Ayoki Japan — Restaurant in Florida

My mother and I bought lunch at Ayoka Japan restaurant in Land O' Lakes during a rare mother and daughter's afternoon out. Nothing turned out how I remembered it, and despite several chances, we left hungry, annoyed, and very disappointed! There is an awkward metal type deli counter that reminded me of a subway counter. This is where a person orders which ingredients and customizes the bowl they ordered. Then the chef takes it back into the kitchen for someone else to further prepare and finish cooking any ingrediants in the bowl. But honestly it took the same guy that took our order prepared the ingredients didn't return right away so maybe he was the only person working and cooking? The tables and chairs in the dining area reminded me of a Chinese restaurant take out or pizza place that has 2 tables. The seats were uncomfortable and the decor was harsh on the eyes. I ordered the "Ahi Tuna Bowl", when the person brought over our meals, I noticed it was the same person behind the counter putting ingredients in our dishes. I was so excited to have Ahi Tuna, I dove in and took a bite of the seared tuna. It tasted awful and could have been bad. Ahi Tuna is supposed to be sushi grade raw ahi tuna, that is very lightly seared around it's edges. After a couple minutes depending on the size the tuna is done searing. Then, it is sliced in thin 1cm thick pieces stack in the center of a bowl that contains a variety of ingredients choicen by the patron ordering a dish. Ingredients might be rice, seaweed, or spring greens and meat of choice. There was way too much seaweed compared to my other ingredients and I got a mouth full of seaweed. It tasted as if the seaweed was runny and the excess salty water flavored everything else ruining the delicate flavor of spring salad. Even the rice was salty. Since the young gentleman who greeted us and who is also kinda the wait staff, brought our dishes to our table but never came back. I saw him look flustered as a few people approached for lunch. I was worried about waiting for a lunch line and not confident when or if he would return. I rushed up to the end of the counter where there was like a " pick up area." I had to go up in front of the other people ordering in line in order to ask the only person I saw that something was wrong with my Ahi tuna it didnt tast right and my lunch guest said their tempura shrimp bowl tasted like it was oily and left a bitter taste.

Although he was friendly and apologetic, I had to choose what bowl to switch to or if I wanted him to remake my Ahi Tuna Bowl. My mother had lost her appetite. I decided to change to the "Tempura Shrimp Bowl" hoping that they turned out better than my mother's first dish and maybe she would like it better somehow saving the lunch. It was a "Hail Mary"! Sadly, when I tasted the second order of shrimp. I got that same bitter taste that comingled with an oily residue and lingered on the roof of my mouth along with the ever long aftertaste of burnt old grease. The bill was $40 for 2 bowls. The man working knew we had to send a meal back and he was aware of the shrimp issue but he never offered any kind of discount or offered to return at least one of the dishes. I was dissappinted in the food. It all tasted horrible after 2 attempts we gave up and left. I will never go back and do not recommend...

This is a solid staple. We are in this area twice a week. I love Asian cuisine so this was a must try. This was my second visit and two weeks apart. The first time was a dine in meal with the family. I had the Hibachi with shrimp and salmon. The serving size was perfect. Unfortunately we witness a couple who seemed to be regulars there order get messed up more than once as they dined in but the waiter/cashier made the effort to get it right but I think he should've just had it reordered. Nevertheless fast forward to two weeks later I decide to come in solo for dinner. It was a Friday around 630ish place was not busy at all. But like last time tends to pick up. I can tell its a popular spot as I sat waiting for me food this lady goes straight to the back and the guy at the register let's her know her order was not fully complete. Then I watched another person come in get her take out and say "See you next week" This time I ordered the Teriyaki Shrimp with fried rice and Crab Ragoons. Man it was pleasing to my palate. I felt like they gave me more food this time as I was not able to finish it all like last time but last time I also didn't order the Ragoons so maybe that's why. Food fresh and hot. I love the dipping sauce. I have had my share and the sweet and sour sauce at other places is like a red syrupy to sweet sauce. This sauce was yellow and like a light flavor of apricot or some fruit but it was good. I don't usually care for that white sauce at other places but this place was different. My most favorite is that ginger dressing on the salad! It was popping 2 weeks ago and the same that night. I LOVE anything ginger especially in my food. Definitely need extra for my meal next time. Definitely will visit again to try the variety of meals...

I go to dinner at a Chinese restaurant each year at Christmastime with some of my nephews. We have been to the Golden Inn before, and we came back after a multi-year absence. I got the egg foo yung, and my nephews got spicier dishes. As usual, the food was very good. It is classic American-style Chinese food, with the Chinese zodiac placemats and cheesy decor; I enjoyed it. It is a small restaurant, in a strip mall, and a lot of their business seems to be takeout, based on my experience that night. I gave 4 stars because of the service and the clumsy takeout process. When we arrived, at least 5 people were just standing there, waiting for their takeout orders. As I said, it is a small place, and there was not enough room for that, forming a choke point. At least two of the only a dozen tables were being used to stage the takeout orders, limiting the options for dine-in people. Almost all the tables were full, but we were seated after a little while, when the manager had to bus the table to make it ready for us. The service was really slow. Again, I feel like the takeout orders were bogging down the kitchen. We did not have a consistent server, sort of a variety of people occasionally stopping by as an afterthought. Everyone was very, very nice, don't mistake me. In the end, the point is good food and a decent price and we got that in spades. We will...