Azie

Reviews 4

PE

Penn Appétit

Within Philadelphia’s city limits there is a wide variety of excellent dining choices. However, in a search for new delights, I decided to head out to the suburbs, because I am convinced that the city is not the only place to find a good meal. Azie on Main is a new addition to the Villanova area, a Philadelphia suburb, and is located in a new office park. It is right off the Villanova University campus and is easy to get on regional rail. Azie on Main is the second location of the restaurant Azie in Media. Japanese chef Takao Iinuma, who has competed on Iron Chef Japan! heads both restaurants. As you enter Azie on Main, you enter a warm and inviting restaurant. The rich fabric draped around the restaurant, the warm wood and low jazz music pulls you into the restaurant, away from the austere office park the restaurant is located in. The food claims to be Japanese with global influences, and they live up to that claim, having both obvious Japanese dishes and others with a more global influence. They do have a sushi bar, which seemed to be the main focus of many of the patrons. However, I decided that since there are so many places to get really good sushi in the city, I would try the rest of the menu and see if this restaurant has anything to tempt us out of the city with. I started with a Blue Fin Tuna Ceviche. It was a very charming dish presented in a mock martini glass with a lemon slice on the side. The tuna was in a yellow pepper sauce with orange slices, red onion, halved grape tomatoes and green peppers. The sauce was very spicy with the green peppers in it, but it was nicely balanced by the meaty taste of the tuna, and the sweetness of the oranges, onions and tomatoes. The dish also had a very pleasing mixture of textures, with the crunch of the onion and the softness of the orange, and the slight toughness of the tuna. The dish was garnished with sprigs of green salad, really just to offset the very yellowness of the whole dish by adding a much needed burst of green. For the main course I ordered the Pan Roasted Divers Scallops with sautéed mushroom and spinach in rice. This dish could have used a burst of color, because even with the spinach, the overall impression of the dish was BROWN. The scallops were in an americaine sauce and sprinkled with what tasted like small onion rings. The rice was well seasoned and the mushrooms and spinach melded well together. However, the scallops, the sauce and the crispy bits were all quite salty. The entire dish was far too salty to be palatable, and the americaine sauce was no more than a salty, garlicky cream sauce. The dish looked unappetizing and was unappetizing. Despite this poor showing in the main course, the ceviche was truly amazing, and I think this restaurant warrants a second visit. So, bottom line, if you are looking for a nice restaurant, which has an excellent wine and sake collection I should add, to take a date, or just treat yourself, try getting out of the city for a change and heading out to the suburbs to Azie on Main. --Hannah Cummons

JA

Jan Klincewicz

Sunday Brunch at Azie - Villanova : I am normally not a "brunch" kind of guy. French toast and bacon from a steam table just doesnt really appeal to me and I dont eat omelettes. Id enjoyed Baba Olgas because Eliza Green is pretty inventive, and made things like quinoa taste good. Since my wife, who is not really a sushi fan offered to take me out for sushi as a Valentines Day gesture (and most sushi places are closed on Sundays) a quick Web search found this Azie weekly special. For $25 pp (including a complimentary mimosa) this was off the charts. Rolls and nigiri were awesomely fresh, and constantly replenished. The variety of rolls was impressive given this is an "all-you-can-eat" situation. The sushi alone would have been worth the price of admission, but along with the omelette station and traditional breakfast offerings (all of which we ignored) there were gossamer-light pork dumplings, crispy crab and cream cheese spring rolls, crunchy wings (BBQ and plain) as well as Chow Fun noodles and fried rice laced with finely minced Wagyu beef. To top all THAT off, at the end of the table was a steam tray filled to the brim with miraculously medium rare melt-in-your-mouth tenderloin, prepared with a sear whose crunch was still noticeable. Desserts were the selection of petit fours, Napoleons, mini-cheese cakes and parfaits one might expect, and the ones we sampled were quite delightful. Service was cheerful and efficient, and water/iced tea refills came without prompting. Plates were cleared immediately.. The staff was actually huge. This absolutely changes my mind about buffets. Im not sure how they get away doing this for $25, but will certainly be back. We booked at 11:15, and when we arrived they were sold out and not accepting walk-ins. Im kind of glad we got there early, as the place was getting crowded, but Azie seems to handle it well, and I saw no stations that were not replenished gracefully. They have this buffet thing down. Highly recommended.

ME

Melissa Beyer

My boyfriend and I have frequented this restaurant in the past few years. Since the prices are high, we generally only go for special occasions. In the past we have had good experiences. Tonight, however, was a different story. My boyfriend and I went to celebrate my birthday. We had the WORST service and the WORST food we have ever experienced. Their meat has gotten incredibly cheap. It was full of fat and tasted like charcoal. They served me my steak on a greasy plate by itself. No sauce, no potatoes, no nothing. The presentation was so unappetizing I almost didnt want to eat the food. I wish I hadnt. Not only that, but our service was terrible. Our waiter informed us that he was taking care of a ton of tables and was very busy. What we came to realize was that he basically meant he wouldnt be by to check on us for the duration of the meal. We did not get refills on our drinks and he never stopped to ask how our meals were. If he had, he would have realized that I had taken one bite of my steak and couldnt bear to touch the rest. When he came by to drop off the check, we informed him of our unsatisfactory meal. He kind of shrugged and told us hed be back to collect the check when we were ready. Despite the fact that I hadnt eaten any of my steak, they made sure to charge us $30 for it. DISGRACEFUL. My boyfriend and I NEVER complain about food or service. Normally we are very understanding of busy servers (my boyfriend was in the restaurant business for years and we both have family members that are still in the restaurant business) and we never complain or send back food. However, this experience was SO atrocious and SO expensive, I felt the need to write this review. If you want a good meal, look elsewhere!!! AZIE HAS GONE DOWN THE TUBES.

RI

Rico Silvetti

Food was overall very good, if a bit overpriced for the area. Two major issues prompt my 1 star review. First, we were told about a Bluefin appetizer which was 3 pieces each of roll, sushi, and sashimi. We were not told the price and decided to order this. It turned out to be $36, whereas most other appetizers were in the $7-12 range. I found this very unseemly. Secondly, my girlfriend found 2 small hairs on her sushi roll plate. Because shes perfect, she didnt tell me during the meal and since they werent on the actual food she overlooked it. We didnt say anything to the server or management because were just not that way, and frankly we find it miserable to be treated like we just want a discount or for something to be removed from the bill. There are much better sushi options in the area and I highly recommend you look elsewhere.