We come here all the time our favourite Japanese restaurant in Melbourne, the chef is a wizard in the kitchen. The food is absolutely delicious and always great quality and fresh ingredients used. Lovely staff always hospitable and friendly would give it ten stars out of five if I could, we love AOBA!
Highly recommend!
Aoba is reasonably priced and the food is always delicious. A pot of green tea and the chefs special will run you around $20 and it's well worth it. Wholesome, authentic Japanese cuisine and a lovely friendly staff.
I love Aoba.
I’m not sure why some in the past have given poor reviews. I have gone to Aoba now probably over 30 times across 5 years and the food and service are consistent and excellent.
Food: Ignoring price, the food is excellent. Their bento boxes are filled with great variety and extremely tasty. Including price, the food is an absolute steal. You’ll rarely spend more than 20 dollars per head.
Staff and service: Aoba is run by a Japanese family who hire staff who all speak Japanese. It’s a cute small atmosphere and feels as if you’ve walked into a suburban Tokyo house for a home cooked dinner. The staff are always friendly and cheerful. I have never had a wrong order, poorly cooked item and the food has always been consistently excellent.
I count Aoba on my top 5 list of favourite restaurants in this town. Whether you’re looking for a cute place for a date or a cheap bite, Aoba should be a default go to.
Fav dishes: Men’s Lunch (only at Lunch) and the GK Box (dinner).
Best no-fuss japanese in Melbourne!
Brilliant for the price. We shared their big plate for 2. $22 each and it was more than we could eat. A good quality selection of food too. More a cafe than a resto. It's been many years since we had such a good meal for so little cost. No alcohol available. Not sure if they do BYO.
Came here for the first time tonight with my family. Aoba is a cozy little boutique restaurant that can only fit about 15 ppl max. We ordered gyoza, takoyaki, sushi, sashimi, karaage, various bento boxes, wafu steak and teriyaki salmon. Everything was delicious and fresh. The wafu steak was a little on the dry side. Tonight, there was only one person running the entire restaurant - from taking orders, cooking and serving as he said his waitress/helper was sick. He managed extremely well given how busy the place was the whole night, so kudos to him for being able to serve up what he did tonight!!! Will definitely be back to eat again in the future!
Cute little Japanese restaurant with friendly staff. The Katsu chicken is delicious! One of the best I've ever had. I will be back to try more.
Aoba is lovely.
The staff are so friendly, so polite, and so darn cheerful. The way that they chat quietly in Japanese behind the counter, I felt like I'd stepped into a little diner in a town in Japan somewhere.
The food is delicious, too, and you get so much of it for quite a reasonable price! Honestly, I'd get anything on the menu, it's all pretty great.
Definitely coming here again!
Hungry Big Potato Bear
+4
Aoba is a lovely small Japanese restaurant. I've tried a variation of their dinner sets, sashimi and homemade ice cream. Everything they have served has not been disappointing.
First impression: small little cafe located on one of the main strips of Malvern. Came here on a Friday night and it was quite busy but the staff were really quick and friendly.
What I had: Chicken udon and my friend had the katsu curry with rice.
Food quality: the chicken was tender which was nice. The broth had a mild flavour, didn't have a strong flavour to it which I enjoyed. Udon was cooked well. The udon serving size was average but the rice dish was a bit on the generous side. Overall quite enjoyed my dish.
Aoba is one of the few places that I’m willing to put my pants on so I can go to on days when I crave fulfilling chicken katsu set. The complementary miso soup is just something that I don’t take for granted because not only it occupies me while waiting for the food (not that it takes long, so far I’ve never experienced long waiting), but it also helps filling my hungry tummy who’s been patient throughout the journey from south yarra to malvern just for this bento box. It’s all worth it when I have finished my meal. I recommend this :)
It was a warm and friendly restaurant
1 chef and 2 staff
The staff recommended Aoba set $18 and hubby wants dinner set $29 that has a bit of everything. Kids want to try on sushi entree platter $15.
The sashimi is cut beautifully and evenly. Presented well. SUPER LOVE the wasabi. Seems it’s a level higher than those in sushi train restaurant.
Generous portion
Love the aoba set. It comes with big massive chicken katsu and a bit of everything
The seaweed salad is a big thumbs up. Super yummy. And the gyoza as well.
Hubby loves the pork chop in the dinner set
Again it’s a bit of everything.
Kids love the food here. Devoured everything
They provide kids cutleries and cup.
We finished up with black sesame ice cream $4 and green tea ice cream $4. It is nice!!!!!!
Staff and chef are very friendly.
We will come back.
A cosy, small, but surprising place. The service was friendly by the waitress and the chef. The food options are well thought out. The quality of the chicken in the Katsu curry was phenomenal. Very very soft. The quantity was decent. The prices were reasonable. The seating was quite uncomfortable. Thanks for the experience.
Most humble owner you will ever meet. Fast service and great quality food. You can absolute order anything on the menu and won’t disappoint
I have been this place when we lived. it was cosy, warm with it has right flavour Japanesey food like home cook. we went there after lockdown. somehow it has changed. Not very friendly staff but friendly to local people. it has changed a lot.
Some of the best customer service and Japanese food you can find in Melbourne. I had the Aoba Box (bento) with kara age chicken for dinner and it was delicious. The meal was reasonably priced and very filling. I will be coming back for sure to try the daily lunch menu! Tasty gyoza 🥟 juicy, crispy chicken 🍗 fresh salad with sesame (goma) dressing 🥬
Came here for a quick meal with a friend. We both had the Aoba box, one fish and chicken. The food was delicious and the serving size was decent, we didn’t leave feeling hungry.
It’s not over priced and the service was friendly.
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