Disastrous. That is the perfect word to describe my dining experience here today, but before I jump to why, I still want to review my meal in full length. I was always curious as to why Koiji has such bad ratings, but being the sushi fanatic I am, and I am an avid group deal buyer (for food deals only), I jumped into the Groupon deal last month. I decided to come here with my toddler today and I told myself to not dwell on the reviews on Urbanspoon but to eat with an open mind. We arrived to a mostly empty restaurant for a Sunday lunch. We got a smiley waitress who I at first thought gave pretty good service. I totally take that back. She messed up on two out of the four items I ordered by messing up twice on the same item, and forgot to enter an item (but of course didn’t admit it). I mean, you’d think that I ordered two lunch combos I would get two miso soups and two salads at the same time, right? Nope, my toddler’s lunch arrived completely first, then the side things I ordered, and then I asked her, did she put in the order for my lunch? Yes, of course she did. Riiiight. Only then did the other set of soup and salad arrive.
Note that I did enjoy some of the food and I thought I was enjoying myself until I noticed the mistakes one after another.
Here’s what we ordered today:
Salad (part of lunch combo)
Standard iceberg lettuce salad with a gingery vinaigrette that was a bit tangy. It was very refreshing and a great way to start up your appetite.
Miso Soup (part of lunch combo)
I found the miso soup had a natural sweetness to it that was very welcoming. It reminded me of the one I had at Sukiyaki House. I wonder if it’s because it’s organic? There was a good amount of kelp and a cube of tofu in it as well.
Salmon Sashimi – two slices (part of lunch combo)
Thick cut Atlantic salmon sashimi that was quite fresh. Cut quite well with no weird grisly fibres.
Steak Don – $14
I ordered this for my toddler and he ate some of it. I tried some and actually thought it was quite tasty. I liked the addition of the enoki mushrooms and the sauce that topped it was great.
Nigiri: Special Scallop – $3.00, Amaebi, – $2.80
I wanted the kanpanchi but they were sold out, so I got the special scallop instead. These were ok – very standard and quite pricy for the size.
Salmon Yukke – $11.00
Let me start out by saying, this was not what I ordered. I ordered salmon poke and the waitress first brought out salmon carpaccio. I told her no, I wanted the poke. She apologized and took it back, and then this was brought out. I swear she said salmon poke (pronounced po-keh) when she brought it out but apparently she said yukke (we were debating this over the bill later), so I just ate it. I didn’t like this at all – I was not expecting it to be spicy. Also, the baguette was too chewy in contrast to the mixture so I didn’t feel they were a good combination. I only ate one of the baguette and for the other two I only ate the mixture. Also quite expensive for the small portions.
Sushi Bar Lunch Set – $17.00
Another mistake. I had ordered the Sushi Combo. I thought it was funny when the waitress asked me what roll I wanted this with (the sushi combo comes with two pieces of California roll only), but I confirmed twice with her that I wanted the sushi combo and alas, look what she ordered for me. This was near the end of the meal and I was afraid the kitchen would spit in my food if I send something back again, so I just bit my tongue and ate this. Everything was pretty standard on this plate but it was decent sushi. No complaints except the rice was kind of gummy.
Dynamite Roll
Nigiri: Salmon, Hamachi, Cajun Prawn
Sashimi: Tuna, Salmon
It was only when the bill was brought out that I noticed the waitress made the mistake with the salmon poke/yukke. The fact that it was a $4.00 difference, I didn’t enjoy it one bit, it wasn’t even what I ordered and I was mildly annoyed that she kept messing up my order, I decided to point this out to her. I heard her discussing this in the back and I’m sure they were b*tching about me but she finally came out and said for this one time only, she will ‘correct’ this (aka charge me for a poke instead of a yukke). But oh next time if I’m unsure, I should ask. I’m sorry, but it’s not the diner’s job to ensure their server orders the correct item, is it? She messed up half of my order - I didn’t even get to eat what I want. And then somehow it’s my fault because I ate the wrong item that was served to me? Gee, thanks for doing me a favor by correcting your mistake! But they don’t need to worry about any next times from me because I will not be returning. I have lost all confidence with the staff’s ability to properly take my order and ensure I get what I actually want to eat. I so wish I had NOT bought the Groupon. Bad reviews are on Urbanspoon for a reason!!!!
Wow sounds awful! And that yukke dish does not look very good! Raw fish on baguette just doesn’t seem like a good combo!
The fact that it was so heavily doused with spicy sauce it completely masked everything else. Do not recommend overall.
I found most of the restaurants around that part of town isn’t very good.
Having mediocre/ bad food is one thing, but how do you f*** up someone’s order three times? Was she just not listening or she doesn’t know their menu b/c I know my verbal comprehension skills are not lacking!
Lol. Love it how she lectures you at the end of the meal, even though it was her mistake.
Except she doesn’t think she made the mistake! But since that was not the only thing she messed up I think the story has kind of told itself.
Horrible! How difficult is it to take a customer’s orders? Thank goodness she is “nice enough” to charge you for the cheaper dish… even though you didn’t order it and didn’t enjoy it. This is the worst review I’ve read on your blog yet.
Proper procedure should be them removing the charge completely, not charge me the cheaper dish. I didn’t really finish the order since it was pretty gross. I can’t believe the server’s lack of ability to take down my four item order correctly. This is definitely one of the worst reviews I’ve written on my blog!