aa Sushi — Restaurant in Kirkland

Mothers day-May 9th ,2021. I just had the absolute most disappointing service ever especially from this place. My boyfriend and I are regulars and we came in around 7:10. They close at 8pm. Decently busy, obviously very busy with takeout, however we were acknowledged and seated along with another party of 2, 1, and a family of 3. We came in before the family of 3. After we were seated it took about 10mins of waiting before a single host noticed we weren't given anything at all, no water, no menu, not even the soy sauce wasabi and ginger they usually do when people r seated shortly after. The waiter this time was entirely clueless and did not seem to care a single bit as we politely tried to gain his attention or the uncaring waitress behind him while he frequently passed our table multiple times to serve and attend the other people who came in after us around the same time. When he finally gave us a menu, we ordered relatively quickly and even that was a struggle just getting anyone to come take our order. I ordered 3 small plates of sushi, and my boyfriend ordered a few more than I did. Mine were very simple nigiri which usually doesn't take very long on many of our prior visits. 7:40 and neither of us had a single plate of sushi yet, all the while every other person in the dining room was being served more than one plate at a time, including a couple already there whole were getting their 3rd plate I noticed before all the parties mentioned above along with us even walked in the door. This whole time I also noticed 3 other takeout parties wait awhile at the front of the house, but still managing to leave with food before we left the restaurant ourselves. Soon enough, it's 8and the staff is clearly shutting the kitchen down and cleaning up, and people around us start to leave . The family is still there, but the couple behind us and the single girl have left. Some of order has come out, but it is mostly my boyfriend's and most of mine is still being made. Half of what we ordered seems to have come out, however we are still waiting for 5 more small simple nigiri plates. The same waiter keeps passing our table without having so much as a glance while we watch all the waiters clean up and serve everyone else the last orders. 8:30 rolls around, and they still haven't finished our order. My boyfriend had gotten most of his, and half of mine were still not done and no one came by our table to let us know we were not forgotten. By this time the couple at the front who were there before us when we first came in the door had already left along with the family and every other diner or takeout person that came in that night. We were the last people there 30 mins after closing and our food was still not finished or served.we did have other plans to hang out in the evening but it took so long to attempt to eat at this establishment that we actually saw the sun rise and fall to darkness through the window. We were so tired at this point we just wanted the bill and leave, and it was a struggle to get that as well. I asked kindly after bringing it to the attention of staff that we were still waiting there and we just would like to pay since we had to go and it was getting late and the waitress at the front hardly showed any sort of emotion when I asked and proceeded to continue assisting with closing operation as we waited an additional 10 mins for the bill. Only when we actually started to leave they came out with the rest of our order. SERIOUSLY?! the only good thing I have to say about this place is that the sushi is good and one guy there is super nice and knows my boyfriend and I by name, however the rest of the staff are very unprofessional and have extremely poor customer service. When I asked for the manager, the waitress simply tallied up our $62 impartial order with the rest in a To go box and expected us to pay full price for that terrible experience. Not a single apology. Hopefully a they will pay more attention to a bad review than they did to regulars still waiting for dinner...

This will be probably be my first and only review I will make, because this is a safety concern - so heed my warning. We thought to try this place because of its great reviews and ordered a variety of plates.

The seared salmon was delicious, which gave the impression that this was going to be a great meal. Next, we had the creamy scallop and I had to immediately spit it out because of how off it tasted. Weird, but we kept moving. Tried the ikura, but before trying, the odor smell was enough to to tell me that this was not fresh. AT ALL. The bluefin toro was an unusual shade of brown and left a strong lingering taste in my mouth that would not go away on its own. I could not finish any of these dishes and decided to not try the yellow tail because the smell alone had made me gag. The mussels, although they tasted good the temperature of them was extremely concerning. Like they had been left out even before we ordered them. Lastly, we thought maybe the cooked shrimp would taste okay, but again, something tasted off.

I was disappointed to say the least, and only managed to finish the salmon, eel, shrimp, and some of the rolls. It was that bad that we decided that this seemed like a necessary issue to bring up where we had a few things we couldn't eat because of safety concerns. Our server had a conversation with the workers and came back to our table and assured us that it was guaranteed fresh that day so there is nothing they can do. What is a customer supposed to do at that point? We couldn't eat the food because of risking illness. Its not our fault that we had ordered something that we could not eat. As someone who goes to sushi restaurants of different price ranges and eats quite a bit of seafood, this isn't a customer being picky. This has been by far the worst offender of serving food that did not taste "fresh", and the staff was not the least bit concerned about it. It was a hot day too, so even if it was cut fresh, there can be issues with storing the fish at correct temperatures. We did not argue, and just went on our way thinking only time will tell.

It is the next day now, and I have been on the toilet with very bad food poisoning which led me to write this up. I think I would have been okay if staff handled this sort of thing better, but they were dismissive on a potentially hazardous issue that has an affect on everyone that eats at their restaurant. I have a feeling management are the ones that are strict on giving out refunds, and I don't feel comfortable supporting a restaurant that favors profit over safety.

EDIT: just found a photo on google reviews where they gave people free rolls for giving them 5 stars, lol. DO NOT COME HERE, the ratings...

I love good sushi. I try a bunch of places to find where they perfectly season the rice, use the freshest ingredients and form perfect bites of rice and toppings. The best places are often expensive, but they are worth it. Great sushi is a treat, but good sushi can be fun too. That is where a place like AA Sushi comes in. They squish the rice a bit too tight and not well seasoned, the slices of fish are a little sloppy and not at the peak of freshness. It is not perfect, but it is tasty enough to satisfy a craving. I found myself in Juanita with a hankering for the sushi belt that I remembered from years ago when I lived nearby. Colorful plates with a couple of pieces of sushi drift by on a belt that looks like a miniature baggage claim area. You pick out what you would like to eat as it passes by. Some plates have been around the belt too many times to have much appeal, so you want for a better one. You also note the color of the plate which indicates how much the item costs. When a plate that looks tasty and meets your budget comes around, you grab it. Wait staff comes by to make sure you are finding what you want and to keep your drink topped up. As you eat, you stack up the empty plates so that your bill can be tallied when you are done. That is the way things used to work. On this trip, I was presented with a menu with pictures of all the options and a form that I marked with my selections. I like a wide variety of items, so I checked off quite a few items. The waiter took the form and returned with a huge tray of plates. I felt like a glutton with all the plates laid out in front of me. The quality was about what I expected. Things were unevenly cut, the rice was packed too tight and too warm, the fish looked like it had been laying out for a while before being plopped on the rice. Not great, but good enough. My bill was quite a bit less than I would pay at a nice sushi place. It scratched the itch for sushi, but just barely. I...