Aji Peruvian Restaurant

I just move from California and vent to this place first time. It has very welcoming atmosphere and friendly staff. Lot of vegan choices on the menu and food was delicious. Me and my family will come back for healthy Peruvian meal.

Tried the spinach and cheese empanadas, the ceviche tofu and one of the vegetarian meat options, all delicious! Will be back!

Delicious! We were so happy to have found this little gem tucked into a less than ideal location. Ooltewah is seriously lacking in good ethnic food and we have been on a search for some since we moved a few months ago. Aji will now be on our short list of go-​to places. We had the beef heart app… o.m.g. SO good & tender! Hubs had the sampler entre, everything on the plate was great! I had the beef entre that had an over easy egg on top… delicious! The kids are boring & wanted the usual chicken and fries. The chicken «tenders» are made in house and are not the usual fare… they are thin slices of breast meat marinated & breaded with a tin, crunchy, flavorful batter. They were delicious too! Also, the prices were reasonable, about $ 8 – 12 for entrees. We will be back. A lot.

This is one of those reviews I hate writing, but I’m going to anyway in the hopes that the restaurant will read it and try to improve…
No doubt about it, the food is really good – probably 4 to 4.5 stars good. Service really needs some work though – probably 1.5 stars and that only because it was friendly. I was seated at ~6:32p, about 20 min before the rush hit. No one so much as looked at me until 6:45, at which time a girl who I think was more dedicated to the kitchen came to take my order. I assumed that someone would then be back with water, but was mistaken. At 6:50, I finally walked up to the guy at the counter (the host/​primary server?) and asked for water. At 7p I still hadn’t gotten any despite the fact that he’d been past my empty table several times to help other customers. I flagged him down, asked again, and finally got something to drink half an hour after sitting down. Really inexcusable, though I’ll admit that service towards the end of the meal was a little more prompt.
The food started coming out about 10 min later, and things began looking up. I started with the ceviche, continued with the sampler (Ají de Gallina, Seco Norteño, and Pollo Saltado), and finished with flan. Ceviche was really good with lots of big pieces of fresh-​tasting fish, lots of acidity, and pretty spicy (as I ordered it). Sadly I wasn’t a fan of the Ají de Gallina, their signature dish, as I thought the taste and texture of the sauce seemed dominated by flour… but perhaps that’s just my personal taste. The Seco Norteño and Pollo Saltado were fantastic though, cooked nicely and with great spices, and so I’d still call sampler a success. The flan was to die for – truly a must if you’re into heavy custard. Price-​wise I think it’s fair – not quite cheap since you probably need to order more than one item if you’re hungry, but it seems like you’re getting pretty good ingredients, well-​prepared.
I think I’ll give it one more try and hope that tonight was just a fluke. I can tolerate/​understand the 25 minutes between ordering and receiving food in a small restaurant where things are prepared fresh, but the long time to order and inattention during the wait should really be addressed. With better service this would be a rave review.

Excellent food and warm service will make this a place we’ll come back to, and recommend to friends. Great menu too, can’t wait to try more Peruvian specialties.

I was excited about this restaurant due to their vegetarian options and because of the fact that I’ve never had Peruvian food.
The food itself was decent enough, but it was overheated and a little rubbery. I could hear them repeatedly banging the microwave door as they reheated my dinner. My meal was definitely not prepared fresh-​to-​order. Plus, it came out piping hot — another surefire sign that food has been microwaved.
The food wasn’t exactly cheap neither. $ 10-​$ 15.
As far as flavor, it was mildly spiced and seasoned. I had to ask for hot sauce on the side to strengthen the flavor palate of the dish. I can’t recall what I ordered, but it was the veggie sampler.

This is a little piece of Perú in the United States. If you like authentic South American cuisine, you will love this restaurant. If you have never tried Peruvian food, you need to come visit. Had the Ají de gallina and was not disappointed.

My wife and I each had the «lomo saltado» which was excellent. Very tasty, fresh, good sized portion and very reasonably priced. Clearly this is food that it’s cooked for the most part when you order not sitting in a steam table for hours. Restaurant also very clean and the service was also good. We will definitely come back again soon!

The best food in Ooltewah. Quality ingredients and great service. I like the Bistec a la Pobre with chicken and chaufa (Peruvian fried rice). Lots of vegetarian options as well.

We are so lucky to have a Peruvian restaurant here. Peruvian food is amazing. Most people from around here have never had the opportunity to experience food from Peru, but now it’s entirely possible.
You may think Peruvian sounds a little too adventurous, but this is hands-​down the best restaurant in Ooltewah or even the Hamilton Place area. I promise you will become addicted to this food and be back multiple times.
What to order:
Lomo saltado
Bistec a lo pobre
Arroz chaufa
Tallarín verde
Also, every dish has a vegetarian equivalent.
TIP: Take-​out is really convenient. I get take-​out lunch from here all the time and it’s really fast and convenient. Give them 20 minutes notice.

I can’t say enough how much we loved this place! The staff was warm and friendly and immediately felt like old friends. The food was delicious! And kid approved!

Okay. This place used to have so much potential then something happened the owner changed. Lots of great improvement. Used to be a regular.
Still enjoy the food. Quantity has become a bit less. Price has gone up. I had a party of 6 adults and 2 children. Didn’t feel like the establishment justified the 20% tip but I didn’t want to fuss. also a side substitution cost $ 2.50. Felt a bit nickled. This was probably due to rising costs of running business but I just felt like I was being taken for a ride.

I live in Chattanooga, but we have made the trip a couple of times to Aji because it is just so darned good. I have been to Peru and this place is authentic and so good!
Guess what? You don’t have to be worried about getting Montezuma’s revenge (pretty much anyone who goes to Peru gets a stomach virus which you become immune to by the end of your trip and then like me kinda sucks because you never go there again…)!
Save yourself the airline ticket, watch a video of Machu Picchu, and then experience savoriness of Peru at Aji.

This is my go to place! Usually eat here at least once a week. Food is consistently good and I think I have sampled the menu over. These days I usually go with the Lomo Saltado which I absolutely love. They also have several vegetarian options too. The place isn’t huge so it can fill up quick during the usual eating times but the service is always friendly if not super fast. Always look forward to my next visit!

Excellent food with lots of vegetarian options. The service was quick and the staff were very friendly!

Pretty good Peruvian food. If it’s crowded, be prepared for a wait to get your food. Friendly staff…

My husband is peruvian and he loves some good peruvian food! Espically when his mom cooks it lol! But this place really did the trick. We started with a good assortment of appetizers — anticuchos aka beef hearts, empanadas, ceviche and papa a la huancaina. They were all really good — my favorites were the beef hearts and ceviche– they had great flavor, good citrus and were cooked spot on. I wasn’t a huge fan of the empanadas– one it was a phylo dough and not very crispy– most likely baked, where I like the typical empanadas with the real masa dough and fried crispy. Additionally, the stuffing was subpar– lacking flavor while typically it has raisins and olives but this only had bland meat.
We both ordered the lomo saltado — pan fried steak pieces with red onions, tomatoes, served over french fires and rice. It was good — but not great. While cooked well it was lacking some of the classic aji amarillo or panca pepper seasonings. We would definetly go back — it is real peruivan food.

This place should be packed, but it was not. Oh well… the positive was easy parking and getting a table right away.
The menu has many vegan and vegetarian options. And I like Peruvian food, having been to some very good Peruvian restaurants. We ordered the vegetarian (spinach and tofu) empenadas. Very good dough, light. Good with the pepper (Aji) sauce.
I ordered the flat noodle dish with the mushroom soy sauce. It was amazingly good, even if I felt I was now in a Thai restaurant eating Drunken Noodles. My wife ordered the Vegetarian Stew which was served with white rice and beans. Taste reminded me more of Indian food… I think it was tumeric? But it was good also.
The server (very nice and helpful) recommend a blue corn drink (I don’t recall any names, sorry) and it was also good. Sweet, but not too much so.
The only thing this place really needs is to be able to include beer on the menu and serve real Peruvian Cusquena Malta in a frosty mug. Then it would be perfect.
It is 30 minutes from my house… but I will try to be back regularly. Where one can drive past the crowded fast food places and chain restaurants to this gem.

Being from Atlanta, my (Peruvian) girlfriend and I stopped by on the way home to get a taste of Peru before heading back. We ordered the anticuchos (cow heart kabobs), yucca frita, quinoa, and sabor de Peru trio. Absolute heaven. The spicy aji dip for the yucca is incredible. Having never tried Chica Morada, it is a great drink full of flavor. We will definitely be stopping by more often when up visiting family. Thanks again for an incredible experience!

My first try at Peruvian food and it was so good!
The service was not fast but it was worth the wait. The staff was friendly, the food was great and plentiful and the price was nice too :)