Cocoro Japanese Bistro & Sushi Bar

My very first week in Stockton a friend brought us to Cocoro, first off, I like the miracle mile area. It’s a chill place to hang out and everything within walking distance. The service was very good. They treated us very well here and the sushi was delicious! The Nova Scotia roll was incredible. Awesome sushi spot in the stockton area.

Don’t go alone… they will seat you in an out of the way spot and forget you! After bringing my food, the waitress noticed I didn’t have a plate or soy sauce dish, even commenting on it, but didn’t notice I had no soy sauce on my table!!! Side salad is nice size, but strange dressing, very mayonnaise-​y. Sushi roll tasty, nice size and reasonably priced.

Good to know there is a really good sushi place in my new town! The place is clean, food is good, and service is on par. Would recommend this place to anyone looking for good rolls.

In the past I used to love cocoro (the food and service was both amazing). However as of recently the service has sunken. I waited 45 minutes for my food until I finally asked the waitress if it was coming (it finally came after an hour of waiting). When I asked she gave me such a rude response that other tables commented on it. Then the waitress sent other servers to our table to send us our food, check in on us, and receipt. There was no manager on site nor anyone we could talk to other than other waitresses and sushi chefs. Definitely disappointed in the lack of experience of the staff and management.

Service is slow– it took 45 minutes for our food to come out and it wasn’t busy (middle of a weekday)
Food is good but not worth the price
I got the tataki but it was literally 5 slices of fish whereas back at home I can get a full plate of fish for much cheaper. Everything is overpriced and the quality is not up to par

Prepare yourselves this may be long winded and slightly boring BUT informational.
We are quite sad that we have to give a not so good review– my husband and I have enjoyed Cocoro Japanese Bistro/​Sushi for the last 10+ years and have in the last few years experienced not so good customer service and the quality of food has decreased. We know that through the years having to hire new staff is a huge part in our last few to several not so satisfying visits.
Today (and more so lately– we have a 2y/​o SO calling in an order and picking up to come home is more convenient than to sit in a restaurant, period). This evening I called in our order, first concern is that it’s loud and the girl on the other side of the phone can’t hear me well– she asks for my phone number, I give it to her and she says «for Christina?» me: «yes» (so I guess she can hear me?, why do they continue to get my husbands name if it pops up on their screen, errr don’t want to bring that up to my husband, it’s quite touchy like I said we’ve been coming to this place for 10+ years, most of the people here know us by our names, the chef «Chia» used to come out and sit with us if we were the last to leave.) We’ve come here and have gotten real close to the employees; they’ve seen us as just boyfriend and girlfriend, when we got engaged, pre and post being/​getting married, birthday’s for ourselves with family and friends, announcing pregnancy to them with hopes to steer us on what not to eat, a couple of the the employees attended one of our family members funeral… I mean serious, we know and love «Chia, Christina, Masa, Rafa, Ian, Kyle, Sean… there’s more… but we are currently not remembering all the names.
All the above aside we are creatures of habit we order the same things. our order tends to be $ 50 – 80 (with tip), if real hungry or with more folks or trying to impress out of towners with this gem within Stockton (our price can be well over $ 100).
Tonight I order salmon lomi lomi, she says, «the rolls right?» (in my head (H): I did not say the roll, do they have in roll form now?, I know those other local Sushi restaurants has that roll, but no I just want the appetizer as usual) me: «no, just the appetizer please». I also order a grilled salmon bowl (for my 2y/​o, he doesn’t like all the saucy stuff like the teriyaki one so we order it just grilled), in picking up the food there were three bags with the receipt stapled to the outside of the bag (as usual), I looked at the receipt and the girl says «does it look right?» (H: well the receipt does) me: «yes, it does thanks».
I bring the bags home and to our findings there is no lomilomi juice/​sauce, just chili oil over the salmon. The bowl is a teriyaki salmon meal (my kid pushes it around and asks what it is, because it is dark in color from the teriyaki sauce, fortunately he ate it after a bit of coaxing that it was just fish).
This is just this visit, we’ve had other similar issues with calling in orders. Missed salads, no soy sauce packages with sushi, getting someone else’s order, incomplete orders, and did I mention the incorrect name…
Am I going to have to open each bag and look into each container??? That is just frustrating, but will do if I have too– as I have posted before, the parking here is horrible so having to drive in circles to now come back and return the meal or get the missed item is just a pain in the butt.
End rant.

Greeted with a warm smile and seated with a menu in spite of there being only 15 minutes before closing. Tables are close together but that only adds to the friendly atmosphere. Being from out of town and not knowing what to expect, I was happily surprised to find everything on the menu to be within a reasonable price range. I ordered a beef teriyaki don bowl and my companion had a Nova Scotia roll. Maybe it was because we were hungry, maybe it was because we were sleepy from a full day of travel or maybe it was the lively atmosphere… but let me tell you this food is delicious! As we dined we heard a variety of music from urban beats to upbeat Jazz at just the right volume. The table behind us burst into a giggling rendition of happy birthday and everyone in the restaurant smiled. If you’re in the area and have time to sit down for a meal, you should definitely consider Cocoro!

This place was great! Went on a Saturday night… pan-​fried edemame was a nice change-​up. Lots of interesting rolls. The waitress was great and let us modify on (i.e. tempura asparagus instead of tempura shrimp, swap fish, etc) they have a couple neat cocktails made with sake, and carry a nice Prosecco. Very neat how some rolls come with tomatoe wrap, instead of seaweed. But you can also get mango. Everything was delicious!

Spicey Crunchy Scallop Roll. Home run! Because of the other Unilocal reviews I had to go try it when I was in town and I wasn’t disappointed! My date had the grilled salmon and that was also amazing. The ambiance is kind of trendy but casual and our waitress was very quick and helpful. She apologized right in the beginning that the kitchen was behind since they were pretty busy but our food still came out in a reasonable time. Highly recommended

Came here for dinner, got the tuna ceviche which I wasn’t a big fan on, bts roll which was alright on my opinion & spicy crunchy scallops roll that’s was more of my taste but over all service wasn’t all that & food was mehh… I was disappointed cause I thought for the price It could have been better, but hey everyone has there own taste !

There’s so much on the menu and what me and my partner ordered WAS GREAT! Not too salty, not too sweet– JUST RIGHT! I had the baked oysters and tuna tartar! I would so come here again! Great service and great ambiance!!!

Love coming here with hubby. Today I tried the vegetarian roll. The tuna ceviche is very good very filling as an appetizer. I usually order the oyster shot and one of these rolls:
Tuna Steak Roll, it has tuna, scallops, and sauteed spinach and mushrooms with a buttery lemon sauce.
The soft shell crab roll is also very tasty if you like sea food.
Salmon bacon roll. It’s not on the menu, you have to ask for it. The wrap is a mango wrap with salmon, bacon red onions and a sauce my fave.
And finally the most popular roll which is the Spicy Crunchy Scallop roll.
You won’t be disappointed.
Customer service is excellent!
Great for date night.

The sushi roll was nicely prepared, with a salad and very tasty salad dressing. my friend had the chicken katsu don curry. It was good he says.

Mike @ CoCoro hooked me up with the Tuna steak roll. Beyond great! This place is a goldmine. good vide and great food.

I give up on this place it’s just too hit n miss. Service is only good if it’s empty
It’s full of sheep who think it’s trendy
Very complaisant
It used to be good not anymore

The pan fried noodles w/​short ribs. Much too saucy on the short ribs. The noodles were super salty. Veggies «saved» it. The «garlic» noodles were not garlicky at all — had a weird cheesy like greasy texture and taste. Pepper «decoration» garnish around the plate is unnecessary and actually peppers the dish when we didn’t want pepper. Just stick with rolls — these specials are nothing special.
Tiramisu is always good though.

I want here with friends for lunch and ordered the Unagi Don. The had the regular Unagi Don, but it wasn’t anything special compared with others. I saw a couple of friends get sushi and I would recommend that, because it looked pretty good. Next time I’m in Stockton, I’ll probably try that out.

Travis is the cutest waiter out of the entire restaurant. If his picture was posted out front, I would bet you would get so many more customers. I wish he would carry me like he carries those plates of sushi. Looking at him flex makes my heart flutter like a butterfly. His back is so wide like the hoover dam and strong like a triple shot of expresso.
Travis IS Cocoro.

The only place in town I genuinely like for nigiri. It’s more expensive than other places in Stockton but the quality is just as high.
Not crazy about their rolls and appetizers, but the chef’s selection of nigiri is perfect to split with a friend.

Un excellent restaurant Japonais sur Miracle Miles.
Grand fan de sushi, maki, roll en tout genre j’ai pu trouver mon bonheur dans ce restaurant de Miracle Miles.
Mon roll favori? Sans doute le scalop and asparagus tempura. Le plat est copieux et gourmand. Le Roll est agrémenté de sauce en tout genre et ça change!
Ils possèdent plusieurs bières en draft, dont quelques IPA!
Le personnel est très agréable et le service est rapide. La décoration n’est sans doute pas le point principal du restaurant, mais on n’est pas là pour ça…
Le lieu peut être assez bruyant, c’est assez désagréable mais ça dépend des jours. En général le midi est assez calme.
Essayez le sans hésiter !

This is a pretty nice sushi place. For some reason, I thought this place was super upscale and only a place you would bring dates, but it’s just a normal restaurant. You could definitely bring family and friends here. I went during lunch on a Sunday and I got the spicy crunchy scallop roll. It was pretty good, but a little too saucy for my taste. The fish and rice were pretty good though! Other reviews mentioned the poke but they didn’t have it the day I went :(
Overall, it’s better than the average sushi place, but not the best place in the world.