Cafe Koi

Very tasty super healthy food! I really enjoyed the fresh veggies, jasmine rice and awesome portion sizes. The cocktails are awesome. We went when there was live music such a cute little restaurant! I’ll be back for sure!

Café Koi. You charming little establishment, you.
I really like it here… There is delicious food, great local talent and really friendly staff. The first time I made the decision to stop by, I was unaware of how busy it gets… there was only standing room over by the bar and I wasn’t feeling it so I left.
The second time I made sure to make reservations and tried some of the food. My friend and I shared the pork gyoza and bonsai beef bowl… both were really tasty — and when I asked for hot sauce, it came promptly! (The way to my heart is hot sauce… everyone knows this)
The only thing I would say that is a bit of a downfall is their wine by glass and beer selection. I feel like it could be so much more.

Love this place! They have a variety of live music nights which is awesome. The small restaurant is quaint yet modern. Menu is Asian fusion and they have lots of vegan friendly options. I wish Café Koi was open on Sunday’s!

Great atmosphere and a delight to find some healthier «non-​meat» items on the menu. The place is small, but does not feel cramped. I can imagine waiting out front for a table in the winter months might not be a lot of fun, but on these summer evenings it would be rather pleasant. I had the Buddha Bowl which I was told was a customer favorite. The coconut curry was wonderful.
They have entertainment on different nights of the week. I had been told this night would feature a singer/​songwriter, but was pleasantly surprised to hear a very young quartet of guys playing jazz. They had a good understanding of the genre and it kept me around for another glass of wine.
Speaking of wine; their list of wines is critically short. I tried the French Malbec as well as a Pinot Noir and both were quite nice. I would have preferred a Cab or Merlot, but the limited options were both acceptable.
The servers were really great and perhaps the highlight. They call everyone by name and had no problem remembering them. Nice touch.

It’s a Thursday evening. You want to go out, have a few drinks, listen to some chilled out live music, be able to have a conversation and sit down in a relaxed environment. Because sitting is the best. Where to go?
Thursday night is Café Koi’s ‘Jazz ‘N More Open Mic’ — where local singers and a house band take the stage in a chilled out lounge bar setting. There was a mix of talent overall, generally within the good to pretty good range. The crowd ranged from some in their 20s and 30s, and around half were an older crowd. What I liked was overall everyone was silent or fairly quiet during each set, respecting each singer.
There’s table service and we were offered the option to order food as the kitchen was still open when we arrived (the menu looked super tasty but we’d already eaten). They have a bunch of cocktails (2oz for $ 9 — not bad!), local Wild Rose beers on tap ($ 6.50 for 16oz pints) and wine, including a plum wine which is super tasty! I highly recommend the ‘Nectar’ plum wine (2 ozs for $ 6) or the Lotus Flower cocktail.
We were able to walk right in and grab a table near the front at around 9, and the place was maybe ²⁄₃ full. There’s no cover, but they do ask for a contribution during one of the breaks and have a bucket that they leave at the front by the stage.
If you’re a fan of jazz, open mic and local music, and like it served with some Asian influenced tapas and cocktails it’s a fun way to spend a few hours on a Thursday evening.

My first time here was for an open mic Night and it was super. People from different ages and genres performed. It was a really neat experience. The food was great as well and the staff is really friendly.

Tasty veggie gyoza, nice huge zen salad with a tangy lemon dressing. Literally blinked and the room was packed with live music about to start but I had to jet. Next time I’ll stay longer !

Love all the vegetarian and vegan options here! It also has a really nice, cozy but chic ambiance. First off, I really liked that I was seated very quickly (made a reservation for 5:30pm). Since it was fairly empty at the time, I could choose the table I wanted.
I ordered the lotus bowl with tofu ($ 15) and replaced the rice with veggies (1.50 extra). There were snow peas, bell peppers, bok choy, mushrooms, onions, lotus root and a lot of delicious sauce at the bottom. I really liked this dish, it was flavorful, and the chili sauce really complemented the sauce! I also felt quite healthy eating this which was a plus! It was brought our fairly quickly after I ordered and piping hot. The only qualm I had was that it was a bit too oily for my liking.
They have rotating desserts which I thought was quite neat. Today they had this chocolate mousse and a raspberry macaron. I ordered the macaron ($ 9). It was a bit expensive for what it was, a single large raspberry macaron with chocolate sauce, coconut flakes and a creamy whip cream center between the 2 cookies. It was really good and fresh, but again, not really worth $ 9 (note: my favorite macarons come from Laduree in Paris, and they’re only 2.25 pounds each).
Overall, it was good but not amazing. Great service though!

I would have given a 2.5 rating if I could. I really wanted to love this restaurant! The food was good, simple but delicious (tried the tiger claw bowl) but presentation wasn’t great. We went on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm, it was not busy yet our food (two bowls) took at least 30 minutes to arrive. The waitress brought by a pitcher of water and reassured us our food would be out shortly, then avoided us until it arrived 20 minutes later. I have worked in a lot of bars and restaurants, if you have bill times exceeding 20 minutes on a simple dish (especially when it is not busy) your customers are generally not going to be impressed. Also the environment was a bit uncomfortable: we sat next to the window which was freezing cold and next to the door, and the table was a really odd height. Not very comfortable. The hall to the washroom was blocked by a huge stack of chairs I had to squeak by. I would go here again just for the delicious food, but with no expectations for an «experience».

Lots of yummy Vegan choices plus dessert! Great service! Bit small for bands — the live music was too loud so we had to rush our meal to get out, even though I love live bands. Disappointed it is closed on a Sunday.

Overpriced for what you get. Coconut curry «the Buddha» was bland, which is unacceptable for a $ 16 veggie dish. Everyone else in my party was equally unimpressed. I would not recommend this place.

Rating: **** (out of 5 *)
Food: *** ½
Service: ****
Décor: ****
Bottom Line: A cozy, funky space with friendly staff and an Asian-​centric menu. I would definitely go here again for lunch in downtown.
I have passed by this place a few times now and finally had chance to try it out for a corporate lunch with a group of 12.
Food:
As the restaurant’s name suggests, the menu is definitely Asian-​centric with quite a number of Vegetarian and Gluten-​Free options. We started off with a few appetizers: edamame beans, gyozas, ginger beef and some sort of salmon dish. I found these to be tasty but a little on the small side portion-​wise.
I ordered one of their Signature Bowls, the Bonsai Beef, which what stood out for me. It was a health amount of sliced AAA sirloin beef over a bed of chili Szechuan noodles and mixed vegetables. The beef was cooked perfectly and it had a great balance of sweetness and heat for the noodles. I would definitely order this again.
Service:
The staff were friendly and attentive, especially considering the size of our group. The food came out in a reasonable time.
Décor:
I liked the ambiance. It gives off a chill and funky vibe. Although it’s a smaller space it doesn’t feel cramped like other places.

I love this place.
The owners are super friendly and the servers as well. I played here for an open mic a few times, and I would come back any day.
The vibe is so chill and low key, it’s great. Music sign up starts at 7pm and there are generally quite a few spots available throughout the evening.
Looking for a great place to hang out on a Tues night? Order some drinks and desserts and you’re in for a great evening.

Great service, different ambiance.
I enjoyed the service, and quality of their coffee /​cakes/​desserts were all very good.
It has an artistic theme, with lots live music events.
Very cozy environment and friendly staff.
I’m going back.

Sorry to update my review to a 1 star, but I will NEVER go to Café Koi again. My boyfriend and I went on a Monday night (because of their Meatless Monday Special) and had assumed (wrongly) that it would end up being a cheap to medium priced night.
First off at 6 pm the place was pretty dead. There was 1 waitress and she was not very attentive at all. It took forever for her to give us menus, and then forever for her to come back and take our order.
We only ordered 3 things and water, she didn’t write anything down and she ended up forgetting one of them (our appetizer!)
We ordered the vegetable gyoza’s, a Buddha burger, and a panda bowl with the addition of Koi spiced tofu.
Even though there were only 3 other tables, our food took a long time to come. When it finally did, I was shocked. Where is our appetizer? Someone else brought out our food and told the waitress later she forgot it. She didn’t seem too concerned, more like an «oh whoops… well did you still want it?» Wow nice attitude!
The Buddha burger is kind of ridiculous for a vegetarian option. It’s served on this naan like flatbread and cannot be made vegan because of the dairy used in the bread. They have no other options, and seriously don’t care that only lacto-​vegetarians or omnivores can order it. My boyfriend didn’t really like it anyway because who wants to eat a veggie burger on flat bread? Probably should be removed from the menu or served on a vegan friendly traditional bun, not the same bread used for their chicken flat bread sandwich.
I ordered the Panda bowl on the waitress’s recommendation, as I had previously tried the Buddha Bowl (which was nice, a large size and comes with tofu and a side of rice). What I received was a tiny bowl of vegetables with shredded carrots, topped with my side of Koi spiced tofu. I was pretty disappointed in the serving size and was still hungry after I finished. Who makes a menu item just of steamed vegetables in sauce?
Finally our vegetable gyoza’s arrived. They were pretty greasy and only ok in flavor. Not worth $ 9 either.
So far the overall experience was very disappointing. But that’s not even the worst part. The manager came over and said he would discount the gyoza’s for us because they were missed and we thought oh ok, thanks that’s nice.
Looking at the bill I was absolutely shocked…
$ 2 was taken off the 2 entrees because of the standard Meatless Monday Special –ok, but the «side» of 3 tiny strips of tofu cost $ 4 on top of a dish that was already $ 16 for a tiny bowl of vegetables. In what world is a side of tofu $ 4? It’s not like it’s advertised as organic even. And the gyozas were only discounted $ 1 in total! They were already supposed to come with a $ 1 discount for the Meatless Monday special, but I guess the waitress again did not care. So really we received no discount at all for her forgetting appetizer, unlike what we were told by the manager.
The whole meal for 3 items with no drinks, after discount was still over $ 42, and we left hungry and unhappy. That is far too much to pay for just small portions of vegetables and bread.
I just don’t understand why the Buddha bowl costs less less than the Panda bowl with tofu added. The Buddha bowl is a coconut vegetable curry, which comes with tofu and a side of rice, and the panda bowl is just a smaller bowl of vegetables with no rice and no tofu. It doesn’t make any sense and it is not clear on the menu that it is a small portion.
This whole experience soured me from ever returning to Café Koi, any time I’m downtown it will be The Coup, even though it’s busy the waitresses are infinitely superior.
Café Koi is nothing but a dark «café» that charges high prices for bad service and small portions and nickels and dimes for everything. Not worth being ripped off again, sorry.

I love the look and feel of Koi: dim lighting, obscure artwork, and the mid-​energy music humming in the background. It is more of a date place rather than a café you could bring your laptop to and get some serious work done.
Their coffee is great and has a bit of a snap to it. Great for when you want to have serious business discussions. But make sure your companion isn’t having one their many cocktails. This one time I was here some guy was drunkenly pouring his heart out to this girl who was clearly there to squeal about her other fella. The world is a soap opera: yuck.
I liked some of the dishes I’ve tried there in the past. Their double dipper bean and roasted garlic hummus are great appetizers to share. And I had a bit of their buddha bowl, also an excellent choice. But personally I never found their drinks that strong. The mint mojito was great but I wouldn’t choose this place for drinks.
They have a stage available for performances and presentations. I’ve gone here for a few intimate music concerts and open mics, as well as a few readings. Maybe if my work held it’s quarterly meeting here no one would fall asleep.
Unilocal’s 30 Day Challenge ²⁶⁄₃₀

November Challenge — ²⁸⁄₃₀
Super friendly staff at Café Koi, even when the Café is packed to the gills full of smelly college kids getting their culture on during an otherwise quiet Monday evening.
I’ve been a few times before, but always for drinks or coffee. Monday night, I finally got to try one of their dishes. They were out of vegan burgers (what do you expect in a crowd full of Freshman philosophers?), so I opted for the Lotus Bowl. Normally, I can’t stand stir fries, because it’s the cop-​out «oh man, vegetarians are coming» dish of gooey sadness I encounter in diners where nothing else is «asian inspired.»
However, the Lotus Bowl at Koi is full of delicious vegan goodness. Packed full of smoky grilled tofu, fresh veggies, a fragrant sauce and rice; the portion seems small at first, but I felt cozy and full after finishing it. The soup spoon they gave me to eat it with was kind of awkward to use, and it was too busy in Koi for me to want to get up and ask for more proper utensils, but I made do and it was tasty regardless.
Stop for the cocktails, stay for the Lotus Bowl! If you order a vegetarian entrée on Monday, it’s $ 2 off. $ 1 off vegetarian appetizers on Monday, too!

I told my mum I went to eat here and she assumed Koi was a sushi restaurant.
Don’t be fooled!
Koi is delicious and vegetarian friendly, while not ostracizing people who do like meat, which I feel can happen at the Coup.
It is also a bonus because they do take reservations, so I booked a table online a week in advance.
We were seated right in the window nook, which was nice and private and I was next to a heating vent, which made me happy after having walked to Koi from Bankview. The lone TV was playing My Fair Lady, which prompted my Fiancé to quietly sing along.
I decided it was a cocktail night, so I had the spicy ceaser, wishing well (sake, gin, lychee) and a amaretto sour. The amaretto sour comes with a sugar dusted rim, but by our third round, the rim wasn’t dusted anymore and the Fiancé’s drinks kept being taken away before they were finished. Though that could be blamed on his quiet English accent.
We shared the roasted garlic hummus and the crispy ginger tofu-​chuks, both were amazing. The ginger tofu-​chuks were a crispy party in my mouth.
I know Koi is notable for it’s signature bowls, so I ordered the Sea of Happiness bowl, coconut curry heaven with a variety of tasty sea creatures: shrimp, mussels and salmon. I very much appreciated the proper cleaning of the mussels too, it’s always a bonus not to have sand in your food.
We then shared the coffee cake that vanished very quickly from the plate.
We both really enjoyed our meal, the service was speedy, though not super friendly which is why I am keeping Koi to a four star, that and the drink theft!
In addition to being a great place to dine, Koi hosts open mic nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Mondays the vegetarian dishes are discounted!
I need to make the trip over to Koi more often!
Review #25 of Unilocal’s 30 Day Challenge

Café Koi has such an intimate /​romantic setting its lovely. The room is darkly lit, the noise level is quiet, and the service is nice and unobtrusive. Nothing about the place is pretentious, loud or overly-​anything.
Their Buddha Bowl is amazing. It is a yellow curry bowl with lots of veggies and some thick slices of seared tofu, served with jasmine rice. The seared tofu was so so good, I am glad it came seared and not stir-​fried. I love Thai influenced curries, and this one was absolutely delicious. It was like a warm hug from an old friend.
I went on a Monday night, not knowing it was Vegelicious Monday, so the 2 $ discount on the bill was a pleasant surprise.
They also seem to have some live music acts, which I will definitely be checking out one of these days.

Koi is a great place for some trendy food during the lunch hour.
If you work down town Calgary, there’s no reason not to pop over and try out Café Koi. I had a great curry dish served with rice that was featured on their gluten free menu. The curry had great rich flavours and was served in a perfect amount for lunch time. I hope to get back to try out some more food as soon as possible.
The staff at Koi were all very nice and can make a very good mojito. The prices were very fair especially considering how close they are to the down town core.