THEKOI Japanese Cuisine

Probably great for date night or friends night out because of the cool vibe, maybe worth checking out if you're in the downtown TAC area and hankering for sushi/etc but don't want to go far. I had an order of spicy Ramen that was really just about average good but i really liked the sides (kimchi and pickled veggies) i got. There was a miscommunication with my take out order that lessened the experience, so be prepared to double check things if you want take out.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 3

Tacoma location: This WAS our favorite restaurant to go to, but last night, July 13, was the WORST experience and food we’ve ever had there and in general. DONT RESERVE anything after 8pm even though it’s an option. They will treat you so poorly! They even made our waiters job hard. He was great! We booked an 8:30 PM appointment and got there five minutes before. Our waiter got to us as quickly as he could, and then came back 10 minutes before 9 PM to let us know about last call for food and drinks. So he had us order all the food and drinks that we wanted. He was super great and getting it out and making sure we had a great experience. A woman coming around filling up glass of water intentionally went next to us to pettily turn around and not fill up our waters. The first time we’re like “oh maybe she was needed elsewhere”. BUT THE SECOND TIME?! Our great waiter was the one who ended up having to replenish our water. It was five minutes before 9:30, our waiter asked if we wanted boxes and said no rush and to enjoy the rest of our your food and drinks. Which sadly, for the first time we didn’t enjoy the sushi. It was fishy. The appetizer that we normally get also did not taste very well and like a hotdog but still ok. I got the boxes to pretend that we liked him and just were taking them home. A different woman, came by and passively aggressively asked if we needed a box (because she didn’t talk to our awesome waiter), and then said with a mean fake smile, “well our cleaning crew is coming by and we’re closed.” At this point it was 9:30, I felt rushed and was unaware they wanted us out immediately. Then our waiter came by, and reassured us that we can take our time and that there was no rush. However, we felt very rushed from the other employees and atmosphere. The same woman had (what felt intentional) loud conversations with the people cleaning up and leaving for the day. I felt like such a problem that I just ended up giving my overpriced drink to my partner so we could get out there quicker. I felt like a burden and not welcomed. We’ve never had a restaurant, not let us stay after they “close” or stop making food without a warning that they want us out. The whole awkward situation could’ve been avoided by not allowing such late reservations and communicating that they wanted us out at 9:30. But it seems like she wasn’t even communicating with the other staff members because our waiter was telling us differently. I can’t imagine how they treat other later reservations with larger number of people. Highly don’t recommend. Drove an hour and a half with sooooo much excitement after a long day of work for the most disappointing time. We never get a date night because our schedules don’t align and then this is what happens at our once favorite place. It truly was that bad.

My favorite sushi restaurant for more than 15 years. Two Koi to the KOI

Highly upset , i came in on my lunch break to grab lunch and asked for a lunch special menu , ordered the Philadelphia roll and the California roll i notice one of the rolls that I ordered had raw meat which i dont eat raw ANYTHING !!! I was told after the fact that it's not raw salmon it's smoked salmon , It resembled too much like raw salmon to me so I did not want to eat it so I asked if I can switch it out for something else , manager Adam said that's fine, he suggested the cowboy roll which I lLiked the sound of , I asked him what was the money difference that I need to pay with switching out the order and instead of me paying the difference, he came back with my cash refund and the receipt and I said why couldn't I just pay the difference He stated it's easier to do it that way So what was originally a $27 dollar lunch special bill ended up being a $37 dollar bill meal !!! Almost $40 for two small rolls is not considered a lunch special dollar-wise and for how small the portions were . In my opinion great customer service would have been them informing me that the roll had either smoke salmon or raw salmon on the roll and also because of the inconvenience they could have just suggested a roll that could've kept my bill as is or threw in a complimentary something for free for the trouble and inconvenience other than a higher bill !!! I was only in a 30 min lunch and ended up with nothing to eat ! Hungry, frustrated and disappointed!

Tuna in the poke bowl was stringy. Tasty as they come, but stringy enough you can see it in the chunk before you take your bite (after the second chunk came up unchewable). Ordered out so no recourse to send this back to kitchen. Ahso...at $25 not sure i would order again.

Preferred a booth. The hostess seated us in the middle and said all the booths were reserved. Should be first come imo.
The restaurant is loud. You can't have a conversation without repeating yourself.
My bill alone was $60 plus generous tip. For Tacoma on a Thursday it's a little pricey for the ambiance, service, and cuisine. I get everything is expensive now but I've had better for less.

Everything about this place was amazing! The waygu beef and local salmon were some of the best l have ever had. I'm not a foodie but I have eaten some sushi in my day and this place was hands down the best sushi I have ever had! Please don't go there and make it too busy!

Very nice establishment and high quality food! Service was excellent!

This is one of my favorite go-to Tacoma spots. I dropped a star because they removed their fried rice from the menu. It was my son's favorite and I really enjoyed it. However, everything else about this establishment is top-notch!

Great music, fantastic food and people there are just wow. Everything fresh and what I really liked-we came with no reservation and they got us in very quickly. Recommend ✨

Excellent and memorable in all things.

First night we ate here… it was 45 min before closing… we ordered a few appetizers and chicken Katsu… The appetizers were actually enough and we were stuffed! Had excellent waiter! Next day boyfriend took son and again… it was marvelous! So was the waitstaff! (FYI…amazing black cod & yellow fin) Then next day we went back for lunch before leaving town (may 19th- 1:30) We had the neatest little gal wait on us!!! Food again was fantastic- service fantastic, atmosphere was fantastic… Definitely worth a visit
Going to miss this place!!

A bit of both, several of the sushi were very good but unagi was sub par, which is a shame since i generally love unagi

No joke this place has the best Japanese food I’ve ever had. Truly a 10/10 experience.

Perfectly secluded and provided me quiet sanctuary for lunch. This was the best spicy chicken teriyaki ever!