Koi Japanese Fusion

Have gone several times and I’ve never been disappointed. Go visit this great sushi place in El Paso. You won’t regret it, I hope lol. Enjoy!

I frequent this place because it is usually my GO TO for sushi greatness in El Paso.
Try for yourself, I know you’ll be pleased!

Had a girls nite out. had a blast. sushi was amazing. .atmosphere was zen like… you gotta try the tamarind margaritas

Love this place for lunch, dinner, or even a few drinks. I try to come every time I’m in town. For lunch you can sit at the sushi bar and get a few rolls fairly quickly. For dinner definitely get the kalbi short ribs for an appetizer and for your entrée… Well if you like sushi there is every option you could ever want. If not they also have great entrees like ribs or chicken teriyaki. If you’re just here for drinks the bar is super sleek and trendy.

Fantastic!!! You have to order the Mexico City Roll. It is the best sushi roll ever. And I know good sushi. The service is nice and prompt. Love the simple Asian décor, too.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY $ 3 SUSHI WEDNESDAY! Their menu is very deceiving. It’s what you call a «Dark Pattern» in graphic design. They put $ 3 in white behind a red bar, and the «$ 3» menu is in black and white. Then they stick a the price at the end of the description of the food!!! You think you are paying $ 3 for certain sushi? Guess what, it’s actually $ 7 or $ 8 or $ 9! DON’T BE A SUCKER!

Delicious, excellent service and cozy atmosphere. The seafood appetizer was fabulous with mussels, shrimp, scallops in a tasty sauce. The teriyaki bowl with chicken was delicious and the scorpion roll was excellent. Price was reasonable for Japanese cuisine. Certainly recommend!

My wife and I went there for dinner. We had a very good experience. The food was good. we had the combination plate. 10 pieces of sashimi and 3rolls. The rolls were the fusion part of the meal. A ceviche roll. Rice rolled around crab with ceviche in a mango sauce is an example. It was pretty good. Service was excellent.

We started with fried calamari. It was really good with the salad that it came with. We then had the white tiger roll, crispy California and the boss. All were really good. My favorite of the three was the white tiger roll.

Tried this place based on Unilocal reviews and was pleasantly surprised. Went early on a weekend night. It was not crowded so we had our choice of the dining or bar area. We asked for a booth either way and ended up being sat in the bar area. The booth was in a half C shape, facing the bar in way that we had to sit side by side. The bar area was nice though with mounted flat screen TVs and modern décor. The lights are slightly dim. Koi has a nice ambiance overall.
Unfortunately they must have had some kind of plumbing problem because the restaurant smelled bad, faintly like sewer. Honestly, we would have left if we hadn’t of driven across town and had our hearts set on trying the sushi here. I assume the rancid smell was some sort of fluke but neither the hostess or server could offer an explanation. Naturally, it dampened the experience.
As far as the menu went, it looked pretty good. I would have preferred more roll options with salmon (I am a big salmon fan!) on the sushi menu but that’s just a personal preference. There’s still a lot to chose from. We ordered three rolls to share. I thought the prices were a little high for some (rolls ranging from $ 12 — $ 18 a pop). All three tasted good and «fresh» though. We also ordered a specialty drink. It was okay but nothing to rave about. The final bill came right under $ 50 including tip. Our overall service was okay too, not exceptional, but fit within the guidelines of decent service. I would probably go again, especially for a nice date night (as long as the odor is under control, that is).

Decent food but failure to disclose a $ 50 market price for Toro sashimi (5pieces) knocked off a few stars.
Driving through El Paso we found this sushi place on Unilocal and thought we’d give it a try. It was fairly quiet (ok pretty much empty) for a Saturday night so we sat at the bar.
The service was quick, the food was solid, the sashimi was fresh however way over priced. I have eaten Toro all over the world and never recall a $ 50 price tag.
I don’t mind paying market price for fish but when that market price is 5 times the price of every other fish and no one mentions it at the time of order. That is a little rough.
I’d recommend this for great sushi just avoid the ‘market price’ category

Probably the 2^nd or 3^rd best sushi place in El paso. They have excellent service and you don’t have to wait long after ordering before the food hits the table.
The highlights of koi actually have nothing to do with their rolls or sushi. I gave them four stars completely on the strength of their appetizers and drinks. The miso cod almost earned them 5 stars in of itself.
The downfall of this place is the complete lack of variety in the rolls. Maybe they’re just catering to their main clientele but 99% of the rolls had cream cheese and kani crab. That’s not to say it was bad but it all tasted the same and generic. The quality of the sashimi was hit or miss but I appreciated the fact that they had ika and other not so common things on the menu.

We used to frequent this location when it was Amuse. We liked the hand-​cut steaks and the homemade béarnaise sauce. Sadly, like Crust, another restaurant in the same shopping center, Amuse went out of business.
We didn’t try the sushi during the days of Amuse. I was told the Korean partner who operated the sushi bar took over the restaurant, to re-​launch it as Koi. I can’t attest to this, as I don’t know the proprietor, however, I can most certainly attest to the skill of the Korean sushi chef, Ha Khun, and the amazing quality and freshness of the seafood.
Ha Khun goes by the nickname Cancun, which is how the Hispanic staff, including his sous-​chef, refers to him.
Although their sake list is not as good as Sunny’s, primarily because they don’t offer Wakatake Onigoroshi and their top sake is grossly overpriced, their sushi is phenomenal. Like the best sushi restaurants in Denver, Koi receives shipments of fresh seafood from global seafood markets and distributors on a weekly basis. Technically, the best evening to visit is Thursday, or Wednesday if their shipment arrives on Wednesday afternoon instead of Thursday morning.
We always start with a custom sashimi platter. Khun has always included Kumamoto oysters with a scallion and wasabi oil/​relish, and ama-​ebi (raw prawn) with its crisply fried, prawn head. This platter is world-​class, seriously.
Other excellent dishes include the Volcano Roll, and a roll with shrimp and small jalapeño slices (I don’t remember the name).
I happen to love uni, sea urchin roe. Koi is the only restaurant in EP where I have enjoyed uni. It was fresh, creamy, and delicious. Unfortunately, they don’t always have uni, but when they do, it’s excellent.
The service is also excellent, Oscar is our usual waiter. The atmosphere is terrific, with live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
My only food criticism: the miso soup is a bit thin, it would taste better with more miso.
My only general criticism: they didn’t tell us the new medium-​high-​end sake’s price until we received the bill. I had to have CPR to recover from the shock. :D
All in all, I have no hesitation in saying this is the best sushi restaurant I have found in El Paso. Its sashimi is world-​class. I highly recommend Koi Japanese Fusion.

I am going to start evaluating on a value system. For koi, here are the results
Price: ⁴⁄₁₀
Atmosphere: ⁸⁄₁₀
Quality: ⁷⁄₁₀
Overall value score is ⁶⁄₁₀. It was good but felt for the amount of food it was not comparable to other local sushi joints.
We ate at lunch and was in and out within 40 minutes. Service was good.

Dropped by this spot after hearing good things ( Unilocalers and friends) about it and I must say I was a little disappointed. The atmosphere is great and the environment is very modern and hip. We ordered the «build your bento box» which was a deal at $ 10, but it left somethings to be desired. The edamame was crisp and fresh. The Cancun jalapeños were with a slight spice to them and were awesome. I would highly recommend them. Along with the teryaki chicken, which my wife almost stole from me! The sexy koi is by far the best role option with the box so go with that one.
Now for the bad… sorry koi, I really wanted to love it all. The salad that came with the box seemed really bland and actually just reminded me of an american house salad. All it needed was some ranch dressing and I wouldn’t be too far from an buffet salad somewhere else. The lemon-​soy shrimp was more like a soup of broth with some bland shrimp in it (keep in mind this was served in the box so no bowl… a bunch of liquid… doesn’t make a good combination). We also ordered the tuna roll and I feel like I can always tell a good sushi spot by how they serve it up. I’m sad to say the roll was a slight disappointment. The tuna was beautiful and tasted great, the roll looked like someone did it in a hurry, with it coming apart mid chopstick grab.
Then the music! Don’t ask me why but they had some Chicago blues/​Frank Sinatra music playing, which I actually liked but it didn’t fit the mood of the restaurant. I felt like I belonged in some pizza pie shop on Lake Shore Drive with a beer rather than a contemporary Japanese Fusion restaurant.
All in all, I’m giving them another chance soon. Hopefully this visit was a fluke… hopefully.

Bangin’ 5 stars. You wont get that from me often. We got mussels as appetizer, salmon and tuna rolls, albacore hand roll and octopus and white tun sashimi. For two. All under $ 40. I wasn’t stuffed but I was content.
First, though, I would like to say that one of most important factor of a good restaurant is their accomodatability (yep I just made it up) to peoples dietary needs. This sushi place has it! And they did it w smiles on their face. I asked the sauce on mussels to be on the side and to replace rice in hand roll with cucumber. Very very good. Waitress probably figured I am a health-​freak-​wanna-​be so she offered to switch my soy sauce to low sodium. So smart. Haha
Second, the meat to rice ratio in small rolls. Awesome. Most sushi places skimp on sashimi and load up on rice. Cheap! This place I saw thin layer of rice around a decent chunk of sashimi. This allows you to really appreciate the fish rather than fill up on rice. Which leads me to…
Third, quality. They mentioned «sashimi grade» over and over on the menu. My first reaction is «oh I heard that [from other EP sushi places] before» but they ain’t lying! These sashimi pieces were the BEST quality Ive had in EP! Esp white tuna (waitress recommended) literally melts in your mouth. My favorite was octopus. Very lean, soft but little bit of «firm crunch.»
This is on par with most mid-​grade Houston sushi places w a little higher price. Also, this place isn’t your location if you want to be stuffed (go to Tokyo House for that). But this is a place if you want to know what «sashimi grade» should taste like and you live in the middle of a desert. I give 5 because it is the best quality sushi in El Paso as of yet!

Here is a sushi restaurant that serves fresh & delicious food, all the while keeping the price range within reason. Did I mention we’re in EL PASO?! I know, fresh/​reasonably priced sushi in El Paso?! I don’t kid, this is true life.
I’ll get to the food in a sec, but let’s talk about the next important thing: Alcohol. They serve beer, sake and wine. Sorry martini lovers, no liquor served in this joint. But I do recommend hot sake and Japanese imported beer such as Sapporo and Asahi! Where else can you get the full Japan experience, alcoholic-​style? Okay, besides other sushi restaurants in EP, but this one’s better. Hmpf.
Located conveniently in the Shoppes on Mesa shopping plaza, this spacious restaurant brings an upscale and hip ambiance with friendly service and comfortable seatings. As soon as you walk in, you’re greeted by the friendly staff of Koi and seated right away. The restaurant does fill up rather quickly (especially during the weekends/​Friday evenings), but the wait isn’t too long– and it is worth the wait.
Okay– now the food! We ordered Sexy Koi roll (shrimp tempura, avocado, kani crab), Yum Yum roll (shrimp tempura, cucumber, crab), and the Monkey roll (shrimp tempura, eel, tuna). All were VERY tasty, and apparently, we love shrimp tempura. But hey! It’s so good! Absolutely fresh sushi, decadent sauces that well complimented each of the rolls (i.e., spicy mayo, eel sauce, sriracha, etc.), good portions of food– it’s perfect, if you ask me.
Majority of sushis range between $ 11-​$ 15. There are some special rolls that involve lobster/​soft shell crab, and those are priced at about $ 18. And I’m sure they are worth it! But ours was $ 11-​$ 13 because we are not yet ballerz. It’s ok, it’s not too shabby!
See? You don’t have to be a baller to enjoy fresh/​delicious sushi in El Paso.

Koze move aside! Their is a player in town and it’s Koi. This place is great! We came in to have dinner and I am glad we did, we started if with the ika salad. It was good, then we had the dynamite scallops! Wow they were fantastic!!! The only fail was on the shrimp tempura, my wife loves that dish and she was disappointed as it was a little to greasy and the oil tasted old and was a little cold.
On the rolls we ordered a spicy tuna, staple, sumo, scorpion, crunchy and volcano roll. Crap were they good. That volcano roll was the first thing that was finished. The scorpion and sumo were fantastic. Needless to say this place is definitely on my return list!

PHE.NOM.ENAL.
This is quite literally the best sushi place in El Paso! Koi is making a quiet entrance into the market, but I swear this has put all other sushi restaurants in El Paso to shame.
Around a month a go, I actually walked in when they weren’t even opened and demanded an explanation for the weeks of waiting. Okay, maybe I just asked when they’d be open. At that time there was no set date, but they knew it would be a couple of weeks. I really didn’t look around and went on my merry way, thinking it would be nothing more than mediocre to good food.
Boy, was I wrong.
For starters Koi is one of the most beautifully designed restaurants in El Paso. It has a lounge vibe to it with it’s skinny red lanterns, striped booths, mirrors, and smartly done wood walls. I’d seriously compare Koi to something in Vegas or New York or Cali. It’s the perfect amount of class and casual, they couldn’t have done a better job.
The staff (kitchen, servers, and managers) are extremely efficient. I went around 6:30 pm on a Sunday and there were only about three other tables taken by small parties. All my foodie partner and I ended up ordering was three rolls.
We both are very familiar with sushi and were already fully aware that any place with good [and fresh] sushi was going to have a bit of a wait before the sushi arrived. After the server left to place our order, he returned with out Miso soup. The soup was an ace in my books. When he returned to remove the bowls, he let us know our rolls would be out momentarily and asked if there were any additional sauces we wanted on the side (i.e. Siracha, eel sauce, spicy mayo). That never happens in El Paso. Normally I have to ask for sauces after my rolls arrive (even if I asked while ordering).
Out came or rolls. The Monkey, the Sexy Koi, and the Crazy Vegas. I am forever ruined… I will never eat sushi in EP at any place other than Koi! Sure, it is maybe a dollar or two more than most places in EP, but it’s totally worth it. I’m not going to dissect the ingredients of each roll in this review, but each roll had the perfect amount of rice, perfect combination of [the freshest] ingredients, and they were all beautifully plated.
And just an fyi, THEY USE FRESH CRAB (all the fish is fresh, but crab is so important to me). That alone is reason enough to be willing to pay more for a roll. Koi does not skimp on anything.
We finished the night with the Banana Foster with green tea ice cream. While waiting for our dessert, our amazing waiter brought us complimentary oranges. For some reason it didn’t seem so strange a thing to bring at the time. And actually it was a good pallet cleanser.
The ice cream was great, it wasn’t over powering and very creamy like a gelato. The bananas came out piping hot, which should’ve been expected, but without thinking I popped one in my mouth. Piping hot. So then I shoveled in a bunch of ice cream to cool it down quickly. Regardless of my child-​like behavior, it was deliciously flakey and sweet.
Tip of the day: cut the bananas.

I first stumbled upon Koi last week on Christmas Eve. My group was 4 adults & 1 toddler. They have highchairs, yay!
Most restaurants were closed so we chose Koi by default. We walked into a beautiful, yet empty dining room. The waiter was friendly and immediately stated that they «just opened today.» ¹²⁄₂₄ was their soft grand opening. We were worried that our dinning experience would be marred with opening day glitches, but it wasn’t!
Everything we had was fantastic!
Starters– Sexy jalapeño: a tempura jalapeño stuffed with spicy tuna, YUM!
Crab & cream cheese wontons with a sweet dipping sauce
Nigiri– I had the salmon. It was fresh, buttery & delicious
Rolls– Crazy Vegas Roll was my personal favorite
Caterpillar, a classic done perfectly
We also had the Lobster, New York, Dragon rolls.
They also brought us miso soup and salad while we waited for our rolls. Nice touch.
It is on the pricey side. Rolls are $ 10-​$ 15. But flying fresh fish to El Paso is also pricey. So I’d rather pay more for fresh, delicious fish than get food poisoning (which has happened at other EP eateries.)
We returned to Koi for a second time on ½/​14. Our experience was just a great as the first time! If you’re craving sushi in EP, Koi is the place to go!