Kiyomi — Restaurant in City of Zagreb

My daughter loves asian food, and natural choice for joint dinner was a new fusion restaurant in Zagre. Majority of staff with whom we communicated doesn’t speak Croatian. Only one waiter and based on the accent, I would say he was from neighbouring country. Staff was friendly and welcomed us first at the bar. That was a surprise, because we booked a table at 6 pm when tables are ready and restaurant just opened, but I believe this was part of their concept. Not everyone was impressed with this approach. As we were sitting and enjoying our mocktails, two gentlemen came and started to complaint …. what is this, they don’t want to be seated with 20 other guests…. I think part of their dissatisfaction was also due to the fact they were sitted from other side of the bar where they had a ‘view’ on the area where waiters are walking and preparing drinks. This small things can ruin overall impression. I would recommend to the staff in future to place guest at the table when there is room, and never use that corner of the bar and other side of the bar where quests fell less welcomed. Although, this was not the case with us, complaints of these two gentlemen who eventually decided to leave the restaurant, did affect our overall impression too. We ordered mockatils. Nice cytrus and herbal taste, but slightly too sweet for me. Than we moved at the table. Decided we will not take testing menu because we wanted to taste and try as many other options as possible. There were 3 of us at dinner and we shared food. Food is nicely served, waitress presents and describes each plate. We started with hand rolls and scallops carpaccio. I loved scallops, and combination with mushrooms. They were fresh, cold appetizer. My family was less thrilled, but they are in general less excited about the sea food. However, my daughter liked unagi hand roll. We continued with dim sum. Ordered and shared lobster cheung fun, fried rice ball, curry puff, sujita’s momo. Lobster cheung fun was gentle and tasteful. I missed some other sauce (apart from soya sauce that was served) or vegetable next to it. All 3 of us agreed that curry puff is something we would always order again. Fried rice ball and sujita’s momo were also great. We continued with tempura. Tempura is light as it should be, but we agreed that perhaps we would not order it next time. To be honest, by that time we were already getting full. Finally, we tasted grilled scallops, chicken teriyaki, korean beef and lamb chops. All 4 things we would recommend. My family didn’t like scallops, but again, it’s not their favorite food. We all agreed we missed and would preffer some small side dish next to grilled dishes, like vegetables. We did get some mushrooms served with korean beef, and vegetables next to lamb chops. More variety would be welcomed. As we were already full and in a rush to get to the cinema on time, we didn’t manage to have dessert. But we do plan to come back again. Finally, friendly staff escorted us and even held door open when we were leaving. I would definitely recommend this place. Since restaurant is new, I hope they will correct small mistakes they have in menu and hopefully introduce more vegetables next to grilled menu options, just to balance more the main dish. Looking forward to come again and try...

Knowing the background of the owners (and other restaurants in their portfolio), I was impatiently waiting for Kiyomi to open, checking websites for the so-long anticipated opening date. Unfortunately, I can't remember the last time I was so disappointed after a place visit (and why was my experience different from other reviews and (promo?) articles.

Interior and atmosphere: Tables are too close to each other: if you are on a date, you will also be on a date with the table next to yours. I don't understand the music genre (and volume)—it's inconsistent with the ambient and experience. If you close your eyes, you could easily think you are in a nightclub (one was a predecessor in this place).

The service was very good; I will forgive them for placing us at the bar "while we wait for our table to be ready" (although 70% of the tables were set already) because the bartender was friendly and recommended drinks. The table staff was also kind and professional, but some didn't know the full explanation of the meals (I don't mind, as I have read the menu). They expedite by taking plates after you finish, leaving no time for a break between courses. We felt rushed (even though we had a 2-hour slot) as if we were on a quick work break or speed dating.

Last but not least: the food. I am not comparing it to similar restaurants abroad but to similar ones in Zagreb. We were told (about ten days after the opening) that tasting menus were no longer an option, so we selected five dishes. Two were excellent (Scallop carpaccio and Siew mai pork and shrimp—dim sum). The rest were average: the filling in the Lobster Cheung Fun was dry and non-compact, and the dough was plain, almost raw. Shrimp tempura, which should be a no-brainer, was underwhelming. The dough took over the shrimp flavor (and it was unsalty). The biggest disappointment was robata Lamb tsukune, dry lamb that was "destroyed" with spices, leaving a weird aftertaste. The drinks were fantastic, with a note that, although the decoration on the glass for Sailor Moon's Highball cocktail is nice, it could be more practical as hands are sticky after holding the glass.

Zagreb needs diverse restaurants, and I wish "Kiyomi" success. Still, I am afraid I won't be revisiting it soon (nor hiding my...

We had a birthday reservation, the hostess welcomed us and first took our jackets, she was nice but also kind of lost. She took us to our table. Immediately the waiter came and offered us still and sparkling water. Later our main waitress that was serving us the whole time came. We ordered appetizers (first three pictures) it was her own recommendation because we were indecisive. The tartar and these crispy things (bread or crackers, picture 2) were the best thing of all, so rich and flavorful, the raw fish and rice were also mouthwatering, all of that reallpy opened our appetite for next dishes. For drinks, we had cocktails. I reccomend their version of Hugo cocktail, it was very smooth and not too strong, others had mocktails. Between appetizers and main course we decided for all of their versions of dim sum (which I dont have the pictures for) they were least to say amazing. She offered us combinations and was careful and aware of one of us who had a seafood allergy, so she combined that all of us would have something we like. After that the main course (grilled meat) came. Lamb chops were cooked perfectly, chicken skewers, beef and i think pork wraped shitake mushrooms if I’m right. Followed with side dishes such as eggplants in creamy sauce, crispy potato cake, various sauces and sashimi. All of the meat was great, although I didn’t like the pork wrapped, it was too oily, but that is just my preference. For dessert all of us liked mango sticky rice the most, although we also had matcha ice cream, banana bread, pineapple cake. And they put a birthday candle on top for the birthday celebrator. Really thoughtful.

All in all, our waitress was great and really patient, gave us her own recommendations and really talked with us about dishes and preferences, needless to say she really deserves a praise for that. One of the best restaurant experiences in a while, considering both service and of course the main and...