Ryan L.

Came here last night for dinner. I started off a little confused. Told them I didn't want the teppanyaki as they said they have a regular menu when I called for a reservation. Maybe cause of winter and being a Wednesday things were pretty quiet in there so didn't need a reservation (always better to call in though I find). The confusion came when I got there and was handed take out menus and shown to my table. The Bento boxes on the take out looked nice but was looking forward to other items. When we asked the waitress if there are other things we could order like appetizers or drinks, she got us another menu that had a lot more to choose from. I think it was a small confusion, but no harm done and nothing against the staff. They were so attentive, I think my tea was always topped up and they were very pleasant. But we are here to talk about food. Once reviewing the menu we picked the following dishes: tako wasabi, butter scallops, yaki oysters, crispy chicken cartilage, hot stone Angus beef on rice and a black king Kong roll. Food came out pretty quickly, first came the crispy chicken and the tako wasabi. Tako wasabi had a nice taste and comes with some seaweed. The flavour of the wasabi was good, but I am pretty sure it is premade as the octopus was cold almost frozen. The crispy chicken was easy and not expensive ($5), wasn't expecting much but was quite tasty and had a good fry. Only thing is I wish there was a mayo or some kind of sauce to dip it with. Butter scallops were delicious. Cooked to perfection and the flavour on them was amazing, would buy this again but warning it is a bit pricy (big plate with 6 scallops and some decoration on the plate). Oysters presented well and had a great flavour with their sauce they put on it, another item I would buy again. The Black King Kong roll was very pretty. The taste of all the flavours mixing together was good. It looked good and tasted good. The eel, food gras and Tobiko worked well together. This was also the most eye pleasing dish of the night. Finally we had the spicy Angus beef rice bowl. It's not very spicy but it is delicious. The poached egg was a bit over done so didn't get that gooey yolk to bleed into the rice, but the beef and onions were great. At $13 the value of this dish is definately there and it is a good size dish that I would buy again. Overall the meal was a great night out, no complaints. The place has some nice decoration, it is very clean inside and w'll lit. Staff is very attentive, tea is always full and old plates are cleared very fast. Definately great service here. I would go back again, there were other items that I would like to try, and maybe even go try the set menus as well.

Karen K.

I think this is a hidden gem. I came on a Tuesday evening since Gyubee was all full, and there were only 2 other tables seated. We were seated immediately. There is a Teppanyaki side or BBQ side inside the restaurant. I chose the BBQ side. We chose the Beef Lover menu ($39 pp) and all I can say is WOW. The quality of meat that was given on the platter and the breakdown of each meats was amazing. The staff really took their time to explain the types of meat and how to proper cook it, and told us the estimated time to cook it too. The Beef Lover menu also comes with an All You Can Eat side. Lots of choices to choose from. Love how consistent the quality, service, and taste was for everything. The staff were really nice and knowledgeable too. I highlyyyy recommend Koke. Comfortable seating, very spacious and clean! It's definitely one of my top BBQ places now. So glad I came here!

Angela F.

Pleasantly surprised at how great Koke was! We had a reservation so there was no wait time at all for our table. We came here for AYCE lunch for the beef lovers special. This came with premium cuts of beef (wagyu and short ribs) which were melt in your mouth juicy and did not require much on top besides salt and pepper. It came with sesame sauce and egg sauce (which I both enjoyed) but I used this for dryer pieces of meat like beef tongue. Aside from the meats we had ordered shrimp, clams and onigiri. Nothing mind blowing here but the onigiri came with butter for us to grill. Was thinking it would be a more traditional onigiri but this tasted like a soy sauce sticky rice. Not bad but wouldn't try it again. The service was attentive throughout as we were checked on frequently and had our dishes cleared. There is a two hour seating limit so they came by within the last half hour for "last call" to order any remaining items and dessert. I chose green tea ice cream for dessert which was a nice treat to cool off after all the bbq! Definitely would visit again for bbq when I am in the area.

Jason M.

With Taste of Japan being long gone and Memories of Japan going under a couple years ago, there's been a lack of challengers rising to take the teppan mantle in the GTA (specifically in the North York, Richmond Hill or Markham). Enter Koke (which used to be called Kobe Teppanyaki when they first opened). I've been here with my family before and it's always pretty solid even though it doesn't quite match up to the former two places I mentioned at their peak. I made a res on mother's day for my family. We arrived and the waitress came over and told us that they were running a mother's day special which included: salad soup salmon fillet (x2) miso sea bass (x2) cuttlefish black tiger shrimps scallops short ribs angus beef striploin teriyaki chicken beef fried rice sautéed bean sprouts We had the option of upgrading the angus beef striploin to an A5 miyazaki wagyu striploin for an extra $40 (which we did since it was mother's day). The special was listed as $288 for 4 ppl (but w/ the A5 miyazaki it came to $320 for 4 ppl). Overall the food was solid! Our chef was friendly and cooked everything nicely. No show or anything like that (we saw another chef doing tricks at a different table). The short ribs and cuttlefish were VERY tender (I think the cuttlefish was the sleeper hit). I'm used to cuttlefish having a chewy texture LOL so this was a pleasant surprise. It wasn't listed on the menu but we got ice cream to round off the meal. We got black sesame ice cream as the waitress told us it was only seasonally available. It's hard for me to give 5 stars to teppan joints because I've been to places that give LARGE portions in addition to cooking the food well. While the mother's day special DID end up being enough food (I was full and we had some fried rice to take home), if you come here for a regular lunch and you've got a big appetite, this place may not have you leaving with your tummy full depending on what you order so just be mindful.

Joan T.

Honestly haven't been to tappenyaki in Markham in so so long. I forgot how much fun and how theatrical it can be. Since everything is cooked infront of you, it's a good speed of service and eating, too! We arrived without a reservation. The host let us know it would probably be 30-45 minutes for a chef to be done and ready to serve. Luckily it went pretty quick and we were able to get seated. The host checked on us many times to ensure we were still ok, and I felt that was very kind and thoughtful of him. We ordered a mix of set b, c and e. Our chef cooked up all the protein first, starting with seafood and moving into chicken and beef. That's followed then by the standard stir fry of mix veggies and fried rice. You can never go wrong with that. If you can order the black cod, do it! It's the ultimate tappenyaki fish and it's just always so buttery and delightful. I seriously can't get enough of it. The thinner slices of salmon over cooked fairly quickly but omg that salmon skin was delish! The chef was really friendly. And so were all the staff serving the additional sides and getting the food out of the kitchen. I would definitely wanna come back sometime maybe with family or a few friends. It's a great experience and I love that all the chef's seemed to be enjoying themselves too! Make sure you make a reservation if you want to get tappenyaki experience. Bon appetit!

Ann B.

December 30, 2023 - went here for dinner with some friends (12ppl). We were going for all you can eat, but ended up in the Teppanyaki area.. the staff was willing to switch our seats but we decided to stay... We ordered: 4 Kobe Dinner for Two 1 Supreme Set for Three Kobe Dinner: miso soup and green salad A5 kobe beef (6 oz) king prawn (2 pcs) miso sea bass (2 pcs) scallop (4 pcs) sauteed assorted mushrooms sauteed assorted diced vegetables sauteed seasonal vegetables black truffle with angus beef fried rice topped gold leafs (missing gold leaf) dessert (ice cream) Supreme Set for Three: king crab legs (10oz) King Prawn (3 pcs) miso sea bass (3 pcs) vancouver oyster (3 pcs) Angus Beef Striploin (9oz) chicken fillet (10 oz) supreme for three including three miso soup, three green salad assorted diced vegetables, seasonal vegetables, three angus beef fried rice and three ice cream Wonderful experience, the chef was nice and friendly. Love the atmosphere. The flavours of the meat were well seasoned and tasted very good. I think we had quite a lot of vegetables more than meat :/ Also the "gold leaf" was missing from our 4 Kobe dinners. Definitely was a nice experience, but I wouldn't do this again.

Gabriel S.

This table BBQ place is better quality than Korean Grill House & especially Chako but is below Gyubee & especially Shinta. The meat quality was decent, though not amazing. They have an unusual model: you get some premium cuts once & all you can eat for cheaper items. And they charge for weird items like mushrooms. Vanilla & green tea ice cream were pretty good. Mango was decent.

Sharon M.

I've had Teppanyaki a handful of times in the GTA. Usually it's quite typical across the board. Some sort of stir fried veggies, usually with a lot of bean sprouts, garlic beef, teriyaki chicken, fried rice, etc. We tried the Teppanyaki at Koke and it was very much the same. There were a couple highlights, but also a couple of lowlights that unfortunately lowered my score to a 3. For highlights, the place is quite nice inside. I believe one side is for self-serve style grilling. We were on the Teppanyaki side. Service was quick and attentive. Our chef was very friendly as well, exclaiming "fire!" whenever he was about to set something alight so that we were camera ready. The 2-person combo we had also has an angus beef roll with foie gras and eel which was very unique and delicious! Now unfortunately, here are the lowlights. While the majority of the food was pretty tasty, the zucchini in the stir-fry dish was bitter. Or at least 1 of them was, because my husband and I ended up getting bitter veggies. I also found the oyster that came with the meal didn't seem to taste too fresh. Finally, it was very noticeable that the chef was purposely giving bigger portions to my husband than to the rest of us. I mean, yeah sure, he's a big guy so I guess it makes sense. But come on, I have a pretty decent appetite too. Just making assumptions and making uneven distributions didn't leave a great taste in my mouth (who ended up taking some off his plate anyway lol). At least split it evenly at first and then maybe ask who wants extra? Which is usually what I've seen at these sort of places. Do these lowlights deter me from going back? Not really. Overall the experience was fine. However, given that I've never had these sort of issues before at other Teppanyaki places, if given the choice, I might pick one of the other places to visit.

Bonnie I.

Teppanyaki| Self BBQ |Set Menu | AYCE | LLBO Amazing place serving a range of barbecue set menus and all you can eat combos. You can choose between self-served table barbeque or teppanyaki served to you. Reservation is highly recommended if you are looking for teppanyaki. There are a number of menus to choose from with a variety level of meats to choose from. With the highest valued menu serving top grade Wagyu beef and lowest grade with just regular beef. The first tray of highest quality meat from the set is one time only. Then the other side of the menu is all you can eat. There is also lunch menus available too for around $20. They have an extensive alcoholic drink menu with a number of good sake too. Service was great. All the servers treated us with politeness and professionalism. The restaurant was spacious and clean. Good for groups. Lots of parking available. Definitely highly recommended BBQ restaurant if you're a meat lover.

Dilys C.

we had a great experience here with my family over the holidays! We had their holiday set menu in front of the teppanyaki table. Definitely on the pricey side, but we haven't gone out as a family for a while, so a splurge was worth it. Although the food was good and had a good variety of items, it was pretty average. Pretty much the high marks come from the teppanyaki experience - the performance they put up throughout the night. The chef was amazing, the food was cooked the way we liked it, the service was great, and the overall presentation got us wow-ed! I would come here for a teppanyaki experience if you haven't experienced it before, or to impress someone. Other than that, I don't see myself coming back.

Richard M.

Had a wonderful visit. Did not do AYCE as I wanted to explore the menu, but will probably do AYCE next time. Service was excellent, wait staff was more than attentive and the food: both cooked and BBQ were really good. Definitely try the fried chick soft bone and beef tataki.