Akaiito Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Thought I would be the non- ordinary person who would place this review for Akaiito, but I’ve changed my mind after seeing all those bad reviews for the last one week. First of all, ‘Salute’ to those who have rated 5 stars without commenting any. You guys have done a ‘great’ job. I’ll be joining the negative’s squad and sharing my sincere opinion.

Let’s recall some memories before the long story begins. My reservation was made under ‘Chee Yung Siau’ for two persons at 8pm on Tuesday 29/12/20. I was impressed with the interior when I first stepped in, warm and friendly greeting was given by the lovely host and sat us down at the third table on the left next to the entrance. Luzerne brand crafted potteries were served, yet a disposable chopstick was totally unmatched with the whole setting. Beverage list was given to start with and we were told that the waitress will serve us shortly. A new table of 4 came in after we placed the beverage order, however they’ve gotten the food menu before us and I would have to request for food menu after a few minutes wait.

Price, food quality, portion size and food concept are unparalleled. Different menu was given compared with official website’s menu, fine dining food concept yet ‘meh’ flavour. $55 per person 3 small & 3 large sharing dishes sounds reasonable, but additional side dish’s price was overpriced. 15 pieces sashimi cost $42 which we could get way better quality and quantity elsewhere. Both wagyu tataki and wagyu steak did not meet my expectation (official website shown MB6+ yet the menu shown MB3+), same $55 per person yet lower grade ingredients provided. We had lamb ribs for second large dish yet official website shown lamb skewers instead( to prove the difference between both menus)

Wait staff service was unsatisfied. The only waitress with full black attire and walkie talkie holding along, barely smile to us and her way of dropping off the food was impolite. Not much food explanation given, it was as simply as:” scallop, tooth fish” or “lamb ribs”. We were bored enough to observe how the other tables being served, and realize the service from the same waitress on other table was attentive and passionate(maybe they’re Australian and we’re are Asian?). Despite the restaurant was nearly occupied with crowd, yet I would expect more table service provided with the price expectation, especially no menu explanation given at the beginning of the service.

Food quality wise, lack seasoning(most dishes). Lamb ribs, chewy and meatless. Sashimi, $42 for 15 pieces with 5 options(maguro, salmon, scallop, kingfish, the last one I assume it’s swordfish as the same waitress missed explained that particular type). With this price being charged I would expect different cuts or higher grade of fish(such as toro salmon).

Last but not least, when we asked for the bill, the oyster was charged $28 for 4 pieces(menu mentioned $4.20 each, which should be $16.80 in total). We advised a different wait staff there could be some mistake with the price, thank god she was kind enough to follow up. However she brought us the same receipt and explained the issue with the system(the price was still the same $28). Again, we advised her the same problem. Then she realized the wrong receipt was provided to us and she took out a squashed copy from her pocket given to us. She was laughing and asked if that’s alright for us(I would expect her to print out another new copy at least). With all the negative experiences throughout the whole dining period, I have gave up to request for more or commenting any.

Overall, terrible experience besides the lovely host at the beginning. It’s been awhile since I typed message in details. Hopefully that’s more than enough to comment despite I have more to share. $200 Of dinner I could spend at one hatted restaurant with proper table service and decent amount of food. I would expect a lot more than what I...

This was my last ever meal with my friend as this was meant to be a farewell dinner as she is permanently moving interstate. She had always wanted to try this restaurant since moving to Melbourne 4 years ago and we were both very disappointed with the service we were given. Felt uncomfortable taking photos because both the wait staff and chefs were actively staring. Also every single staff member was wearing something different so I'm guessing there's no uniform(?). Disposable chopsticks at a fine dining venue(?). Tables super close to each other, there was no privacy as we heard the other customers' conversations throughout the whole duration and probably vice versa. The music was a lot of old top 40 hits, which was played quite loudly and didn't suit the atmosphere of the restaurant at all. We ordered the truffle fried rice. The rice came hard and stuck together, and got stuck in our teeth when trying to eat. My friend passed on this feedback to the waiter, in which he offered newly cooked rice. By the time the new rice came, we were feeling quite full as we had eaten 5 other dishes. We didn't want this to go to waste and requested for it to be taken away, in which the waiter responded with "I'll do this only this one time for you." The waiter also used very causal language such as "yooo cmon" and "man" and did not apologise once to us. We were also made to sign a waiver form just to take away the rice. We felt like the way the waiter spoke to us was quite invasive, he was squatting on the floor in front of our table. We were both so uncomfortable that we couldn't make eye contact with him. We so acknowledge and appreicate that he went out of his way to get us newly cooked rice but the way it was handled was quite unclassy. When asked for dessert, was just told "Brownie or cheesecake?". We ordered the brownie, was ended up with a matcha brownie with vanilla ice cream and fruit. The dish was 30% brownie and 70% ice cream, in which the brownie was extremely hard to break and tasted more like a cookie. The waiter did not ask about allergies or disclose what else was included on the dish. This was very disappointing as I'm allergic to fruit and my friend is lactose intolerant. I had also requested in my booking for an "I miss you'' on the dessert to be written as we are celebrating a special occasion. I saw on other customer's social media posts that Akaiito has done this for birthday celebrations. I kept encouraging my friend to agree with dessert because I wanted her to have this surprise. The waiter had told me that he'd seen my request but did not tell me that the restaurant were unable to do it until AFTER I had ordered the dessert. Overall, I wanted my friend to enjoy her last dinner here in Melbourne and we're both utterly so disappointed in...

Ive been to more than 200 reasturants in melbourne and other cities in australia and this by far is the worst reasturant ive ever been too and this is going based of customer service, the food immaculate amazing tastes amazing But theres so many things ima list that was wrong i went 5 times and this is what happened and if i say manager im referring to a women who is about mid 30 asian black hair short i dont know if shes the manager but she controls the floor best i could describe her food wait time 1 hour and 30 -brings wrong food to the wrong table -so wait times increase even more for an hour and half seating we end up being there for 2-3 hours because of the waiting between each meal -manager ignores u so u have to call a random waitress when they run passed which is every ten minutes -and when u get one they cant help u and forward it on to the manager who takes her time to come to you -always bringing wrong drinks -despite making a booking made me wait 45 minutes to be seated -and then when there was a seat available they seated a couple that came after us before us and all they could say is sorry once and ignore rest of the night -despite already waiting that 45 minutes waiting another hour and half food plus manager who usually waits the table was being rude -all staff are not trained they all seem new and if there not new they have zero customer service skills -staff dont know what food they are putting down -one occasion manager tried to get us to pay more for food that never ended up arriving and she didn’t believe us which is odd because so many food mistakes were made -i booked special seating one night for my anniversary and the manager put me at the bar and said all the tables are reserved despite seeing available tables and the reserved seating were not taken by any guest the entire time we were there -im always kind to wait staff no matter what but it felt like she personally attacks u to make your experience horrible and she eyes you out the entire time even if your hand is up she wont come to the table and when she puts the food down she says nothing and immediately walks away i rarely speak bad about anyone but if akaito owners see this please fire her immediately for the sake of the restaurant i love going there for the food but the experience is the worst, fast food customer service is far better, i would love to recomment the reasturant to friends and family but currently cannot because i dont want to seem like i sent them to a horrible place. I own a cafe reasturant myself and if i had someone like her working for me i would be appalled by her behaviour...