Suburban Sushi. So some friends want to meet up for drinks and sushi and they pick this place. I had seen a few times before it and it looked nice from the outside so I was looking forward to going there. The first thing you notice when walking in is that the walls in the entry hall are adorned with mah jong tiles - very interesting. The overall look and feel is "lounge-ish" a lot of interesting décor and lighting make for a visually attractive place. The bar area is on the small side- but nicely lit; the bartender seemed a bit overwhelmed. Drinks were adequate- no issues there. One of our group picked up the tab so not sure how they costed out. The food: Like pretty much every place I've hit so far in the northern half of Suffolk County, particularly the places that everyone is raving about, I have been disappointed. We started with a Kani salad which was recommended by one of the girls who apparently goes here a lot. The Kani salad was sea legs with some spicy tobiko and cabbage tossed in. It was tasty although a bit too drippy with all the dressing- sort of like cole slaw. Since every sushi place has their version of "special" rolls, there was no shortage of gimmicky rolls here. The combinations all tasted the same to me and some were disgustingly sweet. The other thing I noticed was that the sushi order came flying out in record time. How does that happen? Apparently a lot of the items are pre-made. For example, the shrimp tempura rolls were neither hot nor crunchy but instead were a mushy mess. Clearly they had been made previously and were waiting for an order to materialize. The roll suggested by the waiter with eel on it - well there was no eel. I eat eel, I know what eel looks like and there was no eel. He even made a show of pointing out the eel... I dunno, maybe *he* doesn't know what eel looks like? Lastly, and this seems to be the issue at most of the sushi places these days, the rolls are mushy. I am extremely talented with chopsticks and can pick up just about anything with them, but when the roll can barely stand under its own weight you are going to have fun trying to get it into your pie hole. Not good. The service was good - the guy who took the order clearly knew the menu (except for the eel thing) and they obviously push the pricey rolls. We ordered enough for our party and he kept asking us if we also wanted this or that - he wasn't getting the message that this was already enough food. Men's room was decently done - nice sink, and facilities to drain the dragon after all those Japanese beers, but no trash basket in which to toss the paper towels after washing your hands... so there is a pile of crumpled paper towels on the floor under the sink... wtf? All in all: sushi for those who don't know or care about sushi. Like many other places in the area, this is not a Japanese owned restaurant but Chinese owned and at best, the food can be called Japanese style. Big parking lot in front. read more

Well my experience today wasn't so great. Most of my food was really good. Service wasn't so great did come 45 minutes before closing but still no excuse for lack of good service. At my table I had one waitress one waiter which I barely saw the whole night end up going home. And had another waitress. My experience wasn't so great read more

Aji 53 - Bento box one of my favorites. - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

My boyfriend and I went to eat here for a date night - we went early on a Saturday so the place was dead - but we loved it! It was the first time I had spicy edamame and enjoyed it! We both enjoyed our sushi rolls and would def go again! read more

First served for the day we absolutely loved it, they brought out free edamame which my gf can't really be eating, yet she devoured the bowl (she loves the stuff but for specific health reasons it's really not good for her) loved it. The rolls were great and felt more substantial than aji bayshore Service was great and that's that. read more

I've been to the bayshore location a ton of times. This location is definitely similar. Beautiful inside. Sushi was pretty good. Service was a little slow. read more

Delicious and super fresh sushi. It's hard to find good quality sushi on long island. Great service and atmosphere. Drinks are made right and not watered down. I wish they opened one in Patchogue! Everything is soo good! i would eat here all the time if i was closer! read more

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The sushi here is amazing! So fresh and flavorful. The people are always nice when you go in and for pickup too.

One of the best sushi restaurants on Long Island, in my opinion. The night before my wedding my mother and sister took me out to dinner and I was given a choice to pick any restaurant. My pick was Aji53. I just was there last night again. In total I've been to Aji 4 times. Never had a bad experience. The waitresses are always polite, classy and friendly. Some of the negative reviews I read are ridiculous. The restaurant itself looks like an upscale NYC restaurant. The prices are in line with other top notch sushi restaurants. Huge selection, best specialty rolls. My favorite is the sunshine roll. Sashimi all fresh, favs are spicy tuna, white tuna and salmon. Avocado salad is made to perfection Sapporo Japanese beer served ice cold. Too full for dessert 5 stars! read more

I'm absolutely DONE with this place . We all got sick after early dinner over there . Server was wearing dirty wrinkled shirt and wanted to educate us about Japanese cuisine. read more

Great food, great atmosphere and a very friendly and welcoming staff. I had the soft shell crab appetizer, the American Dream roll and the spicy salmon roll the food great as always and super fresh!! read more

Aji is my absolute go too place for sushi, their rolls are a little smaller than other sushi restaurants but the quality and taste of the roll outweighs that. if you like tuna, the spicy tuna roll is amazing. this restaurant offers a lunch special which is a really great deal. the philadelphia roll is awesome at this location because you don't get a little bit of salmon inside the roll, the salmon is ontop of the roll. if you love spicy mayonnaise this restaurant has the best i've ever had. the servers are all very kind and all help eachother. definitely recommend if you are a sushi lover read more

Used to be my go-to place. Fish was pretty fresh, rolls pretty good. Just overall decently priced for the quality. Last two times I went there I got food poisoning, which lasted two days. Ordered delivery once, after one and a half hours had to cancel it...apparently the driver got lost. The sushi rolls aren't nearly as good. The spicy tuna ones literally collapse they are so watery. The amount of fish they put into rolls is also much smaller. Not sure what happened, but everything went downhill. Kotobuki definitely wins on Long Island...no comparison. read more

Aji 53 - Where's my eel? :( - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

Great place always go when I'm in Bayshore when I go out the night before partying good place good man you good drinks good time

My bumbutt bf and I went to this place earlier today and let me tell you it is phenomenal. It is expensive but phenomenal. We went on our monthly outing and I wanted to treat him. So he decided to go here. It's extremely easy to get to. No awkward turns and it's not hidden behind anything (other than the piles of snow we've been having recently). To start, I had water and he ordered green tea. We were really having a hard time picking which specialty rolls we wanted... So we started with appetizers instead. I had the beef negimaki and he had the kani salad. Both were extremely well made. The kani salad was light and melted in your mouth. The beef negimaki had lots of flavor in the sauce they pour on it. The meat itself is soft and juicy and uuugh ANOTHER PLEASE! For the main course I got the hibachi style chicken and vegetable with white rice and green salad. I just wanted to try every meat hahaha! I really enjoyed the dressing on the salad (I've had the same one at another sushi place and it was awful). The serving size for the salad is for a child, if anything. But since I ate so much, it's okay. The chicken and veg was also pretty small of a serving. I will post pictures! But overall it was deeelicious. You do get two side sauces and the yellow sauce is just wow. The browner saucer is a little bit ginger-y for me. However the seafood is where it's at. He ordered Valentines and Sunset Blvd. The Valentines were for us to share (since I will be working on Vday) and I tried two of the Sunset. CAN I PLEASE TELL YOU I REGRET NOT GETTING MORE?? The Vday are wrapped in fresh tuna with spicy tuna on the inside. It just melts on your mouth. The taste is light and just downright good. The Sunset are also a must-have. The way I can describe it is like having a not too candy melt in your mouth. Weird, right? It's refreshing and enjoyable and shame on you for not having it!! The kimchi sauce on top is just..wow. Not spicy AT ALL so don't be worried when you read "kimchi sauce." For desert I got the mochi (Strawberry, mango and vanilla) and he got the fried Oreo with green tea ice cream on the side (it originally has vanilla ice cream). Each mochi was great with the side of a strawberry. The fried Oreos are delicious BUT they are quite sweet. My bf gave me two and that's all I could really handle. we also shared a glass of plum wine. Everything came to about $90 (not including tip). If you are looking for a real treat, GO HERE. I am NOT a big seafood fan but this place is too delicious to pass up. TREAT YO SELF!! read more

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I was surprised by the size of the place, it was big spacious and the food was awesome! the sushi chef was making these amazing art work! The drinks were cool as well i tried their specials. Def coming back with a date there. read more

Aji 53 - The sushiumi plater, looks amazing, tastes fresh - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

I have been to way better sushi places in the area. The rolls are not good quality, they are extremely small and not well formed. The sushi isn't bad, just do not reach my expectations for how a sushi roll should look. read more

Food is OK, but the service is terrible. I placed a BIG order for TWO offices (the night before mind you) and explained that the orders were going to TWO different places and they needed to be separate with all of the associated items, soup, salads, utensils, soy etc. were to be set up for TWO separate orders. "Yes, yes, yes no problem". Picked it all up, "yes it's all separated", ran out of my house so I can get lunch for team and get back for some conf calls, dropped it off to TWO places and "you guessed it" everything was completely intermingled. Message to ownership: "you can make a lot of money if you can do corporate orders correctly!!" "Your food is OK, but the people who work the phones are not careful and make the experience not good, and even if you served gold plated sushi, if you piss people off they won't come back" Second time this has happened to me here, I won't be back (local resident), so beware of your orders. read more

Your standard Japanese restaurant, with a large menu. Gluten free folks, they do have gluten free soy sauce, and are well versed on the menu!!! Yes!!! They were out of the Uni, unfortunately, but I ordered the sushi dinner of 8 nigiri and a salmon roll. Tuna was so smooth, but the salmon was sliced a little too thin for my liking. I believe I was also given a white mackerel and yellow tail. The dinner entree originally came with a spicy crunchy tuna, but I requested that a substitution be made due to my gluten intolerance. They were happy to oblige my allergy, and provided my own soy sauce container, marked gluten free. If you order off the sashimi/nigiri menu, nigiri order is one piece per order, and sashimi is two pieces per order. I was not told when I ordered my tuna nigiri that I would be given tuna nigiri anyway in my entree. The entree came with either salad or soup, and I chose the ginger house salad as the miso soup had regular soy sauce. The wasabi paste was very crumbly that evening, making it super difficult to use on my sushi. read more

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Hands down my favorite sushi spot! Great service and wonderful location too. Always a great time.

My husband and I had a craving for sushi yesterday on Father's Day. We hadn't been to Aji 53 in quite some time. We were delighted with the food. We are a big critics when it comes to sushi in this place was really top-notch. First we went outside of our comfort zone and ordered something we've never tried. It was fresh salad with spinach greens and a variety of scrumptious mushrooms in a light dressing. We ordered a sushi sashimi or two. The fish was super fresh and delicious and we had the "Amazing Tuna Roll". It was so good, we ordered another roll. Finally dessert was a refreshing hazelnut truffle with chocolate syrup. Our waitress, Trudy, was very attentive and helpful. Thanks for a great meal we will definitely be back soon! read more

It's been a while since I've been to Aji, so coming back was almost like my first time. We waited a while to get our drinks and our appetizer but I was happy when they came to the table. It was really good (tuna tataki) and the drink was perfectly fruity, just how I like it. My husband also enjoyed the soup that he had. On to the sushi -- I specifically ordered sushi that had no "crab" in it but unfortunately that's what came to the table. I believe I ordered the Rock & Roll (which they don't have on the menu online) and the Valentine roll. They clearly had the imitation crab in it but I ate it anyways. They were ok. *Kanye shrug*. So I took away two stars for the slow service and the incorrect rolls. Will be back to try it again soon. read more

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My go to place everytime I visit family in long island. This restaurant should be the example of every business owner, their staff is simply amazing ! The food is always consistently delicious & the drinks are always perfect. You can tell the owner of this business truly cares about the customers, the staff, the place itself & the reputation of this business.I have never experienced anything negative in Aji53 & I will continue my visits everytime I am in town. My recommendations of course all the sushi is fresh & you won't regret any of your selections. The appetizer I always get are the tuna tacos & the grenades both so so so so delicious. The kitchen entrees, my favorite is the Saltire salmon & the stir-fry diced filet mignon !!!! read more

I LOVE this restaurant. I go here for lunch with coworkers. They have awesome lunch specials and the sushi is so fresh and absolutely delicious. The place has huge windows which let in so much natural light, which for me personally, is amazing. The staff is so super friendly, they explain everything to you if you have any questions perfectly. They are extremely attentive and they always make sure that you're having a great experience. Their special rolls are also awesome. I've gotten the Bayshore and it is delicious. If you're in the area I would definitely suggest going here. You wont be disappointed. read more

Aji 53 - That is the Bayshore roll and sushi lunch special! Delicious and plated so well. - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

The interior of this restaurant is GORGEOUS and impressive. And it's very spacious. We went here with a friend who was visiting from out of state. She enjoyed the sake. I ordered sushi roll and ended up with massive slabs of sashimi that I didn't eat...so we took it home and I had my husband eat it, lol, that way it wouldn't go to waste. It was ok here, I was happy my friend seemed very satisfied. read more

Great place and staff are friendly and helpful. Manager is a class act and make you feel at home. Strongly recommend.

Always my favorite and food comes fast ! Wonderful staff and wide variety of food ! Favorite thing is the chicken tempura roll!

I recently tried Aji 53 on a random weekday for an early dinner with my sister. I don't have much experience with many other nearby sushi places, but we were craving sushi so we decided to give this place a try based on the good ratings on yelp. The decor is cool and the restaurant is very clean. Staff is nice and professional although I felt our server could be a little more friendly. Food: We started with miso soup and edamame - pretty standard. As for sushi, we ordered a California roll, spicy tuna roll, and one of their special rolls called the Aji king. The tuna was delicious and fresh. The California roll was average. The special Aji king roll was good, but not my cup of tea. For dessert we tried the mochi ice cream and it was delicious! We ordered red bean flavor and it was perfect - light and not too sweet. I'm sure the other favors of ice cream would be great with this dessert as well. Overall the food was good, but I wasn't really blown away by the sushi. Especially with the pricing ($15 for our special roll, $6 for tuna), I was expecting a lot better. I was disappointed that almost all the special rolls were fried with tempura - yes it tastes good, but it doesn't even seem like real sushi anymore. Although if you enjoy that style of fried "sushi" I'm sure you would love the special rolls here. I will definitely be back next time I'm in the mood for sushi, but probably only for lunch - and I will stick to the more basic, fishy rolls like tuna :) read more

Aji 53 - Left to right: California roll, spicy tuna roll, and special Aji king roll - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

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Food is just ehhhhh. I feel like Yelp makes the food sound so good but when you go there it's just over priced and nothing special. I got a lunch special here a few months ago and it was not bad ( standard price). Just got a tuna tartar which was vey overpriced for the little amount of tuna they give with some chips on the side. American Dream roll was good. Spicy mayo and eel sauce is a dollar each compared to the normal 50 cents every where else. Staff is not so friendly, kinda rude when you ask questions and don't want to help out. Overall, probably won't go back, not worth it with all the better sushi so close around read more

Aji 53 - American Dream roll - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

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Great ambiance, music is sometimes loud. Great sushi and drinks specials. Never too crowded. No waiting area so if it is busy you have to wait outside or be lucky enough to grab a spot at the bar. Service is ok. Not super friendly. Sushi is always fresh. read more

If you want amazing sushi and delicious cocktails you need to come here....here's why! We came here as a group for a birthday dinner. They took reservations and we sat right away. We ordered a bunch of cocktails from their menu. They were all so good!! My personal go to is the Lychee Martini. So balanced, not too sweet not too strong. Everyone loved their cocktails. We ate like queens. For apps, we got house salad with the ginger dressing. Fact: Aji has the best ginger dressing ever. We got a spinach and mushroom salad. The broth in this salad is so amazing, I have been trying to replicate it in my own kitchen. Then the Tuna Pizza. It is their most popular app on the menu. It was incredible. I will order this every single time I come. Every time. Tortilla with guac, tuna and spicy mayo. Loved it! And the last app was truffle fluke. So tasty! Fluke and truffe are such perfect partners! And this place has amazing fried oysters, with salt garlic and butter, I could eat hundreds of them. Dinner was pretty much one of every roll. Rolls here were so good. They were filled with fish, not a ton of rice. Brown rice is available. My friend loved her Udon soup, broth was complex and flavorful! And the American Dream, Bay Shore and Smithtown rolls were the faves of the night! We added sake bombs to our dinner. See video! Staff was so much fun! Try it here once and you will be hooked! read more

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Came here to eat thursday wife went into bano and it was so heat she nearly fall to ground. After we sit for our foods lady was very mean to me for not speak the asia foods coorectly. Not smile or help me wife order rice and fishes. The rice oil water was grease like soupbowl. Me wife never had rice look like dis before. We show asia lady food she say we fix dis rice but return with same oily rices. Now lady say to me rocking shrimp foods is asia speciality. It has bad water on it no buneo. Lady give us now fried vegetable platter had lots of sweet plantains me wife like very a lot. Not come here again untill they give me my 89$ back to me for the foods. read more

Aji 53 - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

fresh natural clean delicious. all whole ingredients and finishing touch to detail. scrumptious sauces. delishhhhhhh

prob will never return here again. 2 hours for 1 app and 2 rolls. unacceptable. we even sat at the bar hoping service will be faster but it wasn't. we even had to flag down whoever worked there for a 2nd round of drinks. we were too hungry to even enjoy the food. music and atmosphere is nice but the service was not there at all. very very short staffed. all they do is apologize and comp you 1 drink. their drink menu stinks. very basic drinks with vodka and gin. no mezcal tequila. no bartender. people who order "food to go" get precedented. otherwise sit tight this is gonna be a very long dinner. read more

Went for an early dinner and left very satisfied. While they may be somewhat pricey, there are worse hits your wallet could take for lower quality sushi. We ordered the Tri-Color Three Way and various rolls/ ala carte. The nigiri was very fresh and had a great rice to fish ratio. Their sashimi is also great as they don't go too thick but still leave you with a substantial amount. We ordered the crispy duck appetizer which was good, but the sushi is definitely their strong suit. Our server was very nice and knowledgeable about the menu which helped us make our decisions. Service was quick, but that shouldn't be too much of a surprise since we were the first people in for dinner. Overall, we were very happy with the experience and would definitely recommend it to others. read more

Aji 53 - Tri-Color Three Way in the front. Magic roll, yellowtail scallion roll, and mackerel nigiri in the back. - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

The best sushi on long island that i've tried so far. Such good food and nice staff. The bill usually comes out really cheap too. For 2 people the max we've paid here was $60. Great for casual dates. read more

Aji 53 - makic : California Roll, Shrimp and Mix Vegetabvle, Shrimp Tempura roll and american dream roll - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

Honestly, amazing. The hostess was very accommodating and the vibe inside the restaurant was beautiful and laid back! The fish was incredibly fresh and the drinks were phenomenal, all at a reasonable price as well! Great place for a sushi date whether you and your date want to stay for an hour or whether you wanna stay for 3! Will be returning! (As usual) read more

Went here with a gift card and it was amazing. When we arrived the place was empty but it was a Monday evening so we didn't think much of that. The place is HUGE and soo nice and clean inside. We ordered a beer and a "summer love" the cocktail was a little sweet (too much guava) couldn't finish it and was the only negative of our experience. We ordered 6 rolls total. American dream, sweet potato tempura, spicy tuna, avo cucumber, chicken tempura, and another sweet potato. The rolls were all so tasty and filling. 2 drinks 6 rolls was $60. We plan on going back and bringing friends. read more

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I usually go to Aji 53 in Bayshore but was in the area yesterday so we decided to stop for a roll and some sake. We sat at the bar and were given menus. The girl asked if we'd like something to drink and I was looking at the sake menu. The girls attempted to be helpful, but without any real knowledge could not answer my questions besides telling me what was popular. I chose one that sounded good, and thankfully it was really very tasty. We ordered the twister specialty roll and a miso soup. I was having the roll and my boyfriend was having soup. 2 seconds later and out comes the soup. Now I completely understand how Japanese restaurants work, and they bring things out as they're ready, but if that is all we're having I expected that they knew enough to bring both dishes out together...so, when the second girl brought out the soup right away I told her we'd like to eat together and that she could bring out the soup when my roll arrived. She questioned if I wanted the soup at all (I said I did only that we would like both dishes out together) and was given a face/look when I explained we wanted to eat together. After that it seemed like the girls stood all the way in the corner and were not going to bother with us. I actually struck up conversation about a couple different topics and the first girl who took our order proceeded to become more involved. She ended up being rather nice while the second girl couldn't be bothered and continued standing in the corner by the pos on her phone, staring out into space, or seeming completely uninterested in being there at all. Our food came out and we ate, finished our sake, and thanked them...it wasn't until we were leaving that the second girl bothered to say anything other than have a good night...also, before we left I used the ladies room which was pretty unclean (paper products everywhere, trash overflowing, and overall just not what you'd expect from this establishment). On my way to the washroom, a server almost walked into me and continued walking without stopping or an apology. On my way out, he was standing there talking with another server blocking the way to get past...he barely moved to make room for me to get through (I actually had to excuse myself) and again no apology or regard for my existence. I have been an Aji customer since they opened their doors in bayshore and they are fabulous there...I would expect the same quality and experience from staff at this location but they are two totally different restaurants in that aspect. I will continue my patronage only to Aji in Bayshore and hope this was an off day, and not a true representation of the smithtown location because they can really put people off and make them not want to return if they've never dined at the Bayshore restaurant. So 2 stars because the food is always good and the first Bartender did a better job than the second, but that's pushing it. read more

Aji 53 - Twister roll - New American Near Me - Smithtown, New York

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My original post I gave 3 stars bc of the wait time for the food to come out. But today, I'm rating 5 stars bc the food and service was great. Granted, we went on a Monday and not a Friday night like last time. Glad, we gave this place another chance... will definitely be coming back!! read more

The absolute best sushi in town. You have to try the specialty Christmas roll and the American Dream. Addicting! Spicy edamame are to die for. Nelson is the friendliest man in town. He is always so happy to see us. Makes us feel real special. We just went two nights in a row. Had to have it! read more

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