Ai Teriyaki Restaurant

This is mine & my Hubby’s fav place to eat out! Best chicken katsu I’ve ever had, their chicken teriyaki is pretty good too! So sad that they recently closed/​went out of business.

I got really discouraged when I saw only one woman was running the restaurant, serving as both the cashier and the cook, but the teriyaki was halfway decent. The interior is very modest and seems a bit dirty. A quick glimpse in the cooking area revealed similar messes. There are other teriyaki places I would go to before returning to Ai.

I eat the chicken yakisoba about once a week and those are very happy days. Lots of fresh vegetables, big pieces of chicken, and very generous portions. We don’t really go anywhere else for teriyaki unless we are away from home. I really should try other things here, but it’s like comfort food. will be back again and again.

Decorations inside was bad. . i“ll start off with that, but I took it «To-Go»…I ordered 3 meals and took approx 45 minutes… err…kinda long wait time. There was only 2 or so people eating, so not sure what took so long.
I ordered the katsu. which was good. Sauce it comes with was just okay (i eat alot katsu at different places).and the salad wasn’t great to me. but its all personal preference.
I probably won’t go back here… I like Ichi teriyaki better and that’s just in the next complex over..

My husband and I were really hungry and were stuck on where to go for lunch. We were at the Commons mall and went across the street and decided to get some teriyaki. This was the first place we saw but we should have turned back once walking inside and seeing the state this establishment was in.
It was very dirty inside, their was mold, dust, there was soup and old kimchi sitting out on the table with flies all around it. It looked very unappealing but we decided to just order some food anyways due to the fact of our grumbling stomachs, but as we sat down, I began to lose my appetite from constantly staring at the state of the building.
I actually checked some reviews on Unilocal while I waited and saw it had good reviews on the food so it made me feel a bit better about eating here, but we were very disappointed with the food as well.
My husband tried the kimchi and he said it was chewy and tasted dry. He ordered chicken teriyaki and I ordered the vegetable tempura. He said the Chicken Teriyaki was okay. The salad was okay, the dressing tasted a bit like lemon so I was a little surprised by the taste as I’m used to the sweet tasting dressing at teriyaki restaurants.
My vegetable tempura was not good. Although it came piled high on my plate, the batter had a strange taste and so did the tempura sauce. The tempura sauce tasted old and every time I dipped a piece of tempura in it, I felt more and more sick.
We didn’t finish our food because our stomachs began turning while we thought about how dirty the place was.
Maybe if we took the food home and ate it at home, the food might have been a bit more appealing, but all we could imagine was dirty place = dirty kitchen = tainted food.
The taste of the food itself could receive 3 ½ stars as it wasn’t incredibly terrible, but it was not good. It was just very mediocre/​average.
The cleanliness of the restaurant was just gross and really ruined the whole experience for us. And we have been to many teriyaki joints and we know they typically are not fancy and are usually small and quaint and homey feeling, but this one was just a no-​no.

I was super hungry, and this was the closest place to me at the time. So I took a chance.
I ordered the Chicken Teriyaki, and the portion was well sized. It’s about the same price as every other teriyaki place, but maybe a little cheaper.
The salad dressing is different though. At least for me, I haven’t had that kind before. And honestly, I really don’t know if I like it or not.
Bottom line, I would probably come here again.

This place is one of those pleasant surprises in which Unilocal happens to be wrong (happens about 5% of the time), and the food is better than stated in reviews. They give you HUGE portions, and the food is good. The lady behind the counter is friendly. The sauce is a little on the sweeter side but good nonetheless. I was happy with coming here, and definitely think it deserves at least 4 stars.

I haven’t ordered a huge variety of items off the menu, but I’m basing my 5 star review on just their vegetable tempura. It is, hands down, the best veggie tempura I’ve ever had.
The batter is super crispy but not greasy, the variety of vegetables is great, and they haven’t been cooked to mush. The price might seem high to some ($ 8.50-ish) but you get a huge amount. Since it comes with steamed rice and a salad, this would easily serve 2 for an entrée and 4 as an appetizer.
Yes, the décor is pretty dreadful, but I always get my order to go, so it really doesn’t bother me. (They even have a special way of packing the tempura when you order it to go so it stays hot, but doesn’t get soggy. Great service!)

I was taking a break for lunch and stumbled upon this place, decided what the hell, I’ll give it a try. It’s definitely an old school building, the restaraunt was borderline nasty, very worn down, noted the build up of mold on the door frame. The lady working there was nice, the food was out quick, but my chicken teriyaki was completely soaked with teriyaki sauce, very salty! I don’t think I’d try again here, good luck if you do!

When you first walk in you can tell the décor hasn’t changed in 20 years. To some people this could scare you off, but it sure doesn’t help drive in
new traffic.
The food is very good all on its own (where the 5 stars come from). I would put it a step above the average teriyaki lunch stop. when I worked in the area my coworkers and I would always come here for lunch and they were always happy.
Now if they could just work on the décor inside and make it feel like a place you want to stay and eat at (1 star for the inside).

Stopped in for lunch the other day and found a large menu and several lunch specials. Ordered the chicken breast teriyaki special: Came with steamed rice, salad, and two pieces of goyza, all for $ 5.95. Food was good overall, with a speedy turnaround time too, so if you’re in a hurry for a quick bite, don’t want traditional fast food, give this place a try.

The price is pretty average if not on the higher side. The portions are plenty if not bordering on enormous. My wife had the vegetable tempura. And it was the most amount of tempura I’ve seen piled onto a plate.
The quantity doesn’t make up for the average taste.
Something we ate, however, made both of us sick, to boot. Not going back.