KOI Restaurant — Restaurant in Munich

Koi was really quite good, but as others have noted, at its price point a decidedly five star experience is not an unreasonable expectation.

When we arrived, we were promptly seated by a window, which I had requested in our online reservation -- what a nice surprise! I don't think I've ever had one of those requests honored. The ambiance (decor, lighting, music, general vibe of the staff) were absolutely five stars, as others have noted. Our waiter arrived after just a moment to inquire about what kind of water we would like. He didn't have much English -- and it is certainly not our expectation when traveling abroad that the waitstaff will speak English -- but again, this meal was €€€€, so a superior level of service is expected (and overall, was delivered). He was kindly receptive to our broken German.

The meal itself was very good but had some room for improvement. From the start, I noticed we were supplied with metal chopsticks, which I detest. These have little friction and tend to taper too sharply at the tips, both qualities that decrease their gripping power. Next, we ordered a bottle of junmai daiginjo sake, which was delicious but kept on ice at the tableside throughout the meal -- too cold to allow its flavors to come out, in my opinion.

We began our meal with the spicy tuna and salmon tartare from the menu, and a grilled crab special. The tartare portions came on a small cube of fried rice, which was a nice touch, but we found that this lacked much flavor complexity and was a bit too crispy -- this only compounded the difficulty in grasping it with our metal chopsticks. The tuna was better than the salmon, but both cried out for some form of acid to cut the savory character of the fatty fish and rich sauce. Something, anything with rice vinegar (ponzu-esque) would have done the trick.

The grilled crab arrived a short time later and was accompanied by a wedge of lime, which we commandeered for the remaining tartare. The crab was fresh and simply prepared to highlight this. It was served with a small bowl of clarified butter and a sort of ?teriyaki sauce (good, but not especially memorable).

After the crab our plates were exchanged as I had hoped given that we were switching to the (Australian) Wagyu beef. However, our chopsticks were not, and on my first bite of beef I had an unexpected and unpleasant crab flavor. The beef was also simply prepared, well peppered and cooked medium rare as we had requested. It too was served with a butter-based sauce. This seemed to make sense but overall we were left wanting at least the option of adding some acid. The wild mushroom salad that we ordered along with the beef provided some of this and was outstanding, probably the highlight of the meal.

We didn't quite finish the beef or salad and asked for a container to take it with. The waiter seemed non-plussed by this request, but obliged. Hey man, that's like $40 worth of beef! He attentively kept our sake glasses full and did not rush us to cash out.

Overall, I'd honestly go back here just for the mushroom salad and the ambiance -- but I'm not sure the restaurant would be thrilled about that. I acknowledge that many of the comments above are a question of "style," but I humbly offer them to the management nonetheless. If you are feeling spendy, I do highly recommend...

I was quite excited to check out Koi since I was in the mood for some amazing Japanese food. Unfortunately it did not live up to the hype. But that being said, I was hoping for Zuma-quality food so it is also setting the bar high. The service was very good – the head waiter (or manager) who greeted us got us very excited about the wine and dishes that we ordered. He highly recommended their selection of German Pinot Noir which was absolutely wonderful and a delight to drink.

As for the food:

• Horenso No Goma-Ae: could have been way better. Their Goma-Ae was served slightly warm and the whole dish was too watery. The spinach should have been steamed more, chilled and been more dense. Also a bit of a lack of flavour. This one made me a bit sad • Crispy Duck Salad: very good but the duck was a bit too junky, could have done with a bit more greens to counterbalance the duck • Crispy and Spicy Tuna Tempura Roll: not that great, there was too much going on and a lack of flavour at the same time • Teriyaki Salmon Robata: this was rather delicious but I should have ordered rice with it, note to self • Black Angus Dry Aged Entrecôte: this was a bit of a joke really. The meat quality was not that great and they didn’t chop it properly so it made it rather tricky to eat with chopsticks, which took away the pleasure somewhat

Thankfully they had music in the background, which most restaurants in Munich for some reason missed the memo on, so that was a big plus. The interior design and furniture is also quite nicely done. I would definitely include this on my little list of must-visit restaurants in Munich but more so because of other factors than just the food alone. We went for lunch and it was semi-busy but apparently the best time to go is for dinner...

The service was excellent, cannot say a single bad thing. A very rare experience service-wise in Munich. Special thanks to the blond waitress which attended to our table. The two other people were super friendly as well. The service was also quick and so attentive, thank you! Now to the food: we were a bit disappointed, to be honest. With the prices that high, something was lacking. Though we cannot say it was not tasty, it was, it just was not 5 out of 5. The presentation definitely was 5 out of 5, see the photos. My husband had a miso soup, and he loved it, I tried a bit, it was too sweet for me (but then again, it is a matter of taste). The tuna tatar was very good, but! It was placed on a square of rice, which was just too sweet, and the taste was overpowering. You could not taste the actual tatar. Black Angus was cooked perfectly, medium rare, just as my husband requested, but! there were just too many sesame seeds (mind you, we love them), and their taste was overpowering. The radish was a bit bland. The miso black cod was cooked to perfection, was literally melting in your mouth, yet, sesame seeds a bit too many, again. We also had shrimp tempura, which was good, but nothing special. The desert was very good, though quite pricy (16 euro). The locations is very central, easy to get to, the atmosphere inside quite pleasant, music nice, not too loud. However: a bit too dark to my taste, I could hardy read the menu, and a huge minus point, when reserving a table, I indicated it was our anniversary, and we were placed close to a shelf with menus, cutlery etc, so the service was next to me and behind me quite a lot. Not an ideal spot to celebrate a...