Aki — Restaurant in Paris

If you are looking for a nice tasty Japanese restaurant, then you have picked the wrong place. I will start by saying: I would have given this place a 0 stars if it wouldn’t have been for a good Okonomiyaki.

Very disappointing meal. 2 things misled us:

1. Queue to get in was very long (although I didn’t see a single Asian eating there - just Europeans. I should have left at that point)
2. unbelievable number of excellent reviews (still unsure if any of the people that wrote the review ever tasted a normal Japanese meal)

Talking about the meal: The sashimi was the worst piece of fish I have ever tasted. Served drowning in soya sauce and pepper. Not even sure was fish actually, could have been an apple, taste would have been the same after been covered by so much soya sauce.

Soba noodles were just ok, again below average but still ok, overcooked and not even hot soup, just warm.

Okonomiyaki was actually good! I tried the sea food one. Tasty, very very nice. I would give a 4 star to this dish.

Domburi...mmmh another big NO rice was melted rather than sticky and the chicken was bland. I struggled to finish it

Atmosphere of the place as well is worth 1 star. Constant in and out of people queuing on the stairs and staring at you while you are eating hoping you finish your meal as fast as possible. Waiters very cold. Don’t think I’ve seen a single smile the whole evening (actually the meal didn’t last more than 30 min. The place feels more like a school canteen than a restaurant) The room is packed, you share the long table with all the other costumers and between you and the one next to you there are not more than 2 cm of space

Price? We spent 25 pounds each. I would rather spend 5-10 pounds more and eat in a nice restaurant where the food quality is at least average and I don’t feel pressurised to leave the table as soon as possible for the next costumer

Hope this will help you making the...

I was seated, then ordered, and very shortly after, they served me my karage curry. I was surprised that it came out so fast, but once I bit into my fried chicken I started to become skeptical as soon as it’s fleshy texture filled my mouth. I looked closer and saw meat that was bright pink and seemed like it was not cooked for long enough. I noticed even the very cooked stringy chicken in my curry was bright pink so I calmed, but was still hesitant to eat it. Then I inspected the same piece later that was thicker than the others and pulled it apart with my chopsticks. This meat was not cooked. My chopstick went straight through it and the hole it made in the texture of the chicken looked as if you poked a raw chicken breast. I was looking forward to the curry and rice but then found that it was way too salty. Because it was so salty there was not enough rice to balance it out and I struggled to eat it. Maybe they can improve and put more care into their dishes after...

I’m not gonna lie — I personally didn’t enjoy the food here and felt it was overpriced. I even gave it a second try, mostly because of the high Google rating and because their sister location, Aki Boulangerie across the street, is really good.

The first time, I had the fusion soup with duck, soba, and seaweed, which wasn’t great. I also ordered the teriyaki don on the side, which was sickly sweet — more like a Chinese-style sweet and sour dish than anything resembling Japanese cuisine. I ended up spending around €30 for just one person and left disappointed.

On my second visit, I tried the sake don as a main dish. It was a step up — the fish was fresh and I appreciated the complimentary miso soup — but it still didn’t feel quite right. The salmon was sliced so thinly it almost looked like smoked salmon, and the portion was too small for the €16.50 price tag.

That said, the staff were lovely and attentive, which I really...