Ariyoshi — Restaurant in South Orange

Even though we had fully stocked our fridge given the COVID-19 outbreak, my gf became very hungry and wanted sushi. As we searched around for nearby sushi restaurants, Ariyoshi wasn’t a top pick, it was just one of very few which were open. We tried ordering on the phone several times, but the lady was hardly understandable. I’m an international studies major who has traveled the world. I’m pretty adept in understanding people with varying accents. In addition, one of my favorite cuisines is Chinese food, so I have a lot of experience listening to those with Chinese accents, as the people running this establishment were speaking Mandarin when we arrived. But I just could not understand her at all. It had nothing to do with the accent, but everything to do with her ability to provide good customer service. When we got to the restaurant, it was a transactional type of arrangement. They just took the money, gave the food, and that was it. As I was getting back into my car, I saw what looked like an employee walk from an unmarked door to another door apart of the restaurant looking like he was taking a smoke break in between preparing preparing food. Smoke breaks are fine, just looked kinda shady. He was holding kitchenware in one hand, cigarette in the other. Kinda weird. The food was a passing grade. B- at best. We had sushi. Sweet potato, spicy tuna, and yellowtail rolls. In addition, we got Kara age, which is Japanese fried chicken. In all my years of eating Kara age, I had never seen it shaped like balls. Weird. However, when I woke up the next day, it had definitely failed. F. My stomach was growling and churning all night. Something not experienced in the last 3 weeks of cooking at home. In addition, my gf has a weird rash on her lips and I just heard her stomach making a weird sound as well while typing this review. Needless to say, we won’t be making a...

Racist,Terrible service,rude asain server,Terrible tasting, flat food! NEVER shall we dine here. Some Jersey restaurant??? off the wall lacking in service!! One female employee was extremely rude, overly aggressive with a question about an item. They all kept removing our dishes off the table while we were still eating, brought bill without our request. Never asked how was food, if u white you get attention, if you interracial run like hell. She / rest need a midol/ menopause pill , if she can't handle the stress. When it gets busy, plus doesn't give you the right to provide horrible service to customers,while under stress.!!! If you cant breathe, then go work at home alone, back to Japan or china, north Korea. The hype is not justified for the place, very toxic, racist -packing, toyko dumplings was Terrible. I get better service in Tokyo than in this cheap fake replica of Japanese food. Plus hiring people off the border, with no hospitality skills, no security screening, probably alias names, non English skills. Some Restaurants in jersey are really Terrible, falling apart roach dumplings.establishments ,getting worse everyday.It's best make your own food , restaurant style and save your rent / mortgage money. If they gonna treat you like trash. We had bad vibes before entering- go figure. Don't acknowledge you upon entering- a sign. If you an out of towner run.!! If you a local eat at Japanese place in Maplewood, NJ. Stay away from this place. Avoid raw foods at all costs, not good for you and infested with mercury, bad...

To be honest with you, I'm really disappointed in this place. The food is always on point, but it can be a little pricey. Tonight I experienced some horrible service. I initially went for a to-go order, but decided to dine-in instead. BAD IDEA! I sat at a table for a good 10-15 mins before anyone even acknowledge me. And me being an AA woman, I tried my best not to go with the racial thing. However, no one has taken my order yet. Finally, I stop the first person I see (which was a busboy) and say "Hey, can I get a waiter?" He looked startled, and wondered why no one assisted me. He then tries and find my waiter, but comes back and say's "what would you like to order?" I went along with it. Long story short the busboy was my waiter and I was never even acknowledged by the waitress. The place wasn't even crowded. So you make your own assumptions. The cherry on top was that they showed me where I was supposed to put the tip on the receipt. LMAO I said I definitely don't mind tipping, but only if I had a waiter/waitress who actually waited on me. Will never support this...