Aki

I went here on sat evening.

This place is tacky as hell and a bit run down but the food and staff were wonderful. Aki is always full of japanese customers ( good sign) and is never too full to squeeze 2 or 4 people in last minute. The sushi was fresh and chunky, the gyoza was delicate and light, the edamame sweet , and the tempura wonderfully crisp. Not really the place to take someone to impress, but decor aside its one of my fave places in london. Dinner for 2 was £40 and we stuffed ourselves.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Monday, March 17, 2008

I was very disappointed with the food and service at Aki's. I've lived in Japan for almost 18 years and so I'm very familiar with izakaya grub. This fare was pretty awful--way too greasy and unappealingly presented. The service was really slapdash, too--a couple of times the waitress forgot that I'd ordered something and I had to leave the table and place the order again. Plus they'd run out of two kinds of awamori liquor. I must say, though, that the sashimi moriyawase (selection) was good, and the bill--around 80 quid for four people--was very reasonable, though the bored-looking waitress clumsily tried to dun me for a credit card tip. I won't go there again in a hurry.
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Mark Austin
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Decoratively this place is a bit on the shabby side but personally I like that in izakaya decor as these places are supposed to be more like pubs with food than fancy restaurants. I'm a miso snob so am continually underwhelmed with restaurant miso, the one here was particularly disappointing, watery and too much MSG flavour (I would hazard a guess on too much cheap powdered dashi). If you are a miso fan try making your own and buy good different types of miso. I also had tsumeneko, (pickled veg), spinach salad and chicken yakitori. Veg was good but I'm not sure how home made it was and the spinach salad with sesame was ok too. chicken was very dry and overcooked.

Not the best for simple izakaya grub but maybe ok if you want to go and get merry on japanese booze. Sake was reasonably priced. They were pretty busy but staff seemed to cope well
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igm
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, May 03, 2007

Having frequented Izakayas more or less nightly during 3 years living in Japan, my return to London was frustrated by the absence of decent Japanese eateries.

The market seemed to be carved up between soulless conveyor belt places a la yo! sushi or snobby Japanese Restaurants, serving haughty dishes at prices which seemed to assume the days of the fat-walleted 80's salarymen never ended.

So what a joy to finally find Aki's. A slightly tacky yet cozy decor, specials tacked up on random bits of paper on the wall, friendly staff, cold beer - if it's authenticy you're looking for, I haven't found anywhere better yet.

I'd agree, though, that prices are a bit steep, meaning this is a place to eat out, rather than frequent.
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Chris
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 6
Monday, July 31, 2006

Surprisingly good Japanese restaurant, doing favourites which are not glamorous enough for other restaurants and hence cannot be found elsewehere - corn koroke, takoyaki etc. These beauties are found on kanji signs around the restaurant; not good if you can't read Japanese, but allowing you a smirk and a "natsukashi" taste if you can.

The sushi tends to be a bit sloppily made compared to other Japanese restaurants (order some kyuri maki (cucumber rolled sushi) and see how clean it comes out) but the taste will nonetheless be authentic and the bill will not leave you gasping.

Japanese owner (often sits on the little table opposite the sushi counter), Japanese staff and Japanese customers: all good indicators of a good Japanese restaurant.
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ryan
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The menu is great in this restaurant and the quality of the food is excellent. I've been to the old Soho Japan, and I would say that this restaurant's food is on par but it's cheaper. The menu contains your usual box sets, sashimi, udons/sobas, and sushi by the piece and a great selection of sake. Service is great too, but the restaurant is small so book in advance. It's popular with the Japanese expat crowd... good choice if you need a regular dosage of japanese food without burning a hole in your wallet. Give the Nabeyaki Udon a go.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Typical Japanese Izaka-ya (pub with plenty of foods). Food is normal. Within a range of cheap, compared to other Japanese Restaurant. The waitresses are nice. Sake salection is very wide, still rather expensive.
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Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Lovely place. Great food and service - really welcoming. And the range of sake is unmatched locally. They even let you pick the sake cup you want to drink from. Not as cheap as it looks - our meal for two ended up being over £40.
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Douglas Hauser
Friday, September 16, 2005

This is the nearest thing I've seen yet to a back-of-Shinjuku-station style izakaya in London. The master is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic (he retired from accountancy to open this place) and the fact that it's packed with Japanese salarymen most evenings speaks for itself. To complete the ambience you have the dingy, brownish lighting we know and hate in Japan, and polite, kindly Japanese girls pouring the sake. Jolly expensive but worth it if you are homesick for the Tokyo after-hours atmosphere.
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Sue Andrews
Monday, May 16, 2005