Akita Sushi — Restaurant in Woodbury

Date of dine in was 12/26/2015.

This has been the third time I've been here with the "Sushi Buffet." First time I went was during a non-busy hour. Food was horrible and worst than a regular buffet. Second time was with some friends during the busy hour of around 6pm. Food was better.

Today was the 3rd time. 6pm again expecting good food. Food was good. My significant other and me. "Sushi Buffet." Ordered 2 soft drinks and 1 sapporo.

I'm unsure of their policies as of the date eaten, but they had already put/force gratuity charge on the final bill. Most places usually practice a party of 4 or more. But here it's forced. What if the service was bad? Why should we as customers give gratuity for bad service? The service was decent here and I did plan to put gratuity. 3 stars according to google review says, "it's okay." I was not ok with the practice. I'm always generous with tips.

Comment two. Like a few have stated here. It seemed like the waitress wanted to push us out. We had only ordered once. Then on the second round, we ordered just more sushi and a 6 piece roll. The waitress was in surprise that we wanted to order more food. Only second round and about 30 minutes into dinner. Just to understand the time frame of our dinner. Came from St. Paul and arrived at 6pm. We were seated right away. We finished and got back home by 7:15pm.

Overall food quality. It was good. I usually go after the Unagi/Eel dishes. The beef udon soup was rather a surprise that it was flavorful with the aroma from the broccoli and veggies. However, after awhile, everything just tasted sweet and boring. Eel came sweet. Chicken wings came with sweet sauce. Shrimp tempura came with sweet sauce. Ordered some clam but never came. They didn't ask us if we wanted dessert.

Overall, food was good but gets old and boring fast. Price for two was close to $75. So break it down, $25/person is $50. So close to $25 came in other forms that won't be...

We came here for the all-you-can-eat lunch with our two-year-old and had a disappointing experience.

Upon check-in, we were seated in a back corner with a large screen TV, which became a major distraction for our toddler. When we politely asked the owner, QQ (the lady at the front desk), if it could be turned off, she dismissively refused while shaking her head, insisting that it was “for business” — even though no one in our section was watching it. The restaurant was nearly empty at 11:30 AM, except for one other table nearby, and they weren’t even looking at the TV either. (*edit: QQ tried to offer us a booth instead, but the booth seating wasn't suitable for a high chair due to the large step where the table was positioned.)

What really stood out was the owner’s arrogance and unwillingness to listen to customers. Rather than considering a simple request, she made it clear that she thought she knew best — with zero regard for customer dining experience or satisfaction.

To make matters worse, we encountered hidden charges on our bill. We ordered two hot teas, and only when the check arrived did we see a $3.25 charge per cup—something the waitress never reminded us. A small courtesy like informing customers in advance would have been appreciated. In most Asian restaurants in the area, hot tea is complimentary, so we naturally assumed it would be included in an all-you-can-eat meal.

As for the food, it was mediocre. The sushi fell apart easily, making it difficult to enjoy, miso soup was overly salted, and basic Japanese restaurant staples like seaweed salad and skewers (meat or veggie options) were missing at lunch time.

Given the poor service, lack of transparency, and particularly the owner’s dismissive attitude, we won’t be returning and certainly wouldn't recommend this place. There are much better choices in the Woodbury and Lake Elmo area, where food quality, service, and customer...

I LOVE Akita it is my favorite restaurant and I usually always enjoy my time there the food is wonderful. But this time around our server was quite rude, I've never had a problem with the service usually it's great but this one server (Una G.) was quite rude and brought us the check quite quickly which is fine but she kept checking it everytime she walked by and then took our plates while we were still eating. Then she came back and we asked for another sushi roll she said you can't eat more after you pay (We hadn't payed the check on the table yet we were clearly still eating) and I said 'We weren't planning paying the check yet we're still eating if that's okay' (We had only been there around 45 minutes at that point) and she rolled her eyes at us and said 'I already took your plates??🙄' she ended up getting us plates again but I don't know why she took them without asking if we were done when we were clearly still eating, then after that she didn't visit our table again for 30 minutes even though we clearly had no water and had finished that sushi roll. After asking her to do separate checks (She already brought one check and didn't ask if we we wanted it together or separate) when she came back we got more eye rolls and passive aggressive comments. Have never had a bad experience at this restaurant before but did feel like Una was ushering us out by trying to take our plates and chopsticks before we were done eating and bringing us the check very early without asking if we were done yet. I will still come to Akita as I love their food and most of the staff is very pleasant I've had many great experiences there thought I'd leave this review so management knew this is how Una G. is treating customers. I still left a tip but I hope this behavior...