Kodo Sushi Sake — Restaurant in Chandler

M and I met another couple at Kodo for our first visit. After walking in, we stood at the front of a full restaurant, behind a sign asking customers to wait for a host. Employees whizzed by in a hurry, not offering any acknowledgement. After a solid 5 minutes, a man let us know we weren't actually at the front - it was on the other side.

PRO TIP: Make sure you're at the right entrance!

Surprised since there was a sign, we walked across the joint and found our friends at the front of the line. Another 7 minutes pass before a woman acknowledges the mass of people accumulated by the door. She completely ignores our group of 4 and asks the people behind us if they've been helped, seats them, and does the same for another group that walks in. In confusion, we interrupt her as she's looking at her list, asking when we'll be seated. She lets us know it's a 20 minute wait. NOTE: The day prior we called to make a reservation and were told it wasn't needed - huge bummer.

PRO TIP: Insist on making on a reservation anyway and assert yourself at the front to avoid getting overlooked.

M and I ordered the gyoza (comes w 5), Honey Chicken entree (comes w rice), Mongolian Beef entree (comes w rice), a California Roll, and the Spicy Scallop Roll.

I would not recommend the Honey Chicken. Compared to PF Chang's, it was a small portion and the flavor was gamey with a ripe chicken taste - not fresh, not delicious. I tried M's Mongolian Beef - it was okay; not as warm as I'd like, as if it was waiting on the line a bit too long. All the rolls at the table had purple rice, which was a pretty surprise. The Spicy Scallop Roll was just that: Spicy. I enjoy good spice, but it overpowered the roll. M wasn't a fan of his California Roll, calling it "too fishy." Our friends let us try their Spider Roll. The soft shell blue crab was tasty and delicate - Would recommend this one.

Unfortunately, our server was rarely at the table, and neglected refills. I had one Sprite to begin with and offered another after finishing the meal.

The lack of communication, "meh" food, slow service, and unkept tables missed the mark and left a bad first impression.

Would rather go to the Yama Sushi House...

All the food was excellent, but the service and atmosphere left much to be desired.

The host was not friendly and seated others who came in after us with the same size party before us, despite they’re not being call ahead or reservations. When we finally did get seated, he walked halfway to the table, turned around and gesture for us to follow. Once we were seated, he only left three menus for a party of four.

When our server finally arrived in our table, he took her drink orders. The three initial waters with lemon took about 10 minutes to be delivered, and the drink from the bar (bottle of beer with a frosted glass) took about 20 minutes. If it was busy, I could understand, but this was not the case. Soups and an appetizer did come out first, which was fine. Then he delivered the noodle dish to one person who didn’t order sushi. The first sushi rolls came out about another 10 minutes later. Then he continued to deliver our order one plate at a time. However, when we finally realized he had stopped delivering the rolls, even though we hadn’t gotten everything we ordered, we asked him about it. At least he was honest enough to own up to forgetting to put it in the system and comped the roll, but he did seem surprised when asked about it that we still actually wanted it.

As for atmosphere, the restaurant seemed a bit rundown. Some of the seating is in desperate need of reupholstering. The lights in the dining room kept flickering, and it seemed like they had an issue with their music system, because it cut out for a while, and when it came back on, it was much louder than it needed to be. The floors in the hall and restroom were unreasonably dirty, and should’ve been addressed by the staff before the end of the night.

All in all, our party didn’t let it ruin our night, but it certainly was less enjoyable than it could’ve been. I can’t say that I would recommend this restaurant for a date night or to try to impress out-of-town guests, but if you’re not concerned about ambience and service, and are just looking for good food, this could be a...

Visited for 2nd time last night. Had probably been close to a year now since the 1st time here. This was after finding out it was a "sister spot" to Harumi Sushi in downtown PHX, which has been our fave & the only sushi we could eat after discovering it 9 years ago.. but it's over an hour from our home. In years prior to that, was barely getting into Sushi, and not really knowing good quality sushi, & ate it wherever. We were sure we found some of the best sushi though our 1st time at Harumi, the black (purple) rice giving a better consistency and taste, holding together, and always tasted amazing, setting it above rest, and now ruined any of the sushi bars we had tried before, never tasting as good. Our 1st visit to Kodo was pretty good, it still wasn't as good as Harumi, but it saved us an extra hour or so round trip, and still had good enough quality, with same style adding the black rice. But location still is not close to our home, us living a bit out of the way, and is about 45 min away. So as we entered Kodo last night, after driving, now craving good sushi, they had signs posted everywhere, saying "they will no longer be serving purple rice". When we asked why, told it was due to new management. Everything just seemed sub-par, mushy white rice, falling apart, tasting slightly better than grocery store sushi. Sushi is never cheap out in these type settings.. In hindsight, wish we would have just took the time to drive downtown to Phx. And hope to God, they all didn't change management, and now Harumi sushi is also doing the same thing. I believe there was another location in Scottsdale too, but had never visited & compared. Will be looking into it all soon. Still...