Review: Aoki Japanese Restaurant, Exton PA

On a crisp autumn Saturday night, we went to dinner at Aoki, the Japanese restaurant on Woodcutter Way in The Shops at Main Street in Exton. Saturday night can be dicey, so we called for reservations. The woman who answered took our reservation but never asked for a name. We soon knew why. We had planned to have a hibachi meal (where you sit around the grill and a chef cooks more or less the same meal for everyone), but we learned that the Hibachi option was no longer offered. 

There is a row of restaurants there, and you can enter from the front or back of most. We came in from the back and found a large space, mostly empty. We passed the dormant hibachi tables, and in the front found only two other tables occupied. I hate to see that at any restaurant, especially when people are inexplicably lining up 150 yards away to wait for "Italian" food at the Buca di Beppo chain.

Before we were even seated, we saw a flaming dish on the table of other diners. Fascinated, we inquired what it was and learned that it was "Eternal Flame" sushi and it was "to die for." It was two large sushi rolls, with tuna and salmon and roe and sauces, floating in an aluminum foil boat. It sat on a dish with some floating fuel, which the waiter ignited with a small blowtorch. It gave a lovely blue glow, and the taste matched the visual experience. It had a wonderful mix of softy and crunchy ingredients.

Eternal Flame Sushi

Aoki is BYOB, and we brought a bottle of wine; we also drank some excellent green tea. We had one other appetizer, fried dumplings with shrimp filling (gyoza). They were quite tasty, but steamed may have been the better choice. We saw negi toro on the sushi menu (medium fatty tuna) and they also have an even fattier option. We tried the super fatty tuna roll, and it disappointed. It was still good, but not $9.50 good.

A simple but delicious dish was the yakisoba, long thin noodles fried with vegetables and egg. It was perfectly balanced in flavors and textures. 


Yakisoba

 Prices were on the high end -- $15.00 for the Eternal Flame roll, $14.00 for the noodle dish. Service was excellent. We had a "Doubletake Deals" coupon by which we has $35 credit toward our meal. They had an unfriendly policy of adding an 18% gratuity to the whole undiscounted amount. We would have gladly tipped that much (and it fact added a little more) but the gesture of adding it automatically sends the wrong message.


Image from http://mainstreetexton.com/

Overall, this is a nice space with excellent service and mostly excellent food. I give them a solid 7.5 out of 10 stars. But give that the place was so empty on a Saturday night, I worry about their long term survival. Not sure why they are not more popular -- this place would be packed if it were on Gay St. in West Chester. It is adjacent to a Chinese Buffet restaurant, and some folks might think this is a low-end option. Others may be put off because it's a little too high-end (price-wise). It's certainly a worthy choice and I'll return soon.

[UPDATE: As we feared, AOKI has closed.]