I ai Sushi

Grace

This place has the best authentic Japanese food. Tonight, I had the Eel and Gyudon bowl and the Takoyaki. My partner had the Spicy Cod Omusubi and Chirashi. We've been coming here for over 3 years now, and the quality has not wavered.

Sam L

This is a quiet and quaint restaurant. First time coming to this place I was not aware of the extensive menu. The vast options that they have not only sushi, but ramen, udon, curry, and other great Asian cuisine. I was a little overwhelmed at the menu because everything looked delicious. The quantity of the food is amazing. Enough to fill you up, and maybe even take some home. Overall great service and good food.

Esmeralda C.

This place is absolutely amazing, cozy, good to seat, eat, and chat with your friends or family, not noisy, and best of all.... Food is delicious!!!! 🤤🥰😍 😋🍴💓 The fried cheese cake is worth all the calories 🤣🤣🤣 Just love it, absolutely recommended!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Had a wonderful experience, the food was great. The curry, gyudon, and age tofu was perfect. Looking forward to coming back!!

The food was great! We had gyudon, kitsune udon, and hamburger curry. Their agedashi tofu is the best I’ve tried!

Very nice place to go it’s a “hole in the wall” size and a bit dated but the food is fantastic.

Been coming here for 6 years and counting. Hands down my favorite restaurant in town. Authentic Japanese cuisine that I love so much and cannot find anywhere else. My favorite dishes are the ikamaru (grilled squid), eel gyu don, katsu curry, and Tenzaru soba 😊

Kimberly M

A hole in the wall place but the food was really good.

Kiamesha Lake

Very nice place to go it’s a “hole in the wall” size and a bit dated but the food is fantastic.

Js

Had a wonderful experience, the food was great. The curry, gyudon, and age tofu was perfect. Looking forward to coming back!!

C Lee

The food was great! We had gyudon, kitsune udon, and hamburger curry. Their agedashi tofu is the best I’ve tried!

I've passed by many times and did not stop because I did not like the location vibes I got. They seemed surprised I was there for lunch but they were open. When testing a sushi place I order the sashimi and look for any of my favorites. In luck, they make spider rolls, a favorite of mine. The salmon and white tuna were great and the tuna was good. The clam and shrimp don't ever change from place to place. There was no yellow tail, one of my favorite sashimi's. The sashimi selection could have been better. The spider roll had the classic flavor I look for, very good! The place itself looks cluttered, dingy and unorganized. It felt a bit claustrophobic. As you turn the corner it opens up a little. Massive menu of interesting and obscure items. I'm definitely going back to try a more diverse selection. It may take while. If great food persists, then it will go to 5 stars. Ramen is next.

Great homecooked food! Very traditional cooking, great flavors. The menu was a tad overwhelming.. but just gave me more excuses to come back and try more. The takoyake was VERY tasty!

Robert Negron

I've passed by many times and did not stop because I did not like the location vibes I got. They seemed surprised I was there for lunch but they were open. When testing a sushi place I order the sashimi and look for any of my favorites. In luck, they make spider rolls, a favorite of mine. The salmon and white tuna were great and the tuna was good. The clam and shrimp don't ever change from place to place. There was no yellow tail, one of my favorite sashimi's. The sashimi selection could have been better. The spider roll had the classic flavor I look for, very good! The place itself looks cluttered, dingy and unorganized. It felt a bit claustrophobic. As you turn the corner it opens up a little. Massive menu of interesting and obscure items. I'm definitely going back to try a more diverse selection. It may take while. If great food persists, then it will go to 5 stars. Ramen is next.

Jose Fababa

Great homecooked food! Very traditional cooking, great flavors. The menu was a tad overwhelming.. but just gave me more excuses to come back and try more. The takoyake was VERY tasty!

Authentic Japanese food with real Japanese owners. Excellent food but so-so service and the restaurant is a bit dated. I had sukiyaki and it was fantastic. The tempura udon is also very good. Interesting note is that you need to buy a bottle of water, no free tap water. This place is kinda low budget and will not appeal to everyone but if you like real Japanese comfort food, come here. Don’t come if you’re expecting white tablecloths and attentive waiters…not here. Just a simple place with good food and some areas to improve. We are Japanese, new to Tampa and we love this place. Our new go-to spot.

Thaimc

Authentic Japanese food with real Japanese owners. Excellent food but so-so service and the restaurant is a bit dated. I had sukiyaki and it was fantastic. The tempura udon is also very good. Interesting note is that you need to buy a bottle of water, no free tap water. This place is kinda low budget and will not appeal to everyone but if you like real Japanese comfort food, come here. Don’t come if you’re expecting white tablecloths and attentive waiters…not here. Just a simple place with good food and some areas to improve. We are Japanese, new to Tampa and we love this place. Our new go-to spot.

Stopped in for the first time...FINALLY! My son and i had lunch. He had a spicy tonkotsu ramen and i had Gyudon and we shared takoyaki. The atmosphere reminded me of some little mom and pop places i went to in Japan. The food was good but not exceptional. The takoyaki were good but seemed like the pre-made frozen type you can buy at Oceanic Market. My gyudon was very good and my son's ramen was pretty good. I will definitely go back to try some other items on their menu.

John Angue

Stopped in for the first time...FINALLY! My son and i had lunch. He had a spicy tonkotsu ramen and i had Gyudon and we shared takoyaki. The atmosphere reminded me of some little mom and pop places i went to in Japan. The food was good but not exceptional. The takoyaki were good but seemed like the pre-made frozen type you can buy at Oceanic Market. My gyudon was very good and my son's ramen was pretty good. I will definitely go back to try some other items on their menu.

My only favorite Japanese restaurant in all of Tampa. I dont understand why this place isnt packed. They have such good food and my order never takes too long. They have the best real Japanese home cooked food ever. I love everything they have. If you want real Japanese food, you need to come here. I hope this place never closes. Edit: dropped this to 2 stars. One night I called in to ask if they would be open for a holiday....person barely mumbled out the answer and then just literally hung up. This place isn't going to last that long with an attitude like that. I was really disappointed. I still dont feel like going back there now.

Provi Hernandez

My only favorite Japanese restaurant in all of Tampa. I dont understand why this place isnt packed. They have such good food and my order never takes too long. They have the best real Japanese home cooked food ever. I love everything they have. If you want real Japanese food, you need to come here. I hope this place never closes. Edit: dropped this to 2 stars. One night I called in to ask if they would be open for a holiday....person barely mumbled out the answer and then just literally hung up. This place isn't going to last that long with an attitude like that. I was really disappointed. I still dont feel like going back there now.

Obviously the staff wrote these reviews because this place is trashed. And you will get the worst customer service I have gotten in the last couple years. And the silverware is plastic. Who is giving this place good reviews? Everything in this place is sticky and dirty. The staff and their family I'm sure! My sashimi was chopped not even cut evenly it's supposed to be a work of art. Asked five times for water and never got it. Do you want something else from the waitress? Forget about it. They are nowhere to be found here. It's the dirtiest most confusing menu you will ever see in Tampa. I would love to see the health department in here and do an inspection.. a thorough inspection with thermometers and let's see how clean it is back there because of it looks anything like the inside of the restaurant this place would be closed. Where are the restaurant authorities in Tampa? Come they are not going in here and picking this place apart? You're going to make everyone sick!

Is it a joke? Shame on you! You send shrimp head fried!!! And the bowl is half filed with 2 color fish… disgusting! Please avoid going there or you gona catch a disease. Never again

Jim DPiazza

Obviously the staff wrote these reviews because this place is trashed. And you will get the worst customer service I have gotten in the last couple years. And the silverware is plastic. Who is giving this place good reviews? Everything in this place is sticky and dirty. The staff and their family I'm sure! My sashimi was chopped not even cut evenly it's supposed to be a work of art. Asked five times for water and never got it. Do you want something else from the waitress? Forget about it. They are nowhere to be found here. It's the dirtiest most confusing menu you will ever see in Tampa. I would love to see the health department in here and do an inspection.. a thorough inspection with thermometers and let's see how clean it is back there because of it looks anything like the inside of the restaurant this place would be closed. Where are the restaurant authorities in Tampa? Come they are not going in here and picking this place apart? You're going to make everyone sick!

arnaud alcaraz

Is it a joke? Shame on you! You send shrimp head fried!!! And the bowl is half filed with 2 color fish… disgusting! Please avoid going there or you gona catch a disease. Never again

A close friend of mine just ate here and apparently he had a bad experience especially for his first time being there. I guess if you weren’t so rude to your costumers who are paying you to eat there. You wouldn’t have such bad reviews, maybe you should think of the way you treat your costumers next time or you wouldn’t have such bad reviews and business. Kindness and respect goes a long ways. Also I won’t be coming here myself considering my friend had such a bad experience I don’t want to get the same treatment as they did. So therefore you won’t get my business either. Now if you were nice and considerate I would have gave your business a shot but since you have such poor hosting skills it doesn’t deserve my time or experience.

I wanted to try something new that was nearby my chiropractor. And I was in the mood for sushi/sashimi. I was kind of excited when I found it was located right nearby. The photos of the plates looked pretty good so I figured why not? And the pricing was a little elevated, but I would like to think for the pricing it still would’ve been OK. As soon as I walked in, the woman could barely speak English or appear to barely speak English. They have no fountain drinks, it’s all bottled even though the jasmine tea was good. They don’t offer a military discount, which OK, I get it some companies don’t and that’s OK too. You pay first before being served, which is a first for me with one of these type of restaurants but again not a problem. When the food was served, I actually needed to question the spicy tuna because of the texture. I have never heard of spicy tuna rolls, being chopped or mashed.. The eel roll wasn’t as tasty or crispy like I had hoped. My salmon roll with cream cheese, a.k.a. Philly roll, could’ve used a little bit more cream cheese, and you had to pay extra for the cream cheese. When I was done, I had asked to use the bathroom, now we won’t go into it too much but about five minutes into my being in the bathroom someone knocked, and I said it was occupied. The second time a knock came through and a woman’s voice called out “you need to leave now“. Now - I was paying Customer and there was no one else in the restaurant when I stepped out of the bathroom still needing to go. So to the owners, as far as I was concerned, I paid to eat there and I was paying Customer and it shouldn’t matter how long I was in the bathroom for because I needed to go for those purposes. The woman was very rude! If I could put -100 stars for everything, I would. I certainly would not recommend this place to anybody! And I’m making sure it goes on all my media for sure!

amber Flagler

A close friend of mine just ate here and apparently he had a bad experience especially for his first time being there. I guess if you weren’t so rude to your costumers who are paying you to eat there. You wouldn’t have such bad reviews, maybe you should think of the way you treat your costumers next time or you wouldn’t have such bad reviews and business. Kindness and respect goes a long ways. Also I won’t be coming here myself considering my friend had such a bad experience I don’t want to get the same treatment as they did. So therefore you won’t get my business either. Now if you were nice and considerate I would have gave your business a shot but since you have such poor hosting skills it doesn’t deserve my time or experience.

Edge Sage

I wanted to try something new that was nearby my chiropractor. And I was in the mood for sushi/sashimi. I was kind of excited when I found it was located right nearby. The photos of the plates looked pretty good so I figured why not? And the pricing was a little elevated, but I would like to think for the pricing it still would’ve been OK. As soon as I walked in, the woman could barely speak English or appear to barely speak English. They have no fountain drinks, it’s all bottled even though the jasmine tea was good. They don’t offer a military discount, which OK, I get it some companies don’t and that’s OK too. You pay first before being served, which is a first for me with one of these type of restaurants but again not a problem. When the food was served, I actually needed to question the spicy tuna because of the texture. I have never heard of spicy tuna rolls, being chopped or mashed.. The eel roll wasn’t as tasty or crispy like I had hoped. My salmon roll with cream cheese, a.k.a. Philly roll, could’ve used a little bit more cream cheese, and you had to pay extra for the cream cheese. When I was done, I had asked to use the bathroom, now we won’t go into it too much but about five minutes into my being in the bathroom someone knocked, and I said it was occupied. The second time a knock came through and a woman’s voice called out “you need to leave now“. Now - I was paying Customer and there was no one else in the restaurant when I stepped out of the bathroom still needing to go. So to the owners, as far as I was concerned, I paid to eat there and I was paying Customer and it shouldn’t matter how long I was in the bathroom for because I needed to go for those purposes. The woman was very rude! If I could put -100 stars for everything, I would. I certainly would not recommend this place to anybody! And I’m making sure it goes on all my media for sure!

Nicole Medlock

Ordered salmon chirash take out, checked before leaving and the salmon did not look fresh, and was still slightly frozen. I eat raw salmon all the time and this just didn't look right and I didn't feel comfortable eating it. I went back inside immediately and asked for a refund, and the person working there was very very rude and kept trying to argue with me. I kept my cool and stated I was trying to be nice and I'd just like my money back please. FINALLY they returned my money. Very disappointing lack of customer service.