Aki

I have to double Mark's view that this restaurant was a bit of a let-down. The food was so-so, not great but acceptable but the main issue we had was the service. When it came to settling the bill, their card reader had broken down - which may have been no fault of their own, except they asked us for payment in cash of nearly 80 pounds which neither my friend had on us. Bearing in mind it was a cold winter's night, we didn't enjoy the prospect of wondering around looking for a cash point so I offered to pay by cheque. I asked twice but they repeatedly declined my offer even though they knew we had a train to catch. No reason given, but the guy behind the counter mumbled something about a 50 pound guarantee limit (I happened to catch this as our waitress asked him but the only reply we got from her was a simple "no"). The people on the next table were in even more of a hurry and offered the same but again they refused. Under the circumstances, surely they could have been more flexible and made an exception? After about half an hour we were saved by the fact that they had an old-fashioned manual card reader - but this seemed to be something none of the staff knew about, apart from the owner(?) who finally turned up after some time.

I know that technical glitches do happen, but it was the way it was handled that we weren't impressed with. An offer of tea or dessert on the house and waiving the "service charge" might have made the experience more bearable.
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Miki
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

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