Derek Chang’s Koto

I’ve had both good and bad experiences. Most recently the sashimi I had was far from fresh. The Escolar was yellow, and the tuna had a very off taste. The ginger dressing was really good, and the dumplings were delicious. I love sashimi, and gave them a second chance and it was still not fresh. Very frustrating.

Poor quality sushi. Tried a few specialty rolls, along with some simple rolls and miso soup. There are much better choices out there.

Let me start by saying that Koto is my favorite hibachi and sushi restaurant in Baton Rouge in terms of food. However, I can no longer recommend this restaurant because of their awful service and «rules». My husband and I called a few weeks ago to check on the wait time at a hibachi table. We were informed that they couldn’t give us this information over the phone. Note that I didn’t expect an exact wait time, just a ballpark figure like most restaurants give. Nope, the hostess told me that I had to go into the restaurant to find out a wait time. I politely told her that we would simply head to one of the other many hibachi restaurants in town.
We attempted to give Koto another shot tonight because my husband loves a certain roll. It was my daughter’s bday so I brought a cake. The hostess wouldn’t seat anyone until the entire party arrived then once we all arrived, told us that there would be a 15 minute wait and that the restaurant charges a $ 10 cake fee since they no longer allow outside food. Sorry, Koto, we’ll head to one of the or her restaurants in town that will be happy to serve us.

Koto BR Review
An above average Japanese restaurant with a sophisticated atmosphere tucked at the back of Citiplace off Corporate Blvd.
I stopped in for a late lunch on Friday. You have the choice of sushi bar, hibachi, or sit-​down table. I opted for a booth and a Sashimi Bento Lunch Box — $ 14
With it, you have a choice of miso or mushroom soup, which arrives before the bento box. Review of each item below:
Mushroom soup
The soup was plenty hot, but drinkable. It had thinly sliced white mushrooms, which is good for a soup of this kind. The flavor was quite savory and good. There were some fried onions that become soggy and sank to the bottom. Some places have some tempura batter fried and sprinkled in, perhaps a Koto adaptation. Also topped with scallions
Sashimi — 2 of each kind (Tuna, Salmon, Whitefish)
The pieces were an OK size and they were arranged nicely on a bed of vegetables with some scallions adding a bit of color. In terms of sashimi, temperature was fine, texture wasn’t the best, and flavor was quite muted.
Tuna
–Probably the best of the bunch, but with a slightly bloody taste. I have had better, but this was was above average in my opinion.
Salmon
–A bit of a disappointment. I love salmon sashimi, probably one of my all time favorite flavors, but the flavor of these two pieces were very muted
–One of the pieces had a dark colored corner. This bit of flesh is typically found just under the skin of a salmon, and it is usually trimmed off. It was either sloppy prep or trying to lower costs by not trimming as much.
Whitefish
–Quite hard, tough texture. Flavor took some chewing to come out. Not terrible.
Snow crab roll
–For those that do no know, many places do not serve actual snow crab in the sushi they prepare due to the high cost and labor involved with that ingredient. This was no exception. Pretty similar to California rolls and served well to compliment the Bento box
Salad was nothing special. Lettuce with minor accoutrements and the ginger flavored Thousand Island dressing that is becoming so popular at Japanese establishments state-​side was applied liberally to the greens. Thankfully a Bento box has sections to separate all the food items.
Fried gyoza. Crisp on the outside with soy /​vinegar sauce. On the small side, but tasty.
Fried rice. Average.
To me, the food was above average. Satisfying, but I felt the stars of the show (sashimi fish) left something to be desired. Also, some of the prices were a little bit high.
On a positive note were the attentive staff. Within seconds of dropping chopstick, my waitress came in and provided a new one.
Atmosphere
Walking up from outside, you see a nicely decorated exterior and small garden (with smaller outdoor seating). Open the front door and in you go to double sliding doors, think if grocery store entrances used more modern building materials. The entrance is lighted in blue and the eye for design extends into the dining area.
On the inside:
Red. Red. Red. This is the color of everything from the paint on the walls, cherrywood colored tables, light fixtures, and bowls /​plates. The accent colors are black and white. Such as the black cloth napkin, nice touch, but sort of cancelled the effect when I was given break it apart yourself chopsticks.
The dining area is in contrast to the bar, which is decked out with colors from the cooler side of the color wheel.
Also kudos for the health conscious placement of green topped (low-​er sodium) soy sauce only on all the tables… Red topped is available as well.

REALLY loved this place. I highly recommend it. Greeted at door immediately. Service was prompt and the sushi was so fresh. I live in San Diego and this is just as good as our favorite sushi restaurant. We will definitely be back every time we come thru baton rouge to see my family. :)

Not quite sure why this place isn’t rated better. If you want quality sushi, this is the place I go to. Sure there are other places, but the special rolls here aren’t just the same you can get everywhere. After I started making my own sushi I noticed the quality of the ingredients and combinations here. I love the Hawaiian roll

Best sushi and hibachi in Baton Rouge!

This place was right next to my hotel which i stayed in for 6 weeks, and I would frequent this place. They have an awesome sushi selection with items you will find nowhere else (like sea urchin).
I would recommend the salmon sashimi style and the four seasons roll.
One this I really like about this place is the presentation of the food. The sushi is prepared for you and they add a lot of garnishing that you don’t need to eat, but it just makes it feel like a more upscale experience.
They have a very good wine selection, and If you get sushi, I would recommend a Sauvignon Blanc. A full bodied white accents the flavor of the sushi very well.

my fave for sushi… the BOMB roll is the best. the sauce is outstanding. the menu selection is great, service is wonderful.
they now have specials with rolls where you can get 2 for X and 3 for X so it makes it very affordable.

My husband and I went there this evening and we were pleasantly surprised. We weren’t exactly sure what we wanted for dinner and we drove past this place and decided to try it. We normally get Hibachi at Ichiban, which is probably our favorite place in town, so we were a bit skeptical of a new place. It ended up being fairly good.
The entrance is a bit weird. My husband pointed out that a lot of reviewers said it’s like walking into a space ship. I suppose this is somewhat accurate. I didn’t really care for the decorations, but it certainly wasn’t horrible. It seems like they tried to go for a really minimalist look and didn’t quite hit it. Also the room where the hibachi tables are is really weirdly lit and looks very makeshift.
We didn’t order an appetizer because we weren’t super-​hungry, but the soup that came with the hibachi meal was delicious. I don’t care for ginger dressing so I let my husband have the salad, but he said ie was really good.
The fried rice was delicious, though I would use a bit less salt and pepper. The hibachi vegetables were a bit raw. They could have used just a bit longer, but it wasn’t so bad that they were inedible.
We both ordered steak for our entrée. I like mine medium rare and my husband likes his medium. Usually we end up both getting medium, even if I ask for medium rare, because the second you slice up the steak it gets done faster. That was not the case at Koto. The steak was perfect. My husband even remakes that he likes it more than Ichiban.
Service-​wise this place was decent the servers were good at noticing if our waters were getting low or if we were dune with a dish that they could clear. That’s something I notice, especially at a hibachi place because the dishes can cause clutter. Also, when we got our bill there had been a discount applied. It was only seven dollars off, but it was still awesome and a cool unexpected surprise.
We are moving out of town soon, but if we were going to stay in town I suspect we would go there more often. Unless it turns out that the sushi, which I didn’t try, is terrible.

Whenever I’m hankering for great sushi I make my way to Derek Chang’s Koto. The Hawaiian roll is my absolute favorite though most everything else is pretty good too. My boyfriend had never tried sushi and he was all over the Pretty Roll. I’ve been here for the hibachi too and they didn’t disappoint. The meat and veggies are cooked perfectly, the dressings are all delicious, and you never leave hungry. The atmosphere is very nice and chill bordering on swanky. Its a bit more expensive than some of the other sushi places in town but it is definitely worth it.

The décor is a mix between a relaxed hip bar and a modern Japanese restarant. As I walked in, the hostess was friendly and greeted us. As we went to the hibachi we were greeted by the owner and were led to the hibachi table. The rice used in the hibachi is high quality sushi rice. The meat was not too seasoned and the vegetables were of a greater variety than most hibachis.
On another note, their sashimi platter was the best I have had in Louisiana. The fatty tuna and fatty salmon were so great. The yellow tail fish was also of a high quality.
Did not get to choose the rolls but the couple next to us ordered the toto roll and the rock-​n-​roll. Overall a great choice for lunch.

The exterior is aesthetically appealing but the hibachi was overpriced and i felt they did not deliver. It was missing that flavorful hibachi seasoning that is often used at other hibachi grills. My experience there was a bit disappointing…

Great but a bit pricy. Sashimi was very fresh and nicely presented. Some rolls come in half size which was great to add to my sashimi platter. Overall very good and nice atmosphere.

The sushi was some of the best that I’ve had. They had some creative specialty rolls that incorporated the southern flavors. The servers were very friendly and the service was incredibly quick. This place is definitely a must if you like good sushi.

We were really surprised at how much we enjoyed this sushi. It wasn’t cheep, but good sushi really shouldn’t be, and the portions were quite generous.
The service was very good ~ we had to send back 2 rolls because the avocado in them was not listed on the menu and my sweetie is super allergic ~ and the waiter replace them right away. He was a little overly apologetic about it, and eventually we had to tell him to stop apologizing ~ we caught it before he ate any, so it was fine.
The fish was fresh and flavorful in a good way. The special rolls we got highlighted the fish and not heavy sauces, which is a plus for me. The four seasons roll, with 4 colored tobiko, was absolutely gorgeous. It was so pretty, we almost didn’t want to eat it. My 3 year old was disappointed that they didn’t have tamago, but I bet if we had asked the chefs they may have made it for us. All and all a great treat night for us on a long road trip between Florida and California.

Derek Chang’s Koto is a pretty good sushi place. It’s very trendy and serves some of the most visually pleasing sushi around. I have a feeling that it was moved to its current location to be able to make a more trendy spot to compete with some of the nicer sushi places in Baton Rouge. Their sushi is completely serviceable, if a little on the expensive side. Honestly, it’s on par with any of the really expensive sushi places in Baton Rouge. If you are by it, give it a shot.

Went there first time. Décor was impressive. Sushi Rolls were okay. We enjoyed the Koto II Roll. Also enjoyed Gyoza appetizer. The Kirin draft was good value.

We went to this place to avoid the game crowd near LSU. The sushi was pretty good. Not too expensive if you mix specialty rolls with the regular ones. I recommend the Hawaiian Roll and the Koto II roll. No sign of Mr. Chang though…

Update: Sad that they are closed :(I hope they re-​open at another location that is better for them. Derek Chang is very talented and was a pioneer in bringing unique fresh sushi to Baton Rouge.
Best Sushi in town, HANDS DOWN!
I live in Los Angeles now, but I was born and raised in Louisiana until I was 21. I’ve been to almost every sushi restaurant worth going to in the area, and Koto is the best by far in my opinion. It took me a long time to find anything comparable in Los Angeles, although I have found 2 places that compete with it’s overall quality. The owner, Derek Chang, has been making sushi since he was 13 and had to wake up at 3am every morning to go to the fish market for his Sushi Master. How cool is that?!
Food– Unique, Creative, DELICIOUS, well priced, large portions.
Atmosphere– Good enough, could be better. If everything else wasn’t so amazing, i would probably give them 4 stars for the atmosphere.
Price– Average, not real pricey, but not cheap either. Definitely less expensive than Tsunami with bigger portions.
Service– I always have had good service here, but I really love talking to the owner Derek Chang. He’s always really friendly and funny.
Don’t waste your time with anywhere else in town! Koto is the BEST!