Ajisai Japanese Grill & Sushi

this review was sitting in my waiting to be finished and sadly this place is now close but I must post my happiness that was this place.
This place will catch you off guard. For one it appears to have taken over an old burger joint establishment. Another it is on north main at a point where you can only reach it from one side putting it a bit of the beaten path. I enjoy so many things about this place ill just list.
~ portions are ginormous so be prepared to share
~ bento boxes are delicious for lunch and dinner (tried combos of both and so far no objections)
~ they have a wide array of Americanized sushi rolls for those who are not so traditional as well as some of the more tradition maki rolls for those who are
~ never had a fish smell here
~ service is wonderful! They messed up one of our rolls once so they brought us the correct roll with saki!
~ spicy sauce here is spicy!
~ un-​dyed ginger which is a huge plus for me and real wasabi not green horseradish paste
yes its a bit of an older buiding and the bathrooms re around back. Parking can also be a bitch but for a sushi place in walnut creek this place is def worth it!

According to the sign taped to the window, this place is closed «forever» as of 12÷31÷13
Too bad

Hands down the best sushi in the east bay. I had the spicy tuna roll, and my husband had the 2 salmon rolls– all were fantastic, and much fresher than the other sushi places we’ve been to in Wc and Danville. Not to mention a fraction of the price! We’ll definitely be back!
P.s make the Spicy Sista roll a permanent on the menu!

Had the dragon lady roll and the agedashi tofu! Absolutely delicious food, and Wayne was amazing! Absolute comedian. Definitely coming back. Great service and great food!

Wayne and his staff do a great job at creating a friendly atmosphere and also some very tasty dishes. HIs restaurant is my favorite Japanese restaurant in the bay area. It’s reasonably priced and the food quality is great. My wife and I even had Wayne cater for our wedding! They did a great job and we received lots of compliments from our guests. :)
We particularly love the Avocado Crunch Roll! You can’t go wrong with what you choose in the bento boxes.

This place is awesome! The salmon crunch is to die for! The green tea ice cream @ the end of your meal is a plus too. Great customer service.

Under my somewhat legitimate interpretation, Ajisai is one of those chinese or korean owned Japanese restaurants that tries to be as Japanese as possible. Not necessarily a bad thing; David Chang produces some pretty authentic stuff.
It’s too bad that you can only order the Black Miso Cod in a bento box, which ups the price by a lot, but it’s worth it. Despite fears of it being overdone, the cod was cooked perfectly and had that nice oily, delicate texture. It was executed very well, and provided a perfect contrast to the crispy, average tempura. Sushi was typical also.
Throughout the night service was great. Both the waiter and the waitress were extremely friendly and helpful, and it was clear that they really do care about their jobs.
All in all, Ajisai is really just one of those classic Japanese places out there that isn’t Japanese owned. There is going to be people who like it and people who don’t; it’s inherent to the restaurant business. But I’d say give Ajisai a try, not only for it’s great service, but also for it’s good food. I’m giving it 4 stars, even if the food is a 3.5, just because of the homelike ambience and the friendly servers.
Food: 23 | Service: 24 | Décor: 12

This place is great. It was a warm night around 8:30 and most of the customers were seated outside. They have a covered outside area that is great and our server was awesome. She was super sweet and accommodating.
We even had to leave for a few minutes to pick up our vehicle around the corner and they didn’t even ask us for our credit card even though they had already brought the food out.
Really yummy sushi, very fresh and they have this grilled corn that is so good! The chef was very friendly and even stayed a little later to allow us to finish eating.
This place looks great for a big group so I will be back with my family.

A friend of mine and I have been wanting to try this place for awhile now because they place looks so strange (it looks like an old car wash?). I have a friend visiting from out of state so we finally decided to give this place a try. The outside seating was really nice in the warm evening! The service was incredibly friendly and I think they wanted us to stay there all night drinking beer and sake :-) The food was fairly good but the lacking in jalapenos is a big downside for me. My friend had a bowl of their udon noodle soup and it was tasty and packed with veggies. We also ordered the rainbow roll, spicy tuna roll, shrimp deluxe roll, and veggie & shrimp tempura. I hope that some day maybe they will add jalapenos and maybe more spicy options and we will frequent it more often. Prices were OK. The private lot to park in was really nice compared to ones downtown!

Loooove this place! It’s the one of the best Japanese restaurant in the area. Service is always great and they make sure you are happy :)
Sashimi is always FRESH, and I love that the size of sashimi is HUGE! Each piece is like 3 bites, so big that I feel sad when I go to other restaurant seeing those tiny pieces. and I’m also so spoiled by the free salad and soup and ice cream. Make sure you try their black cod!!!

Short and sweet:
This place is great — the service is always super friendly, prices are very reasonable, and the ambiance is always cozy. I love coming here and the quality has been consistent, food quality and service quality. They’ve even taken us when we walk in very close to closing and never made us feel rushed.

Two years later and Ajisai is still as amazing as it was before! I came here for my birthday dinner and received outstanding service and food. I don’t think I’ve gotten better service anywhere else!
Our waiter gave such great service and was super friendly. I think he was the owner of the restaurant since he seemed to have a lot of authority haha. He was funny and made lots of jokes with us, called everyone sister or brother. My mom brought a small cake and he put a candle on it, sang happy birthday with everyone, cut the cake and served it to us! Then he got us some ice cream and gave me a fried green tea ice cream with another candle! He gave me a complimentary ramune drink for my birthday too! Yummm :)
As for the food, I ordered the salmon and hamachi sashimi dinner and the sashimi was SO GOOOD. The slices were generously thick, tasted fresh and had the perfect consistency. Everyone else loved their food and agreed that the sashimi was amazing.
If you’re looking for delicious Japanese food and want to experience some great service, go to Ajisai!

WHAT’S UP WITH THE FRONT OF THIS PLACE
If this place were more inviting, I’d remember to come by more often. But I work super close and it never crosses my mind to eat here. That’s because the front of it is extremely awkward looking. The big roof over the seating area reminds me of a drive-​up burger joint that has passed on. But it was nice sitting in the shaded patio area on the hot afternoon we dined here.
I ordered a Bento lunch and husband had a giant roll. The prices on both were super low for the amount of food we got. I almost went with three stars because the chicken pieces reminded me of this brand of vegetarian chicken I eat sometimes. The sauce was nice though.
I had spicy tuna roll as my second box option and it also came with soup (hecka good!!) salad (pretty great too!) and a california roll that was awesome. The rolls were terrific! I don’t know what was on top of my spicy tuna roll but it was crunchy flecks of yummm. The tuna itself was was okay. I loved the crab inside the Cali roll.
I’ll totally come back. When I drive by and it catches my eye again.

So the first thing I noticed when we went to Ajisai today was the pictures of chicken all looked huge. I was deciding between chicken teriyaki and their dragon roll. I couldn’t tell how big their bento boxes were from the pictures but they looked pretty big. I decided on the dragon roll and my wife got the chicken teriyaki bento box.
I asked if they had any fountain sodas and the server didn’t know what I was talking about so I ordered a coke. We also ordered some edamame and for an appetizer. Well they brought us out some soup and salad and the salad had a lot of dressing on it which is what I like and it was really good.
When we finally got the edamame we only were able to eat a couple of pieces before our entre arrived. My dragon roll was good I would normally prefer more unagi sauce on it but all I had to do was ask and they brought me out some more. When my wife got her bento box it was huge, and she had so much chicken.
I was actually a little jealous I didn’t get the bento box but after trying her chicken a couple of times I didn’t really like it. It wasn’t bad it just tasted like they boiled the chicken and I wouldn’t have been able to eat the whole box.

Highly recommend! The bento lunch specials were a fantastic deal– because they were fresh and carefully prepared. I ordered the chicken teriyaki with spicy tuna rolls. It came with Cali rolls, miso soup, and a yummy salad. Husband got the chicken curry, which was basically fried chicken and curry on the side– which was kinda unexpected. But we had a good time here. The lady took care of us and called us Honey, LoL. No Kirin or Sapporo Light because she said they’re no longer brewed… not true, but that’s OK.
The bathrooms are in the back of the building– you have to exit the restaurant itself. It was kinda weird at first but I appreciate the ventilation aspect.

Absolutely friendly service and delicious food!
Vegetarian deluxe, udon noodles, and many more which we forgot the name (
), you name it, we were delighted by all that we tried. Wayne is absolutely awesome. We feel great each time we go here because Wayne is just so pleasant to be around. Thank you, Wayne, for your wonderful food and making us feel right at home. Whenever we’re in Walnut Creek, we crave Ajisai’s food!

A complete dump.
I ate here a year ago and thought it was horrible. Came back based on 4 star Unilocal rating. Not sure who’s giving this place 5 stars. Hopefully they are well paid.
Miso from a pouch to start. Salty and unappetizing. I watched the server reach into a Tupperware bin with bare hands after no washing to scoop out my salad. Decided to take a pass on the salmonella special.
Ordered hamachi and tuna sashimi along with a dragon roll. I asked the server for some input on the roll and she immediately went to the highest priced item. The yellow tail and tuna had been over refrigerated and was a day or two beyond serving. It was cut with the care of a drunken ape. A big block of inferior fish.
As I sit here there is an open container of roe and salad that have been subject to room temp for 45 minutes. It is amazing that they haven’t sent someone to the ER. One of they guys noticed my unfinished sashimi and suggested it was OK to eat within 4 hours. Seriously?
There are many great sushi options in the area. It is worth the ten bucks to take your business elsewhere. Hopefully the health department gets around to this place. Luckily I didn’t need to use the bathroom as well described in other reviews.

3.5 stars
I’m on a quest to try every Japanese/​sushi restaurant in the area while I’m home for the summer, so I stopped by Ajisai for lunch today.
PROS
— Lunch special runs until 3:30
— Lunch specials are a huuuge value! Many, many choices for the bento box and I think the most expensive one will run you about $ 11. Bento lunch comes with choice of one main, one side, California roll, rice, miso soup, salad and an orange.
— Got two GIANT pieces of salmon in my bento box
— Crunchy spicy tuna roll was good, however was covered in so much sauce I couldn’t really identify all of the components… but that’s not necessarily a bad thing cause it still tasted delish!
— Service was great! Both my server and the owner were super friendly and attentive
— I asked for a side of Sriracha and he brought me out a giant Costco sized bottle to keep at the table alllll for my greedy little self ((: Loved it.
CONS
— My salmon, though huge, was really fatty and so drenched in teriyaki that I had the misfortune of taking one giant bite of FAT
— The bathroom… ew. First of all, it’s outside to the back of the restaurant, much like a gas station. The condition of the bathroom also resembled that of a gas station. No, thank you.
— Parking is TIGHT. Good thing no cars were parked around the back because I’m sure I’d have hit every one on my way out: P
Overall, I had a really nice experience here and I’ll probably check out some more of what this restaurant has to offer.

I went to Ajisai at the end of October for a bento box lunch. They have a great selection. You pick one main item out of a list of 18 main choices which includes items such as Chicken Teriyaki ($ 7.95), Chicken Katsu ($ 7.95), Curry Chicken ($ 7.95), Salmon Katsu ($ 9.95), Black Cod ($ 10.95), and Ika Fry (a crumb fried calamari steak) ($ 7.95) and one of the 6 side items: crispy chicken gyoza, crispy spicy tuna roll, spring roll, potato croquette, tempura with shrimp and vegetables, or almond shrimp.
Each bento box comes with miso soup, salad, rice, orange sections and a California roll.
I ordered Chicken Teriyaki and tempura with shrimp and vegetables. Both items were in large portions and I didn’t even eat it all because it was so much. The Chicken Teriyaki was made from whole chicken breast meat and the owner said «because it is healthier for you,» when asked why. I thought it was great that someone actually cared about what they were serving to their patrons.
The staff was nice and attentive. I really like the energy of the people there.
The only down side to the experience is the building. For such nice lunch bento boxes, staff and service, I wish they had a nicer building. The place looks a little dingy but it is made up by the nice people, food and service.

I was blown away today by what I thought would be an ordinary Sushi dinner. When Wayne swooped in and made our dinner a memorable, fun and delicious experience.
Fast attentive and friendly service was apparent from our very entrance and the food – oh the food.
Generous! The sashimi in the Chirashi bowl was double the size that I would expect. The Ika (Squid) Fry was large thick and tender. The Bento Box was very large.
Fresh Fresh Fresh! sashimi was meltingly good.
DEE LISH! The Spicy Tuna Crunch roll was roll-​back-​in-​your-​eye-​sockets good.
Top that off with some fragrant green Jasmine tea, and Green Tea/​Mango Ice Cream and a very modest bill, and you have a perfect affordable and this is easily THE Go To Sushi Place in Walnut Creek.