AI đź“Ť DOWNTOWN
Ai Restaurant is a new Asian restaurant concept that opened its doors in downtown Beirut. It brings together the purity of Japanese cuisine with complex flavors and greater techniques. A restaurant experience starts before you even walk into a place. Mine didn't start off well, since every time I tried to make a reservation, the hostesses would rudely tell me that the place was fully booked until February.
I know that most restaurants offer to put you on a waiting list because there is a chance that at least one person might cancel during a 3-month period…
Anyways, we got a table after all and came to see what’s all the fuss is about. Although we started on the wrong foot, there are certainly some things that caught my attention as soon as we stepped foot in this place. First, they asked us for our vaccination certificate at the entrance which proved that they are taking the correct measures to keep their guests safe. After that, we were escorted to our table, I couldn’t but admire the beautiful interior as they really worked on the details. We absolutely loved the music, honestly, it had super lively vibes and the crowd seemed to enjoy it.
Ai's Asian menu changes seasonally and uses only natural and sustainable products. The kitchen is divided into three main sections, sushi including sashimi and other raw products, robata is short for 'robatayaki', which translates as 'fireside cooking' in Japanese cuisine. The cooking style refers to a method of cooking over hot charcoal on a wide and flat open fireplace, similar to barbecuing, and tempura.
We ordered a few dishes from the menu. We started off by getting beef tacos and shrimp tacos, they were super good! We also had 3 pieces of duck rolls which I undeniably loved. My favorite of the starters. Although it was a bit overpriced, their scallop truffle is a must try. We also had the shrimp dim sum, which was tasty, and the mackerel sushi (2 pieces) was incredibly delicious. While we really enjoyed the appetizers, their sushi was a bit disappointing. The tuna tataki was average. The spicy tuna maki, salmon maki, and shrimp tempura maki could be better... Then we had 3 kinds of sashimi plate which I didn't like at all, no need to pay. We tried 5 different kinds of sushi plates and nothing special. The shrimp bang-bang was honestly useless, it lacked flavor and was not good. We had a bottle of the Astoria wine and a fortune cookie for dessert, both were good.
Besides the fact that their sushi doesn't satisfy your appetite, the place was really crowded and it was way too hot inside; we had to go outside to get some air to avoid suffocating. There were never napkins on the table, we had to keep asking them for napkins every time we needed some. The music was nice but too loud making it hard to speak to each other. Smoking is allowed inside, hence the suffocation…
And it is one of the most expensive restaurants in Lebanon, if not the most, for an average of 80$ per person.
Overall, worth to give it a try. I recommend going there for dinner with friends or maybe for a date night.
🌟Rating:
đź‘ĄService 7/10
🍽Food 7,5/10
✨Atmosphere 8,5/10
đź’¦Cleanliness 8,5/10
đź’¸Affordable 4/10
đź’•Overall: 7,1/10
