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Aji Ten Japanese Restaurant
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
32 reviews for Aji Ten Japanese Restaurant
Review Highlights
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"Yakisoba, sushi, I haven't found anything I don't like yet." In 18 reviews -
"The noodles and soup are also great." In 8 reviews -
"Katsu Curry (fried pork cutlet with curry." In 2 reviews
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32 reviews in English
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Review from Marzen B.
Canton, MI
1/13/2011
When it comes to comfort food, this is the place to be. Aji Ten is known for it's noodles and entrees and I have to agree with other Yelpers that it is NOT the place for sushi.
Most times I order the chicken bowl donburi which is generously portioned that easily can be shared if an appetizer is ordered.
Another 'Old Faithful' for me is the Curry Rice which is great with or without the Katsu.
We come her so often that we know most of the staff, especially Richard, who followed the owner for Cherry Blossom in Novi. -
Review from Ruben L.
2/24/2012
Aji Ten- what a love hate relationship. I've eaten here many times, but this will be my first time reviewing the joint.
AMBIANCE- place has a minimalistic Japanese feel to it. Black and white. Nuff said.
SERVICE- here is the love hate part. On a good day, the staff is friendly and attentive. On a bad day, you get the stink eye from overworked, understaffed servers. Typically, it leans more towards the bad than good, which is truly too bad.
MENU- not the most extensive list, but they have a decent selection of sushi, soups (Udons), and other Japanese entrees. They also have daily lunch specials that they have on display as you walk into the joint.
FOOD- as inconsistent as the service is, the food is consistently good. Huge fan of the "dynamite" appetizer- it's shrimp and onions cooked in a spicy mayo ("dynamite sauce"). Our son loves the Udon here, and I crave the Katsu Curry on a weekly basis. Other foods tried here include nenekume (sp.) which is garlic chutes with thinly sliced pork. This is also quite excellent. The sushi is ok, but we typically focus on the entrees more than the sushi.
OVERALL- Love the food, but the if it's busy, you're better off getting take out.
CELEBRITY RATING- George Takei (they actually have a picture of this man on the wall, for real) -
Review from Liz R.
12/4/2010
IF we'd only gotten the Dynamite Roll then we would have rated Aji Ten a 5...but we tried other stuff too.
Started with the Tempura Soba, tempura shrimp on the side. Soup broth flavor was not as deep as I am use to, with almost an herby taste to it. The hot flakes on the table did not make the soup spicy. Noodles were perfectly cooked and the shrimp on the side was nice and crispy. But the broth, usually my favorite part of the soba soup, didn't cut it.
The first of our two rolls to arrive was the Dynamite. Six pieces of California Roll (yawn) with a heaping side of warm tempura shrimp pieces and fried onions in a spicy sauce. You can eat the two components separately or pile some shrimp and onion on top of the roll and eat it that way. We loved this roll. Our waiter told us it is the #1 roll. Big pieces of tempura shrimp (probably 4 total to the dish). I'd go back for this roll. $10
The second roll arrived a couple minutes after the first. Triple Spicy Tuna Roll. Eight pieces, each filled with large pieces of raw tuna and wasabi, with spicy sauce, green roe and jalapeno slivers on top. A good roll, but no Dynamite. We're glad we tried it, but won't need to again.
We went at an off time (3pm on Saturday), so not very busy. Our waiter was friendly and talkative. -
Review from Janelle W.
Detroit, MI
Aji Ten is the perfect question on alllooksame(dot)com.
The names of their dishes are those of a typical Japanese lunch shop. Their menu is written in katakana and English. To convince the white bread of metro Detroit that they are, indeed, a Japanese restaurant, Aji Ten even offers a sushi bar. The servers and sushi chef have straight, jet-black hair and angled eyes, and they converse amongst themselves in a foreign tongue.
Seems cut and dried; Aji Ten is Japanese, right? Well, not so fast...
Here's where my years of practice differentiating between Oriental cultures comes in handy. I grew up in a family of Tanakas, next door to some Changs, and down the street from some Parks. My elementary school playground was a sea of straight-black-haired little kids--the only difference between them was the degree to which their eyes slanted back. When someone was microwaving fish in my college dorm's community microwave, I could tell, simply by the pungency of the fish, whether the student was Chinese, Korean, or Japanese.
So as resident expert on matters of the Orient, I offer my verdict: Aji Ten is not a real Japanese restaurant.
You see, the beauty of Japanese food is in the details. From the precision knife work of an accomplished sushi chef, to the lacy marbling of a prized slice of wagyu, the Japanese attention to detail is what makes their cuisine so unparalleled in its elegance and exactness. When these details are neglected, Japanese food crashes and burns faster than the Challenger Space Shuttle. And unfortunately, that's exactly what has happened to Aji Ten.
Shrimp is served with tendriled segments of its dark poop-chute still lodged in the flesh. Soba and udon noodles are routinely overcooked to the gooey consistency of a banana slug. Chicken katsu cutlets aren't stripped of their fibrous tendons and gummy fat, resulting in inconsistent doneness across the slab of chicken. Soup broths all taste the same, no matter if you order kitsune soba or miso ramen. And the plates of sushi are sloppily served speckled with water droplets.
That a rice-and-noodle lunch shop like Aji Ten would also offer a sushi bar makes as much sense as eating a Whopper™ while running on a treadmill. Nevertheless, if one is so bold as to offer sushi, one should be held to the same expectations as any other sushi bar. But Aji Ten's sushi is so bad, that watching 'Gigli' three times in a row would be far less painful than stomaching a plate of their sushi. The rice is mushy, the makizushi are loose, and the fish is hacked with the knife skills of a Parkinson's patient.
As for the servers and sushi chef? They're chattering in the palatal glides and abrupt intonations of Mandarin Chinese. Yeah, that means they're not Japanese.
And unfortunately, Aji Ten isn't really "Japanese", either. -
Review from Clayton C.
West Bloomfield, MI
6/8/2009 ROTD 10/18/2009
Best deal for Japanese food in metro Detroit - by far!
I go there often and have never had a bad meal. The bento box is a great deal at 10 bucks. The noodles and soup are also great.
There is a waiter there who is really funny and always acts rude to my friend and I who go there for lunch. He's always like "how was your meal - you better have liked it?" and I'll say "it sucked, I don't want to pay" and he'll say "then why you licking plate?" - good point.
Bit of trivia for you - it's actually owned by an Iranian guy who used to be the chef at the Cherry Blossom. He and his crew run a great restaurant and I've heard from numerous Japanese folks (including my wife) that this place is the real thang. They have a cabbage/pork stir fry for like 7 bucks that is amazing. The dumplings kick ass and the sushi is good and moderately priced.
It passes the Clay C. ethnic food litmus test, which is simple - a restaurant must be frequented by the enthic group it supposedly serves the food of. If a Japanese restaurant is never frequented by Japanese, it ain't frequented by me either.
Check this place out. Great food. Professional service. Always busy and always fresh. You might have to wait a while, since it is busy, but I can live with that. -
Review from Darin E.
Try the Yakisoba - just darn good. It is a huge plate of fried noodles in a very flavorful sauce. Good eats f'sho.
I also really like the specialty sushi rolls. There is one (whose name escapes me - dragon roll? Lava roll?) with fried battered shrimp and grilled onions in a spicy sauce served over California roll. Let the entree-level price of this one be a warning - it is a full meal by itself. There are a few others I will be sure to review for you interested readers when I get in there to refresh my memory.
One funny quirk - the Japanese guys from local auto suppliers get green tea automatically, but gaijin like me need to ask for it. I'm not offended by this, but I am curious -- wouldn't it just be safe to assume that westerners who like Japanese food would also, by default, like some tea to wash it down with? Just sayin'...
We abandoned our previous Japanese haunt, Izakaya Sanpei, for this place. Izakaya was getting kind of pricey, and the food here at Aji Ten is every bit as good. -
Review from Liz W.
12/17/2009
The prices here really are phenominal. Dinner is as big a bargain as lunch, shocking!
I came with my mom, we are really trying to spend some quality time together to ease her guilt for leaving for 10 days to St Lou and for the first year missing the major holidays with me. Eh I do not have the lure of grandchildren and she can see me whenever she wants. I will take the freebie meals I am getting from my father and her though, anything to comfort them...
I had the green tea noodles, served in a pile seperate from their soy based sauce you jazz up with wasabi, radish and green onion to dip into. Once dipped they were super tasty and made me quite happy with my carb cravings satisfied. It is a bit messy though if you are not careful. I also had some very tasty miso soup and a spicy tuna roll. Wow I sound piggish.
My mom had the very economical teriyaki salmon with the rice, potato salad, seaweed salad, miso soup. Not knowing she was going to get such a pile of food as the price was so cheap (I did warn her) she also got a dynamite roll and was a bit overwhelmed.
We loved the hot and plentiful green tea and the relaxed atmosphere. The service was very friendly and we left stuffed full on the cheap.
For the record, I thought the sushi was quite decent but I am not a sushi snob...Listed in: Sushi and other Japanese
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Review from Chris P.
Princeton, NJ
6/8/2009
First of all, I think it's safe to say this isn't a sushi place. Note that the 4+ star reviews mostly talk about the entres, and the two others were really not impressed by the sushi. I guess it's like the rule "don't order fish at a steakhouse."
This isn't the fanciest Japanese food you'll ever eat, but it's very authentic to an average working class Japanese "diner." Reminded me of countless shops in Tokyo.
I ordered the unaju (large unadon) and it was good sized, good tasting, and under $10. I usually see smaller portions for $16+ elsewhere. Unadon under $10 is practically unheard of, and this was at dinner. I also got the horenso goma-ae, Japanese spinach with black-sesame sauce, which tasted just like my host family in Japan made it.
I wish there was somewhere like this in Ann Arbor, but it's close enough I'm sure to be back. At least Ann Arbor has Cherry Blossom, which is at the same quality level, but the prices here are way better. -
Review from kiyomi m.
Howell, MI
Updated - 1/24/2010
A word to the wise... Ajiten is definitely NOT the place to get sushi. As a matter of fact, you would never get sushi in Japan in a place like this. But as we all have observed, for Japanese restaurant to survive in the US, they must have sushi.
Stick with their teishoku and donburi... you know, the working man's food.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/31/2007 First to Review
Great Japanese food on the cheap! No booze, so a great place for lunch, or post AA meetings. First… Read more »
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Review from Emily L.
2/26/2010
I totally ordered wrong... I got some sort of duck ramen that sounded really good in theory. Duck? Delicious. Ramen? Delicious? Duck ramen? Should be extra delicious.
When it arrived, I was disappointed to find broth, noodles, several tiny slivers of mystery meat, and a few pieces of green onion. Surely they could've included some vegetables or fish cakes or something else.
The taste was even more disappointing... extremely salty. It tasted like all that had been used to flavor the broth was a lot of salt, a lot of soy sauce, and black pepper. I do like salt, soy sauce, and black pepper, but not like this.
I'm not sure if I'll go back, as there are other Japanese restaurants in this area that I'd rather try first. But if I do, I'll remember not to get the duck ramen and instead try the dishes that yelpers have recommended.Listed in: Barf City, USA
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Review from Enrique B.
Ann Arbor, MI
1/13/2010
The prices are very reasonable, but the quality is awful!
The rolls were falling apart and the fish was just alright. I really did not expect Aji Ten to fail me so badly.
When it was time to leave, there were leftover sushi slices. The waitress offered to package it to go, and then returned shortly with a doggy bag. It was only when I got home that I found the doggy bag did not include any soy sauce, napkins, or chopsticks. Way to go!
Surely there is a reason for all these Yelpers giving it such high marks, but I certainly can't find it. -
Review from Ron M.
Allen Park, MI
10/29/2010
This is one of my favorite restaurants.
They serve some of my favorite Japanese dishes, value is very good. I like to call ahead and tell them how many people I expect and about how much we'd like to spend then let the chef do whatever he likes... never disappointed, and I wind up trying delicious dishes I never would have ordered otherwise.
The Beef Curry is one of those "comfort foods". Yakisoba, sushi, I haven't found anything I don't like yet. -
Review from Theresa U.
Northville, MI
3/21/2008
ehh, nothing special. This place is located in a strip mall with a Chuck e Cheese.
Went here for lunch today. Didn't want to risk ordering the raw stuff, the place looked questionable. Ordered a california roll, eel and avocado, and egg. I took one bite out of the egg and couldn't finish it. The texture was on the wet/flimsy side and not fresh. The eel roll had patches of bone and thick skin. I was easily turned off and left those rolls alone! The california was the only thing i could finish. I'm glad I went with them. When in doubt! order cali! they are safe!
will NOT be comming back... -
Review from Steve D.
Alhambra, CA
9/8/2008 2 photos
I did not agree with the other reviewer. I've lived in Japan for about 2 years, and I think the taste at Ajiten is very good. I did not have the sushi like she did, but had the normal food of typical salaryman in Japan.
Some of my recommendations:
- Katsu Curry (fried pork cutlet with curry)
- Tendon (tempera shrimp and vegies on rice)
- Katsudon (fried pork cutlet with egg on rice)
- Oyakodon (chicken with egg on rice)
- Yasai Itame (stirred fried vegies and rice)
- Chasumen (ramen with pork slices)
Give it a try! -
Review from Kelley W.
Farmington, MI
5/27/2009
I've been here a couple of times and left satisfied each time. I hear wonderful things about their noodles but, I can't have them so I haven't experienced that joy. The place always seems to be frequented by the local Japanese folks and my friends that work at Toyota rave about it.
I got a couple of rolls - eel, avocado, tuna and a spicy tuna. The fish was fresh but, I found the eel to be a bit fattier than I prefer. Also the spicy tuna was a nice chunk of tuna in a roll with spicy mayo on top. I tend to enjoy the spicy sauce (and lots of it! mixed in with the tuna preferably) and am not a huge fan of mayo on my sushi rolls. I also enjoyed the miso soup, which was OK at best, there was one tiny chunk of tofu in it. Their salad is nice and the dressing is has a nice, zippy ginger flavor.
The service was OK. The place was quite full and we were one of the few tables here for a Saturday not communicating in Japanese. I think I should try some of the recommendations here on Yelp if I go back...but, for now....I'd prefer to frequent other joints. -
Review from Julie T.
Bloomfield Hills, MI
2/24/2010
I came here after reading all the rave reviews. I am a huge sushi lover and the cheaper, the better. And after reading all the great reviews about Noble Fish and being somewhat disappointed once I ate there, I was prepared for the same thing with Aji Ten. I was pleasantly surprised. =)
Their bento box is dirt cheap and it was delicious and great for the price. Where else would you be able to get:
Shrimp and vegetable tempura, fried chicken, broiled salmon, potato salad, spinach gomaae, oshinko, gyoza, wakame/seaweed salad and choice of California Roll or Sashimi for $9.50?!?! Oh yeah, I forgot it comes with miso soup and rice as well!
I didn't memorize all that. I stole a menu. Well, asked for one and kept it. Hehehe. I have a habit of taking menus at restaurants I go to. Anywho, the portions are good. I only wish I lived closer to the place. -
Review from S M.
Albuquerque, NM
3/6/2010
I'd give this place 3.5 stars (somewhere between "A-OK" and "I'm a fan"). The fiance and I stopped here for a late lunch/early dinner since Ajishin was closed. We ended up ordering the okonomiyaki, udon, and spicy salmon crunch roll. The fiance really enjoyed the okonomiyaki (japanese seafood pancake), but that was the first time he's ever had okonomiyaki if that's worth noting. :)
I thought the udon and spicy salmon crunch roll were executed well enough but not especially well. The (tempura) udon wasn't very noteworthy, though I suppose it could have been worse. At $5 a roll, the salmon roll could have had more salmon -- half of it was rice covered nori rolled over more rice -- and could have been more carefully assembled.
What's weird was that for a good 15 minutes, we were probably the only people in the place. I guess somewhat sloppy rolls are just what they do here regardless of how many or few diners they have. Our waiter started vacuuming -- not the electric kind but the roller kind -- part of the restaurant, which seemed a bit odd since we were eating nearby. I also heard the cook/chef microwaving something at some point, which made me wonder what part of our meal they could have possibly been microwaving. The somewhat open kitchen is also sort of strange to see since most sushi places feature the sushi chefs prominently and the kitchen is usually situated to the back. I kind of like the mystery of not knowing and hearing what's going on in there.
Oh, and beware the scalding hot tea. For a good 5 minutes, I could not pick up my tea cup b/c it was so hot, like McDonalds-coffee-lawsuit hot. If ever a warning label deserved to be on a cup/drink, it would be here. Udon was also VERY hot. (Maybe that's what they were microwaving?)
All in all, I think this place is pretty good and worth another visit if I'm ever in the area, but if it's between Aji Ten and Ajishin, it'll be Ajishin for me. -
Review from Wendy C.
2/20/2010
Finally tried this place with a friend. A good selection of appetizer dishes -- spinach goma-ae and wakame salad are both quite good, saba shioyaki smelled fresh and fishy in a nice way. Their Shoyu ramen is as good as other restaurants' that serve ramen, but not in the same league as Matsuchan.
For the food, I'd give it 3.5 stars but round up to 4 stars because of reasonableness of price. Will be back to try other dishes. -
Review from Jason C.
3/4/2010 4 photos
I have heard of Aji Ten for over a year now... and yes, it had taken me this long to give it a try and to be honest, I wasn't heading to Aji Ten for lunch, it was an accident... the restaurant that I was heading to is no longer in business and has since been replaced by wireless phone store.
I'm going to give Aji Ten three stars for now... I'll adjust the rating as I go back and try additional dishes... so here is my review from my first visit to Aji Ten.
When I walked in, they had the specials with the prices... they looked good. I sat down (I got there at 11:30), looked at the menu, very simple menu. I decided on Katsu Curry and ordered the spicy tuna. Oh, as soon as I got seated, they brought me green tea :)
As soon as I ordered, they brought me the miso soup and salad. The miso soup was excellent! It wasn't weak on miso nor over powering... just perfect... salad was okay... not my favorite.
Spicy Tuna - when I order Spicy Tuna, I'm used to the tuna being chopped into small pieces, mixed with mayo, hot sauce and smelt roe's... Aji Ten Spicy Tuna was large chunk tuna's in the roll, the roll was topped with mayo based sauce, which gave the spicy taste. I found the tuna to be good (can't compare it to the tuna i had in Japan)... I would say up there with Ajishin. I'm still debating on the spicy tuna - with sauce on top or mixed in.
Katsu Curry - the portion on this was huge. I'd expected a smaller plate, but I could not finish all the rice. My dish was presented with bed of rice, where the pork katsu was placed and curry was cover the rest of the plate. The curry itself is made with pork meat, so if you don't eat pork or stick to non-meat diet, always ask before you order.
My Katsu was little salty... I would recommend that you break up the katsu so you can eat it with rice and the curry. While the katsu curry was good, I still prefer the Ajishin curry...
Service was good... I was the 2nd customer there, so service was prompt and food came out quickly. If you have recommendations on what to try, let me know... I'll go through the reviews again and see what folks ordered... I also see that the review itself is divided - either you love it or hate it :) I'll be in the middle with my first visit :) Give Aji Ten a try and judge it for yourself. My lunch total: $12.08 with tax... spicy tuna - $4.40 and Katsu curry - $7. -
Review from Rachel C.
Dearborn, MI
7/28/2010
More like a 2.5... I have eaten here twice and neither time was mind-blowing. The first visit, I had miso soup. My daughter was in to this Japanese anime stuff and some character she had heard ate miso soup, so we went here. While I generally love plain old miso soup, maybe it was just theirs that I could not stand. I believe I had the chicken one. Meh.
2nd visit, I went in with a friend who is a pho junkie and with no pho restaurants in the immediate area, he settled for trying this place at the suggestion of his sister. His sis had tempura which she liked - it's hard to mess up deep-fried anything though. I can't even remember what he had. I had the chicken teriaki - it was basically some chunks of over-cooked chicken with some sauce thrown on top. Not at all how I've tasted it before. Oh, and I got a side of potato salad. Regular old potato salad, not some special "Japanese potato salad," that I know of.
Service the 2nd time around was "meh" too. The guy was just kind of abrupt and I remember thinking he was semi-rude, but at this point in time I cannot remember why.
I wouldn't go back here again on purpose. -
Review from Dennis D.
5/26/2010
Decent sushi, good prices for the area.
There ARE better places, but not in the area. :-)Listed in: Sushi
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Review from Peter S.
Huntington Woods, MI
4/27/2010
The ambiance at Aji Ten seems good to me, but I've never been to Japan, so what do I know? They even have a tv mounted in the corner with what appeared to be a Japanese show on it. The first thing about the menu that surprised us was how reasonable the prices were. We had a sushi roll and seaweed salad as appetizers and the curry rice and chicken bowl for entrees. And a small bottle of sake. All that for 30-something dollars? Wow. So you already know that you can have a full meal for a reasonable price, but is the food worth eating?
The sushi was good. The chicken bowl was very enjoyable, with plenty of chicken in a tasty teriyaki sauce. The only real complaint was that the curry rice had very little beef and I think the curry sauce came from a box. The bottom line is that Aji Ten is an good value for the quality of food served and I would not hesitate to go back. -
Review from Joseph L.
7/28/2009
I though I wrote about Aji-ten's review already and somehow it magically disappear so I am write another one...
Yum-Yum rolls is the must have and when you go next time just ask Richard and tell him Joe send you. -
Review from Duke A.
Detroit, MI
10/4/2008
I wasn't a fan of this place until recently. But my coworker likes this place, and the last few times I went there were actually very good.
They usually have two lunch specials - usually one of them is a combo of sushi and noodles. The big portion is very satisfying, and their ramen is actually pretty good! -
Review from Chris D.
Canton, MI
11/25/2011
Best sashimi in the area. Prices are good. Will custom create a dish for you.
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Review from Jessica M.
Farmington, MI
1/3/2010
This is our favorite Japanese restaurant. They have excellent prices. You'll find a lot of the same menu items at other restaurants for almost double the price. My husband and I drive 30 min just to eat here. Their sushi is great. We love the spicy salmon crunch (spicy salmon roll with tempura). The staff is nice, Richard (waiter) is funny. We've been going here since right after they opened.
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Review from Alice C.
Canton, MI
1/6/2010
As Liz said, for a Japanese restaurant, it is very reasonably priced. I had the daily bento special and it was the perfect amount. The tempura meal my boyfriend go was very filling. We also ordered croquettes, which were really good too. Definitely would come back again.
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Review from David S.
Ypsilanti, MI
6/27/2009
The best think about Aji Ten is the price in relation to the portions. Most items are under $7 and the portions are huge. I love their rice bowl (don) dishes, especially the Katsudon, as well as their curry.
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Review from L W.
Canton, MI
7/24/2011
The sushi was okay, but the service was awful. They were very rude! We just wanted a snack, it was 5p and we were out shopping with our baby. When we only ordered 2 rolls they made fun of us and tried to bully us to order more. It was very weird. We won't go back.
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Review from Kim B.
Denver, CO
7/19/2010
I would have to say it's a 2.5... I've had better, but it wasn't terrible. Decent service and food. I wasn't impressed with the sushi. The rice was too sticky and the roll stuck to the roof of my mouth, which is not what you want in sushi. Rice bowls were alright, but not much flavor.
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Review from Dave G.
Canton, MI
10/9/2010
We've been going regularly since their opening. While still pretty good, the quality of the food has declined somewhat.
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Review from Thi S.
Lexington, KY
5/13/2010
Stopped by during a business visit after reading some reviews. Tried the yaki soba. Pretty good, good portions, low price.
