KoKoLo Donburi - KoKoRo — Restaurant in Alameda

My husband and I were craving some katsu and Japanese curry for dinner and this place hits the spot! You order at the front and then find a seat and they will bring over the food.

Everything on the menu looked so good so we ended up order quite a bit for us the two of us. We ordered wings, sauce katsu don, wagyu curry don, hamachi kama, and ika geso karaage. My husband is loves wings and this was probably the one of the well battered and fried ones we had. It was sitting on top of a sauce that just blends perfectly with the crispy wings. The ika geso karaage was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was nice and flavorful. The hamachi Kama was perfectly cooked as well. The sauce katsu was good. Typically I would’ve gotten the curry version but wanted to try something new. It was good but I definitely prefer my katsu with Japanese curry more. My husband’s wagyu curry don was great! I really like the flavor of the curry and it worked well with the wagyu beef and rice.

You can tell with all of their fried items that they maintain the cooking oil well because you get the nice pure flavor of the food.

The service at the place was also great! The lady that took our order also brings the food and water to us and she was very sweet. When she saw us slowing down on munching, she brought over boxes without us asking for it. She even gave us extra curry sauce to take home for our leftover.

Overall, I would recommend this place! I definitely want to go back and try more of their other curry and karaage. And of course go back for...

Tacky and Unkempt - Two words not associated with Japanese anything.

This was easily the worst Japanese food experience I have had in my 67 years - by many miles!

The miso soup was ok - served in a plastic container. The self serve water was in paper cups. The plastic utensils were “a nice touch”, though for most all of it I used the throw away chopsticks.

My noodles were acceptable - though with no attempt at any presentation. The Tempura was pathetic and served with a watery colored dipping liquid in another plastic container that was as tasteless as the tempura.

My wife enjoyed the rice curry dish she had.

The general first impression is an unmanaged takeout place thrown together cheaply and without taste. The floor has a broken warehouse look, the rest is equally haphazard and cheap. It feels like a couple of kids put it together with just enough money to open but really have no heart in anything other than making some money.

Served with no smiles - no one even looking up unless you ask a question at the standup orderIng area.

Cannot imagine recommending this place - Alameda has quite a few decent places to eat - particularly in this area of it - definitely skip this franchise "Japanese" facade.

none of the pictures used online look or are...

As of writing on June 26th, 2024. It seems this place has been closed for some time prior to this posted review day. Upon arriving I was surprised to see it closed even though it was listed as open online. There was also a pile mail at the entrance that appeared to have been there for quite some time. On Yelp it says it will not be reopening until late January of next year which would mean this place would be closed indefinitely. I was wanting to eat at this place again as I really enjoyed the curry bowls they made. It is saddening to know this restaurant is closed. Kokolo Donburi was a go to place for me because of the wider variety of Japanese rice bowls. With the closing of this restaurant, I don't really know any other restaurant similar to the...