Nice food and a good experience overall, but expect to spend around $50+ per person.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Ngoc Tran
Decent casual spots with friendly customer service. The highlight was the fried organic chicken. I liked that it is crispy and juicy. We were looking forward to the skewers but they were underwhelming. Since they waited to served multiple skewers at once, the temperature was colder than expected which was not ideal. The flavor was there but there was also just not enough charring. One of the okras were stringy. The cartilage was cold by the time we got to it. It felt like they rushed the cooking a little bit to serve more tables. If I come back it would be for the fried chicken and not for the skewers.
Megan
I had a life changing dessert here. If you enjoy sweet potato, you must get the beniimo ice cream. The crust of the sweet potato is indescribably light and crispy, and the inside is hot and pillowy with the familiar taste of sweet potato. The vanilla ice cream compliments the hot sweet potato so well. It wasn’t oily at all even though the description says it was fried.
The skewers are also good, notably the chicken thigh and enoki mushroom wrapped in bacon. So juicy and tender and hot. Daikon salad was pretty refreshing as a palate cleanser.
We came on a Friday evening with no reservation and surprisingly got seated very quickly although there was a long waitlist. The skewers smell so good from a block away.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amanda C. Sun
Came here to have a causal dinner with my husband and toddler. We arrived around 5:30pm and was able to get seated right away without rsvp. We sat in a private space between the outside of the restaurant and wall. We tried many things but our favorite were the wagyu and beef skewers. It definitely adds up but we left super full because we over-ordered 😅 service was okay, but felt forgotten about a few times since we weren’t inside or in the tent space. But appreciated the privacy with the toddler. Most things were on the saltier end so it didn’t appeal to my tastebuds as much as other spots. Seems like a chill spot for causal meals with friends though.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Wei-Ai Tai
Quaint Japanese restaurant, tucked away in a quiet corner in the northeast part of downtown San Mateo. Delicious yakitori items, as well as rice bowls, fried appetizers, and ramen. Fast and efficient service, but hard to get a seat unless you have a reservation. Very small parking lot, but there is street parking and a couple of parking lots nearby.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Yingxu Mu
I'm paying for good services. There's a ton of good restaurants in San Mateo. I'm not begging to be eating here. Was a good decision last night to turn around and head to Avenida down the street.
Service: 1
Jessie W
Here's a 50-word review for Koko in San Mateo: Koko satisfied my oyakodon craving perfectly! Found them via Google Maps, and their yakiniku was also a hit. The food is consistently good, offering solid Japanese comfort. While not every dish was a standout, the overall experience made it a reliable spot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
adgh admin
The food is not bad, not excellent but meet the expectations. Unsatisfied with how they deal with the tips. The receipt shows the lowest percentage is 15% while the payment machine shows 18%. The receipt shows pre-tax tips while actually you pay after-tax tips. I’m happy to give more tips if the food/service is nice, I just don’t like the inconsistency between what’s shown on the receipt and what you actually pay.
Four stars for food (many dishes quite good, not quite as good as in Japan), two stars for sustainability (unpleasant disposable chopsticks, dessert in single-use plastic, no labeling of meat/seafood origins). Service friendly and helpful.
Giorgia Toscani
Casually found out this place just driving bye and resulted to be a real gem! Nice and cozy atmosphere, the place is small but so welcoming and warm. My partner and I fell in love with the unagi skewers and than the black sesami tantan men was just delicious and so full filling! Really helping and friendly staff, the full experience was so pleasant.
Kwok ly
Best yakitori in the bay area for the price.
Adam Kaplan
The pork belly! I don't like pork belly but this was amazing.
Getting a table can be hard, try to get a reservation or arrive early. It's a very small restaurant interior with a supplemental outside seating area, which is covered and heated.
The hostess seemed not happy that we didn't have a reservation but the server was great.
Amazing food. Authentic Japanese food.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nice food and a good experience overall, but expect to spend around $50+ per person.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Decent casual spots with friendly customer service. The highlight was the fried organic chicken. I liked that it is crispy and juicy. We were looking forward to the skewers but they were underwhelming. Since they waited to served multiple skewers at once, the temperature was colder than expected which was not ideal. The flavor was there but there was also just not enough charring. One of the okras were stringy. The cartilage was cold by the time we got to it. It felt like they rushed the cooking a little bit to serve more tables. If I come back it would be for the fried chicken and not for the skewers.
I had a life changing dessert here. If you enjoy sweet potato, you must get the beniimo ice cream. The crust of the sweet potato is indescribably light and crispy, and the inside is hot and pillowy with the familiar taste of sweet potato. The vanilla ice cream compliments the hot sweet potato so well. It wasn’t oily at all even though the description says it was fried.
The skewers are also good, notably the chicken thigh and enoki mushroom wrapped in bacon. So juicy and tender and hot. Daikon salad was pretty refreshing as a palate cleanser.
We came on a Friday evening with no reservation and surprisingly got seated very quickly although there was a long waitlist. The skewers smell so good from a block away.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Came here to have a causal dinner with my husband and toddler. We arrived around 5:30pm and was able to get seated right away without rsvp. We sat in a private space between the outside of the restaurant and wall. We tried many things but our favorite were the wagyu and beef skewers. It definitely adds up but we left super full because we over-ordered 😅 service was okay, but felt forgotten about a few times since we weren’t inside or in the tent space. But appreciated the privacy with the toddler. Most things were on the saltier end so it didn’t appeal to my tastebuds as much as other spots. Seems like a chill spot for causal meals with friends though.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Quaint Japanese restaurant, tucked away in a quiet corner in the northeast part of downtown San Mateo. Delicious yakitori items, as well as rice bowls, fried appetizers, and ramen. Fast and efficient service, but hard to get a seat unless you have a reservation. Very small parking lot, but there is street parking and a couple of parking lots nearby.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
I'm paying for good services. There's a ton of good restaurants in San Mateo. I'm not begging to be eating here. Was a good decision last night to turn around and head to Avenida down the street.
Service: 1
Here's a 50-word review for Koko in San Mateo:
Koko satisfied my oyakodon craving perfectly! Found them via Google Maps, and their yakiniku was also a hit. The food is consistently good, offering solid Japanese comfort. While not every dish was a standout, the overall experience made it a reliable spot.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
The food is not bad, not excellent but meet the expectations. Unsatisfied with how they deal with the tips. The receipt shows the lowest percentage is 15% while the payment machine shows 18%. The receipt shows pre-tax tips while actually you pay after-tax tips. I’m happy to give more tips if the food/service is nice, I just don’t like the inconsistency between what’s shown on the receipt and what you actually pay.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Really good taste and variety for the price
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
Four stars for food (many dishes quite good, not quite as good as in Japan), two stars for sustainability (unpleasant disposable chopsticks, dessert in single-use plastic, no labeling of meat/seafood origins). Service friendly and helpful.
Casually found out this place just driving bye and resulted to be a real gem! Nice and cozy atmosphere, the place is small but so welcoming and warm. My partner and I fell in love with the unagi skewers and than the black sesami tantan men was just delicious and so full filling! Really helping and friendly staff, the full experience was so pleasant.
Best yakitori in the bay area for the price.
The pork belly! I don't like pork belly but this was amazing.
Getting a table can be hard, try to get a reservation or arrive early. It's a very small restaurant interior with a supplemental outside seating area, which is covered and heated.
The hostess seemed not happy that we didn't have a reservation but the server was great.
Expensive and not as good as I remember
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