Aji

This place is exemplary! I came here a few times, but my most recent lunch experience outdid my expectations. I had the mofongo plate, which is a must-​try here followed by the chicken wrap. The food was fantastic, but what really put this place over the top was the service. From the moment we walked in, the wait staff was attentive and eager to help in any way they could. When my girlfriend had her huevos rancheros brought out with the eggs made incorrectly, they were quick to remedy the situation and offer her a free drink! It was high quality service. Another bonus of this place is their access of the LEAF menu next door if you want to get something more veggie-​friendly! We had the buffalo cauliflower from there and WOW! Overall very impressed with their service and happy to give it 5 stars.

Excellent lunch… had the carni Asad fries for appetizer and was amazing. Very nice atmosphere.

Having lived in Boulder the last year, I finally made it Aji last week. Since then I’ve been there two times since… that’s three times in a week. Aji has rightfully established itself in my eyes as a place to go for PHENOMEAL tacos over drinks with friends.
I reccemnd the tacos al pastor, butternut squash taco and the baja taco prepared GF.
Best tacos al pastor in the metro

Great room, excellent service and your taste buds will explode! Fresh bread with a chimichurri dipping sauce will bring a smile to you face and a slight heat to your tongue. Went with small plates so we could try several items excellent way to explore. Big hit was posole with a hardy base a great starter. No time to review each plate by our tops were Ahi tuna, tacos al Pastore and ceviche. BIG hit was the sweet corn tamal, a must try you’ll be happy you did but don’t share it, order one for each.

Fantastic flavors that were a big hit with a hard to please group. I don’t agree with the bad reviews based on my experience. Will go back soon and see if it’s just as good the next time around. Note that the hidden reviews from late 2015 are quite positive. Unilocal algorithms are busted on this place.

this was sort of disappointing, especially for the price. service wasn’t great, selection not great either, and food not great either. Very nice ambience, though, so if not concerned about eating or price, it might work. fish special was overcooked. a Brazilian seafood soup wasn’t bad.
another odd thing was all the wine comes from Very far away; you would think in an «eat local» town like Boulder they could get «Latin American» wines from somewhere closer than Spain? Baja CA, for example?
Boulder isn’t cheap, but I’m sure we can do better than Aji for that price, or even less?!

These people do not take gluten allergies seriously and if you are a celiac, watch out. After taking a bite of the butternut squash taco I realized the squash was breaded in something. I went into the kitchen in a panic and asked about it and the waitress told me that it was ‘only a little bit of breading’. Like that would make it ok.
Turned out to be breaded in corn flour luckily, but it was still fried in contaminated oil and I had told them that I couldn’t do that.
Also, there were maybe 5 other tables seated when we were there, so it wasn’t like the kitchen was swamped. Neither the waitress nor the kitchen staff actually took the time to care or be aware of the situation. Really disappointing.

This is such a cute restaurant serving authentic delicious food. Great outside patio and great patio.
Unfortunately, the service brings them down to 3 stars which at best is inconsistent, inattentive, and inefficient. We even had an employee ask to join us in the lounge area, then proceed to eat her shift meal, take over our space, where we had to move to the bar. She left shortly after but — seriously?
Pull it together Aji — improve the service and the stars will rise!

We sat outside at Aji mainly because they were dog friendly and we had our pup with us.
Service was extremely slow, even though the restaurant was not busy at all. Our waiter (once he showed up) was extremely friendly and helpful though.
It was happy hour with $ 5 Aji Margaritas – they were ok, kind of watery and not enough punch and $ 3.50 beers– better deal.
We also ordered some happy hour small plates– Poblano Empanada ($ 4) and Sweet Corm Tamal ($ 5). Both were tasty and definitely priced and sized for happy hour.
I wouldn’t run back– but if it’s a nice day, happy hour, and you have your pup with you…
well, then it’s perfect.

I really hate to leave a bad review. Especially since the manager comped our entire bill for five people. However, this was probably the worst food and overall experience I’ve ever had in a restaurant.
First, we were the very first customers of the day and ordered our food before any other tables were filled. A half an hour later, when the four tables seated AFTER we had ordered were all eating their food, I asked what was taking our order so long. I still don’t know what the problem was but it was another ten minutes or so before we were served.
Second, my food was awful. The tamal consisted of two little corn cakes that had been microwaved or something because they were tough and chewy, and I couldn’t cut them with my fork. I also had the pozole which was room temperature at best and contained meat so fatty it was inedible.
Finally, and probably the most disturbing part of our lunch were the flies. Yes, you read that correctly, flies. They were everywhere and I even managed to kill one with my menu. It’s really unappetizing to have a fly land on your nose when you’re taking a bite of some pretty bad food to begin with. Not sure what all the flies were about, but they made an unpleasant experience pretty much unbearable.

I’m only giving this 2 stars because the man who waited on us at the bar was super nice (although why ask if I like my food if you won’t do anything about it when I tell you I didn’t like it at all?). I wonder why they’d have a scallop item as a special when the kitchen clearly does not know how to clean or cook a scallop? I had the special and it was inedible scallop wasn’t cleaned well and was chewy and over cooked. It took them an hour to bring our food which was one special item and my friend had 3 tacos! m, I mean busy or not you should be able to put out your Special and a few tacos in under 60min! I won’t be back.

Menu looks good for brunch. Prices aren’t terrible. Having said that.
This place is pretty dead during a big street event in Boulder. Hour wait at Snooze, no wait here. That is unless you count waiting for someone to greet you when you walk in and waiting for a waiter to show up at your table.
Service, not good. Pretty below par. After ordering, took a long time to get the food out. Again, this place is NOT busy. But still takes forever. Our «server» never even came to our table. Some other guy did and said I’m not your server, but I’ll take your order. Huh?
On the bright side, this is a Latin restaurant. So you get some chips and salsa to hold you over while you wait forever for your food. Nope. Chips and salsa is $ 8!!! Let me repeat that. $ 8 for chips and salsa, an item every other Latin restaurant puts on your table without even asking. Brutal. This place is brutal. Horrible service that there is no accounting for, particularly because there are a million people working here.
Actually got up and walked out. Waited for over an hour without getting anything to eat. When we left, our food had been sitting under the warmer for quite awhile. The manager asked if we wanted it to go. Really? Worst service ever. They had a big party come in 40 minutes after we sat down. Immediately had chips, apps, drinks, etc.
Never again.

The ceviche here is unlike any I’ve ever had, which includes ceviche from Peru, Ecuador, and Chile. It is terrible.
We also ordered the tacos «al pastor». The pork was so salty, I put it down after 1 bite.
Good service, but I had no luck with the food. Try it at your own risk!-
I received a reply from the manager, Stefan D. He was gracious and I believe will act upon the review. I would give them a second chance!

I have nothing to say about the food. We sat for about 10 min with no acknowledgment wait staff at all even though they walked past us a few times. Finally we got up and left.
I told the waitress and hosted as we were leaving why… She was like «are you sure?»
Um… Yeah.
Also: we are not assholes. We don’t typically just get up and leave… Not that that’s there’s anything wrong with that. This was just blatant.

I’d love to give 1.5 stars, broken down as follows:
Service 1.5 — when interacted with, pleasant and helpful
Food 4 — great texture and flavor on the Tostones, garlic could have been better prepped (dice finely)
Manager 0 — the GM couldn’t have been less helpful, more apathetic and generally bored with my experience. Looking at recent reviews, this isn’t unique
I’ll be back at some point because their food is great. Hopefully the 5 people training today make a difference but I’m not holding my breath

Ají’s brunch is great.
You will not be disappointed if you start with a taco, the move on to almost any of their small or large plates.
The Ropa Vieja is particularly good.
Coffee: good
Home Fries: good
Also, we were seated immediately at a nice table on the porch, from which we could see people waiting an hour or more to be seated at Foolish Craig’s and Snooze.
Enjoy.

It was fantastic! I was a little skeptical after some of the other Unilocal reviews, but all my coworkers told me it was too, so I decided to give it a go.
The calamari in the blue corn meal was so delicious! A nice refreshing twist on a classic favorite.
I had the pork enchiladas, and my date had various types of tacos. The enchiladas were a tad on the spicy side, but delicious.
Our waiter was helpful I suggesting drinks and what lot. And we has a very enjoyable experience.

I’ve had food like the food at Aji in other places. It’s not bad. It’s not great. It’s food. It’s fine.
But for the prices? Suddenly it goes from mediocre to unacceptable.
We both had the churrasco special, which is pao de queijo, a starter salad, and an entrée with a choice of meat and two sides. This is by far one of the best «deals» on the menu, and it starts at $ 21 — which is, frankly, what I can pay for an amuse-​bouche, starter, and main course at much nicer places, so it’s not much of a special.
You get one pao de queijo. A single little round bread to start with, with a poorly-​chosen sauce that completely overwhelms the delicate flavor of a pao de queijo. It was pretty good itself, but the sauce nearly ruined it.
The salad is a «Latin Caesar», which, I gather, means combining a Caesar with a Mediterranean salad, to ill effect. It’s a Caesar salad with tomatoes, red onion, kalamata and green olives added. A Caesar salad is a pretty delicate thing — all the flavors of croûton, dressing, parmesan, romaine — they’re very mild. Put olives on that? All you can taste is olive. By now I’m starting to suspect that someone in that kitchen has absolutely no idea how flavors work together.
I had the shrimp, my partner had the chorizo. They come with two sides of your choice. Mine were brussels sprouts with bacon — overcooked, bacon limp, piled on the plate haphazardly under my skewer of shrimp — and «marinated tomatoes,» which, aside from being served inexplicably in a cast-​iron skillet (why? why a cast-​iron skillet for a cold dish?), were utterly inedible. They may have been marinated, but as far as I can tell, it was in straight vinegar.
As for the shrimp — well, congratulations, you didn’t screw up grilling shrimp covered with a spice rub that probably came in a jar. You have now achieved the level of cookery that your average frat brother with an outdoor grill can manage. Forgive me if I don’t applaud.
My partner was equally unimpressed with his dishes. Everything was overspiced, overcooked, and put together with no regard for how flavors work when combined.
And then the check comes, for $ 51. When we’ve each had just the «special» and nothing else? No drinks, no dessert (we weren’t wasting money on mediocre extras, not when the meal was so disappointing). It’s way too much money for such a disappointing experience. I’ve had meals twice as good at Riff’s for half that price.
The only reason it got two stars instead of one is that nothing except the tomatoes was overtly terrible. It was all. .. fine. It was the level of fine you might get from someone’s well-​meaning but not terribly talented parents. You’d eat it, you’d smile politely, you’d be full, you’d forget about it. It’s the part where they hand you a check at the end, like you’ve received a professional experience, that stings.

I really want to give Aji more stars, and I have in the past but after my experience today I felt compelled to write this review in hopes that the management will make the following changes:
1) Please don’t take 40 minutes to serve a drink while the restaurant is nearly empty. It was memorial day, the place had just opened, and we had a big group and a friendly but seemingly inexperienced waiter. Some of us were served our meals before the first round of drinks was received by all.
2) Please don’t serve room-​temperature coffee. We alerted our waiter and it was replaced promptly, but it never should have even made it to the table.
3) Please don’t serve cream for the coffee in a coffee cup. It appears lazy and makes it easy to dump onto the table.
4) Please don’t assign your least experienced waiter to the largest group in the restaurant, regardless of whether it’s his turn, and no matter how friendly he is.
5) When that inexperienced waiter asks for help, (and members of the table request an additional waiter because things are moving very slowly) please give it to him instead of continuing to let him flounder.
6) When the members of the (admittedly large) group ask if separate checks are okay and the friendly (yet inexperienced waiter) says that separate checks would be fine, yet has no idea how to actually facilitate this complex process, please don’t fix the problem by printing a receipt of the 40+ items ordered, setting it on the table, and giving the guests the opportunity to figure it out on their own without help or a menu.
On a positive note, the food was delicious, beautiful and creative as always!
It became clear that the problems with our experience were rooted in dining room management, rather than the simple inabilities of an individual server. This waiter was in over his head from the start and had no backup.
We won’t be back again.

Spectacular. Fantastic. Que Rico.
This place is great! I’ve traveled a good amount in South America and the cuisine served here brought me right back to the tastes of Peru and Bolivia. The sauces are very well prepared and delicious, and they have a very broad and balanced drink menu. I got the empanadas, extremely delicious. Two others in my group got the ceviche and it was authentic, borderline euphoria inducing. Our waiter was a bit busy but still took care of us and had a good knowledge of the foods and their ingredients.
Overall delicious food with a warm environment great for friends, family, or business.