Aji Ramen and Sushi — Restaurant in Lynchburg

Service, Service, Service!! How can I express how important quality service is. No one here to greet me at lunchtime. I walk in and presume I take a seat as I don't see a please wait sign. I wait for about 4 minutes, then someone comes to me with a menu and asks for a drink. No, hello, welcome . Is this your first time here?.. Just a very quiet "drink?". The second person came up after being served my tea and asked if I knew what I wanted? I did and ordered a spicy crab roll and pork katsu ramen. Both of these items are in the name of the restaurant, so sushi and ramen should be good here, right?? Sushi - Spicy Crab Roll, presentation was bland and presented no life to the dish. White on white with the only color component was the green wasabi paste. The canvas was too bland. Flavor was good (not spicy at all). Rice was fresh and prepared well, I couldn't taste any crab flavor from the imitation crab they use. There was crunch on top for a textural component, but it was bland, though, just a crunch.. Ramen - the katsu was pretty bland and didn't present with much of a pork flavor. It looks like they use pork belly for the meat and it was seasoned well and tasty (just not enough 1px 1 1/2 oz (3 slices)) I thought there was no egg served as you can see in the pick, it wasn't present. I found the 1/2 egg buried under the pork. The egg did have a good marinated color and flavor on it. The noodles were overcooked, and it looked like when they were cooked, the pot wasn't stirred well as I found a clump of stuck together noodles. Typical canned corn and black mushrooms with scallions. Overall, an ok dish, nothing to write home about, though. Service - No follow-up was performed. there was no offer to refill tea or anything like that. There was no pre-bussing of the table between sushi/main course.

Business owners need to realize that the experience is a huge part of why people go out to eat. Not only do they want to eat great food (I call it the most powerful drug on earth, Food) But service completes the package. If the food is great and service isn't, I won't go back. If the food is OK and the service is great, I'll go back and try something different. If both are bad, well we all know what that means.. I just can't express enough how important service is for a successful restaurant. It's the difference from a restaurant doing $800k/year or doing $3M/year.. I know I've created that difference a few times in my career as a...

Greeted at the door. Seated right away but not offered a table for our wheel-chaired person. We were put in a booth. The booth was too high for the wheelchair so we had to get my mother out of the chair and put her in the booth seat. The server was good to explain the menu. If you don’t like raw sushi, ask questions because the star at the beginning of a roll indicates raw ingredients but as we asked questions, many of the rolls not marked did have raw ingredients. Our orders were delivered hot and well presented on the plates and tasted good. The serving size was very good. The service was good and answered all questions, however, no refills were ever offered. As to the atmosphere, it was very hot inside (uncomfortable) and we overheard a worker state to other customers the AC was out after ordering our food. There was a fan so far in the back it was inefficient. We tried to eat but everyone was sweating. We finally asked for to go boxes and our ticket. Food prices were reasonable and inline with similar restaurants in Lynchburg. The server never a mentioned of the excessive heat in the restaurant. It was very uncomfortable especially for my 88 year old mother and the ladies in our party. Uncertain if this restaurant will make our...

If I've ever had an ethical dilemma, it is in the process of writing this review. Maybe I should work backwards. I was extremely satisfied after polishing off the remains of my bento box...from my doggie bag at 10:30p that evening. Very tasty, flavorful, with highly enjoyable textures expected of quality Asian cuisine. I also had the pleasure of polishing off the remains of my dinner from the comfort of my warm living room. The reason for consuming the preponderance of the feast in my own humble abode was due to my need to dash out from the dining establishment for fear of being late to a follow on event. My thought was that 45 minutes to an hour would be plenty of time for a dining-in experience...on a Tuesday night no less. I was, unfortunately, wrong in my thinking there. All benefit of the doubt goes to Aji's. Their food, that I was able to enjoy twice in one night, was delicious and the staff was genuinely apologetic, if not a bit frazzled. However, I suggest giving yourself some substantial cushion time...and avoid sitting at the front, near the entrance, unless you like your saki with ice chips and sushi well below room...