Akira Seabright — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

The kinda "hip" place for sushi. Tattoos, piercings, beards, dreadlocks, black denim, spectral hair colors, a few skateboards parked and propped against the wall, neo-retro pinup and tattoo style framed artwork adorning the walls... all commonly seen of the environment, patrons, and staff at Anita Sushi. Small groups of friends unexpectedly run into more friends and recount the events of last night or last weekend's blurry outings as they gather in line in the small inside waiting space, and less congested, brick-paved outside waiting area, for their turn to be seated for Akira's early evening food and drink happy hour and, their just slightly less crowded later-night happy hour. There's a lot going on in the relatively small restaurant, with servers weaving through the tight spaces between the coming and going patrons, and people squeezing past one another, some trying to get in to get their names on the seating list, others trying to get into the single stall restroom, and others making their way out with the lethargic, post-sushi Satisfaction Saunters. All are talking over the heads, shoulders, and vocal directions of one another in friendly exchanges, albeit at a sometimes elevated and distracting volume. With all there is to see and hear during the busy times at Akira, one thing less common is the presence of the Japanese sushi chefs one might expect. But the skills of the predominately young, non-traditional chefs, many sporting tattoo-covered arms and pierced faces, are up to par with those from whom their culinary craft was derived. The service is decent, with consideration for the size of the space and the crowd. The servers tend to be predominantly young females, and there are some instances where experience may be lacking and the volume and pace of the environment distracting to staff. But this is a friendly, lively place for familiar people and neighborhood locals to enjoy good sushi, company, conversation, and libation, and any minor service oversights can be easily overlooked in the shadow of enjoyment. The food itself it quite good and fairly reasonably priced. But, as everyone seemingly has strong individual opinions and preferences in sushi, I leave my description centred on the experience as a whole, and leave you to delve into the experience of the cuisine independently. But I think you'll find it very...

Wish I could give an opinion on the sushi, service, or facilities, but I never had the chance to experience them. Stopped by on a Friday night, entered the door facing the street, and walked past four empty tables and approximately six empty seats at the bar. Waited in the back for the hostess, only to be told they weren’t accepting anymore walk ins. She was polite about it, but when I mentioned the empty seating, she just politely reiterated her former statement.

I understand that places get busy, especially on the weekend, but there was no line. There were empty tables. While they may have had reservations foe the rest of the evening, it’s a bad look to have so many empty seats and turn away guests. And if they were short on waitstaff, that stil doesn’t affect service at the bar.

I had read reviews that this was the best sushi in Santa Cruz. We traveled from Prunedale, 36 miles away. We should’ve made a reservation, which is why I didn’t leave one star. I wasn’t even going to leave a review except for the fact that I saw someone else leave a review with a very similar experience. Obviously this wasn’t a one time occurrence.

Sadly, I won’t get the opportunity to write a review for their food, service, or establishment because I won’t be returning.

My advice: make a reservation, because the hours of operation are fluid depending on...

Family has owned a home in the neighborhood for 15 years. Plenty of gatherings at Akira. Won't frequent it again however. The food is average nothing original or exciting...It's expensive. But its fine. One day however after eating dinner while doing my laundry across the parking lot, my phone died. It was almost closing time for the laundrymat. I use an app to turn on the washing machines. I asked a friendly young host that seated me earlier if I could please plug my phone in for a short period and she said of course. The owner over heard this and quickly told the girl to tell me no. She was emphatic as if I had caused her problems in the past. That's simply not the case. She didn't want to let me charge my phone. I was extremely stressed because of laundry and bus ticket which I couldn't access. Yes my fault. 100 percent.

But I'd love to change the world and have be treat them as they would want to be treated. What if I was her child? What if it was my child.

Please if you're making a decision don't support these people until their attitude changes. I politely asked to plug a phone on for 2 minutes. I do not appear disheveled or "homeless" this was just her natural reaction to providing help to someone...Charge a phone for a customer for 2 minutes...