Aoi Japanese Cuisine

08/26/07

Less than fresh fish, and poor service

by jimjmeeker at Citysearch

I've been to AOI 3 times now, and I really don't like the place. I've been served fish in sushi rolls that are not fresh (they try to hide the old fish inside rolls and cover it up with gobs of wasabi). The service is slow and rude. Or maybe that's the just the way that they treat their non-japanese customers. And it's expensive too boot. All 3 visits have been consistent.

There are far too many restaurants serving sushi in town these days to bother with AOI.

• Pros: It's close to downtown.
• Cons: Old fish, bad service and it's expensive.

helpful (0) not helpful (0)

Comments

Murasaki– August 08, 2009 at 13:56:56 PDT

Aoi has never served "old" fish! Incidentally, the sushi is served with ginger and wasabi on the side so there could not have been "gobs" of it on top of the rolls. I've visited Japan many times, I have a family member who has lived there for a decade. We bring our Japanese visitors to Aoi for a touch of home. All of us agree it's as close to Japanese cuisine as you'll find in the Cincinnati/Newport area.

Go to McDonald's and get the fish sandwich you're evidently accustomed to eating.

comment

10/09/08

Excellent food

by jwwilliams at Citysearch

Excellent food. Service is generally good, the only times it may be a bit slow is on the weekends (but hey, everything is slow on the Levee on the weekends, just look at the 1-2 hour wait times Brio's and Dewey's).

As to the person below, Koreana, it's usually not smart to use a competing restaurant name as your user name....kinda shows a bias for your review...

06/19/08

Best SUSHI in Cincy area

by davidstake at Citysearch

Aoi is prob the best place to enjoy Sushi in Cincy area. I can tell if the sushi is good or not, just looking at the color and firmness of the fish. Their sushi is very tasty, very authentic Japanese place. For you non-Jap out there, I have a small tip to identify which one is authentic Japanese restaurant: they do not put a spoon in miso soup.

• Pros: Really good sushi place, far from wanna-be-Japanese restaurant
• Cons: parking cost ~

06/09/08

Learn from the "trainee".

by koreana at Citysearch

I recently went to dine there with my husband and son. We were out on the patio enjoying the weather, waiting for service. Fifteen minutes went by and still no server in sight, until a "trainee" came and tended to us. She came with a big smile and asked if we had been helped yet. I felt like saying that this place needs help on hospitality, but instead smiled back and said "no" without showing impatience. The server then asked if we wanted something to drink while looking over the menu. We ordered our drinks and she returned with them rather quickly. I was impressed- until she told us that our server would be coming to take our food order soon. She explained that she was a "trainee" and noticed we were just sitting so she let a server know we were waiting to be "waited" on. Good choice of words! Besides the quickness of our drinks coming, the rest of the service was poor. I just couldn't help but think to myself that I hope the staff doesn't train her to be slow and rude like they were. This experience made me doubt I even like sushi anymore (if that's what you call their food). I've had better sushi at a Japanese sushi bar owned by Koreans! At least their food was fresh! I give it to AOI as far as their artistic abilities to make the food "look" good, but you know what they say, "Looks can be deceiving"! The service was poor, the food was nasty, the Japanese server was rude to us, but nice to her other table with Japanese customers. You would expect at least good service for as much as they charge for the food. If you like to pay people for slow service and being rude to you go to AOI! That should be their slogan. They should learn from the "trainee" and take her off training and give her a raise.

• Pros: A Sushi bar at the Levee!
• Cons: Bad sushi at the only sushi bar at the Levee.