Ajito

We had such a lovely dinner here! While the "hidden door" concept is super fun, I was genuinely impressed by how much flavor the kitchen packs into the dishes. It’s a great spot, and I wanted to share a few specific notes on what we ordered to help others choose! What I absolutely loved: Ajito Ramen: We got the half size and it was perfect. The broth balances being light and rich so well, and the noodles were perfectly. Chicken Wings: These are a must-try. They have a delicious grilled taste and are seasoned beautifully with umami flavors. The Lamb: I was pleasantly surprised by this! It was very tasty and didn’t have any of that "gaminess" lamb sometimes has. A few other notes: Crispy Chicken: The sauce on this is incredible (it reminded me of Kewpie mayo with a chili oil kick!), but just a heads-up that the breading wasn't quite as crispy as I expected. Still very tasty, though! Miso Duck: The flavors here are amazing and the sauces really take it up a notch, though I found the texture a tiny bit chewy personally. Overall: The chicken was so tender and juicy, and the vibe is great. I’d definitely recommend stopping by for the ramen and wings!

We got the half ramen and the Japanese curry. The food was amazing and definitely elevated compared to other restaurants like tokyo street which I feel justifies the premium pricing. I feel as Ajito uses better ingredients so the taste is overall better. The broth in the ramen was rich and flavourful. The noodles were cooked just right and the meat melted great. The curry had a nice depth to it as well. It had the right amount of spice for my taste but was still respectful of the traditional flavour. The portioning was good, but maybe not enough if you're super hungry. The service and staff were fantastic. Super friendly people. Food came pretty quickly after ordering. The only thing to note was that there was a mixup on their end resulting in our table having to split alone. We had said a table for 6 people but seated us in a 4 person table but didn't realize we were 6. Overall nice place for good food!

My absolute favourite place! The food is amazing, fresh, and delicious! They put so much care and attention into the food. The prices are very reasonable and the staff are friendly! I’ve eaten here almost 50 times in the last few years and plan on coming back at least another 50 times! ❤️❤️❤️

It was such a good experience, everything we’ve ordered was delicious and waiting time wasn’t even that much, it comes with 5 minutes. Ivy was very helpful, from suggestions to serving our food. The place is very cool and parking is accessible. Will be back to try other food from their menu.

Had an amazing time here. The service was excellent despite a little mishap - shoutout to our server Simon and one of the chefs (Kevin- a twin who had a diamond earring in one ear). They definitely went above and beyond after a mix up, and not only brought dessert (fried ice cream slices) but also orange slices after sering how drunk we had gotten. Pina colada was fantastic - not too sweet and just the right amount of tang. The food was excellent and good portion sizes. We had the yellowfin parmesan - SO good, all the flavors mixed so well with each other. The clam and mushroom udon was great too, not too heavy and had a good level of salt. The stone eel fried rice was also delicious, a bit on the saltier side but it was balanced out well with the broth added halfway. Atmosphere was quiet and private, perfect for a date night. It was also "hidden" behind another restaurant, which was pretty cool! The lighting was much dimmer and more intimate than the sushi restaurant we had initially entered. ***Update - I came back again for more, and Kevin recognized me! What incredible and personalized service. My friend and I were just chatting and kept the meal light with a tuna carpaccio, which was absolutely delicious. Kevin arrived with a dish on the house which also blew us out of the water; the white fish was incredibly smooth and creamy, and had no fishy aftertaste either. Once again, 10/10 experience.

Every dish exceeded our expectations. I didn’t take photos of all the dishes, but nothing disappointed us. We’ll definitely be back! Highly recommend the Small Fisherman Bowl.

Awesome little spot. I stop here every time I come to Calgary. Great menu, reasonably priced, very cool art with a sneaky coke machine door.

Honestly really cool place! I will however admit it took me a solid 5 min circling the building the find out where this place was until I realized it was all the way at the back of the restaurant (and yes I know it’s supposed to be hidden). The food was very good and very reasonably priced for the portion sizes you get! Would definitely come back to try some of their cocktails and other food items!

Winter with my mom had an excellent time very kind people the food is amazing very beautiful restaurant on both the inside and out much appreciate it yours truly Rio aiello

Ajito is a hidden gem located in the back of SHO. There's a secret doorway to enter the restaurant which makes for a fun and unique experience! Once you enter the restaurant we were welcomed by friendly staff! The restaurant has a relaxing and intimate vibe. There's only about 10 tables (could be wrong) within the restaurant and the decor is japan inspired! I loved the little details such as the bottle lamps! Food was amazing! We ordered tuna/salmon sashimi which was super fresh. Just melts in your mouth. So good! It's served on a bed of ice so the fish stays fresh. The AAA steak was served on a hot plate and was well seasoned and delicious. The takoyaki poutine was okay, I thought the fries were a bit dry/over cooked. But the taste was good. One of my favourite dishes of the night was the seafood udon! Has a good amount of seafood. Noodles were well seasoned and were not overcooked. They cook it in a butter soy sauce I believe! Really unique and delicious. This restaurant is def worth a try! It's a cool experience and they add their own unique details to their service and how they serve their food. You'll have to come visit to see for yourself!

It wasn't a great experience for us. First, the service wasn't that great! We arrived before two couples but the server entertained them first eventhough we got seated first. No one was paying attention to us that I have to go to the bar to ask if someone is willing to take our order. Then the food started coming one by one, we were hoping it will be served all together but not a big deal. The food was mediocre... the stone grill steak was for almost $20 for probably 6 or 7 thin slices.. again not a hill to die on. Then last food got served, it was the iron skillet mussels. Oh dear, it was awful, there's something wrong with the taste, taste disgusting so I spit it out and then we checked coz maybe i just got a bad mussel but holy.. the whole dish have a FOUL SMELL... like a rotten seafood! I can't believe this quality of food was even served in a highly regarded restaurant! The manager came by and apologized asking to replace.. but we said no. He offered us 10% discount or free dessert and that's it. I don't want to create a hostile environment so I just decided to let it go. I had a bit of diarrhea the next day . Will definitely will not come back again. This is just a big hype due to the hidden restaurant gimick!

This is my new favourite Japanese restaurant in the city! Located at the back of Sho sushi with a cool coke vending machine as a door, this is a great place to hang with friends or as a date night! It's izakaya style with sharing plates so though you may not leave super full you'll leave super happy. The dishes are all incredibly reasonable priced and the service is amazing! I love Takeshi (the head chef) and the team and they really strive to make you happy and leave content! Though everything is amazing I highly recommend the carbonara udon, hamachi carpaccio, smoked tuna, eel bowl, and mussels. The fish is the star here. They also have some cool alcoholic and non alcoholic places. I really recommend the yuzu ginger ale and homemade cola for non alcoholic I've ate there four times and really for the price and quality you won't find any better ! Make sure you make a reservation cause it's insanely popular right now !!

I've been wanting to try this new Japanese restaurant since it opened in late January.. called them the first week of Feb and finally got a reso for yesterday night! Do call for a reservation if you want to visit during the weekends as they are super busy right now. I'm hoping one day they will get on Opentable so their phone lines won't be tied up as much! Located inside Sho Sushi on Macleod behind a cute vintage coke vending machine door is this hidden izakaya spot. Such cool vibes in here! Between the 2 of us, we got 5 dishes to share. It sounds like a lot but neither of us left feeling very full. However, this place emphasizes quality not quantity! And the quality is definitely excellent. There are so many more dishes that I want to try! Wild Scallop Sashimi ($11.80) - comes with 3 scallops, which were super sweet and fresh! Yellowtail Parmesan Carpaccio ($13.80) - seared yellowtail, japanese mayo, parmesan, onion, seasonal greens, fish egg, goji berry, soy dressing - definitely one of my favourite dishes of the night. I love some nice fatty yellowtail, and the searing elevates it that much more! I would order this again. Smoked Tuna Tataki ($11.80) - tuna, sliced onion, seasonal greens, sesame dressing, chili oil, lightly smoked flavour - I really only ordered this for the wow factor of the smoke haha. It was good though! Small Fisherman Bowl ($7.80) - today's assorted sashimi, pickled daikon, shiso leaf, sweet soy, sushi rice - in my opinion the best bang for your buck dish of the night. Came with ~4 pcs of sashimi. I would definitely order this again. Stone Bowl Carbonara Udon ($13.30) - japanese thick noodles, onion, bacon, cream sauce served in stone bowl - this was soo good! I don't normally order carbonara as I feel it's too heavy but this was perfectly creamy without being too heavy. I would order this again! Overall, I was very impressed with Ajito. I'm coming back for sure!

Not much to be said about this "hidden" Gem that has not already been said...the food was amazing. The service is outstanding I had the Ajito ramen which has a super rich, thick broth!! The beef tataki with great flavour and ample slices, and finally the miso smoked suck with layer of flavour that was really amazing !!

Super cool concept with the hidden door in the back of sho. You need reservations or they won't take you at all it's a small place and because it's fairly new at the time I went it's mostly all booked. We booked a week in advance. Definitely worth coming here to have great tapas and light refreshing small meals. I would go to sho after if you still feel hungry and need some real rolls. 80% of the stuff we ordered was great like the hamachi carpaccio, salmon carpaccio, tuna carpaccio, shake salad, carbonara. There was the odd 20% that was not good like the smoked tuna TASTED LIKE A FISHY CIGARETTE I think they left it smoking for too long because all 4 of us tried it and we gagged... and puked it out. However, my other friend that came here on another day said it was delicious and not too Smokey just a slight hint of smoke so it might be a hit or miss. The beef tataki definitely needs to be seared more and seasoned a bit more because it was so raw it tasted like bloody flesh with ponzu. As for the drinks definitely get the ginger ale because it's homemade real ginger ale which is impossible to find here in Calgary and they made it so perfect! This is definitely a great place to come have some tapas and drinks. The bill was not too expensive at all I definitely recommend coming here I would come back to try the other stuff even though I hated 2 dishes we ordered which is normal because you can't love everything at a restaurant considering we ordered 10 different dishes to try.

I have been looking to try this place out for months and I finally had my chance and all I can say is WOW! This place surpassed my expectations and left me wanting more. First off, I love the hidden aspect of this place. It's tucked away at the back of SHO behind a vintage Coke vending machine as a door. Once inside, you come into a small, intimate room with a handful of tables and bar. When you are seated, you are given a little white tab that you place into water which transforms into a small washcloth for you to freshen up before dinner. If you like dark beer, I recommend trying the Asahi Black. Everything comes family-style, so it's all shared. My friend and I got the sashimi shake salad, smoked tuna tataki, the tenderloin​, chicken kaarage and the udon carbonara. Everything was absolutely​ incredible and beautifully presented. My only critique is that the tenderloin​ was quite pricey for its size, but it was fun to cook it yourself on the hot stone they provided. Other than​ that, I was very impressed. I highly recommend the udon carbonara and the smoked tuna tataki. I cannot wait to take others here (once it's safer to do so) and try other items on the menu. The service, the atmosphere and the overall experience was fantastic!

Awful date night out. This place should not claim to be a speakeasy as it is just a crowded loud room behind a fun door. The atmosphere was just the start, not very many fun cocktails like what you would expect from a speakeasy, we ordered the kale and corn tempura from a recommendation from the server and to start it was delicious but as we got to the middle it was frozen like freezer burn chunk of ice frozen...how is tempura frozen???? This made us uneasy about ordering more food. We asked for our bill so we could go sit in sho (the bigger restaurant attached) ....we weren't even given a 10% discount or anything for such a poor experience. The food at sho was great but the service again was awful. After 2 attempts we will not be returning or suggesting this place to friends

This was one of the worst dining experiences we've ever had. We had a reservation for 8 of us for a friends birthday. After waiting for some time, they finally seated us. We ordered Saki which we did receive and then the waiter disappeared. When he finally came back to our table, he asked if we were ready to order our meals..we hadn't even been asked if we'd like a drink so we ordered drinks along with our meal order. About 15 mins later, they brought my sister her food order and no one else's meal. Still no drinks and she was the only one who had her food order; we called the waiter over to ask where our drinks were, he replied that they're really busy and they'd get our drinks to us soon. Half the table eventually got their drinks while the rest waited. Then one more persons meal came...it continued like this for the next 20 mins, each of us getting our dinner orders at different times. My husband got served the wrong order so they took it back and he eventually got his meal, but it was literally raw, so he had to send it back. The service and wait was so long and they were so disorganized, my husband just told them not to bother because at that point it was just way too late so he end up having no meal at all. It was terrible service, so incredibly disorganized and so disappointing. It was the first time for all of us at this restaurant and it will definitely be our last.

Was in Calgary for a few days, so decided to try. Good authentic Izakaya. Wasn't drinking, but they did have a fairly big cocktail menu, hopefully I can try next time.

I had a reservation for a week ago. There was no hostess at the entrance and they didn't give me a table. They kept me waiting in the bar and didn't explain why my table was no available

Very disappointing. We had a party of 9 with a 7:15 reservation. When we got there they told us the reservation was for 7:30 and they had to get our table ready. Then they told us they had given the big table away to another party. They wanted to put some tables together in the hallway. We said no. We finally got taken through the secret door at 7:45. They had to move a couple and use their table put together with another table at the back for us. Still not enough room for 9 people. They told us they would bring us another table to add to the existing tables. That took another 10 minutes. Their compensation for all the hassle, they brought each of us one of their special drinks. About a quarter of a glass of draft beer with a shot of saki. Not good. The waiter (I think one of the managers) gave one of the drinks to a 12 year old girl that was in our party. My husband said he didn't want one because he doesn't drink so the guy asked him why he doesn't drink. Very inappropriate! It took a long time to give our food orders and long time to get the food. When we got our food it was all very sporadic. Some people got food while others had to wait. Very unorganized. Food was very bland. Nothing that any of us ordered was great. Overall experience was very bad. Horrible service! Bad food! Would not go back.

It is so cool that this restaurant is literally right behind Sho and you have to enter through a Coca Cola fridge door! The restaurant itself is quite small, but the tables aren't super close to each other which is nice! Menu is smaller than I thought, but had some good selection. Mostly tapa style and the serving size of the food items are pretty standard and priced reasonably. Food wise- everything I ordered tasted great! Salmon sashimi was fresh and the cut was very thick. The chicken karage was probably my favourite, but the tuna and salmon rice bowl is a close second (very flavourful)! Definitely would go back to try other things.

I can't even call Ajito a restaurant - it was really more of a culinary experience. EVERYTHING was uniquely delicious, the intimate atmosphere was as though you were invited to an invitation-only dinner party and it was clear that the staff took great pride in their work. We will definitely go again (and order the Smoked Tuna Tataki...yummmmm).