Restaurant Review: Koi Fusion

I had the opportunity to enjoy a few drinks and meal at Koi Fusion on Knoxville's Market Square on Saturday night. This was my second visit, but first for dinner. Here is my take:

Atmosphere: 4/5

The atmosphere at Koi has a very contemporary feel, with plenty of Asian flare. The interiour is cool and shadowy, with sleek lines. It feels like a hip downtown Asian joint. There is a patio which overlooks Market Square. It looks perfect for catching a concert or just people watching on the square. I'd give a higher score for atmosphere except for the annoying fact that the CD playing for background music skipped continuously throughout the night. I don't know if the staff was too busy to turn it off or just didn't notice, but it skipped for nearly half an hour.

Service: 3.5/5

There was a large group of us dining and the arrivals/departures were quite fluid. Our server did a good job of staying on top of who was who and what was what. He wasn't the friendliest guy in the world and didn't help with dinner recommendations, but covered the basics. On a side note we had a great conversation with the hostess who appeared to be hanging out post-shift. She was a bubbly personality that was great at the door.

Food: 2/5

I was very disappointed with the food. We started off with some pot stickers. They appeared to be pan-fried and were stuffed with a pork mix. They were served with a chili based sauce, and were delicious. Ms. Patty had a chicken dish (Mideria, if I recall). It appeared to be pan-fried and was topped with mozarella cheese and a mushroom. It was served with a vegetable medley similar to a stir-fry. I've been to some rubber chicken dinners in my life (politics of course), but this chicken had to take the cake. It was lacking on taste and even worse in consistency. It was similar to chewing on a baseball mitt.

I went with the Asian Grilled Pork Chop with vegetables. The vegetables were wonderfully flavored and prepared. However, I ran into the same problem as the chicken with my pork chop, although not to that extreme. It was better flavored, but still quite tough. Some of our companions had much better entrees. In particular, the Pad Thai looked and tasted (according to others) great.

Overall: 3.2/5

Overall it was a good time. The atmosphere is very nice and service was up to par. We had a drink a piece, plus a small order of sake (Fuki, served hot). The sake was good, but probably served a tad too hot. The tab came out to over $60 + tip for the two of us. Given the price tag, the quality of food was very disappointing and didn't match the service or atmosphere.