Akari Japanese Bistro

There are very few restaurants left in San Francisco that serve decent fish. Akari is one of them. Their fish never feels defrosted and the selections are curated for freshness and seasonality. I had the best Unaju in quite some time here recently. The filet was generously portioned and grilled expertly. The flesh was just the right balance of firmness and succulence and the tiny annoying bones had all been removed. My only complaint is that the types of pickles served as accompaniment do not compliment the unagi. I would have preferred either salt pickled cucumbers or takuwan. Nonetheless this was a memorable dish.Yesterday I had their cold soba and vegetable tempura. It was the perfect dish on a rare San Francisco heatwave afternoon. The tempura was excellent, with each vegetable light as air and their individual flavors preserved within the crisp batter. It is an art to make tempera that is not ponderously heavy and greasy and Akari does an excellent job.

We ordered the $300 per person kaiseki dinner. Our experience: The positive: service was great (lovely server, super responsive); drinks were tasty (except the tea, which was flavorless). The wagyu dishes were all excellent as in wow, this is great. The ika sashimi was a lovely surprise, sweet and flavorable, and the uni was fresh and sweet.The negative: the sashimi, some pieces had sinew (just not okay especially at the price point). The rice on the sushi was flavorless and not the right texture (too dry and did not taste fresh). The appetizers were weak, especially the crab cake, both fishy and bland, and the rice with the appetizer mackerel was inexcusably dry and flavorless (as if it sat in the fridge for a very long time). Finally, the cheesecake was not fresh, tasted of an Asian supermarket cheesecake, which was disappointing.Ambience: the restaurant's decor was cold and ordinary, but the weirdest part was that there was no other customer on a Friday night during the holiday season until our dinner was almost done (2 other patrons showed up)--just a bit discombobulating to be the only ones there. Our server is so kind that I have mixed feelings leaving this review. But, at the same time, I wish some one left a similar review so that I had more data points. Given the price point is for a 3-Michelin star restaurant, the food is too inconsistent. The total cost for 4 people with 2.5 drinks pp and tip was over $1,700.

The chefs are so fast and focused on creating the perfect dish for all customers that just watching them is like watching symphony in motion. The servers are so nice and friendly. They explain and accommodate for small changes . They are so patient with answering questions. The indoor decor is simple and true to the Japanese culture. The food is fresh , sumptuous, tasty and delicious will presented. I will not miss it for any other food option.

Came on a weekend night with reservations and got seated immediately. The service is really quick though somehow the sushi took longer than our hot food to get to our table. We ordered a few different things to try like the Agedashi tofu (5/5), beef tataki (2/5 - wasn't to my liking), beef udon (4/5 - standard), and a few rolls. Nothing really stood out to me but what was really good was the ginger yuzu crème brûlée. That was not too sweet and was just right.

Dropped by as a walk-in on a Saturday night (8/3/24, because according to their website, the prices increased?). The front bar area has a bunch of Shohei Ohtani bobbleheads and paraphernalia to accompany you as you eat.The Deluxe Chirashi was beautifully presented and comes with a couple side dishes. Everything had a very clean and fresh taste. The sides were good and certainly not an afterthought; time and care was put into each step of the dinner.The final bill was $50 something. But apparently the same dish I got is now $70 (at the time of this review posting), so I guess I was lucky to try this place out before the price increase. I'd still go back to try some of their other options as I had a really good experience here.

High quality fish and friendly staff. I got the sashimi and it was tasty. The place was empty as they have had issues with the road construction out front. Go support an authentic Japanese bistro.

WHY had I not heard of this place before?! The food quality, presentation, taste, service, and experience matches almost exactly what you'd get in Japan. Does it seem like a steep price when you look at the menu? Sure. But it's been a VERY long time since I walked out of a restaurant and thought 'that was 100% money well spent' so I think the price is justifiable. Friend and I had the dinner sukiyaki course meal and *chef kiss a million times*. I highly recommend the course meal so you get the appetizers and sashimi. Ofc if you do not like seafood, it might not be your thing - but if you do, it is amazing. Not just in presentation but quality and taste of all of them. Even if you usually arent a fan of some of the items, try them! You may just be happily surprised~ And the course meal is a lot of food. Don't even worry about that. We overestimated our stomachs and were waddling out of the place afterwards lol And ofc the food was amazing and star of our visit, but service was impeccable as well. The server cleared tables quickly between dishes, kept an eye on our table, and helped cook the sukiyaki throughout the meal which was great. He was also very helpful for sake recommendations so ask for recs! There was another table next to us and i overheard him being super helpful there too - even offering to show pictures of food items that the customer was unfamiliar with. You do not see that kind of service around here often! One FYI that's good to know ahead of time; if you choose a nabe meal, it is that one nabe dish for anyone else at the entire table. This is bc the set up for nabe will literally take up two tables as it comes with the burner, nabe pot, one huge plate of veggies, one huge plate of meat, broth container, and serve wares. I think you may be able to get kaiseki or other menus separately - but i'd ask. Anyway, hate to have it be impossible to get in here in the future, but I hope this place explodes in popularity because they really do deserve it. This place is absolutely going on my to-revisit list.

I love this place not just it sounds like my name but the owner is very personable when I went in the resto to eat. I have ordered this and got food delivered and it's just similar to being in the resto! I highly recommend this lovely place in soma :)

Wonderful, friendly staff. We had an early reservation for birthday and it was just an intimate setting. The staff explained each dish that was in our set. The fish was better than most. Tasted and smelled very fresh. A lot of what I got was different than what I could get at other Japanese restaurants which was also a great selling point of this place.

I have been here 5 or 6 times and each time my meal was exceptional. Sure it's a little pricy, but it's a great value for what you get.I just ate there again on a Friday, and when I walked in, the place was empty and only one other couple came in to enjoy the fabulous food.Please support this fine establishment. We need to make sure it stays open!