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Akina Japanese Cuisine
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
14 reviews for Akina Japanese Cuisine
14 reviews in English
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Review from B M.
Scarborough, ON
12/22/2011
This place is my go-to for AYCE, along with Sushi on 7 and Yang's Kitchen. Although the servers are a little sparse/forgetful/late (as has been noted many times in the reviews), the food is consistently good. If you like rolls (like me), you'll like this place. The rainbow roll looks amazing and tastes even better. While they might drop 10 or 15 from your order of 50 pieces of sashimi, the salmon is thick cut and fresh. Probably one of the top 5 or so AYCE places in the GTA.
The only bad experience I had was with the white tuna sashimi, which came out a little frozen and tasteless. It hasn't happened since. -
Review from Monica B.
Toronto, ON
8/11/2011 1 photo
Akina is a causal Asian restaurant that offers lunch specials for $5.99 and all you can eat.
I came here with a group of friends on a weekday afternoon. The place was calm and very casual. The décor is simple and the place was generally clean including the bathroom. A big teapot of green tea was served on the table and the menu for the AYCE had a good amount of options such as sushi, hand rolls, grilled meats and seafood, udon, rice, ice cream, soda's and so much more. The way the AYCE works is that you tell your server what you want by pointing to the menu since the waitresses can't speak English.
Although I've had better, the food here is really good! My favorites have to be the spider maki, salmon teriyaki, deep fried potato pancake, grilled baby octopus, deep fried scallops, red bean ice cream and so much more. The food is fresh, cooked well, and the deep fried options are not too oily.
The service here is horrifying as people say it is. I've never experienced service has bad as I did at Akina. The waitresses are rude, they roll they eyes at you, talk to you rudely if you order too much and wave their hands at you in annoyance when you're calling them over to the table. I'm not sure if they're trying to make the point of being rude and obnoxious, but it seems like they are. Also, half our food arrived right away and the rest we had to wait 45 minutes for it.
Lunch AYCE: $11.99
Dinner AYCE: Mon- Thurs $18.99 Fri- Sun $20.99
Extra charge if you pay using your credit card and you get charged if you don't finish your food. Also, 10% service charge is automatically added.
Overall, good food and horrible everything else; I would only come back here if my friends wanted me to accompany them.Listed in: Asian Fusion
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Review from Yvonne T.
My sister has just recently graduated from University, and we asked her where she would like to go for her celebration dinner. She was craving Japanese AYCE. She had originally suggested Ten-Ichi, but I quickly shot that suggestion down seeing as the last 2 times I went with my parents the service was lousy and they kept forgetting to bring us things we'd ordered.
My parents had never dined at Akina, so it was a new discovery for everyone in the family but me.
Things I recommend:
Garlic Sirloin Beef Cubes - OMG, THE most flavourful thing on their menu!
Grilled Eel Pancake - Tasty, tasty!
Salmon Teriyaki - Moist and tender
Grilled Eel Maki
Spicy Tuna Maki - It is spicy indeed! My parents didn't even dip it in their wasabi-soy sauce dish.
Soft Shell Crab Maki
Japanese Seafood Custard - Silky smooth
Egg Custard (Dessert) - Was not listed on the menu, I bet there are other items not listed on the menu. Damit we should've asked. The egg custard was very creamy and smooth.
Salmon Roses
Things I won't try again:
Deep Fried Oysters - Smallest oysters I've seen. The batter was bland, flavourless and looked like it had been fried in "thousand year oil."
None of their ice creams are good quality. Don't waste your calories!
Ramen - bland and tasteless. Even instant noodles taste better.
Other things I tried and are standard:
Beef & Enoki Mushroom Roll
Shrimp Tempura - Their batter is really light
Wakame Salad
Beef Balls
Rainbow Roll
My rating of Akina has gone down due to a few factors:
They neglected to bring one item I ordered - baby octopus skewers.
The white tuna sashimi was not thawed properly and was still partially frozen, and when it did thaw, it created a pool of water around the other sashimi.
The salmon sashimi did not seem to stay together today.
The salmon roses fell apart, stemming partially from the fact that they cut the salmon too thick and its hard to handle with chopsticks.
We ordered a beef ramen, and they brought us a pork ramen.
One of the girls rolled her eyes at me when I flagged her down to order dessert. This is EXACTLY the reason why I hate the 10% automatic gratuity added to bills.
If you use VISA there is a surcharge, however, this is not posted anywhere.
Would I eat here again, most likely yes because overall they have great food and service is usually not a strong point at AYCE sushi restaurants.Listed in: Titanous eats!, Eat until the cows come home!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/6/2011
I am so glad that I have discovered Akina. Thank you Boyfriend!
I usually get my AYCE sushi fix from… Read more »
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Review from William T.
Scarborough, ON
6/17/2011
I frequent this place on average of twice a month for their lunches. Awesome place for ayce Japanese food! Totally go there Mon to Thurs as lunch deal is 11.99 & the only thing missing from lunch menu vs din menu is Sashimi.
The service is less than speedy but whatever! The food is really tasty here!
Random things I remember ordering:
Grilled Eel Pancake - A piece of eel served on top of a plain crepe, similar to Peking duck shards on that flat bread you get with it.
Grilled Eel Sushi -My favorite! The way the eel meat is & the way it was prepared reminded me of fish & Peking duck except combined!
Sashimi (Salmon, White Tuna, Saba, Red Snapper) -Favs were Saba & white tuna eaten in conjunction with each other to balance saltines. of the Saba.
Grilled Salmon Terriyaki - What can I say salmon steaks are awesome! The skin was crispy & the salmon itself was tender.
Beef Short Ribs - Greasy & oh so tasty.
Spider Roll - Crunchy soft shell crab in a roll with some sort of sauce, one of my favorite rolls!
10% gratuity so do not tip.Listed in: Good for Groupies, Sushi Monger
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Review from AMANDA P.
Markham, ON
11/21/2011
So far my husband and I agree that this place is not that bad. They have their good days and their bad when it comes to the sashimi. (to me at least) very simple and straight forward menu and service. Dont expect anything luxurious. so far food overall is good...place is fairly clean.
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Review from cat k.
Scarborough, ON
6/17/2011 1 Check-in Here
We had the worst service at Akina. They were totally unattentive.
Repeatedly they forgot to bring us dishes (probably because they didn't write anything down)
We had to continuously ask them for something from our order
Drinks - were not refreshed once
We got so frustrated we asked for our bill with the auto gratuity and left.
Will never go back there -
Review from Sam G.
Scarborough, ON
6/25/2011
We used to go this place a lot, almost every week. Food is great but not very well presented, they just use basic dishes and sometimes with no decoration. Their Sashimi and other raw items are usually bigger in size than other places which is a good thing. Sometimes they forget things, but just let the waiters know and it will be right up. This place has all you can drink.
They do charge a dollar or two for using Credit Card! So bring some cash.
Recommended! -
Review from Nadine P.
Markham, ON
4/20/2011
This place offers great AYCE lunch at a very cheap cost - around 11 bucks, you can't go wrong... The Sushi and dishes alike are medicore compared to other sushi places in the area... We also feel that the selection here is not as large as other restaurants...
The cooked food is tasty and always prepared fresh..
The service here however is a down fall.
all in all, good sushi for a great price. -
Review from Raymond W.
Toronto, ON
3/8/2011
This is so far, the best all you can eat sushi restaurant I've visited in the GTA. However, I must judge this place as a sushi restaurant, because that's they're primary course here.
As of now, the staff here all think I'm some kind of unfaithful philanderer, because I've visited this place about two dozen times in the last six months, and each time I've showed up with a different Woman.
My intention was to munch on some/a lot of affordable sushi, with the Women whom I confide in on a regular basis, as ANY other modern Man would. But because of my timing, I get to wear the "It's him again" hat. They looked me differently now. They even check to see whether they recognize the girl I'm with before greeting us.
I can't say I'm offended.
My advice to anyone visiting for the first time: bring all your friends, and order absolutely everything. They have some interesting dishes here, never order more than two of the same thing. There are too many goodies here for you to be confined to your regular California Roll.
It's about $25 per person, and worth the money if you got a healthy appetite.
You will eat here the way your mama always wanted you to eat. Unless your mama is an anorexic model. No offense to anorexic models, I love you and the work you do!
The service fine, the waitresses' English aren't fluent, but the chefs are super fast on making your orders fresh.
Be sure to park close. The walk to the car after your meal will not be pleasant. -
Review from Tom L.
Toronto, ON
11/19/2011
Foodwise, the place is adequate. The hot food comes out "hot" and I liked the seafood and noodles soup. Their rolls and other sushi is standard AYCE mediocre stuff....the rice was very poor. The service was also pretty bad. The main problem is the lack of a good system of getting the right food to the table....I thought the staff were at least trying, but the overall result was chaotic. I don't need or like chaos when I eat.
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Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
11/9/2009 1 photo
Pretty good for a AYCE! The soup selection is excellent ... I love their spicy beef soup and the fish head tofu soup.
The fish are quite fresh and the sushi tasted pretty good
I don't know how clean the restaurant is though becasue last time I went there as a little cockroach crawling on the wall...
They accept Visa and Mastercard with surcharges
P.S. They added 10% service charges on the bill already, so make sure you don't double tip them! -
Review from Max W.
Ajax, ON
1/7/2010
I've never been to Akina for their AYCE dinners, only for their WONDERFULLY priced bento box set lunches.
Their bento boxes are all set at $5.99. They come with miso soup, salad, and 3 Cali-rolls. The boxes themselves are large and usually have like 3-4 different things in them (i.e. Tofu, mixed veg, main course, rice).
Value wise, this has got to be one of the best lunches you can get for $5.99. -
Review from Tina N.
Toronto, ON
10/20/2009
BEST ALL YOU CAN EAT JAPANESE BUFFET!
the fish was very fresh unlike other buffets i've tried. this place is really worth your money! they also have a different variety of foods you can try as well which are all very good! service was not too bad since i didn't go on a weekend so over all it was a great dinner experience. anytime i'm craving for sushi, i will come here! -
Review from Anita C.
Markham, ON
7/7/2009
AYCE...love it...so you can't go wrong with this place. I've gone to Akina on many many occasions and well the food will always be great but the service does suck from time to time but if you've ever been to any chinese restaurant in your life, then you are used to it! But overall, I love it there, my tummy is always left satisfied, can't go wrong with the tummy saying YES!!!
