Tonkatsu Akinai — Restaurant in George Town

Finally managed to dine at this place on my second attempt after hearing about it for so long from others who swear that it is the best place to experience tonkatsu in Penang. The one thing that everyone warned me about consistently was the waiting time for a seat. On my first attempt, I was informed by the waitress that it would be at least a 1 hour wait or more; it was on a weekend however, and I gave up. This time, I was more determined, and took a day off work on a weekday to arrive before the lunch crowd to an almost empty restaurant.

In terms of choices on the menu, it's not limited to only fried pork cutlets, but also fresh tiger prawns which was really tempting. However, I had a mission, and it was to try their tonkatsu. There are many different cuts to choose from, and they vary from fatty to lean cuts. I had the premium hire katsu (tenderloin) set while my SO had the ala-carte hire katsu. The set comes with unlimited rice and miso soup refill, shredded cabbage and pickles while the ala-carte only had shredded cabbage. The sauce for the tonkatsu is supplied in large communal urns, and each plate came with spicy mustard which is also a great condiment to pair with the cutlets.

I'm pleased to confirm that all the hype surrounding how good the tonkatsu here is true. The pork cutlets were tender, juicy and flavorful without any gamey odor. I'm still trying to comprehend how the chef managed to fry the thick premium hire katsu without undercooking the center or drying out the outer edges; color me extremely impressed. The cuts were tender and juicy all the way through with even, crispy breading.

The staff were all friendly, and took the time to patiently explain the menu to us first timers. The only downside, and I'm nitpicking here is how few seats there are. While this explains the long lines during mealtimes, I can respect their decision to keep the orders to the kitchen small in order to retain this level of quality. Definitely worth the wait if there's one, or take some time off to dine here. Highly...

It was actually my second visit to this restaurant and we did not expect the dining experience could be so TERRIBLE and DISAPPOINTING.

Waiting is FINE, but it is unreasonable when your female staff completely forgot to serve us and skipped our turn!

There were 3 groups of people ahead of us, each of the group had taken their orders even before they were seated. Meanwhile we are just sitting at the bench FACING DIRECTLY OPPOSITE of the counter, the female staff already knew we are waiting and how is it possible she just skipped us and not taking any order from us (we had to proactively request for the menu from her).

We were still waiting PATIENTLY and BELIEVE she will serve us when it is our turn, unfortunately it did not happen after 1 hour of waiting. Even the one customer who came later than us got her take-away food quicker than any one of us.

What could be worse, we are still not being served to be seated even when all the SEATS ARE ALREADY EMPTY. The previous customers had already left for quite some time and the female staff did not even serve those who are already waiting for so long to be seated.

When the female staff FINALLY allowed us to be seated, we immediately took the order and not wasting any time. However, no drinks were served even after we sat down for 15 minutes.

The 3 group of people earlier got their foods served right away when they are seated. Imagine we came around the same time, but we are still remaining seated WITHOUT ANY DRINKS AND FOODS SERVED towards the end when the rest of the 3 groups had already FINISHED EATING AND LEFT.

So ridiculous that we finally got our food the same time as the other groups of people who came later than us about 30 minutes.

In short, we waited patiently for 1 hour++ due to the bad arrangement and service from your staff, not even an apology.

We revisit to support your local business but it was totally an unforgettable BAD experience at this dining place. This will be our last visit and will not recommend to any other...

Tonkatsu Akinai in Tanjung Tokong is a Japanese restaurant that has built quite a reputation, and it shows from the moment you arrive. On my first visit, I had to wait close to an hour for a table as the place was completely packed. This alone made me curious to see what the hype was all about. Once seated, I noticed that the menu was not very detailed. Many of the items were written in Japanese, which can be confusing for customers who are not familiar with the cuisine. Because of this, the waitstaff had to go through lengthy explanations at almost every table, which felt inefficient.

The dining environment also left some room for improvement. Despite having several air conditioners, the restaurant was not cool, and the heat from the open cooking near the dining area made it feel rather stuffy. When my order arrived, I had the katsu pork set, which came with rice, salad, and soup. The soup unfortunately was lukewarm on the first try and properly hot only when I requested a replacement. The rice also felt slightly undercooked, which was a letdown.

That said, the highlight was definitely the fried pork. The breading was crispy, the meat juicy, and it paired perfectly with the tangy tonkatsu sauce. The salad was fresh and added a nice balance to the meal. Overall, Tonkatsu Akinai shows potential but suffers from inconsistency. While not a bad experience, I feel some improvements are needed to match...