Aja Asian Bistro

Had a Living Social deal to use here and wasn’t disappointed.
I loved the décor — it was clean, slightly dark and intimate, with a big Buddha fountain that was pretty but not cheesy.
Started with the mango/​jicama salad and WOW! Fresh, cold, crispy, and delicious! Huge portion for $ 7.95. Easily enough for 3+ people to share!
I got the shrimp pad thai for an entrée and the bf got sushi — both were good. Pad thai wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but it was good and didn’t stop me from clearing my plate!
I’d come back.

This trendy Asian Fusion lounge is a real pleasant surprise in the relatively residential Sutton Place neighborhood. There is Buddha with a water fall into a pool containing live swimming fish; fish, which also swim below a glass floor in the middle of the room. The menu selection is quite diverse and portions fairly generous. I suggest sharing several dishes, including the mango salad, any array of sushi, the chicken or steak lettuce wraps, and the Thai Grilled Chicken as an entrée. The Ishyaki Stone Grill is also an interesting option. This entails a personal stone grill and raw meet of choice with dipping sauce for a barbecue at your table. There are some traditional Japanese food choices as well but I suggest ordering outside of your realm for a very unique experience. The prices are pretty reasonable for the neighborhood, still If you desire a more typical Asian fusion/​sushi experience, try Fusha, which is directly across First Avenue on 58^th Street.

This is the best sushi I’ve had in NYC. Really fantastic! My girlfriend and I had 3 of their special rolls and they were all excellent. There were probably half a dozen others we would like to have tried too.
The service was also excellent. The staff is friendly and professional and our appetizers came out in what felt like about 5 minutes after we ordered them. The one exception is that they brought us our check without us asking for it and without offering dessert. They seemed to have a long wait at the door though (around 9pm on Friday night at that point), so I guess they were trying to keep the line moving. The place was completely packed.
Which brings me to the only negatives. It’s maybe a tad too dark and even for NYC it is quite cramped. The music was extremely loud, which caused everyone in the place to be yelling across their tables to be heard. Since you are less than a foot from the tables on each side of you (technically sitting closer to the people on your sides than your date across the table), it made having a nice conversation pretty much impossible.
Still, we had a great experience overall and the food was absolutely top-​notch! I would definitely eat here again, but perhaps on a less busy night.

My boyfriend and I decided to try this place one night after finding a Groupon for this nearby Japanese restaurant that we had never been to. We went on a week night and agreed it was some of the best sushi we have had in a long time. That experience would have been at least 4 stars. The trouble started when we decided that we should host his birthday party at Aja a few weeks later…
I called over a week in advance to reserve a table for 8 people at 8pm on a Friday night. They called me the day of to confirm the reservation. By 7:50 almost all the guests had arrived. They told me the table wasn’t ready yet, so I suggested we go to the bar while we wait «a few minutes».
The hosts kept telling me that it would be a few minutes, and I saw a big table being cleared off so I was ok with it. Next thing I know, a party of 11 who arrived AFTER us is being escorted over to the table. It’s now 8:20 and SH-​T has officially hit the fan for me. They told me that they HAD to give them that table or else they wouldn’t have room for them anywhere else. I told them that they shouldn’t take a reservation for 8 people at 8pm on a Friday night and not have the table ready at 8pm.
Not having many other options– we were 8 people on a Fri night– we waited it out as my boyfriend and his friends were getting hungry and cranky (boys.) and still being told «soon» by the host. We finally sat by 8:45 and did have a nice meal, which is why I had to give more than 1 star. It’s really a shame because the food is really good, but the way we were treated is just unacceptable to me. In the future, I’d rather spend my money at any of the other great sushi restaurants in this big city than at Aja.
If you are still going to go, you will have a great meal. I just don’t suggest going with more than 1 other person.

I’ve been coming to Aja for yrs and the food has been consistently very good. The atmosphere can’t be beat with the koi fish swimming beneath you and the Buddhas and colorful lights. The drinks here are also great, other than this one that tasted like liquified Flintstone vitamins. I don’t remember what that was called. Anyway, I highly recommend Aja.

A nice, dimly lit décor, with a beautiful Buddah statue towards the back of the restaurant. It is a small 30 – 40 person restaurant so make sure you make reservations on opentable! It is well worth it though.
My girlfriend and I enjoyed the filet mignon wraps for an appetizer, which is an equivalent to a Korean beef lettuce wrap for those who have tried Korean food before. Decent size portion for two with enough left over to eat without the lettuce. Well seasoned!
For myself, I had the australian scallops over a base of vegetables. Large diver sea scallops with a very light breeding on the outside. A tasty dish but wish there was more than three scallops.
For my girlfriend, she enjoyed the Kobe beef cooked on top of Japanese stones. It is all prepped by yourself so you get to determine how well done you want the meat cooked. A beautiful array will be placed right before you. It seemed we were the first table to order the dish, so there were many spectators that took pictures of our table. But before you know it, we looked around and saw a few other tables followed our lead. The number of slices of Kobe beef was enough to share for two but definitely enough for one.
For dessert, we had the mochi ice cream. If you had a hard time choosing which flavor you want, they allow you to pick three different flavors for your dessert dish so I suggest going that route if you are trying mochi for the first time.
Overall, it was a wonderful time, in a great atmosphere, with a beautiful décor.

3.5 stars.
I think they could have done a little better with interior design. The idea was good, but it was almost kind of cheesy.
We had a party of 12 on a Monday night. The service wasn’t bad considering our large group. I tried their Asian Pear Sakitini which I really liked. It was on the stronger side, but I loved the crisp, clean taste (others in my party said it tasted too strongly of alcohol but I liked it!).
I am obsessed with Chilean sea bass. I tend to order it almost every time (if it is on the menu). The skin was a little chewy, but they did a good job of bringing out the flavor and keeping the fish’s «melt-​in-​your-​mouth» texture intact. I tried a little bit of Shanghai chicken which was good (had a nice smokey taste to it) and Spiced lemon grass seafood (the sauce was really good).
The golden roll wasn’t very interesting. We tried another one that I can’t remember the name of that was actually pretty good (had a a bunch of different fish & a sauce).
Desserts — I think we tried them all! We tried the the green tea crepes (decent), chocolate cake (ok — nothing special), mochi (was very good!), and another dessert that has ice cream in side with chocolate coating around it which was different & decent.
Overall not a bad place, but not a place that I would consider a must dine at restaurant.

I celebrated my birthday here and I had an awesome awesome time. It looks like you are entering a dungeon at the entrance but the interior is really cool. The changing color Buddha with a water fountain and if you look down at the floor there’s a river floor with fishes swimming underneath. Super cool!
We ordered drinks and a couple of dishes to share they were all delicious and nicely presented. I had the lychee martini something I would recommend getting if you like lychee. We had green tea crêpe and mochi for dessert, I recommend ordering that as well. Then we headed to the bar area for some more drinks and the bartender made some shots for my party and he set the bar table on FIRE! Now that was a surprise. So yea, really awesome place. You will have a great time.

This reminds of a song:
Up on the hill
People never stare
They just don’t care
Chinese music under banyan trees
Here at the dude ranch above the sea
Aja
When all my dime dancin’ is through
I run to you
A great song by a great band. The restaurant, on the other hand, has some problems, in my estimation.
I’d give this restaurant more stars because the food is decent, the atmosphere is nice, but I cannot in good conscience do that when there is Blue Fin tuna (Toro) and Chilean Seabass on the menu. By some estimates there are only a few thousand Blue Fin left in the wild.
You should be ashamed of yourselves. These fish are massively overfished and endangered, and clearly you either don’t know or don’t care, and there is no excuse for either.
Take those off your menu and I’ll be glad to change my review and come back to your restaurant. Until then, no way.
Not to sound preachy, but if we all don’t start educating restaurants about serving foods that are sustainable, there won’t be fish in the ocean left to eat. And yes, it’s that bad. Think about that next time you’re munching on some sushi. Here’s a place to get a seafood guide for your area:

One of my favorite place in the city!!!
They food is great. Went there for the 1^st time 2 years ago and since than I’m regular Clayent they appetizer is so big that you can share .and worth evry penny you spend after you try it once you will back again and again.

My friend picked this place for my birthday dinner back in January. As we were walking to the place I was thinking where hell is he taking us and what kind of place are we going to. Once we arrived at the place the doors were impressive enough (large wooden doors with the large iron rings as handles) to put my doubts at ease.
We walked in the place was very nice, we started at the bar and were seated as our whole party arrived. There were about 12 of us so we got to try quite a bit of everything off the menu. The food and desserts were excellent, the food tasted as good as it looked!
I would definitely come back here. I think of it as a hidden gem because of the location but I would definitely recommend to others and the only reason I give it 4 stars is because one of my friends did not get the dish she ordered but the dish was still good. Also I wouldn’t recommend this place for large groups because we practically took over a third of the restaurant.

Great sushi and neat décor. (love the fountain w/​fish!) Attentive service and all around good food. Really an impressive establishment. I wish the other diners would dress up a little more for dinner, as this isn’t really a jeans and t-​shirt type of place, and I always hate when people bring their kids to restaurants and allow them to yell and scream as they please — but I really can’t blame a restaurant for poor diners. So go here and get good sushi, unless you have badly behaved children.

I liked it! The sushi was very fresh and tasty, particularly their crunchy spicy tuna salmon roll. We got the sushi for 2, which was a good deal. We also tried their new lobster miso soup which was a different and tasty spin on miso soup! We ended the night with red bean mochi ice cream, which came out with a strawberry sauce that was a great touch.
The place was very zen and trendy, with a lot of rustic bricks and stone and bamboo-​like plants. There was also a big Buddha statue lit by a changing light that gave it a nice ambiance. The music was a good volume and was on the more mellow side, which made conversing very easy.
The service was okay… it was sort of hot and cold throughout the night. The waiters and waitresses were very nice but they would either swarm the table and fill glasses and ask if we needed anything else kind of intensely or we would be left to wait around for them to come by again for a long time.
The best part was that since we got seated before 6.30pm we got 25% off the check, which was a substantial saving! Not sure how often they do this promotion but it was a pleasant surprise :)

The first thing that struck me about this restaurant was the service and the décor. I love the walkway to the seating. It is basically a small river with koi beneath you as you walk. There aren’t enough booths, but what else is new in NY.
We had the sushi — which was GREAT! The tuna, white tuna, salmon, and flounder was fresh. I am not so sure about the mackerel though.
For the most part, we enjoyed our sake and food. We didn’t have enough dishes to be able to recommend more menu items, but will update soon.

The Buddha in the back is no longer a novelty after I’ve seen Tao’s & Megu’s versions. I like the idea of the fish swimming beneath my feet, but what I was viewing through reminded me of those glass-​block walls people used to install as partitions between rooms. Cheesy and so 80’s! Ugh, I digress.
I asked the waiter for recommendations and he gave me several ideas: the codfish, shrimp, and the shanghai shrimp rolls. When I asked about the sushi, he looked like a deer caught in headlights.
I ordered the shrimp, while the boyfriend had the codfish. I always tend to have gripes about the choices I make in restaurants when we eat out. He always manages to pick the «right» one, while I struggle to finish. Of course, I picked the shrimp and was totally unsatisfied. It’ll fill you, but so can a loaf of bread.
So the old switcheroo happened, and the cod was all mine! Definitely the best dish that night. The shanghai shrimp rolls were decent, but they packed too much churned up shrimp meat in. The sauce will need to be your savior if you order this.
The sushi here is not particularly fresh nor great in taste so I don’t get it.
Maybe it was because I had an exhausting afternoon, but nothing really stood out. To be fair, the waitstaff wasn’t as bad as people said. they were very attentive to our needs.
My bad mood made me want to finish ASAP and escape like the fish that were practically jumping out of the water.

I’d read a lot of reviews online saying the food was good, but the service was lacking. I’m happy to report that the service at Aja last night was very good. My friend and I were seated immediately in one of the two-​tops by the huge color-​changing Buddha area. I have to admit that all the money offerings on the Buddha statue were surprising to me… something I don’t usually see outside of a temple.
The menu is extensive, and many of the entrees are also available in smaller appetizer-​size portions, such as the Shrimp and Veggie Tempura ($ 19), which I ordered as my main course and the Chilean Sea Bass ($ 28) that my friend ordered for dinner.
We also ordered a «Bamboo» size of the smoothest sake I’ve ever tasted. Unfortunately I don’t recall the name, but it was the waiter’s suggestion and he nailed it. I really enjoyed it, and the Bamboo container was the perfect size for two people who wanted to enjoy their dinner while not getting too sloppy.
Overall, the experience was great and I plan to return soon!

The food was good. It is always good to lead with that. I am not sure what it was about this place (décor) that made me give it only 3 stars when the food was pretty good (rock everywhere). Sushi was fresh, appetizers were solid, drink options were nice, good selection of sake, but there was just something that made it not feel so right (huge Buddha statue staring at you). One day I will think of what it was (fish pond in glass in the ground).
Overall though, the portions for the sushi specials were pretty large and the place was well-​priced. Sushi was not dynamic, but very good. If not for the strange décor I would go again. You have to see it to understand, but it did not smack of traditional sushi décor for what it is worth.
But again, the food was good, no complaints about it at all.

My night began at the bar with a massive amount of saki, not sure what I ordered but it came in a huge jug made from a piece of bamboo and the saki had a banana flavor… I wish I understood what I ordered, but it was delicious.
The we got the best table in the place, it was next to a massive budda statue and a fountain with fish swimming in it. The atmosphere is fantastic, great aura.
This sushi is also very good, and presented very well. The price is very reasonable for the quality.
Aja, is very good, I recommend highly.

One of my favorite «nicer’ Asian fusion places on the east side. Aja is cool on the outside and in. If you can, get a table in the back by the Buddha. There’s a waterfall and pond with fish that runs under the see-​through floor… its really nice!
The food is really good. Its kind of pricey, but the portions are pretty big… the best way to go is share a few appetizers or sushi dishes. I once got the seabass entrée and it was amazing. They also have a great cocktail/​saki menu, but again pricey.

I don’t know what all the hype is on Unilocal.How this place has an everage rating of 4 stars is beyond me. First of all, it is NOT a mini version of TAO… I’m not a big fan of Tao, but décor-​wise, Aja is not even close to being on the same level as Tao. There’s just a small budda statue in the entryway… pleeeeeeease…don’t tell me that because of that statue, it’s «like Tao»…
Food is actually good. I enjoyed everything. I think everyone was happy with their dishes. Sushi is not the best, but it’s good, drinks are good as well. The food presentation is unique. My husband’s rice dish came inside a pineapple… martini was in a color changing glass… So overall, the food /​drinks were very good.
But service SUCKS and it ruins the overall experience. I had a reservation for a group of 16 people at 9pm. We were NOT seated until 10:30pm. I had confirmed my reservation 3 times and still had to wait 1.5 hours in the bar? In my book, that’s not acceptable especially from an establishment that is not so trendy or popular… And all through this waiting period, not even one word of apology from the management.
Not to mention über-​chaos when the waiters started bringing our food. They had no idea who ordered what (Don’t you think they should know???) They had to scream the entrée names (as the music was very loud) so that we could then scream back «It’s mine!» 2 of the waiters were really idiotic. Didn’t even bother bringing water until asked…
We all had a good time, because my group was great, but I am NOT going to be going there again. For the prices they charge, I don’t care that the food is good — who cares when I can get better asian fusion from somewhere where for the same price, I’ll be treated much better.
TWO THUMBS DOWN