imperial koi asian bistro sushi bar

beautiful but bland sushi. with all the 4 and 5 star ratings for imperial koi, obviously i'm outside the norm with my review but i'm just trying to be objective.

short-version: we've been to ik 4 or 5 times but hadn't been in long time until last night to use a $12 coupon that was about expire. the reason for the long absence is that we believe there is better tasting sushi elsewhere in greensboro. the place is beautiful with some awesome views, service has been good and portions sizes are some of the best around but all our choices (while gorgeously plated) just seem bland.

long-version: succumbing to one of our regular sushi cravings, we remembered we had a coupon and figured we might as use it and give ik another shot. as we entered we saw that the tuesday special was 1/2 priced glasses and bottles of wine. bonus since i was in a wine mood anyway. the sushi bar was completely open so we sat there since building a rapport with sushi chefs is never a bad thing ;-)

location: ik is off of new garden rd on the 2nd floor of a new, multiuse building. access is a bit confusing as you have to drive around the back to park and find the front doors. we've never had any issues with having ample parking. there is also a nice outdoor patio by the front doors.

food: refreshing ourselves with the dinner menu, we saw a number of categories including: soups and salads, kitchen starters (~12 items), sushi starters (4 choices), main dishes (~8 kitchen items), sushi entrees, nigiri-style sushi (good selection including all the standards), sushirollsand specialtyrolls(both sections have a good variety of options).

we selected 3 specialty rolls, an order of unagi and a spicy tuna hand roll (extra spicy) and a bottle of brancott sauvignon blanc since it was half-priced. almost as soon as we finished ordering, the sushi chef passed over a heaping plate of lightly fried white fish. now, getting a little extra something from the chefs is not completely uncommon but this thing was big and nicely seasoned with spices. major kudos on this perk.

the unagi and hand roll came out next with the hand roll being about as big as one i've ever eaten. the unagi cuts were on the large side as well. though i watched the chef "extra-spicy" the hand roll personally, i still felt both the tuna and spice were muted taste-wise.

the 3rollswere not far behind and all three were visually gorgeous, excellently plated and as big as i've seen in a very long time. we ordered the angel, angry and new gardenrollsand again all the components just lacked a certain pop whether it was shrimp tempura, tuna, salmon or softshelled crab. this is where the old adage of judging a book by its cover is working in reverse - so great to look at but not much to excite the palate. though it pains me, just 2 stars for the food.

service: our server, michael, was very good. he approached us timely after sitting, was helpful with the menu and came back had a good sense of humor and checked on at appropriate times. the sushi chefs were also very nice and checked on us as well. glancing around, it seemed like all the servers were keeping busy and engaged with their customers. no issues - 4 stars for service.

value: experienced sushi fans probably look at the menu and immediately say, "this is on the high side" and they are right. however, the portions are bigger than any of their local competitors that i can think of and artistically appealing. however, i'm just not impressed with the robustness of the flavors. the specialtyrollsare in the $13 to $17 range, nigiri sushi 5 or 6 bucks for a two piece order and my hand roll was $6.5. as i've mentioned, portion sizes are large and fortunately we had a friend join us to help us finish our orders! our sushi, half-prized bottle of wine, a hot sake less a $12 coupon came to about $90 (gratuity included). while style and size are excellent, flavor simply isn't - can only give 3 stars for value.

atmosphere: this is definitely an area in which ik excels. the layout is very elegant and comfortable. the views from the windows at night are very nice and i imagine a number of romantic meals have been held here. they keep things neat and clean, including the restrooms and the staff are professional dressed. 5 stars for atmosphere.

overall, i like many things about ik especially the artistry of the sushi chefs and the restaurant's atmosphere, however, we still have other sushi places that we think have more flavorful offerings. if you are not price sensitive and not overly picky about your sushi but want a nice, elegant dining experience imperial koi should work well. if you are more particular about your sushi, there are better options around town, in my opinion.

food: 6/10 (10/10 for presentation); service: 8/10; value: 5/10; atmosphere: 9/10

fresh and tasty. not cheap.. ostensibly celebrated lovelorn san valentino with second trip to imperial koi. this time, thanks to some help from restaurant.com, we went all-out with appetizers, sushi, entrée, soup and dessert.
we had reservations for 7:00, but arrived in greensboro a bit early. we got to the restaurant at 6:15 and i asked the hostess whether it would be possible to get a table sooner (the place was packed; i could see only a couple of empty tables). my question utterly confounded the hostess. now, it must be made clear that, despite its menu, imperial koi has a staff (outside of the kitchen) that must be 90% caucasian american, including this hostess. i explained what i was asking another 2-3 times before she finally said, "oh, well i can seat you now if you want." yes, poor, poor thing, that's what i want.
i'll try to get the negative aspects of our meal out of the way first. foremost, there was our waiter, ives (long "i", hard "s", not the proper french pronunciation). i thought, that cannot be your real name. why must waiters these days all be named ives, chance, chase and others in that vein? anyway, ives was a mediocre waiter, at best. yes, it was a busy evening, but even as the crowd thinned out, he was rarely at our attention. he appeared to take the order, to deliver most of the food, and to clear the table. never did he return to check on our needs during the meal. after asking that our remaining soup and appetizers be boxed for us, he returned them to us rather than keep them safe in the kitchen. honestly, man, the table is tiny. where do you expect us to put an unnecessarily huge doggie bag for the rest of our meal?

all that being said, the food at imperial koi is outstanding. in our initial visit, we had tried the duck spring rolls, scallops, pineapple chicken and the seasons roll. the springrollswere good, but nothing special. everything else was amazing. the sushi specialties are typical pretentious, non-traditional neo-sushi. but at imperial koi, they do it splendidly.
in this more recent visit, we started with lettuce wraps and hot & sour soup, each being adequate but nothing to brag about. the soup had no spice to it at all. we split a single entrée - the five-spiced honey chicken. it was cooked perfectly. so rarely can i describe chicken as seeming to melt in the mouth, but that is a suitable description of this dish. the rice they serve with their meals is nuttier than most asian restaurants, but good.
we tried 4 sushi rolls: american dream, angry dragon, crazy tuna and sweet potato tempura. american dream and crazy tuna were quite similar, but with finishing flavors that were absolutely different. both were terrific. crazy dragon is a shrimp tempura roll and was also very tasty. our least favorite, the sweet potato was interesting and good, but no competition to the others.
dessert was a molten fudge cake of some sort. every restaurant these days has one of these on their menu. this one was very good (as if a chocolate cake injected with hot liquid fudge could possibly not be), but way too small. it was served with a tiny dollop of ice cream and a cookie of some kind, and drizzled with a strawberry gel.

expect to spend a fair amount here. specialtyrollsaverage about $15 each, while the standards are around $6. dining earlier in the evening will reward you with half-priced starters. most entrées are in the $15-25 range.
other than the ditzy hostess and useless waiter, the staff is great. an older gentleman is always patrolling the floor, graciously curious about one's experience so far and always keen to strike up a conversation. our terrific waiter for our first visit seems a much better indication of what to expect from the servers than the unfortunate ives.
i plan to return as often as my wallet permits.

service, 3/10 (this trip), 7/10 (overall).
food, 8/10.

my husband and i just ate here for a late lunch and it was incredible! the server kenny was amazing and he chose our sushi selection for us. he was even so nice to leave out salmon for us. we had 3 specialrollsthe seasons roll, the angry dragon roll and the yama roll that had spicy tuna, tempura crab and strawberry sauce. these wererollsthat we would have never chosen on our own but they left us both saying wow! spotless dinning room and incredible service willl keep us coming back again and again. they also offer half price apps on saturday and sunday.