Koi Fusion

I normally go to Koi Fusion in Bridgeport Village but was in the area. So disappointed. Not nearly as good as the Bridgeport Village location. Service wasn’t very good either. I got my son some chips and salsa and when we opened the box at home, I saw that most of the chips were just crumbs. Will not be back there.

This was one of the first places I ate in Portland and to be honest, I wasn’t super impressed. I got three of the tacos and they were only ok. They were flavorful but did not have much meat in them. Instead, the vast majority of the tacos were veggies. Furthermore, the tacos were cold when they arrived…
I remember that the tacos were not too expensive but compared to the Korean tacos I have had in sf and Irvine, I would say that this place is definitely a pass. However, if you haven’t had Asian fusion tacos before then you might be interested in trying this place out.

Food is so so
Located in what might as well be considered new Beaverton due to all of the suburbanites showing up in this food cart pod area.
Not so impressed with the location or the staff.
But it’s probably because the staff has to serve bro dads, kids, and moms with that «let me speak to your manager» haircuts.
What a shame

Not a bad place overall. Decent burrito and filling. Not exactly perfect though… felt like they rushed through making it and they didn’t spread any of the ingredients inside (One bite was meat, another for something else, etc). The only thing that made me take away a star was that they asked me if I wanted it regular, spicy or hot and then seemingly forgot that they’d asked the question. Asked for hot and most definitely ended up with Regular. Wouldn’t have been a problem except that they asked me, so you’d expect that to be just right.
Definitely worth a try. Good food with a unique assortment of flavors.

Sliders are dynamite!!! My only complaint was it was not spicy enough. It didn’t do it’s cultures justice. Other than that, can’t complaint. I’d definitely make the drive for the sliders. Rice bowl was a bit sweet for me but I finished every grain of rice.

Worst customer service experience I’ve ever had. The guy with full sleeve tats that thinks he’s cool by not thanking or greeting customers is the reason I’ll never return. Owner should reevaluate his staff.

I’ve been a long-​time fan of Koi Fusion’s other locations but have been disappointed by this location since moving to NoPo. The burritos are noticeably smaller than the ones I’ve ordered for years at the W. Burnside and BaseCamp carts. The meat (chicken) has always been barely lukewarm, one time even just straight cold.
In general, their tacos, burritos, bowls and sandwiches are usually really tasty, though I wish they had a better vegetarian option other than the highly processed tofu. Service can be hit or miss. Tonight at dinner, though the sign was up that they closed at 4, the window was open and some guy in the cart was blasting this god-​awful scream rock music that pretty much made everyone in the pod want to take their food to go. Not too impressed by this location.

My friends have long raved about koi fusion for years, so I was happy to see that it was in my vicinity and decided to stop by. It felt like a taco day, so I ordered a chicken, bulgogi, pork, and short rib taco.
The menu said that each taco would come with cabbage, pico de gallo, sprouts, cilantro, cucumber, as well as some other items. However, my tacos came with a ton of cabbage, but not much meat, and maybe only 1 or 2 small diced tomatoes on only one taco and barely any cilantro, sprouts, etc. to be seen, let alone tasted. Some of the meat was overcooked (chicken), or just didn’t have enough flavor (short rib and pork). The bulgogi was well seasoned but had a lot of excess water/​juice spilling out which made the taco fall apart (and the ones it was placed next to as well) within a few minutes since each taco came with one vs two tortillas.
The place wasn’t busy at all and it was a couple hours til closing, so I was surprised these tacos were so disastrous. Then again, the people working at the truck looked pretty bored… Maybe things are a lot better if they’re already in the flow

Always loved the kimchi quesadillas here. The tacos are good and I imagine so is everything else. I like sweet and savory dishes and if you do not, not everything on the menu will appeal to you. But do try it at least once.

Food is amazing. Korean cheesesteak was delish! Service a little lackluster. But it is a Monday. So I’ll come back on a weekend.

I just left after ordering a tofu burrito. First I got it and it was huge and super soggy. I had to open it up to eat it. Half the listed ingredients weren’t in the burrito. I took three bites and threw it away. Wasted $ 9. I won’t usually review after one visit but I don’t imagine I can go back after that experience. Just plain bad.

Loved this spot on Mississippi — the short rib taco was a tasty combination of savory short rib, sweet vegetable coleslaw and spicy hot sauce. Price wasn’t too bad either. I would strongly recommend for a quick snack or even order a bunch of things for a meal.

Had the Koi Reuben — the flavors were good and so is the presentation but would’ve loved a little less kimchi filling and little bit more of chicken. Be prepared for a wait as the food is prepared fresh.

Was excited to try this food cart based on the list of ingredients. Went with the bowl with chicken. The food was all pre-​cooked, which is usually fine but this time the entire entrée was cold — the chicken and rice are especially an issue because I expect those to be hot. The sauce on the chicken was too sweet and didn’t balance out the spicy green sauce on top — maybe not enough? I dig the Korean-​Mexican fusion as I love those both separately but this combo didn’t work for the bowl. The ingredients should be fresher — i.e. not prepared hours ago and served cold. Also, the chicken bits were tiny. Still willing to give the burrito a shot next time I’m around. Service was friendly.

I’m honestly at the Koi cart on Mississippi at least once a week. It’s good food, solid service, and totally reasonable prices ($ 2.50 for a taco, you choose the meat). I’m a big fan of the Bulgogi beef taco, but sometimes I switch it up and get their kimchee quesadilla with pork if I’m looking for something a little more substantial. Their sliders are great too if you want to try several of their proteins but don’t want to order more food than you can eat.
Another perk to going to Koi in this pod is that Prost is on the same lot, so you can grab a beer with your food. Also, Prost has proper bathrooms (a lot of pods in the city rely on Honey Buckets), so you don’t feel gross eating after going to the loo.

06.25.2014
We just drove from Washington and headed towards Portland this AM. Because of an accident on the 5 freeway we exited to detour and accidentally found this corner with several food trucks… SCORE!!! Who’s hungry? Out of all the choices there we chose Koi Fusion. Great timing right before the lunch crowd (11:30 am)!
Hubby ordered the Bulgogi Seoul Sliders–
3 sliders for $ 7.50, piled high with flavorful Bulgogi (cooked well and tender) and topped with seasoned vinegar-​dressed cabbage. Simple, tasty and filling. Hubby only ate two sliders… to save room to eat one of my chicken tacos.
I ordered two chicken tacos which were marinated so the meat was yummy, tender and flavorful. The green mild sauce and the bean sprouts (no cucumber) complimented the chicken taco on corn tortillas. Hubby liked it better than his Bulgogi burgers which says a lot because he is not a corn tortilla person and usually picks meat over chicken when given a choice.
If we stayed a little longer in Portland we’d DEFINITELY be back. If you’re passing through like we were, it’s definitely worth stopping for.

Finally made it here last weekend after much anticipation… the fusion of Korean and Mexican is like a one way ticket to flavor town and I was excited to finally try it. I ended up ordering the bulgogi burrito as that seemed to be the most recommended item on Unilocal.
The burrito itself was HUGE! My first bite included a piece of bulgogi and some of the cabbage slaw that comes with it. The bulgogi was perfectly marinated and tasted delicious! The slaw went well with the bulgogi and also tasted great. The kimchi rice, unfortunately, didn’t really have a flavor and sort of just filled up space in the burrito. By my fourth bite into the burrito I noticed three things:
1. There was A LOT more cabbage slaw and rice than meat.
2. The cold cabbage and it’s sauce really cooled down the meat and rice
fast (which really hindered the flavors of the ingredients).
3. The kimchi rice seemed to be lacking the key flavor of kimchi and actually was
really plain.
Was the burrito decent? Yes. Was it great? No. Would I get it again? Probably not. However, I definitely plan on coming back to try their tacos as I think they will retain all the flavor without becoming ice cold after the first few bites.

Ehhh. I think I need to try the entire menu before I can really give a review about this place. I got the kalbi short rib taco and also the kimchee quesadilla. The quesadilla is alright probably because they get the big vat of kimchee from the store and it doesn’t have that wholesome goodness to it. Not the kind you get when kimchee is homemade and has been aging for a while.
The kalbi taco was pretty good, I love kalbi anything so I’m sold on that. The burrito my friend got had some weight on it so I think I’ll be trying that next. See you in a couple weeks pdx!

A little frustrating that we got here about 7pm on a Saturday night all ready for dinner (granted 4 of 5 of us were out-​of-​towners and didn’t know these food cart gatherings are generally closed at night during winter) and they were out of just about every single meat. He listed everything they were out of, and we basically just told him it might be easier to just tell us what they DO have. It was between beef and pork, and in the few minutes that it took us to decide, he ran out of the beef too.
Since it was just this one guy making the stuff, our one taco took forever — at least 15 – 20 minutes I’d say, and there were only a few people whose orders were ahead of us.
* Pork Taco — 3 stars
pic:
(meat/​tofu w/​cabbage slaw, pico de gallo, cucumber spears, bean sprouts and cilantro inside a soft corn tortilla. $ 2.50)
Not bad, not great either. The meat was pretty flavorful, a nice sweet/​savory taste, but there wasn’t too much of it, and its texture was the slightest bit hard.

In the beginning, God created food trucks.
Then he created The Twitters.
And for a hot minute there, you had to be all up in the Twitters to find out where the mobile food businesses were going to be. It was pretty rad.
But then someone gave Eve an apple and Portland couldn’t stay out of the NY Times, and here we are at the close of 2012. I think there was a time and place when Koi’s offerings were special, but the last few times I’ve had it (twice at Mississippi Marketplace and twice catered events), it really hasn’t been very good. Cold and bland, yikes!
Love the idea: «funky fusion of Korean BBQ and fresh Mexican flavors». I’m a fan of kimchi anything. Love the set up: pick your protein and put it into taco, burrito, rice bowl, slider, or quesadilla form. But it’s never really come together for me. 200+ reviews (for all locations), I know I’m in the minority here. It’s a super well-​liked brand, and the folks manning the carts/​trucks are always super nice. Kudos for growing from one truck 3 years ago to several locations and catering.
I’m game to give Koi another go sometime, but not likely to be crossing town for it anytime soon. Again — great premise and good service, but the food hasn’t quite lived up to the #hashtags, I suppose.