Kiko House

Whoever would believe the little hole-​in-​the-​wall sushi place at the end of Washington Ave. in the Irish town of Pearl River would have the freshest sushi in Rockland County? Well guess what, sushi lovers? Ever since Tony, the sushi chef, bought the restaurant from the original owner, Yuki, he’s changed his fish wholesaler. Tony buys his catch fresh off the boat 2 – 3 times a week, ensuring the most soft, melt-​in-​your-​mouth seafood experience you truly might ever have.
But the sushi is only one part of the delightful Kiko House journey. Tony and Gee, a husband and wife duo, greet every guest with the utmost Asian hospitality. We’ve known them for years and feel like they show us more love and appreciation every time we dine there. We have one year old who Gee has become very fond of, and to allow us to enjoy our dinner, she will sometimes take him for 20 – 30 minutes to see the fish in their pond. While they don’t offer delivery service, Tony has offered to drive take-​out orders to our house in Pearl River. If our bill is high, we’ve been gifted with certificates (i.e. $ 50 off on our next dinner)… Gee even gave our little boy a brand new toy truck as a gift one day! If we need help with our stroller, they escort us out of the restaurant straight to the car (in the cold, without a jacket)…And offered to give sushi lessons to my boyfriend who’s a chef! I can go on and on about the hospitality they continue to extend us… What other restaurant owner would make you feel like you were a guest of honor enjoying a meal in their home? The generosity and kindness is consistent… I haven’t gone there once without feeling an overwhelming amount of love and appreciation for patronizing their small business. I can guarantee, their kindness is genuine, and any customer would be treated the same.
Yes, as reviews have mentioned, their service was spotty for a short period of time as they had just switched management and hired a new wait staff. Business is fully back in order now and one must consider and understand the stress of hiring a brand new team.
The Koi pond in the back of the restaurant is a treat to watch and listen to. This is not a fussy place… the rolls are simple and meticulous (no silly sugary mango sauces, etc.) Whether you choose the more laidback atmosphere at the sushi bar or book a private room when you have a large party (must take off your shoes which adds uniqueness to the experience), you’ll be happy that you did.
Amongst some of my favorite things to order: Butterfly roll (not even on the menu, Tony will make anything you request!), Rainbow Flower Roll, Spicy Tuna, Yellowtail Carpaccio with jalepeno, Beef Negamaki, Godzilla Roll, Kamakazi Roll, Udon Soup, Fried Ice cream. the list goes on… SO FRESH… simply mouthwatering. It’s obvious Tony chose the higher (and more expensive) road of investing in better quality sushi and I would love nothing more than to see the family enjoy a return on their investment. THIS IS NOT REGULAR FROZEN ALL-​YOU-​CAN-​EAT CHEAP SUSHI!!! This is the REAL DEAL FRESH FISH!
To conclude my love for the Kiko House, I must say, it’s one of my all-​time favorite places to eat and I will ALWAYS be their NUMBER ONE FAN!!! Please show your support to this small, locally owned business who tries their best to keep their heads above water!
With Love,
Angi, Jermelee and Jesse Eastwick

Friendly and gracious owners. Nice cuts of sushi. The all you you can eat down the street gives you these thin slices of fish. Not here! Nice waterfall with pond to add ambience. Would recommend.

Love the food here! This is the best sushi place on earth you got HERE! Please try it and you would not be disappointed !

Didn’t have a good experience, tries to be authentic Japanese. However, they served us half frozen sushi… Big no no from any real Japanese sushi chef. Expensive and not really that good… Stay away.

Tried kiko house for the first time on a saturday night. It’s a charming little place and like other reviews stated, there’s a cute koi pond inside and it added to the nice atmosphere.
The food is good, there is nothing bad about it. I tried the galaxy roll, which was average and good, and the mini Godzilla roll, which was good but super fried and drowned in so much sauce that my stomach got upset. But that’s just me. They have a weird kind of wasabi, like a soft squiggle of it on the plate, and I preferred the play dough consistency kind.
The service was frustrating and at times, non existent. This is why I give 3 stars. I probably won’t go back because there is many other sushi places around with good food and better service. No koi pond tho, so I’ll miss that.

They have beautiful koi fish in the back of the restaurant and in the front they have cute pillows placed on the seats. The waitress was extremely nice and allowed us to even feed the koi fish. :) They gave us free edadame to start with as we decided what to order. I ordered the Ramen which wasn’t bad but it did kind of taste like the ramen noodles you buy from the supermarket. The salmon avocado roll was fresh. The fried ice cream was amazing and my friends loved the fried cheesecake. I would come again as the prices are reasonable and the restaurant has nice décor. :)

Wow, this is the excellent place to hangout and eat delicious food. You have to go if you live nearby.
–from a foodie person.

Pros: Sushi is exquisite. We ordered spicy salmon and sweet potato tempura rolls. They came out in less than ten minutes and were delicious. At first, we were disappointed since the spicy salmon roll was just a salmon roll with spicy mayo type topping but after eating one we understood why: it doesn’t need anything else. The salmon had that creamy nature to it. The pieces were perfectly bite sized. The place is BEAUTIFUL. Koi pond and tatami mat rooms.
Cons: it’s under new management and they’re still figuring things out. They have one fantastic server, one decent server that would be better off in a more casual setting, and one server that has no business being a server.
It seems like they’re updating things but it’s slow moving. However, the new family who now owns it are wonderful people. Tony, the sushi chef and owner, gave us the best red bean ice cream I’ve ever had on the house to thank us for coming in during their grand opening. And as far as I know, in the next few weeks checks get 10% off as part of the grand opening as well.
This place is cheaper than East, my usual go to for cheap but good sushi, and it’s beautiful. We are definitely going again.

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Love the food here, I’ve been coming to this place since I was a kid. I love sitting next to the Koi pond — the atmosphere is always so calm and relaxing, especially during lunch. My grandfather used to love the fried cheesecake, and would always order one, but only have a few bites because he was diabetic. The crab and avocado dinner special I had once was amazing, but I forgot what it was called. The sushi is always fresh and I love the vegetable tempura here. Yukki always makes it a point to stop by and say hello for a bit.

The sushi here is simply amazing! It’s always delicious and tastes fresh… not like some other local sushi places that will remain unnamed. They have a nice variety of both basic sushi that you would expect to get anywhere and specialty sushi that you can only get here!
Unfortunately, the service is so hit or miss. :(If I were rating only on sushi, they would get 5 stars easily! I never know if I’m going to get a server who will actually pay attention to me while I’m there, though, and I can’t rely on getting in and out in a timely manner. One visit may be a comfortable dinner that takes under an hour… and another visit might have me waiting nearly that long just to have my order taken and actually delivered to my table without any issues. Once I have my food, though, I’m always happy!

This is an amazing restaurant for sushi. I love it. It’s the only sushi restaurant I have seen with a fried oyster roll. The deep sea roll. It’s the best. It’s also an amazing restaurant to go for terrible service. My wife and I had an awful experience here a few years ago so we stopped going. Even though the food is so good. Then my mother wanted to go about a year later so we did. It didn’t surprise me to see 6 of the 8 people in my group get their food but not me and my wife. The owner of the restaurant took our order and failed to give our two orders to the chef so we had to wait another 20 – 30 minutes to get our food. Haven’t been back since. We can get better service at Taco Bell

No matter how decent the food is, if the service is terrible, so is the restaurant. We waited a long time for our orders to be taken, another hour for a few plates of food to arrive while most of the people at the table waited more than even longer AFTER some of us were served. We were a large group but we had a reservation. They knew how many people were coming. They knew all of us would be ordering at once and should have been able to serve us in a timely way.
We had to ask for our order to be taken three times before it was done. We had to ask for food several times. The servers were confused and did not know what they were serving. when they finally brought us something to eat. Four people ate while the rest sat watching for almost another hour. Finally, the waitress said that there was only one chef who could only make three sushi rolls at a time. «If we had known you would order sushi…» she hedged. Isn’t this a sushi restaurant? Don’t they expect that many people will order it? Since they accepted as reservation for a large group there is no excuse for such lousy service.
The sushi was fresh but it did not matter. I would never go back to this place again.

This is by far the best sushi restaurant in Rockland NY. I’ve been coming here for many years and appreciate the quality of the food and the friendly service every time. The specials on Saturdays are the most scrumptious things you’ll ever eat!
Yes, the exterior and even the location of the restaurant is unassuming but I think that is how the owner likes to keep it so most clientele are repeated customers and they are there because they appreciate the excellent Japanese culinary they represent.
The interior is serene and perfect for a nice relaxing diner with family and friends.

Came here for the hub’s birthday. At first glance I was not impressed. The outside looks sad and rundown. It’s not a standalone restaurant but in a very short strip of about 5 businesses. Off the main street pearl river.
We were seated promptly next to the indoor koi pond with waterfall and sky lights. The indoor is much of an improvement from the exterior. There is plenty of seating and A couple of large group well booths that are in rooms so they have lots more privacy but with some windows too.
What we ordered:
Spicy boy — best calamari I’ve ever had. Hands down. Perfectly cooked and delicious. Not too spicy either that I couldnt enjoy it.
Seafood salad special — with three kinds of fish I think and seaweed mixed with masago and spicy mayo. Delish! I’m not a raw fish fan but I was able to eat at least ¼ of this and enjoyed it. That’s saying a lot.
Shrimp gyoza — not something I’m in love with. Probably would not need a repeat performance on my table. I did appreciate the handmade wrapper for sure though.
Godzilla — rocked my f-​ing world. Seriously. My go to rolls are usually dragon roll and lion king. They didn’t have lion king here and I’m not in an avocado mood so I went with godzilla and she did not disappoint. It’s a little sweet but so so good. Lightly fried to perfection.
My Favorite — is anything but that. Way too much cream cheese. It overpowers all of the other flavors so it’s all you taste. Such a pity :(
And for dessert a simple fruit salad with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprig of mint. Also included was a pre-​appetizer spring roll. Nothing to write home about.
All in all I really would like to give more stars as some of this food was the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve had plenty of food ;) but they’ve got to fix the other few dishes. And definitely look into being a standalone location. Or getting a much better façade. I like the dive aspect but it could be executes better. The staff was polite and a pleasure. I did not visit the ladies room so I have no opinion there. So other than those improveable things, we had a wonderful first night out in about a year. Thank you!

I like the Kiko House. It’s not the best sushi you will find, but they have to be doing something right to have the staying power they’ve had in Pearl River (they used to have a different name that I can’t recall at the moment). Any weekend night you come here the place is bustling and the service is attentive and on point. The atmosphere is great for a date (but not romantic, really) or even great for a dinner with friends and family. One of my favorite things about this place is the giant goldfish pond and waterfall in the back. I’ve always found it quite cool.

The sushi and sashimi are fresh and really good. Everything is presentable and you get all the trimmings. Obviously the major down side is the price which I thought was too high given the quality.

I went there with my wife on a Sunday night at about 5PM once. The restaurant was not overly busy. Placed our order and waited over an hour to get it, and when we did it was the worst slop we’d ever seen and nothing like what was described on the menu.
My wife observed young kids working in the kitchen!
We had gone here for years with my folks and they used to be great, not they are a joke in both food and service!
Do yourself a favor, Go to Komo a few doors down from Our Pizza House and Munno’s barber shop.

When I think about sushi in Rockland County, Kiko House is the first place that comes to mind. The fact that they’ve been serving scrumptious (and authentic) sushi morsels for over 20+ years must mean they’re doing something right.
For starters, you have to check out the inside. They actually have an indoor pond filled with an assortment of rainbow colored koi. The atmosphere makes for a nice romantic evening, and kids will love the live fish, too. There’s also several semi-​private rooms for larger groups. Overall, Kiko House is perfect for everyone.
The food is also pretty good particularly because of its authenticity. Like most sushi restaurants, they have the usual list of caricature sushi rolls (like spider and rainbow). However, what makes Kiko House different is how they prepare traditional and innovative creations that tastes… well… genuinely Japanese.
Here’s why. Kiko House is one of only a few Japanese restaurants in Rockland County that is actually owned and operated by… yes… a Japanese person. Shocking! True sushi aficionados will understand what I’m talking about. For you sushi newbies reading this, there really is a big difference in flavor and presentation between authentic vs. imitation Japanese food. I mean… would you ever order bagels and lox from a Mexican joint? Your taste buds will thank me!
Finally, the staff is very nice and attentive… especially the owner who is there on most nights. She greets every new customer like you’ve been friends for ages. In fact, she’ll even remember you the next time you visit (including who you were with and what you ordered). You’ll feel like family every time you walk in.
Oh… I almost forgot to point this out. Kiko House gives repeat customers a free dinner when it’s their birthday. That’s right kiddo! In this recession economy, free sushi is always a good thing.

Kiko House is where I first experienced sushi about 15 years ago when it was called Yuki House. Back then, you could count the sushi restaurants in Rockland on one hand. Now you can practically find sushi at every strip mall in the county.
Kiko House is stuck in a bit of a time warp. While they’ve incorporated some of the fashionable specialty rolls into their menu, the décor is almost untouched since the early 1990s. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could put-​off new customers.
I think Kiko House gives an OK value for money. The fish seems fresh and the fish-​to-​rice ratio is just right. However, Kiko House falls a little short on specialty rolls. You can get much more inventive rolls at Akira in Nanuet for a similar cost.