Akira Japanese Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

Came here for the first - and last - time very recently, and it was sadly very disappointing. Firstly, a restaurant should never have a differing menu on the website to the dining in menu. Update it to match; nothing worse than finding something you want to eat before you get there only to find it not on the menu and you're limited due to allergies or dietary requirements. Also - just a personal pet peeve - but do not ruin a perfectly delicious Coke by putting lemon in it. I HATE lemon, and I feel this is something all restaurants should ask patrons (or at least bring the slice out on a little plate). From the time we ordered, to the time the entrees came, it was about 45 minutes. We were the second table of two when we ordered, and no one else was around, so that was frustrating (especially when after us having ordered, another party of two came in and they got their entrees before mine, when I ordered a good 20 minutes earlier than them). The food was average. The Karaage Chicken wasn't crispy and I ordered sushi rolls that DIDN'T state the salmon was cooked, and it was overly marinated in some kind of sauce that wasn't mentioned in the description. Then when the main came out, we both thought it had a funny taste to it (the sauce) and I didn't love the texture of the crumbed chicken, so we both left our meal and they didn't even care to know if we liked the food or not. Based both on the service and the flavour of the food, I personally don't plan on revisiting. I have some favourite Japanese restaurants that I'll go back to, but always worth giving a "new to me" restaurant a...

Friday evening almost empty restaurant. Walked in with a waiter, potentially owner, standing in the middle. Requested a table for 3 but the waiter just stand there without any reaction. Told us to sit anywhere after we told him the second time. Interestingly, he start speaking to us in chinese, we notice he is pushing for drinks a few times and a bit pushy to get us place our order.

We ordered nabeyaki udon, japanese pork katsu curry on rice, yaki noodles with beef and assorted sushi and sashimi platter. According to my friend, the hot spring egg is cold in the centre, very thick batter of the tempura, the udon should come with a claypot but just a normal ramen bowl. Pork katsu in the curry rice is very thin and dry, curry sauce is overly thicken without any other potato or carrot in the sauce. Yaki noodles with beef probably the best out of everything but not a restaurant quality and flavor, more like a teenager trying to learn stir fry at home. Sushi and shashimi set just doesn't have any texture from the fish. Very poor. When the food were served, the waiter said in chinese "chi ba" means eat. It is quite rude when you serving your customers. Definitely will never return again given the quality of food and service. Only advice I could provide is to lift your game up to stay...

This is the BEST Japanese restaurant in the area! I've tried many Japanese restaurants in Carnegie, Glen Huntly, and Ormond, but this one was the most INCREDIBLE! The chicken gyoza and beef taka (or tata) were two of the best entrées—flavorful, well-balanced, soft, and melt-in-your-mouth. The seafood plate looked stunning and was super fresh, with great quality—nothing fishy there. We had two different rolls, the Volcano something and the spicy salmon, both of which were awesome and well-seasoned. The eggplant was good; the sauce on top was a bit strong but still fun to try....