KO Asian Kitchen — Restaurant in Lima Metropolitan Area

Being a ramen fanatic and away on vacation for two weeks to South America, my noodle craving was at an all-time high. Not having any luck in Rio and Buenos Aires, I struck gold in Lima!

ATMOSPHERE: They're located in the Larcomar Shopping Center, third level at the south end. It's a fairly big dining room with contemporary decor, open-view kitchen and extremely noisy due to its popularity. According to one of the workers they're about 3 years old.

MENU: Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese cuisines including sushi, mixed apps, small dim sum, buns, salads, rice bowls, noodles, ramen, mixed entrees, desserts, sake, beer,

FOOD: Nori Taco - $8 for two. Wow, these were absolutely delish! Nori strips were formed into tacos, lightly battered and deep-fried, stuffed with rice and a creamy mixture of salmon, daikon and bits of lettuce. Highly recommended!

Siu Mai - $5. My spouse wanted to try this Chinese selection but it never came.

Smoky Ramen - $9. This version seemed to be best suited to my craving according to the menu description. The only "smokiness" I could taste oddly came from the topping of bean sprouts. The searing hot broth was very, very light in flavor with a taste similar to watered-down chicken noodle soup. A swish of shoyu didn't help its lack of depth at all. The skin-on chicken strips that topped the bowl were very good along with the unseasoned soft egg. The co-star of the dish, the noodles, were horribly overcooked and mushy which literally killed it.

Fried Rice - Two bowls were dropped off to us but it was a mistake on their part. We thought the rice came with the ramen so we ate it. Maybe this should be called "Smoky Fried Rice" as the grains were infused with a smoky flavor along with sweet notes. Taste-wise, it was like a Panda Express version at best and could use either more salt, bacon or even sausage to enhance its lifeless palate. Perhaps the folks who ordered this dish got our siu mai?

SERVICE: Having traveled to three South American countries I get that service here is slow. We had a 20-minute wait for a table as the place was jamming even at 4pm. Once seated and given menus, it took about 10-minutes for a server to take our order, only due to the hostess who saw us sitting there bored and said something to him. He greeted us with a "Si"? No hello, nothing, just a short "yes"? SMH. Food delivery took about 15 minutes. Once the bill came after asking for it, I double checked to make sure we weren't charged for the Siu Mai or the fried rice, which we weren't, but were charged for someone's fruit juice which they removed. Definitely understaffed and unpolished.

OVERALL: Cool but chaotic vibe, nice menu selection, mediocre ramen...

No recomiendo ir, ha bajado muchísimo el nivel de atención, y ya no es ni un buen servicio, ni buena comida.

Fuimos un sábado a las 9PM aprox. El restaurante estaba repleto con una cola de dos grupos: mesa para 4 y mesa para 1. Nosotros eramos 2, y eso le indicamos al personal que estaba en la puerta, quien nos confirmo que apenas se libere nos avisa. Al parecer, a la persona que esperaba mesa para 1, no la habían atendido, porque luego que nosotros hablamos al personal, ella le indicó que ella solo era 1 persona, y recién ahí la dejaron entrar. Luego de varios minutos, llegó otra pareja para mesa de 2, que cuando se acercaron a decir esto, el joven los hizo pasar. No hubo ninguna explicación, y claramente no había ningún control para manejar la fila. Luego apareció una persona que asumo era el supervisor, que nos preguntó si todo bien? Le dije que no, y le comenté lo sucedido. Él nos indicó que comenzarían a tomar nombres, algo que debieron hacer desde un inicio. Para este momento ya habían llegado otros grupos.

No pidió disculpas por lo ocurrido, pero nos ofreció esperar en el bar, a lo cual accedí. Lastimosamente la ubicación junto a la caja era increíblemente incómoda. Los mozos chocaban constantemente con nosotros mientras iban y venían a pedir las cuentas.

Lo único positivo de la noche fue la amabilidad y eficiencia del encargado de bebidas en el bar, quien se aseguró de que nuestras bebidas estuvieran listas rápidamente, y fue la única persona en realmente darnos una muy buena atención.

Cuando finalmente nos llevaron a nuestra mesa, nos dimos cuenta que otra pareja aparte que había llegado después que nosotros ya estaba sentada y había hecho su pedido. Esto solo aumentó nuestra frustración. Nadie se acercó a tomarnos la orden y tuvimos que llamar para ser atendidos.

Para colmo, uno de los platos que queríamos ya no estaba disponible. La segunda opción venía incompleta (sin crocantes de langostinos) y, al preguntar por que lo reemplazarian, nos dijeron que nada. Es decir que nos iban a dar un plato incompleto por el mismo precio.

Lo más preocupante fue la completa ausencia de atención por parte del supervisor, quien en ningún momento se acercó a preguntar si todo estaba bien o a disculparse por la evidente cadena de mal servicio. Además, otra mesa cercana a nosotros también tuvo problemas.

En resumen, la mala organización en la entrada, la falta de comunicación entre el personal, el servicio desatendido en mesa nos dejaron con una muy mala impresión. Definitivamente no volveremos y recomiendo no visitar este lugar si hay cola, ya que es un claro indicio de que su sistema de gestión no funciona correctamente.

Realmente una gran pena, porque visitabamos su local en Salaverry, y luego en Larcomar. No puedo creer la pésima atención que pasamos, y aun cuando tratamos de compartir un buen momento, esto se vio afectado por la mala atención. Siento que tuvieron oportunidades para mejorar la experiencia, y...

I was a bit hesitant to try out this place; because of its location I thought it was going to be too "touristy" for my taste. However I was pleasantly surprised that everything we tried was so flavourful, fresh and all the ingredients went so well together.

They have food from so many different places in South Asia, but you can tell it has the Peruvian touch as well.

My coconut shrimp bowl was one of the best fried rice I've ever had! The Szechuan Pork was not really spicy but it was delicious, the bits of fried garlic were so good. My husband had Ramen Batayaki and wow, I never had Ramen noodles with parmesan cheese and it was mind-blowing. The soup dumplings were ok, I have had better to be honest. The sushi rolls coming out of the kitchen looked so good. I wished I had two stomachs to keep eating.

The service was friendly and the ambiance of the place it's very nice. I wished they sold the t-shirts their servers wear,...