Absolutely a hidden gem! Down a residential street in Ponsonby, and behind an unassuming door…read more I've had my fair share of really good Japanese food globally, including at several Michelin starred places, and this was up there in terms of quality. The pricing was very reasonable for the price you pay, and the service was very warm and kind, efficient, and spot on. Highlight dishes? - The "udon" with clams was amazing. Not had anything like it ever. - Nigri omakase was perfection. And a good selection of expensive and interesting fishes and seafood that you normally don't get in a chef's selection. Definitely will be revisiting Cocoro in the future. Note that if you would like the tasting menu, you need to order in advance, not available on the day itself. It did look quite interesting, looking at the tables next to me, but I think the a la carte menu also has plenty of interesting dishes, some more so than the tasting menu IMO.

Lunch at Cocoro. Nice bright ambience, tranquil, comfy seating. Service is prompt, attentive but…read morenot intrusive. Wine list is good, good selection of local wine & French. Serves good quality Sake (eg they serve Kubota Manju), good selection of Japanese whisky too. Seafood selection & quality is probably one of the best in NZ. They have Ora King Salmon, uni to Otoro tuna from Japan (farm raised though). ingredients are super fresh. I love eating Chirashi sushi rice, it has a bit of everything but often fraction of the price! Price reflects the quality, $145 for chirashi, uni Gunkan, 3x pics of top quality Tuna sashimi & glass of wine. (I feel full in the end!) Definitely will come back again for top quality, best in NZ sushi!

The world according to yelp: 1 STAR=Eek! Methinks not…read more 2 STAR=Meh. I've experienced better. I'm being generous when I award this business 2 stars!!! My personal rating would be 1 star...I will not return. The waitstaff here has zero concept of customer satisfaction or accommodation, or how to promote a positive experience for their diners. The chef prepares a reasonably good quality assortment of food, which garners a food rating of 3 (4 stars tops) stars. Thus, the complete dining experience, which someone seeks when they dine, is relegated the below average of 2 stars (and as I said...I'm being generous). Another couple walked in ahead of us by 10 seconds at 5:35pm. The two couples were waiting to be attended to by the waitstaff member, who was busy making telephone calls to confirm upcoming reservations, and couldn't have the decency to welcome waiting guests. After completing a few more calls, about 5 minutes, he then turned to first address the guests. Not a welcoming intro. Though the restaurant was deserted at opening, we were seated next to the bar, where the barman was busy grinding ice. This barstaff activity persisted for 10 minutes. Normally this sort of prep work is done in advance of opening, so as not to disturb diners. We remarked to the "host/waiter" who greeted and seated us, and he replied "it'll only be another 4, 5 or 6 minutes...thanks for your understanding". We could have walked out with that attitude and what we encountered previously. A long wait before anyone came to our table to take any orders. Finally I got up and went to the barman who had brought beers out to some patio diners and asked him to take our orders. We ordered drinks and our food, and he promptly went back to his bar station and kept grinding more ice. I then got up again and asked him for our drinks. He stopped grinding the ice and only then prepared our beer and wine. The host/waiter brought our food and served up the three sauces into a tray for our table. He squirted a fair amount of the mayonnaise sauce onto the floor. Did he ever clean it up??? NO!!! I had to remark to him about it some 20 minutes later, and he then remedied his own mess. But enough about the lack of service and the inattentiveness to customers. The food.... It was good, but not anything special, or what one wouldn't expect from any decent Japanese restaurant.

The Sushi pieces are really big! Was so happy to find a Japanese restaurant in town. Very nice…read moreservice. My friend loved this place and went back several times.

Omg! You would not thought that u can find Vietnamese noodle at a sushi bar and it would taste that…read moreGOOD! To my surprise this must be one of the most tasty Vietnamese noodle soup I have had... Yummy. It's definitely full of flavour and the beef is still so tender... This place is great for a quick lunch if u r rushed for time and has a comfy eating area for a well earned sit down lunch. You will be surprised I recommend u give this place a try!

When my office moved to K'Road, I was absolutely thankful that I had a local eatery to replace the…read moresplendid Ripe on Richmond Road. Fusion Sushi ticks all of the boxes when it comes to workday lunchtimes - you can either choose from the well-stocked sushi on offer, or pick something from the speedily-prepared hot food menu. Whether you're eating in or taking away, the team at Fusion will have it ready and packaged for you in no time. I'm a big fan of their vege tempura sushi, as well as the stock standard tuna mayo sushi. If you're in the market for edamame, they'll boil you up a packet in two minutes flat. If something more substantial is in order, you can expect to wait the grand total of ten minutes in one of their lovely booths. There's even a sushi loyalty card - I once ate there every day for a week, so my loyalty card filled up quick! Great service, great food, great atmosphere. Love this place!

Tomo Restaurant and Yakitori Bar is certainly not the best sushi and yakitori in the city. I went…read morewith some friends to use a group buying voucher for unlimited sushi and a hot main course each. The sushi was very heavy on rice and light on everything else - I guess when you're offer all-you-can-eat you want to make it as cheap and unappealing as possible. Worse, the ingredients were dry and had almost certainly been sitting around in the fridge for too long. In fact, many of them were not every very presentable, smooshed by previous diners or careless staff. Also, be careful if they run this deal again - you need to eat all the sushi you take or you'll be charged $1 per wasted piece. I think this is fair enough to avoid wastage, but it's worth keeping in mind. The service was attentive, but not particularly friendly. The main courses were better, but nothing amazing. I'd try other yakitori offerings before returning to Tomo.

I have picked up sushi here while walking past on a number of occassions. They have it right on…read morethe street so it's super convenient and the staff are always on hand to relieve your bank account swiftly so you can get on with getting a good fill. I can recommend the chicken Katsu California Rolls and the Teriyaki Beef rolls. The only downside is that I am not keen on the way they do their Soy Sauce in foil packets, I found them difficult to open. I haven't eaten in the restaurant so cannot really comment on that side of the business, but it looks pretty dark back there.

Similar to previous reviews, I would not recommend Live Fish. Stopped in for dinner because we saw…read morethe expansive fish tanks near the windows, but the options were SOOOO limited. Everything that we wanted on the menu, including bluff oysters and uno, were not available. Only fish, clams, and geoduck were available for our options. Since it was just 2 of us, we didn't want to order a huge platter of the tank options, so we just ordered a fried seafood platter, hot and sour soup, and a shrimp stir fry. This place was so expensive, 3 a la carte dishes were $100, and we were barely full. Service was awful. We don't speak Chinese, so we kept getting passed on to people who could speak English, but there were only 3 people working so we had to wait for the English speaker to be available. The tap water also tasted like the ocean. They need a better filter.

Went for a Sunday lunch last week with a couple of friends. The place I feel is over rated and…read moreexpensive. Staff not friendly at all. Asked for the crabs but they had none. Food was bland, salad pretty basic and quantity little. When I expressed my view to the manager he just shrugged his shoulders. Definitely not going there again.

When we came in here it may have just been a Tuesday night but still it was busy. Seems like it may…read morebe best to book as we were asked if we had a booking , and who knows we could have been turned away. But no, there was a table for us. As I have found always with the Japanese restaurants , except one i have been to,there service is top notch from entering to leaving. You are greeted , attended to well and bid farewell at the end!!! The exact same applied to this restaurant. We did have a little difficulty choosing as we were tempted by a lot of menu , but alas there is only so much one can eat in one sitting. We eventually settled on the Chicken sauce katsu , Imo Mochi which is potatoe cake with sweet sauce and butter, Dragon roll or eel tempura roll, Kumara chips , and Sukiyaki Hot Pot . We did have a desert to finsh of Yuzu Misato. The Chicken Sauce Katsu for me was not the best I have had , it could do with a bit of improvement. The Imo Mochi was perfect, as were the Kumara chips. The Dragon roll was very tasty, helped by the fact that I am a big fan of eel dishes anyway. The Sukiyaki Hotpot was average and nothing to rave about but tasty all the same. The Yuzu Misato we had to finish was delicious and will have to have again one day. To sum it all up. The service as I stated before is as I have found in all Japanese restaurants bar one top notch. But I nearly forgot to mention that the waitress did bring us the wrong dish at first that was meant for another table. This was only there for a second and an apology was extended. Not a black mark for them because of that as they rectified it very quickly and apologised. The food was for the better part good and delicious and finally the bill did not break the bank hardly. Well deserving of a return visit to try some other dishes.

This place has 2 meetings ON Saturday night, 6pm or 8pm. We went for the earlier option when they…read moreopened for a group of 6. Definitely the place to come to eat and drink on the cheap before hitting the Ponsonby bars. Food was great and came out steadily throughout the night. Basic service, help yourself to water. Cheap, delicious, easy, be sure to book!

Immediately you know there is no air conditioning because fans are running and it's way too humid…read morein there for any restaurant, let along a sushi boat restaurant where you can select a la carte items from a conveyor belt circling the eating area. Ummm... no thanks if you're putting raw food in that high temperature of a room. Fix the temperature, please! Because of that, it was an uphill climb the entire experience. Given that, we ordered off the menu: Yellowtail - gorgeous and full bodied. Wasabi and ginger are annoying per packet. Toro - fatty tuna, and I mean really fatty. It's expensive so really gotta know if you like this (similar to Wagyu) sacrificing meat for fat flavor. Note that for twice the price you only get one fish piece. Shrimp nigiri - on the thin side. Okay flavor. Udon bowl - small personal sized bowl which makes it convenient if you aren't super hungry. That's all...

Different, Sushi on a conveyor belt (train). Staff was a little slow but very nice. Food was good…read morefor type of business, not classy but cute to bring a date. Dishes do all up and next thing a snack was +NZ$100. But overall I would come back for a quick meal.

My family and I love Teppan-yaki restaurants, and Daikoku is one of the best. About 8 people sit…read morearound a massive hot plate/table while the chef cooks your food right in front of you (with the odd trick of course). It's so entertaining, especially watching as the chef attempts to flick pieces of omelette into the patron's mouths. The ones that miss literally get egg on their faces. There are a few different sets that you can choose from on the menu, and the food is always delicious and filling (most of the time I can't finish it all). Check out the website for some good special deals that they have. The lunchtime menu is really quite cheap for the amount and quality of food that you get, not to mention the entertainment factor too!

I only ever go to Daikoku for lunch. I'm sure the dinner is excellent, however the lunch special at…read more$13.80 cannot be beaten. For such a thrifty spend, you receive a princely set menu with salad, rice, miso, chicken, fish or beef, grilled veges and ice cream for dessert! The restaurant on Quay is fairly small with a nice ambience and traditional-looking decor. The location is perfect for CBD workers to sneak out for a long lunch on a Friday and have a sneaky Sav or Asahi with lunch to warm up for the weekend too.

Recently opened in mid-September 2013, Tanoshimu is a Yakinuku (Japanese BBQ) restaurant. A range…read moreof meats and seafood are available. It was my first time dining at a Yakinuku restaurant so the server was very handy at helping us cook some of the meats as well as explaining the condiments that go with each dish. Because the server helped us cook and compliment the meats with a range of condiments, including sauces and powders, the food was absolutely great. I was a great fan of the beef tongue, although not so much of the pork selection. The interior decor is simple, with japanese themed paintings on the wall. From the outside it looked very dark that we almost drove right past thinking that it was already closed for the day. The room gets quiet smokey if there are many others dining (especially those who aren't good at cooking the food) and it becomes visible in the room as well as noticeable when breathing, hopefully they figure out some better ventilation system. Currently open 6pm-12pm Everyday except Tuesdays and they say will open for lunch when business picks up!