Mimi & Coco NY

Great spot in the lower east side! The place is very small but their window seat is ideal for a couples lunch!
The teriyaki shrimp balls are very good, at first I was doubting because of the cereal but it gives them a great crunch and flavor.
I have had their spicy miso and the veggie tempura noodles and they are both delicious! A great comfort for a very cold day.
I also like that their portions are generous!
And thumbs up for their delivery service!

This little ramen shop is very cute, it doesn’t have many seats (fitting about a dozen or so people with only four tables) so I imagine it can get quite busy at night. But the atmosphere is one that makes you want to support it. Sitting in is a great experience and you can smell the food being prepared and the sizzling of the pans while the food is being prepared. They offer a number of dishes most well known for their don bowl meals. I came in with my sister to try their ramen. For the price of 10 $ I got a nice bowl (I ordered the Tokyo soryu and my sister the katsu ramen) of hot ramen. They give you a decent portion, it may not look like a lot but when you stand up you’ll feel more than adequately satisfied. I felt the ramen was a bit too salty but in general I’m not a huge fan of ramen because of this trait so I feel that’s a bit of an unfair assessment. The prices are affordable and welcoming but the food I found was not particularly exceptional. Just good for the price. Their katsu curry seems like their big draw so I must try that when I come by next time.
The staff is also very nice and very sweet. And for a small team you can tell they try to put out the very best.

Excellently priced for a truly unique ramen. We keep on coming and I don’t think we’ll ever stop. The space only dines around eight, which keeps the noise down for a serene meal.

Dope spot.
Super cute, totally Japanese mom & pop storefront.
Delicious ramen and Japanese curry full of chunks of thick vegetables and customizable.
The Chicken Katsu Don is a tasty little bowl, though they could go a little lighter on the mayo.
Delivery not so fast.

This place literally turned me. I’m officially a Japanese Curry believer. Not to say I wasn’t before, I just hadn’t realized it was THAT good. In my opinion, it’s better than Indian curry.
Happened to stumble upon this place after Russ & Daughters told us it was a THREE HOUR wait for lunch… yeahhhh right, bye.
Small place, only a few patrons at a time can have a sit down meal.
Open kitchen, staff is only one or two people.
Seaweed salad is killer. Variety of seaweed, great acidic dressing.
Pork Katsu with curry. Wow. So good. Have a try. Perfect for a cold winter’s day.

The curry here is excellent! I’ve been here over 5 times and I always get Chicken Katsu curry with brown rice. It gets pretty pricey but I think in NYC 11 – 15 is normal for Japanese curry. The ingredients are fresh and the staff are pretty nice. Presentation is always nice here, too!

I finally went to this place today! The place is small but when I went I was the only customer there until later on (I came a few minutes after they opened). I would say to come at noon if you want seats. The staff is very friendly and nice!
I ordered the Takoyaki balls and the Karaage (medium size). They were really good!
The only downside is that it’s a bit expensive (6Takoyaki balls= $ 8 and the Karaage= $ 10 but you can choose two dips) and that the place is small (which is why you should come early if you want seats). Other than that it’s a great place.

Great textured teriyaki balls. I had the shrimp in Smorgasburg and it was bland, the red sauce gave it a kick, the shrimp was super tiny, I wish it had more flavor. I had one octopus ball and it was much better than the shrimp. Its not a must have for me, their presentation is very unique with corn flakes over it etc.

Takoyaki is one of my favorite Japanese eats, so I’ve been meaning to try Mimi & Coco’s for a while now. They usually have a long line at fairs and smorgasburg, so I never really wanted to wait for it. I finally decided to go to their brick and mortar location to get a small snack. The store is small, but cute. After I ordered and sat down, the girl who took my order came and gave me a glass of water and utensils. I didn’t expect a glass of water which was nice of her. They make everything fresh so it’s a bit of a wait for the takoyaki. After I took my first bite, I was slightly disappointed. The flavors are there, but the texture was too soft and mushy and there weren’t much octopus in it. It was $ 8 for 6 pieces which I think is the most expensive takoyaki I’ve had!

This hole in the wall Japanese joint is a true gem. Went there last night with a friend and we were both blown away. I had high expectations after reading reviews here on Unilocal,and they surely surpassed them. The food is incredibly delicious and I look forward to dining here again. Respek.

This place is a solid four on a good day (if you can snag seats), and a 3.5 on others. Very affordable ramen at $ 10 a bowl. The sizes are quite reasonable and I couldn’t finish mine (I was a starving tiny Asian girl).
The service is quite friendly (thanks white guy!) and feels much more neighborhood-​y than ippudo, totto, or ramen-​ya, which are all close by (close, being a relative term).
Not cash only. Thanks!
Come exactly at noon and you can get a seat. That’s my tip of the day :)

Ordered Eat24 advance pickup of the pretty solid Spicy Miso Chicken Don with Choice of Rice: Brown.
Massive chunks of chicken don’t gel well with chopsticks, at least for this white guy… but brown rice not being extra = score (not that it’s that great of a bargain for the price, but still). Skip them every time they have a popup somewhere, but might drop by for their teriyaki balls next time.

(This is a review of their Smorgasburg location)
Not bad, but also not great. They are NOT real takoyaki, I think. They don’t really have that authentic taste that I like. The breading/​dough is mushy and texture-​less (which I guess Takoyaki is too), but in a way that it is different. Fair enough, they don’t advertise as Takoyaki, but it’s pretty clear to anyone even remotely familiar with Japanese cuisine that they are an imitation of sorts. I had the one stuffed with shrimp and found the pieces too small. It’s not an expensive meal at all and the lines are almost always pretty short, so if you’ve never tried it before, give it a taste yourself and see if you like it. I think that after having tried it a couple times, I can move on to other fares in Smorgasburg.

The explosion of Japanese restaurants over the past two years in New York has been interesting because they are not only increasing in quantity. As «On the Origin of Species» predicts, each place has adapted to its unique place in the overall environment. There are now curry places and medetai stands, bustling izakaiyas and intimate omakase counters.
Mimi & Coco only exists in this new environment. It can’t be the only Japanese place, it’s too small, too idiosyncratic. That’s what makes it nearly perfect for today.
The space is as close to a residential kitchen that is allowed under New York State food codes. There are probably Westchester kitchens that seat more than the dozen or so that can make it in here. Everything is prepared in full view of the patrons, blurring the line between patron and propritor.
This place started as the brick-​and-​mortar way to serve teriyaki balls, a sweeter and seafood-​less spin on the takoyaki, but really the way to go is the rice bowls. There is more choice than the tiny seating space might suggest, from curries to don and other preparations. What works is how it tastes fresh and home made, free of the overly salty or too brash preparations that sometimes arise when people try to adjust a somewhat subtle dish to American palettes.
It’s a pleasant dinner in an area that’s often loud and obnoxious. That’s more than enough to make it stand out in a crowded category.

Probably the only thing I regret buying from Smorgasburg.
The teriyaki shrimp balls were meh. I didn’t taste any shrimp and when I deconstructed it I found a tiny little morsel of shrimp, about the size of a cheerio. The teriyaki sauce basically creates the whole flavor of the dish. The texture of the dough was okay.
I guess I should’ve gotten their takoyaki instead but I’m devoted to Otafuku for that.

Only for the Takoyaki served at their Broadway Bites stand:
This review should have been written back when I tried Mimi & Coco in the fall at Broadway Bites, but the Takoyaki I ate was so bad that I can still taste it months later.
I could tell the Takoyaki was lukewarm when I picked it up, so it was no surprise when the dough was dry and had pockets that were actually cold. It must have been sitting there for hours, which never bodes well, but is even worse when the filling is a type of seafood. The octopus, which was supposed to be the star of the show, was just awful. It was so chewy and overcooked I would have thought it had been boiling for weeks. There were really no redeeming qualities about this snack.
Mimi & Coco must have had some trouble with quality control at the stand, because I’ve seen rave reviews from Broadway Bites, and I’ve also seen atrocious reviews like mine. I don’t know what else could explain such a variance in the product. I would be curious to give them a try at their brick-​and-​mortar shop so that I could see if they have as much trouble with consistency in their kitchen as they did at their pop-​up stand. I hope for their sake they don’t, because I am also curious about some of their other menu items which seem to fare really well on the review boards!
That being said, I’ll never order the Takoyaki again.

Mimi and Coco NY
NY Manhattan LES
8:30pm Saturday 21^st February 2015
Three Stars
It’s a small restaurant with about 8 seats. I ordered the mixed vegetable tempura ($ 6). There were freshly made and tasted great. There were red bell peppers, Carrot, potato and Japanese squash. The breading was surprisingly light. The vegetables were perfectly fried. The peppers were the standout — crispy yet sweet. The Tonkotsu Ramen ($ 10) was very mediocre. The broth was thick with fat, salty, and decently seasoned. The noodles were way over cooked. They served the pork ramen with bits of chicken thigh instead of any type of pork. There was also bamboo, corn, sesame, sliced red ginger, and imprecisely cut scallions. The food took a while in comparison to other noodle joints. Overall it was decent meal in this snow storm.

Heavy
With the curry (8), I added pork katsu (+5) and roasted vegetables (+2). I rather enjoyed eating it. The curry is spicy and slightly sweet. The breaded pork was tasty. The vegetables were fresh. A few hours later, I was less pleased with what I had eaten. I found the meal to be quiet heavy.
Takeout is neatly packaged and wrapped to prevent spillage.
Despite this meal, the menu has many other options that I’m interested to try: the rice dishes, the seaweed salad, the snacks, and the takoyaki.

After mindlessly window shopping in the cold for a few hours last week, I was in dire need of a hot bowl of anything. Mimi & Coco was the closest shop to home and I assumed they had ramen so off I went!
The shop was empty when I arrived, about 7ish. There are only 4 small tables so it’s definitely more of a take-​out spot anyway. Mimi and Coco both greeted me warmly before offering me a menu and water. What a sweet team!
The menu features their signature terkiyaki/​takoyaki balls as well as rice bowls, curries, and ramen. Despite their presence in many of the food fairs and markets, I’d never tried the takoyaki balls but it would have to wait once again — all I had eyes for tonight was ramen. Not too many choices but I decided on the spicy miso.
The shop had filled up quickly after I arrived, along with many calls for delivery and patrons coming in for take out so my order took about 25 minutes to come. I was so hungry and cold that I devoured it but this bowl of ramen was just okay at best. The broth was definitely spicy and creamy, borderline buttery tasting. The noodles were a tad overcooked though, and the egg was overdone and unseasoned. I also wish there had been more than just a sprinkle of the other accompaniments — menma, corn, nori and minced meat.
The ramen definitely warmed me up but I will be skipping it in the future to try their signature item instead.

I stopped by here because I was craving some ramen noodles. I got the steak don and swapped out rice for ramen. The steak was absolutely delicious — tender, cooked rare as I requested, and the amount of meat was great. The noodles themselves — and thus presumably the rice — were not flavored or seasoned at all. It was all «to be done by user.» Which was fine by me, but just be aware. I also got a chai latte bubble tea which hit the spot.
The seating is incredibly limited. The service is very polite and nice, and obviously accommodating since they allowed me to do a substitution. :) I enjoyed this spot and would come back!

N’hésitez pas à y aller si vous êtes dans le quartier. Les patronnes sont adorables. L’endroit est kawaï (mais pas trop).
Les terrayaki meatball étaient bonnes bien qu’un peu bizarre. Les plats principaux testés (porc et boeuf) étaient savoureux et gourmands.
Un prix correct sur place (30 $ pour deux tips inclus).