It’s easy to overlook Koi Las Vegas, because it’s a little hidden on the Mezz (second) level at Planet Hollywood, but the flavors and nightlife are hard to miss.

Koi’s restaurant and lounge combo is a mix of Eastern design and Hollywood style, with a focus on Japanese-inspired food (“with California accents”), as well as top-notch service.

Koi boasts a team of sushi chefs with decades of experience. Yes, we counted. Signature rolls include a baked crab roll, baked scallops, sauteed shrimp, the Dragon Roll, a baked lobster roll and Kobe Surf & Turf Roll.

Team Koi (they don’t call themselves that, probably) takes sushi very seriously, and watching the sushi being prepared in the open kitchen is a great show.

The inviting restaurant has a number of distinctive signature dishes, several of which we just copied and pasted from their online menu: Seared Tuna, Tuna Tartare, Salmon Carpaccio, Hamachi Fusion, Kobe-Style Potstickers, Spicy Crunchy Yellowtail Tartare and Chicken Yakitori.

Hot dishes run the gamut from Sauteed Tiger Prawns and Sesame-Encrusted Lobster Tail to Wasabe-Braised Short Ribs and this blog’s personal favorite (pictured below), the Kobe-Style Filet Mignon “Toban-Yaki,” which translates as, “If we ever inherit a large amount of money, we’re going to roll around naked on dozens of servings of this dish.” Or something.

Actually, “toban-yaki” refers to the cooking method (on a ceramic plate), but let’s not get bogged down by “facts” or “useful information.” We are a blog, after all.

An after-dinner drink menu helps round out your meal with specialties like a Koi Frappuccino Shot, Chocolate Espresso Martini, Koi Snow Flake (including Rock Sake Nigori, White Chocolate Godiva and a splash of Goldschlager) and Sweet Saki Flight Tasting.

Koi boasts a surprising number of dessert items, including the Flourless Molten Chocolate Cake, Koi Sundae, the Koi Signature Cheesecake, Chocolate-Vanilla Creme Brulee, Strawberry Cobbler and assorted ice creams, sorbet and mochi. Bypass the agony of decision-making with a chef’s dessert Sampler Platter ($46).

Bonus: Koi has partnered with the Just a Little non-profit, and will donate 100% of the proceeds of the sale of certain menu items to support the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The items are the Koi Fusion Shot ($5) and Ahi Tuna Carpaccio ($15).

Discover what’s made Koi restaurant and lounge such a sensation both in Las Vegas and at its sister locations in New York, Los Angeles and Bangkok, which this blog has good reason to believe is in a different country entirely.

More photos! Because we can.

Koi at Planet Hollywood