KOi Fusion

We had KOI Fusion cater for our company picnic of 100 people. They brought one of their food trucks, showed up early, were very professional and I would recommend them to anyone. The rice bowl with bulgogi beef is so good I get it every time! We use them about once a year to cater at our work events and will continue to use them going forward!

It may have been an off day, but it was just horrible. We trashed it and didn’t even eat it.

Okay but little disappointed. The Korean Tiger cart outside of Columbia Univ in NYC was so good — had higher expectation here. Fried rice was not very tasty and bulgogi too sweet. No real kimchee in the burrito. Vinegar slaw is not good combo with the bulgogi. Too sweet not enough whoomph.

It took me about three trips to this food cart before I felt like I could write my review. None of the times have I even been remotely satisfied. In fact the last two times I went here I threw my food away. including today’s rice bowl with chicken that just tasted super gross.
The food here doesn’t ever taste fresh. The meet is like infused with some kind of salty soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, I don’t even know what. It is totally engulfed in the sauce to the point that the whole piece of meat just tasted like doused nasty sauce. All of the meat I have tried here including the short-​ribs, chicken, and beef all the same gross sauce infused grossness.
They claim that the rice is fried. Well… it isn’t. The veggies are mostly pickled making it taste even more gross. Where is the fresh flavor?
Overall the taste of things is a bit bland and gross.
I’m sorry but after three rounds at this place. It is just not for me.

I work with Commonwealth Vintage Rentals and was recently working at wedding that used Koi Fusion for their reception. It was a pretty excellent choice on their part. It was awesome to incorporate a Portland flare by using a food cart and having so many delicious choices for their guests. I’d definitely recommend Koi Fusion for pretty much every meal, but in this case, weddings.

Just thinking about it, as I write the review is making my mouth water. Just do it already damnit. What the hell are you waiting for. Each the korean taco, add the kimchee, with a beer or whatever. Bliss. Yummy yummy bliss.

I ordered the k bowl kim chi fried rice with kalbi short ribs.
This was NOT fried rice. This was steamed rice with Korean hot sauce mixed into it then topped with some pickled vegetables and beef.
Taste was bland and I didn’t feel it was worth the calorie burden.
I would not recommend this cart.

Since I work in Beaverton, I don’t have lunchtime access to the myriad food trucks that line the streets/​parking lots of Portland. However, a few gems stay open past 2pm (and on the weekends — though much harder to find!).
After putting our names down at Pok Pok, my friends and I wandered across the street to check out this quaint food truck locale. As I approached this pretty blue truck in the corner, my eyes slowly opened wide. KOI FUSION TRUCK!!!
I LOVE korean food. I love fusion korean food. By a logic sequence, I love this place.
It did not disappoint. I got the bulgoki beef k taco with extra kimchi. The beef was perfectly salty and savory. The veggies gave the taco a perfect crunchiness and the kimchi knocked it out of the ball park.
WELL DONE, KF. I hope to see you around more often!

Always be sure to call the automated number before to see where they will be located.
As for the food, it has always been good. Almost always get the tacos here, but have had bites of the burritos before. The kimchi outshines the meats here (which is saying a lot for me, since I’m actually not a fan of kimchi).
The guys working are extremely chill and the food comes out in a timely fashion and always hits the spot when you’re craving the ko-​mex fusion creations that have become oh so familiar in today’s culinary climate.

I said it last night after finishing my food, and I’ll say it again now: One of the best burritos I’ve ever eaten. Chicken burrito, with the spicy sauce. FANTASTIC! Perfectly juicy, spicy but not burn-​your-​mouth-​off hot, quite the delicious mix of flavors.
A+ would eat again. I’ll be back.

Dear Koi Fusion,
I totally thought you were so hot.
You were like the über cool girl who made my heart flutter when I walked past you.
Then we spent some time together, on four or five occasions (because I am not a quitter Koi Fusion, really… I try and try and keep hope alive that you’ll get better) but I have got to tell you that you simply have NO chance of winning me over.
I overlooked your staff’s behavior of several visits.
I tried to find something redeeming in your burritos.
I even came back recently to try your fish taco offerings when the owner of the Flying Fish Company promoted you.
As it turns out, looks aren’t everything.
Without completely humiliating you, I can simply say that your food is lackluster & sloppy. Your drinks are warm (when they ought to be cold), and you charge a lot of money for food that isn’t worth that much.
Did you get the memo that running a food truck is cheaper than owning a storefront because there isn’t as much overhead?
Good luck Koi Fusion.
I hope you find the right person… It’s just not gonna be me.

Being food cart junkies and mostly hitting the ones off 50^th and Division, it was the first time at this pod! Well lit for ambiance, three dogs in tow I be-​hived to KOi Fusion. I had read so much press on it — I mean Korean Mexican — no way! Just the idea of the bugogli had me salivating. Holla — I had the tacos at $ 2 a piece and satiated with two. The boy had done cyclocross and went for the full burrito and it hit the spot. Kimchi topped on the tacos is perfect — not too over the top like the freezer stored version I had in friends homes growing up that permeated the house — perfect zest for a taco!

I WOULD GIVE IT NO STARS, IF I COULD.
I expected more. When we ordered we were all excited and hungry.
When we finally got our ordered they got our orders WRONG.
I specifically ordered Short rib burrito and I went to bite it. The meat wasn’t short rib instead it was bulgogi. Being Korean and knowing my Korean Meats THAT WAS NOT SHORT RIB!!! WHY THEY PLAYIN’!!!
I went back to tell them they gave me bulgogi and showed them my burrito. THEY TRIED TO PLAY ME and said «that’s our short rib» and was talking all this talk about the cuts of meat, blah blah blah, they said they would make me another one with the same meat which they claimed it was short rib. I just ate the one they originally made me b/​c i was hungry and DISAPPOINTED!!!
I didn’t even finish the burrito b/​c it was not good and the meat they use is not a good quality. I actually just picked at it.
*I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW AND ARE VERY FAMILIAR WITH KOREAN MEATS!!!

I have dinner w/​my BFF every week. she happens to live just a couple of eensy weensy blocks away from koi fusion. I must now admit, each week I try and figure if I can swing by for just *one* perfect taco. I may have a problem.
this is alchemical cart cooking at it’s best!

Going off a positive review from The Oregonian, I went with a Bulgogi taco, topped with kimchi ($ 2). They asked if I wanted it hot or mild. No flinching here… I went with hot.
The taco was good, but not as awesome as I had hoped. I liked the kimchi that they put on the taco because it drove home the point of their culinary point of view: they sell Korean-​inspired street food.
I would have wanted the taco to be steamed a bit more to add some softness, then double up the taco for more volume in the dish (and so I could hold it without everything prone to falling everywhere). The vegetables were cut very nicely (professional quality), refreshing, and provided the color/​texture contrasts I love so much in food. The cilantro was especially well-​received by me, since it’s a cooking staple in some parts of Asia. Good flavors on the bulgogi beef, but I would have liked a bit more flavor on the meat to really get me talking.
There’s no denying Koi Fusion is popular with locals and foreign (Asian) tourists. But for me, it’s just another food cart that has respectable food.

Hmm, I wanted to love the hail mary out of this place, but I have to admit, I left feeling things were relatively bland, and not necessarily exceptional. That having been said, I still like the meal, it was affordable, and better than many other options.
Down sides were
–tortillas that tasted stale or just not properly prepared, dry.
–bulgogi did not have the flavor one might have come to expect from such a usually robust korean dish
–fish taco was ok, but at least 2 times more mango than fish which was scant to start with
Good things:
–meat seemed fresh and not long in the tooth
–service was nice
–price was right
All in all a solid 3, but with a little more spice and care to the tortilla prep this could go to a 5 in no time!

We were there for Mango Hometown Tour Taste-​Off — that was being held there, and Koi Fusion was one of the two giving out samples. The sample Koi Fusion served was a Fish Taco with mango salsa. I went back to get seconds! I love everything about it. It was delicious!
Actually, for the Mango-​Taste Off, they won, judged by 4 Food Critics.

Quick, reasonable and delicious! We ate here to cure our hunger pangs during our 2 hr wait to eat at Pok Pok. We methodically ordered a small portion of 3 tacos (spicy pork, spicy tofu and bulgogi) to hold us over until we could sit down for dinner. The spicy pork and bulgogi are worth going back for, but the spicy tofu was bland and hardly spicy. Our plan to eat lightly before dinner backfired when our friends had us try their spicy pork burrito, a delicious fusion of Asian flavors– Korean spicy pork accompanied with beansprouts, cilantro, pickled cabbage that were coated in a spicy sauce. One bite had us back in line to order our own, and another friend ordered a couple to-​go since we haven’t discovered anything like this in the Seattle area. Definitely glad that we decided to check this place out!

I have friends that swear by it so I had to give it a spin. Not that great. It really wasn’t. I love korean BBQ but it really isn’t that flavorfull. Especially in burritto form, where you have potential to just cram that baby full of flavor and spice. I would get mouthfulls of rice which was just frustrating, throw some sauce in there or something. The kimchi is pretty tasty but overpowering.
All-​in-​all, its great to throw a curve ball once in a while and enjoy something unique BUT there is plenty of room to grow on the menu choices (TOSTADA maybe?) and in the flavor department.

I had my first kimchi quesadilla with pork at KOi yesterday, and it was like «where has this dish been all my life?!»
I mean, it just makes so much sense. They will ask you if you want it hot or mild, but look — if you like kimchi enough to order this item, trust me, get it «hot». I mean really, if you like it mild, why are you eating kimchi?
The guys running the cart were cool and friendly, and they were playing a Decemberists album, so that also earns them points with me.
This cart is yet another rockstar member of the D Street Noshery, which is itself a rising star in the PDX cart-​pod universe.