On Feb. 28 we visited Sushi Ai's downtown location (910 Olive St.) The street setting and interior were both a little run down, but service was friendly and we were seated right away. Sushi Ai's distinguishing feature is its all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. For $12.99, you can order an unlimited amount of soup, appetizers, sushi and rolls. In addition, there are hot and cold buffet tables with self-serve hot and cold appetizers and salads.
The served appetizers were nicely done. The miso soup was hot and flavorful with pureed tofu and small cubes, the vegetable tempura were crispy and hot, and an order of shrimp shumai were tasty, though quite small.
We ordered several rolls (Spicy Crab, Christmas, Eel and St. Louis). Probably because of the all-you-can-eat special, the rolls were modest in size, without a lot of meat. The St. Louis roll was heavy on the cream cheese, light on the salmon. The eel roll came with a flavorful sauce, but too much cucumber.
The offerings at the self-serve buffet tables were relatively standard pan-Asian fare (spring rolls, crab rangoon and the like at the hot table, and a mix of salads at the cold table). Not bad, but unremarkable.
Overall, the food at Sushi Ai was undistinguished, but for $12.99 a great value for downtown.
Rating: 6.5
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