Kojo West Kelowna — Restaurant in British Columbia

I know this is a rather long review. However, it covers two separate visits with completely different experiences. Original review 3stars. And that was a stretch: We were excited to try this place due to the many positive reviews. Unfortunately, our experience wasn't nearly as good. We walked in and almost fell as the floor was extremely slippery. I'm not sure why. Service was spotty, to say the least. Training someone at the till. Ok, fine. Wait at the counter for a few minutes to place an order while other staff deals with phone orders. Asked for water from 3 different people. Finally, l was directed to a self-serve water jug by the entrance. Water was warm. Not room temp but warm as it was sitting in the sun. I ordered the salmon sashimi $19. My wife ordered a poke bowl. Our meals arrived with no chopsticks, Wasabi, or ginger. Had to go back to the counter and received little plastic containers containing the condiments. Chop sticks were in a container between the entrance and the counter. My sashimi plate had 7 very thin slices of salmon sitting on a few small pieces of cucumber. Really? Gave 3 stars for food as the poke bowl was good. All in all, it was $50 less in my wallet, and I went home and had dinner. Possibly ordering online and something other than the sashimi would have resulted in a more positive experience, but we'll definitely never take a chance to find out.

UPDATE5 stars!! At the invitation of Kojo's friendly owner, Kan, we decided to give his restaurant another try.

Kan made a point of being at the restaurant to greet us when we arrived. He took the time to explain the staffing issues they'd been experiencing and also gave us some detail regarding many of the changes that were put in place to address the problems.

This time around, our experience was very different. The staff was wonderful and made us feel very welcome. The floors were no longer dangerously slippery. The meals, including condiments and glasses of cold water, were delivered to our table.

I ordered the sashimi again. What had been so disappointing during our first visit was excellent this time. It's arguably some of the best sashimi I've had. The portion size was much more reasonable, and the sockeye salmon was delicious. My wife also had the same dish as the first time. While she had enjoyed the poke bowl the first visit, she described the taste this time as being more "robust." There also appeared to be more of it as she was unable to finish the whole bowl.

We both left full and happy. Thank you, Kan! We definitely recommend...

10 Months later and the world is still spinning and updating my review: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PLACE. So happy and thankful that there is actually a good ramen place on the west side! I usually get the Shio Ramen and ask to substitute the Rice noodles with Egg noodles, add extra chasshu, and spicy ramen paste on the side. For the first time in a while I went back and tried one of their specials on the menu, Spicy Cold Ramen with Karaage, and it was so good! I haven't had cold Ramen for so long! As soon as I saw that on their specials menu, I changed my Hot ramen order to the cold Ramen order. I think the last time I've had cold Ramen was out of the country many years ago. It was so good that I yelled to the guy at the cashier that it's really good after my first bite. 😅

Review from 10months or so when they opened: I've visited 3 times since they opened 5 days ago. The staff in this restaurant is 100% Japanese, which usually means it's probably going to be really good! So far I've had the following: Shrimp Tempura, KOJO roll, Shio Ramen and Kojo Ramen. 1st day of visit, I ordered Kojo roll and Tempura for pick up. The roll was tasty, but I didn't think it was anything special, until I realized that I didn't add all of the sauces that goes on top of the sushi. It got so much better once I added everything in. 2nd day: I had Shio Ramen and Ebi tempura. I also requested for extra Chashu (it comes with chicken) and replace the rice noodle with their egg ramen noodle. The broth was very tasty, Chashu was tender and flavorful. I also asked for their Spicy ramen sauce, so I can add it after I've tried the broth. Unfortunately, the chicken was completely raw. We let the staff know, and the owner approached me nicely and asked if I wanted a new bowl of ramen or if I wanted a refund. I asked them to just remember me for next time. P.S. O finished the entire bowl of ramen, even though there was raw chicken in it (which I've already taken out) 3rd day: I wanted ramen again. I ordered the Kojo ramen with the spicy sauce on the side and Ebi Sunomono. The owner recognized me right away and insisted that everything that I ordered was on the house. Amazing come back from yesterday's raw chicken! Their broth was really good. The Kojo Ramen tasted like Tonkotsu ramen but with chicken broth instead of pork broth. Everything was so authentic and delicious!

The staff is very friendly, their items are priced reasonably, and they have good portions. Can't wait to go back and try everything else...

Surprisingly a bad restaurant, even though it has good ratings.

We went in at lunch time, one person was eating and the restaurant was otherwise empty. We were welcomed and asked to order at the cash register before sitting down. We ordered our food and sat waiting. Another couple came in and also ordered and sat next to us. Then another couple came in and also ordered and sat 2 tables across.

The restaurant made a mistake and gave our order of chicken karaage to the table that sat next to us, as they had also ordered the same thing. We thought ok that was weird since we ordered first but sat waiting. The restaurant then proceeded to give food to the 3rd table that came in, and more sushi for the second table. At this point we noticed the sushi was ours and the second table looked at us embarrassingly and handed our food to us. The cashier apologized but proceeded to provide lousy service and almost gave our third item ordered to the second table as well.

They gave us the smallest size wasabi and maybe 3 pieces of ginger. When asking them for a ramekin to put the wasabi in, he has no clue what I was talking about. I went to cash, grabbed a small bowl and said I need a smaller version of this. Clueless. He hands me soy sauce. After about 2-3 mins, they finally got what I wanted and brought it over.

We had to ask for wasabi and ginger multiple times, the guy would bring one item and forget the other item asked.

The food itself wasn’t anything to rave home about. While the chicken karaage was crispy, it was bland. No seasoning, no taste.

The sushi also left a lot to be desired. Not happy with the food or the service. The staff was more focused on yelling hi and bye in Japanese whenever someone came in or went out of the restaurant than to actually focus on the customers eating and making sure they got their orders served right.

Horrible experience and pricey for what we paid. I regret having tipped these guys but we had to pay before we ate.

Save your money and go somewhere else. After multiple screwups on their end they didn’t even offer us a free roll or a way to make up for their mistakes that they acknowledged.

Will NOT be back and you should find somewhere else...