Yokoso Restaurant Aker Brygge — Restaurant in Oslo

Yokoso, which translates to "Welcome," is an interesting restaurant that aims to provide a Japanese-inspired dining experience. However, it falls short of delivering authentic Japanese flavors in most of its dishes, despite their Japanese names. During our visit, we encountered both satisfying and disappointing dishes, particularly the Popcorn Chicken and Chicken Sando Sandwich, which were recommended by the servers were terrible.

Popcorn chicken 🐔 2/5 The Popcorn Chicken was downright horrible, with dry and tough pieces that seemed to have been fried for too long. It was coated in a sweet chili sauce with hints of tomato puree, resembling a poor Western imitation of gochujang based sauce. We strongly advise against ordering this dish, even if it's listed as one of their signatures.

Chicken sando sandwich 🥪 2/5 Similarly, the Chicken Sando Sandwich failed to impress. It consisted of fried chicken and a cabbage-based slaw sandwiched between standard Norwegian loaf bread, drizzled with tonkatsu sauce. The bread lacked the fluffy texture of Japanese milk bread and tasted slightly stale after toasting. The chicken, although better than the Popcorn Chicken, was still lackluster, and the slaw was overly heavy on the mayo.

Tempura enoki mushrooms 🍄 3/5 Moving on to the positive side, the Tempura Enoki Mushrooms received a decent rating. The mushrooms were coated in a light tempura batter and fried to a crisp perfection. They were well-complemented by the truffle mayo dip served on the side.

Scallops 5/5 The Scallops, priced on the higher side at 175kr for a small dish, were a standout item. They were served in a sour and fresh Asian marinade that elevated the flavor profile. With hints of green salads and beets, topped with salmon roe and crunchy balls for texture, this dish is definitely worth a try.

Tokpoki 2/5 The Tokpoki was passable, made with store-bought hourglass-shaped rice cakes. Although most of the bits were cooked well, we did encounter a few that were slightly overcooked. The sauce had a hint of gochugaru chilies but wasn't outstanding.

Ramen 🍜 2.5/5 The Shio Ramen, a salt chicken ramen, was another passable dish. The noodles were correct in texture, possibly store-bought but cooked perfectly. The soup had an adequate chicken flavor and the right level of saltiness. However, the toppings disappointed, with a non-traditional quarter of a bok choy, unmarinated 6.5 miutes boiled eggs with runny yolks, and plain-tasting boiled chicken meat. Overall, the ramen was decent but far from perfect.

Squid with mango and lime dressing 🐙 4/5 The Squid with Mango and Lime Dressing stood out with thinly sliced pieces of tentacle placed on a delightful mango and lime dressing. The dressing added depth and freshness to the dish, making it one of our favorites. However, it is worth noting that this dish is quite pricey at 245kr for a small portion.

Yuzu lemonade 🍋 2/5 As for beverages, the Yuzu Lemonade received a mediocre rating. While the lemonade had a hint of yuzu, the flavor was disappointingly mild and somewhat diluted. The fact that the glass was filled with 80% ice cubes didn't help either.

In conclusion, our experience at Yokoso was mixed, with some dishes impressing us while others fell short. We wouldn't necessarily recommend it as an authentic Japanese restaurant but rather as a place to grab a...

Left the restaurang hungry and bleeding!

The staff greeted us, it was very welcoming. It was our fist time in Oslo so we wanted a good restaurang for our dinner and this one had good reviews. I regret the moment I choose Yokoso. Should have gone to MAX...😑

As a professional chef I can say that a main course/ main meal for an adult SHOULD be a (complete meal) and with minimum 160gr of meat protein (for a non vegetarian meal) When I tell you I got MAYBE 90grams of meat in my already tiny Ramen bowl.. The steak(ridiculously small) and the marinated chiken came with NO rice, all had to be ordered extra. A complete meal with meat SHOULD include a salad or some type of carbohydrate . So the 2 of us had to order 3 main meals and 2 extra rice in order to be barely satisfied. And we are not some huge eaters that need big portions. To remind you, we didn't buy 3 small share plates, we bought 3 MAIN COURSES!!! Obscenely small and definitely not complete.

It's like selling me the burger with just the meat and I have to buy the bread, the salad and the dressing separately 🙄🙄

A very CHEAP way of taking more of people's money!!! As a chef I find this shameful.

NOW, for the actual catastrophic part. My marinated chicken had a part of BONE in it. An actual, not so little, very thin and sharp bone. So when I bite it down it went into my mouth and made ME BLEED!!!! FREAKING BLEED! I have had many experiences in a restaurang but I never bled... So much for the good reviews. 🙄 My meal had ended because I couldn't eat from the pain, i couldn't chew... I didn't expect this in Oslo...😮‍💨 I contacted the staff, they were incapable of making amends or offering some kind of apology for the mutalation of my mouth. I wasn't even compensated for my meal. Which I should have been. I have made much smaller mistakes as a professional chef and have compensated guest for the food. That's how you show respect for when YOU make a mistake and destroy a person's evening.. I love japanese food . Love! Have eaten in all the good ones in Stockholm and Kopenhagen. They were amazing. ...when in Oslo, eat in MAX...

The cocktails were very tasty.

With regards, a bleeding chef who was never show respect of...

we had a reservation for 3 people and were placed at a table for 6 where the table wasn’t cleared for the people who weren’t there. then it had gone 30 whole minutes without them bringing us water, coming to order drinks or give us ipad to order food ourselves. we had to go to one of the waiters and ask for water and for them to come take our order. mind you, there were 3-4 other tables occupied with only 1-2 serves inside the restaurant and there were more tables occupied outside with way more serves than needed. we saw 2-3 serves just hang out outside with no tables being waited or the need for them to be waited. when the waiter finally came to give us water and take our order, she asked us to excuse their behavior because they were hungover from the national day that was the day before. then, in the middle of us eating and trying to enjoy ourselves, the waiter who was supposed to take care of us from the beginning came to us with an ipad to explain how to take orders, see the food and drinks, call her over for “next time we’d come to the restaurant”. when we asked for the bill the same server came to ask how we enjoyed the food and if we would be returning. when we seemed unsure if we’d want to come back and explained why, she started to make excuses on her being busy with the ONE other table in her section. other than this, the food and drinks were amazing. i’m sure that if it would’ve been any other day we would’ve hopefully been taken care of better and gotten a warmer welcome with water and drinks ordered from the very beginning, as in any...