Kiko Ramen And Sushi — Restaurant in Jacksonville

My friends and i ate here a couple of times and it has always been a great experience, except for what happened yesterday that made me not want to come back. Let’s start with when we came in, my friend saw a wallet at the waiting area in the front of the shop and she surrendered it right away to the cashier and the waiter. The cashier was busy doing something else but the waiter just stared at the wallet and didn’t say or ask anything. It was already weird at that point but i thought maybe he just doesn’t know what to say to us, so we brushed that off. The waiter then directed us to the table and he gave us the menu without saying anything. He then came back and asked us what we wanted to drink, and since we already knew what we wanted to order for our meals and it’s my friends turn to tell her order, she told him that we are also ready to order the food if he wants to take it now. He then said right away “Drinks first”, and kept quiet. My friend and i felt a little shocked here, i mean we understood that it should be drinks that we should order first but the way he said it felt a bit rude and it’s not like we meant to confuse him with our orders since were paying separate checks anyway. We didn’t complain though and we just let him take our order the way he wanted it. I thought it’s gonna be over after that, but what happened next is even worse. After we’re done eating, my friend and i went to the rest room. Their restroom area is behind the exit door and to get there you have to pass through a hallway where they keep their boxes and certain supplies. That door is beside a table where some male waiters are eating and taking a break. My friend went first and then i followed after her after a minute or so. My friend then waited for me to go out of the restroom and we were together when we tried opening the door going back the restaurant. Then we realized it was locked. We took turns in trying to open the door thinking it might have been just jammed, but we couldn’t do it. I remember i brought my phone with me, so as i was about to call our other friend to ask for help, I heard from outside the door that someone asked, “Can you open that door?”. Then i heard the door got unlocked from the outside. As i was going out, I was trying to look at the lock from the outside to see if it was possible to get it locked without knowing it, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. No one also explained to us what happened, but i realized the one who unlocked the door is our waiter, but he had his back turned to us, and again he didn’t bother talking to us. Since i was shocked and trying to figure out what happened, i wasn’t able to ask questions with the servers, and my friends and i just decided to leave after we paid. When i got home and thought of what could possibly happened, it felt unsafe to go back there. How is it possible for a customer to get locked in a storage area going to restroom, without anyone knowing? How come no one bothered to explain to us on why my friend and i got locked? A lot of things don’t add up but it felt like it’s unsafe to come back here...

Don't sleep on this place. It's apparently been open for a little bit, but I haven't seen many reviews/notifications about it.

On a quest for great ramen, we stumbled across Kiko this past week and decided to go for lunch. It was so freaking good we went back the very next day!

Service is fantastic, everyone there is polite and welcoming. The establishment is well lit, nicely decorated, and the ambiance is whimsical yet not overbearing.

The food - man oh man. Delicious.

One main dish was the Tonkatsu Ramen. To say it's some of, if not the best, Tonkatsu had in Jax isn't a lie. It has thus far beat out many other places like IsoIso, Hangar bay (the former favorite), Hana Moon, Modu, and even another new one KyuRamen. Karai is still a top contender in this category, however Kiko's is steadily winning that race.

The second main dish was the Shoyu ramen - and it too, is the biggest contender for favorite Shoyu around (had all the above mentioned locations versions and am still calling Kiko's at the top).

We also enjoyed the Crunchy Roll sushi roll, the pan fried pork gyoza, as well as the pork belly bao buns. I didn't get pics of the ramen or gyoza, but did get the bao and sushi.

Only detractor that we could mention was how thin the slices of chashu is compared to some of the other establishments - however the tenderness and flavor do help to make up some of the lacking in size/quantity.

The marinated eggs for the ramen are on point and some of the best in Jax too!

All in all DEFINITELY a repeat place to...

We recently moved to the area and decided to try Kiko for our first date night since moving. I am so happy we decided to try this Kiko Sushi and Ramen!!

We arrived for dinner service, our waitress was kind and friendly. I’m not sure if they always have waiters, but she certainly added to the experience.

We had pork buns for a starter, they were sweet and savory, a perfect way to start our meal. We also had a spicy tuna roll, I’d never tried it before it was very good. The fish was fresh, it had a really nice kick to it but not too spicy. It was a great balance to the Tonkotsu Ramen and Steak Hibachi we ordered for our mains. The tonkotsu was delicious and my husband ate every bite even after being cautious when he saw new ingredients on the menu, I told him to order it as is and I’m glad he did. He now knows he likes fish cakes and bamboo shoots! The steak hibachi I had was delicious, a decent size portion, I was very happy with our meal choices.

We were so hungry I didn’t take a single photo! But we will for sure be back to try the milk teas, sushi, and other types of ramen! Don’t sleep on this spot...