Sugar Koi — Restaurant in Cary

I first came across Sugar Koi in 2020. The baked goods smell emanating from the shop made me deeply regretful I didn't have time to stop.

Yesterday my daughter and I finally got to visit Sugar Koi and had such a great experience. We loved that they make their own ice cream and have both comfortingly familiar (e.g. banana pudding, strawberry) and enticingly exotic (e.g. ube, thai tea) flavors.

As a fan of Zumbo's Just Desserts, I was particularly interested in the ube and yuzu ice creams. I'd seen those fruits used numerous time on the baking show and wanted to try them myself. After sampling the two flavors, I knew I wanted that combo in my order. I chose to purchase Koiyaki (two scoops of ice cream with a made-to-order, delightful, and cake-like fish-shaped waffle cone) with ube and yuzu and selected whipped cream, sprinkles, mochi, and Pirouette wafers for my toppings. The perfectly sweet ube and the tangy yuzu balanced well, and I don't know if I'll be able to order a different combination in the future.

My daughter also ordered the Koiyaki. She chose yuzu and Thai tea for her flavors and selected whipped cream, sprinkles, mochi, and poky sticks. She really enjoyed both flavors she chose.

Nat, the owner, was a delight - friendly, personable, and eager to serve. We intend to come back soon and bring the entire...

Wish I could tell you what the food tastes like, but we were rudely denied entry. We arrived 10 minutes before opening, but saw that she had let others in, so we proceeded to grab the door to enter. The girl rudely yanked the door shut and locked it without saying a word. We go back to our car and notice she lets more friends in. Guess you didn’t want our money, which is fine because you won’t ever get it now. Service is everything.

RESPONSE TO BUSINESS: The girl didn’t mistakenly lock the door, she looked my husband in the eyes, pulled it shut quickly, and rudely turned the lock. While I appreciate you saying you will do better with this, it doesn’t make sense that you were having a staff meeting, as only two people left and more customers were allowed to enter seconds after we were denied entry. Also, there was no sign in the window, because that’s exactly where we looked. All of this sounds like an excuse. Just admit the girl did what she did. That sounds a lot better than some made up story littered with false...

My wife and I visited Sugar Koi this past weekend after grabbing dinner and getting the itch for something sweet.

The shop has a good blend of high quality Hershey's brand ice cream and some house-made specialties, as well as coffee drinks and a few niche asian sodas.

Their house sundae, the Koiyaki is a two-scoop sundae with a couple of special toppings like pocky sticks or wafer rolls, whipped cream, sprinkles, and, of course, their signature taiyaki cone that gives the sundae its name. The taiyaki was soft and buttery... I couldn't tell if it was made in house, so even if it comes pre-prepared, it was good enough it didn't matter.

My one criticism, which is the only reason Sugar Koi didn't get 5 stars from me, is the fact that the sundae used canned whipped cream. Fresh, house-made cream is so easy to make and makes all of the difference in taste compared the airy, artificial tasting Ready Whip that it seems a shame to sully an otherwise great sundae with...