Japanese and Chinese restaurant in downtown Evanston. They've incorporated the menu from Peppercorn Kitchen that closed and it's now a fantastic inexpensive place for two good cuisines.
The vegetarian dishes are clearly marked and they have unusual things like Dry Pot Tofu and Silky Tofu in Salty Egg Yolk etc. along with the usual Mapo Tofu and Fish Flavored Eggplant and the like.
Plus they have a free books corner, a Table23 feature where you can donate a portion of your check to charity etc.
I was sad when Peppercorn closed but it's just moved next door.
I haven't tried the Japanese menu as that's not as vegetarian friendly as the Chinese menu. So no opinion on that.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Emily Cheng
I had a really disappointing and concerning experience here. I ordered the Peking-style jajangmyeon, and not only was it not very good in terms of taste, but I ended up getting severe food poisoning afterward. That was the only thing I ate that night, and within hours I was vomiting and had intense diarrhea. It was honestly a pretty awful experience.
I understand that issues can happen, but food safety is something that absolutely shouldn’t be compromised. I hope the restaurant takes this seriously and looks into their food handling and preparation practices.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
Henry Tish
I ordered the orange chicken dish with rice and I was shocked upon how good it was. Glad to say this place is very good. Can’t wait to go back with my family.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jaimie Altman
What didn’t go wrong? The “host” claimed I didn’t have a reservation even though I showed him my email confirmation and was extraordinarily rude and dismissive and told us we’d have to wait even though the place was half empty. The place was filthy with our shoes sticking to the floors. When we were finally sat, we asked them to clean the table and there was still food all over the floor, table and chairs. When we asked them to clean those we were given a huge attitude and told we could leave if we’d like. So we did. Host claimed he was the manager her. Named Ricardo. The owner should be embarrassed by their staff- not a good look for the face of the restaurant. We will make sure everyone knows about this experience and not to go there. Word of mouth goes a long, long way.
Here’s the host and salt proclaimed manager. He should be ashamed of himself.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Gloria Llorin
Not good service at all
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
Rebecca Fyffe
Koi in Evanston absolutely blew me away with the service we received yesterday.
Koi is a pan-Asian restaurant that, surprisingly, pulls off dishes from multiple regions not just competently, but excellently. Their sushi and maki are always fresh and delicious. Their har gow, shumai, and Peking duck are as good as anything at the best dim sum spots in Chinatown, like Triple Crown or Cai. Their Szechuan dishes are also top-notch, which makes sense, since Koi’s owners were associated with Peppercorn’s Kitchen, the outstanding Szechuan restaurant that used to be next door before it closed. When Peppercorn’s shut down, Koi absorbed many of the employees, including chefs, along with much of the menu.
We ordered some of our favorites: shrimp har gow, shumai, and Snakehead Fish with Pickled Vegetable Soup. They also make another Snakehead Fish soup with green peppercorns that we love. One tip: ask for chili oil with the har gow and a red vinegar sauce with the shumai. If you do not, they tend to default to hoisin, presumably because they assume American diners are more familiar with it than the more traditional Chinese pairings. The vinegar, especially, is a perfect counterpoint to the rich, porky shumai.
As much as I love the food, this post is really about the extraordinary service.
Our server complimented our order, and we told her how happy we were to see items from Peppercorn’s menu still being served, since we were so disappointed when it closed. She explained that many of Peppercorn’s chefs are now at Koi. I asked whether they had the wood ear mushroom salad that used to be on Peppercorn’s menu. She said she was newer to the company and had joined after Peppercorn’s closed, so she had never had it and it had not made it onto Koi’s menu. I asked whether she was familiar with wood ear mushroom, and when she did not recognize the English name, I confirmed that she spoke Mandarin. When she said yes, I offered one of the few Mandarin words I know: “hēi mù’ěr.”
She immediately understood what I meant and dashed to the kitchen to ask one of the former Peppercorn’s chefs whether he remembered the dish.
Ten minutes later, she came back out carrying the salad.
It was slightly warm because they had just made it fresh, and she wanted to know whether it tasted the way I remembered. It absolutely did: crisp, cartilaginous mushrooms dressed with black vinegar, cilantro, hot green chiles, and just a touch of toasted sesame oil. It was perfect.
Then she said, “It’s on the house. Thank you for sharing your memory with me.”
I asked whether she had tried it herself, and she said she had not, so I insisted she taste it with us. She loved it, and I urged her to lobby for it to be added to the menu. She said she would pass it along to the powers that be.
Now that is service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Serkant Kaptan
The food was great. Sushi and sashimi pieces were way above my expectations at world class. The service though really needs some work. They would bring appetizers and you have to ask for appetizer plates, they would bring main dishes and ask for plates again. Right when you think they may have learned, sushi arrives and the you have to request and wait for soy sauce cups. The owner (could be the manager) was great though. He was more helpful than our waiters where he had to bring our drinks and stuff. I would definitely go back. Just wish they had better servers. That said, the ribeye, eggplant tofu were also incredible. Highly recommend the place with some patience which is worth it
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Ron Uchman
Great food. Large portions
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Y D
Seems like food quality is going down, I visited this restaurant many times in the past and enjoyed going back, my last experience was the worst soup how to send back twice to the kitchen because of it being cold. As far as for the main course it tasted like nothing.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
John
I've been here a few times over the years for work lunches. I've been fortunate to have good experiences. The food the good. In particular, the service has been wonderful.
Gluten free diners should know they changed their menu and the options are very limited. They offered “dry” dishes meaning no sauce! No thank you. Sushi is still good but that’s it. Very disappointed.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Kymm Junker
Delicious, well priced food. The atmosphere and service were top notch.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Chanel Ke
The sushi was fresh. I tried a new item, the clay pot rice, and it is now my new favorite!
Japanese and Chinese restaurant in downtown Evanston. They've incorporated the menu from Peppercorn Kitchen that closed and it's now a fantastic inexpensive place for two good cuisines.
The vegetarian dishes are clearly marked and they have unusual things like Dry Pot Tofu and Silky Tofu in Salty Egg Yolk etc. along with the usual Mapo Tofu and Fish Flavored Eggplant and the like.
Plus they have a free books corner, a Table23 feature where you can donate a portion of your check to charity etc.
I was sad when Peppercorn closed but it's just moved next door.
I haven't tried the Japanese menu as that's not as vegetarian friendly as the Chinese menu. So no opinion on that.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I had a really disappointing and concerning experience here. I ordered the Peking-style jajangmyeon, and not only was it not very good in terms of taste, but I ended up getting severe food poisoning afterward. That was the only thing I ate that night, and within hours I was vomiting and had intense diarrhea. It was honestly a pretty awful experience.
I understand that issues can happen, but food safety is something that absolutely shouldn’t be compromised. I hope the restaurant takes this seriously and looks into their food handling and preparation practices.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 1
Service: 4
I ordered the orange chicken dish with rice and I was shocked upon how good it was. Glad to say this place is very good. Can’t wait to go back with my family.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
What didn’t go wrong? The “host” claimed I didn’t have a reservation even though I showed him my email confirmation and was extraordinarily rude and dismissive and told us we’d have to wait even though the place was half empty. The place was filthy with our shoes sticking to the floors. When we were finally sat, we asked them to clean the table and there was still food all over the floor, table and chairs. When we asked them to clean those we were given a huge attitude and told we could leave if we’d like. So we did. Host claimed he was the manager her. Named Ricardo. The owner should be embarrassed by their staff- not a good look for the face of the restaurant. We will make sure everyone knows about this experience and not to go there. Word of mouth goes a long, long way.
Here’s the host and salt proclaimed manager. He should be ashamed of himself.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 1
Not good service at all
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 1
Koi in Evanston absolutely blew me away with the service we received yesterday.
Koi is a pan-Asian restaurant that, surprisingly, pulls off dishes from multiple regions not just competently, but excellently. Their sushi and maki are always fresh and delicious. Their har gow, shumai, and Peking duck are as good as anything at the best dim sum spots in Chinatown, like Triple Crown or Cai. Their Szechuan dishes are also top-notch, which makes sense, since Koi’s owners were associated with Peppercorn’s Kitchen, the outstanding Szechuan restaurant that used to be next door before it closed. When Peppercorn’s shut down, Koi absorbed many of the employees, including chefs, along with much of the menu.
We ordered some of our favorites: shrimp har gow, shumai, and Snakehead Fish with Pickled Vegetable Soup. They also make another Snakehead Fish soup with green peppercorns that we love. One tip: ask for chili oil with the har gow and a red vinegar sauce with the shumai. If you do not, they tend to default to hoisin, presumably because they assume American diners are more familiar with it than the more traditional Chinese pairings. The vinegar, especially, is a perfect counterpoint to the rich, porky shumai.
As much as I love the food, this post is really about the extraordinary service.
Our server complimented our order, and we told her how happy we were to see items from Peppercorn’s menu still being served, since we were so disappointed when it closed. She explained that many of Peppercorn’s chefs are now at Koi. I asked whether they had the wood ear mushroom salad that used to be on Peppercorn’s menu. She said she was newer to the company and had joined after Peppercorn’s closed, so she had never had it and it had not made it onto Koi’s menu. I asked whether she was familiar with wood ear mushroom, and when she did not recognize the English name, I confirmed that she spoke Mandarin. When she said yes, I offered one of the few Mandarin words I know: “hēi mù’ěr.”
She immediately understood what I meant and dashed to the kitchen to ask one of the former Peppercorn’s chefs whether he remembered the dish.
Ten minutes later, she came back out carrying the salad.
It was slightly warm because they had just made it fresh, and she wanted to know whether it tasted the way I remembered. It absolutely did: crisp, cartilaginous mushrooms dressed with black vinegar, cilantro, hot green chiles, and just a touch of toasted sesame oil. It was perfect.
Then she said, “It’s on the house. Thank you for sharing your memory with me.”
I asked whether she had tried it herself, and she said she had not, so I insisted she taste it with us. She loved it, and I urged her to lobby for it to be added to the menu. She said she would pass it along to the powers that be.
Now that is service.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food was great. Sushi and sashimi pieces were way above my expectations at world class. The service though really needs some work. They would bring appetizers and you have to ask for appetizer plates, they would bring main dishes and ask for plates again. Right when you think they may have learned, sushi arrives and the you have to request and wait for soy sauce cups.
The owner (could be the manager) was great though. He was more helpful than our waiters where he had to bring our drinks and stuff. I would definitely go back. Just wish they had better servers. That said, the ribeye, eggplant tofu were also incredible. Highly recommend the place with some patience which is worth it
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 3
Great food. Large portions
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Seems like food quality is going down, I visited this restaurant many times in the past and enjoyed going back, my last experience was the worst soup how to send back twice to the kitchen because of it being cold. As far as for the main course it tasted like nothing.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
I've been here a few times over the years for work lunches. I've been fortunate to have good experiences. The food the good. In particular, the service has been wonderful.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Fresh and tasty!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious maki rolls!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Gluten free diners should know they changed their menu and the options are very limited. They offered “dry” dishes meaning no sauce! No thank you. Sushi is still good but that’s it. Very disappointed.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Delicious, well priced food. The atmosphere and service were top notch.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The sushi was fresh. I tried a new item, the clay pot rice, and it is now my new favorite!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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