Koto Grill & Sushi & Lounge

Everyone was very friendly. The food was amazing. If you go you should try the unagi don. It was very clean. I can’t wait to come back. Press cool if u agree with this review

Came in hoping for a late dinner since they were open til 1am. Was met with what seemed to be a band playing in the back, and a mandatory $ 10 cover charge per person even if we were just trying to eat. My boyfriend asked if the kitchen was still open and they said yes. We were seated and pretty much got menus tossed at us and a snide remark of «the kitchen is closing in five minutes». needless to say we decided to find somewhere else where we could also hear ourselves think, and not have to pay a cover charge just to pay more to also get food. Was excited because this place looked good and I am a big sushi fan, but I doubt I’ll be returning back to give it another shot.

Much improved from our last visit! I dined with 3 others and we all agreed that the food was good, but the service was pretty horrible. Our waitress did not know the menu and could not answer questions about different items. We started with the crab rangoon appetizer ($ 6.95), which was pretty tasty, although pretty standard for a crab rangoon. A bottle of wine was shared with the table and very reasonably priced ($ 26) for a bottle of cabernet sauvignon. There is a large selection of mixed drinks also on the menu. I ordered the Nabeyaki Udon ($ 14.95), which was a large bowl of udon noodles in a chicken broth with chicken, shrimp, a soft boiled egg and some vegetables. This was very very tasty. My husband ordered the Sake sashimi ($ 6.50) and Maguro Sashimi ($ 6.50), which came as three large pieces– nice and fresh. He also ordered the shrimp tempura roll ($ 8.50) which was good, and not much different than what would be expected for a shrimp tempura roll. My other friends enjoyed their appetizers and sushi rolls, and everything was served correctly even with the large amount of food we ordered. The service was atrocious throughout our meal, as I went without my water being refilled for about 20 minutes during our meal, without our server in sight. However, the owner did check on us a few times and brought us two desserts on the house, which is why I rated Koto as a 4 star. Koto’s sushi is fresh and the food is good. The new floors give it a cleaner look… but the service needs work. We were here on a Tuesday night and they had an open mic night, which was entertaining. The restaurant was solidly packed, not an empty table which is pretty impressive for a Tuesday night. I’ll be back, and hopefully will have a better server!

Came here based on Unilocal reviews and was very impressed with sushi. I believe one of the mangers came over and told us about the specials which our first waitress didn’t mention and they were awesome. Only reason it’s getting a 4 star rating is atmosphere.

I had a great lunch of the traditional pad thai which was great. The owner came by and gave us green tea pound cake which was delicious!

Several weeks ago i helped organize an end of the semester dinner with some friends and we decided on Koto. We had a party of 21 people and the service was phenomenal! They had an amazing staff who even broke up the bill into 21 different checks! Everyone is incredibly friendly and attentive. The manager came to the table later in the night to make sure everything was going well (though there was nothing wrong) and she was incredibly nice as well!
We all started with edamame which i really enjoyed (and have never tried before) the sushi was fantastic i tried more rolls than i know the names of and was not let down by a single one! I got a drink with lychee liquor and tequila that was really good, i also tried the scorpion bowl and was equally impressed.
Though from the street it looks small inside there is a good deal of space further in the restaurant so groups similar to us should have no issue!
If you want sushi there is NO better place to go than Koto! I recommend it to everyone i know

I’m thrilled! Koto has replaced their wall to wall Rug with a Tile Floor! So happy, because my husband has major allergies.
We actually got Take-​out for a while to avoid the old Rug. LOL!!! That’s how much we like the food!
It’s difficult to find a fine Asian restaurant in Salem, Massachusetts, so if you like Asian food as much as we do, you must try out Koto!
The staff is exceptionally nice!!!
I will tell all my neighbors!

Was highly recommended. I checked in on Unilocal and got a 10% discount! Drinks were a little less expensive than other asian places, but a little less great… We got a ‘Boat’ as we usually do at other places — same price as most places around here, but again, a little less great. The décor is a bit of a dive, ready for the live music later in the night. Maybe I’ll give it one more shot and order something different.

I should have taken it as a bad sign, when my friend and I walked in and there was a bad odour. The carpets was dirty and the décor was cheesy. I told my friend I didnt like the smell off the place but she was supposed to pick the place because I was taking her out and this was her choice.
The waitress came over to take our drink order and I asked her about a non alcoholic drink on the menu and her answer was that she didn’t know. She never offered to do ask someone. I got a lemonade and it had something black floating in the glass. The waitress brought me another one and that also has something black floating in it (it was probably the same glass of lemonade). I told her I didn’t want it and I was all set, she never offered me a glass of water and frankly, I don’t know if I would have wanted one. My friend ordered a zombie and they might as well have called it a fruit juice because there was no alcohol in it. I wanted to leave but my friend wanted to stay and try one thing each and if it was good then we would order more, bad mistake. I got the tuna tataki and it was not good, it was bland and uninspiring. It tasted like tuna tataki that you would get at a chain restaurant trying capitalize on the Japanese food craze and not tuna tataki you would get at a Japanese restaurant. My friend got the pad thai with shrimp and she let me have a taste, it was gross. Then to add insult to injury, the two waitress who were standing a few feet from our table were noticeably talking about us or at least me because they kept looking over at us and speaking a foreign language and laughing (how rude). Apparently, I should have just drank the lemonade, with the black floaty thing in it and paid for it with a smile on my face. Who am I to complain? I am just the customer, who is spending her hard earned cash that helps pay their salary. I should have left zero dollars for a tip but I stupidly left her 15%. I would give them no stars, if I could. Stay away from this place, it is gross!

My girlfriend is big sushi fans and we decided to try this place for our special date night ,
The service was nice and friendly, the sushi is «Best» and «fresh» I’m highly recommended the «Torch Salmon «is not on the menu, but make by Chef Leo. We definitely come back

I went in for the lunch special and was greeted and seated immediately. The place wasn’t really busy at lunch so service was attentive and quick.
I ordered the sushi lunch special that came with 5 pieces of nigiri sushi (chef’s choice) and a small California roll. The nigiri sushi was OK – rice was a little undercooked and flavorless (sushi rice should have a slight rice vinegar and slightly sweet taste). The rice also didn’t hold together well enough so that I could dip the fish side into the soy sauce (probably because it was undercooked so not sticky enough) – my little soy sauce platter ended up with decent sized chunks of rice in it. The good thing about the nigiri sushi was that the fish seems fresh enough and tasted pretty good.
The California roll was tiny. I mean, it looked like it was literally rolled into a single layer of rice. The rice was so sparse that the seaweed underneath was very visible. They use the same sushi rice, so again, the rice was undercooked and flavorless.
Service was good. My server and the manager (?) who brought me my bill were both very attentive and had smiles on their faces. The only sour face in the place was the sushi chef. I watched him try to ignore someone (I don’t know if it was a customer, friend of an employee, or maybe the delivery guy) and was very rude and dismissive to him.
I would shy away from the sushi rolls but would give this place another chance. The lunch specials are really affordable; I might try ordering something else like the chicken teriyaki or tempura next time.

We love going to Koto. As vegans, we have difficulty going to most restaurants without having more than one dish we can order or sounding completely obnoxious. However, at Koto we are always welcomed and never have a difficult time ordering. We love the atmosphere, the food is delicious, the portions are filling and the presentation is beautiful. And of course the service is excellent! Definitely a Salem staple!

First time here. Cozy atmosphere, very friendly and attentive staff, varied menu, reasonable prices, and the sushi we had was excellent. Most definitely coming back.

This restaurant is amazing! I had their food before I played a show there. They are beyond accommodating to my gluten free needs. I was stupid and completely forgot to tell my server before ordering my meal that I needed gluten free and when my meal came out I realized it was breaded and explained my situation to them. They went to great lengths to make me something else right away and made sure that for the rest of the night I was completely gluten free! I can’t recommend them enough for people looking for gluten free dining. It’s hard to eat out because most restaurants and servers don’t understand what gluten free is, it certainly wasn’t the case with this place! Thanks so much to Annie and all the nice servers and bartenders! Next time I’m visiting Salem I’ll be sure to eat here! :)

What a great addition to a Salem family of restaurants! Friendly stuff and great quality food. We primarily order from them to go, and they always prepare everything as asked. Great portions as well.

Best place for afternoon meet up with friends. Great sushi! But we came for drinks and the prices are very reasonable compared to other restaurants. I love the music here though, it rocks! Service is good and I had no trouble parking as plenty of street parking available on that part of Salem.

Visited Salem for a full day of tourist activities and my mom wanted someplace that offered a bento box for lunch. We read the reviews, but decided to make our own judgement and stopped by for lunch on a Saturday.
The place was deserted and we were seated right away. The music was loud and disturbing and we asked them to turn it down, which they did for a short while. Eventually it was turned back up.
My mom ordered the vegetable teriyaki bento box, I ordered the sesame chicken and my mom’s husband ordered the shrimp and vegetable tempura box, so we had a variety of dishes to try.
First of all, the miso soup was very bland. My mom did ask for additional miso paste which they brought and it made the soup better.
The brown rice tasted like it was made the day before, so I didn’t eat it. The sesame chicken flavor was good, but the chicken was rather chewy and stringy. Apparently the shrimp and vegetable tempura was great and the vegetable teriyaki was so-​so.
The California roll that came with the bento box was mushy and falling apart, which I was disappointed by after the rave reviews about the sushi.
All in all, I will not return. The food was definitely bland and not what I would expect form a Japanese restaurant.

Decided last minute to come here with a co worker for dinner because I had a groupon. When we walked in we were greeted friendly by the owner and plenty of room by the bar or in the dining area. Large selection of sushi to authentic Japanese food. Mixed drinks cocktails and martinis and endless. Great service fresh fish can’t wait to come here again. Prices were great and affordable for quality Japanese food.

Came for lunch recently, and had a good experience.
The steamed gyoza were very gingery, but I liked them a lot and liked the soy dipping sauce.
The scallion pancakes were fantastic, super crunchy and fresh.
We were craving sushi, which is why we chose Koto, but disappointed at the fairly small/​basic sushi selection for lunch. We ended up choosing a few rolls, but the one that had the most flavor was the spicy crab salad roll. The others were mostly bland, and the fish tasted a tad fishy, but not in a good way.
Service was good, if not a tad slow. We were not in a hurry so it was just fine for us.
I probably wouldn’t return for lunch, but would definitely give it a try for dinner to check out their other sushi options.

We dropped in again on a snowy week night, sitting at the bar as we like to do.
We started with some sparkling sake (basically watered down sparkling sake — I wasn’t a fan but my girlfriend liked it. She loves sparkling beverages).
They always seem to have a different menu every time and the servers are never good at describing things or making suggestions.
Our meal consisted of:
–Witch roll: was big and fell apart as you tried to maneuver it, but was really tasty
–Seaweed salad: served in a martini glass, half lettuce, but the actual seaweed salad part was fine — pretty typical
–Dragon &Phoenix w fried rice ($ 2 up-​charge): basically general gao’s chicken and shrimp/​veggies in white sauce. It was fine — pretty typical middle-​of-​the-​road american-​Chinese.
Not super impressed again. We keep having mixed experiences, and unfortunately the negative ones are starting to outweigh the positive.