O-Ku — Restaurant in Charlotte

2024-06-03 Another great experience at O-ku. Kayla is a top notch server. I can't remember the last time we've had such good service. She is the epitome of what an excellent server should strive to be. The entire staff was amazing. And they went Above And Beyond for our birthday celebration. I highly recommend everyone coming for their birthday or special occasion. O-Ku does an excellent job with this type of thing. There were 4 of us. 2 of us ordered sushi and 2 of us ordered hot meals. The hot meals aren't like they were the first time we came. They're more like tapas size entree portions. The tofu meal was excellent. The salmon meal was sadly waay overcooked. Those who ordered sushi enjoyed it. They have a couple of vegetarian sushi options, which was perfect for one of us. We also got the truffle edamame and the cauliflower appetizer, both excellent! One person got a soda and someone else hot tea. No dessert this time. And the total came to around $120. The food service from appetizer to dinner was slow. It was like that the first time we came too. Totally worth it though and plan to come again. Thank you O-Ku for brining your A-game! Yum!

2023 The restaurant ambiance is lovely (warmly lit, high, wood plank-type ceilings, industrial, comfortable, trendy), although Very loud. The service from Ryan and Hayley was very good; a little slow getting the initial order in, but other than that, great personalities, thoughtful, knowledgeable, quick with water refills and check-ins, helpful and went above and beyond to make sure the vegetarian, in the group, had good options, from which to choose. The food didn't all come out at the same time (sushi and hot food each come from 2 different kitchens.). We had to wait at least 3-5 minutes for all dishes to be served. I would suggest checking the menu and pricing, before coming, to make sure both work for you. Our party ordered 2 sushi dishes each (for those that ordered sushi) to make the portion size work for them. Everyone enjoyed their sushi. The truffle edamame dish was Amazing! If you like curry, coconut milk udon noodles, you'll like that dish. It came in a small bowl.  Enough for one meal, but nothing for take home. The chicken teriyaki was just the other side so so (in a bad way) and I would not order it again. The chicken did not seem "high end" to me.  It seemed like cheap pieces of meat were used. They were gristly and small parts and pieces were hanging from another...And the dish was drenched in the sauce. Even though it's definitely enough for one person, I would have thought that there would have been more. The flavor was ok/good. Note: If you exchange white rice for fried rice, it's very good, but very subtle. The desserts, although expensive, were excellent! For those curious about pricing, only one person had 2 beers and the dinner tab for 6 people was $300 before tip. If you're looking for a very nice, trendy feeling place for dinner with some foodie flair, this is definitely an option. I would definitely come back. I would just make different dinner choices. One sushi meal each and water would yield a dinner tab of just $30 for 2 people. So it's possible that every pocketbook size could enjoy a night out here. I would say if you're in the mood for sushi, make reservations...

TL;DR: Overall: 3.5 Hospitality: 5/5 Hot Food: 2/5 Raw Food: 3/5 Desert: 4/5 Authenticity to Cuisine: 1/5 Cocktails: 5/5

Honest review, I went with my wife to eat here, she's from Japan, and I was there for 4 years, the service was great, I felt the hospitality from the dining staff, they were friendly and attentive. I had Nick and Tony which were both great.

For the menu we didn't see a lot of Japanese dishes, a lot of Chinese style food, Hoisin duck buns, fried rice, fried cauliflower, and then from Italian cuisine, carpaccio, we ordered the tuna which is actually a crudo by all technical terms since the meat is not pounded flat. Nice flavor profile though.

As a gift we received the salmon usuzukuri, but it was more of a crudo as the fish is supposed to be thinly sliced to be somewhat translucent to see craftsmanship of the plate. Flavor profile is okay.

The tobanyaki is misleading because it's actually teppanyaki, toban is usually ceramic and not cast iron. The table side service that accompanied it was entertaining. However

The plate was not hot enough to caramelize or actually sear the meat. Thus preventing the maillard effect and that grilled meat taste.

the wagyu's marbling with excess butter, makes for an ultra fattening taste that completely envelopes your taste buds with oil rather than flavor. Salt/Pepper/Garlic would have worked fine in place of butter.

Surprised there are no real tempura dishes on the menu that would be typical in Japan, no karaage, shrimp, fish, or vegetable tempura unless it's in a roll or tossed in a sauce.

The Sushi Rolls are what any sushi you'd expect in America to be, covered in sauce, and while at first glance, there appears to be variety, many of them are covered in eel sauce and spicy mayo.

We ordered nigiri and got the Hamachi, Akami Tuna, and Madai, which is not red snapper but red seabream, which is an upgrade from red snapper and considered a prized fish in Japan used for many celebrations. So that's nice.

The sushi rice was cold and no longer soft and fluffy by the time it got to the table. I assume this is due to the high volume and staffing issues, because the nigiri looked beautiful. I would opt for Sashimi in the future.

They sent out a Hamachi Kama as a gift, which my wife enjoyed a lot.

The roll cake was great and they gifted the Sata Andagi which reminded my wife of her hometown so that was a big plus. The mochi was too hard. Hatoya in Pineville sells vanilla mochi from Lotte that taste better in my opinion.

I regret not ordering the duck breast that time because I went for the wagyu instead.

Cocktails were great, I had the Just Brew It which was delicious. And my wife had the Cherry Yuzu Soda as she's still nursing but it was also quite good.

Our check came to a little over $300 for two people.

Put in perspective, for less than $300 in Japan I could have a room, onsen, and 16 course authebtic seasonal carefully crafted beautiful meal, plus breakfast with an Oceanview.

Is it worth the hype that depends on your taste. For me it fell short except desert, hospitality,...

My low score is a result of two different expectations not being met: what I expect out of a Japanese restaurant and what I expect out of a place that is lauded by so many.

For those who want the TLDR, I don't think this place is worth the hype nor the price. If you are looking to satisfy that for itch for some traditional Japanese food, you won't find it here. And to be fair, that may not be the crowd that it is trying to attract. However, I feel that you can find what this place has to offer in other restaurants and walk out more satisfied, unless you really put a strong emphasis on ambient, which this place has plenty of.

To start, I had the miso soup. What I normally like about miso soup is the warm and soothing feeling I get when drinking it. While I'd be lying if I said it didn't taste good, it just didn't quite hit the spot. What was really disappointing were the duck buns. First of all, it was blatantly missing the arugula that was part of the description. Yet, having the arugula would not have made the dish any better. When it comes to duck, I'm looking for juciness and exquisite flavor. What I got instead was something resembling pulled pork, in both taste and texture. I don't particularly like pulled pork, but I have to admit that I've had juicer pulled pork than the duck in that bun. The dish might have been saved had the bun been heavenly and a delight to eat, but it wasn't. It did not add anything to the overall dish. It was literally there just to hold the duck, quite the missed opportunity.

I then ordered the potato roll, the spider roll and the spicy tuna crunch roll. It pains me to say that they were all pretty forgettable. I vaguely remember enjoying the spider roll because I absolutely love torched salmon, not because it was prepared in a special way or because it was particularly outstanding.

Lastly, someone in our group ordered the very popular Otoro Spoons. Beautiful presentation I must say. Quite lovely to look at, but it's allure ends there. Otoro by itself has enough flavor to leave you in a state of bliss. Unfortunately, the dish did not exalt these flavors; rather, it obscured them. I tasted more of the sauce then the actual otoro and that, for me, is a travesty.

I do want to say that the service was impeccable, and I want to give a special shout out to our server, Trey. He was fantastic. Had it not been for him, the experience would have...