Koji — Restaurant in Northville

Bite size delight. Although traditional Japanese sushi is meant to be bite size, here is a place worth making an exception for. Or really working that mouth to fit it in ;) Late Friday evening, in downtown Northville, lies one of the best sushi restaurants I’ve been to. Busy as can be (never a bad sign) with take out orders lined up, and a dine-in waiting list from anything between 15-20’; we get a call no later than 8:00PM that our table is ready. The service is immediate and kind. Drinks come at the blink of an eye, and with them, the most effective menu: the menu in itself with the most accurate pictures of each item (note the word ‘accurate’, unlike certain fast food commercials where the reality rarely matches the advertised product) and a check sheet with every item on the menu. We each ordered a roll and one to share (3 total), and miso soup to start. It’s hard to miss on miso soup, but here it hit the spot. Opening up the appetite for the amazement to come. The first 2 roles arrive on a single plate, and the last one on a skillet to be lit on fire. The taste of each role can be described in many words, or perhaps just one: Bliss. A combination of fresh rice, sea food, and the added ingredients to each unique role. Only after my first bite, did I turn my head toward the kitchen. Open style, 4 sushi chefs working their magic Igor all to view. No wonder in tasted this fresh. Upon closer inspection, I noticed even the fish was cut to size for each order. Make no mistake, this place knows it’s sushi. I could go on to describe how amazing it was to eat here, but I’ll leave it at this: experience at your own discretion, because once you try it, you will be coming back for more.

*Order details: Miso Soup, Down Town Special Roll, Mountain Special Roll, Northville Fire...

I went to Koji for lunch with my sister-in-law to celebrate our birthdays together. We were both in the mood for Japanese food and she had been there before and thought it was good.

We ended up sharing a cucumber roll and a roll of spicy tuna, plus getting our own Bento boxes.

I ordered the tonkatsu Box because I have a weakness for fried pork and although I make tonkatsu myself, I have not made it in a while. The box also included a California roll, a few pieces of tempura including one shrimp, and it came with miso soup and a typical ginger dressing salad. It was a lot of food!

To be very honest, I was a tad disappointed. The tonkatsu came out cut into thin strips and already drizzled with tonkatsu sauce. It ended up being a little dry and not as luxurious a meal as I had hoped to enjoy. ( I think wider cuts of pork are better and it is nice to be able to put on your own sauce.)

I really liked the tempura better. The offering included sweet potato, broccoli and squash. I think maybe tempura shrimp is my favorite way to eat shrimp.

The miso soup was good, a rather standard recipe. The salad was tasty, although I think they should have cut the bites of lettuce a bit smaller. They were all too big to fit in my mouth and a little tricky to manage with chopsticks. I also found that the ginger dressing had more of a bite than I expected.

The sushi rolls that we ordered in addition to the Bento boxes were yummy, but the spicy tuna had too much of a Mayo taste and not enough spice to it.

I would go back to Koji when I am in Northville again, but on the other hand, there are lots of other restaurants in Northville so I'm not sure when I will...

I decided to have dinner here by myself last night. I went in and they offered the counter next to the entrance door. I asked them if I can have a proper seating. They said it would be a 10 minutes wait and I said that was not a problem. They took down my name and said they will call me while I wait outside. There were two ladies from the restaurant that took my information. Now I waited outside. I waited for more than 25 Minutes with no response. During the wait I found several people go in and being offered a seat. All this time I am just waiting out the door where they can see me.

I read one of the other comments and reviews about this restaurant prioritizing certain races over others. I never believed this till I found myself in the middle of this. A establishment like this who does not equally treat its patrons is not a place I would ever go or recommend my friends and colleagues. Looks like they have lost a regular customer here.

My close Japanese friends said this is not something an authentic Japanese establishment would ever do to their customers. The service standards are very high as I have been to tons of Japanese restaurants across the globe...