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About Ki Restaurant & Lounge
At Ki, chefs prepare dishes in both the open principal kitchen and at our sushi bar. Choose the environment and cuisine that suits your pleasure. Go to full description...
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Ki Restaurant & Lounge, Toronto Reviews (2)
By mochan on
Dec 09, 2010
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Yesterday, I went to Ki restaurant with bf, his brother and his brother gf. It's my first time in Ki. I like the design and the layout of this restaurant. My visit is during weekday, but Ki is pretty busy, and loud. I had to try to speak louder in order for my bf to hear me. My bf said "who said only asian restaurant is loud?" The comment made me laugh. I noticed that most people are dressed up in ki, and most of people are older than me, btw, i am 28. The service is good. The foods there are delicious. Black cod, tasty,,go figure, chicken on sticks also tasty!! Sushi rollers are so so, not the best sushi I have ever had. It's a high end restaurant. The prices are high. We ordered 3 plates plus 3 serving of sushi rollers, 3 beer, 1 green tea, 8 oz red wine. We ended up paying $204 (including tips).
By simon on
Dec 04, 2007
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Ki is located on the corner of Wellington and Bay St with 2 entrances (1 stunning entrance is located inside the BCE Place), a luxurious bar & lounge area, 2 raised dining rooms. ki offers a 20 seat sushi bar and 3 stunning private dining areas for groups of 8 to 30 guests. An outdoor bar & patio space on probably downtown Toronto's most famous street.
Ki offers Japanese cuisine with a fresh approach; featuring shared entrees, nigiri and sashimi dishes plus traditional classic and contemporary makimonos, tempura, kushiyaki, ki's very own signature plates and even what they call "fallbacks" including New York Striploin & Filet Mignon for those who still want the experience without the Japanese flavours.
Executive Chef Shinichiro Aoyama has done a wonderful job with the menu (I suspect even Chef Masaharu Morimoto would enjoy himself at Ki). I personally, particularly enjoyed
Sunomono salad with cucumber, harusame noodles and wakame seaweed with Alaskan King Crab
Fluke + Tamari-Marinated Butterfish with mango salsa, lumpfish caviar and ikura and also the
seared Scallops from Hokkaido (most northern part of Japan) with moromi miso + braised shiitake.
The wine selection is something else especially the range of daiginjo Saki.
The inside of Ki wouldn't be out of place in any leading architects portfolio, quite delightful and well thought out.
Soft lighting, red wood, soft carpet, red orange leather and velour, iron and teak, grey slate floors and black granite counters, amber glows giving that open fire appeal, straight design lines, complementary curves, the cutting edge design even incorporates the obligatory Kurosawa movie playing in the background of the main bar area and that for is just the kind of attention to detail I look for.
The sushi bar alone is a treat for the eyes as are the private dining rooms. The final test is always the washrooms which were well above par and so no detail was overlooked.
Rumour has it that the innovative interior was well over the million(s) dollar budget range, and the whole building must have come close to 10 times that. In my opinion it was money well spent. The interior puts Ki head and shoulders above the usual Financial District favourites. Obviously this is now a very popular Bay Street hangout and be warned it gets very busy on Thursday and Friday nights, so that would make it a great investment.
An overall pleasant dinning experience is created by many attributes which include (but are not limited to) the meal, the delivery and presentation, the service and customer care, the bar, the atmosphere, the overall experience and the price. Ki Scores highly in each area. Although it can be pricey, Ki provides excellent food, great service and the staff are friendly and very knowledgeable, especially the sommelier James.
They say you pay for what you get and so if you are looking for a mediocre or cheap, average sushi experience then Ki may not be the best choice, however if you are looking for greatness and the best in modern Japanese fine dining then Ki would be highly recommended.
There are some negatives to the Ki experience but I found them so hard to spot and so minuscule that they don't even become worth writing about
9.5 out of 10
NOTES:
Average Price per person = approx CAN $50-65+
Website = www.kijapanese.com
Dress Code = Business Casual
Wheelchair Accessible (extra points for this one)
Valet Parking
call Shoana Jensen (416) 308-5888 for Private Parties.
Patio/Outdoor Dining, Bar Dining, Private Room Dining,
Ki offers Japanese cuisine with a fresh approach; featuring shared entrees, nigiri and sashimi dishes plus traditional classic and contemporary makimonos, tempura, kushiyaki, ki's very own signature plates and even what they call "fallbacks" including New York Striploin & Filet Mignon for those who still want the experience without the Japanese flavours.
Executive Chef Shinichiro Aoyama has done a wonderful job with the menu (I suspect even Chef Masaharu Morimoto would enjoy himself at Ki). I personally, particularly enjoyed
Sunomono salad with cucumber, harusame noodles and wakame seaweed with Alaskan King Crab
Fluke + Tamari-Marinated Butterfish with mango salsa, lumpfish caviar and ikura and also the
seared Scallops from Hokkaido (most northern part of Japan) with moromi miso + braised shiitake.
The wine selection is something else especially the range of daiginjo Saki.
The inside of Ki wouldn't be out of place in any leading architects portfolio, quite delightful and well thought out.
Soft lighting, red wood, soft carpet, red orange leather and velour, iron and teak, grey slate floors and black granite counters, amber glows giving that open fire appeal, straight design lines, complementary curves, the cutting edge design even incorporates the obligatory Kurosawa movie playing in the background of the main bar area and that for is just the kind of attention to detail I look for.
The sushi bar alone is a treat for the eyes as are the private dining rooms. The final test is always the washrooms which were well above par and so no detail was overlooked.
Rumour has it that the innovative interior was well over the million(s) dollar budget range, and the whole building must have come close to 10 times that. In my opinion it was money well spent. The interior puts Ki head and shoulders above the usual Financial District favourites. Obviously this is now a very popular Bay Street hangout and be warned it gets very busy on Thursday and Friday nights, so that would make it a great investment.
An overall pleasant dinning experience is created by many attributes which include (but are not limited to) the meal, the delivery and presentation, the service and customer care, the bar, the atmosphere, the overall experience and the price. Ki Scores highly in each area. Although it can be pricey, Ki provides excellent food, great service and the staff are friendly and very knowledgeable, especially the sommelier James.
They say you pay for what you get and so if you are looking for a mediocre or cheap, average sushi experience then Ki may not be the best choice, however if you are looking for greatness and the best in modern Japanese fine dining then Ki would be highly recommended.
There are some negatives to the Ki experience but I found them so hard to spot and so minuscule that they don't even become worth writing about
9.5 out of 10
NOTES:
Average Price per person = approx CAN $50-65+
Website = www.kijapanese.com
Dress Code = Business Casual
Wheelchair Accessible (extra points for this one)
Valet Parking
call Shoana Jensen (416) 308-5888 for Private Parties.
Patio/Outdoor Dining, Bar Dining, Private Room Dining,
thanks all for the positive feedback :)
its definitely a good place to check out if there is a group of you looking for a good night out and want somewhere with style to start you of ... likewise its great for a more intimate moment, just the two of you... and the open fire in the lounge ;)
Kimbrat this would be a great place for a sushi lover, its a very short cab ride to an of the major clubs and lounges downtown, but if its winter and you don't want to move to far it actually has a bit of a lounge feel and the bar is usually quite lively (except the music is not really audible though). For bars and lounges in the area it would be a hop skip and a jump to St. Lawrence area ..or even over to the Court House or Rosewater.
its definitely a good place to check out if there is a group of you looking for a good night out and want somewhere with style to start you of ... likewise its great for a more intimate moment, just the two of you... and the open fire in the lounge ;)
Kimbrat this would be a great place for a sushi lover, its a very short cab ride to an of the major clubs and lounges downtown, but if its winter and you don't want to move to far it actually has a bit of a lounge feel and the bar is usually quite lively (except the music is not really audible though). For bars and lounges in the area it would be a hop skip and a jump to St. Lawrence area ..or even over to the Court House or Rosewater.
This place sounds fantastic! I'm so there!
Great review.... I'm definitely going to check this place out sometime this month. Actually it's my girlfriend's birthday coming up and we wer elooking for somewhere nice to take her. She loves sushi, so looks like we've found a winner! Any bar/lounge suggestions in the area Simon?
oh sounds amazing ... i went there once for a girls night out "starting point" predrinking or what do they call it .. but coudn't stay too long .. definitely have to go back for the sushi!! i am so hungry right now, i need to go have a bagel and pretend its a cucumber roll lol
This sounds like an awesome place to try out!!! I'm so excited now!!!
@Lutz
yes they wouldn't allow photos or video
(lol - I guess thats just in case someone decides to write an awesome n49 review)
I was told they had photos on the site that I could use, so thats why they look the way they do.
:)
yes they wouldn't allow photos or video
(lol - I guess thats just in case someone decides to write an awesome n49 review)
I was told they had photos on the site that I could use, so thats why they look the way they do.
:)
Amazing place. Atmosphere was great. Food was even better. Highly recomend it
ok what's the deal .. they didnt' let you take photos of the food in there?!?!?!??! minus 10 points!!
well i am just very turned off by the fact they didnt' let you take photos .. what if it was your bday .. can't you take photos even then? i am a person who snap snap snap takes photos everywhere i go .. they would have hard time stopping me!!! lol
Simon, you're making me hungry. Thanks for the heads up.... great review!
I hate it when people put not helpful when in fact it is.. This review is great and I thank you for it :)
I know eh?
I don't understand what was not helpful about my review???
at least that person who found it not helpful should have the brains to ask questions...im sure i could "HELP"
jeeez seems like some unnecessary H8 goin' on
I don't understand what was not helpful about my review???
at least that person who found it not helpful should have the brains to ask questions...im sure i could "HELP"
jeeez seems like some unnecessary H8 goin' on
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Additional business details
At Ki, chefs prepare dishes in both the open principal kitchen and at our sushi bar. Choose the environment and cuisine that suits your pleasure.