KI Restaurant & Lounge
Information
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Date Updated: March 23, 2006 |
Address:
181 BAY ST , Toronto Phone: (416) 308-5888 |
Nearest Major Intersection: Yonge St & Queen St E | |
Details
| Reservations Required: N/a Delivery: No (or n/a) Dress Code: N/a |
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Description
Japanese cuisine.
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Reviews & Ratings (Showing Latest 2 of 2)
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JoveReviews: 29Badges: 7 |
Overall:
 
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March 21, 2006 |
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2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
An upscale Japanese restaurant with 20 seat sushi bar, cocktail bar and lounge, offers standard Japanese fare as well as their own modern signature hot and cold dishes. Pronounced "Kee", it also has "fallback" dishes on the menu, for those less inclined to the sushi experience.
I recommend this place. Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report as Spam |
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| Milo |
Overall:
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September 19, 2006 |
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5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
11:45AM. Reservation at Ki (restaurant) for 2 people. Ki is located inside the BCE Place, corner of Wellington and Bay, featuring sashimi, traditional and contemporary makimonos and Japanese food with a fresh new twist. It is reported that the budget was set at 7 million dollars, and one can definitely feel where the money was spent. Urban interior, clean cut lines, semi-dark room and extremely courteous servers sets Ki apart from the usual Financial District eateries. Obviously everything comes with a price! Upon walking through 2 heavy glass doors, we were greeted by a host (I would've preferred a hostess) and the floor manager. Last name weren't used while addressing us (a little disappointed judging for the high expectations of such restaurant). The floor manager guides us to a quiet corner inside a dimly lit room, politely leaves the menu on the table to its respected place and waits until we sit down before leaving. Within 10 seconds, our server came. (She didn't introduce us by the last name, nor did she give her name away). She did however ask if this is our first time at Ki and offered to run through the menu with us explaining its highlights. Right before opening the menu, she offered whether we'll like something to drink. We ordered an iced tea ($3), a hot green tea/Genmaicha ($5). Unfortunately the iced tea wasn't refilled upon finishing it. The green tea was and it came in an extremely heavy, good quality tea-pot. The server was very amicable while removing the filtered tea leaves and poured the first cup for us. I later ordered a 3oz plum saketini ($10) that was a little too heavy on the alcohol side while lacking plum flavor while my date had a asian summer (strawberry) saketini ($10), which we both agreed was perfectly balanced, mild and fruity. After serving us the drink, she offered to explain the menu. There's a lunch menu consisting of 6 different bentos (Japanese lunchbox) ranging from $12 - $26. The main/dinner menu has 3 sections/pages. First was the soup & appetizers and a selection of sukiyaki (skewers) served with 3 dipping sauce. Second were the sashimi and makimonos and lastly the protein page divided into cold and hot plates. Our server was very familiar with the menu and explained with patient while answering any questions we had. The best part was her suggestion of her favorite dish, which gave us a guideline as to where and what to order, while selecting from a wide variety of strange and exotic-sounding menu items. We began with an appetizer of sweet potato wedges with wasabi mayonnaise ($7). The sweet potato wasn't as crispy as expected, and the wasabi mayo missed the balanced-pungent wasabi kick, but nothing beats freshly, handmade wedges so the flavor came out flawlessly in the mouth, despite lacking a satisfying crunch and a gratifying sinus rush from wasabi. Next we had a trio tartar composed of salmon ($18), toro (fatty tuna belly) and scallop served in three separate spoons. Salmon tartar was fresh and mild, while the scallop tartar lacks the usual scallop-sweetness and it wasn't enhanced by any other seasoning. In term of taste, the toro tartar was definitely champion. Well balanced, perfectly seasoned and full flavored. The only setback was the way salmon and toro tartar were sliced. Instead of small, uniform cubes, they were unpleasantly mashed, consequently it lacked visual beauty. Before the main course, we ordered a modern makimono -- Kiwi-Tuna ($13). It had mango, cucumber, spicy tomato salsa wrapped in too thinly sliced yellowfin tuna, a slice kiwi and a drop of miso. The roll itself looked spectacular, and the taste definitely lived up to its presentation. For some strange reason, my date had a tough time lifting the pieces of maki up, it always opened up at the bottom and fell apart. No such problem for me though. (Maybe it's my chopstick skills mastery or lack of hers) From a wide selection of lunch bento boxes, we ordered the black cod and tempura box ($24). It came with the usual set up of 2 tempura shrimp, 3 pieces of mixed tempura vegetables, a bowl of rice, a mix green with ginger apple dressing that tasted rather plain, and a broiled black cod with rapini, salmon roe and orange sauce. The cod was superbly prepared, cooked to perfection, flavorful, while the citrus from the orange sauce balanced perfectly with the fatty, moist cod. One drawback was the salmon roe, which did not have the usual satisfying “pop-in-your-mouth” feel due to over heating under the heat lamp. Lastly, the server recommended the grilled short rib ($17) marinated in maple-soya with sesame seeds. She claimed that it'll fall off the bone (which it didn’t). The dish came very plain, with a piece of rapini as decoration and no side accompaniment, which was forewarned by our server. My date claimed that the flavor was a little too strong for her taste, but knowing that it was probably marinated (maybe even overnight) in the maple-soya mixture, I was expecting a strong flavored dish that would've gone perfectly with some plain starch (rice, potato or noodle/pasta). Although flavorful, it still lacked the distinct woody taste of maple syrup written on the menu. In interior decor is simply perfect. Red wood table and comfortable, well cushioned chair, soft carpet, gentle and subtle lighting, all created in support of a long, pleasant dinning experience, something not expected from the typical fast-pace, right-in-your-face, Financial District restaurant scene. My biggest complain will be in the attention for small details, such as not using name or last name while addressing us, the boring looking, ordinary white plastic take-out bag, the BIC ball point pen handed to me while singing my credit card receipt, and the cheap, pinkish soap provided in the otherwise stunning, flawless washroom. Service was well above average, friendly, knowledgeable and patient. It was greatly appreciated that we were left to enjoy our meal at ease and in peace with only a few subtle check-ups. However, while asking for the leftover food to be packaged, we made it clear the food were for separate individuals, but our server packaged all in one box and later apologized. Service could’ve been perfect if she just took action to solve her mistake by changing the take out box, instead of merely apologizing and giving us a choice of whether she should change it or not. This left us a little disappointed, especially for the price and clientele they’re targeting. Although a little pricy, Ki provides excellent atmosphere, innovative food and extremely amicable, courteous service. I would've liked to see this place stand out completely from the usual trendy-modern/new world-cuisine restaurant. But the lack of attention on minor details is too big to overlook since these are the little details that separates a great restaurant, like Ki, from an excellent restaurant Ki could have been. I recommend this place. Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report as Spam |
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