Akasaka

6 Reviews on “Akasaka”

• Lynn

  Came for dinner on a Thursday night just before Christmas. We came at 6 and didnt have an reservations. There were three of us me, MH and LL.So Akasaka is located in a popular plaza at the north west corner of Highway 7 and West Beaver Creek in Richmond Hill. It is in an odd place, in a lower section, facing highway 7. You need to know where you are going to find it! Theres a lot of parking. but as usual for the neighbourhood, go there at the right time and you will have to walk a bit. Or as I always say, get a friend to drive, they can drop you off at the door and then they can worry about parking.I used to work in the area and we came often for lunch. They have tappanyaki tables which OMG I love. The lunch menu costs are less expensive than dinner as with most places. This time we sat in the dining room section. LL wanted to sit in the sushi part, I think she just doesnt like how fun the tables are. Pity for her.I like how the restaurant looks. Its a nicer place. I like how it decorated. Theres an higher inset ceiling, the tables are a burnt ochre ish colour and comfy high back red plush chairs. Theres a large room for groups. When we were there there was a large group with presents. they were int he room for apps and drinks and headed to the tappanyaki tables. The tappanyaki tables are in a separate section cordoned off with glass walls. You could see the flames and hear the cheers of delights!The menu in the dining room is made up of apps, sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, set meals, etc. What you get at most Japanese restaurants. Its not an all you can eat place, the food is really good.I got the age-dashi tofu starter and the Angus Beef Teriyaki in a red wine reduction. I loved it. the beef was tender and juicy. The vegetables were perfect, tender crisp. So there were a couple of oops that happened with service. The first was, the age-dashi tofu came when I was almost done my steak. LL asked the server when it was coming. It came 5 minutes later. I have to say I was a bit full and wouldnt have minded if it didnt come. But then I ate it. So good. Im not sure what the sauce was ,but it was savory and earthy and sweet, the perfect accompaniment. I would have preferred to have it before the main though.LL and MH both ordered the same thing, the Akasaka Lobster Dinner. Its a set course meal. They got:COLD APPETIZER: Assorted Sushi & Sashimi (6 pcs)WARM APPETIZER: Grilled Tomato with Lobster Sauce Broiled Oyster Rockefeller Lobster CappuccinoMAIN COURSE: Grilled Live Lobster (half) with New Zealand Lamb RackSo the warm appetizer came first. It came at the same time as my steak. They said they liked it. Then came the lobster and lamb at the same time. The lamb looked pretty sad to me. The menu said lamb rack, it looked like a lamb chop to me. Also they werent too concerned with presentation with the lobster. it was kinda thrown on the plate. nothing too exciting. But they said it was good, so it must have been tasty. The next kinda oops. The sushi came while they were eating the lobster and lamb. Late again. its the cold appetizer, why wasnt it first? I think someone needs to tall them what appetizer means. ( oh that was mean, but true)Bellies full. We waited for our bill. It took a while. So another oops. MH had ordered a beer. He never got it. But we were charged for it. So LL pointed out (shes good at pointing things out to wait staff) that we never got it. LL understands Cantonese, she said the servers were arguing whether we were telling the truth or not. Hey we didt get it, why would we say we didnt get the beer when we could argue we didnt get lobster?So here is the run down-Food: Good, worth the visit will be backDecor nice, comfortableNoise Level a quiet din. no loud music, conversation can happenService Nice, they make mistakes, watch your billCost not so bad. dinner definitely more than lunch.Ill be back! whatlynnate.wordpress.com

  March 31, 2016, 10:28 pm

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• Prince Gastronome

  Prince Gastronome. With vague instructions in hand, I exited the Toronto Sheraton and wandered through what looked like China in hopes of finding a recommended sushi restaurant. Ten minutes later, I was certain I hadnt found it, but I did find Akasaka, and that was more than enough. On its surface, Akasaka didnt look particularly special, but it was late and I hadnt eaten since morning, not accounting two biscuits and a pack of sesame snacks I had on the plane which made my burps smell like Shanghai in a heat wave. I was visiting Toronto and had no cab. My limo driver (they called it thatwhich apparently translates to any black four-door Lincoln with window tinting and climate control) had raced me from the airport faster than Buckaroo Banzai in his rocket truck (the speed limit on Ontario roads being Mach 1), allowing me to check in just after 9 pm. My options were limited without transport. I expected Akasaka to rush me through my meal, but what I ended up discovering was a sushi restaurant with the best service I ever had in such an establishment. Oh sure, sometimes a sushi chef will show off some fancy knife work, but more often than not, sushi restaurants ignore their patrons after serving them food, The staff of Akasaka were genuinely agreeable. Full disclosure, I am a large white man dressed well; not sure if that matters. Not only was my tea filled four times, but they continued to do so after I had paid. When the chef handed me the plate from across the bar, he explained what each of the pieces were. The menu itself was large and chaotic. It was difficult to find what I wanted. Their new-wave maki got my attention by the bizarre and beautiful plates offered, including one which was called, I kid you not, the gozzilla roll. Another one had gold flakes on it. In the end, I opted for the chefs platter which splendidly boasted that by ordering it, Im was at the chefs whim. The last time I did that, it was 2007, Hong Kong, and the bill ended up at $300 (and it gave me food poisoning). Thankfully, this ones prices were fixed and eighteen pieces later, along with a soup, salad, an additional added cone, I was full and content. At $40 with tip, it was well worth the experience. I didnt think I could still be surprised with sushi, but Akasaka managed to pull one over on me by offering two pieces of sashimi called kuzunoko–basically a sashimi made by pressing herring into a bed of roe. Had to look that one up. On the subject of dcor, Alaskaka (darnit, I knew Id screw that up) was a typical high-end sushi restaurant, meaning it looked better than every sushi place in my home town. And heres another shock, Akasaka cuts their rolls and nigiri bite-sized…what…a…concept. So it must be only my stupid town that failed to read the memo. Its becoming a trend that no matter where I travel to, I have to sample sushi for no other reason than to just prove that the way my home town does it is wrong. It reminds me what good sushi is really like, and that those in my home town shouldnt settle for less. And yet, I know there must be better in Toronto. I mean, there must bewhat are the odds I just managed to stumble upon the best the city had to offer. Unlikely, but if you are in the areawherever the hell I am, cause I never looked at a map (Toronto is somewhat general)check this little jewel out.Food: 4/5Service: 5/5Presentation: 3/5Value: 4/5Recommendation: 4/5

  January 4, 2015, 4:37 am

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• Anthonyng5p

  One of my favourites in Markham. I think this place is a real treasure in the north-end. There are obviously a lot of good Japanese restaurants in the city, but we keep going back here as our neighbourhood preference. They have a lot of creative maki roles. I like the Hawaiian Breeze with cucumber wrap. I always find the servers and staff friendly. The food is a bit more expensive than some Japanese restaurants but the quality and taste is above average. The cooking tables are also quite good and I have been a few times and been very satisfied.

  March 1, 2014, 7:26 pm

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• Katiakompot

  The worst restaurant experience for me ever. Especially the service.. We came for tapaniyaki with a group of 4 adults and 2 children. Mostly we wanted kids to be entertained by chef’s tricks. Basically you choose your base which is miso soup, garden salad, fried rice and fried veggies for $8 and you choose your meat for additional price. I chose shrimps for $10 and my husband chose scallops for $12. So the total for each dish is around $20. Our friends had different kinds of meat and there total for each meal was over $30 which is kind of pricey for such place. Miso soup and salad came first. All four of us noticed that it tasted like tap water with chlorine and we decided to let them know about it. Immediately the waitress changed from happy to unhappy and took the soups away. 2 min later they bring another soups and start telling us that there is no chlorine in the soup and they didn’t have a single complain throughout the day and that miso is suppose to taste like it (like its the first time we had miso). It was very unpleasant already that they blamed us. The second soup was not better then the first but we ate it. Salad was also tasteless. Lettuce was watery and the dressing tasted like nothing. Then the chef started making tapaniyaki, he was actually nice and tried to interact with the table. I don’t know why but they cooked meats first and put it on our plates to eat. My 6 shrimps and my husband’s 4 scallops looked very lonely on a plate. We ate it like a tiny appetizer when it supposed to be a main dish. At that point I already knew I would leave that place hungry. Then a chef started frying veggies, again, he put it in everyone’s plate, a tiny amount less then a palm of a hand, plus the veggies were not salty enough, we had to add soy souse. And again 10 min later he was frying the rice. All of a sudden he added meat into the rice. It wasn’t mentioned in the menu, since me and my husband don’t eat meat. First we thought it might be for other people, but then he divided it into small bowls (like miso soup bowls) and handed it to everyone. The bowl wasn’t even full, there were literally 4 tbsps of rice in it. I called the waitress and told her about the meat. She started giving me attitude right away saying that we didn’t warn them about it. I said that it didn’t say in the menu. She tried to convince me that it did and then nervously took a menu book just to find out that is said nothing about the meat. And she asked if we want the chef to make a new one for us. At that point I was too devastated to pay $8 for crappy miso and salad and 4 tbsps of rice. And of course with their attitude. I said that we want to cancel $8 base, only because it was horrible. She immediately went to a manager and came back telling us that they will cancel it. So there were 2 additional bowls of rice on the table what we didn’t touch and she started taking it away from the table. My friend said to leave it because she and her child eat meat. The waitress said that they didn’t pay for that rice. God, so unprofessional. They didn’t even try to save the situation. When we got the bill, there were $10 for 6 shrimps, $12 for 4 scallops and they included $5 for 2 salads. When I started telling her about the salads that we cancelled she told me that we ate them regardless of the fact that they were pretty bad. We paid $31 in total and left absolutely hungry.I’ve been in bad places before, but at least after paying $30 I was more or less full.

  November 4, 2013, 2:51 am

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• M

  Good variety of food and sashimi is fresh….few good special when we are there including Boston UNi , very sweet … Like it…

  July 29, 2013, 12:42 am

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• Meghan Mark

  Akasaka is one of my favourite restaurants! Definitely the best for sushi! Tempura and maki, are some of my regular choices. Truly a hidden treasure!

  June 27, 2013, 10:46 pm

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