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,