AOI Japanese Restaurant

AOI has shut down. Phone disconnected.

Delicious rolls /​food but literally inside of a house. Not a great place to go if you’re looking for «atmosphere» such as a special occasion or a date, only if you are hungry and want good food. Definitely satisfies my sushi cravings, any of the specialty rolls are great! Service is slow even if there’s only a few people in the whole place, but it’s always a pleasant experience overall.

I love AOI!
Having lived in Tokyo. I love real Japanese food!
This family run business really cares. They work so hard and serve authentic Japanese food. They are actually the only Japanese Restaurant in Morgan Hill where they are actually Japanese (Hanami Sushi’s, sushi chef is Japanese.) The rest of the Japanese restaurants in town… Not so much.
I highly recommend this place is quality and authentic Japanese food is what you are looking for in your dining experience!

SUSHI IS MY FAVORITE! And I was hoping to find a place in MH that would satisfy my craving without having to go the distance. But I have to say, my craving told me I was not satisfied. I’ve definitely had better sushi in the Bay Area, more so in the San Jose region where the authentic stuff is at. However, I did get one roll that I enjoyed: Santa Cruz Roll. I love softshell crab in my rolls and the soybean paper added a nice sweet flavor. It was a nice size for a roll. Very limited menu, they would have met more of my roll cravings if they had more on the menu. Also the quantity didn’t seem to meet up to it’s price. As a result, I ended up going to another sushi place during the week to fulfill my craving.

This is one of the longest standing restaurants in Morgan Hill, and in a town where the average restaurant lives no longer than a few years, that means a lot. I came here once ten years ago, but that was before I had developed a taste for sushi. I came back again with my family the day before Thanksgiving (three days ago). We were the second group to sit down, but that soon changed. More than 10 tables were filled by the time we left! Unfortunately, they weren’t prepared for such a large group, and our server (and the owner i believe) was overwhelmed. She forgot our drinks, and an appetizer order, but was sweet, and immediately brought it out when we prompted her again.
For an appetizer, I had the vegetable tempura (I treated the group order as a single order) and it was delicious! It included green beans, zucchini, broccoli, potatoes and carrots. The veggies were fresh, and the tempura battle light and crispy. We also split the endamame. I was the only one in the group to have sushi. I ordered the Samurai roll ($ 10), which consisted of shrimp tempura, avocado, albacore tuna and cucumber, wrapped in rice and seaweed, topped with fresh triangles of albacore tuna, sriracha and green onions. Delicious! I had to defend my meal with my chop sticks to keep my husband from stealing it all. [Fun visual]
This place is centrally located on the corner of Main Street and Monterey, with easy access to 101. Luckily, my parents still live in town, so we’ll be visiting here again soon!
Tip: Find a $ 25 gift certificate for $ 10 on

I decided to come here using a
gift certificate, and I’ll never come here again! I ordered the crunchy roll thinking it would be great. The one thing that surprised me is the amount of rice they stuffed into the roll. It was literally 75% rice. It was a crazy amount of rice!!! I also ordered the samurai roll, and this time it was backwards. There was a fair amount of rice, but it was loaded with seafood!!! Seriously, this made me think if they stuffed it with seafood, that means it was about to expire so they decided to just give us a ton of it. And the cups smelled like bleach! I’ll never come here again!!!

Great family owned Japanese restaurant. My families favorite! All the food is fresh and yummy. The service is excellent. The family that runs it is wonderful and they work so hard.

AOI is the former Hiromi’s, new owner, new menu.
When we moved to Morgan Hill, the place was starving for good downtown food. If you have lived here for a while, you’ll remember places like Jack’s. Geezus what a rat hole that was.
Anywho, I digress. Back to AOI.
This is your basic Mom and Pop Japanese food. Not truly homemade Japanese, but decent. I have tried about everything on the menu at one time or another. It is all decent, nothing to exotic.
From time to time on to go orders, they have messed up. Either forgot something, or given us the wrong the food. This can be pretty frustrating when you pay good money and expect the order will at least be correct.
Anyway, like I said, the food is decent for small town Japanese. Nothing that will blow your socks off.

I’ve tried a few different sushi places in the area, since I always have to find the best spot in every neighborhood I live in, so I can get my sushi fix and go home happy…
Well, for Morgan Hill, this is the place for me. I’ve been to better in other cities, of course, but this place really is good. It’s kind of your standard sushi selection, but it’s always consistently good, the place is convenient and has easy parking, service is always friendly, and the prices are good. There always seems to be a sake special too, which is a nice bonus. I think their Rainbow Roll was my favorite…
Definitely recommend!

5 stars for our server Ashley!
This was our first visit to AOI. Thanks to
we finally took a dinner trip to this MH gem. Hubby and I ordered the Crazy Roll and Santa Cruz roll with a side of Califoria rolls. The Sushi iwas really fresh and so yummy.
Our server Ashley was very attentive and was one of the best servers we’ve had in a while. The owner (dressed in Kimono) delivered our food… nice touch. We were glad to see more people rolling in for dinner. Will definitely support this local restaurant.

I have been here a handful of times and have had a great experience each time.
Sushi is really good. Chicken Katsu is the best around. I am now vegetarian but prior to that, this was one of only two places I would get chicken katsu. White meat pounded thin with delicately crispy panko breadcrumbs. Seriously delicious. I will miss the chicken katsu, but look forward to coming back to try some noodle dishes and vegetarian sushi.
Service is very friendly but can be slow. Parking can be a challenge during peak dining times.

Good Japanese in Morgan hill? Yes there is.
I will get the star thing out of the way right now. Minus one star for the service, slow and inconsiderate. I wanted something else and by the time the older lady, who was our waitress, came around to our table she had the bill with her. So rather than wait for another 20 – 30 minutes for what I wanted we paid and left. The other star is for a variety of small things: the bathroom right by the sink smelled like vomit, the parking lot is itsy bitsy, and the place is way too small inside for any party over 4 people. Besides these things, the food is really good for the price.
All in all I would recommend this place to anyone in the Morgan Hill area looking to fill a Japanese fix.

THERE’S A SPECIAL RIGHT NOW! 50% sake! i got pretty buzzed. yee! for $ 12. That paid for 2 LARGE sake bottles and a large SAPPO beer. I also had the crunch roll. IT LOOKS HELLA COOL. It looks like a pyramid. They do separate checks, you just have to ask in the beginning. HIGHLY recommend this place. My coworkers and I are definitely come back.

What a treat to have this restaurant in town! I had lunch there today and ordered the Chicken Sukiyaki. It came with edamame, salad, miso soup and rice and it was a huge bowl of deliciousness in a really tasty broth. And hot! Wow, it took a long time to eat it just because it was piping hot. The restaurant is clean and the service is quick and very friendly. The prices are very reasonable. I also had the small hot sake which was delicious and plenty for one. I highly recommend Aoi, and can’t wait to go back to try more of the menu.

We just went here this past Friday night. Service was a bit slow – we were only a party of 3. When we first came in and were seated by the fireplace – there was a very odd smell wafting by that reminded me of dirty diapers.
I ordered sashimi. It was ok. The maguro was not really high quality and was cut oddly – and appeared previously frozen.
I haven’t tried Hanami Sushi yet and it’s within walking distance of my home.
I’ll give Aoi one more try though. Overall I’d give it a B-.

Traditional Japanese restaurant. Wait service is usually the wife and daughter, both of whom our family has gotten to know over the years. We usually have a group of 9 – 10 people when we go there and they treat us like family.
The tonkatsu/​chicken katsu is the best I’ve had outside of Japan. They use rice oil to deep fry it and it is never heavy or oily like in other Japanese restaurants. The same goes for the tempura here.
The kids boxes are great for them too.
I’ve dabbled in their sushi menu and it, too, is to die for.
We live in San Jose, but trek down to Morgan Hill for this wonderful food.

We were greeted with a friendly smile by a lady dressed in what appeared to be a traditional Japanese outfit, which made the place feel quaint. We brought our 1 year old on his birthday, and they treated him like a king, took a birthday picture, and even brought him out a little ice cream with berries in it to make it look like a clown! Beyond having very friendly service, the food was great. The salad dressing, kind of a miso style, similar to Miyake or Ariake was delicious, and the miso soup was also quite tasty — not the lukewarm salty dishwater you get at some places. My combination dinner of teriyaki chicken was very good and lean. My California rolls were pretty standard, not outstanding. My wife got the Crispy Roll, which was excellent! Overall, we were pleased to have such a great little restaurant so close to home.

i recently dined here the other week, and i have to write my honest re-​review. i believe the owners have changed since the last time i’ve been here and the food was delicious.
our server was not the same lady we had last time and the menu was great. no amaebi, but i’m sure it’s because they don’t have the clientele that requests it too much. sashimi salad donburi was tasty, and a good change. the tempura was good and crispy. everything was delicious.
i will definitely return, as it is convienent for japanese food rather than driving all the way to san jose… service was better than that of over a year ago.

Aoi by far has the best Sukiyaki outside of Japan. Anyone of a Japanese decent or that has lived or visited Japan can appreciate some of the items on the menu. I will continue to come to Aoi for these traditional Japanese favorites. Being Japanese, a Chef and trained in the art of traditional Sushi, I have to say that the majority of the Sushi in the states is toned down for the consumer. This restaurant is VERY San Francisco. It’ a small bungalow converted with a small parking lot, some of the lesser cultured customers may be taken back by the surrounding environment. Yet this is the size of most restaurants across the world and well I didn’t eat my food in the parking lot. Nevertheless, we went last night and will continue to visit.
I am curious as to the name. «AOI». My guess was the obvious, The Aoi Festival of Kamigamo Shrine, takes place in Kyoto, Japan. Aoi is the translation for hollyhock leaves/​flowers which are celebrated in this festival.

This place got some unfair reviews regarding service. The reviews should be primarily about the food in my opinion. The hacks who spoke badly about the food went into no specifics at all so who knows. The review regarding service sounded strange. Whatever might have been going on here before I have never seen before.
I have been here a number of times with 2 to 8 people. The service has always been excellent and I have never run out of water or whatever beverage I had to drink so that’s a big plus in my book.
I have had the bento box lunch specials and you get a lot of food for your money. The tempura is delicious and the beef/​chicken teriyaki is good as well.
They hook it up with free edamame beans in a bowl while you wait along with some miso soup that is always on point.
The sushi and sashimi have always tasted fresh to me and although some rolls are pretty expensive it’s sushi so you have to expect it right?
All in all this place is pretty good. I have not tried all the sushi joints in Morgan Hill yet but when I do, I will update with a comparison.