Aoi Restaurant
Japanese cuisine oftentimes uses seafood-based flavorings such as dashi stock even in their vegetable dishes. Our menu, on the other hand, is rooted in Shojin cuisine, a genuine vegetarian cooking originating from Zen Buddhism. This distinction allows us to provide our guests with a diverse range of true vegetarian options.
Our mission is to support a healthy lifestyle for our guests and allow them to experience a large variety of flavors through our unique culinary creations. This is made possible by emphasizing the use of local, organic and sustainable ingredients to accentuate the authenticity and health benefits of Japanese cuisine.
Popular dishes
Sushi Omakase
With Soup or Salad. Chef's Choice of 9 Pieces Deluxe Nigiri Sushi & 1 Roll
1 reviews
Tuna Tataki
Tuna Sashimi w/ Tataki Sauce Tobiko & Kaiware on top
1 reviews
Edamame
1 reviews
I made a reservation on open table. I called the restaurant to confirm. The girl on the phone, put me on hold for a few minutes ,and then said that they’re not going to honor the reservation. I couldn’t understand as to why, the girl said that I would’ve eventually gotten an email that said it’d be cancelled. It is now the 16th of February , two days since said reservation and open table is asking me how my reservation went... because my reservation was never cancelled. I’ve been here once, it was excellent. But that’s about it.
it was truly the best omakase experience ever. My boyfriend and I went for an early Valentine’s Day celebration and we each got the omakase and there is so much that comes with it that it’s honestly amazing for the value. I really enjoyed our waiter as well, he was very nice and even took pictures of my boyfriend and I. The drinks were amazing and everything that we had was just incredible quality. I would highly recommend!
The closest authentic Japanese restaurant from where I live (Princeton, NJ). This place is lake a hidden gem.
Thank you for your kind review, hope to see you dine-in with us again!
Great service and great food! We had plenty of space to ourselves and was able to enjoy the food in peace 😄 the host was very attentive and helpful. Thumbs up!!!
Looks like you have a great time with us, we will keep providing an enjoyable and safe dine-in environment as well as good quality of food for our customers. Stay safe and hope to see you again.
We had a wonderful experience dining in Aoi.
Our bartender Mike was awesome.
Our sushi Chef Terry was spectacular.
If you are craving sushi and drinks, you are at the right place.
Good to hear you enjoyed your time here with us. I will definitely let Mike and Terry know about your review to help them keep up the good works. Cheers!
Well it is the coronavirus year so it was a little bit weird… I didn’t realize it was in a hotel… Pretty small… The waiter was very attentive and nice… The food was delicious… Portions were a little small but tasty.
Food good. Atmosphere good. Location good. Service poor. Waitress had an attitude.
The setting is clean and beautiful, the ambiance is formal but not stuffy. Lighting is just right - nice to be able to see what you're eating. The food is beautifully presented and delicious. It's a nice place, even for a business occasion, which was ours.
I have eaten in great sushi restaurants all over the US and I would put Aoi up there with the best. The interior of the restaurant is well done with clean and modern lines. It is hidden away in a hotel in an office park where you would not expect to find such a gem. I will be going back often.
This was my second visit back to Aoi, and I am still blown away. The only downer was that we weren’t able to do the Kaiseki, which I totally understand; it did say call 2 days ahead. BUT the regular dinner menu was satisfying as well. We order so much food and all were great. I hadn’t tried uni before but I was reluctant to try the Uni Chawan Mushi, and now I think I was to try all things uni! The flavors of each dish were great & beautifully displayed. Thank you Aoi for an amazing birthday celebration! I will be coming back!!
Excellent and authentic Japanese restaurant in this area! Decoration was clean in Japanese style too. We had Edamame with Sea Salt, Tuna Tataki, Grilled Yellowtail, and Sushi Omakase. Everything was very impressive. Even the small salad which comes with Sushi Omakase was one of the best. They also offer very nice Sake list. We would go back and try other menu!
I wrote review for this restaurant a while back, time for another glowing review.
Best Japanese restaurant in entire New Jersey, nice ambiance, excellent food, excellent service. Menu gets updated frequently, new additions are always a delight. They serve ramen as well now, with very rich, flavorful broth. Sushi remains top notch as always, will let pictures do the talking, prepared by Japanese chef.
It’s over rated. Spent over $160 for lunch for 2 people.
The quality of food wasn’t good enough. Disappointed on their standers.
Everything about our dinner tonight was spectacular. This is truly the best sushi experience I’ve had outside of NYC. Top notch. Will definitely be back again soon.
Jennifer, It was a pleasure serving you, and we hope to see you back again soon.
Great food and great experience . Staff and chef were wonderful. I have already recommended AOI to my friends.
Jeffrey thank you so much for the kind words we look forward to having you back for another spectacular sushi dinner!
Service and Food was awesome; loved the special rolls; overall a great experience...
Amazing as always! Love coming here - the food is always wonderful and the service is great.
What a find. My friend and I were thoroughly impressed. The food was fantastic. Great spot for a business lunch.
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
FAQs
Aoi Restaurant is rated 4.5 stars by 31 OpenTable diners.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting reservations at the moment.