AKIKOS — Restaurant in San Francisco

Having been to Akiko's on a few other occasions, I was stoked when my wife surprised me with a Saturday dinner there to celebrate our anniversary. But this visit turned out to be our last ever, because it was one of the worst restaurant experiences ever.

It all began when we inquired about a 12-piece Sashimi tasting. Not a fan of Mackerel, I politely asked if it could be left off the selection. The waiter abruptly replied "No" as it was the chef's decision. Ok, fine. I get it. But what ensued the rest of night was outright ridiculous. While trying to decide on our meal, which couldn't include Toro, Black Cod or Wagyu because they were out despite appearing on the menu, we finally made our wine selection. They were out of our first choice of course, a $42 bottle of German Riesling. So we settled for a $46 bottle of 2012 Hugel Riesling. The waiter showed up with a 2013 bottle instead, and we again settled. But the wine was rank, and we sent it back. The waiter proceeded to lecture us on the taste of Riesling wine, of which we have had plenty. We decided to just drink beer instead... a standard Sapporo.

When it came time to order, our selection off the standard menu included Ikura and Seared Salmon Belly, both of which were unavailable all night also. At this point we were pretty pissed. How can you be out of so much and charge the same prices for inferior products on a Saturday night in San Francisco?! We placed our order, and I got up to ask for the manager to discuss the poor service. But apparently Akikos was out of managers as well, so I ended up speaking to the expeditor. He offered his apologies, said he would pass on the word and offered us Sake on the house. I kindly declined, but he later appeared with a Nori cracker topped with Spicy Tuna, and said drinks were on the house for the evening. A step in the right direction, right? WRONG.

Not wanting to abuse the gesture, we inquired about the three other Japanese beers, one costing $9 and the other two, $13. But guess what? Out of the latter as well! So we sipped on our $9 bottle from Okinawa.

After overhearing the waiter tell the table next to us that they had Yellowtail (not on the menu), we ordered a few additional Nigiri, which were quite tasty, but nothing out of this world. With our glasses still full, the waiter removed our plates, but rather than asking if we wanted any dessert, he disappeared and quickly returned with the check. This was the last straw. We hate, I mean HATE, being brought the check without having asked for it. Even more so when there are plenty of empty tables available for sitting people. We finished our beer, paid and left no tip whatsoever, and headed out the door for our last ever visit to Akiko's. A terrible experience for a place that has only gone downhill since our first visit. Check out their website. Their drinks menu doesn't work and their blog hasn't been updated since 2012. Pretty lame for a place that charges what it does....

What an amazing (and very expensive) experience! I think this tops one of the most exquisite experiences I've ever done.

Currently, Akiko's is only offering Omakase menu sets; no a la carte offerings at this time. They offered a Seasonal Omakase - $150, and their Grand Omakase - $250. I believe the difference 7 small dishes and 10 nigiri on the Grand Omakase vs the 5 small dishes and 7 nigiri on the Seasonal Omakase. Is the extra $100 difference worth it? Absolutely! For the extra $100, you get the Anko and the Shokupan for the small dishes, and 3 extra nigiri (can't remember which one though).

My faves of the Grand Omakase: +Anko - barbecued monkfish +Chawanmushi - egg custard, snow crab, duck liver, black truffle slices +Wagyu Dumpling +Shokupan - milk toast, toro, golden kaluga caviar +Nama Uni - hokkaido uni +Zuke - Soy cured bluefin +Coconut sorbet dessert! YUM!

My so-so's and less liked items from the Grand Omakase: -Ji-Kinmedai - goldeneye red snapper -Tsuri Aji - horse mackerel -Toro - bluefin tuna ..... Yes i owe an explanation as to why this made my less liked items.... They topped it with too much salt!!! I would've done less than half the amount of salt, or none at all. The salt really took away the flavor and experience of the Toro

Akiko's features a top not wait/server staff that knows their stuff and can speak to the flavors and characteristics of each dish they bring out to you. The dishes are all delicately and well plated for the utmost best presentation and tastes.

Alas however, sitting at the sushi bar does not yield you any extra benefit to sitting at the table. The sushi chef's just tell you what the items are and puts it on your plate and is done with it. They're not very personable nor do they really interact. This is really killed the mood and experience for me, as I was very much excited to see the masters at work. But from the way the counters are set up and the "shield barriers" are placed, you can't really even see them work their magic in creating the dishes. It really takes away from why you'd want to sit at the sushi bar.

TLDR: Order the Grand Omakase dont bother with sitting at the sushi bar, a table is fine staff is awesome (but sushi chefs at the bar are just "there")

All-in all, this is a pretty good experience, but I can see why this ultimately only become a Michelin "recommended" restaurant in their guide, and not actually earned a star. They over-try on some of the dishes that ends up just making it "ok"...

Edit: Since they moved to a new location serving different food and kept all their old Google reviews.

We have dined frequently at Akikos when it was still located near Dragon’s Gate and was a la carte. It was excellent at the time which made us inclined to try their new location that is fixed omakase with a la carte add-on options.

Our bill came to $350 per person (without alcohol or drinks) and I have to say based solely on the food, the meal was worth 2/5 stars.

Albeit the decor of the restaurant and the plates are more high end, the quality of the omakase is sub par. We specifically requested to be seated at the bar so we could observe the chef at work.

Cutting skills were amateur, the way the nigiri was prepared was nothing worthy of the price point. For example, the uni on the nigiri was scooped up with a spoon and using fingers, mashed into a lump on top of rice, many pieces of the nigiri were of varying sizes, one big one small. Aesthetically this performance was lacking. One of my nigiris literally keeled over on its side shortly after it was placed on my dish lol. There was a lot of lag time during our omakase courses when the chef would be preparing other people’s orders (like 8 others’ portions) causing long wait times in between ours.

A lot of the dishes lacked flavor or that excitement of eating super delicious foods. Like one of the other reviews mentioned, their caviar on sweet bread was melt-in-your mouth creamy but is also a $50 option, if you put that much caviar on Wonderbread, I can’t imagine it tasting bad. No stand out dishes for me which I expect for a restaurant at this caliber.

Ginger was a bit on the salty side, though it should be a palate cleanser it stayed in your mouth for a bit too long and strong.

Staff were busy chitchatting behind counters the whole time.

All in all, the vibes were a bit lacking. Super pricey for what it was, I could name 5 Japanese restaurants more worth your time and money.

Unfortunately we were disappointed for a highly anticipated meal to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We tried really hard to like it, but it just isn’t it.

Previous review at prior location and restaurant structure: Deliciously fresh Sashimi, no fishy taste. All of the dishes were fresh, deliciously flavored. Got us wanting to go back and bring more friends.

There was one hostess that did not provide the nicest service. She's always near the front of the restaurant. However, willing to overlook...