Akai Hana — Restaurant in Columbus

Akai Hana, for decades, has been consistent when it came to their quality, cuisine, presentations, menus, service and reasonable higher pricing. Prior to last night's dinner, I dined here pre-covid. Boy has it changed, and not for the better. Presentation on couple dishes were ok, mediocre. I expected better!Other dishes were a shocking disappointment. The quality, presentations and taste plummeted. The prices increased considerably. I'll gladly pay premium prices for quality entrees, but I did not receive quality entrees, just premium prices. 4 pieces of uni was $50. The sushi Chefs claimed it was grade A gold uni. First off, uni is my most favorite sashimi! I order uni from Catalina Offshore Products, Gold (grade A). Look it up and compare to what I received (pictured). It was melted slurry, which would be grade C (Vana), used for flavoring soups and other dishes. Grade A sashimi is never that way, shaped nor formed. It should be in tact completely. The sushi Chefs tried to convince someone with experience otherwise. Very disappointed, very upset, felt they were belittling my knowledge and intelligence. Then there was the $38 hot pot soup (pictured). Terrible and messy presentation, as though they threw together in one bowl, other diner's left over scraps! Overcooked, tough and dry fishes. The proteins were unbearable. Fishes should have been soft and flaky, melt in your mouth. The udon noodles were overcooked and lost its popular whitness and springy texture. There was more cabbage under the sad pile of udon then anything, which was also overcooked. The broth was flavorful enough but was given very little... it's a soup, pour more broth! The smelts were smaller and less amount served since pre-covid. The very small bowls of rice were half full, served with entrees. Not enough rice for entrees and they told me that if I wanted more rice, they would have to charge extra. Compare the rice bowl to my spareribs dinner entrée ($37). It was ridiculous lol, for that price, how about giving at least a full small bowl of rice! 🙄 Our server was very friendly, pleasant, attentive and awesome ($40 tip). Very polite young gentleman. He made this discouraging dinner tolerable. After dinner, went straight to Tensuke Market! Bought variety of sashimi and other delectable food items! Ate some in the car on the drive home (over and hour!). I didnt eat much of my dinner, sadly. As far as the soup and uni... did not eat neither! Left hungry and discouraged. Ended up a dinner out cost twice as much lol (Akai Hana + Tensuke Market) I'm sure other items on Akai Hana's menu may taste fine, however, the cost has risen unreasonably. Quality and Pricing should be a balance. In my experiences in the past (dined here many dozens of times, pre-covid), I ALWAYS looked forward to the drive here (well over an hour!), no matter the long distance, no matter the pricing, it was the quality, presentation and service that made me come back. I'm very disappointed that my favorite Japanese restaurant is no longer that. The dishes, the presentations, the quality do not taste, feel or look AUTHENTIC JAPANESE to me anymore 😔 I'm use to premium quality in real, authentic Japanese cuisine. Japanese chefs and owners take pride in what they cook, prepare and serve. I dont know what happened? I still would, but hesitantly, recommend dining at this establishment. Perhaps your food experience may differ my last visit? Just a heads up, make sure your wallet's fat with cash or filled with credit cards... wait till you receive your bill lol 😆 Enjoy and Bon Appetite! Arigatōgozaimashita!...

My wife, friends and I have gone to just about every sushi place we've seen in Columbus. Akai Hana is, by far, the best. We go here about 2-3 times a month, and have been doing so for years. When we take people out for sushi, this is where we go. We highly recommend the spicy scallop, dynamite, buckeye, and dragonfly rolls. Honestly though, we haven't had a bad one here.

Even though we almost always do sushi here, their Korean food is quite good, too. My wife is Korean, so we've tried a lot of the Korean restaurants in Columbus. The Korean dishes are excellent, though the side dishes you would get in a typical Korean restaurant are very limited. So, great main dish, but doesn't feel like a Korean restaurant.

Because of the mix of Korean/Japanese foods, you can bring non-sushi people here. You can get their sushi, they can get bulgogi (Korean barbacue). If you're a meat eater and haven't tried this, you haven't lived. Somehow, my brother hadn't had Korean BBQ during the 17 years I've been with my wife. When he finally tried it, he just stopped and went, 'Oh my...that's ridiculously good!'

The decor is also quite nice. Not overly plush, but comfortable seating with a clean, creative, and modern look. I enjoy it quite a bit.

The only time I ever had a complaint about service, (it was a new server, who didn't last long) the management was extremely gracious about the whole incident. I wasn't even upset, I just wanted to let the manager know.

The only down side to this restaurant is it's busy. Getting in, and waiting for food to come out can be a problem. Of course, that just backs up my...

Highly disappointing experience. I have an allergy to salmon. I went to Akai and decided to order a dinner box that had sushi. I asked what kind of sushi was in the box and salmon was one of the pieces. I explained my allergy to the waitress and asked if I could switch the one piece with something else. She said yes as long as it was less than or equal to the cost of salmon. After a while, the waitress came back and told me that management wouldn't allow any changes to the box even for an allergy. I went to Akai because I wanted sushi. The specialty rolls either had salmon in them or a fish that I didn't want to eat. Eventually the manager came over to "help". She said that if they allowed me to switch out the one piece of fish they would have to allow other to make changes as well. They are to busy for custom order. (I was there at 8:30 pm on a Thursday night. There was only 20 people in the restaurant.) Then she tried to off options of what to order but they were all non-sushi choices. I explained that I came in for sushi. She was pushy and became frustrated. Then she just walked away. The waitress returned a little while later. I told her that I'm just going to leave because there wasn't anything I wanted to eat and due to the horrible treatment from management. If you have any allergy this is not they place for you! Prior to this experience I have never had an issue with a restaurant...