Aqua Bistro

mmmm came here for lunch ONCE and will not be back. There are way too many Asian Fusion places that ARE MUCH BETTER than this place. NOPE. NOT GOOD.

My boyfriend and I just recently moved to Lindbergh and were very sad to leave behind Aloha in Midtown — it was our go to delivery sushi and asian food. We looked on Grubhub and saw that Aqua Bistro offered similar options. I was a little sad that it seems like most of the sushi rolls are fried, have cooked fish or are just unhealthy in general. They do offer tuna and salmon maki rolls though.
The first time we ordered, my boyfriend got the Pad Thai and I got 2 sushi rolls. The sushi rolls were alright — much better than Publix but not quite as good as other mid-​point sushi places in Atlanta. I tried to only get the raw, non fried rolls. My boyfriend’s Pad Thai was as good as any other take-​out chinese but nothing amazing or unique.
The next time we ordered, I got the Hawaiian roll, which is a JUMBO roll that is fried. It was delicious! I just feel like I might have gained 5 pounds eating it. My boyfriend got the Curry Pancake appetizer and the veggie Mu Shu. The curry sauce was amazing — I was literally eating spoonfuls of it. The Mu Shu was also very good.
In conclusion, Aqua Bistro seems to be a little hit or miss and seem to excel with the more unhealthy sushi rolls but when it’s just the rice, seaweed and various raw fish — it’s not very impressive. It’s the sauces and tempura fry that makes it yummy.
As for delivery, they always deliver on-​time and using Grubhub is incredibly easy.

My friend took us to this place our first night back in Atlanta. We stopped at a tapas place but the wait was over an hour so Aqua bistro won. I had the Spicy Indian Curry fried rice and it was delish. My friend had fried sushi which was also great. The ambiance was nice. It was dark and quiet. I will definitely go again when I revisit Atlanta.

Cool modern environment, nice dishware, very friendly staff. They have specials every day, but the ones on Monday and Thursday are top notch! 50% off sushi on Mondays and 50% off whole tab on Thursdays. The food is worth it on the special days, but other than that, it seems overpriced.

The food was so bad we paid the waiter to take it away. I never want to waste food but we took one bite of several of the items we ordered and just could not stand to take another. The only item we had out of 7 was edible is the Tom Kah… and it was just ok. The service was slow and the place was empty on a Friday night. Sad that it was so bad…

Date night! The man friend lives in the Eclipse condos above so if it weren’t for the fact that sushi is half off on Thursdays and it is literally attached his building, we wouldn’t have gone. This is the ONLY SUSHI PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN TO WHERE THE WASABI ISN’T HOT… say what? What kind of craziness. They say they make it there, but they don’t make it correctly. CLEARLY. SMH.
I read the Unilocal reviews before so I knew what I was getting into.
We walked in and we didn’t see a host, hostess, or greeter. This place was empty with a few regulars here and there. We had already phoned in our order so we walked up to the bar. We had to eat in to get the deal so we picked out our seats.
The place has somewhat of a nice ambiance. They try with the music, glowing lights, flat screens etc., but it doesn’t feel authentic. I hate to write a bad review of this place, especially since the staff is extremely friendly but the food is AVERAGE AT IT’S BEST POSSIBLE MOMENT.
Since you are guaranteed to find a deal on livingsocial, one of their deal days (Mon, Thurs.) or on any other website, I think you won’t cry for your money back. Well, I didn’t pay so maybe you will.
The point is there are a lot of places in Atlanta where you can get sushi where it is EPIC AND AWESOME (not expensive and expensive) and I would pass on Aqua Bistro.

This place was fantastic! I usually cannot find Tekkadon (tuna over a bowl of sushi rice) anywhere an even though they did not have it here on the menu they made it for me! The tuna was fresh and dye-​free and the sake I had was wonderful. Nice atmosphere, attentive service and great food! :D

Last night, both of us were oddly in the mood for Chinese. And while we love Mrs. Chiang at Grand China, thought something a little off the usual rotation but nearby was in order.
Enter Aqua Bistro. We learned that they actually have specials every day of the week now– I remembered that Mon is half price sushi day but there’s something each day, including half price of a pretty sizeable app list on Tues! Score.
We got the pork spring rolls again — I ate almost a whole one not just a bite this time– the pan seared pork potstickers (yum!) and edamame to start. Neither of us had eaten since our breakfast at the usual spot, so we decided to add Mongolian Beef — though I was indeed intrigued by the seabass and the scallops dishes. .. next time!
Nice if impersonal service. We almost always sit at the bar any place, so service was timely as expected (maybe it’s just me, but I often feel like you get better/​faster service when sitting at the bar…) Very quiet/​uncrowded so it was great for us to just sit and talk and try to solve the world’s (or just our) problems…Shall return pretty soon!

After hearing great things about Aqua Bistro from several of our co-​workers, two of my co-​workers and I finally checked it out one Monday afternoon. It was a little after 1 pm, and the place was quiet. I think there was one other customer dining it at the time.
We were seated immediately and handed the menus. Since they have lunch specials, I narrowed my options down to just the items on special. I briefly considered ordering the Spicy General Tso’s Chicken but ended up choosing the Mango Macadamia Chicken instead. Wish I had chosen the former…
Lunch specials are served with brown, fried, or jasmine rice, an egg roll, and one fried wing. I chose the fried rice since it doesn’t cost extra. My co-​workers ordered the Spicy General Tso’s Chicken and Chicken Pad Thai.
It didn’t take too long for our food to be served, but I did expect our meals to come out sooner than they did considering the lack of customers.
* Mango Macadamia Chicken (Lunch Special, $ 8.75) — I didn’t really know what to expect with this one, but based on the words «Mango» and «Macadamia,» which I normally love individually, I thought this would be good. Boy, was I wrong… In a nutshell, the dish was bland. I realize that they can’t really control this, but the mango slices were sour. The macadamia nuts probably came straight from the can, and nothing extra seemed to be done with them. They were just scattered over the dish. I liked that the dish contained asparagus and green beans but, again, it was all bland. I would not recommend this dish to anyone. At least the fried rice was decently seasoned and the egg roll, which is kind of hard to mess up, was alright. The fried wing was just a plain ol’ fried chicken wing.
I tried a piece of my co-worker’s Spicy General Tso’s Chicken. While I thought it was MUCH tastier than the Mango Macadamia Chicken, it was just «OK» in comparison to other Chinese chicken dishes I’ve had elsewhere.
Overall, Aqua Bistro gets 3 stars for their decent food and service. The server wasn’t necessarily friendly, but he wasn’t bad, either. I wasn’t quite sure what specific dishes my other co-​workers like from here, but based on my lunch alone, I would have given a 1.5 or 2 stars. Purely due to its convenient location (walking distance) from our office, I may return to try something else in the near future.
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Went here last night with two other couples. Arrived at 7:30 place was ²⁄₃ empty. On a Saturday night. In Buckhead. Not a good sign. Someone in our group says maybe it’ll pick-​up later. We left at 10:30 and crowd shrank.
What you read in reviews about the service is true. It’s mind-​numbingly slow. The food is nothing special. The so-​called spicy dishes were incredibly bland.
Two words: go elsewhere.
By the way, the Urbanspoon reviews on this place are old. Unilocal’s are more recent and accurate

Slow service even when the place was almost empty. Sushi was mediocre– spider roll was especially sucky. Open patio door left me with plenty of mosquito bites. The fake swank club vibe is tired.
Had a coupon but still felt like it wasn’t worth the trip.

One word sums up my experience at Aqua Bistro: Bummer.
I went with some friends for a casual sushi dinner on a Thursday evening. There were only about 3 tables of customers in the large, open dining room with big glass windows looking out onto Pharr and Fulton. It kind of feels like a big square fish bowl in there which is pretty cool. We opted to sit at the large sushi bar positioned in the center of the dining room to watch the chefs in action.
It seemed to take longer than necessary for our sushi orders to arrive in light of the lack of patrons. Even with two or three servers on duty, it took about 30 minutes. We also ran out of water and sat with empty glasses quite a few times during the period.
When the food finally did arrive, I was less than impressed with the taste and presentation. I ordered the sweet tofu (bland) and the seaweed salad (nothing special). When it came time to pay, the waiter seemed annoyed that he had to apply the half off depot coupon to our bill. Not the most warm and friendly customer service experience I’ve ever had.
I can safely say that I will not be making a return visit to Aqua Bistro. There are far better sushi joints in the A.

The Good: Their service – friendly, prompt, fairly attentive.
The Bad: Unremarkable food.
The Ugly: The sweet sauce that came on top of the Spicy Tuna Roll? Why?
Would I come back? Only if I am in the area and too lazy to go elsewhere. (Pool party in the building above, which explains why I was nearby, and the laziness).

Came here with a coworker for lunch about a week ago because of ScoutMob. We ordered:
* Num Tok ($ 9): 3 stars: I order this beef salad at every Thai restaurant because it’s one of my favorite dishes. They did an alright job with it here but it could have been better if they actually used cabbage instead of lettuce. The price tag is a bit steep for the portion you get.
* Roti Canai ($ 4.50): 4 stars: The curry dipping sauce was super creamy and quite tasty! We ended up ordering 2 extra sides of roti because their roti bread is on the small side (about 5″ in diameter) and not at all proportional to the amount of curry sauce you get.
* Spicy Basil Fried Rice with Beef ($ 7.95) + Spicy Basil Chicken & Shrimp with Jasmine Rice ($ 8.75): 2 star each: Both of these rice dishes were disappointing. They were not spicy AT ALL, barely had any basil, and very flavorless. They also came with these super generic, looks-​like-​previously-​frozen-​then-​reheated eggrolls and wings on the side. We boxed both of these dishes and decided that they would taste better as leftovers after getting some serious help in the sauce/​spice department.
Our total came out to $ 25.36 with the ScoutMob discount and tip included, which isn’t bad. Aqua Bistro gets 3 stars for being average all around.

Womp womp.
I have to basically copy Joe W.‘s experience since we were in the same party.
Our party of four walked in and literally just stood around looking for some sort of sign. No hostess to greet us. No one to simply tell us to seat ourselves. WTF? What are we supposed to do?
It should have been clear from the get go because the place was practically deserted. And yet, everyone was far too ‘busy’ to even bother giving us a second glance!
After looking stupid for a few minutes we finally just sat ourselves at a side table and started looking around for someone, anyone to come to our table.
Eventually a guy came over, tossed some menus on the table and walked away without saying a word.
Yeah, we definitely took the hint.
We all looked at each other and said: Should we leave? Let’s leave.
So we got up and left and promptly went to Aja for a much better experience.
If a place like this existed in Los Angeles, you can be sure that it would quickly be out of business.
Glad we didn’t even have the ‘pleasure’ of dining here because as I can see from other reviews, the service is clearly abominable and the food is sub par at best.

If it weren’t for LivingSocial, I probably would have never come to Aqua Bistro. I bought the deal, but sat on it for months. In hindsight, I don’t think this place is even worth any of the deals you may find for them (they’re on
too). It’s simply overpriced Americanized Asian cuisine. Aqua Bistro is located on the ground level of the Eclipse condominiums in Buckhead (corner of Pharr and North Fulton). There’s a self-​park surface lot across the street from the restaurant, but it costs $ 5. You’re better off parallel parking for free along N. Fulton.
Aqua Bistro tries a little too hard to be hip and trendy. Inside are glowy, wavy lights that change color, chic décor, and ambient lounge music. I’ll admit it looks nice, but the environment feels contrived. I went on a Wednesday night and the place was mostly empty. They do have special deals, including half off sushi rolls on Mondays and half off appetizers on Tuesdays. Not sure if you can combine them with online deals, though. I’m guessing you can’t.
The menu has common dishes from each of the Asian cuisines, but at high prices. Examples include miso soup for $ 3.50, «Korean BBQ beef» for $ 17, «Cantonese-​style pan-​fried noodles» for $ 14, and pineapple fried rice for $ 15. Yikes! The portion sizes aren’t very big either. We ordered their beef lo mein. There was a little too much sauce, but overall, the noodles were good. However, the serving size was too small.
We also ordered their special sushi roll for the night ($ 14.95 for six pieces), which was tuna tataki (seared tuna) with avocado, asparagus, and black caviar, and an order of their hotate (scallop) nigiri. Nothing wrong with the sushi, although it was average at best. The scallops were a little on the skimpy side.
We were helped by two servers, one of which was Reshun. One thing that is excellent here is the service. They were friendly and on top of everything. It’s too bad the food is lackluster. If you’re looking for good sushi in Buckhead, go to Taka (just down the street) or Hashiguchi Jr. (near Lenox) instead.

Aqua Bistro is pan — Asian, but more like a random assembly of stereotypical Asian foods along with some non Asian foods. They offer Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean, and some American foods. Although I’d barely count Indian and Korean because there were just 1 – 2 items on the menu. They also serve sweet potato fries and very non-​Asian sandwiches.
We ordered the special sushi roll of the night that included tuna tataki and asparagus for $ 15. The sushi was good, but to be honest the «tataki» was not tataki-​ed, it was pretty cooked. We also ordered the hotate or scallop. I thought it was cool they offered it, but it had zero flavor. My dining partner thought it was good, but I felt it was not great quality. The hotate was $ 6 for 2 pieces.
We decided to share beef lo mein. Guess what? I never order beef lo mein? Why? Because it’s just Chinese fast food imo. But guess what else? There was nothing else appealing on the menu to me. The beef lo mein was good and actually was a bigger portion than I thought it was. However, this dish was $ 12. Are you feeling me?
So, we had to wait a bit for someone to greet and seat us. Other than that, the service was good. I just hate it when the servers are friendly, but the place is not that great.
The ladies room has the curvry Ikea mirrors. The handicap stall had 6 toilet roll fixtures. WHAT. THE. HECK.
Overall I think Aqua Bistro tries to play too cool for school, but it does not really fly w me. Who knows, to each his own.
Unilocal 365 #40/​365

I’m not generally a conspiracy theorist, but my latest visit might add me to the «Is This Chicken? Or Cat?» group. I don’t mean to imply that I just ate cat. I’ve never seen gray chicken before. Ever.
Service here has never really been one of their strong points. At that same time I’ve never had a bad experience. I came here the other day for lunch and what I thought could be quick turned into almost an hour. That probably wouldn’t be a big deal if it wasn’t for all of the new parking meters in the area (coincidentally, I got a ticket in the exact same area last month).
Anyway, all of the meat was gross. I got a bowl of coconut soup and the chicken was chewy and discolored. The spicy basil chicken seemed to have better meat, but that could be attributed to the darker sauce.
Draw your own conclusions. I probably wouldn’t have even come back if it hadn’t been for the Groupon I had to use.
#Yelp365 — ⁹⁄₃₆₅

Had a nice visit on a cold weeknight. The service was attentive and our food came out rather quickly.
We ordered 2 entrees and 1 appetizer because the sushi was a bit pricey, but maybe we will try it next time. I must say that for the money the entrees are huge portions so definitely a good value for the money. That being said they were ok.
Its also worth mentioning that they have a very vast menu with every type of asian fare you could imagine.
Baby Calamari — Good but had a little too much breading for my taste.
General Tsao Chicken — Breaded pretty heavily, not bad but id try something else next time.
Masaman Curry with Tofu — The Tofu was breaded which isnt mentioned on the menu so just a heads up if you order it. I thought it was pretty good but needed a bit more curry.
If I went back again i would perhaps try some of the sushi and or noodle dishes.

I’ve been here twice in the last few months, so obviously my wife & I enjoyed it enough the first time. This second time I came with a groupon cert and the experience was infinitely better, because of the price.
The food is good enough, though improvements could be effected without too much difficulty. For instance, the sauce that came with the fried calamari ($ 6 app) was boring, bland blend of mayo and what appeared to be mild chili sauce, resulting in a slightly pink color, but no other discerning features. Shrimp dumplings ($ 7 app) was similarly bland. However, the Salmon roll ($ 5) was tasty. Bistro Thai salad ($ 11) was a hit! Yet, the roti at $ 4.50 was good, but way overpriced (Indian restaurants charge a lot less). Special drinks on Wed are $ 5 martinis, which is an excellent value.
While I would return, I’d only do so with another coupon, available everywhere.