Koifusion@1

Docking a star for the über-​slow rate of food production the last two visits.

Nothing could make me give this place less than 5 stars as long as they keep serving that Kimchi Quesadilla. I kind of have nothing else to say.
Oh, and during happy hour all the entrees are $ 6 and apps are half price. Cocktails have some sort of discount that I don’t remember but I got a cucumber-​y one that was delicious. Go during happy hour because it’s totally empty, and I would imagine when it gets crowded the place screams Midtown Manhattan.

If you love KOI Mobile, STAY AWAY from Studio One. It’s a really crappy imitation of the cart food. My burrito was way too big (strike one), had bland basic rice (not sticky), and cheese? All in all, it was a flavorless mess, not at all like the cart. The girl working there was super nice, but this place will ruin Koi’s great reputation.

Well, I wasn’t particularly impressed with this locale. They failed to provide the basics (KFC). Not only that, they provided us with indifferent service, expensive, unintentionally made non-​alcoholic drinks, and less than mediocre food. The BulGoGi tacos that I ordered were tasteless and uninspired — quite a disappointment actually considering the exceptional level of goodness Ollie and I have experienced from their food cart. I suppose its only fitting this place is in the Pearl… why should they get all the fun, right?

I love Koi Fusion cart and I was excited to try out the KFC (Korean Fried Chicken). The only place you can get it is at KoiFusion@1. So my DL and I made a visit on First Thursday. and they didn’t have it.
It wasn’t on the menu which I found out from twitter they do that on purpose, so we asked and the waiter (the one and only waiter in the whole dining area) told us that the «media people» came the day before and cleaned them up. How dare they the media people came and just cleaned all of KFC and left none for me? Wait, so why not make more of this KFC? The waiter said they were in the process of making more of them and they won’t be ready until after 8 pm.
I looked at my watch and it was only 6 pm. I didn’t want to wait that long for dinner, so my DL and I decided to stay and ordered other things of the menu.
I ordered the Quesadilla with Kim Chee & Galbi fillings. My DL ordered the three BulGoGi tacos. We also ordered drinks from the bar. $ 8-​$ 9 per glass of mixed drinks, I thought for sure these drinks would be strong. I was wrong, these drinks were weak. I’m famous for being a lightweight and even I didn’t get any buzz or taste the alcohol from my drink. Our drinks were mostly juice with an itty tiny bitty alcohol in it.
We waited for our food for a while. We were bored while we were waiting so I analyzed this place. The set up of this place was a joke. It was in a basement, flat screen televisions are on the wall. It was kinda dark, but not really. It feels like this place is trying to be a hype nightclub, but also a sports bar because they do show NBA games and at the same time you can chow down on Korean tacos. Ah I got it.
When our food arrived, we were starved after all the wait. My Quesadilla was tasty and delicious. Who knew kimchee would work well as a Quesadilla filling? I think this is the only reason why I can give one star for this place instead of no star at all.
The service was really bad. One waiter served a full capacity dining room. When we arrived, he didn’t say hello to us, just handed us the menu. I said «Hi, How are you?» to him and he looked like he got caught off guard and made a «Fine.and you?» response. I don’t mind to greet every single waiters and waitresses first if I had to, but can I have the portion of their tips as well?
He didn’t check on us once if we need water, refill on drinks, or would you like a new drink? No one bussed tables. They just left dirty plates and glasses on empty tables.
As we about ready to depart, another couple walked in and were asking about the KFC. The waiter told them the same answer, the hungry media people ate all KFC. I just wished that if Koi Fusion can tweet about anything else related to their operations, why don’t they tweet about KFC scarce that day? If I knew it, I would make my visit on a different day and it will be a different review than what I wrote today.

I know I have to go back to this place when it’s NOT at the end of a night of drunken revelry (which for me, means 9:30 pm), but a few hazy memories:
This place has the delicious food of the Koi Fusion carts, of which I am a big fan, but in the weird space of a pseudo-​nightclub. In short, it’s weird and delicious. The main draw of the place is that you can get booze and sit down at a comfortable table with your K-​tacos. The booze part especially is welcome, because the only improvement on a kimchi quesadilla I can imagine would be to drink it with a cold beer. Just for my two cents, I didn’t really like the fried chicken at all, and I was pretty tipsy. Not a good sign in my book.
The space used to be some terrible-​looking dance bar/​lounge/​thing that I never visited, but our server was super-​sweet and it didn’t seem like a nightclub vibe at all. It wasn’t busy, despite being prime drinking hour on a Friday night, but that’s just what I like– when the other restaurants/​bars in this immediate area are busy, I avoid them like the plague (I’m looking at you, On Deck and Bridgeport).
I’ll go back, of course, but don’t want others to expect a nice, full restaurant experience. It’s basically just Koi Fusion food stuck in a nightclub space– delicious and weird.

I like that the Koifusion@1 is a stationary spot to enjoy some Korean BBQ, with a laid back atmosphere & some tasty cocktails. The food was delicious however, the service left something to be desired. The restaurant was understaffed, all the food came out at staggered times, one dish taking close to 2 hours to be delivered.

At KoiFusion@1 KFC = Korean Fried Chicken. It’s not something you can do out of the back of a food cart and it’s the star at KoiFusion’s first Pop-​Up Restaurant at the site of the former bar SOLO.
KoiFusion@1 has many of the menu items which put KoiFusion on the map with the addition of the amazing spicy fried chicken. It’s crispy, crunchy and delicious. Also on the new menu, Korean spiced fries which are also fantastic.
Drinks here are done by someone else and are mostly vodka infused. Hope they get more beers on tap and do whiskey specials because those parings would be much better with Korean tacos and chicken.
Definitely worth checking out.