Le Yen Koï — Restaurant in Aix-en-Provence

Revisiting the restaurant (we’ve been there in August 2024) in anticipation of a nice diner we were upset by the change in quality. Service was chaotic, the waiter tried but was too busy. But that’s fine. We came for the food. Taste wise, the dishes were either bland or too spicy. I like spicy but these spicy dishes just remained spicy. Not a zing and then mellowing out. The non spicy dishes were just bland. Even before tasting the spicy ones 😉. We had some sushi’s, maki’s, California rolls, yakatoris and a ramen. Expecting a build up of the served dishes, we first got the ramen and yakatori and afterwards the other dishes. The shrimps served in the variety of dishes were subpar. Not cleaned and not of sushi quality. For instance the one in the crispy California roll was still dirty and rubberish. Also the tempura batter was cold and not “fresh” rendering the roll not to be crispy. Upon telling the waiter about our experience he acknowledged our experience. That he had received the same comment before and that he could tell “someone”. They’ve swapped the head chef and as such the quality has deteriorated. We just paid our check and left.

I don’t get the 5 star reviews, last year yes I do. But the...

I feel awful having to do publicly call out a restaurant. There’s a first time for everything... and this was truly the worst restaurant experience of my 35 years.

It started with poor-quality sushi (mushy rice prepared incorrectly / poor-quality fish). I politely turned away the dish (first time across countless restaurants across 3 continents), and the owner and staff were quite rude about it.

It continued with the second salmon / rice dish which tasted awful in absolute and relative (to price / purported quality of establishment) terms.

Again, I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing, and risking the conflict and embarrassment, I had to turn the second away.

He insisted on charging me in full. I told him he was welcome to call the police, but I was not going to be intimidated and conned into paying a hefty sum for the worst food / service experience of my life.

He proceeded to insult my person, education, class etc. Lovely, eh?

So now I spend precious vacation time warning future foodies that they will be disappointed.

If you have lower expectations, that’s of course good for you. You may be able to enjoy this place - as...

A very bad experience ! We were greeted with politeness and we ordered cold food like sushi sashimi and finally some hot noodles . The first shock was that we were brought the hot food first and the sushi at the end. No logic for this so I asked at the end ? I was told that the kitchen was overwhelmed with orders so they did this switch that we didn’t like. At the end we were offered some digestives from the house and immediately in one minute we were brought the bill without asking it, second shock . I think I have not seen this in any restaurant in Aix. We spent less than one hour in and out . The food is not excellent either just average. The spirit of this place is of a canteen not a of high level restaurant, the idea is to get the people in and out as quickly as possible. No intention to...