Kogetsu at the Boiler House — Restaurant in Peterborough

I truly don't have any idea what star rating to give these guys, so I'll give them the benefit.

The building is great, and looks cool outside and inside. There are multiple levels inside and it's not a boring space. Everything appeared clean, including the restroom. The view of the small falls behind the building was great, especially with all the ice. Being that we're still in the midst of the Coronapocalypse, there was plenty of COVID theatre to satisfy those that are into that sort of thing, with partitions, spaced out tables and of course face diapers.

Service was also great. The young guy that took care of us was polite, and attentive. Although, I believe we were the only party in there, so I can't comment on service during peak times.

Looking at the menu, I thought the sushi prices seemed a bit steep, but not enough to deter me from ordering a roll. I typically get salmon, but I didn't see an option with just salmon so I went with tuna. When it arrived, the pricing made sense. I don't think I've had a roll with that much meat in and on it before. There was tuna rolled in the roll, and at least as much then laid on top. And it was good. Flavors were very good along with the construction. I would absolutely get that roll again.

My friend ordered soup and an entree, I ordered the roll and an entree. I was hoping the roll would come out with his soup. Instead, my friend got his soup, we got our entrees and then at the end I got my roll. I will take some responsibility for this, though, since I didn't specify what we wanted when.

For an entree, I ordered chicken lo mein. I wasn't certain how hungry I'd be after the roll (at least as I envisioned the order of things) and didn't want to feel bad about only finishing half of something. Typically, lo mein is pretty hard to mess up. I won't say they did so, but it was pretty uninspired. There wasn't a bunch of flavor, and there were minimal vegetables in it to go with the noodles and fairly small amount of chicken. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't worth ten dollars. I've truthfully had better lo mein at store front Chinese restaurants.

They say that you can judge a Chinese restaurant on its chili oil. Fortunately for these guys, I'm not going to do that. I usually get a small side of the oil with any noodle dish for extra flavor. Except in this case, there wasn't much. I'm not sure what was going on as there was a ton of crushed chilis in there. It didn't have any kick to it. Perhaps they don't make it in house. If that's the case, that would confirm my assessment of Kogetsu.

My assessment is as follows: Much like I took responsibility for the order of food arriving, I need to take responsibility for my experience with my entree. I didn't research this place, and I didn't take the time to get a proper read on it while I was there. I assumed that, much like one of my favorite places back home, Kogetsu was a Chinese spot that offered sushi. What I see it as now is a Japanese restaurant that offers some Chinese dishes. Approach with that in mind and I think you'll enjoy your...

I am not sure what kind of restaurant this is. they have sushi/rolls, they had some Thai food, some Indian curry, Singaporean food, and Chinese food. it was just a mix of what seemed to be anything Asian.

We are traveling and stuck with something safe (bowl of Udon noodles, chicken teriyaki, and sushi rolls)

The Udon noodles wasn’t bad and normally my son would devour a bowl. he didn’t really want to finish it. it was probably the best part of our meal.

Normally i would love the chicken teriyaki but they make it with sliced boiled white meat and it was very dry. Traditionally teriyaki chicken with is served on a bowl of rice but this was served like a Chinese dish with boiled broccoli 🥦 around the dish. it didnt really have the Japanese style of grilled chicken served on top of rice. it didn’t even taste like tradition teriyaki chicken. it was more like Chinese style steamed chicken.

The sushi rolls were probably the closest representation of Japanese style food. it tasted like a sushi roll should taste but it was swimming in teriyaki sauce; and I do mean swimming. it should be a hint of teriyaki sauce squirted on with a squeeze bottle not poured on with spoonfuls of sauce. it was drowning in the sauce sauce; to the point where we were wiping the sauce off on the plate it was served on. it was disappointing because i really had my heart set on a nice Japanese meal. Japanese style food should be delicate; less is more (especially when applying sauce)

Kogetsu boiler house needs to focus on one style of Asian food and not cater to “all asian” foods because it falls short to any authentic asian style food. if you want to focus in Japanese food then make it look and taste like Japanese food (don’t confuse it by serving it with Chinese boiled broccoli around it). if you want to make Chinese food then make Chinese food.

At the end of the day, we felt like we were eating for sustenance and not really eating for the dining experience.

Would i go back again? No. Once was enough. I live in Asia and get great Asian food all the time. this was well…an interesting experience. I have never really been to a one-stop asian restaurant inter-mixing the the cuisines of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Singaporean and whatever else; it was a disaster as all those styles are...

2021: kogetsu has a nice patio with tables, inside tables are separated by plexiglass dividers, wait stuff wore masks - good for pandemic dining. The appetizer were very good. The baby octopus was particularly memorable. Shrimp with walnuts and honey and Hawaiian duck were both decent. We ordered soup, appetizers, and main entry and waited for a very long time until everything arrived at once. By the time we finished soup and appetizers, the main enters were cold. I wish the different courses were staged and not delivered at the same me time. The service was friendly but slow.

Response to the owner follow up: Thank you for response. I understand about the shortage of employees and everything being cooked to order. But there is no reason why the soup could not have been served faster first, appetizer a little later, and then the main entree. Please consider spacing between courses, it makes for a better experience for the diners, and maybe even easier to handle for you.

2016:Pond with lilies, waterfall, beautiful old mill.. It should have been so good... But it was not! Chicken was dry, shrimp tempura had a funky flavor, fresh rolls were sloppy, peanut sauce was a lump. I did like the sushi, it tasted fresh. Overall, we were...