A few years ago I began a quest for the best nigiri bento box in Baton Rouge. Like any other food quest, best diner burger, best grilled cheese, a decent carbonara–the quest is ongoing. As of now, Koi is second to Waka House, but it is easier for me to get to Koi for lunch than either location of Waka so that makes it de facto number one in my book, even though the Waka bento comes with baby shrimp and chicken yakitori sticks and a house fried rice that blows Koi’s away. There are a lot of sushi places now, and that is a very good thing because you can pick and choose where you want to go for whatever mood your are in and what kind of experience you want. Koi is right across the street from Kaminari Sushi and Hibachi which is a buffet style place with everything pre-made and laid out with a few hot dishes and a build your own hibachi grill. Both are good lunch spots and Kaminari is cheaper but Koi has far better sushi and dumplings. And every buffet I’ve ever been to outside of Caesar’s Palace in Vegas has that vague whiff of an EBRP school cafeteria. The mass produced food (which doesn’t mean it isn’t tasty) the cooks and servers who act like autoworkers, the grabby, jostling atmosphere of the line and the tables jammed too close together sometimes bring back that gnawing anxiety of being in high school. But then again, sometimes you are pressed for time and just need to chow down on something good to eat without a server between you and your meal.
For a few bucks more, Koi will upgrade the salad from iceberg to seaweed and the soup from miso to clear. Worth it to me and no problem to them. You being there is why they offer the lunch specials anyway so they are always happy to see you. This is true for every restaurant open at lunch besides the fast food joints. They want the business and will go out of their way at lunch to get you what you need. Same thing on week nights. Restaurants survive off of weekend sales, but they thrive when they build lunch, happy hour, and week night crowds. So Koi is my go to for the nigiri bento. Drunken Fish when I want to mix Japanese and Vietnamese. Umami is my favorite, and I will write them up soon since I got a hundred dollar gift card for Christmas. He is very good about importing Japanese fish to try.. Waka House is a must for lunch if you are out near Sherwood Forest and Coursey for store one or Highland and Lee for store two. And Koi does offer a Chinese menu as well and is right by campus which makes it convenient for week nights before or after a play or choral recital or jazz ensemble at LSU.