KOKU — Restaurant in Town of North Castle

I am updating my review of this restaurant based on a recent experience. I am a business person, I specialize in branding and marketing. A big part of a successful business is public relations and taking care of your customers. I have had instances in the past exactly like the one that took place here. I have taken care of and have been taken care of properly in these situations. In this situation, the owner of this restaurant did not handle it properly. He has not only lost me as customer, he has strong advocate. Prior to this incident I had what I called KOKU Day. Everyone in my office called it that and would often partake in KOKU Day with me. At least once a week or whenever I was in the area I would order my lunch from KOKU. Their 3 roll sushi lunch special price truly can't be beat. My office even had our Holiday Dinner there. We loved KOKU. The food is top notch and up until that day, their service was too. Now, I will NEVER eat there again and I will make sure to tell anyone and everyone who will listen that they shouldn't either. The way I was treated by the owner was unacceptable. Things happen and if you want to do business properly you should absolutely do right by your regular customers. I ordered online and something happened with the online ordering site. I was charged but my order didn't go through. I called and ordered over the phone. I went to pick up my food and my card was declined again, but I was still charged. Despite my asking them not to run it again they did and I was charged a third time. Clearly there was something wrong with either my card or their system. Either way, my lunch was there and ready for me. What I thought would happen was the owner would come out and say no worries, we can work it out next time or some kind of good will attempt. Instead, I was made to feel like a criminal, like I was trying to get one by them. Something similar happened to me before at another restaurant I frequent, Gin Ban in Mamaroneck. After finishing a lovely lunch with my daughter, I looked in my wallet and my credit card was not there. I remembered where I had left it and was mortified to have to explain. The owner Tommy told me not to worry about it, this one was on him. I came back an hour later with my card to pay and he insisted I not worry about it since I am a regular customer and I have sent so many people to his restaurant over the years. Maybe I'm wrong, I know if the roles were reversed how I would have handled it would not have been to make one of my regular customers, someone who buys from me once a week, feel the way I felt. It's a shame because their food is really very good. I will miss KOKU Day but I will NEVER give my money to someone who runs their business that way and I don't think anyone else...

As a last minute thing, my friends and I went to Koku's for a drink. We arrived around 6:00 pm and they were running specials at the bar. We ordered a fabulous bottle of wine, suggested to us by out bartender. It was excellent. We ordered about 10 of the bar specials. Keep in mind they were very small portions, 3-4 pieces per dish. It was perfect. We did not over eat, but tasted a little bit of everything. The whitefish in the sesame truffle oil was, so delicate. The blue crab fajita was delicious. The calamari and the sauce it came with was so light. I did not eat the sushi trio because I do not like tuna, but that is my personal preference. My friends had it and said it was so fresh, it just melted in your mouth.

Dessert time! We ordered the chocolate lava cake ... I can say with confidence, it is one of the best lava cakes I have ever had. We had to wait a little longer for it because they may it themselves. The outside had a nice crisp but not overdone taste, the chocolate was not too sweet, had the perfect balance of sweet and bitter, the vanilla bean ice cream is was served with was so smooth and silky. You just have to order it. Do yourself and your taste buds a favor, order it. You will not be disappointed.

The staff is so nice and friendly. The restaurant is very clean. The decor is very nice and the music is not blaring but it is loud enough that you can hear the song but also have a conversation with others without having to yell.

We will be visiting again very soon! By the way, I have catered two business luncheons with Koku's and both times, they have done a phenomenal job!!

Koku's is truly a fabulous place to eat at. ...

We've been to Koku many times over the year, the food and service never disappointed us. Always a good place to go for a nice treat whenever we have sushi cravings, and Koku has way more than just sushi. Let me begin by saying that, a good restaurant experience always starts with the ambiance and the friendliness if the staff. The mood is so nicely set with the lighting, wood works and the bronzed pipes running through the restaurant. I found it ingenious with the design. The staff always comes around and see how you are doing without being intrusive. The food is impeccable, to say the least. I had to satisfy my craving for the lobster soup and sashimi among other things. So we ordered the soup, still the same velvety texture we had last and it was to die for. I highly recommend it. Being a foodie myself, I need variety than just raw fish. We also ordered the sashimi salad and beef ribs. Sashimi was super fresh and the dressing adds another layer of flavor to the creamy fish. The beef ribs was so tender, we barely had to use the knife. Onward with the entries, we had the sushi sashimi platter for 2 and the must have filet mignon fried rice. Most important part of the sushi or sashimi is the fish, outside of chef's knife skill. I can tell how fresh the fish is, it has its own natural sweetness to the fish and the creaminess just melts in your mouth. It was so well prepared. I didn't really need that much soy sauce to compensate for the taste. To top everything off, the fried rice gives such a nice finish to your carb and...