JMK Nippon

Stopped in for a birthday dinner with the family. They need to make it clear when you enter what you are coming for… if you are coming for Hibachi you go left, if you want Sushi (or a non habachi table) you go right.
We had a variety of rolls, sashimi, tempura, and ramen.
Everyone loved their meal, drinks were good, all the sushi was fresh and flavorful and quick out of the kitchen/​sushi bar.
We will definitely keep coming!
The place is HUGE so even though the parking lot can look crowded from the road you can probably get a seat — this is important info because a few times we drove past the place thinking it was too busy.

Worst sushi in Rockford, egotistical management, and slow service. Not worth your money.

My drink was watered down, the salad was drenched in dressing, the soup they brought out was just an empty broth, the steak was flavorless the scallops were alright. Worst was the chef had no personality. He just cooked everything & never interacted with us.
Had a better time @ Shogun & they have a more diverse menu.

I come here a lot, with family and we know the owners, family friends; but that doesn’t matter – we are in Masa side and we have tea, the tea cup is by far hideous, it’s dirty on the handle, and when you open the lid, on the edges it’s dirty, beyond miles.
No the service from our hostess; she’s just not trying, she walks sluggish, like she doesn’t care, like she doesn’t want to be here. I’m sorry princess but it’s your job, you get money out of this. Be happy. I see the other waitresses and they are all happy, smiling and interactive. Our hostess, a huge frown, an agitated face – go back inside get yourself together and come out.
Now the tables, clean but I can still feel the muck, from past times.
Food– it’s good as always. No complain there, I always get he same when I come here,
Everything. Clean. But the bathrooms could use some touch up once in awhile throughout the night.

I took a date here. Food was excellent. Service was very sub par. I was very disappointed. I feel sitting waiting for our drinks for 20 minutes and then waiting another 15 for the server to take our order is unacceptable. I have enjoyed this place in the past. I have had bad service the last few times. Will not be back.

Perfect date night! The ambiance is awesome and the food was delicious. I was very impressed. There were only two of us so we were seated rather quickly but it seems larger groups should make a reservation-​the place was packed on a Sunday evening. Prices were very fair, $ 37 for lobster tail and filet mignon which came with soup, salad, vegetables & rice. (The menu indicated our meals included ice cream for dessert but we didn’t get that not sure why & only thought of it well after the fact) Cocktails were around $ 5 – 7 which is seriously cheap imo. We’ll return for sure! Also, it seemed like the owner was walking the floor, greeting regular customers with a smile which I thought was very nice. Definitely a place to check out!

Always been a favorite. Delicious and fun. Beautiful inside and out. My only complaint would be slightly overpriced. Two people should not have a $ 100 bill before tip. Favorite chef would be Ruben. We’ve always requested him because he’s so outstanding.

We went to JMK Friday nite on the café side. We are regular patrons and have always been very pleased with the food and service. Friday night was hopefully an anomaly as the server was HORRIBLE and the food was below formerly experienced quality. Server provided no traditional warmed hand wipe towels, no water and once the food was served she never came back. In fact a different server came to our table (at our sever’s request she said) to check on us because our sever «had a ton of plates». My husband and I got the message that our experience didn’t matter– the sever was just too busy! What kind of excuse is that? The jumbo shrimp shumai appetizer was barely warm and my nubeyaki udon egg was hard boiled when I got it served to me. The udon was not piping hot as it should be (how I’ve experienced it before) and tempura was cold. It obviously had sat out –oh yeah, did I mention our sever was too busy? We may be too busy to spend our money there for awhile. Suggest if you can’t find parking (which was difficult) don’t go in as that’s just the beginning of a date night ruined!

I am not a super sushi aficionado or anything but the dragon roll from here was the best I have had. The fried was mediocre. My co worker ordered something that I cant pronounce and he was very delighted by it and said he would drive from Chicago to Rockford to buy this item. Overall good experience, I would just pass on the fried rice next time.

My wife and I went there in a Friday night to get food at the sushi bar. We got some sushi and the udon soup. The udon soup was amazing but the sushi was sub par. The next day my wife and I got extremely sick from the food. For two days we where incapacitated with chills and constant bathroom runs.
So we called the restaurant and talked to the manager who had no empathy for our situation at all. He stated that there was no way that we could of got food poisoning from JMK and said that he eats the sushi all the time and has not gotten sick. What an jerk response. Don’t waste your hard earned money here.

Hands down JMK is one of the best in Rockford. The teppan tables are much like you’d expect, but the Masa Café side is awesome. Great sushi, traditional Japanese entrees, and more. My personal favorite is a bento box for lunch.

This restaurant is my first choice in the area for sushi and Japanese/​fusion cuisine. The service has been great every time I’ve been here, and the food is delicious. I keep coming back to have a bowl of udon or unagi maki. So far I have not tried the hibachi grill.
They have plenty of options to explore on the menu, and it’s not likely you will get bored. I am impressed with the care that goes into preparing the meals, and I love the attention to detail where flavors and presentation are concerned.
To add to that — the place is very clean, the atmosphere is not stifling even when full of guests, and I have no negative comments about the establishment itself either. Very accessible and inviting.

Our second time here for sushi and I have to say disappointing. We had a spicy tuna roll that just lacked flavor and while the smoked sake was good the tuna was chewy and stringy. We have been in the area for about a year and feel this place is overrated.

Had a wonderful dinner experience in the masa area, last night. Great service, excellent food, pleasant atmosphere.
We had a couple appetizers– yakitori, veggie tempura and edamame dumplings. Nicely done! We had chicken teriyaki don and yakisoba with veggies for entrees. Nice size, very tasty and a timely delivery to our table. Ashley, our server was knowledgeable and friendly, btw. With a mai tai and a soft drink, $ 40 ish. A good value. I’ve gone to JMK since a month after they opened, almost 30 years ago, and this was the first time on this side. We shall be back a lot more often now.

I only got to try the sushi here, not the hibachi side. Big tip: order less sushi than you think you want. The fiancé and I were used to the inexpensive rolls being a bit on the smaller side — not so here. Leftover sushi is wasted sushi, so we struggled a bit in finishing up.
We did finish though, mainly because it was pretty good sushi. I can’t remember every roll or piece we had, but we cleaned off all three plates we received (because again, we don’t know how to order). It wasn’t the highest quality sushi around, but definitely not at AYCE quality either.
I’d go back for sure. I’d just make sure to space out my ordering.

This is one of my hubby’s favorite… And as you know the way to a mans heart is through his stomach. There are two sides to this restaurant… A café side (full menu) and the grill side (small menu). There are also koi ponds which are running through the restaurants.
We usually sit on café side, unless we bring our son, who is convinced he is going to be a chef here so he can get a red chef hat. The chefs are wonderful, most are really funny and good with entertaining bored kids by flipping food and creating volcanos from onions. Only down side is you come home smelling like smoke.
The fried rice is awesome and so is the teriyaki chicken. I don’t think it is on the menu on the grill side but you can ask for it. The onion soup is good but not much my taste. The salads ginger dressing is way strong for me but my husband often asking to bring some home (you can buy the dressing in containers). They have fun drinks in Buddha and coconut cups you can keep.
They do a lot of sushi on the café side and friends that eat sushi (I do not) say it is great. There are tables And bar seating on this side but not a whole lot. The grill side has 8 people «tables» seated on grill tops with your «personal chef.» Most of the time, unless we are with a large party, we get seated with another group. Make a reservation because this place gets packed with long waits.

I intentionally came to this restaurant without reading any reviews so I could leave an unbiased review… so here we go:
The building is beautiful. It is literally like stepping into a Japanese garden with Koi ponds, waterfalls, and Japanese art. Even the set up of the Hibachi tables is nicely spaced and the wall art and interior design is completely fascinating… by far the most ornate restaurant in Rockford.
The service… This is where is all goes to hell. We had reservations for 7:30pm for my wife’s B-​day. We were seated at the first Hibachi table in the room next to the entrance and facing the restaurant. We had two waitresses, one trainee and another lady. They started by giving us the menus and looking extremely upset. Almost bordering on rude, they basically asked us what we want, no explanation of the menu, emphasis of items, or even any options. I told them we are vegetation, and the both looked at me like I was an alien. After getting our drinks they returned saying the only option that was vegetation was the vegetable dinner, which comes with a soup (containing beef/​chicken broth) and a shrimp appetizer. I asked if we could get a veg option for both of those and I was informed I could not. I finally asked for the Sushi menu (it was never offered) and recognized some veg rolls and ordered those, since the waitresses failed to point those out to us as options.
On a side note … THERE IS NO KIDS MENU… So my kids had to get a full veg dinner. I actually split one order between my 11yo and 8yo and it was plenty.
The hibachi chef was very friendly and did the standard fire tricks and actually made some good conversation. He actually looked like he enjoyed working there. They don’t do all the crazy tricks of throwing food in your mouth or flipping food into your plate like I have seen at other restaurants. Funny thing is that all the hibachi chefs are Latin American, there is only one Japanese chef. The meal was ok, being a vegetable dinner, it was some onions, zucchini, tofu, tomatoes, and some fried rice. We actually hooked up our hibachi chef with $ 20, because he was such a breath of fresh air from out two angry waitresses.
We also tried dessert. The Mochi ice cream was ok, they have multiple flavors, we had the green tea with was kind of bland.
Overall, I went in very excited and wanted to have a great time because it was my wife’s birthday. Despite the best efforts of our waitresses, we had a decent time. I don’t think I will ever go back, and in all honesty I don’t think they will care. The staff seem so disinterested in their customers it was really sad because that place has incredible potential.

This review is for the café side only — I don’t do the hibachi grill thing, not when you have a café side this nice. Plus, added bonus, less of a wait. I went in on a Friday night with no reservation and my party of two was seated immediately.
I’ve always loved eating in such a beautiful place, and I’ve always loved their sushi. I probably won’t order the roll that had tempura batter around it, because for $ 12 I thought it was going to be freshly fried. Turns out it was cold and damp. But you know what? Now I know better. Next time I’m going to order like five of the vegetable tempura rolls because those were still hot when they came out, and that was freaking delicious. I’ll always come here when I’m in town.
Walked by a table on the way out with a mother and her young son frying their own meal on a small grill, and it was adorable and looked like a LOT of fun.

Seriously the best sushi around! I have never been disappointed! The Boston roll is my favorite but the king Dan is also really good. I recently moved to St Louis and I have yet to find a place that matches the greatness that is JMK.

Choose from Hibachi grill seating or the quieter Sushi Bar in rear of restaurant. There’s also a regular drinking bar in the back as well with a few seats.
Sushi was good and fresh. This place is always busy so it should be fresh when you visit.