Double Ai — Restaurant in Wayne

This restaurant has so much potential and I really wanted to like it but it failed in so many ways.

Decor/ambiance: Great location, good parking, right on the water, great views. Terrible upkeep, water damage in ceiling, paint chipping off the ceiling.

Cleanliness: I feel dirty sitting in the dining room. Servers wipe all the table crumbs onto the floor when they leave. One of our knives was very dirty and looked used. The other knife had a fruit/produce sticker on it. How do you put these dirty utensils out? Doesn't anyone check before they set the table?

Service: not good, staff did not seem to care much about the service. Brought my credit card and bill to the wrong table when it literally says the table number on the bill.

Staff: They hire a bunch of young and skinny high school girls that don't know what they are doing. I assume the creepy owner thinks hiring these young girls will get more customers to come and dine. I guess people will sacrifice their stomach and taste buds for flirty little high school girls. What a PATHETIC AND GROSS business model!

Food: Terrible, I don't understand how anyone says the food is good here.

Dumplings: very mediocre and the frozen pre-made variety, definitely not fresh made.

Boneless spareribs: came out kind of cold, probably been sitting there for a while. It was dry and tasteless.

Kamikaze roll: the soft shell crab was mostly batter and very rubbery, wasn't newly fried, probably premade and sitting in kitchen for a long time.

Salmon avocado roll: this was ok. Hard to mess this up, literally salmon and avocado.

Tuna avocado roll: terrible, tuna was rubbery sitting out in room temperature for way too long.

Sushi combo: not good, again, sushi was not properly kept and sitting out for a long time.

Soy sauce: Something is really off about the soy sauce they offer. I'm not really sure what. I think it must be a cheaper variety they are trying to cut costs on. It tastes weird and thicker consistency than normal.

I am surprised we didn't get sick. Ate maybe half our food and couldn't manage to eat anymore because it was so bad. They asked us if we wanted to take leftovers home and I said no, the food was not good and the guy just smiled and walked away. He did not care one bit and did not bother to ask what was wrong.

I wouldn't come her again if they offered me free food. I'd rather eat at McDonald's than come here. Probably one of the worst sushi places I've been to in NJ. Sushi village in little falls might be the only place that is worse...

TOP ( 4 ) REASONS WE WILL COME BACK TO ENJOY "DOUBLE Ai " 1st : The food quality is excellent / fresh / and prepared to your liking ! 2nd : The service was outstanding with attention to detail / friendliness ! 3rd : The atmosphere is very cozy inside while the outside dining offers a beautiful view of the lake ( large outdoor seating section ) right on the water ! 4th : The pricing is reasonable for the top quality food you will receive. * We were searching for an Asian style restaurant on JULY 4TH and were striking out almost everywhere until we stopped at DOUBLE Ai ! They were open and very busy. We were greeted by one of the staff and offered both inside and outside dining choices. Because it was VERY HOT / HUMID we choose inside which was delightfully air conditioned to a nice cool temperature ! Our waitress ( Unis ) was very pleasant and took the time to explain some of the menu / choices . After a few minutes of looking over the extensive menu ( lots of great choices with pictures ) we had the pleasure of meeting the owner ( Jeff ) he is very gracious and I explained that one of my favorite dishes was "Kung Po Beef" He said no problem and offered me several ways to prepare it ! Great start ! The food came out and was done exactly to my specifications ! Awesome ! I should add that ALL THE SUSHI IS MADE FRESH as you watch ! ALSO DOUBLE Ai is a BYOB so you can bring your favorite wine or beer After the meal Jeff offered us ICE CREAM on the house ! 4 different choices ( YUM ) I chose the Green Tea. Overall this was a great experience. I am a world class entertainer ( Jazz / Concert Pianist ) I have experienced many Asian / Chinese restaurants and would put Double Ai in the TOP 5 . SUMMARY : IF you are looking for SUSHI / ASIAN / BISTRO style food....... L@@K no further you have struck GOLD . CHEERS and Thank you WE will be back again...

Might go again - I've been to Double Ai's 3 times or so now. The first 2 times was a good experience. However, the most recent, 3rd time was quite disappointing. I visited with a number of my friends and their kids. This last experience was not what I was expecting. The problem was when we were being seated. Given the current COVID times, you would think that all restaurants are taking extra care in safety guidelines. This was not the case. When looking around, our group noticed that the seating arrangement was not taking into consideration social distancing. People were seated without table separation as most places are doing now. Because of this, our group asked to be seated at a different table from the one that they were setting up. The second seating arrangement that was being set up was not much different from the initial. It was a corner and last table but right behind another table and customers. Therefore, we asked to be seated at a specific location at the patio which became the only table separated from others. The facial expression that was given to us for asking this was very unpleasant. We should not need to ask for this type of seating arrangement given the current environment. In addition, the workers should not give customers such a displeasured look for asking of such arrangements. COVID safety rules are a given. Either place a note that your restaurant doesn't care about spreading or use common sense.

As I am a local and did enjoy the food and outside dining setup near the lake, I may give Double Ai's another chance. However, if I do visit again, it may be the last depending on the service and rude workers, if any, at the time. Highly recommend management to review their workers and following...