price is almost same with high-​end restaurant but the taste is just so so.
I don’t understand why all of dishes are expensive.

I went there because I heard the chef was quite a character. He insisted on his style in every single thing you experienced in his restaurant. I took it as a good sign for a Japanese business owner.
When I opened the menu, I was surprised by the price. $ 15 for gyoza? $ 40 for sashimi deluxe? $ 19+ for a sushi row? Was I in Lafayette, IN or New York, NY?
Because Kokoro was claimed to be a sushi bar, and because I had been seated, I decided to give it a try. When my order was taken, I asked about the proportion. The waiter said for sushi, the higher price means more food from 4 to 8 pieces of sushi. Still, our mental image of a sushi piece was like a 1-​dollar coin. So, My bf and I ordered three rows just in case we were not full after one row each.
Oh man, we were wrong. Rows were HUGE. Each piece of a given row was like a rice ball with fish and sauce wrapped inside. I summed up three points for my assessment:
1) Too much rice. Although the quality of the rice was decent and fresh, it was too much. I never had felt so stuffed with carb in a sushi place.
2) Too much sauce. Personally I don’t like sauce on fresh raw seafood. It just covers up all the flavor. No matter how special «Tony’s special spicy mayo» was, I would prefer it on the side rather than all over the sushi.
3) Good seafood. I have to give points here. The fish and crab meat were really not bad.
Finally, the owner was indeed an interesting loud character. He made everything by himself. He talked to frequent customers and laughed hard. He rules there, but… I have no confidence if he would be the ruler outside this decaying town.
For local people, I suggest you drive up to Chicago or down to Indianapolis for reasonably-​priced and much better Japanese food.

The chief Tony is yelling at us the whole time! Just because we want to know if we can cancel one entire (we order four entire) if he didn’t make it yet. We already kinda full after the salad and soup. He called us assholes! Even when we leaving he was still yelling at us! And said never come again!!! And keep saying the F word!!!‘nnJust because we ask if we can cancel one dish or not if he didn’t make it yet?! OMG! Can’t believe the restaurant has open for these years! Not worth it at all!

The starter salad and miso soup were pretty good for what they are. We then got the sashimi deluxe, alligator rolls, and something with shrimp in it… I don’t usually do the rolls, but my friend wanted them. Leave it to girls to get sushi that’s not raw fish, lol. Anyway, the alligator is kind of cool, but both of hte rolls were pretty dry and boring. Portion sizes for those were at least large. The sashimi pieces were fairly small, and it’s not the freshest I’ve had. Then again, I’m not sure what type of quality fish comes to west lafayette, so this may be the best to offer. I really just care about the salmon to be honest. The pieces weren’t large, nor did they melt in your mouth.
Crazy Tony is the best part about this place! he’s funny and his signs and decorations are fun. Too bad his food is just whatever. Serving us were two white girls. They seemed cool and were good waitresses. Prices were quite expensive, even for sushi (which is already overpriced).

I’ll come clean. I’m half-​Japanese. My family is from California. I grew up in western Washington. I’ve lived in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago (the cities, not the suburbs), and Atlanta (both city and suburb). If you’re me, or have a similar background, I 100% guarantee you that you will not like this place.
1) Sure, the chef is Japanese. He also is his own gimmick. It made me laugh at first, but then I thought, is this what all these white kids from Lafayette think of all Japanese or Asian people? Is this ultimately a disservice, that you can laugh at him, but you’re laughing at his accent and his ESL bluster? Ugh.
2) The rolls are huge. Huge. Big rolls are not sushi. They are not Japanese. They are usually a sign of a white clientele. You know what else is the sign of a white clientele? Being in Lafayette, IN. So I won’t count this against the restaurant.
3) Servers are college kids. This is my sense. I know this may sound weird, since I did work food service right out of high school, and I believe that everyone has the right to do what they gotta do to make it, but sometimes I want a professional server. Someone who does this and who is doing this for awhile. Especially when you’re charging $ 20 for shrimp fried rice.
4) Yes, the fried rice is $ 20 and up. First of all, no one should offer fried rice at a fancy Japanese restaurant. Secondly, since fried rice is technically rice leftovers, no one should charge that much for fried rice. Thirdly, I shouldn’t have ordered it. But I did, and split it with my colleague. It was tasty. Not $ 20 worth of tasty, though.
5) I swear the shumai cost us $ 12 or $ 15. Shumai. You know, the dumplings you can get in the freezer section. Even if he made them himself, it shouldn’t cost that much. And then, the young man serving us asked us if we’d had shumai before. You mean, DO I LIVE IN AMERICA??? I said, yes, lots. He said this was the best he’d ever had. I said it was fine. Because, seriously, the shumai were fine. Not the best. Because… whatever. You can guess why.
5) This place was within walking distance of our hotel. Thumbs-​up.
Sigh. *facepalm*