Aja Noodle Co

Terrible service. Never going back. After waiting for order forever, and watching other people get their food, was told my order was lost. This wasn’t the first time but it was the last (straw).

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I made a return visit today after several years, mistakenly thinking that there might be some possibility that this place that this place would be better. Boy was I wrong.
The noodle dish I ordered tasted like pure, unadulterated S&*T. And by S&*T, I mean it tasted like SALT MINE. It was as if someone took soy sauce and, figuring it wasn’t salty enough, decided to add more salt to it. The dish was simply unpalatable. A giant heap of noodles covered in that S&*TY sauce with a few burnt pieces of meat and a few undercooked vegetables added as garnish. The quality is so unimpressive that your average male college student could probably whip up something better.
This is to speak nothing of how dirty the restaurant was when I went inside — there was garbage on the floor and a huge puddle of soy sauce. And no one really bothered to clean it up. It was like no one cared.
The fact that this place has remained open for so many years despite serving such woefully subpar food is really a testament to how low peoples’ restaurant standards are here in Rochester. In any other city, I am not sure a place like this lasts for more than a year or two. It’s a shame, because the concept is great, but the execution is horrible on every level.
Not trying to be snobby with this review, but truthfully, I think it’s a disservice not to point this out. I wouldn’t want anyone to waste their money the way that I did.

I was really hoping for more from Aja Noodle. I wanted to go to Sak, the Thai restaurant down the road, but it was a Sunday and I didn’t realize they were closed. So I I was driving by and I happen to find Aja and decided to give it a try. I figured you couldn’t really mess up noodles too bad.
I arrived right when they opened. I ordered a Thai iced tea. I knew something was wrong when it showed up with the lime in it. Iced tea itself had very little flavor but was sour and I’m not sure if that was because of the lime. I have probably had hundreds of Thai iced teas and I’ve never once have them with a lime in it. So this immediately clued me in that they weren’t very authentic.
Next I ordered the spring rolls and the tofu vermicelli bowl. The spring rolls were fine they were nice and hot and crispy. It’s pretty difficult to mess those up although I would say that the wrapper was heavier than traditional and they were probably a little greasier than normal because of that. The part where it gets bad is when my vermicelli bowl arrived. This is my favorite Vietnamese dish. The lettuce was not shredded iceberg but strips of romaine and there were many that were wilted that I would not put in my food. Then the carrots were match sticks and you could tell they were the kind that you would buy in a bag at a grocery store or something. They weren’t fresh and limp and had white scales on them. The rice noodles were ice cold and traditionally they should be served warm. The worst part about it was the cucumber salad they put on top which were just slices of cucumber marinated in a rice vinegar type dressing. You could tell that they have been sitting around for quite awhile as they were translucent and soggy and limp. I tried to add hot sauce to make it palatable to no avail.
I really tried to eat it but I couldn’t and when the waitress came over and asked me how it was I told her I couldn’t eat it. She asked me if I could get her anything else after apologizing but I said no. I paid and left without even drinking a quarter of my iced tea. So essentially I paid $ 14 for to spring rolls and a sip of iced tea.
There were just too many things wrong with the food that I won’t come back. I will stick to my authentic Vietnamese and Thai restaurants from now on!
I guess the one positive thing was the waitress was polite and they did offer to make me something else. The atmosphere wasn’t bad either but that’s not enough for me to return.

I feel like people really don’t like Aja Noodle. And I’ll grant you, this is not the most innovative or authentic Asian food out there, but I think they’re just fine. This place has a mix of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai dishes on the menu, so honestly, you shouldn’t really expect the most authentic meals.
Don’t bother with the Pad Thai. In reality, it’s not very good at all. BUT, the Thai spicy noodle (with some extra Sriracha added), Thai red curry, and Bangkok are all pretty good options here. I like big bowls of noodles for dinner and that’s what you get. I think this place is an easy option for a quick meal. Plus, they’ve ALWAYS got a 50% off Groupon available so you can get a big meal for 2 (including beer and usually leftovers) for around $ 20.

My husband and I have gone here twice now and absolutely love it. We have gotten the spring rolls twice when we went and both times they were really oily. The second time we blotted them and they were way better like that but insanely delicious both times anyway. The cabbage inside has a nice crunch and is cooked and seasoned perfectly. Their dishes can be easily adapted for gluten allergies as they carry gluten free noodles and a lot of dishes can be made vegan friendly. My husband ordered Chinese Lo mein but was able to get vermicelli noodles instead. Their portions are HUGE so we always have leftovers for later. I got a teriyaki rice bowl the first time and vegetable Lo mein the second time and both things were amazing! This is now one of our favorite restaurants for date night. Plus side: they coupons everywhere! Groupon, Amazon local, entertainment book and probably more than that

We come here once in awhile. The appetizers are so-​so.
But the noodle and rice bowls are delicious and filling. The veggies are good too!

This was my first time coming here and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Our sever was very nice and knowledgeable. My friend and I decided to split some appetizers, we had the Thai coconut soup… so smooth and the fresh basil rolls (lettuce, vermicelli, carrots, Thai basil & shrimp wrapped in rice paper) I was very surprised about this, I would normally go with a fried option. So glad I tried this instead, so good!
My main meal was the Eggplant in garlic sauce, with shrimp added in.(green and white onion, red pepper & eggplant stir fried in a traditional garlic soy sauce garnished with sesame seeds)
The sauce alone was spectacular, perfect about of garlic and spice.
My friend had the Pad thai (green and white onion, egg & rice ribbon noodles garnished with peanuts, bean sprouts, cilantro and lime) This was such an explosive taste, lime was blended so well with the noodles. yum!
The portions are large, so expect leftovers. Can’t wait to go back and try something else!

My wife and I went here on ⁷⁄₃₁ for dinner and we haven’t been here in awhile so we couldn’t wait to enjoy another fine meal… BUT…that was NOT the case… The Thai spring roll appetizer was awesome, nice start and then the downward spiral… I had the Chicken Pad Thai and my wife had the Spicy Tofu, both dishes tasted off, I couldn’t put my finger on it but it just tasted terrible, not right… So the place was damn near empty at 5:30 pm which is not a good sign… So we’re not going back anytime soon if at all… Sad really we used to enjoy this place back in the day… Oh well…

6 years ago, my tastes were not defined yet and I was scared to eat at a place like this because there was nothing for me to eat and I didn’t know what any of it was. But with some guidance and some taste testing I’ve gotten into this kind of food. I’m actually craving their pad thai right now! Yes I know there are better places to eat around here however I am obsessed with their pad thai, it is always cooked to perfection and filled with tons of flavor. The eggs are buttery, the cilantro is plenty, and I love the crunch of the sprouts. the noodles are always cooked perfectly for me.
Plus you can’t really beat the price, it’s only $ 10 for chicken pad thai so that leaves me room to get lots of appetizers. I like the basil rolls and their thai coconut chicken soup which has tender chunks of chicken and vermicelli noodles.
We had a Groupon for $ 40 and between the two of us we had to order the dumplings, 2 cups of soup, an order of basil rolls, two pad thai and two pops to even get close to 40 dollars AND we got a huge bowl of soup to go.
Other things I have been ordered in my present haven’t been as good however. The Thai spicy basil noodle bowl wasn’t so spicy. Our waitress warned us that it would be spicy and we were excited about that however it wasn’t. She offered to bring out more spices but we didn’t do that we wanted it to come like that. We have also gotten the red Thai curry rice bowl and we’re also very disappointed with that. It was edible but we wish we had gotten something other than that after we ordered it.
All in all I suggest ordering the pad Thai and the appetizers, I’ve never been disappointed with those and the price is really cheap. The pad thai is probably the best that I’ve found in Rochester, in my opinion. I wish they delivered because that’s what I’d be ordering for lunch today :-)

We had dinner there on Saturday (⁶⁄₂₀). The steamed/​fried dumplings were somewhat mushy in texture.
I had the Orange Chicken; my love had the Pad Thai. Both were pleasantly spicy. The portions were good; and our server was friendly and efficient. My only strike was that we were still eating our appetizer when the entrees came out.
All in all, it’s ok if you happen to be in the 12 corners neighborhood.

Gross.
Went for lunch today at the request of a friend. First time for me.
The place smelled faintly of old mop. Let it pass since we were the first customers and the doors just opened. Maybe it just needed aired out.
Ordered the Iced Thai Tea. Some neon orange concoction showed up. Asked what was in it. The waitress didn’t know. She said it had a lot of creamer in it, and something orange. It tasted like a melted orange creamsicle: sweet, cloying, citrusy.
Ordered the Spicy Thai Basil Noodle Bowl with Chicken. Yikes. Heatlamped noodles, a few minute pieces of desiccated chicken with very little flavor and no spice to speak of.
The other dishes at the table were of the same caliber. $ 40 for three low quality dishes.
While waiting for the food to be delivered I made the mistake of wiping the table top with a damp cloth: black with filth. It had to be dirt from the previous week. As I said, we were the very first customers of the day.
On the upside, the waitress’ pudenda were clearly visible in her tights and top. Ahh youth.
Suggestions:
1) Fry up some onion, pepper, ginger, and basil before opening the doors. Let the aromas of fresh food swap out the stale air of the night before.
2) Make sure the servers have experienced all the menu items. How can you sell something of which you have no knowledge?
3) Keep that waitress. She is simply lovely.

Always fast, fresh and tasty. Vermicelli salad, Bangkok noodles, basil rolls among my faves. Staff is efficient and usually very helpful.

If you want a sanitized white bread version of classic Asian noodle dishes maybe this place is for you. A bit pricy too.
If you want authentic Pan Asian food this place is definitely not the place to go too. I don’t think I have ever had worse fish sauce. The noodles were a touch slimy in my mock up Bunh and the fried beef could have come from a Jack Links bag. Too salty. Overall the only vegetable they got right was bean sprouts. The carrots were chunks and not pickled. Ice given this place a few tries and while the wait staff is friendly, this is more of a place to be seen or socialize if you are the 30+ housewife and are scared of real Asian food that’s ingredients might actually come from an Asian market. Enjoy you glass of white Zinfandel which doesn’t even count as real wine to me. Rochester has so much more to offer. Not like we have a little Saigon, Koreatown orang thing close but the places off Monroe towards the YMCA in Rochester are a lot more close to what you would find in any other major metropolitan area.
If you fall into that better safe than sorry group the Aja noodle house is probably got you. I would rather try to make my own which is a giant PITA because of a huge ingredient list but better yet I will hit SEA or some of the better SouthEast Asian places.

Overall is not bad but if you are looking for a sense of authenticity like me, this is not the place :(

Aja noodle has such awesome décor. It has a hipster vibe. They have different noodle bowls and dishes. I have gotten the sesame chicken which was alright, it has a different taste than what I am used to, and lately I typically order the orange chicken which is delicious. I really love the seating here. Their booths and tables make for the perfect date night with the girls or with your boyfriend. The service is always friendly. You can find their coupons in many entertainment books.

I really liked it! Our waitress was super nice. Huge portions. I got the pad thai and it was good. I wish there was a smidge more ground peanuts and another lime wedge but I would order it again in a heartbeat.
Really cute inside also. Good date place.

Been here about 4 times. The only con thing I could say about it is that it can b cold in there sometimes. I have heard the wait could b long but I’m sure that’s only on busy nights when it’s crowded, understandable. Every time I have been I loved my food. I can’t remember what I got the other times but I love their noodle dishes. This time I went I think I noticed their portion sizes got smaller but I don’t know if it was because I was hungry and ate it all (which is rare) or because they changed their «china». Either way no biggie.
They have great appetizers and drinks. The sake sour was really good. The service timing is normal and they have take out which is nice.
This place reminds me of a higher end Chinese restaurant with better prices and selections. Also healthier maybe.
In the entrée menu u have choices to make it vegan shrimp or chicken.
I recommend this place for lunch or dinner

I remember when I first tried Aja a few years ago I was so excited to go since I had heard such good things from friends, but now that I’ve been several times, I’m filled with lingering disappointment. Whenever I drive past Twelve Corners, I seriously see it and just shake my head.
Every single time I’ve ever gone, the noodles have been overcooked. Not only that, they have been covered in sauce that’s too thin or too salty, and what I’m left with is a bowl of mushy noodles with leftover sauce at the bottom making them even more mushy and gross.
On more than one occasion I’ve also seen bugs in the restaurant (on the walls/​or flying around) when I’ve walked in which makes the experience even more disgusting for me. In fact, I swear one even fell down from the ceiling onto me one time and it just gave me the worst chills.
Overall, there are SO many better places for noodles in Rochester, and I’m guessing this one just got so much publicity because of its location.
Don’t be confused — do not judge this book highly by its cover, because the insides will leave you totally unsatisfied

Sometimes, after a long pause, it’s good to revisit a restaurant to see if it’s improved. I’m pleased to say that Aja Noodle has… and I’m happy for it. I had a disappointing experience there, many years ago. So, when I stopped by there for a quick bite to eat I was pleased to see how well Aja is doing these days. So much so that I’m happy to give them a 4 star rating. When compared to other Asian Fusion eateries I’ve checked out (like Wok For You), Aja’s take on «Asian Fusion» is spot on. My wife and i love sharing an order of Pad Thai & fresh spring rolls. While the takeout some times seems rushed, I can heartily recommend the current iteration of Aja to anyone looking for a tasty take on Asian food.

In the words of my highschool friend, «I love noodles!»
Delicious Thai soup, some sort of coconut base, was creamy but not too thick. Would bump it up to 3.5 stars if the soup stayed hot longer. Made me nervous that it was re-​warmed.
Had the Pad Thai. I’ve had rough pad thai that was significantly enhanced in taste with the help of a healthy dose of Sriracha and lime. This might have been one of those times. Either way, the hot sauce made normal pad thai amazing.
All in all, if I had tried more dishes (such as that yummy looking eggrolls and noodle salad), maybe I would bump up the stars based on taste. I feel like this restaurant is reaching for too many recipes and should just focus on the things that are a hit.