Yakitori Kokko Restaurant Review, San Mateo

Japanese Izakaya is hot in the SF Bay Area right now.. Yakitori Kokko is a new Japanese Izakaya or drinking oriented establishment (like Sumika) that serves casual food focusing on skewers of meat. It is run by Japanese folks and feels pretty authentic. Yakitori means chicken grill, so the focus is on charcoal grilled meats. The place has gotten some good buzz, so we decided to give it a try.

You will end up spending a good amount of money, as 5 to 8 skewers per person is probably the good meal.

Cuisine – Japanese izakaya
Location – Downtown San Mateo
Opened – 2010

Service – Yakitori Kokko had reasonable service although we’ve seen many reviews noting how slow food comes when the place gets busy.

Verdict – Yakitori Kokko is a fun Japanese restaurant, offering patrons a wide variety of meat skewers and beverages, at reasonable prices. Be sure to make reservations, the word is out.

Next door is sister restaurant Usagi, serving Japanese Yoshoku-Ya. Americanized items like hamburger steak and tapas. We recommend you order the beef curry, the super excellent Uni risotto, garlic butter clams, and the hayashi rice.

Signature Dishes – Skewers

Yakitori Kokko Menu contains a wide variety of skewers cooked in different styles. We recommend you come here with lots of people and try as many as you can.

Full Yakitori Kokko image set

Picks:

Fresh Grape Squeeze Soju Cocktail ($5) was really grapefruit and required you to juice the grapefruit yourself! DIY! The end product was decent at least.

Momo ($2.20) – chicken thigh, salt, were very good chunks of chicken. Not at all salty.

Mune ($2.70) – Chicken breast, Salt, bigger chunks of chicken, well defined charcoal flavor.

Tsukune ($2.40) – Chicken meatball, salt, corn dog looking but soft and tender inside.

Hatu ($2.20) – Chicken heart, salt, liver like in texture, but still pretty good.

Tontoro ($2.40) – pork cheek was excellent. Fatty and chewy, it perfect skewer.

Gyu tan ($2.70) – Beef tongue, salt, was a bit on the chewy side but all in all not very exotic texture wise. Solid flavors that border on being juicy and fatty.

Shitake mushroom ($2) had three good sized mushroom that were pretty juicy and steaming hot.

Asparagus with bacon ($2.40) – were tiny but fun little bundles of euthanized vegetable.

Miso soup included some eggplant and tofu, dressing up this basic staple. It is wise to order this and some Rice, otherwise you may need to order 10 skewers to fill up.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
Kamo ($3) – duck breast, sauce, could have been a piece of chicken and we probably wouldn’t have known different.

Kalbi ($3.20) – Korean style Beef didn’t have that much Kalbi flavor but was still okay.

Atuage fried tofu ($2) – were okay but a bit on the dry side.

Kokko Ramen ($8.95) tasted like it came from a packaged product. They did include and egg, bamboo shoots, and some reasonable pork slices.

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

$25 Dining Certificate for $5

Yakitori Kokko Overall Rating: (Very Good 2.5)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Very Good)
Service Rating:	(Good)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Very Good)
Value Rating:	(Good)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Below/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Beer, Wine, Soju
Attire:	Casual
Hours:	Sunday 5:30-11pm, Tu-Sat 6-1130pm
Parking:	Free Lot
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$2.20 - $7.95