This could have been a 4 star restaurant/korean-style bar but due to the outrageous pricing, I dropped a star in my assessment.
Before we begin - Important stuff:
1. The menu here is not 100% English friendly. One menu has English on it to identify the pictures of the dishes. Anyone can use this to order. However, the combo menu has zero English. The combo menu offers combos where you choose your alcohol (either 5 bottles of beer or 1 bottle of soju) and one food item from a list. To fully understand this combo menu, you need someone who can read Korean. If you are willing to pay my way, I'll gladly volunteer to serve as your own translator and guide! ;-)
2. This is NOT your average Korean restaurant. This establishment caters to a drinking crowd – specifically, a Korean drinking crowd. Although its specialty is friend chicken, and this item can certainly be eaten as a meal, the lack of traditional Korean food items on the menu with its preference towards classic "ahn-ju" items sends a clear message that this establishment caters to Korean-style drinking and eating. "Ahn-ju" are dishes served as accompaniment to alcohol. The Japanese equivalent to this would be Izakaya.
What type of establishment is Kokoya?
It is a Korean-style drinking establishment that specializes in fried chicken. Meaning the dishes offered on the menu are a part of an "ahn-ju" menu. "Ahn-ju" are dishes served as accompaniment to alcohol. Although it can be eaten as a meal, generally, most menu food items are meant to be served with alcohol.
What do I mean by "Korean-style" drinking?
The Korean culture is a drinking culture. This is similar to the Japanese culture - only Koreans are more extreme in the practice (yes, I've been to both Tokyo and Seoul). The drink of choice for true Korean-style drinking is soju (rice wine) and it's lethal. Sure it's only 20%, but it's an unrefined product so it hits you hard after 20 minutes. Believe it or not, in the 70s, this stuff was even worse. Now, it's more drinkable, but personally, I think it's disgusting. If, however, you want to try true "Korean-style" drinking like the tortured souls on so many K-dramas, drink soju. Soju is on the menu.
Location:
Quite literally, it is a less than a minute walk from the Finch station surface exit at Yonge and Finch (NE corner). It's just THAT close from public transit. Very easy to find as it's right on Yonge.
Ambiance:
I went with four friends and all of them were hesitant to step in further than the initial doorway. And funny enough, I noticed many others who were unfamiliar with this establishment did the same thing. The decor is dark. Dark wood tables, dark paint, and a tinted front window (the only source of natural light) all make the interior intimidating as opposed to intimate - which I can only assume is why the owners chose to decorate it so.
Personally, I had no issue with it. The place just comes across as an interior design idea that was poorly executed...and without the budget - or care - to properly correct the issues, the first design attempt was kept. This is the feel I get out of it.
But the individual chairs and tables are all nice and of higher quality than most joints.
What about the food?
We ordered:
1) Fried chicken
2) Yang-yum chicken
3) Dak Do Ri Tang (Spicy chicken stew)
4) Soju & Beers
Kokoya, being a Korean-style drinking establishment, serves "Ahn-ju". Food that is meant for consumption with alcohol. I should mention, although, soju is sold, there is also beer (pints and bottles). The house speciality here is the deep fried chicken Korean style. This comes in two varieties: 1) plain old deep fried; and 2) Yang-yum (seasoned/flavoured to taste sweet + sour + hot - all at the same time). My friend found the yang-yum chicken too spicy. I thought it was perfect and delicious, but certainly not the best "yang-yum" chicken I've had. The plain friend chicken was delicious too. I actually preferred the plain fried chicken over the "yang-yum" option. In the end, both plates were cleaned by my friends and I. If you order these two house specialties, I suggest beer as the alcoholic choice. It just goes down nicer with beer. Soju would be more for spicy options like "Jae Yuk Bokum" (Pork & Kimchi fry) or "Dak Do Ri Tang" (Spicy Chicken stew in hot pot/bowl). The dak do ri tang was also good. A bit on the sweet side for my liking but not so sweet that I had to send it back or was unhappy with the order.
Overall the quality of the chicken and the food was acceptable. No complaints. In fact, the chicken was very good. I was pleased with how moist and tender they were and how I didn't get that 'sick' feeling from ingesting too much oil. Usually, I get that 'sick' feeling after two pieces of KFC, but the chicken here didn't do that to me.
The price – Is it worth it?
Although I had no issues with the food, I had a serious issue with the prices. I couldn't believe how expensive (relatively) everything was. From individual orders to combos on the menu, it was obvious the owners didn't to any competitive market research in the area prior to setting the prices. As good as the food was, it wasn't that exceptional that I'd come back to get financially raped again by these guys. I want to make it clear, that the service was good and the people seemed very nice. But for me, I'd rather get more bang for my buck at other Korean drinking establishments like Sul Zip at 401 and Yonge.
