Years ago, the lobby of the downtown San Jose Fairmont Hotel was elegant if a tad sleepy. But since taking over that prime spot in 2022, the luxurious Signia by Hilton Hotel has transformed that space into a splashy, happening restaurant, Aji Bar and Robata.

Done up with loungey couches, an artsy angular chandelier, arches galore, and a horseshoe-shaped bar that’s dramatically lighted underneath, the restaurant serves Nikkei or Japanese-Peruvian cuisine. On Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, there’s also a DJ or live music.

I had a chance to dine there last Thursday, a more sedate night in comparison, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

Executive Chef Joe Derla oversees Aji, as well as all other food operations at the hotel. Raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, he may have been destined to be a chef — even if at one point he trained to be a Nascar driver. After all, his mother was a chef (and his dad the chief of police). One of nine children, Derla and all of his five brothers are all chefs. Talk about runs in the family.

The name of the restaurant works two ways: Aji can be pronounced “ah-hee” as in the Japanese word for “taste” or “ah-jee” as in the Peruvian word for “spicy pepper.”

Mull on your preference for pronunciation as you sip one of the specialty cocktails, such as the lavender-hued Murasaki Empress ($20), which gets its Fairy Tale color from Empress gin. Lavender syrup gives it a lovely floral quality while lime juice adds just enough acidity to round things out.

If you order the Rising Sun ($20) — a blend of Toki Japanese whiskey, yuzu syrup, and lime juice with a float of red wine — you’re in for a show at your table when the orange peel garnish is flamed by the server after it’s set down before you. The fire ignites the natural oils in the skin of the orange to impart a lovely bitter orange note to this smoky, woodsy, and citrusy cocktail.

Just try to resist filling up on the addictive bar mix of wasabi peas and nuts that’s set down to nibble on with the drinks.

The food is made for sharing, though you might just want to hoard both bao buns ($20) because they are just that satisfying. The clamshell buns cradle boneless crispy fried chicken in a saucy mix of aji verde and gochujang barbecue sauce that’s sweet and spicy. A garnish of kimchi cucumbers and daikon can be tucked inside, too.

Potstickers ($18) are filled with juicy lemongrass chicken and arranged on a pool mild ginger citrus miso sauce and drizzled with a moderately spicy aji amarillo sauce.

The tempura basket ($20) is all shrimp — half a dozen to be exact — served with both a traditional Japanese ginger dashi sauce and a Latin cilantro verde sauce. Uncooked soba noodles get battered and fried, too, creating not only a pretty almost cherry blossom-like garnish but a clever crunchy snack, too. The tempura shrimp were thoroughly crispy on the outside, but the underside of the coating a little gummy in texture, perhaps because the batter might have been thicker than usual.

One section of the menu is devoted to items cooked over blazing binchotan. The Angus beef skewers ($25), two to an order, are very tender. They’re smoky, a little spicy and a little sweet, having been marinated with Okinawan black sugar and finished with a gochujang barbecue sauce. Crushed wasabi peas and sesame seeds get strewn over for hits of crunchiness.

From the sushi rolls on offer, we tried the hamachi & mango ($19), done up with red and green tobiko on top. The mango was pretty subtle, so you needn’t fear biting into an uncharacteristically sweet maki roll. The salmon tataki ($19) was more memorable with the seared salmon adding a wonderful smoky touch in contrast to the fresh and bright cucumber and avocado, as well as the creamy yuzu wasabi sauce.

For dessert, the vanilla yuzu flan ($15) with mixed berries and raspberry sauce was light tasting with a refreshing floral citrus taste. It’s not what you think of when you imagine “flan,” though. Rather than a quivering, smooth eggy custard, it was slightly denser with a texture more of a not-quite-silky pudding set with gelatin.

Before dinner, I had a tour of the hotel, which included getting to step inside the Presidential Suite. Expansive with a huge bedroom, kitchen, walk-in closet, and large living room, it’s posh to be sure — like the magazine cover-ready penthouse apartment we all wish we could call home.

Come August, look for the hotel to debut a new breakfast, brunch, and lunch menu at its other restaurant, the Fountain. This month, it will also open the roof-top Altura Kitchen & Bar to serve guests at the pool.

Unlike the Fairmont back in the day, there is no self-parking at the hotel now. So, just be aware that valet parking is a steep, big-city $47. However, you can save a little by visiting for Happy Hour, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Thursday, when select appetizers and drinks are discounted. Or take advantage of the last days of the ongoing 16th Annual Dine Downtown promotion, when Aji’s Happy Hour prices are extended tonight and Saturday, July 20 to midnight.