TLDR; Koko Grill in Prescott is a great choice for a casual date night or an inexpensive takeout meal. They are self-aware of their position in the market: a casual Japanese eatery. This makes the experience enjoyable and without unexpected twists. The food quality is top notch, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

Koko Grill in Prescott: Full Review

Having self-awareness as a restaurant is an important matter. For instance, if you get dressed up for date night at a fine dining restaurant, but you enter to discover a casual restaurant that makes you feel overdressed – that’s a bad experience. The restaurant might be perfectly fine otherwise – but it needs to be aware of the type of restaurant it is.

Koko Grill describes itself as “Casual Japanese restaurant with sushi, ramen and bento boxes, plus beer and sake.” And that’s exactly what you’ll find.

However, Koko also understands an important point that many local restaurants seem to miss: Casual does not mean “dump”. They clearly put a lot of time into the decor and cleanliness of their restaurant overall. From the color of the walls to the wall art and light fixtures, the atmosphere felt cozy and inviting.

Service

We were promptly greeted as we entered, handed a couple menus and welcomed to sit wherever we liked. We walked into the sizeable dining area and picked a place to sit. I was surprised to see only one other party in the dining area when we arrived around 6pm on a Saturday evening – but I’ll come back to that later. Our very friendly waitress took our drink order right away and we were given some time to look over the menu.

The menu primarily consists of Sushi (and its variations) and Ramen, alongside a few Bento Box options and a Teriyaki Special section of the menu. This particular evening, we chose to sample the ramen – but we’ll be returning to try out the sushi! We ordered Shrimp & Veggie Tempura to start. My SO ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen with chicken and I had the Spicy Ramen with beef. We also had an order of hot tea. Then, we wrapped up the evening with a deep fried cheesecake for each of us.

Food Quality

Full disclaimer – I don’t eat a lot of Ramen. But, as with everything else, I know when food offends my tastebuds. Let’s start with the appetizer.

Appetizer – Shrimp & Veggie Tempura

Shrimp & Veggie Tempura

The veggies and shrimp were well cooked and the tempura batter was golden brown with a satisfying crunch. There wasn’t a lot of seasoning on the pieces, but they seemed to be good quality ingredients that didn’t need much, if any, assistance. The shrimp and sweet potato were my favorites!

Entree – Ramen

Spicy Ramen

Next up, the ramen. First of all – the portion size was impressive! I think this can easily feed two hungry people, if not three. I know we’re used to large American-sized portions, but let’s be realistic…it’s a lot of food! But quantity doesn’t matter much if the quality is circling the drain.

And let me tell you, the quality did not disappoint! The noodles were soft, without being mushy. (If you’ve let instant ramen sit for too long, you know what I’m talking about.) The broth was delicious, and there was a nice medley of veggies to go along with it. The spice level was mild at first, and slowly built up to a medium heat. I thought the spice level was perfect! I also very much enjoyed the presentation of the meal.

By the way – my SO ate up every last bite and drank every last drop of their Ramen. They evidently agreed with my evaluation.

Dessert – Fried Cheesecake

Fried Cheesecake

Lastly, the cheesecake. This was the most disappointing part of the meal. My first bite was an amazing explosion of warm, gooey, cheesecake flavor. But, as I crept my way to the frozen middle, I began to be disappointed. Although the cheesecake itself was very good – it was frozen! I think this likely is due to the pieces being too big for frying. The outside batter was perfectly golden, so I wouldn’t want it cooked longer for fear of ruining it. Hopefully they tweak this – because I would love an entire piece that tasted like that first bite.

Atmosphere

As I alluded to previously, I enjoyed the atmosphere very much. But as you sit down and begin noticing some of the smaller details, there are a few things that stand out. This is where it’s important to remember – this is a self-declared CASUAL restaurant.

The menus are simple laminated pages, the chopsticks are the disposable wooden ones that you might find at a food truck, and the dinnerware is all plastic. You wouldn’t necessarily notice this at a distance, but it’s very noticeable when you begin your meal.

I think the context for all of this is extremely important when giving a rating. If I was in a fine dining restaurant, these details would have bothered me greatly. But the expectation was clear – Koko Grill knows they are a casual restaurant and you can see that from the offset. The message they give their guests is clear – there’s no identity crisis here! Because of that, I didn’t mind the cheaper dinnerware (it still looked nice).

If there’s room for improvement, it would be the tea pot. And perhaps this is where a more expensive tea pot might help (one made of glass). It seemed like it was a little stained and maybe went through a dishwasher too many times. Even though I’m sure it was clean, it gives the impression of it being a little dirty. In the grand scheme of things (and how clean everything around me was), I wasn’t made uncomfortable by it, but it is worth noting.

Price

I’m going to keep this quick and simple – the price is phenomenal! For the high quality of food, I was shocked that our final bill was so inexpensive. If they’re making the money they need, more power to them! These prices make it an easy option when you’re looking for a budget meal out. Looking back at the menu items, I would happily pay at least 30% more for the items we purchased.

Takeout is King

Before wrapping up – I want to touch on the relatively empty dining room. Koko Grill has very good Google reviews and has been in business for several years. Combined with my personal experience there, I have to believe they’re popular.

It seems like their primary income must be from takeout orders. In fact, we saw several pickups while we were dining. This lends further to the choices they made for the dine-in decisions. Naturally, they wouldn’t invest as much in the dining area when most patrons are ordering takeout. Once again – I commend Koko Grill for their self-awareness.

Final Thoughts on Koko Grill in Prescott

If you’re looking for some comfort food during the winter, or just need to get your Sushi fix, Koko Grill is great for anyone with a budget big or small. The self-awareness of the restaurant makes me very confident they’ll continue to thrive for many years to come. There are certainly some areas for them to work on, but nothing deal breaking. Give Koko Grill a try and you won’t be disappointed!