Aoi Restaurant

This is one of the few Japanese restaurants that has a Japanese MasterChef on-site. I work in Japan often and I really felt this was a very good representation to have in New Jersey. Of course I know the difference and so did my guess but we all agreed that for New Jersey this is one of the top restaurants.

I did the reservation for 2pm. I drove all the way down from Newark and when I arrived there the restaurant was close. Unbelievable!

To be fair I have no idea how the food is - I made a reservation and showed up to discover that the restaurant was closed that evening. Poor form.

I made a reservation on Open Table for Sunday, July 1. Upon arrival at the restaurant, I was informed it was "closed tonight". When I mentioned that Open Table had accepted my reservation, the proprietor/host simply shrugged his shoulders. One of the hotel people (the restaurant is in the APA hotel) informed me that the restaurant often closes on Sunday night for a "private party." If that's the case, then the restaurant should block reservations on Open Table for Sunday nights. It was inconvenient and annoying to plan and expect to have dinner somewhere and not be able to.

Food was very good and very quiet place. Very clean and nice.

Mother’s Day Celebration

6pm dinner on a Tuesday - not busy. Service was attentive and quick. Menu has decent vegan and vegetarian options. I had Tofu Steak. It was very good. My friend had Vegan Sushi. It was very pretty and very good. They have wine and beer. We sat in a cozy, almost private area. The restaurant is set in from the main area, so it is not busy or noisy.

It was first time visit with my husband and we really enjoyed all we ordered.

Small restaurant located in a hotel. Was about to cater to our group of 9 without an issue. Very nice and kind waitress. Sashimi has very high quality fish.

Such a rare gem in NJ, normally would have to go to NYC for this kind of authentic Japanese food. There is a wide variety of super fresh sashimi, love the sushi omakese. The kaiseiki dinner, prepared by executive chef, is excellent too. Large selection of sake. Lately, the menu has expanded to include other items like daily catch of the day, grilled squid etc. They just started offering shabu-shabu as well.
Modern, upscale and quiet. VERY attentive service too.
This is my all time favorite restaurant.

Finally found a quality sushi place with great price!

Great atmosphere.. Awesome Sushi and great times to share with family and friends. Love the home made Monk fish liver appetizer.

Place looks very nice and Waite staff were attentive. Down side the chef/ owner kept having to leave the sushi bar to deal with costumer issues ( mostly complained it took to long ) and left the bar unmanned and no one making the food which only delayed food further. I had soup , salad , sushi deluxe diner and a rainbow roll. The chief made mention more then once that we sure were eating a lot( he may not have meant anything by it but comes across as wow your fat) the food came out of order. Soup then my roll ( maybe they thought I wanted it as a appetizer) then salad then my girlfriends diner alone then mine a bit later ( should have come out same time). The sushi itself was just ok at best I put it on par with Whole Foods supermarket the rice was poor quality and likely under done. The fish was cut thinner then some of the better places I had been to and did not seem as fresh. ( on a bright note the chef did put wasabi on for you which is something I have not seen in a American place since most Americans prefer to put there own to preference) last but not least it is very over priced the same meal most places would be in the 80 dollar range here was 120. I likely won't be back