Aoba Sushi

Denver, United States

4.1

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 720-242-7002
Website:
www.aobasushidenver.com
Address:
1520 Blake St, Denver, CO, 80202
Northwest, Lodo
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
350 ftMarket
560 ftWazee
740 ftLarimer
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Accepts Bitcoin
No
Good For
Dinner
Parking
Street
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Quiet
Alcohol
Beer & Wine Only
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Denver) 2:34 AM Monday, May 19, 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Friday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 11:00 pm
Saturday 3:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Sunday 3:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Description

Specialties

We offer Omakase (courses chosen by chef), authentic ramen, The finest specialty fish flown in from around the world, innovative modern sushi created with the spirit of traditional Japanese cooking.

History

Established in 2012.

One day 1999, after being a Sushi Chef in Tokyo for 10 years, I wonder, how and in what style the traditional Japanese Sushi culture can be presented to multi-​cultured Americans? With this thought and curiosity, I came to New York and I worked as a sushi chef in New York for 11 more years.

In 2010, I came to Denver visiting friends, and fell in love with this city immediately. I started to think of relocating to Denver. I also visited the Sushi bars in Denver to experiences the life of a Sushi Chef in Denver. Surprisingly, I found that people here love sushi very much, and this finding made me very happy.

In 2012, I gathered a professional team to start Aoba Sushi, a unique and stylish sushi restaurant.

Meet the Business Owner

Ken Z.

Business Owner

Umami 旨味The Land & Sea fall in love naturally, harmoniously blending their ingredients to bring out a delightful savory taste.

Mochi aji 持ち味 We enhance the natural flavors of our ingredients.

Shyokunin gokoro 職人心 Our experienced chefs create each dish, delicately refining perfection itself by taking from their own heart and soul.

Asobi gokoro 遊び心 A sense of fun to create new sushi based on the spirit of traditional Japanese cooking, combine with global cooking techniques and ingredients.

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20 reviews of Aoba Sushi

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Concord, NC
I had dinner alone while in town and the waiter was wonderful! I am newer to sushi and had a lot of questions. He helped me select some delusions sushi, slightly out of my comfort zone but well worth it! Who knew Eel could taste so good!
Place rating: 4
Alpharetta, GA
Great spot in downtown Denver for a unique style of sushi. We stop here once a year on our way to Breck and our timing is such we are able to take advantage of great happy hour specials before 6:00.
Even though we like the sushi and the service and the food is always excellent, our preference would be for more selection of uncooked sushi and sashimi and less of the seared style.
Place rating: 4
New York, NY
A fantastic sushi spot in the middle of Denver. They make «aburi sushi» here, which is like a piece of sushi fish very lightly seared or grilled. A must try.
Place rating: 4
Denver, CO
Not as trendy as Hapa but the closest thing to the sushi you can order in Japan. The sushi chefs proportion of rice to fish is perfect and the fish is very fresh. They also have some creative rolls that are spot on. I never understand why this place is less busy than hapa.
Place rating: 4
Glenwood Springs, CO
8 of us enjoyed a nice meal. Good prices and all the food we ordered was enjoyed. The sushi was fresh, tasty presented well. We also all had ramen and gyoza both i recommend. Some in our party were disappointed with the Saki. I would have given 5 stars but men’s restroom wasn’t clean enough. There is another sushi place next door and we like Aoba better. We will come back.
Place rating: 3
Fort Collins, CO
They were really good about figuring out the food allergies for one of our kids and mentioned milk was in their batter/​sauce used for chicken kirage and chicken teriyaki. The agedashi tofu/​eggplant appetizer was really good. My ramen came out lukewarm and tasted really like chinese soup broth (ramen supposed to be served piping hot), so wasn’t authentic and more asian fusion. The hamachi in wife’s sashimi dish wasn’t that fresh, so wife didn’t eat it. Normally hamachi is one of her favorites.
They have a really extensive bar/​drink list for those who like that.
They were friendly and took our reservations.
Place rating: 3
Carlsbad, CA
Food was ok. I guess I’m a little spoiled coming from CA where the seafood is fresh, however I was a little thrown off by the service and speed. I ordered the spicy tuna roll, miso soup and salmon roll. I got the miso soup first and waited for about 35 mins before the rolls came out. Once I got the sushi rolls it looked as if a 3 year old had done it. The rolls were unraveling and falling apart before I even touched it. The taste of the food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. My spicy tuna wasn’t even spicy…
My advice: if you are from the west coast… I would reconsider eating here
Place rating: 4
Arvada, CO
Affordable good tasting sushi. I love the taste of fresh fish and to keep it simple. Aoba doesn’t tempura any other roleson the outside but do stuff some of their rolls with tempura covered shrimp for another item. Their service is always amazing and are very accommodating to me bringing my three children in as well. They are reasonably fast and I always leave happy.
Place rating: 5
Los Angeles, CA
The food is really great here! Thanks Unilocal for finding it! We stayed 2 nights in Denver and wanted to find nice sushi place. And this place was no disappointing ! Fancy Dragon is a must. We also had Sex on the beach roll, but dragon is still the best! Japanese strawberry soda is great ! And mango Mochi so yummy:) Even the service wasn’t too quick, still nice atmosphere and great food. So 5 stars as to me !
Place rating: 5
Denver, CO
I absolutely LOVE this place and am always so surprised that there are more people next door at Hapa than here, where the quality is clearly superior. The staff is very friendly and knowledgable and the restaurant is very clean with a relaxing atmosphere.
Now for the good stuff: sushi! Aoba boasts some of the freshest, best cuts of fish with very creative presentation for their sashimi. There is quite a selection of rolls and ones that are more unique than other places I have been. Ken, the owner, is wonderful and such a pleasure to chat with. I would highly recommend Aoba for lunch, dinner, happy hour, anytime!
Place rating: 5
Las Vegas, NV
Nice place, good atmosphere. We sat at the bar, sushi chefs were friendly and ready to answer questions. Got the volcano roll, sex on the beach roll, mini hand rolls and miso soup — everything was very tasty! Our server lady was good but a smile never hurts anybody! :)
Place rating: 3
Cincinnati, OH
Sushi roll menu too limited. Special rolls are expensive. Unless you like smoked salmon or tempura you won’t find much else on the menu.
Service also gets a C. The personalities aren’t friendly enough.
Place rating: 5
Denver, CO
This is my ramen place… Rich, but not greasy, with lots of flavor in the broth, noodles and egg! Really excellent; on par with what I’ve had in NYC. Much better execution than I’ve seen at other places in Denver.
Oh and the sushi is excellent too!
Place rating: 3
Sacramento, CA
In Denver for Labor Day weekend. Renting a condo right next to this spot and was dying for some ramen. I’ll start by saying the ramen was decent and the waitress was friendly.
The hostess. was NOT the mostest. The place was basically empty but I took her forever to come to the front to seat us. We asked to sit outside and she told us to go ahead, and walked away. So we grabbed our own menus and never saw from her again.
The waitress came out about 7 minutes later and said the hostess never told her we were outside.
Asked the waitress for extra veggies in our «veggie» ramen and got 1 bok choy and a LOT of mushrooms.
I almost never complain on here and the food was decent enough. Over priced for what we got and unfortunate staffing :(
Place rating: 2
San Diego, CA
Service was great. And the ambiance was relaxing, good date night spot. The udon was not good.
Note: my date and I did not order sushi so the stars do not reflect their sushi bar.
Let me start by saying this is a Japanese fusion restaurant, not an authentic Japanese restaurant. I was craving udon, so we ordered their noodles. My date got the miso ton-​kuro and added kobe beef ($ 19), he really enjoyed it. I ordered the udon with assorted tempura ($ 14)… it was basically a mix of fish broth and tempura sauce (salty) with udon noodles, some seaweed and mushrooms, missing the fish cake noted on the menu. The tempura was battered in something other than tempura batter, more like beer batter for your fish and chips… I had a bite and that was it. Wasn’t satisfied with this dish at all. I also ordered the tamago nigiri ($ 4) and was also disappointed as it wasn’t the typical sweet egg you get and was overly fried/​cooked. Green tea ($ 2) was ok, made from match a powder but not anything super.
As someone who grew up in a Japanese household this place would not cut it, maybe it’s just Denver doesn’t have great Japanese cuisine?
Place rating: 5
Houston, TX
Aoba was our favorite stop in Denver. The service is fast and friendly. Our server was very knowledgable and was able to answer all our questions and even made great recommendations. We had the hand rolls, D type sushi (basically nigiri but the rice is deep fried), dinner sashimi platter, and sex on the beach and a second roll that wasn’t memorable (it had mango inside of it).
My favorites include the sashimi (super fresh), D type sushi, and sex on the beach. We really enjoyed everything. The fish tasted very fresh. I would definitely come back here.
Place rating: 5
Scottsdale, AZ
Tried this place tonight based on reviews from you fellow « Unilocalers.» In town on business and this place is only a $ 5 Über trip from the Marriott City Center.
Service and staff was top notch from start to finish. I sat at the sushi bar and was the only one there, while most tables were occupied. Nice crowd. Not too busy or loud.
I ordered white tuna and salmon sashimi and an eel avocado roll. The tuna and salmon melted in my mouth. The roll was right on par. I really like that this place uses nice chopsticks and not the wooden crap you get in a lot of sushi restaurants. Enjoyed a Sapporo Light to top it off.
Not much food, I wasn’t too hungry. All in $ 31 with 20% tip. Really enjoyed the whole experience. I will definitely be frequenting this place. Only wish YH were here.
Highly recommend. Arigato!
Place rating: 5
Denver, CO
Seriously y’all, this place is AWESOME!
ATMOSPHERE: Trendy, but not obnoxiously so. Impeccably clean and not overly crowded. I hate when they (seemingly) jam as many tables and chairs as possible into a place. I mean I love talking to strangers, but they don’t always love me… So I like to have my space!
SERVICE: This girl was fabulous! (I should have gotten her name.) We went Saturday, which was my husbands birthday, and she really went out of her way to make it as fun and special as possible. She spent a ton of time explaining the special items and answering questions. Turns out they fly the fish in first class from Japan daily. (Ok, I’m kidding about the first class thing. I just like to imagine a salmon sitting in the front of a commercial airplane.)
FOOD: My favorite part… Needless to say the fish was incredibly fresh tasting. I am ashamed to say, but I don’t generally like sushi due to the «fishiness.» However. everything I tried was super tasty and smooth. The salmon had the mouth feel of butter, so good. I ordered steak because I’m not usually a fish fan and it was also wonderful. Cooked to perfect medium rare and just the right amount of teriyaki. The rest of my party had sushi and like I said this place might have converted me. Not to mention the extreme affordability of the food. My sister in law ordered a sushi dinner platter which came with a variety of really good quality, beautiful sushi… $ 20!
Overall this place is incredible and reasonable and I can’t wait to go back and try more sushi!
Place rating: 3
Denver, CO
Aoba Sushi sits quietly on Blake Street near Hapa Sushi; kind of wonder how they manage to stay in business being so close to another sushi place.
I came to Aoba for lunch with my friend; it was a nice late summer/​early autumn afternoon so we sat outside. Service was great for lunchtime, but then again the restaurant was not too busy. I was not in the mood for sushi, so I decided to instead go for the ramen.
That was a less-​than-​stellar choice: the broth was overly salty and the noodles were soggy/​mushy. I still ate my ramen (hey, I was hungry), but I wish I had ordered something else. My friend had their sushi and it looked fresh enough; perhaps I should have opted for sushi after all.
I’ll try Aoba out again, but next time I’ll go for something other than ramen.
Place rating: 5
Denver, CO
Do this: eat at Aoba
Do this: eat here for happy hour
Do this: eat here for lunch
Do this: ask John to order you all his favorite things
Know this: all their sauces are made in house. That’s right folks — even the wasabi and soy sauce.
I can’t think of a single don’t so just do it all.
Warning: for those of you who say their sushi is «just ok» and not «exceptional,» you’re dumb and need a tongue transplant and are probably used to eating cheap sushi at sum yung guys and don’t know a fresh fish flown in from japan that morning. Pitty.