Koyo - West Knoxville

The service was great, the food seemed like a failed attempt at high end cuisine and atmosphere average.

We went to Koyo for Valentine's Day dinner. I made the reservation well in advance, and when I received the call from the stall letting me know that it would only be the “chef tasting menu” I was excited! What I wish we would have been told was the price of said menu. If Koyo is going to charge $150 per person for a dinner, I think that the customer should at least be warned and given some time to consider. The prices were not listed anywhere, and I feels Iike the meal was made as fancy as it could possibly be to make it equivalent to the $150 price tag, and this made the dishes odd and over the top. I had always wanted to try Koyo, and based off of the menu prices, we were expecting a $150-$200 dinner max. The almost $400 bill (when we did not order drinks) was a slap in the face. Some waning is truly needed, especially if you are already putting in the effort to tell your customers about the limited menu.

The food was delicious and I am grateful that there were gluten-free and vegan options that were amazing. There is a lot of disorganization that took away from the overall experience.

The autumn rolls and tempura were an amazing start. The tempura batter was light and crispy, the sauces were even better. The tteokbokki was extremely one dimensional with too much sauce and the same texture throughout the whole dish. For $100, I expected more from this place. Top notch on the tempura and vegan aioli, but very underwhelming on the main. Will return for the tempura, but that’s it.

Went for my birthday and it was a very special dinner. Food was amazing, our server, Grayson, was exceptional, very knowledgeable about the menu and made some great recommendations.