Beautiful Lo Kee has just enough depth to be interesting

It’s difficult not to be skeptical of a restaurant that parachutes into Atlanta by way of New York, touting its status as a celebrity hangout. That was the tack taken by Lo Kee, an Asian fusion restaurant from the owners behind Sei Less in Manhattan.

Yet it’s surprisingly easy to be charmed by Lo Kee thanks to its lovely atmosphere and some real substance beneath its social media-ready veneer. The menu holds several beautifully executed dishes, the service is polished, and the excellent desserts are made by a rising star, pastry chef Maximilian Lucas, whose talent was instantly identified by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s new food and dining editor, Monti Carlo, in her introductory column.

That doesn’t mean Lo Kee avoids every annoyance endemic to self-proclaimed hotspots, with parking serving as the primary pain point. Welcome to Atlanta.

Lo Kee is the lone restaurant in a new apartment complex called Windsor Interlock. The building does not provide any restaurant parking in its deck, and paid street spaces are scarce on any slightly busy night. There are other paid parking decks nearby, but most of Lo Kee’s diners are funneled to the restaurant’s valet parking — which costs an abominable $20 (excluding tip, of course).

Not only is the valet cost exorbitant at a restaurant that provides no other parking options or information on its website, but the service is poor. Each time I visited, there was a single valet driver serving the whole restaurant, creating lengthy backups and delays both getting into and out of Lo Kee. The policy is damaging on three fronts: It creates a poor first impression; it feels unhospitable and chintzy on the part of the restaurant; and it causes many customers to leave with a bad taste or negative interaction.

For diners who manage to skip the valet, Lo Kee can make a strong first impression. A security guard will open the door, and the restaurant blooms out behind the hostess stand, with warm, clubby lighting and sophisticated floral wallpaper on the walls and columns of the dining room. Decorative light fixtures, made from felt folded into geometric, flower-like shapes, control the acoustics in an otherwise open space. A bar spreads out across the back wall, which is highlighted by a tapestry-like painting of a tiger peering out from a jungle background. The bar is flanked by two TVs, but they are small enough to be mostly unobtrusive for the seated diners.

When Lo Kee debuted, the restaurant promoted a couple of signature items, including an upscale take on beef and broccoli made with filet mignon. That dish proved to be a bit of a clunker, with too much gluey sauce that was too sweet, negating the luxury aspect of the tender chunks of filet.

The colossal lobster for two, by far the most expensive item on the menu at $160, was also a delight to order. Presented in a single bowl, the dish is really two large lobsters served in their shells but chopped into manageable pieces. It’s a fun date-night order, giving a couple both an activity and a huge amount of well-prepared lobster meat. I opted for the salt and pepper preparation, which resulted in a lightly fried and heavily seasoned shellfish that teetered on the precipice of “too salty” but didn’t tip over. It was messy and fun to eat, though it’s served with no sides, so the price still feels high despite the dish’s success.

Lo Kee’s seafood and vegetable dishes tended to work better than meat, all of which seemed to involve some sort of gloopy, overly sweet sauce. The chicken satay fell into that category, with an oddly thick peanut sauce blanketing the crispy chicken.