Koi Japanese Cuisine

I’ve been coming to Koi for 15 years and there’s a reason why it’s still my hands down most favorite. the quality of the fish is amazing, the artistry and presentation of the best sushi chefs around, the customer service here… feels like a family when I see all the regulars on various days. beautiful and delicious food. ask for Daigo and the omakase and your tastebuds and minds will be blown. best part I occasionally bring small children here and he always makes them a cute hello kitty orange or butterflies from carrots. appreciate those special touches.

I cannot stop thinking about their Fatty Toro, just melts in your mouth and very fresh. We ordered a lot between 3 people and a long work day and everything was very well made. You could see in the presentation and quality that they are a true sushi restaurant. Staff was very attentive and friendly. I would definitely eat here when I am in the area, making a detour to eat here would be fine with me too.

Nice sushi place.
Salmon is pretty good.
I would not recommend the combo plates though. It doesn’t not really feel like Japanese food, the salad on the side and the cooked salmon with a sweet sauce… Not a real fan.
The miso soup and the salad (super large) are pretty good though

The nicest thing I can say about Koi is the service was good. But don’t go there expecting an interesting menu or quality food. I’ve been going to Koi for many years and have always liked it until recently. I was there last week and my friends and I agree… terrible food. I don’t know what happened or why but I can no longer recommend Koi. The menu is uninteresting and overpriced and the food is low quality.

One of the only «true» Japanese restaurants in the area (so many are actually Korean or Chinese making «Japanese» food).
After living in Japan for several years, this is the most local place to me for me to get Japanese food.
Some things are better than others, but their sushi has always been good.
The portions are definitely not Japanese portions — you get a lot of food.
As with all things from Japan, you do pay a premium compared to other «Japanese» restaurants. I’ll gladly pay it since it has the taste/​texture I’m looking for.

This is a great lunch spot for Japanese food. The lunch specials are reasonable and the quality is up there.
FOOD
I usually get the beef teriyaki. The beef they use is great quality and this is one of the better beef teriyaki dishes you will find. The side salad they include is the largest I’ve ever seen and, more importantly, it’s good.
SERVICE
Great. Never any issues
PARKING
Large, shared lot. Sometimes full

Koi is very authentic. They have a friendly staff and always produce the best Sushi around. Authentic Japanese beers are on the menu some that are actually brewed in Japan. Always have really fresh items on the board and my kids love this place too.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have sushi in almost every major city in the U.S. and a couple great places in Japan. Koi is definitely one of my favorites! Every time I have eaten here, the fish has been as fresh as can be and the service is excellent (even when you make the mistake of having your non-​sushi eating friend sit at the sushi bar o_​O).
If you love sushi, this is one of those rare places where you can order sweet shrimp and not worry about the quality. If you have a non-​sushi eater in your group, they have a great selection of Japanese style cuisine that will keep you coming back for more. Just don’t make that same mistake and sit at the sushi bar. lol! Might not be that big of a deal to some people, but to me, it is bad etiquette and I know better… ;-)

Terrible service!
My boyfriend and I found this place on Unilocal and thought we would try it. We got there early (the restaurant was not very busy) and were seated right away, only to be ignored for more than 20 minutes. My boyfriend tried to get someone’s attention and the waitress said she would be right there and never came back. Someone brought us some waters and then we were ignored for another 20 minutes, as the waiters/​waitresses and hostess who seated us walked past several times. After almost an hour with virtually no service, we got up to leave. As we walked out the door, the hostess had the audacity to tell us «thank you, we hope to see you again soon»

I arrived slightly before 5pm and waited outside for a bit and it opened punctually at 5. I was alone so getting a seat wasn’t difficult and requested for a seat at the sushi bar (since I was alone).
The sushi master seemed disappointed that I want a look at the menu, perhaps he felt most people would go for omakase? Anyway, I ordered the uni sushi, the salmon sushi and also the long Beach roll.
First came the salmon sushi, which was served with a little sauce on top, some kind of sweet soy sauce and came with scallion, which made it stand out from the other salmon sushi I had in the past. I felt it took away the taste of the salmon though, and I am not a big fan of scallion, but still the sushi was good overall, but was definitely soon forgotten.
The uni sushi was awesommmmeee! I had uni sushi first time back in Singapore and both times, our dear sea urchin did not disappoint. This was served with rice wrapped with seaweed, but when you Chuck the whole thing in your mouth, the uni melts in your mouth and the rice was just perfect to go along. Please keep ordering this!
The long Beach roll was ordered as a filler, I knew I wanted to be filled so I ordered it, but it was way better than I expected a roll to be. Salmon and roe and avocado with rice, simple but precise and once again this was served with the same sauce from the salmon sushi.
The meal was affordable for a once month kind of spoiling of yourself before heading to seal Beach for its beautiful sunset.

Been quite some time since I’ve been here but had a fantastic dinner Friday night…
My favorite here by far is the stuffed shitaki portobello mushrooms… it’s stuffed with crab with a very light tempura batter. Squeeze some lemon over it and sprinkle some sea salt and chili flakes and it’s simply divine. My mouth salivates each time I think about it. We also had the Seal Beach roll, black and red snapper and a few others. This place was packed but understandable.
Reason why I’m only giving it 4 stars is due to the fact that my friend really wanted the orange or pineapple they serve for dessert that they usually serve after dinner but we were told that only the sushi bar gets it which is odd since we spent so much money.

Best sushi I have ever had!
Fish is fresh and buttery when you bite into it!
It is hard to find sushi as fresh and delicious as koi has!
My favorite– and I’ve tried a lot of sushi!

Wow! This place was fantastic, the sushi was delicious, fresh and just top notch! Highly recommended

TERRIBLE TREATMENT! This review concerns service only as the service was so obnoxiously rude I didn’t even bother eating here. This is a perfect example of a business so stuck on «rules» that it forgot about customer service. Koi, eventually your bad customer service will destroy you.
Okay… sorry for the long-​winded narrative but the episode was so unlike anything I have experienced, I don’t know how to explain it without setting the entire scene.
Wanting to get together with some old friends I chose this restaurant as a good in-​between meeting spot and a restaurant none of us had ever been to. I relied on good reviews in choosing this restaurant. Perhaps the food is good, I don’t know but I can say without a doubt that my experience was horrid. (And before reading on, I can assure you that I am not a whiner, I am not demanding, and I am usually very respectful and polite towards restaurant staff.)
I arrived at Koi before my friends and found the restaurant perhaps ½ full. My four friends were not going to arrive for 30 minutes or so, so I told the hostess I would like to sit at the sushi bar and have a drink and an appetizer while I waited. The sushi bar was, like the restaurant seating, about ½ full. The hostess rudely told me that they don’t seat parties until everyone has arrived. (Ummm.. the place is half full; this is a Tues. evening at around 6:30 p.m. in sleepy Seal Beach.)
I very politely told this nasty hostess that when my friends arrived I would close out my bill at the sushi bar and we would then get (or wait for, if necessary) a table. I had to actually argue with this woman to get her to let me be a paying customer at the sushi bar. She finally relented. When i sat down at the sushi bar the sushi chef asked me if I was «one.» I stupidly told him i had friends joining me but that I would be closing out my tab and we’d be moving to a table as I already explained to the hostess. He started waving his hands towards me loudly telling the hostess something in Japanese. It was obvious that it had to do with the fact that I was seated without my party. This was ridiculous. Do you want my business or not! I was going to sit at the bar for 30 minutes, order something, close out the bill when my friends arrived and move to a table with them.
Well, I had it. I left the establishment, never to return! Instead of getting my sushi bar business and the business of four of my friends, they lost it all. Plus my friends and others have heard this story and probably won’t have an interest in trying this restaurant.
There is a good ending to this story. I walked right around to the other side of the building where there is another restaurant. (Thai, which I had already knew to have delicious food and previously reviewed.) Not only was I treated with respect but the staff was very gracious about accommodating me without my party, who as it turns out, showed up only minutes later.

Incredible selection of fish, authentic Japanese-​run restaurant.
Good for true sushi lovers. You can order omakase directly from the sushi chefs.
Simple menu with the basics. I highly recommend the pork belly appetizer, so tender, soaking in a flavorful broth. Like everything else on the menu, the portion is tiny and the dish itself is overpriced for the amount you get, but Koi is the type of Japanese restaurant where you let the ingredients do the talking, not the crazy American-​style sauces that they’re drowning in.
With your meal, you usually get a miso soup and a salad. The miso soup comes without a soup spoon (yassss) the way it’s meant to be enjoyed. The salad alone is obnoxiously delicious. A fresh, house-​cut blend of romaine and thin, crunchy cabbage slaw. They give you both ginger and sesame dressing; I recommend mixing both in as the flavors are compatible together. The dressings are a beautiful combination of zesty yet nutty.
Why not 5 stars? Some items are way overpriced. We ordered a «treasure pot» dish once and it was just a bowl of boiled fish, clear noodles, and some mushrooms in a flavorless broth. Seemed like something we could have thrown together at home; no unique spin or even flavor. But it was over $ 20.
I came for lunch last week after having a stressful morning and was really hungry. I ordered a Chirashi bowl AND a negitoro roll since it was a special. I love negitoro anything (fatty tuna diced with green onion) and the small 6-​piece roll was nothing short of incredible here.
Let me just say the Chirashi bowls here are huge. Nothing short of my expectations, it included generous cuts of thick-​sliced, super fresh, smooth and buttery sashimi. On top of a whole lot of sushi rice. I love that they include surf clam and even some fresh snow crab.
A Japanese restaurant with a fantastic selection of sashimi and cooked food.
Service can be a bit slow so make sure you are not in a rush.

Gduf o ydoysoysoydyxoysitstisitsoysiys

Best sushi from Long beach to Newport!
Fresh and the most unusual kinda sushi.
Highest quality fish avail. I feel confident in ordering more than the basics here. The sushi chefs are the real deal, been same sushi chefs for years! A bit pricey but worth it!

I use to have good experiences at this place… but for the last 4 times, my family and I have left disappointed.
Why do we keep coming back? Because it’s the closest sushi place to our home and it’s been my dad’s favorite sushi spot for years even if the service has gone bad. My dad doesn’t really complain ever.
I think the quality of food and cuts of fish have gone down. The salmon tastes fatty and flavorless, The tuna tasted frozen, the yellowtail has been okay. And the servers should be about service, not about arguing with their customers about what they asked for.
Yeah tonight will leave a bad taste in my mouth for a while.

Supremely trained and experience sushi chefs here! Restaurant has perfect tempura and great service, but the sushi bar is where it’s at.
Yes they have the trendy rolls, but if you want to be blown away, simply say «surprise me» and see what happens.
Expect to wait, but that’s how it is at places like this with killer quality food.
Funny how it seems all of my friends have a favorite sushi place, one they call «the best.» Each and every time I take one of these friends to Koi, they suddenly have a new favorite place.

Eat at the sushi bar if you can. The chefs are very friendly and warm. We just let him do a mini-​omakase after we chatted about what we liked («everything»). Snapper. Mackerel. Salmon collar. The star of the show was scallop wrapped in tuna and topped with sea urchin. Oh my.
They have rolls for your goofball friends as well. Regular sake and beer options — wish they did some wine or champagne that would match the quality of the food.
Good stuff!

OMG… best quality sushi by the beach
I think I found my favorite sushi place. I came here with one other person to get our sushi fix on. We came on a Monday for dinner and it was pretty pack but no wait. We got a table immediately and were given waters. We ordered the following and its description:
Sautéed Chilean Seabass– ($ 14.50) This was pieces of Chilean seabass sautéed with asparagus, mushrooms, and Japanese shishito peppers in a sake-​soy sauce. The seabass was sooo good. It was a wonderful start to our dinner. If you enjoy seabass this dish is a must.
Jumbo Soft Shell Crab– (market price) This was tempura-​fried crab meat served with ponzu sauce. I loved it. They were generous with the crab meat. The meat was sweet and very good.
Seal Beach Roll– ($ 14) If you love cucumber wrapped rolls this is for you. It was a roll which included shrimp, avocado, tuna, yellowtail and salmon. It was refreshing and the raw meats were so good.
Salmon skin handroll ($?) — This was off the menu. We asked the waitress to have it made. It was also very good.
Then we had mostly Nigiri which included:
Bluefin Toro ($ 10 for 2) — I am a huge toro fan and we ended up getting 3 order of this. The toro just melts in your mouth and was so delicious. I am definitely coming back for this!
Saltwater Eel from Japan ($ 6.50 for 2) — I normally get fresh water eel but this was so good. It was topped with a little bit of eel sauce of course. It wasn’t overly salty like some places. The quality of meat was so good you didn’t need much.
Soy-​Marinated Bluefin Tuna ($ 8.50 for 2) — This is also known as «zuke». I have never had bluefin tuna marinated before but it was done quiet well. You did not need to dip it into any sauce. It was perfect. It came topped off with a little bit of garlic on top. We just added a bit of wasabi and it was amazing.
Sea Urchin– ($ 8.50 for 2) — YUM!!! Uni is one of my favorite types of nigiri. Melt in your mouth goodness and full of rich flavor. You can taste the freshness and quality here.
Our total was about $ 100. I thought the pricing was actually cheap considering what we ordered and for quality. The service was excellent. The girl waiting on us was very friendly and did a perfect job with our requests. The food came out fast and everything was good. We ended up chatting to the owner after our dinner. He told us he pays a more to get his products from the best quality fish markets out there. We can surely tell.
The inside of this place is cute. It’s a family style restaurant. The inside is pretty spacious. They have a large sushi bar and two sections to their restaurant. Other items on the menu include other specialty rolls, salads, oysters, Teriyaki items, cooked seafood, and boat dinners. I would like to come back to try their oysters and lunch menu specials. They will no doubt be seeing me more here.

Another neighborhood gem found by the help of fellow Unilocalers!
Came here on Friday night with the hubby because I was craving sushi. (so what else is new?) Called in to see how busy it was (around 7:15PM) and the hostess said there were five available tables but the sushi bar was full. Score! I’m only 15 min away so I drove like a mad woman (within the allowable speed limit of course) to get there only to find that it’s a full house and I got a 30 min wait. Fine…(I feel a bit suckered now)
But to the point of my review…
The FOOD was excellent! The sushi pieces were generous and extremely fresh. I haven’t seen tuna that red in a while. And know what else is great about this place… the PRICES were on the reasonable/​cheaper side. (I would give this joint 2 $$ not three but guess that’s all subjective in what you’re ordering)
Here’s what we ordered:
Sashimi Appetizer — 4 pcs of tuna, 4pcs of salmon and 4 pcs of yellow tail
Mini Hot Pot Seafood Soup — so clean and filled with generous portions on a variety of seafood and veggies
Seal Beach Roll — Shrimp & avocado encased by 3 different fishes (tuna, salmon, and yellow tail) all wrapped with cucumbers. Not a lick of rice… now that’s healthy!
3 nigiris — 2 orders of Uni with quail egg and their fresh Sock Eye Salmon
One Large Sapporo and Green Tea
Grand total for dinner? $ 100 before tip We gave a hearty 20% b/​c our waitress was adorable and spot on with her service. Thanks Christina for your hospitality.
This family found our neighborhood Japanese sushi joint!

I’ve only been here once before 5 years ago, and it was one of my first introductions to quality sushi. I decided to pay this place another visit as it has been a long time, and it looks exactly the same! We sat at the bar, and decided to order a la carte.
The fish was very fresh and delicious, and my favorites were the salmon, snapper, and shrimp boat. I also ordered kanpachi, blue mackerel, and other fishes, and everything was of a nice cut and great quality. The toro was not as yummy as I’ve had in some places in LA, but it was good. It seems that they have really awesome special plates that you can order; we did not know but you should definitely ask them what kind of specials they have.
We also got a roll and handroll, but I would stick to their nigiri– it seems to be more of their special. Dinner was around $ 80 for two people, which is similar to the prices in LA. Glad I got to revisit this spot, but dont’ think I’ll be back anytime soon.