Koharu Restaurant

The interior of this place surprised the hell outa me. It was like walking into a restaurant in Japan. Very authentic and has a cozy feeling to this place. Sushi was better than a lot of the restaurants I’ve tried. Definitely will give this place another visit.

5 stars for service
0 for sushi
Waitress extremely friendly
Sushi — raw fish I would be ashamed if I was the owner. I’ve been here 10 yrs ago and enjoyed real sushi made by Japanese sushi chef — I could have made it better this time at home using stuff you find at the market!
I ordered nearly everything on the sushi menu and consistently disappointed. You lost a customer…

Unfortunately we did not have a good experience. The service was terrible and we ended up staying there for 3 hours as we were waiting for our meal. When we arrived they brought us a hot towel, which was nice and they got our drinks in a timely fashion. We ordered our appetizers and they came, but after the appetizers we were ready to order our actual meal and the waitress was no where to be found. When we saw her we asked if we could order and she said yes in a minute, but then did not come back around for another 30 minutes, probably more. We ordered the dinner combination and an additional sushi roll. There was nothing special about the sushi. The teriyaki/​katsu plate was good and was a fair portion, but I felt that it was all overpriced. I wish that we had better service. I don’t think that we will be returning.

I will start out by saying I’m used to Seattle restaurants. I visited a friend in federal way, and after reading multiple reviews from multiple restaurants around the area, we decided on this. Personally, some of the worst sushi I’ve eaten. No flavor, the soy sauce is extremely salty. I’m not picky when it comes to sushi, I eat off conveyor belts, but this was exceptionally bad.
Between me and my friend, we ordered a Philadelphia Roll, California Special, and a Rainbow Roll. All were room temperature, which you wouldn’t expect at a make-​to-​order ‘fresh’ sushi place. I also ordered their coffee jello, which was terrible and we did not finish it. People in federal way obviously don’t know what good food is if this passes at 4 stars.

Oyster kogane is the best! Good quality sushi. Staff is friendly and knowledgable. I have been going here for ten years and the menu has never changed.

One of the few consistent places for dinner in Federal Way. This place isn’t the absolute greatest Japanese food in the Seattle area, but it certainly is good. And authentic.
Dishes I order on the regular here: Udon (very good), Makunouchi Bento (very good), Chicken Katsu (good), and their Assorted Sushi/​Sashimi.

I adore this little gem in Federal Way. Your traditional Japanese restaurant in the middle a tiny shopping center in Federal Way. The moment you walk in, there’s no conveyor belt (thank god!), you are greeted and seated right away. The menu is simple, the sushi chef is no far from you and you can see he takes his craft seriously. The portions were just right, granted you come during lunch is does get busy quick. I will defintely be coming back for some sashimi.

Not sure how this has a 4 star rating. My experience was horrible. The sushi is very bland… no flavor at all.
The wait staff was rarely seen and I had to flag one down to refill my drink. I was at that time informed that there were no refills.
I definitely would never go here again, nor recommend anyone to go here.

Not impressed. Ordered the teriyaki chicken rice bowl, tuna roll, tempura roll, and miso soup to go. I would not recommend doing a to go order. I only got half a cup of miso soup, 4 slices of the tempura roll ($ 8), 6 slices of the tuna roll ($ 6), and not the best teriyaki (or very much). It was too pricy for not the best food and little of it. We won’t be returning.

Koharu has been a steady Japanese restaurant in federal way for many many years now. And I understand why.
Their food is authentic, interior clean, & service great. The only reason I’m not giving a 5 star is because it’s a bit overpriced.
The servers are dressed in kimonos so that’s fun. Their daily specials change often and a variety of them.
Their udon is solid. Broth is very clean and delicious. Their sushi rolls are yummy too. Just a tad overpriced IMO. Sushi is generally fresh. Their coffee jelly is AMAZInG! Def recommend it!

I don’t know how they run business! But I came I here to order to go sushi, the lady up front yells something out in Korean and then responds sorry he cannot make to go sushi today, I said its only gonna be 2 rolls, she said can you go ask him, I ask «ask who???» She says him the chef? I was like NO THANKS and left hungry in a bad mood :(
All I can say is wow!!!

This is my favorite Japanese restaurant between Seattle and Olympia. I always get the chirashi and the fish is good quality and tastes very fresh, there’s no fishiness at all. It’s a bit expensive but well worth the price. My mom really likes the kasuzuke and kaki fry. If you go during dinner time they also have coffee jelly.

Zaru soba isn’t for everyone – nor is it well understood. It is a culinary black iron ball speeding through the night of your appetite. In Japan, there exists soba «temples,» where only soba noodles are served. Soba is the only noodle that possesses the mystery that is «Yugen.» It is filling without the sensation of weight, and the satisfaction you experience within you is akin to the distant valley echoes of an iron bell.
I firmly recommend Koharu to anyone wishing for quality Japanese food. Compared to other places I’ve been to in Federal Way so far, this ranks at the top of my list.

Authentic Japanese food. Really great sashimi, each piece hand crafted. The scallop and mackerel was absolutely delicious. Really liked sitting at the bar and watching the magic happen. Will definitely be back to try more of the menu.

This place still serves the best Gindara (black cod marinated in miso and soy and their other secret spices). We also got the tonkatsu, not as good as tonkatsu ginza in Honolulu or in Japan, but it’s not awful either. Just wished the meat was more juicy. Anyway, we’ve come here twice or 3 times a year since 2002, so they’re descent enough to keep us coming back. Service was always top notch!
Forgot to include my TAB score, and they are 8.9 out of 10.
T (taste) was 8.5
A (ambiance) was 9
B (bill) was 8
S (service) was 10

I was craving a bento box for dinner last night and found this place on Unilocal.
We were greeted very quickly and taken to our table by a woman in traditional japanese kimono. After we were seated, they handed us a hot towel to clean our hands which was a nice touch!
I ordered the bento box and was expecting something small… but DAMN!!! I was impressed. Everything was cooked perfectly with so much to choose from. My sashimi was delicious and tempura was so crunchy and light. I loved the shaved salmon they had on top of the greens. The miso soup was the best i’ve had in the area. Very flavorful! I was so full even though I didn’t finish everything!
The bento box reminded me of something that I had at Morimoto’s resturant.
I also had a coffee jello with my meal and WOW! IT WAS AWESOME!
I loved the service, food and I will be back soon!

First time is the Seattle Tacoma area and my co-​worker and I agreed that we had to have some Sushi. We make a quick check on Unilocal and found Koharu.
We had the Ebi, Salmon, Ika, and Kani. The food a was excellent and the service was top notch. The Miso was rich and flavorful. We also added in a Spider Roll and a Salmon Skin Roll. All were excellent. The vegitables we crisp and fresh.
For a white american, the staff was friendly and helpful. Service was quick but not rushed. Sitting at the counter added to the experience
I would definately recommend if you are in the area and you want good high quality Sushi at a reasonable price.

I came for the sushi after looking at such rad reviews of 140 people reviewing with 4 stars, only to be severely disappointed. Seeing that the sushi was $ 15 a roll, like any normal person, you presume it is going to be amazing. Boy was i wrong, it was almost at the quality of supermarket sushi. Real bland, and one of the rolls i got was the crunchy roll. Beyond terrible. The tempura outside of it was stale and soft. Definitely not made fresh, and the waitress * chefs said that it was made today. And what really blew my mind the most was the cucumber in the roll was ~60% of the entire roll. Biggest piece of cucumber ive ever had in a roll, and they claimed, big cucumber crunchy. crunchy roll, yes.
I had the combination dinner with 2 rolls, the combo dinner was fantastic, but the sushi was terrible. me and my girlfriend had a piece each, and it was so bad that i wanted to ask for my money back. They preceeded to make a big deal and said no way, you already ate 2. How else am i supposed to tell if they are terrible or not.
NEVER coming back.

My husband and I went here for dinner today and we reallllllly wanted to like this place. Unfortunately, we were not impressed.
The sushi seemed very flavorless and we were really disappointed. On the plus side… the service was good. Do yourself a favor and go to Hanabi down the street.
We will not be returning.

On the south side of town, few can truly claim the authentic feel as Koharu exhibits. From the classic wood décor to the kind kimono-​wearing ladies who offer a hot hand towel to start, it is apparent that service here would not be an issue. Diving into the dinner details:
Spider roll — deep fried soft shell crab. I really wished that the cut was smaller, also the rice cooked a bit on the soggy side. Good overall still.
Salmon Skin Roll — not enough crispy skins to taste the salmon skin, mainly discerned only veggies in each bite. Additionally, these probably should be cut into 5 pieces rather than 4; easier to handle and eat that way. Same rice issue as the aforementioned spider roll, a bit too much moisture.
Croquette: Light and crispy outside and soft inside. Take the crunch of a crispy hash brown and combine with the creaminess of mashed potatoes inside, interesting mix that makes me wanna order a few more!
Sushimi Moriawase (Dinner option) — chef’s assortment of sliced raw fish. With this dinner option, a side salad, miso soup, bowl of rice, kobachi, and a jello dessert were included. The side salad came basic, mainly crisp lettuce with a dreamy creamy delicious salad dressing. The hot miso soup included two thin slices of fried tofu and bits of soft tofu cubes, prepping me for the… Sushimi assortment of the day: snapper, octopus, tuna, salmon, and hamachi. This mix of fish totally boosted my confidence in Koharu, each set fresh tasting and perfect with the kobachi topped rice.
At the end, cubes of coffee jello with a creamer milk finished the meal.
Cliff notes: Order dinner entrée options that include the extra stuff (note the black cod option for next time), order less sushi rolls and/​or get sushimi instead.