川粤时光 Akari Express — Restaurant in Raleigh

A great loss has been had. This is not he Akari Express of old. The location was bought and renovated, any reviews prior to June 2024 would not reflect the new menu. The menu has been Americanized and no longer reflects a Japanese style cuisine. It is now closer to your standard Chinese-American menu with flavors heavily favoring an American pallets. The Famous Beef Noodle Soup is now just a memory.

I got the Mopo Tofu, as a former chef I have made this dish many times and is one of my more favored Szechwan meals. This was not MoPo Tofu. There was no fermented chili bean, no Szechwan peppercorn, and if there was it was heavily pulled back, it was not a spicy dish at all. The Tofu looks to have been added right before it was served to me. And I do not mean added last when cooking, I mean it was put on the plate before serving. Giving no chance for the tofu to heat up or even take on some of the flavor of the sauce.

Admittedly I will give them another shot, I have been going to this location for over 15 years and I am bias towards the old menu. However if my experience today is what I am to expect in the future we have lost a great dining...

I ordered the Beef Ho Fen, Spicy Fish Fillets, and the Stirred Fried Beef with Special Chili Sauce & Cilantro. They are all tasty. Beef Ho Fen is a Cantonese rice noodle. I would recommend the Spicy Fish Fillets, the fish is soft and crispy. People like me who can't eat spicy can also order mild spicy.

The amount of food is insane. I could barely finish one plate. The owner has renovated the restaurant, the atmosphere is modern and clean. The staff was really nice. She asked me to try the Hainan rice, which is yellow rice but they add ginger when cooking it. This was my first time having Hainan rice and I will probably order a Hainan chicken next time. They also sell homemade lemon tea. It's made of Thai tea which makes it look like orange juice, but it tastes great. The staff said that they added sugar instead of saccharin to...

The original Akari Express deserves a 5 star, but we went today because they finally opened up after 2 months of renovation and to our surprise it’s different owners with different food but the same name and the same location. My heart literally broke because there general tso’s chicken was so good and we ordered the same thing today and it was completely different. If you are the old owner reading this review pleaseeeee reach out to me. i’ll literally pay you whatever you want just so you can make your general...