Bakku Japanese Eatery & Crudo Bar — Restaurant in Rincón

One of the best places I've eaten in Puerto Rico. There's a saying out there about knowing your worth, and that being the best is all you need. Bakku checks all those boxes.

The pride of ownership is reflected in the quality of everything from the experience to the food quality and presentation. That said being the best, they obviously know that you will find them, and they can feed you on their terms. You won't find big fancy signs, and don't bother showing up on a Saturday, they obviously appreciate their time off just as much as I do.

Okay so let's talk about the food and the experience. You can't Bakku anything but an experience. I was so impressed.

We started out with drinks. Their Sake menu is one of the most unique and well rounded menus I've seen any where. They had things I haven't seen in LA, NYC, or Vegas. Their drink menu was inspired and the presentation was a show all to itself. If you can find a designated driver, I would recommend one of everything!

For some starters we tried Maguro lollipops, and Kani Korokke. The lollipops were definitely worth fighting over. They were rich, with sweet and salty soy flavors and I light hint of spice at the end. They had crunchy umami on the outside, followed by soft tuna inside, then you're punched in the mouth with flavor. The Kani Korokke was was bathing in a rich sweet sauce and reminded me of eating a crab cake at a Japanese BBQ party.

For the cold tasting we moved on to Tuna Three Ways, Hotate Crudo, and Nikkei Uzusukuri. The tuna trio was all fantastic and got things rolling nicely. They all had hints of smoke and grill. The nice crunchy topping was whimsical, and my wife had to tell me that I wasn't allowed to lick the plate. The Hotate Crudo was fresh sweet scallops with a sweet aioli, but that reminded me too much of miracle whip. My wife said it was fantastic and I let her enjoy the majority. Only slightly controversial. For the Nekkei it was a bright fresh burst of citrus with light heat from the peppers. It was an amazing pallet cleanse, and perhaps the table favorite.

Then we had Truffle Akami, Hotate Torched, and Sake Maguro. They were the perfect transition into our next round of Nigiri. The Truffle definitely stole the show.

For the Nigiri we had two orders of Maguru, one each of the fresh local fish of the day...snapper, and wahoo I think. Then my favor Hamatchi and Hamatchi Toro. The wasabi was the most legit wasabi I've ever had. I was thinking done soy sauce might be a welcome addition and I think they were reading my mind because it arrived moments later.

As an aside from the food: The service was impeccable. They functioned as a well oiled team and you could tell they all liked each other and were working towards a mutual goal: making my evening the best it could be. They succeeded well beyond my expectations.

Back to the Nigiri. There isn't much to say, except that it was perfection. It arrived on a very fun rotating platter. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but that made it so much easier to share. No reaching, no dripping, no Chop stick sword fights. The Hamatchi was brilliant and buttery. It made such and impression that I ordered more for my dessert.

Then I had Waygu A5, it was cooked to perfection and topped with truffle. Both bites melted in my mouth. I probably could have eaten another two orders or was so delicious. Please don't pass on trying the Waygu. The ingredient was shown the respect it deserved.

Finishing of the night we had the Bakku Maki and C O D. The COD was warm with a light crunchy shell. That was a perfect contrast to the cold Bakku. We went back and forth, bite for bite and each was an experience.

This was a win for us and a perfect date night. If you love sushi then you owe it to yourself to show up. I would call ahead of possible or be prepared to be patient. It is...

I have been to Bakku twice now, (once in July 2022 and now in August 2023) and I have never been to a more sophisticated, indulgent, and creative restaurant. Here is a categorical breakdown of what makes Bakku, Bakku.

Ambiance: small, intimate, and warm environment to enjoy your meal in with the option to sit at the sushi bar. The attention to detail is impeccable in terms of the comfortable seating, warm wooden tones, and traditional Japanese decorations.

Service: I cannot decide if the service or food is better, but seeing how hard it is to HAVE good service in the restaurant industry, i'm going to say the service was the best part. My partner and I sat at the sushi bar where we were graciously attended to by an excellent waitress. After placing our drink order, we were pleasantly greeted by the chef and owner, who offered limitless service, and welcomed conversation. The passion he has for his business, and choices he makes for how to run it shows his love and devotion to preparing unique and authentic Japanese food. He is the embodiment of a what an avid restaurateur is. He was front and center of his restaurant being present, taking orders, and making sure his customers were taken care of. He explained in great detail where he sourced is ingredients, why he sources them from those locations, and was even able to offer REAL wasabi for our sushi plate. Being able to sit at the bar was an experience in it of itself, so if you get the chance to, take it!!

Between meals, we had numerous servers change out our plates, take away empty food platters right as we had finished them, and check in for drink orders. Once again, I cannot speak to how good the service was, it is something that needs to be experienced in order to understand the full depth of its quality.

Food: My partner and I ordered a lot of difference dishes, and somehow in someway, they were all flawless. We ordered (these aren't the menu names but photos are below) the wagyu gyoza, steak skewers, spicy tuna cones, Bakku roll, Miyu roll, Uni special, nikkei snapper cold platter, and to finish it off, soy sauce ice cream! Eight different items across land and sea, sweet and savory, and all of them were drool worthy. I could go into immense detail for all dishes, but i'll keep it short and simple because this review is getting very long. Just get any, or all those items, and it will be virtually impossible for you to be disappointed.

All in all, this is the most exemplary dining experience one could ever have, and I could not recommend it enough. There aren't enough good things to say about the food and especially the chef, whose drive and commitment to Bakku is unwavering. Please come here if you get the chance, and to the workers at Bakku, keep doing whatever it is you're doing to create the magic that I experienced in all my senses...

I usually don’t write restaurant reviews but after my experience here I felt compelled to do so.

Food and drinks were amazing! I was really impressed with the quality of the ingredients, the technique employed for each dish and the overall flavor profile. However, I was very disappointed with the service our party of 5 received that day. After waiting over 2 hours for a table, our party was finally seated but separately. Meaning that 3 people were seated in a table that could seat 4 and the other 2 in another table at capacity (see picture for reference).

Aware of the restaurant’s walk-in policy, limited seating arrangements, and considering we were a “big group”, we were understanding at the beginning. But as other restaurant guests finished their meals and more seats became available, we respectfully requested the hostess if we could add another chair to the table of 4 so that our party could be together. She declined to do so because of the restaurant’s seating arrangements. More seating became available. So, we requested a seat again, this time the hostess declined based on occupational hazard concerns that couldn’t be explained. At that point, we requested to speak to a manager because it seemed unreasonable that we were declined one chair even though there was available seating, and we were willing to squeeze ourselves into a tighter table just to be together. However, the hostess said she was the manager and that nothing could be done at that point.

After an awkward start to our drinks and appetizers (which I must objectively confess were very tasty), the hostess came back and said that an exception would be granted in this occasion because the restaurant was about to close and no new guests were going to be seated. Therefore, after 20 minutes of needless discussions and through an exception, we were able to get the additional chair and seat our party together.

Despite the exceptional food, it was unfortunate that for a dinner meant for leisure, we had to request a chair with such formality. All in, I highly recommend the restaurant but only if you’re party is 4 people or less. I don’t know If my experience here would’ve been different If English was my...