Best sushi in Salinas. Creative rolls and fresh food. The chef even made a swan out of an apple for the kids.

I always look forward to the jalpeno bombs here ! The fish has always been fresh and the service is usually friendly. I've been to many sushi restaurants and so many lack food with spiciness or interest. This place is great ! It's a casual relaxed atmosphere that I'm always happy to return. read more

OMGosh!! Best Night out ever!!******Best Sushi ever! Loved the Green Dragon Rolls..absolutely delicious! However...the most fabulous part of the night was our waiter,Carlos! He was attentive,polite and never missed a beat. We never wanted for anything...drinks,food,dessert..all served with a smile and in a timely manner. It was a very busy Friday night and we felt like we were a priority! Thank you Kokoro....such a breathe of fresh air in ...finding great food and fabulous service all in one place is rare these days!! read more

I GOT SOOO SICK!!!!!!!!! So here goes the sh-peel on my disappointment with Kokoros. I've always loved this place, I'am a person who respects the efforts and mayor sacrifices of running a business, total 24/7 slavery, and I take this freedom and ability to share my opinion very responsively. I thought long and hard before I wrote it and submit it. My gf and I wanted to meet up for dinner after work, she loves Kokoros its always her first choice and I also like the food there. I am not a big raw sushi fanatic we do more the bento boxes with teriyaki chicken. My gf ordered a teriyaki chicken bento box with tempura vegetables, I ordered a deep fried tuna fish roll and a CA roll with a side of steam rice, we also added two appetizers jalapeños w/ cream cheese and edamame. We ate and left, all was fine, the service was good. We parted ways after dinner and as I was on my way home my stomach starter to make rumbling sounds, and I started to break a cold sweat, I felt a sudden rush of "get to the nearest toilet because I knew I had seconds to the big explosive $%@*! " incident" at the 76 gas station in the corner of Casentini and Main., oh man I've never been more thankful to a total stranger for allowing me use the restroom, and relief myself I mean I was willing to buy what ever I had to, anything to use their bathroom. I did..... I was miserable in that restroom, but so relieved at the same time. when I was done very embarrassed as I knew the clerk now knew I had done my business in her toilet I said "sorry but thank you so much", I am sure she saw the anguish as I approached her, she reassured me by answering "when you gotta go you gotta go" I must have turned bright red and I walked away. The next day my gf calls and says "hey by any chance did you get sick to your stomach at all after dinner" and I said " OMG yes"... we both agreed we'll never return to Kokoros, why did we both get sick? a month later she hears that a Dr. from her work wasn't going to come into work because he met a couple of friends for dinner the night before at Kokoros and himself and two others were really sick to their stomachs from eating at Kokoros... how about this!!!! so something in the way they're handling the food it causing people to get super sick... this is no joke !! Something is going on., and I share it so you too are careful, I thought about calling and making them aware, but I am afraid they'll take it as if I want a free dinner pass and thats not it at all, I have $ to go have dinner when I please... I work and make a descent living. All I'am saying is eat at your own risk.... this was too significant to me that I had to share, what if someone gets so sick that they loose it all? I couldn't deal with myself and the guilt that I didnt say anything. read more

Great environment, and really good sushi. Their miso soup is great, too. They do a great job on take out and timing, but parking isn't bad if you go later for dinner. read more

Best place in town! B.J roll was great and the Rudy roll was absolutely amazing! We had the jalapeño bomb was a great appetizer paired with hot saki. Definitely my sushi spot in salinas read more

While in the area for jury duty, I decided to stop here for lunch, despite the recent reviews. I had absolutely no problems with service. They seated me right away and offered me a drink. When the server came, I had a question about substituting the tempura on the lunch special. She said it wasn't a problem, possibly a higher charge since I was asking for all shrimp, which I expected. So I ordered the teriyaki beef bento box with tempura. The miso came out almost immediately. When the food came out, it looked fantastic. At this time, I was missing the dipping sauce for the tempura and a little plate for soy sauce. I started on the salad while I waited for a server to pass by. The salad dressing was wonderful- just needed more. So when the server stopped by, I asked for the missing items and a little extra dressing. She then advised me that there was no up charge for the shrimp. If I would want additional pieces, then there would be. Let me say, I finished everything in my bento box!! If I get selected for a jury, I will be back!! read more

Kokoro Sushi - Teriyaki beef Bento Box with tempura (substitute for all shrimp) lunch special. Delicious!! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Salinas, California

I hadn't been here in a few years and I came here today. I must say that I did not have a pleasant experience. Food was overcooked and the rice for the sushi seemed old. I will definitely not be returning here. read more

Usually, the food is great and service is awesome. I went last night and it was terrible. We ordered the chicken teriyaki dinner plates, which come with soup, salad, and rice. After waiting about twenty minutes with no one coming to check on us.. Refill our drink, nothing, we finally get our plates. With just chicken and rice. No salad. No soup. So we ask for both. We start eating, the chicken was cold! So they bring us soup and say the salads are on their way. Nope. Never got them. They finally refill our drinks and ask how we're doing. I didn't even reply because I was so mad. The table behind us had a different waitress and she was there every ten minutes at least checking on them while we were ignored most of the time we were there. The roll was good though. I don't want to go back there but I might have to just for the Chad roll. We all got a discount on our check (I got a 1.60 discount, I guess the price of the salad I never received?) so I guess that was nice of them. read more

Less than average experience. Not a lot of people in the restaurant yet it took a long time for the food to arrive. They really need to learn how to make sushi rolls that you can actually eat instead of falling apart on the way to your plate. This is the worst rolls I have ever tried to handle read more

I've gone back after a negative experience and I have to say that the service has improved. Thank you for working on you customer service because it has made a difference. read more

Service was not very attentive, only came by for the basics. Never to check how things were. Food was only meh. Salad was watery with little dressing. Tempura was thick and doughy. Beef teriyaki premade and not even lukewarm. The salmon was barely warm. Will not be back. read more

We had a filling meal tonight beginning with appetizers, saki and wine. Our server was very attentive and the food was good.

have eaten here a dozen times.. love basic sushi and while the atmosphere is a little strange the food is fresh and very good.. lot of creativity (which is not my thing really) on the menu.. the place to go locally for sushi. too bad they are closed weekends. another good sushi place in Castroville. . Hanabi. read more

I had the Benton Box Lunch Special with Chicken teriyaki, meso Soup, Salad, rice, California roll and vegetable tempura. The positives, Meso Soup was very good, Salad dressing was very tasty, rice was cooked well, the chicken was grilled, and the quantity of food was great. The negatives, the three pieces of the California roll had a mushy center (almost like it was not made fresh) and the vegetable tempura left a oily after taste. The vegetables were crispy, but the batter had absorbed too much oil. There could be two reasons for the after taste. Oil was not hot enough to crisp the batter immediately and oil soaks into the batter or the oil was old and needs to be changed. Overall, they are worth another try, but I will not likely have the tempura again. read more

Our service was awful. Not only did the waitress drop a piece of our sushi on the table, she stated "I don't want to touch it with my hand." Yet, she still expected us to eat it off the table. Gross! She lagged on everything from bringing drinks, to asking if we needed anything. We asked a different waitress to bring us spicy, mayo and drinks. Our deep fried roll wasn't even cut properly. Our tempura vegetables were still half way hard. The waitress that brought our check came by and saw that we were still eating as she wanted to pick up our check before we were done eating (makes you feel like you need to hurry and get the hell out) read more

We came in w a party of 7 . Let's just start off w the food being great the best I've tried so far but the thing that's keeping me from going back is the gosh awful service . The waitresses are bad at listening and simply make it clear that they hate their job . We ordered hit sake and I asked for a extra cup and I never got 1 we had the waitresses just look but never came . No refills for our waters , when they seated us they only provided 6 chairs when their was clearly 7 so I had to grab the 7th don't make your customers do your job. At the end we had to ask for a dinner mint and the waitress only gave us 3 we had 7 people ! They had snarky remarks and from what I read in these reviews from this place it's the norm so I hope the restaurant reads our reviews and reevaluate their staff it's keeping the business from getting more customers and repeat customers ! Horrible service great food read more

Food is very good, great portions, and service is good. Parking may be a bit of a challenge, but worth it!

This place rocks! Not only fresh and tasty--but 'very' creative in the mixed roll offerings. Love the variety and the inventive combinations. Delicious! Although, knock off one star, for a friend who doesn't like sushi and ordered the chicken. He said it could have been better. But, if you're into sushi, this place is great! read more

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this place!! I am a HUGE Sushi fan and this place did not dissapoint! I love the big portions and reasonable prices. I recommend this place to everyone!! You will love this place too, one try and you're hooked!! read more

I like coming here after working out! Authentic Japanese food in a fun atmosphere. One down side was the service was quite slow. Thy did give us free edamame beans though to apologize! read more

This place is amazing. Thank god we have a place thats good enough to overshadow Bahama Grille next to this place. Kokoro never fails...

Close the restaurant and just keep the sushi bar. Great rolls and well priced for a Korean owned Japanese restaurant. We ordered three rolls and a dinner combo, which was a total joke. Tempura was not light and fluffy but more dense & heavy. Chicken teriyaki was pink and the lettuce in the salad was brown. Moving forward going to stick to stick with Shogun. read more

Eh. This place has really fallen in terms of food quality. I used to go when BJ was still around, and it's depressing to see how much of the same familiar faces you don't see around after the ownership has changed. New servers as well who seem nice, but inattentive. Although the decor has "improved", it feels like it's all done just to make up for the lack of good fish quality. Not to mention that my yakisoba doesn't taste the same anymore. I'm sorry, but Samurai is a better option nowadays. read more

Sooooo I met my husband here for lunch today. We have eaten here before and it was just okay, but I felt like sushi and the other place in town hasn't been great lately. Today was a bad, bad day. First, they are doing construction-major construction-and half the restaurant was blocked off and the kitchen was enduring hardships as well. My husband was there first and ordered a drink that the waitress was delivering as I sat down. She asked what I would like to drink and I asked for water with lemon. She told me they only had tap water and that usually it was filtered water, but not today. She went to get my 7 up (I am pregnant so drink choices are limited) and my husband said they were out of edamame. HUH?!?! At a sushi place???! The waitress returned and I ordered miso soup. She didn't think they had that either. She checked and they had the broth only-no tofu or seaweed in it- and she also informed us that you could only get a salad with a bento box, no side salad on a plate or in a separate bowl. Odd....so we ordered and the food took a LONG time to come out. While waiting I needed to use the restroom. My husband said 'I think the men's is your only option.' I waded through the construction space (not sure it was even safe/legal for them to remain open with the kind of improvements going on) only to have to use the men's restroom because there were cords and piles of tiles in the women's restroom plus it was dirty and there were several men working and traveling through the hallway. The food FINALLY came and the waitress (who was complaining quite openly about the state of the restaurant amidst the construction) told me they had no tempura dipping sauce. HUH?!?!? I proceeded to eat quickly to make it back to work on time. The teriyaki chicken was chewy and the rice wasn't cooked all the way. My husband and I agreed (after he ate his somewhat slimy sashimi) that we won't be going back. We also think it would have been better for business to just shut down for a couple days, get the construction done and reopen. I can let a couple things slide, but it was just one thing after another today and we were both pretty disgusted with the whole situation. They totally lost our business. read more

usually i like kokoro, like not love, but tonight made me want to never go back. it was busy so i will forgive them for the long wait for food, but we had to wait a looooong time to get drink refills and asked a couple times for napkins.and the food portions were ALOT smaller than usual!! maybe because they put new chairs in they think they can charge a sh@t load of money for smaller portions. lets just say after spending $90 we walked out of there still hungry! won't be going back, going to stick with samuri! read more

I just left this place and am very disappointed yet again. The last three times i hoped it gets better but it doesn't. Tonight I went there with my husband and my son and waited 15 minutes to be greeted and seated (not busy). There were three servers and when we were seated she didn't even greet us with a hello. She just walked us to our seat and left. We waited... and waited... hungry and thirsty so another 10 minutes or so I pressed their service button they had at the table. I see our table number blink up on the screen and the waitress see it and go about with their conversation. UGH WTH so I made eye contact with the one of the sushi chefs (there were three) and he seen how irritated I was..told her to come help us. I told her I was ready to order would like a drink. She took my order and drink and didn't even ask my husband what he would like to drink/ She came back 5 minutes later with my iced tea and THEN asked my husband what he would like to drink. So to cut it short. FOOD took forever to receive and it was NOT FRESH fish, it had a disgusting order, the rice on my role was hard, fish was a DRY RED and my seaweed salad was dry as well. Oh and there were flies swarming all over the place and ants on my table. DISGUSTING. They didn't even wipe down my table...WHy did we stay there after the long wait, the disgusting table? Because we were hungry and huge disappointment with the food. We actually didn't even eat it. We got our bill and left. And my husband went to them for the bill and paid at the stand. I felt bad for the other customers waiting for their food and irate as we were. WE are DONE with this place. I wish I had taken a picture of the food. I will drive to North Salinas and enjoy delicious sushi from Samurai. read more

horrible! i will NEVER eat there again! first an entire beer spilled on my brother by server named REBECCA which she never came back to clean or offer another beer to him, we weren't given napkins or straws, served cold miso soup and we're never offered hot miso after server took the cold miso away, server recommended a plate which was pure bones and no meat on the ribs, and finally a HAIR in my plate! we spoke with manager and all he had to say was he would remove the rib order from our bill and that we could choose dessert. i honestly felt we shouldn't have had to pay for any of it after that horrible experience. we were only allowed to choose one dessert when there were 4 of guests who experienced that sorry service. i will NEVER cheat on my favorite sushi restaurant again..SAMURAI JAPANESE RESTAURANT! read more

sad sad sad, have been a customer here for the past four years and tonight got the worst service ever, my wife had her meal finished and had still not even received my soup or salad let alone my main meal. the waitress gave me an excuse "we just set a large table " but not an apology and never received an apology from anyone in charge just another dissatisfied customer without getting any thing to eat , we paid for my wife's meal and left never to return, sorta sad since this was my daughter's favorite place to go when she comes to town. read more