Azia & Caterpillar Lounge

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After visiting Azia for the sixth time, I had to write up my findings so others can be informed before visiting. In late July in MN the weather can be completely unpredictable, and Azia has no air conditioning. If you are going to eat there don't order anything spicey because you will be dripping sweat. The menu at Azia has a lot to offer but the consistency was absent from my second visit onward. Ordering the jalepeno walleye the first three times I visited Azia it was substantially different every time. Moving on to other menu items I experienced the same inconsistencies from the crab cakes to the sushi rolls. Ensure you ask your server what cuts of sushi they are out of PRIOR to ordering. All six times I have been to Azia it's an ordering fiasco. Hence I went back to dishes I already ordered due to lack of inventory all on Friday evenings. The service seemed to be knowledgeable on the menu items and pushing hard what items the kitchen wanted sold that night. Ordering drinks from the bar takes some time so ensure when they offer you a second when your only half empty take them up on it. I will focus on July 29th service. There were several times i got up to find either our waiter or the hostess to find him. They are pushing the new location that is opening downtown at least 9 times in the 2 hours we were there, just annoying. I did speak with the manager at the end of the evening and he offered no solution to the issues i presented to him. There did seem to be a language barrier so i am not sure if he understood our concerns. Again, all he could push was the new location downtown and give them another try. On a $250 tab for four I will not be going to the new location. Inconsistency, poor service, lack of management and disregard for patrons Azia will last only several more years. Pros: diverse menu Cons: High prices, spotty service, NO A/C more

The food is overly sweet - WAY too much sugar in most entrees. The other night I had a crab noodle salad, and it literally tasted as if someone had poured sugar syrup all over it. The chef's palate must be shot.\r \r Five years ago, Azia was one of my favorite dining spots. Now, the food has grown less impressive and the sugar in each savory entree grows more overpowering with each visit. My visits grow longer in time in between. The added sushi bar isn't anything spectacular. If you go, enjoy the music at Caterpillar Lounge - that's the one savior of this venue. Pros: great happy hour Cons: Food is way too sweet more

Dined here on a nice Sunday evening & were able to sit outside - a bonus. Overall, the service was attentive and polite, which was impressive. It wasn't terribly busy; however, food and drinks seemed to take a while. We got lucky & got happy hour prices on the drinks, but the food prices seem to be too steep for what is served. I agree with other reviews that food of the same or better quality can be had at other places for a more reasonable price. Didn't try the sushi, so I can't speak about that...the mussels were pretty good, but the noodle dish was pretty salty. Almost immediately after trying the noodle dish, I had a reaction that I normally only have when I eat food that contains MSG. The waiter assured me that ""we don't add MSG to our food""....not sure if that means that some pre-prepared items contain MSG or not. Ultimately, I cannot be sure that the food contained MSG, but I was highly suspicious. Probably wouldn't return for dinner. Pros: nice ambience, outdoor seating, courteous staff Cons: over-priced more

I am a regular customer at Azia and find the entire management and staff to be exceptional. I have had the pleasure to have met Paulo Morales and find him to be extremely professional, educated in the food industry and management, and is extremely customer service orientated. He is top of the line! Azia is lucky to have him!\r Maybe your behavior brought on the bad experiences at Azia. If the card was charged twice,it was an error. \r Azia is first class. Paulo and staff are incredible, service oriented and educated in the food industry. Paulo ensures all customers leave satified and happy with the food and service. Food, by the way is incredible! \r Maybe McDonalds would be a better choice for you in the future. more

Kitty, our waiter was awesome and made sure we had the best night! Thanks Pros: Great food, awesome staff Cons: Not one thing.... more

Not sure what happened to the food, but in the past few weeks it has just gone down hill more

We came in after meaning to for years. Food was really great (but I still like the spring rolls at most Vietnamese places a little better). The cranberry curry chicken was to die for. Get that! Hubby-bubbo had the steak (YES STEAK! at an Asian restaurant) and loved it. Pros: Amazing Menu Cons: Waited for a table more

I've visited Azia many times over the past several years, and have always found it to be, well... sort of magical. But it wasn't until my last visit that I was so prompted to write it a love letter. I don't know what they're doing lately, (and I must admit that about six months to a year ago I had a not-so-great experience.) But wow! If she ever left, she certainly is back! The food is as good or better than I'd ever remembered, and the drinks (especially the ""007"") were exquisite. But this time, I noticed this serene mystique in everything that's pretty unique to this restaurant. It's there in just about everything... the staff, the treatment, the lights, the booze... like she's hit some stride in her golden years or something. I don't know. Azia has become (or maybe she always was) well... simply magical. more

I understand that when you dine with a large group of individuals it will be difficult. I understand that on a busy Sat. night, service will be slow. What I don't understand is... How you as a waiter/waitress, not know that you ""MIGHT"" need to seperate the bill in a big group of 10-15 people to make the transaction easier. Let me make this simple about this overpriced, foot up the ass, high class restaurant. The food sucked, the prices were not for the faint of heart, and waitress saw a big group of people =20% tip, no matter what kinda of service she gave. My recomendation... spend $20 -$40 a person on something else more meaningfull. Pros: the ambiance Cons: the food, the service more

My advice, if you are in a large group, go else where. The food is over priced and we had very bad service. Chicken Pad Thai Cost $18 and it was not even good. There was a group of 14 celebrating two birthdays and we various people buying appetizers, dinner, and drinks. Throught the dinner, our waitress was missing and it took forever for her to return with drink orders. We spent almost three hours waiting for dinner and our bill. When the bill came at the end of the night, the waitress did not split the bill out amoungst the guests. She left the bill and went missing in action. I had to ask the water boy to find her. When she returned, we asked her to split the bill and she stated that she did not remember what people had ordered and was going to go around asking everyone what they had ordered. I cannot believe that the restaurant would have someone so un-organized serve a large group. My advice is if you want to eat over priced food and have bad service, go here. Cons: Bad Service and Overpriced more

I enjoy a good sake, and this place has got an amazing selection. Go during happy hour and get a ton of appetizers and a flight of sake, you will be happy you did. Their cranberry cream cheese wontons are out of this world as is all of their other food. We just order one of each on the menu in a large group and pass things around family style. I love the decor and service as well! Pros: great ambiance, fantastic food Cons: sake was pricey, parking is scarce more

I went in because I was craving sushi and was in the eat street area. I thought I would try out Azia's sushi bar. When I came in, the server and rest of the staff were chatting very loudly and simply put the way the server interacted with me made me feel very awkward. I ordered hotate, unagi, maguro, ika, green tea, and miso soup. Then I got the food. First of all, the miso soup was RED and the ingredients were so coursely chopped that it was hard to enjoy the soup. I understood that it's a ""fusion"" miso soup, but really they spoiled a good thing and for $5.50 (who ever heard of miso soup being that expensive?). The sushi took forever to come out and the cuts of fish were generous but the sushi rice was UNDERCOOKED! Absolute DISGRACE! There were bits of hard rice which is horrible in the mouth especially when you are trying to enjoy the delicate flavors of the raw fish. Then the worst part, I got the bill and it was $50! They charged me $6 for a pot of green tea, which is horrendous for just hot water. And the sushi was probably $4-$5 more expensive than any of the other good quality sushi restaurants like Origami, Nami, and Sakura. The worst price was their uni at $11 whereas at Nami it is $6.75. The quality of their fish that day was on par with other restaurants but it is not worth paying double and it is certainly not worth getting undercooked rice. Maybe I came in at the wrong time or day but my experience was absolutely dissatisfying. I'm sure the other ""fusion"" dishes at this restaurant are fine and the atmosphere is pretty hip but they do not deserve to have a sushi bar. Pros: nice atmosphere Cons: high price, mediocre service, bad sushi more

September 09, 2009 - I HAD THE WORST DINING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE AT AZIA RESTAURANT! My husband and I celebrated his B-Day at AZIA 2 nights in a row. The first night we were joined by his friends and our family, and everyone had a great time. When we went back the second night, my husband accidentally ordered raw fish for dinner, all of our appetizers, so far that night had been cooked Sushi and our waiter did not inform us that, Sushimi is raw fish. alone. The waiter was snotty and rude and told us we would have to pay for the uneaten fish, than the manager PAOLO MORALES came over to ask me about the problem. I told him that we had been there two nights in a row and we had already spent a considerable amount of money and we were willing to pay for what we had eaten but not the raw fish which hadn't been touched. Unbelievably, I was unable to reason with the manager PAOLO MORALES. He became completely agitated and told me that if didn't pay the entire amount he would call the police on us, SO I decided to call the police first. The POLICE came. 2 SQUAD CARS, 3 OFFICERS. The police sided with us. One of the officers took my card and allowed PAOLO MORALES, TO SWIPE MY CARD, FOR THE AGREED AMOUNT OF $51.11. I noticed PAOLO MORALES quickly wrote something down and I became immediately suspicious. I asked the Officer what he was writing down and he said, probably your name, just as a scare tactic, AZIA HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE YOU TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT, BUT I DOUBT THAT THEY WILL. Unbelievable! Now you think that would be the end of that but my husband and I left and I checked my account about 15 to 20 min. later and my account had been considerably drained. OF COURSE I FREAKED OUT. In the morning I figured out that AZIA had charged my account TWICE! The first initial transaction, in front of MPLS'S FINEST and the second, not swiped, typed in, after we left. THE SECOND TRANSACTION, THE ONE MADE AFTER WE LEFT AZIA WAS FOR $2214.50. You would think TOM PHAM, owner of AZIA would have returned our money immediately and fire manager PAOLO MORALES but he did neither. It took 5 days for AZIA to return the money and TOM PHAM TOLD ME IN THIS ECONOMY I WOULDN'T WANT TO FIRE ANYONE, SO I'M HERE TO TELL EVERYONE, IN THIS ECONOMY DON'T GO TO AZIA, THEY HAVE TERRIBLE POLICIES AND THEY HAVE SHADY PEOPLE WORKING FOR THEM, AND IF YOU DO DECIDE TO GO THERE, DON'T USE YOUR CARD OR YOU MIGHT END UP WITH A DRAINED BANK ACCOUNT. Cons: SHADY MANAGEMENT AND OWNER more

When we send sushi back because the fish is too old, we don't need a 5 minute lecture on why we're wrong. We're guests and should never be treated as such. Very rude management, never going back. Pros: Good drinks, waiter was nice. Cons: Managment was adament about us being wrong. more

3 of my favorite things, all under 1 roof! \r \r 1. The best happy hour in town! It happens twice a day from 3pm-6pm & from 10pm-2am. Although I'm usually at work during the earlier, I make it as often as I can to the late night!\r \r 2. My favorite patio for people watching! Sure, Uptown has some great corners and spots - but the patio at Azia makes for an uncomparable experience! Great food, and unbeatable views!\r \r 3. Sushi! I love sushi, and the creativity of some of the rolls is second to none! Add on top the freshness of the fish itself & that 2 of the rolls are available during happy hour - and BOOM! We've got a winner! Pros: Happy Hour, Patio, Sushi Cons: Busy Weekends more

First, this is a go-to place for me...and a short walk from home. But a visit last week had me scratching my head: why do I ALWAYS need to ask for the happy hour menu during happy hour, and what is that god-awful reek near the bathrooms? The managers are always pros, but this bit about the HH menu irks me: do you want people to drop $$ when they can or not? Please reconsider your water element near the bathrooms (or work on a filtration system), and give the latter a good bleaching. The rank smell seriously ruined my appetite. Pros: atmosphere, location Cons: service, cleanliness more

I wish I wanted to eat there, but I don't, and I won't. \r \r What is served and the manner in which it is served are unbelievable. \r \r Check it out. There's a good chance you'll be just as unlucky and disappointed as I have been.\r \r Bon appetit Pros: Ambience Cons: Service and Quality more

Seriously I just ordered a soda water. You know? Water with bubbles??? They charged me four dollars for it. At least give me a bottle of perrier or something. Don't pull the gun from the tap and give me a glass of water and charge me four dollars. Outrageous. Never again more

I love the atmosphere, food, service, selection (3 menus to choose from). I always get the BEST wontons in town, they are cranberry and semi-spicy. SO good. I then get a spicy tuna or caterpiller roll, then I get the steak/potatoes and then I go for one of the best desserts in town. Seriously the banana rolls and especially the almond joy are NOT to be missed. Go with a friend and share everything. more