 apanese dining takes a bold new form amidst the soaring ceilings and bold elegance of Ki. Self-described as “Modern Japanese,” this new addition to the culinary Siberia that is the Financial District abandons traditional bamboo frames and shoji screens for over 10,000 square feet of slick designed sex appeal and status.
Conceived by Hoss Drees and David Aisenstadt, the names behind the Keg and Hy’s restaurants, Ki seems to be their most ambitious venture yet. The oversized space is a commanding synthesis of rooms, booths, tables and bars, unified by long, bold, see-and-be-seen corridors.
Wood panels and red leather contrast against the polished steel and glass of the East section’s sushi bar, while pot-lights combine with the West Section’s table lamps to provide crisp yet warm lighting. The versatile lighting breaks the stereotypical wooden, earthy decor of the expected Japanese restaurant. The crowd is moneyed and elegant, ranging from Canali-clad Bay Street businessmen to self-gratifying scenesters in pursuit of the latest new hot thing.
The food is quality driven, beautifully presented and it will cost you dearly ($175 for dinner for two). The streamlined but somewhat corporate Ki exudes an international strut that aims to take Toronto to the forefront of the global fine-dining arena. The eclectic menu is a veritable selection of tempting and tantalizing flavours.
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181 Bay Street (bce place), Toronto, ON 
22 Reader Reviews
Food was mediocre at best...bland experience, wouldn't be in a rush to go back. Suppose it's par for the crowd in that area who aren't exactly there for an actual dining experience...bet the sweet potato wedges are flying off the shelves. We were greeted by a small statured man who seems to be a manager although appeared very on edge and stressed out, my guests and I got a kick out of his attempt in a very unnatural way to seem professional. Would not recommend this establishment for a fine diner.
Grant's Rating: 1 Stars |
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Food was mediocre at best...bland experience, wouldn't be in a rush to go back. Suppose it's par for the crowd in that area who aren't exactly there for an actual dining experience...bet the sweet potato wedges are flying off the shelves. We were greeted by a small statured man who seems to be a manager although appeared very on edge and stressed out, my guests and I got a kick out of his attempt in a very unnatural way to seem professional. Would not recommend this establishment for a fine diner.
Grant's Rating: 1 Stars |
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Went to Ki last night. Hadn't been since it opened. Patio is lovely and the sushi was to die for. A bit pricey, but totally worth it.
Sam's Rating: 4 Stars |
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Love this place! I had dinner at Ki for the first time recently and it was fabulous! Great food and knowledgeable, friendly staff. Our server Cameron guided us through the menu and suggested a couple of dishes and they were excellent! Got lost looking for the restrooms and one of the bartenders walked me half way then pointed me in the right direction. Now THAT'S service! Lovely experience! Now I know what all the hype is about! Ladies, ask for Cameron, you will not be disappointed with his service or his good looks and charm!
Shirley's Rating: 4 Stars |
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Yes, I think few of us are in the twilight zone or should I say, we have a REAL good perception of the FAKE world!!! I have never seen so many pretensions people in one place, not even in Hollywood! Man were obnoxious, rude, drunk, and looking at women as if they were there on display for them, to serve for their basic instinctual needs/or maybe they were there for that…service was OK but drinks we ordered never came…(doormen were nice but that is all nice that I have to say about this place)
Atmosphere was excruciatingly painfully ugly, air is filled with HUGE inflated EGOS of men with low self esteem, wearing nice suits to cover up for inadequate personalities and greedy money-hungry “wall street wanna-be” drunk stressed out characters. If you just by chance hear those men’s conversation, you will barf ……
I would never go back, ever, never, never, never!
Geena's Rating: 1 Stars |
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I went to Ki a couple of weeks ago on a HOT Thursday night with some of my clients from California. I love this restaurant and normally have a great time there. However, on this particular night, we had a rude encounter with one of the bartenders on the patio. I understand it was really busy and that there were only two bartenders on the patio but I thought the bartender's behavior was really unnecessary and inappropriate. My very important clients asked a couple of questions about the cocktails to one of the bartenders (Asian woman, I believe her name was either Ony or Ody). She let out a huge sigh and then answered the questions very abrasively. As my clients were making their decisions on what cocktails they wanted to try, someone yelled out her name from the crowd and she just walked away from us in the middle of taking our order! She did not return and I was very embarrassed since I was the one that recommended this place. We then decided to head inside and try our luck at the other bar which was just as crowded. A tall, black, male bartender was kind enough to answer our questions and start us a tab. Some time during the night, one of my clients decided she did not like her choice of wine. I went to the bar and ordered a different glass of wine from a young, Asian woman. I left the first full glass on the bar and turned to walk away when she asked me if there was something wrong with the wine. I told her that there was nothing wrong with the wine; my client just did not like it. She then told me that she would remove it from our bill, which I thought was really nice of her since the wine itself was fine. We stayed inside for the rest of the night and received prompt and friendly service from the bartenders. My clients tried a couple of dishes and raved about how delicious the food was. Great food, great atmosphere and almost great service.
All Business's Rating: 3 Stars |
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I had a dinner reservation made for the 4th of November for 16 people which I had made a month prior. The reservation was for 7:30 p.m. The evening of the dinner, traffic was horrible and we were running late and got to the restuarant at 7:45; we were informed that the table wasn't ready due to a party finishing late. But as soon as they were done and the table cleared we would be seated. We had drinks at the bar, which was great, thank you Fitzroy/Fitpatrick (really attractive black male bartender)!! We were seated and I informed (oops forgot name, but I do believe she is like one of the evening managers) her that due to time constraints we had to be out of the restaurant no later than 10:00 p.m. I hate putting a rush on anything but it had to be done, and it was done with a smile and great service. Our waitress, thank you Lisa, was knowledgeable, efficient, quick,ready to answer all questions and all this done with a smile and some chuckles along the way!!!! Lisa was are only waitress and she was amazing. She totally catered to us!!! We burdened her with daunting task of separate bills, yuck!!!! A lot of wait staff hate doing that and I understand but she did it with a smile and totally understood. I had made a special request with Jason when I made the reservation, that due to my close friend celebrating her birthday a couple of days earlier, I was hoping that I could get a dessert for her. He said that it would not be a problem. Well guess what it wasn't, it was brought out with a sparkle and it was a great last touch of a phenomenal evening. She loved it!!!!! The food was great as always!!!! Everyone loved their food, it was just insane. The bay scallops were insanely delicious. My girlfriend (the world's pickiest eater) loved the garlic mashed potatoes!! Spicy tuna was delicious, what could I say everything was amazing!!! Needless to say I really enjoy this place, everytime I go there, reservations or not, the service and the food is just great!!
Tonia's Rating: 4 Stars |
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11:45AM. Reservation at Ki (restaurant) for 2 people.
Ki is located inside the BCE Place, corner of Wellington and Bay, featuring sashimi, traditional and contemporary makimonos and Japanese food with a fresh new twist. It is reported that the budget was set at 7 million dollars, and one can definitely feel where the money was spent. Urban interior, clean cut lines, semi-dark room and extremely courteous servers sets Ki apart from the usual Financial District eateries. Obviously everything comes with a price!
Upon walking through 2 heavy glass doors, we were greeted by a host (I would've preferred a hostess) and the floor manager. Last name weren't used while addressing us (a little disappointed judging for the high expectations of such restaurant). The floor manager guides us to a quiet corner inside a dimly lit room, politely leaves the menu on the table to its respected place and waits until we sit down before leaving. Within 10 seconds, our server came. (She didn't introduce us by the last name, nor did she give her name away). She did however ask if this is our first time at Ki and offered to run through the menu with us explaining its highlights. Right before opening the menu, she offered whether we'll like something to drink. We ordered an iced tea ($3), a hot green tea/Genmaicha ($5). Unfortunately the iced tea wasn't refilled upon finishing it. The green tea was and it came in an extremely heavy, good quality tea-pot. The server was very amicable while removing the filtered tea leaves and poured the first cup for us. I later ordered a 3oz plum saketini ($10) that was a little too heavy on the alcohol side while lacking plum flavor while my date had a asian summer (strawberry) saketini ($10), which we both agreed was perfectly balanced, mild and fruity.
After serving us the drink, she offered to explain the menu. There's a lunch menu consisting of 6 different bentos (Japanese lunchbox) ranging from $12 - $26. The main/dinner menu has 3 sections/pages. First was the soup & appetizers and a selection of sukiyaki (skewers) served with 3 dipping sauce. Second were the sashimi and makimonos and lastly the protein page divided into cold and hot plates. Our server was very familiar with the menu and explained with patient while answering any questions we had. The best part was her suggestion of her favorite dish, which gave us a guideline as to where and what to order, while selecting from a wide variety of strange and exotic-sounding menu items.
We began with an appetizer of sweet potato wedges with wasabi mayonnaise ($7). The sweet potato wasn't as crispy as expected, and the wasabi mayo missed the balanced-pungent wasabi kick, but nothing beats freshly, handmade wedges so the flavor came out flawlessly in the mouth, despite lacking a satisfying crunch and a gratifying sinus rush from wasabi. Next we had a trio tartar composed of salmon ($18), toro (fatty tuna belly) and scallop served in three separate spoons. Salmon tartar was fresh and mild, while the scallop tartar lacks the usual scallop-sweetness and it wasn't enhanced by any other seasoning. In term of taste, the toro tartar was definitely champion. Well balanced, perfectly seasoned and full flavored. The only setback was the way salmon and toro tartar were sliced. Instead of small, uniform cubes, they were unpleasantly mashed, consequently it lacked visual beauty.
Before the main course, we ordered a modern makimono -- Kiwi-Tuna ($13). It had mango, cucumber, spicy tomato salsa wrapped in too thinly sliced yellowfin tuna, a slice kiwi and a drop of miso. The roll itself looked spectacular, and the taste definitely lived up to its presentation. For some strange reason, my date had a tough time lifting the pieces of maki up, it always opened up at the bottom and fell apart. No such problem for me though. (Maybe it's my chopstick skills mastery or lack of hers)
From a wide selection of lunch bento boxes, we ordered the black cod and tempura box ($24). It came with the usual set up of 2 tempura shrimp, 3 pieces of mixed tempura vegetables, a bowl of rice, a mix green with ginger apple dressing that tasted rather plain, and a broiled black cod with rapini, salmon roe and orange sauce. The cod was superbly prepared, cooked to perfection, flavorful, while the citrus from the orange sauce balanced perfectly with the fatty, moist cod. One drawback was the salmon roe, which did not have the usual satisfying “pop-in-your-mouth” feel due to over heating under the heat lamp.
Lastly, the server recommended the grilled short rib ($17) marinated in maple-soya with sesame seeds. She claimed that it'll fall off the bone (which it didn’t). The dish came very plain, with a piece of rapini as decoration and no side accompaniment, which was forewarned by our server. My date claimed that the flavor was a little too strong for her taste, but knowing that it was probably marinated (maybe even overnight) in the maple-soya mixture, I was expecting a strong flavored dish that would've gone perfectly with some plain starch (rice, potato or noodle/pasta). Although flavorful, it still lacked the distinct woody taste of maple syrup written on the menu.
In interior decor is simply perfect. Red wood table and comfortable, well cushioned chair, soft carpet, gentle and subtle lighting, all created in support of a long, pleasant dinning experience, something not expected from the typical fast-pace, right-in-your-face, Financial District restaurant scene.
My biggest complain will be in the attention for small details, such as not using name or last name while addressing us, the boring looking, ordinary white plastic take-out bag, the BIC ball point pen handed to me while singing my credit card receipt, and the cheap, pinkish soap provided in the otherwise stunning, flawless washroom. Service was well above average, friendly, knowledgeable and patient. It was greatly appreciated that we were left to enjoy our meal at ease and in peace with only a few subtle check-ups. However, while asking for the leftover food to be packaged, we made it clear the food were for separate individuals, but our server packaged all in one box and later apologized. Service could’ve been perfect if she just took action to solve her mistake by changing the take out box, instead of merely apologizing and giving us a choice of whether she should change it or not. This left us a little disappointed, especially for the price and clientele they’re targeting.
Although a little pricy, Ki provides excellent atmosphere, innovative food and extremely amicable, courteous service. I would've liked to see this place stand out completely from the usual trendy-modern/new world-cuisine restaurant. But the lack of attention on minor details is too big to overlook since these are the little details that separates a great restaurant, like Ki, from an excellent restaurant Ki could have been.
Milo's Rating: 3 Stars |
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Very good food, disappointing service. Food was fresh, tasty and well-presented. Worth going to once for an enjoyable experience. Not the kind of restaurant that I would go to more than once a year.
Recommend the braised pork and the bamboo roll in particular. You also might want to try the sparkling sake (Nakano Shuzo Indigo Wind) as a novelty.
Biggest downside: The service was fair at best. Took approximately 20 minutes before anyone came over to take a drink order and required our active intervention. Given the prices, we expected much better. Waitperson had a somewhat indifferent attitude which detracted from what was otherwise a great experience.
Junmai's Rating: 3 Stars |
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Beautiful interior, incredible decor......and that's where it all ends.Have gone 4 times,had drinks left on my table from drunk customers in the lounge,waitress said to expect that from the "night club atmosphere" NICE! Had food poisioning the last time, was told the manager would call - never did.
Could be great , but too caught up in the hype to care about customers! Too bad.
Deb's Rating: 1 Stars |
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Ki Modern Japanese Restaurant |
181 Bay Street (bce place), Toronto, ON
416-308-5888
Financial District
Japanese
Restaurant
Daily: 11:30am – 3:00pm
5:00pm - 11:00pm
$$$$$ (expense account)
Master Card
Visa
American Express
Diners Club |
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