I chose to come here with my husband last weekend for my birthday. We were immediately greeted warmly upon arrival and showed to our seats. The servers were all friendly and knowledgeable about their wine and menu. We opted for the degustation menu and later decided to add on the optional sushi course (one for each of us). The food was excellent and creative and we thoroughly enjoyed our wine and sake. The presentation of the food was amazing and I must say that the scallop dish was my highlight. However, if we did not add on the optional course (which we had to pay extra for) we highly doubted that we would've been full. This was definitely a low point for us as we have been to several degustation restaurants similar to Cocoro's calibre and been satisfyingly full at a similar price point. Also it was still a little chilly in the restaurant despite the heat pump being turned on but I was wondering if it was because we were given the seats next to the windows on a cold night. Overall, I enjoyed my experience and would visit this restaurant again to try it's ala carte menu.
Absolutely great service and delicious food! š
I have been hankering to get to Cocoro for years now and a 10th wedding anniversary seemed to be an appropriate occasion!! This meal did not disappoint from the moment we entered the restaurant to the moment we left.... such meticulous preparation and attention to detail made everything just āperfectā. Some dishes like sashimi are obviously plentiful around the traps but you havenāt had Sashimi till you try some of the goodness served at Cocoro! I cannot rate this highly enough and I am slightly concerned that my words may fall short of the experience...... however my advice is simple.... Have a meal at Cocoro, it will leave you speechless.
The second time back to Cocoro, I still love their food and amazing customer service! Sashimi platter is definitely their signature IG pose but their wagyu premium a5 steak is over expected!!!
My favorite restaurant in Auckland! The price can be more friendly but I still think itās worth that.
Thanks guys, an amazing set lunch - incredible!
Absolutely amazing restaurant. The food was delicious and the wine and sake pairings were also great. Possibly the nicest Japanese food I have had outside of Japan. Highly recommend the degustation.
Amazing food. Beautifully presented. IMO, one of the best Japanese restaurants in Auckland.
This is my third review on @cocoro_restaurant. š±A variety of dishes were ordered from their a la carte menu and Iāll be reviewing them one by oneš„¢
1ļøā£Murasaki Uni (Sea Urchin)
Although it is presented as pretty as a plate can be, the taste of the sea urchin served was underwhelming. It lacked the rich sea urchin flavor and tasted a bit watered down. Although I do understand that each sea urchin opened can be a hit or miss, I would expect the restaurant to be better at selecting the best to serve.
š²price $13
š taste 3/5
2ļøā£Oh-Toro Nigiri š£(Fatty Tuna Sushi)
The oh-toro nigiri was not as fatty as one would expected for $17 a piece. At this price point, I would really expect the kind of fatty tuna that would melt in your mouth. The oh-toro nigiri served was relatively lean and not quite on par with the kind of oh-toro Iāve had overseas.
š²price $17
š taste 4/5
3ļøā£Tempura (mixed)
I was pleasantly surprised by their tempura dish. Tempura isnāt something Iād normally crave for, but it turned out to be the highlight of the meal. The prawn and scallop used were quality and batter was fried just right, really loved the bites into crunchiness!
š²price $24
štaste 5/5
šPonsonby
Overall, I still enjoyed my experience at Cocoro as their service is always great and it is still one of the best Japanese restaurants in Auckland. Head to @pandadrools on Instagram for my two previous reviews on Cocoro!
Came here today with my family (inc. my little baby). They graciously allowed for the presence of my wee little one to join us for lunch. I was quite nervous as the restaurant was a fine dining restaurant and although I know that my little one is a very chill baby, I just didn't want to disturb the other patrons by her baby babbles (no cries or whines at all, thank God!). They don't have a highchair available, but they gave us ample enough space for us to put baby in her stroller at the dining table.
Food was amazing! We had the mixed seaweed wakame salad, sashimi platter, bluefin tuna maki, agedashi tofu, soba noodles, tempura, salmon & snapper new style sashimi, yuzu & miso creme brulee, ume plum kakigori, and matcha ice cream.Ā
Didn't even get to take much photos as we just couldn't wait to dig in.
10/10 would definitely come back and recommend.
I must say, their service was truly professional. The atmosphere was wonderfully subtle. The food exceeded my expectations, with each dish being top-notch. The presentation was impeccable, and the dry ice show when serving the sashimi platter was a delightful touch. Tiger prawn tempura was unbelievable as well.. I absolutely loved it.
An amazing dinner at Cocoro. We felt the food was very fresh and the flavours were carefully executed. Some reviews I have read have mentioned that the service could be improved. We experienced very good timely service. I wonder if some of the feedback on bad service could be down to cultural mannerisms. For 4 people we ordered from the a la carte menu:
1. Traditional sashimi of market seafood, 5 varieties;
2. Salmon, kingfish, snapper in new style sashimi, with a beautiful citrus sesame sauce (ponzu)
3. Karaage chicken
4. Seafood Tempura
5. Chumaki rolled sushi - prawn tempura roll
6. Inaniwa handmade udon noodles with cloudy bay clams, shitaki mushrooms which was introduced to us as a Japanese take on pasta. An added bonus was that the clams were huge.
7. Tobanyaki angus beef eye fillet on a sizzling plate.
All dishes performed but standouts were the eye fillet, new style sashimi and the tempura sushi roll was a real underdog with that crispy rice made with akazu red vinegar.
The portion sizes are not huge but the dishes are carefully executed and to have all dishes perform deliciously meant that we felt happy to pay the premium price.
We appreciated the calm ambiance of the restaurant and I personally appreciated the dampened acoustics as sometimes you can find that restaurants can be acoustically poor.
Went here for lunch. We ordered signature sashimi plate and wow, it was amazing selection of fishes, prawns, shells. Their dishes are very delicious. Very professional service gave us detailed description of every dish.
I enjoy my stay here and good food. Would be near 5 if disregarding the price.
I like the presentation of the appetiser
Flavours: wasabi, smokey, umami, matcha
I have seen a lots of review about this restaurant is not kids friendly on social media, I need to say that's false. We took our 2 year old daughter in with us tonight for the wife birthday, and the staff are super friendly and helpful.
Highly recommend the Lamb and the Udon noodles. My daughter had 2 bowls by herself.
Thank you for the awesome service.
I had the best Japanese food outside of Japan at this restaurant. 10/10 highly recommend
Honestly, this is the most expensive meal weāve ever had. We enjoyed the meal very much for our special occasion. Very delicious food and nice service. Hopefully we can go back again on our next special day. 4 stars for the fact that it is so expensive.
The best Japanese in Auckland. A unique experience and totally worth it. So many things we ate. The stand out to me was scallops, so chuch and creamy never had it like that before can still taste it now.
Cocoro is flawless in every aspect! Amazing food, service and atmosphere. This restaurant is recommended if you love Japanese food and seafood. The presentation and attention to detail is amazing. Cocoro has to be the best Japanese restaurant in Auckland.
One of the best Japanese food we have tried in the whole of New Zealand. We came in for lunch and went for the set menu. It had a bit of everything so it's a good way to taste more dishes without getting really full. We really love the freshly grated Wasabi on shark-skin grater. This restaurant is also one of the rare few that serve Kusuda wines so that's a bonus.
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