My coworker Mario lives just down the street from Cleaver Koi, and I've been jonesing to try this new restaurant ever since I heard about it over the summer. I picked up a menu to study prior to ordering. We ended up splitting the seafood hot pot, lamb pastrami and Peking duck steamed buns, smoked "pig face" dumplings and Chinese long beans. While the hot pot was good, I probably wouldn't order it again (but I'm not a huge soup person, unless it's pho). The house bacon lured me to order the Peking duck, and while it was delicious on its own it wasn't as amazing as the lamb pastrami. Good gravy that meat rocked! The pig face dumplings are packed with guanciale and is absolutely heavenly paired with kimchi. The long beans with crispy duck tongue were as awesome as it sounds--the lightly battered and fried tongues taste slightly like mushrooms and melt in your mouth.
Overall, we were both impressed with Cleaver Koi. The food was great and reasonably priced. The music was hip but not too loud. While there is outside seating, it's far too cold to enjoy. Regardless, I'm already planning my next meal for when I return.