Koumi Japanese Restaurant

Unimpressive. I first tried them out about 10 years ago and when they first opened, they were excellent. Over a few years they declined to the point I stopped going there. Fast forward to 2025 and I had heard that they had changed management so I decided to give them another shot. My warning should have been that the parking lot had 1 vehicle at 7pm. The inside was clean but empty. I ordered my food, chicken and shrimp hibachi which was a little over $16. The entree had a good heft to it, about 2lbs. The taste was mid at best. The rice was dry and unflavored. The chicken was tough, stringy and dry. The shrimp was the best ingredient of the dish. Vegetables were okay although there were very few. In my opinion I wouldn't go back even for a free meal.

Found worm in broccoli. Don’t eat anything with broccoli unless you like worms! 2023 Don’t get mushrooms my last fried rice with mushrooms, they were rotten stinking with the black dots! Fast forward 2025 Feb tried again just no broccoli or mushrooms bad choice . Got the onion rings appetizer, vegetable tempura, how can you mess up onions rings? Right? Wrong!!! New management! Took whole inside of onion tried to fry it, the inside was pure raw flour uncooked! That’s illegal to serve raw uncooked flour as food! And they were $12! Just lost a good understanding customer with family average order $60+ per visit on the regular! Try to do better! They use to be good. And the fried rice that’s $15 which is a very large amount only has a spoon full of vegetables so it’s just a bunch of rice. I’ll just cook at home, thanks for the enlightenment.

This is a great place to dine at. I enjoy Pho 🍜 and there is no other that comes even close. The soups are always fresh, hot wholesome and Yesss oh so delicious. The owners and staff are super friendly. They understand the importance of Customer service and Guess relations. The best place Tops in Durham, clean too.

I would not recommend Koumi. On May 12, 2025, I ordered online through their website, which uses the “Beyond Menu” platform. I requested for my hibachi to have the onions on the side. I received a call from Beyond Menu, where the rep said that Koumi could not fulfill my request. I told her that’s okay, I’ll accept it with onions in it, as normal. Apparently the Beyond Menu rep couldn’t get in touch with Koumi in the 20 minutes it took for me to get there. I went to the restaurant, where the person at the register told me, again, that they can’t put my onions on the side. I said “yeah, the lady from Beyond Menu already told me. I told her it was okay, just put the onions in.” I sat down and waited about 15 minutes, then a THIRD person came out to tell me the same thing again, so I repeated myself a third time. A few minutes later… I finally got my food 45 minutes after ordering… They took the onions out entirely. This tells me that 1. Koumi struggles with communication and following directions. 2. If they can take the onions out of the dish entirely, why couldn’t they just put them in a different container? I don't understand. I also noticed that there was a paper at the register that said “no refunds for any reason!” It makes me think that they have problems like this a LOT. They are so unwilling to give people their money back, they even made a SIGN. The food was mediocre. The hibachi was alright, though I wish it had onions. The dragon roll had too much sauce and was soggy. Didn’t like the taste of the pork gyoza and it was soggy too. My husband and I were not impressed. I spent $67 on my whole order… not worth it.

I only gave 4 stars because the egg rolls and spring rolls were AMAZING! This place is a skroongggggg 3.5 Now I got chicken and steak hibachi- large portion but lacking so much flavor. The rice is DRYYYYY! Cud lawd don’t hurt ya self! I’m taking my plate home to doctor it up. My coworkers got sushi and said it was really good. The staff is sooooo sweet! The experience was good just need more flava with the food! Definitely get those spring rolls though!!! TellemGabbbsentya!!!

Ordered Chicken drunken noodle for dinner (dined in), with spiciness level 4 (out of 5 levels of spiciness). The drunken noodle was tasty and the owners were very friendly. Also had their Taro bubble tea, which was more of a slushie type of bubble tea. The portion of the tapioca pearls/boba was too little and it wasn’t really good either. Nevertheless the food was delicious so it wasn’t a bad experience

The hibachi is delicious per usual, but I checked my receipt and the totals weren't adding up right. Check your receipts.

Good food in a basic place. Great for lunch and takeout. Less so for date night 😉 Food is good though and the service is nice

Lazy restaurant. Order at the counter. No beer. Might as well go to subway. For the price of the panang I could have 4 sandwiches there. 12.50/4

Food was good, service excellent, and the ambiance the inside of restaurant area very nice.

Got this order from Door Dash and the Hibachi was delicious, and the Spring Rolls were pretty good and you can't go wrong with Bubble Tea to cool you down..I have ordered from here a few times and I have yet to be disappointed....Would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are hungry and the prices aren't too bad either...

The food took forever, place was not very clean, and food wasn't very good. The staff was pretty nice though.

Don't let it's appearance fool you. This place is real-deal Asian food. I got the chicken & beef hibachi meal with some chicken pho; they were both BANGIN! And of course, you have to get some fried dumplings while you're there. A solid place to go any day.

I have always liked Koumi. They recently changed ownership and I will have to say the food has improved if that was even possible. The spring rolls are crispy and fresh. And the Thai pineapple fried rice is perfection. Even the dipping sauce for the eggs rolls has improved. It has all been so fresh and yummy!!!! I will be coming back for more!! PS. The sushi was really good too!!

We got 4 sushi rolls, among them was the Caramount and Black Spider rolls. All the food was delicious but those were really exceptional. Recommend Koumi for sure.

The lady at the register told me my total was $44. I had $60 in twenties in my wallet. I handed her $60. My daughter even said, it's not usually that expensive. She handed me back $6. I said wait you told me it was $44. You owe me $14. She said no I told you $34. I said that's even worse, I gave you $60 Clear as day because I counted it as I handed it to you. She said no you didnt you have me $40. I asked the manager to look at the cameras and she did nothing except argue back and repeating what the other lady said. They wouldn't even give me a receipt. I came super close to calling the cops. Just for the fact that she bluntly took money from me and didn't even offer to look. I will not be back to this place anymore. It's a shame to because the food is good. Too bad their integrity isn't.

My new favorite place to get Hibachi! Great food and customer service, portions are large and prices are on point. I can't wait to try the sushi next time.

Ordered dinner online shortly before 4:00 in the afternoon with a pick up time of 6:00. Arrived to be told they didn't have our order and could they see the confirmation. My husband showed them the confirmation three times over the next few minutes. After reading it three times, they still managed to get the order wrong, substituting chicken for the more expensive beef hibachi that was ordered. Th3 plastic bag was so tightly tied we couldn't get into it to check the rider until we got home, and they didn't check it with us. Bottom line, the food was okay, but the service was less than stellar and getting the wrong order is annoying. since they waited until we arrived to start cooking it, it would seem they might at least have gotten the order right.

If you're looking for a sushi restaurant with a good buy one get one deal Koumi definitely is the place in Durham for that. I usually get the $8.99 sushi deal with the crunchy crab roll and dynamite roll. The fillings are generous and the rolls are tight. I've also had the hibachi but it's not my first option for this restaurant because they serve so much more. The veggie lo mein also has many types of vegetables in it, the portion size is also amazing for the price.

I only come for three items on the menu, sushi, bang mi and the bubble tea. The noodles tend to be over cooked which is a bummer because they have a good variety of choices! Also, the drive thru does not mean you will get your food faster, if you order over the phone and pick up you may get lucky. It's more about convenience if you don't want to wait inside!

A-OK takeaway sushi from Koumi tonight. I got two rolls that were nicely assembled and the fish was good. It was unremarkable. Koumi has sushi, chinese, thai and even vietnamese. Jack of all trades, master of none. As I said, the sushi was good. It's not quite "I'm a fan."

I LOVED THE FOOD!! Great staff as well. I look forward to going back here when I am back in Durham.

Food was Awesome!! Fresh and staff so Friendly ... Please Come and check out new management with Nick.

I just ate there and it was really good. I found out it is under new ownership and I see many improvements. It was cleaner and had added plants and the food was better. I had a chat with the owner and he was really nice and friendly. He said he has done some improvements is planning a lot more improvements. I can't wait.

Koumi is a very interesting restaurant. As mentioned in some previous reviews, the restaurant definitely from the outside appears to be a bit sketchy. It's not in the greatest of neighborhoods and it kind of looks a chain fast food restaurant including drive in. There's no servers, you order from the front register and then they bring the food out to you. Once you get over the initial sketchiness, the place has some really good food! We started off with the Fish Sauce Wings based on so many good recommendations here and they lived up to the hype. Really crispy and the fish sauce gave it a great taste. I would definitely recommend. One thing, in the Yelp app, they have a wing special you can use. They don't accept it when we were there. We also enjoyed several rolls including spicy tuna, spider, spicy salmon and some individual pieces of nigiri. The fish was fresh and really tasty. Finally, the place is really, really inexpensive! Great deal for the cost compared to most sushi restaurants. I would say add long as your comfortable going in, Koumi offers some great sushi!

Pretty good food. My son loves the bagel roll. It's always been a good value which makes it super busy. They've raised prices a few times and now everything is one dollar more. They explain they can't change drive through sign but have this notice on the window. Why no note at the drive through speaker to add $1. Seems sus.

You can't beat the value. Good quality food, huge portions, great prices. I've only ever had their sushi and their hibachi but I've never been disappointed and the drive-through is a huge plus.

Over the years since my original review, there's been a little up and down, but this last time, bad experience; either the rainbow roll or the spider roll had me sick the entire next day.

I came in with pretty high expectations because of the previous reviews, but I'm not sure what the hype is anymore. PROS: * they have a drive through?? thought it was because of the old building, but they're still using it * food comes out extremely quickly * cheap prices for decent sizes * the people there are incredibly nice and there is great service! CONS: * pad thai was soooo heavy and way too sweet. More cabbage than noodles and the sauce was a little too overbearing for pad thai * i got the salmon nigiri.... but... this just DID NOT look or taste like salmon. probably against my better judgment, I ate it (i was fine after), but it literally tasted like nothing. A true waste of $, I'm not sure why they put nigiri on the menu OVERALL: I won't be back. The place was somewhat full when I was there, but maybe I just chose the wrong menu items, but I was pretty disappointed in the food.

I placed an order to this restaurant thinking I would get some good food. This suppose to be Vietnamese Chicken Wings per the description "Fresh chicken wings, deep fried, tossed in caramelized fish sauce, garlic and served with pickle" and this what I got. This is far from what it described. I started smelling a weird unpleasant odor as I picked up the first chicken wing and started to inspect the box and came across this. This is highly unacceptable and I understand this may have been the last order but still you don't serve anyone this mess. I will never eat from this establishment again, I will be asking for a refund when they open in the am and I suggest to anyone else not to eat here either. They obviously don't care about the quality of food they put out to their customers.

I've passed by it a million times and never tried. It looks like one of those Japanese Express places. Tonight I needed food and I needed it fast and needed it close by. Long story, but my choices were Kuomi, Chipotle, Zaxbies, Freddie's and Chick-fil-A. I don't care for any of the chains available so I took a chance. OMG I was so pleasantly surprised! Not just Japanese, but Thai curries, Pho and... I had the Thai green curry with beef and spring rolls. The spring rolls were good. They had a different flavor from what I am accustomed to but very good. They ask you to choose your heat level with certain dishes, 1-5. I chose 3 for my curry. The broth was perfect. And I mean perfect. Just the right amount of sweet and curry. Spicy enough to make my throat tingle but not to hot on the tongue. It was served piping hot and such a fresh flavor. Yep, I'll be going back

I've been here before and the food is pretty decent. We got the hibachi meal for two- I went to have the salad and found a hair in it. Today I took some of the leftovers for lunch and found ANOTHER hair in my hibachi... somewhat grossed out.

Nice portion size. Ordered the gyoza and hibachi chicken which was delicious. Gave a lot of white sauce too

"Good Japanese-American 'fast-food' and basic sushi" Let me start by saying what this place is "not"-- this is not a fancy date-night or impress-the-guest restaurant. If you want that setting, or higher-end Japanese cuisine/ sushi, then go to Kurama or someplace like that. This is a place to go with the kids to get a decent dinner at a lower price. Along the side of Roxboro St stands this restaurant that looks much more like a renovated fast food joint than a Japanese restaurant, complete with drive-thru on the backside. The setting is somewhat dark inside-- almost like the lights weren't turned all the way on rather than mood lighting. You walk up to a cash register in the front, order what you want, sit down, and they bring your order in a few minutes. Positives: + Price/ portion-size/ value. I got a hibachi chicken/ sushi combo for roughly $9 before tax and tip. Came with a rather large plate of hibachi chicken and vegetables (carrots, broccoli, onions, zucchini) over fried rice, one sushi roll (I picked the salmon roll), and a fountain drink. It was a quite satisfying quantity of food, and that price was excellent. Two kids split a two-sushi-roll combo (also ~$9), and it was pretty big (see picture). Both were full by the end. + Service. All the staff were clearly trying very hard to make us happy and comfortable-- we were checked on several times (with drink refills) while we awaited our dish, and several people came to ask if it was our first time and if we were happy with the food. Presentation of the food was also surprisingly good. Neutral: +/- Quality. Solid-- better than Japan Express by a lot, and they clearly made the sushi fresh. None of the dishes were quite as amazing as what I'd get someplace higher-end like Kurama, but they were below half the price here compared to Kurama, so again, value was high for good quality. Hibachi and rice were quite tasty. The dragon roll was pretty good, philly and salmon rolls were serviceable (though I'd probably not order them again next time). Negatives: - Setting. Again, dark (not in an "intimate" way), and slightly distracting with TV playing football. Synopsis: Good place if you're craving some good Japanese-American food or basic sushi and don't want to break the bank. Definitely a better option than fast-food or places like Japan Express. Likely a good option for take-out, too. Solid 3-stars (maybe 3.5): A-OK.

It's always better to order through Grubhub with them because you will get more food. The drive-thru service is not as fast as you would think. They will take your payment then ask you to pull around to the front door and bring your food out to you.

Food: 5 Service: 5 Ambience: 5 Price: 5 Date/Time: 8/22/2015 7:30pm This place was a surprise in that it seemed to be your basic sit down fast food Asian restaurant (the ones that serve hibachi and teriyaki chicken from pre-cooked containers). The menu has quite a bit of variety with Vietnamese, Thai, sushi bar and yes even hibachi :-) You order then sit down in a booth in the nicely decorated dining room and the server brings out your food when ready. Service was fast and everyone was friendly! The Chicken Pad Thai was very tasty and although only level 2 spicy was requested it was definitely hotter than expected (would hate to have put level 5 in my mouth!). The yellow curry chicken rice was also very good! Prices were very reasonable especially with all the food they serve to you! Highly recommended!

I really love this place. It gets pretty busy, though, so go before 1130, or after 1, if you are in a hurry, otherwise it doesn't matter too much, as they turn tables relatively fast. I love the Pho, and the curry, which are my fallbacks. I have got to branch out some more, and will upon my next visit. The sushi always looks fresh, although I have never had it, and the stir fry is delicious (I get mine without rice, and just extra vegetables). If you like spicy food, I would try one of the dishes that you can spice up from 1-5. 5 is a chile breathing fire, but never tried it, the 4 usually makes me sweat pretty good, and if in the curry, it builds...

My favorite hibachi takeout in Durham. Affordable quality food and a great price. I eat here maybe once a week!

Had sushi and banh mi. Their sushi wasn't bad, but I thought their banh mi was pretty good. The only downside of it was the bread was very average. The fillings, however, were well portioned and flavorful.

Unless a location is an extreme in one direction or another, I like to visit a number of times and get a number of dishes before I commit to a review. Just seems fair. So, I've been to Koumi a half dozen times with coworkers when we have time to slip out of the office, so check on that. But, I haven't done the other half, a number of dishes. It ain't my fault though, you know? My first visit I noticed a little hand-written sign that said Drunken Noodles. I don't frequent many places that have them and I love me some noodles. So every visit I've gotten them. Every visit. I started with heat level 3 and bumped up to 4. I bounce back and forth depending on the company I'm keeping. Not the quality, but the quantity. Heat level 4 is hot enough that I can't keep up my side of a 2-person conversation. But if there are 3 or 4 of us, I'm happy to turn on the heat and tune out the conversation a little. In case the 4 stars didn't give it away, I really like the drunken noodles a lot. I've split gyoza and spring rolls with my coworkers and they're very good as well. Everyone tells me the other items on the menu, across cuisines, are really good...but I can't get past the noodles.

Delicious and fresh. From the looks I normally wouldn't eat her but reviews led me her. SO many choices. The staff was great, too Great tuna cucumber salad with orange slices and avocado. Cucumber salad was loaded and such a light dressing. Finished with the sunset roll. YUM

Bad service and misleading menu. We ordered 4 rolls which two of them was suppose to be tempura. But guess what? It wasnt if even friend. When we spoke to the owner he refused to substitute for us the rolls and kept insisting that it was right. The rolls itself wasnt that good as well. He lost a client and i will never come back!! BE AWARE!!

I'm going to update my previous review by adding to it. I've been going to Koumi Japanese Restaurant since I've moved to Durham. Really liked the previous owners John and Susie, they always made you feel welcomed in their restaurant and genuinely showed their appreciation for your business. The restaurant is always very clean and the staff is always friendly. The food is always amazing. The reason I gave them only 4 stars instead of 5 is with the new ownership, it doesn't feel as welcoming and the new owner seems strictly business. The food is still amazing and the staff seems to be a little more on edge but still friendly. Do not order the Thai Iced Tea. It does taste really good, but they charge $2.69 for it, it's 80% ice and you will not get refills. I don't think that 4 sips of anything is worth $2.69, except maybe a good bourbon.

Complete hole in the wall. Inside is a little dirty looking. Outside area looks a little rough. But the food is actually amazing and very cheap for what it is. Cheap sushi. This is my 3rd time here. They also have a drive through which is nice. You can order ahead on the phone and just pick up your food through the drive through. I had the pad thai and shaggy dog roll. Both were great. Service was fast and took the eta that they gave me.

How old is the rice y'all feed people? It's hard and was supposedly just made. Don't eat here.

4.5 out of 5 stars. Came here with two friends to get some good Asian food and I was not disappointed. The layout of the venue reminds me of a Waffle House, except with images of Japanese artwork hung on the walls. They have a large menu with Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai food; they also have a variety of sushi rolls. Koumi uses a 5-level spice scale, ranging from mild to "meltdown." I'm used to eating spicy food (sometimes I'm surprised when people say the foods I eat are too spicy), but I heard that Koumi food is spicier than most Asian restaurants in Durham. I chose to get my meal at a medium spice level. I definitely tasted the spice, yet I felt that it was present at a light enough note that didn't diminish or overpower the flavor the dish. What I love the most about this place is that the food is super cheap, yet they don't sacrifice quality. The chicken pad thai, a Ahashi beer, and a vietnamese coffee cost $16. After I placed my order at the counter, I sat down at a table with my friends and less than ten minutes later my food was served. The waiter was very friendly and was encouraged us to let him know if we needed anything. In all these years of dining out, I have always finished my meal, no matter how big. I could not finish my pad thai tonight; I had to ask the waiter for a to-go box. The sauce they used for the pad thai was excellent and their thin noodles were quite filling. Good thing I'll have pad thai for breakfast tomorrow! If I hadn't ordered the drinks (which were both great choices) my meal would have been less than $10. I still can't believe that I got such a hefty meal for that price! I will definitely be coming back here again to try out the rest of their menu.

Not your typical Japanese restaurant. I have never complained about ginger dressing but THIS Japanese restaurant failed me. The steak was tough and the carrots were definitely from the can. We won't be back.

Order 2 hours ahead of time if you expect to have your meal ready when you arrive. Convinced they don't even see the grub hub orders until you get there.

A decent Japanese restaurant with a variety of Asian cuisine. I came in on one occasion to order a Bubble Tea and decided to come back for food next time. I came back today and opted for Pho because I was craving it badly. Their menu is pretty expansive but they need to reorganize it so that the items are more clear to the customer placing the order. An order of Pho Beef Flank came up to $11.70. They give me a flag and I picked a table. The server came out immediately with drink and condiments. My Pho came out shortly after that. The Pho came in a pretty big bowl, which was nice, but the beef was on the skimpy side. The broth was great though so it satiated my craving. I'll just ask for extra beef should I decide to return for Pho. Customer service was great, their server, Angelica, was really sweet. All in all a nice experience.

Idk where all these glowing reviews came from. The shining light of this place would be the servers, who run themselves ragged trying to get food to diners who have already waited far too long for their food because the kitchen is (apparently) backed up. Then- the sushi isn't even good! I ordered two rolls and neither one impressed me. They didn't taste fresh and I kept eating although I knew better than to do that. I felt slightly nauseous on my way home. If you come here, order a cooked meal like noodles or something that can't be messed up. Me, I'll be going elsewhere.

We decided to grab a bite while in town and an Asian fusion with Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese sounded very appealing. My husband loves his pho and is very particular about it. Turns out, he actually liked the pho bo vien (meatball pho). Portions are pretty nice as well. Usually at other pho joints, they have two sizes. Here, there's only one and it would be considered as a large at other places. I opted for the vermicelli dish with beef and egg roll with a Thai tea. Nothing too special but then again, it's hard to go wrong with the dish. We also had Tom yum and it was decent. Overall, I would definitely stop by this place if I'm nearby. With different cuisines, it's hard to decide what to eat! The staff were friendly and courteous. (Note: there are signs posted that there is no refunds and all sales are final. Also, the place looks like it used to be a fast food joint. Don't let the appearance fool you, the place is actually nice. After all, at least the food is good!)

Disappointed:/ I ordered panang curry, pad see ew, and egg rolls. The curry and pad see ew lacked the traditional flavors of the Thai dishes. The pad see ew actually had no flavor at all. I lived in Thailand where I ate these almost daily and they tasted no where close. I thought the size of the egg rolls were quite small for the price. They did taste delicious, however. On a positive note, i did enjoy the taro bubble tea and the employees were friendly and hardworking. The portions of both the rice and the pad see ew was wealthy.

Came in from out of town. Ordered Shrimp & Chicken drunken noodle. 5out of 5. Very impressed!! Large pieces of meat, tons of veggies, and noodles.

I like the food here because it's not as oily as some places and they don't use too much black pepper in rice. That is good! The drive through is a bonus. My only complaint is that they put foods with lots of sauce in containers that spill. One container spilled all over my car bc the bag had a hole in it (!), and I will have to pay to get it cleaned. Definitely not happy about it, but the food was still good. :)

Great hibachi restaurant, they use good quality meat and are quick, orders are usually ready within 15 min. Customer service is great, they check your order before giving it to you. The first time I picked up food, there was no shrimp sauce but they caught it before giving me the bag. Another take-out we ordered steamed rice and they mistakenly gave us fried rice but caught it again and gave us a side of steamed rice complimentary. Nobody's perfect but it's nice when a restaurant double checks your order and apologizes when they make a mistake. We've ordered take out from here over 20 times.

I used to work nearby and frequent this establishment for lunch. It has been a year since the last time I have been here so I was so excited to visit again. The food here is great and the price is right. However, I did notice that they are now skimpier on the vegetables. Don't get me wrong, you get a very large portion, but it seems like a majority of the veggies in the hibachi chicken dish are mainly onions whereas previously it was a nice mix of onions, zucchini and whole mushrooms. This time, I found two pieces of a half mushroom and one and a half pieces of zucchini. The meal still tasted as good as I remember. I also remember that their Pad Thai was delicious and came as an extremely generous portion. Another special delicacy I must note is the sweet carrots: a must-try! It does automatically come with some dishes such as the hibachi chicken. Don't forget to try the shrimp sauce. This stuff is for everything, not just when you get the shrimp and I have no idea what it is, but it is just mmmmm.

Great place for families!! Food is great! We loved the seafood udon soup and the Koumi special for two. Staff is very friendly and the place is clean.