Akiko's Sushi Bar — Restaurant in San Francisco

Akiko's had everything it took to become my favorite sushi restaurant in SF, but just failed miserably.

Now, I will definitely give credit where credit's due: Akiko's has some of the freshest, unique, and delicious fish that I've tried in SF. The Ankimo (monkfish liver) here is amazing, the Russian Uni was the best uni I've ever had, and Hamachi nigiri was perfect. The ambiance of the place was incredible -- the brick wall blended with pipes and stucco felt like I was in some cool underground bar, but the lighting and atmosphere felt like I was in a tranquil spa in Kyoto.

Where it goes miserably wrong, though, is with the service. Now, our server Ray was a nice guy -- I'll give him that -- but it really felt like he was pushing orders on us way too aggressively. We felt like we were being upsold by a Comcast representative and it just wasn't pleasant. After we put in our order, our drinks were forgotten and we had to ask a busboy twice to get us the beers that we ordered. They didn't arrive until our third dish had already come out. But honestly, even that's excusable.

What really pissed us off was that we ordered the Kuro Maguro (Chu Toro), since all of us really go to sushi restaurants for toro (everything else is a nice plus). First off, they ran out of every kind of toro, except for the Chu Toro, so we ordered that. Another server (not Ray) brings us our "Chu Toro" that obviously did not look like belly, so we asked him what it was. The server said it was the Chu Toro and we said "Are you sure? That doesn't look like Chu Toro." He says: "That's the shoulder cut, you ordered it" and walks away. It wasn't until after the dinner that our server (Ray) comes and says: "Oh by the way, we ran out of Chu Toro so we substituted it for the bluefin tuna shoulder cut."

The whole exchange was just extremely shady. If you run out of toro, then you come tell us that you ran out of toro and ask if we'd like to order something else instead. You don't sneakily throw something in there that we didn't order and try to trick us into thinking it's what we ordered. That whole experience really left a bad taste in our mouths.

And by the way, what sushi restaurant runs out of 3 different types of toro on Friday night at 8pm??

FOOD:

EXCELLENT: Ankimo, Russian Uni, Hamachi VERY GOOD: Hamachi Kama, Santa Barbara Uni, California Maki GOOD: Aka Mutsu, Kamasu, A5 Wagyu w/ Truffle, Shiro Maguro, Sesame Ice Cream MEH: Amaebi (Blue raw shrimp),...

Just FYI there are two different restaurants: Akiko's Sushi Bar at 542 Mason St and Akiko's Restaurant at 431 Bush street. On Google Maps there only seem to exist a page for Akiko's Sushi Bar which is this one. If you search for "Akiko's Restaurant" you still get redirected here (as of Feb 2015).

By looking at the reviews here people seem to comment on both of the sushi places. The following phrases describe Akiko's Restaurant: "hole in the wall" - there are no outdoor signs of the entrance, the closest one is of an Irish bar which throws people off; "omakase"; "ambiance is casual and modern"; "high-end fish".

Here are my thoughts on the Akiko's Restaurant on Bush street.

I don't know for sure but it might be their policy to just not accept walk-ins. Always make a reservation! I had dinner at 5:30pm on a Thursday night and I saw the hostess to not take a party of 3 around 6pm when restaurant wasn't full yet. Or perhaps they give plenty of time for each sitting so they wouldn't be able to fit somebody in before the next reservation starts. In any case, get a reservation.

I loved the variety of fish. Quite a few types of fish that I normally don't see in other SF sushi restaurants. They had two types of Uni - from Mendocino and Santa Barbara. (I liked the Mendocino one a bit better).

The miso soup was so so. On a watery side.

The Unaki Ku roll was amazing!

The fish was super fresh and tasted great, however I was a bit disappointed that for all of the nigiri the toppings were all the same - quite a bit of wasabi and a [soy?] sauce. Other restaurants in SF often have different kinds of sauces for each fish. But if standard fish on rice nigiri is your thing - this is your place.

For desert I had mango mochi ice cream. So good! They also had choice of black sesame and green tea.

The sushi chefs and staff were very friendly.

I recommend this place if you want to try out fish that you haven't seen in other sushi...

02/24/2023: We have been coming to the City (San Francisco) for years and have seen this restaurant, but tonight was our first visit. This restaurant is amazing! Though it is a small dining room, with only 4 seats at the sushi bar, 2 2-tops and 2 4-tops, this is a true treasure!

We were seated at a table for 2 in the front window. The extensive menu was filled with various appetizers, sushi rolls, sashimi and nigiri, udon, and donburi. Hubby and I shared a couple of appetizers, the roasted Japanese eggplant and the hamachi kama. The eggplant was doused in a sweet soy dressing with sesame seeds and was absolutely delightful. My husband described them as meaty. I could have tossed the entire dish over a bowl of hot steamed rice and had it as an entree. I just loved it! The hamachi kama was served with a side green salad that was seasoned and lightly dressed. We loved the kama! It was lightly grilled with just enough salt.

I had the Angel Island roll. Inside was unagi and avocado, topped with salmon and hamachi. The roll was about 8 pieces. With each bite, you could taste the freshness of every ingredient, and it leaves you wanting more. I also had the ikura nigiri with Quail egg. This is my go-to nigiri, and it was prepared well. Hubby had the escolar nigiri. Again, the fish was super fresh and delicate. He also had the chicken udon. The broth was rich and deep in flavor, while the veggies were still al dente and the chicken cooked perfectly. I ended my meal with mango and green tea mochi ice cream.

We were quite impressed with this sushi bar. This was true Japanese food, expertly prepared and artistically plated. Though it was a bit pricey, the food was some of the best Japanese we've ever had. If you come to the City, visit Akiko's Sushi Bar for a delicious...