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Akco Lounge
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese [Edit]
100 King St WToronto, ON M5X 1K7
Neighbourhoods: Financial District, Downtown Core
(416) 368-0125
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
10 reviews for Akco Lounge
10 reviews in English
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Review from Lilliane G.
Toronto, ON
7/27/2011
My colleague and I decided to lunch at Akco Lounge after a last minute lunch reservation snafu at another restaurant. Luckily, it wasn't terribly busy and we were seated right away.
Our server was friendly and efficient, though there was a bit of a "situation" near the end, but more on that later.
We ordered endamame, California rolls and a grilled scallop with mango salad. All three dishes were delicious, though the portion size for the California roll was a bit small. The scallops (2 large scallops) were perfectly grilled and the mango salad, which wasn't really a mango salad, but rather a few slivers of mango and cucumber thrown onto a small bed of mixed greens, was perfectly dressed with just a drizzle of a sweet citrus dressing.
Our total bill for the 2 appetizers and California roll was $33 including tip.
Of note, we were in a bit of a hurry to pay our bill as my colleague had a 1pm meeting, so we handed our server a credit card and asked her to process our bill. She came back to our area with a large platter of food for the table behind us, along with our bill. However, after having served the table their food, our server opened up the billfold to check before handing us our bill, only to discover that the credit card was gone...after a few frantic minutes of servers racing around the restaurant looking under tables and plates to try and locate the missing credit card, the table behind us announced to our server that they had located the credit card under their table. It must have fallen out of the billfold while she was dropping off their food.
Anyway, crisis averted. All in all a good experience. Food was ok, price was a little on the high side, but it is lunch downtown.
**I would like to note that I do order take-out from them quite often...best to call well in advance of pick up, and make sure you check your order before leaving, as they've forgotten to include items on more than one occasion. -
Review from Zoe R.
5/6/2011
The price is right, or fair at least.
I went with two others, and immediately two of us noticed the Daily Drink specials. We went there on a Thursday evening, and the crantini's were $3.99. They tasted watered down. Maybe try going on a Monday, when they have sake martinis - if you want a full(?) shot of alcohol, I guess.
I ordered their vegetarian bento ($12.99), vegetarian dragon roll ($8.99?), and Akco fries ($5?) with a specially requested wasabi mayo.
The dragon roll was good, with their tempura yam inside...
Thing is, I guess I'm particular about tempura batter. Whenever I eat tempura. Ugh! The batter here was so thick, I could have attached a pencil to the bottom of one deep fried slice of potato or yam, and cheaply replaced a ping pong paddle. They were so thick and hard, children/dolls/little dogs, could use them as fake frisbees. No, these tempura'd veggies, were battered up - to an extreme.
At first, I ate and ate (I had an appetite going into the place), but after a while I had a small epiphany -- the battered veggies stood out as being too thick and too hard. I suggest they consider changing their batter to a lighter one. Perhaps the average person wouldn't mind their existing batter, however.
Worth one shot; maybe or maybe not... two visits.
~
aside: From the corner that we were in, we seemed privy to some interesting behaviours displayed by two of their 20-something bartender and server (both female). They were chummy with their male clients at the bar. I suggest that if you're a single heterosexual male Yelper, with a penchant for the act of karaoke (which they have), drinking alcohol, and having ready company of two cute enough females, go there, and sit at the bar. No promises, but you may find yourself basking in the glow of some decidedly focused staff attention...
We saw one of them, in particular, walk her clients out, hug some of them, kiss one of them on the side of his face, lots of touchy touchy feel goodness going on.Listed in: Colour me Multi-Ethnic…
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Review from Robin D.
7/1/2011
Arrived here like a stray lamb for lunch with some co-workers. We were quickly seated in two nearby tables as we were a large party.
They have attractive names in their menu, grass fed cow. Makes them sound more delicious. I ordered the bulgogi bibimbap. It was yummm.. their gochuyang is more sweet than usual, but I enjoyed the taste and it tasted great especially for the PATH.
I sampled their meatballs from my nice coworker, and they taste really nice.. italian! A pleasant experience despite secretly craving the kalbi, but I happily settled for the bulgogi for the lower price. lalala~~ -
Review from Cat S.
Toronto, ON
10/23/2010
I work on Bay Street and often go to Akco for lunch dates. The service is quick, efficient and friendly, and the sushi is consistently good. I always order the salmon and tuna maki, and have never had a bad piece of fish here. I like that they don't use too much rice in the rolls (not a fan of huge rolls that you can barely fit in your mouth), and that they have options for non-sushi eaters. I also highly recommend the gyoza- delicious!
I (along with the rest of my office) often get take-out from Akco for lunch. We've never had a bad experience, and it's usually a very quick turn-around.
My only warning is that it seems like the quality is better at lunch than dinner. I recently went for happy hour (30% off between 3-7pm) for the first time, and can understand why other reviewers may have been disappointed if that was their only experience with Akco. I'm not sure what it was, but some of the rolls were not in keeping with the quality that i've come to expect from them. For example, the fish was a bit too cold and the rice tasted like it had been in the fridge. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.
Overall, it's one of the better options in the financial district for sushi and I'll definitely be back. -
Review from Catherine L.
Toronto, ON
11/23/2010
I was pleasantly surprised by my last visit to Akco Lounge. Next to Ho Shim, I always thought it just served up Ho Shim food (which is quite cheap and only so-so) at more expensive prices in nicer digs.
I went for lunch on a Friday with a coworker because it was close. I ordered the Salmon Set - I got 6 pieces of salmon sushi and one salmon roll for $12.95. Fairly reasonable for this neck of the woods in Financial District. As Karen S says, they also have 30% off food from 3pm-7pm, so I can see that as a great deal.
My sushi tasted surprisingly fresh and had a sauce that was quite delicious. It was the type of sauce you would get in spicy tuna or spicy tuna roll - worked really well here. It also came with miso soup and salad - fairly standard issue but no stand-out here.
I was debating about giving it between 3 and 4, but I decided to bump up to 4 stars due to the sauce, the location and decor (swanky dark) and reasonable prices for its location. Service was efficient. I would recommend this place as a decent sushi place for lunch. I would return again.Listed in: Toronto Finance District Food
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Review from Karen S.
9/27/2010
4 star for atmosphere.
4 star for service after 3pm.
3 star for food...
The standout here is the 30% off food from 3pm-7pm during weekdays. It's a really great deal! The decor and atmosphere here is dark and classy, and after the lunch hour rush has dissipated, obtaining service is not an issue. The daily drink specials are a bargain. On a Friday evening, glasses of sangria is $3.48 each.
The food unfortunately downgrades the rating for this restaurant. I had the 18 maki set where the rice was just a bit too thick, and the nori just a bit soggy. It really wasn't anything special and the quality didn't meet my expectations. A previous visit provided slightly better, but similar results.
Though I didn't try any, the restaurant is now all about organic beef purchased from local farmers. You can even order large cuts of beef from them sourced directly from the farmers!
Uninspired food, but an interesting, quiet place to people watch for after-hour Bay St-ers ogling and chatting up the bartender. -
Review from Ktimene G.
4/7/2009
Rotten fish; rotten service.
Putrid seaweed; no, not fermented: putrid.
Tasteless green tea. How'd they manage to screw that up?
There was no polite way to dispose of the rubber that was my (not) miso-glazed octopus.
The avocado in my handroll was rotten. Not bruised: rotten.
Jumbled courses. Water server after savories, after requesting it twice.
To top it off, the (banker) suits around us were practically getting kneeling service.
Our intended quickie lunch ended up lasting over 2 hours! Every time we flagged our server because we wanted to pay up and leave, he made an excuse for the kitchen.
Our $40 lunch was barely picked at. I really wish I'd returned my dishes to the kitchen.
We are typically generous tippers, but this was one time where it pained us to leave even 10%. We did. That's why it pains me to have to leave one star, as well. I suppose that can count for the convenient location.
If you are craving sushi at lunch time, Sushi Q, also at various intervals on the P.A.T.H, is delicious and fast. Their rice is perfectly gooey, the bites are the right size, and the salmon is always fresh. Plus, they are friendly. The drawback is that there's no dedicated table. -
Review from Melissa P.
1/25/2010
I liked this place. We went with a big group of people and the waiter (possibly the manager) was great.
We bought expensive wine so he hooked us up by giving us free miso soups and appetizer (I can't remember which one).
We ordered a sushi boat to start. Everything on the sushi boat was great.
Then we ordered a few entrees to share- black cod, salmon, sushi pizza, tempura vegetables, and some kind of noodle soup. The block cod and salmon were really tasty. I personally didn't care for the sushi pizza but my friends all did. The tempura veggies were good. The noodle soup (can't remember exactly which one we had) was only ok. Didn't have a lot of flavor but nothing too awful. -
Review from D T.
Toronto, ON
9/25/2009
Prices are high for Japanese/Korean food but okay for the area.
Food is presented well. I ordered the chicken breast teriyaki as I generally use it to assess restaurants. A little bit weird to have a bone in a chicken breast teriyaki. I didn't even taste any teriyaki sauce, maybe they forgot? They had some hot sauce to go with the pho style dishes my friends ordered and it was good.
The funniest thing was the bill had $2.50 for two teas. Maybe I'm not on top of this game but asian restaurants charge for tea-in-a-cup-without-a-handle now? -
Review from Kelly A.
Toronto, ON
6/11/2010 1 Check-in Here
This is probably the only 2-star place I go to regularly. Why? It's one building over from my office. I have to say, the sushi is average at best, and rather highly priced. Service at lunchtime can be painfully slow. If only Fune wasn't always full, I'd never come back.
