Ajito

I had a fabulous experience at Ajito! Tucked away behind a hidden door, this spot has a luxurious, speakeasy-style vibe, making it perfect for a special occasion or an intimate date night. Our server was fantastic—incredibly knowledgeable and helpful in guiding us through the menu, offering thoughtful recommendations on both dishes and sake. The menu is extensive, with every dish sounding absolutely tempting! The plates are perfect for sharing, allowing you to try a wider variety of flavours. Everything we tried was amazing and beautifully presented. The standout for me was the Kyoto Saikyo Miso Baked Black Cod—cooked to perfection with a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you're looking for a restaurant that delivers exceptional food, great service, and an inviting atmosphere, Ajito is a must-visit. I can’t wait to go back and explore more of their menu!

We had a wonderful dining experience at Ajito! The presentation of the dishes was beautiful, and the flavors were even better. The service was excellent, with the owner being super friendly and welcoming. She recommended a delicious fruit-flavored sake that we really enjoyed. The homemade kimchi was outstanding, especially with the unique touch of tomatoes, which added a special twist. Also, the smoked sauce with the hamachi was absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to come back for another meal!

Had an amazing time here. The service was excellent despite a little mishap - shoutout to our server Simon and one of the chefs (didn’t catch his name, but he 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.

AJito is an epic night of fusion cuisine unlike any other!! It starts off with a touch of mystery as you enter through a secret door into a modern time Speakeasy! This is just the beginning of what will be a memorable dining experience! We had the pleasure of meeting Volody who provided fantastic service and was able to steer us in the right direction to satisfy our growing appetite with the perfect description and knowledge of the menu items. Well done! The food at AJito is made with the mindset; quality over quantity! To simply call this food is a disservice, THIS is art served on a plate you can eat! It looks delicious and tastes even better! Hard to imagine and simply must be experienced. Do not pass on the EBI Mayo! If you have an anniversary, birthday or just want to treat that special person, this is the place! AJito will treat you like family! But won’t make you do the dishes after!!! 😉 美味しい

Enjoyed the food we tried and service was great. The door front is very unique and cool, but I think the decor/design within was a little lackluster. The high tables are really large for two people, I think they could benefit from more intimate style seating. Please print menus. QR codes are not ideal for an elevated experience.

Just had a fantastic meal at Ajito. Such a fun experience with the restaurant hidden in behind another restaurant. We did a family style of sorts and shared multiple dishes with Hells Chicken being out favorite.

I've been to Ajito 4 or 5 times now and it's always a pleasant experience! There's not too much seating so I recommend always making a reservation, especially if it's the holidays or a weekend! What I like about Ajito is that the menu is unique--it's more Japanese fusion food than classic Japanese food. I always order the carbonara udon because you can't really find it anywhere else! Also really like the beef tataki, truffle duck, and melting chashu. Today was also my first time having deep fried ice cream and it shockingly works really well--would eat again. It was soooo busy today in the restaurant, but our server Ivy was so attentive to our large group. She was also super patient as we figured out how we wanted to split the bills and gave us recommendations on dishes to share. Overall we had a lovely meal and the atmosphere was great for socializing and catching up with family. With how busy it gets, I am surprised that the restaurant only has 1 portable pay machine. The servers work so hard to do things in a timely manner, so waiting on each other to share one pay machine needlessly makes their job harder and makes customers wait longer to complete payment. If the owner happens to read this, adding another pay machine or 2 would be a good business move 🧐

Had an absolute lovely time here tonight, was busy but our server David was amazing and so kind. Food was absolutely stunning and drinks were so fun. I’d suggest this to anyone coming to Calgary! Thank you for having us tonight!

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).