Aji Steak Stone & Sushi

Worst service ever. 45 min to get bar drinks 1 hour for appetizers. never did receive our dinners. had to leave for a show at the TU Center. Management had no clue service staff was lost. While we were there 4 tables walked out because of service. That was before we left. It is a shame they have a nice concept with an interesting menu.

Food was mediocre, service was terrible. Waited 45 minutes for our drinks. Our meal came before our drinks did! Tried to order a bottle of Sake from their extensive menu and they were out of all except 3 out of the 10 or so they offered. People complaining all around us because of the service. One table even got up and left. Definitely will not be returning or recommending this place to anyone!

A wonderful find tucked into downtown Albany. This unique restaurant features a varied menu that ranges from sushi to steaks to lamb. Most noteworthy is their hot stone menu, with dishes that are served on a 700 degree stone to cook at your table. I had the seafood combo, which included lobster, scallops and shrimp.
Some of my colleagues tried the sushi and sashimi and were very impressed with the quality. Presentation was completely over the top.
Our service was incredibly attentive in a cozy dining nook.
Pricing was surprisingly affordable for our meals. My seafood combo plus a bottle of cold sake came in around $ 40.

My boyfriend and I kind of stumbled into this place, looking for somewhere to have lunch. I’m so glad we ended up here! Aji is a large, beautiful space that is modernly decorated and comfortable. We sat at the bar where we were greeted by a very eager and kind duo of bartenders. As the only patrons in the entire restaurant out service was a little intense, but the food and drink made up for it. There is a full bar with great Japanese whisky selections and a small but diverse sake menu. We ordered a seaweed salad to start, which was fresh and decent sized for the price. The miso soup was also good. What really stole the show for us was the sushi. We ordered what is labeled as the Love Boat for One, with soup and salad beforehand it’s totally enough for two people to split. The fish was so fresh, cut perfectly and presented beautifully. I can’t stop talking about the white tuna, I don’t know what they marinate it in but wow was it great. Seriously, I’ve caught myself daydreaming about that tuna, multiple times. Whenever I crave sushi, this is the spot I’ll be going to.

I love sushi. Having read all of the positive reviews for this restaurant, it quickly jumped to the top of my «must try» list.
My girlfriend and I went for dinner at 7:30 on a Friday, and aside from two other couples, the place was completely empty. We attributed this to the restaurant being fairly new and in a sort of awkward location (inside of what I imagine is an office building). Regardless, the interior was beautiful and we were seated in a private booth so expectations were still high.
I opted for a beer, and we decided on the crispy calamari to start. I can’t say anything about the beer as it never came to the table, but they definitely did not forget to put it on the bill (it was waived when we brought it to their attention, but how do you forget a beer when there’s almost nobody else in the restaurant?). I’m almost positive the calamari came out of a box. There were no tentacles, and the rings were so uniformly round and bland that I can’t believe they could have been made fresh. The dipping sauce was almost a saving grace, but I don’t think anything was saving those calamari.
On to the sushi. My girlfriend went with the maki combo; sweet potato roll, cucumber roll, and shrimp cucumber roll. She wanted a shrimp tempura roll, but they were unwilling to accommodate this as it’s not on the list of options for the pick 3. Understandable, but if businesses is this slow I’d think they would make an effort to make sure we left happy. I ordered the sushi boat, and again they were unwilling to let me pick which chef’s special roll it came with. I don’t have anything extraordinarily positive or negative to say about the boat. It was constructed beautifully, but the sushi was average. My girlfriend felt similarly about her rolls, except for the shrimp cucumber roll. After trying a piece myself, I can vouch that it was easily the worst piece of sushi I’ve ever had. The flavor was very odd, probably because it was drenched in mayo.
Some notes not related to the food; over the course of dinner we had three separate waiters serving our table– seemed unnecessary for a table of 2 and likely contributed to the forgotten beer. Also, my girlfriend went to wash her hands before the meal and came back soaked– apparently the water in the women’s room comes out with the force of a fire hose.
Overall a really disappointing experience, especially considering this is the same ownership as Koto and I’ve never had a bad experience there. People seem to have positive things to say about the stone steaks and kitchen entrees, so if you end up here maybe try one of those, but I can’t recommend the seafood or sushi, at least not the ones I had.

SO amazing. Too bad it’s located where most people may not be able to find it. All the food we ordered was fresh and the stone steak was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. So juicy and flavorful. My general tso’s chicken was delicious also, and the presentation was elegant. I’d be interested to come back and try many other things on the menu!

Delicious. Never had a stone steak before but this was fantastic. The fillet mignon was tender and scrumptious. Also had a sushi app and that was excellent as well.
Service was super friendly, although it took a few extra minutes to take my drink order. No biggie as they were chatty and helpful showing me the ropes on the stone steak.
Recommend highly. A little hard to find, on a side street in a corporate building but an awesome find.

I had high hopes for this restaurant. Food was bland got the shrimp steakstone and was given 12 unseasoned shrimp that I was in charge of cooking. Stone made it taste burnt and even the veggies were uncooked. It wasn’t what I expected. When I walked in it seemed so up scale but the service was basic. Wasn’t bad but wasn’t good. Also the beads on the booths are a bit tacky I felt like I was maybe about to be getting a lap dance… one piece of eel sushi was 3.75 more expensive than other restaurants in the area and wasn’t as fresh. 2 stars because it wasn’t anything special

*sitting at Prime Steakhouse, sipping wine for happy hour, realizing there is very little sushi downtown* decides to Unilocal this conjecture, came across Aji.
My boyfriend and I are one of the few people who live in downtown, downtown Albany. Like Pearl Street Albany. Albany has a ton of sushi places and when I lived in Pine Hills, Guilderland, and New Scotland area I over did it on the sushi, especially take out sushi. Ever since I have been downtown I have not had sushi because there is no sushi delivery or restaurant down here.
I Unilocaled nearby sushi places and saw Aji, which I had never heard of before. Because BF doesn’t like sushi we went here because they also had steak, yes a little ironic considering we were sitting at Prime during this convo.
The place is hidden in a building on Beaver. The directions say S. Pearl but that’s not where the entrance is. With that said there was only one group in there besides us and not knowing how long this place had been open we weren’t sure if this was a bad sign or good.
We ordered a bottle of wine (not a huge sake fan) and the jalapeño yellowtail appetizer. Amazing. Very fresh. BF ordered the strip stone steak and I ordered a salmon avocado roll and the Amazing Tuna Roll which was tuna (obv) — spicy and peppered, asparagus, and masago. It was delightful. BF said his steak was very good, not overly fatty, a very good cut of meat. However when you order a stone steak you have to cook it yourself so keep that in mind for your order. My sushi was very fresh, hands down some of the best sushi I’ve had in Albany. The service was also very good.
Turns out Aji has only been open for a few days (explains the amount of people, which had picked up by the time we left) as we found out since the manager asked us very sincerely how we enjoyed our food as we were leaving.
Great food. Good experience. Definitely recommend.

Can’t say enough great things about this place. Happy hour was amazing. Not only did they have good drink specials but their food will keep you coming back. The rock shrimp… We got two orders because they were that spectacular… lightly crunchy, sweet and salty… And only 5 dollars for happy hour!!! Their rolls were also so fresh! No need to travel to Manhattan for great sushi. The best part of this place is the service. The staff are very attentive and kind. We will most definitely come back… Maybe even on a weekly basis…

Appetizers were great. Martinis were great. Quiet. Modern. Option for dining room, bar, high tops or sushi bar. Overall great experience.

Went today for lunch with a coworker. Everything was delicious. We tried the calamari, gyoza, and the ak-​47 roll. All amazing. Chris behind the bar made some great cocktails. We will definitely be back!

I cannot say enough about this place. The veggie gyoza was amazing, the blackmanbean sushi was amazing, the AK47 rolls were amazing and the calamari was amazing! I am not usually a fan of sushi but now I am. The bartender Chris was extremely helpful and polite, made our experience that much better. I was certainly not disappointed in this place. I will most certainly be back for happy hour next week.

I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of Aji on Tuesday. Located on Pearl Street in downtown Albany, large signs could be seen indicating their entrance doors were actually on Beaver Street. (When the building has been occupied by the restaurant «Taste,» I felt lost trying to find the restaurant at all!) Normally the first week of a restaurant opening is full of chaos, uncertainty and stress. Not Aji! The greeters smiled and sincerely welcomed us. They were able to bring us to our table whenever we were ready. The waitstaff were all friendly, attentive and knowledgeable about every dish we inquired about. The beer selection was by far the best I have ever seen in an Asian style restaurant… offering the best imported brand from Japan, Hitachino Nest, on draft, but also an outstanding variety of American crafts including Dogfish Head’s 60 AND 90 Minute IPA. All of these great things don’t even come close to my favorite part of our experience… the food! Exotic presentations of each dish were obviously calculated and practiced. Every bite was true delight. We had a fabulous time and will go there again very soon!

Amazing sushi and steaks! Great atmosphere for dinner. We will definitely be going back

Amazing food and service! Went for a birthday dinner and left having an absolutely unparalleled experience. This is definitely a downtown albany gem!!! Will come again and again!

Best sushi in Albany! This restaurant serves delicious sushi, steaks, seafood and more for reasonable prices in a beautiful atmosphere. The service is relatively fast and very gracious. Would definitely come again!