Ariang Japanese Steakhouse

Ariang Japanese Steakhouse is located in Woodbridge, VA and offers a wide selection of sushi, bento boxes, hibachi, and other Japanese fare.  The interior is casual, and not as crowded for lunch, which is where we decided to treat my mom for Mother's Day this year.

She had been to this restaurant before with friends, and liked the sushi offerings, so we gave it a shot.  Our server was a bit grumpy, and barely said hi.  My dad thought he was just annoyed with having to work on a Saturday.  Oh well - not our problem, buddy!  Anywho, my dad and Keith ordered Asahi beer, while my mom treated herself to a virgin pina colada.  My mom had already studied the menu and picked a few appetizers to share.

 

We started with the Grilled Garlic Calamari.  We were a little disappointed with this dish, as more vegetables than squid filled the plate, and all were covered with a garlic teriyaki wasabi sauce.  I took one bite, and that was enough for me.

 

She also picked the Shumai - steamed shrimp dumplings.  Normally, I really like shumai.  However these were soggy, limp, and flavorless.  They seemed to be frozen that were just microwaved.  Yuck!  And the sauce was a watery-peanuty-salad dressing-mystery.

 

For our main dish, my mom and I ordered the same thing - Ariang's Deluxe.  This combination of 5 pieces sushi and 11 pieces sashimi is chosen by the chef based on the daily offerings.  Today featured, tuna, white tuna, red snapper, and salmon.  It is supposed to come with California roll, but today we got Spicy Tuna Roll. The sushi was decent, but I wish we had better quality fish (the imitation crab is a total cop out, in my opinion.)  The dish is served with with miso soup and salad, which would have been plenty of appetizers for me, and much preferred over the other items we ordered.

 

As an additional side for the table to share, my mom ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice.  It had pieces of canned pineapple, zucchini, broccoli, egg, and chicken.  It tasted okay, but was a little heavy with oil and sauce.

 

My dad and Keith each ordered the Hibachi Rib-Eye Steak, also served with miso soup and salad, as well as a side of noodles, shrimp sampler, and assorted vegetables.  They both ordered the meat medium-rare, and were expecting nice slices of steak that were freshly grilled on a hibachi.  The menu noted it would be grilled 'in the back kitchen' and just served table-side.  Sadly, the plate arrived looking more like sorry cubes of steak drowned in a sweet teriyaki sauce.  Where did this sauce come from? Where are the sear marks from the grill?  Only two pieces of shrimp?!  Booo.  Later, I saw there is a teriykai rib-eye steak option on the menu - so I am wondering if the kitchen simply messed up their order.  Doubt my dad will return to find out, though.

Needless to say, we left underwhelmed and a bit disappointed.  My mom thought she'd give the restaurant one more try (as the chicken katsu caught her eye), but after that, then she'd rather try some place else.  Oh well, at least the company was good and my mom enjoyed her Mother's Day lunch out with us.

Total Rating: 3.1
Food: 3, Price: 3.5, Service: 3, Ambience: 2.5, Accessibility: 4

What I ate:

Grilled Garlic Calamari
whole calamari grilled with garlic teriyaki wasabi sauce

Shumai
steamed shrimp dumplings

 Ariang's Deluxe
combination of 5 pcs sushi, 11 pcs sashimi & California roll
served with soup & salad

 Pineapple Fried Rice

Plus Keith ate:

Hibachi Rib-Eye Steak
served with soup & salad,
side noodles, shrimp sampler, and assorted vegetables