Aonami Sustainable Sushi — Restaurant in Chico

Overall, this is a good place to go for sushi! However, the devil is in the details...

I love that Aonami is following covid safety, first off. It made the overall visit that much better. Second, the service was fantastic! Our waiter was kind, attentive, and well-intentioned at worst, as she kindly explained what yakisoba is to my Japanese mother 😅

The food, overall, was very good! With the exception of one roll, I didn't really need shoyu for anything because the fish was either that good or the complimentary sauces were delicious enough. Unfortunately, one roll was off, taste tested by both me and my mother. We have different palates, so something's definitely up if we're both making a face. However, the roll was taken back without question, and we were offered to have it replaced or refunded; thank you so much again for that!

The only things I wasn't thrilled about were the shoyu and the overall vibe.

They have the low sodium shoyu and regular shoyu as options, which is great! My mother and I prefer the green capped low sodium taste to regular Kikkoman. That said, I can guarantee someone either made a mistake or is intentionally cutting corners because the shoyu tasted exactly the same from both bottles. Additionally, the shoyu was not clean. Before we even had our food, there were particles (like dried, old shoyu... I hope) sticking to the sides of the dish.

And, I know it sounds ridiculous, but while the staff are wonderful, it just feels like a place pretentious people go to have decent sushi. Yes, this sushi is good, but it's nothing to write home about. While the creative rolls can be fun and I appreciate that you can order a roll without an ingredient, everything feels very catered to a certain demographic. A lot of the rolls have cream cheese, jalepeño, mango, and/or masago in them with a ton of sauce and anything we got that was supposed to be spicy simply... Was not. Sometimes you just want a regular ol' spicy tuna roll, y'know?

Again, overall, this is a good place and I'll still rec it to others. If you're even a bit of a sushi snob like me, try somewhere else. I, personally, will not...

I'm a regular. I love the miso, it''s vegan and not fishy. I love all the sushi rolls and enjoy that they are clearly ordered as vegan, cooked and raw. Their gyoza is crusty and they have a veggies option, yum. The flavored edamame is a yummy snack. My favorite vegan roll is the 99, so good with a slight crunch. Favorite cooked roll is the Walnut, which is a shrimp tempura with sweet chili glaze style. Favorite raw roll is a mix up between the orange, simple and sweet and then I also really love the Broadway (to die for!). The staff and owner are all super friendly, it''s generally a quiet and calm atmosphere, but this is a great place to bring a group of friends or having a b day dinner. The current restaurant on Nord is small, but they are moving downtown to a bigger place soon. The prices are great to start with, but the happy hour menu? Partner and I will leave here stuffed and slightly buzzed for 30$, including tips. How can you beat that? Tip! The 6th roll is an awesome introduction to tofu, so good, please try at least once. And the 12$ sake box is an amazingly smart investment if you enjoy a bit of alcohol with your sushi. We prefer the Nigori, it's the unfiltered house sake and it's got a bit of sweetness. Oh another tip? Miso is free if you are dining in and they have spicy-no-mayo! (Vegan spicy mayonaise) Super yummy, affordable and guilt free meal awaits...

I'd never heard of this place but was suggested by a friend to try it.

We all were sat at a table very quickly, then place looked clean but a bit barren in all honesty.

Dinner started off with a round of Miso soup which was very good! Asked about several things and were told that the "pledge to sustainability" to cut the repetitive lecture short was unavailable. Most of the things all of us normally order at other sushi restaurants this business did not serve along with things like spicy mayo. The waitress also informed us that this was a vegan restaurant and again the sustainability speech.

Appetizer was the Chicken Gyoza, not the worst I've ever had but wouldn't recommend it.

Main courses took approximately 35 min to make which was insane. We ordered a couple sushi rolls, ramen, and fried veggies. The sushi rolls were not anything I'd recommend, the ramen was the same. The fried veggies were not cooked thoroughly so under the batter they were hard in a lot of spots.

I understand the "pledge to sustainability" and all but they should focus on having delicious food along with getting it to you in a timely manner first and foremost. A couple of rolls and other easy to make dishes shouldn't take hours to prepare and if they do take an extended amount of time at least make them delicious, I mean...