Akari Express

Wow. Just... wow. This is, far and away, the worst sushi I've ever had. It looks bad and smells worse. The taste is metallic and fishy. Eat here at your own peril. more

I would be very cautious when choosing to eat at akari. I am former employee for akari express. The first issue is that it is infested with roaches, to the point they are even crawling out from the napkin holders. Some days would get so grossed out that she could even serve food. If you question what I'm saying please call the health inspection department and ask them how many points were subtracted to her sanitation score, on the count of how many roaches were seen by the inspector while she was in the building. the second issue iI have with this womanis the fact that she is completely racist. She constantly comments on how stupid americans are. The owner ""Jean"" has even gone to the point of being mean to african americans so they change there mind about eating at her restauraunt. Countless African Americans have walked out due to her rudeness toward them. I wouldn't feel right to even post the things she has said about african americans. more

After seeing all of the great reviews my boyfriend and I decided to try Akari Express instead of going to Kanki. We placed our order through Raleigh TakeOut and were pleased with the good prices (especially compared to Kanki). The food arrived and didn't look great but I figured it would taste great based on the amazing reviews. I don't know what restaurant those people ate at, but it couldn't have been Akari. We ordered a feast: teppenyaki, vegetable tempura, house salad and seaweed salad. The seaweed salad didn't have the crunch that it does in better restaurants. The japanese house salad was ""eh"" and the ginger sauce is just ok. Oh yeah, and there was a long black hair in my seaweed salad - I kid you not. The tempura was soggy and I could tell it wasn't just because it was takeout - it was still warm but very soggy and the rice wasn't the quality of Kanki's. The teppenyaki was also just ok, nothing like Kanki's perfectly cooked meats. Overall I was very disappointed because I was expecting it to be a new favorite and I will definitely never get it again. Sad. I will gladly pay to go to Kanki and have a little onion volcano made for me because the food is SO MUCH better. more

I own a Tattoo Studio right next door to Akari Express and eat at their establishment EVERY day. Literally! Jean and all her staff are always extremely friendly and you can tell that they take great pride in their food. I opened in August of 09' and i haven't got the slightest bit tired of their food. When you eat their food it is obvious that they do not use sub-par ingredients. I have yet to eat a piece of meat that has had ANY fat on it. Nothing there is EVER frozen, their vegetables are always fresh, and they make all of their own sauces (which are wayyy better than Kanki's)! The best thing is that the food is very authentic, which i think is important when i eat food from another culture. It's like saying ""i want Mexican food"" and getting Taco Bell. That is totally not the case with Akari. I've seen that some people have submitted negative reviews and i can tell you from personal DAILY experience that is definitely not the norm!! Akari is under new management now, same staff for the most part and nothing on their menu has changed. Jean, the new owner, is one of the nicest ladies i have met and i am very glad to have her as a neighbor and a friend. The Chef there is AMAZING he takes what he does very seriously. He is professionally trained and perfectly cooks all his meat. Another GREAT thing about Akari is they do not cross contaminate at all. I have a severe allergy to shrimp (so bad that i cant even TOUCH it) and i have yet to have a reaction from anything i have ever ate there. If you are in the area and feel like eating some great food i would definitely tell you to check them out. I wouldn't send my own customers there if it wasn't great! Pros: Quality Ingredient, Awesome Pricing, Friendly Service Cons: NONE!!! more

So reading these other reviews i am getting a vibe that some people believe that akari is great while others have a bad experience with it and rate it as terrible. well i have eaten there many times and here is the truth: both sides are right. First off let me say that the food is excellent, some of the best oriental food i have ever had. The prices are decent as well. The environment on the other hand can be vary greatly. The actually restaurant on the inside seems a bit old and cheap looking and the tables are a bit sticky. but believe me the food more than makes up for this. Now the major issues addressed earlier are that the owner gets angry and is very rude to customers. ill be quite honest as I know him very well: i believe every word of that. Hes not really a bad person, but dont expect to be treated like a customer if you question anything about the restaurant. I.E. dont say the food sucks, or complain about the environment or hours in front of the staff. If you refrain from this they will be extremely nice and you will enjoy the experience. however, if you do anything that pisses off management, they will snap and get into an argument with you. The owner seems to be a bit bipolar and takes complaints very personally. So heres the bottom line: If you want decently priced excellent oriental food - go to akari, it is simply amazing. However, if you have a tendency of running your mouth or piss off the management, then dont. This guy is not your run of the mill friendly owner, i mean i think hes got jailhouse tatts. If i had to make a comparison i would compare him to the ""soup nazi"" on seinfeld. youtube it to understand what i mean. While he is much less extreme, he will snap if you ignite it. So if you are willing to be respectful and not argue/complain to him I promise you will enjoy the food. As for me, I am somewhat of a hothead, but i have managed to stay on the owners good side, and have yet to argue with him despite my many visits. We know each other somewhat well now and i am willing to overlook the way he sometimes may treat customers just to get my hands on the wonderful food. Hope this helps. P.S. you may visit and he may be completely respectful, so dont expect the worst, im just giving you a worst case scenario here. Hope this helps. Pros: Food, price Cons: Attitude of service At times more

Akari is phenomenal, the food is great, the price is awesome, the people are wonderful. I have never had a single problem, I'm welcomed into the place no matter what time I come in, and can enjoy great conversation while I'm waiting for my food. The owner is a great guy, super nice, always on the up and up and nicer to me and my friends who go maybe once a week. To those who left the negative review, I'm not sure why you expected him to eavesdrop on your conversation; if he had butted in when you started mentioning staying, you would have thought he was being rude for eavesdropping on you. So, really, grow up. He told you the first time everything had to be to go. Thank you for all your wonderful food, prices, and service, Akari. = ) Pros: food, price, people more

This establishment is in essence a phoenix. Formerly Miyako, which stumbled toward the end of its existence into a poorly managed and operated restaurant, Akari was reborn and turned into a place for friends, family, and food. I have eaten all over Raleigh and attempted to locate better, less expensive food and I have failed to do so. Akari offers competitive pricing with excellent service that is more personal and not the seemingly clich? robotic garbage you get at large chain restaurants. Pros: Excellent and Inexpensive Cuizine Cons: Closed on Sundays :( more

Akari is a chillen spot for me and my friends... We always eat there once a week... Food is wonderful and can't beat the price. We always do leave very satisfied... Their sesame chickens & steak, chicken, and shrimp yakisobas are to die for!!! Always enjoy the conversations I have with the owners & workers... It's definitely a place I would recommend to all students at NCSU... Pros: excellent food, great service, and price you can't beat! Cons: Sunday being closed :) more

I've literally eaten at Akari at least 50 times or more and the food as well as the customer service has ALWAYS been nothing but exemplary. I have yet to have a negative experience. Everyone that works there is extremely helpful, kind and thankful. The food, is OUT OF THIS WORLD GOOD! I kid you not.... Beef that's so tender it's crazy. And the sauces are drool-worthy as well. I would choose Akari any day of the week over Kanki as there is NO comparison... and you'll pay about 3 times more for food at Kanki that just doesn't even compare... I've turned SEVERAL of my WakeMed co-worker's on to them and none of them has ever had anything but a outstanding service and food... I'm disturbed by the reviews below as I've known the guys at Akari for quite some time and I have a very hard time believing that any of them would chase a car out of the lot screaming... Sounds like fiction to me... Not to mention that they are usually too busy to waste their time on something so silly... I find it sad that people would waste their time bashing a small businessman... Karma has a way of coming right back at you... If I could give the guys at Akari more than 5 stars I would, they do NOT disappoint..... Pros: Absolutely the best Japanese I've EVER had.... Cons: Closed on Sunday's :( more

I am a huge Akari fan!! My friends and I began eating at Akari when I was a sophomore at NC State, and I ate there everyday, and even after I graduated, I still eat there several times per week, and the food and service has been consistently great! You have to try the Hibachi Chicken and Sesame Chicken - they are awesome!! Plus they have specials everyday which I love! I also would like to comment on the previous posts which sound crazy and fabricated - I know from experience that a lot of drunk kids would go in there late and cause problems - after all, it is located a few steps away from the ABC store haha! Also, the owners are really nice guys that really care about the restaurant and labor there everyday. I have never heard of them being rude to anyone, but I have seen them regulate out of necessity when drunk and disorderly kids harass their customers, but besides that, I cannot imagine these two nice owners trying to turn away business. I have spoken with them several times and they are humble and have always been appreciative of me and everyone that I bring for patronizing their restaurant. In all, fantastic food for a cheap price and the owners are hardworking guys that love the place and I always have gotten the impression that they really care about their customers and the way that the business is run. You just gotta try it!! Pros: Great tasting and healthy food for a really good price! Cons: None more

I am one of the four people involved in the previously stated incident, and I want to offer my two cents. My husband and I really, really loved this place. We would definitely eat there once a week, if not more. The food is great and you can't beat the price. Probably some of the best Japanese food I've ever had. That being said, the owner is NUTS! If your sign posted on the very front door of your restaurant says you close at 9 o'clock, but you feel like leaving early: CLOSE YOUR STORE. If the open sign hadn't been on and the lights still blazing, we probably would have simply walked away and ate somewhere else. Instead we get an angry ""owner"" who refuses to just simply tell us that he is closing early, and who threatens to beat us down if we come back into the shopping center? Firstly, I would like to say that as a business owner you should realize that threats and actions come with consequences. This isn't high school anymore. Secondly, I don't understand how you plan to stay in business with an attitude like that. People are going to talk, and word will get around. If you have to eat here (which I never will again, EVER), I would suggest you only order from the nice young Asian guy who has been there every other time we've come. Pros: food is really good Cons: owner is crazy! more

hmmm.... sounds very much like an experience we had just over a month ago. Only we came in at 8:10pm, and there was no one else there. It was obvious her did not want us there and was trying to close early. We got into a shouting match and told him that he needs to change his hours if he wants out early! Cons: Owner needs a Lesson in Business Mgmt. 101 more

This story is 100% true and not embellished. If anything, I have toned it down..... it starts at the house. My friends and I were trying to figure out where to eat. I have never been here, 2 of my friends love it, and one has only had the sushi, which he thought was less than good and really didn't want to eat there. After being convinced by our other friends that everything but the sushi was delicious, we decided to go. It was getting late, we were heading to karaoke... we arrived at 8:38. After checking to make sure they didn't close until 9:00, we went in. The guy behind the counter informs us before we order that he has already cleaned the tables for the night and therefore everything is going to have to be to go. We are fine with this, but start to debate on whether to eat outside at the shopping center's tables or go elsewhere. We finally decide after SEVERAL minutes of debating, that we are hungry and we will stay. At this, the guy behind the counter informs us that the chairs outside are theirs, and they are bringing them in and we are not welcome to sit in them. Friend1 says, ""Ok guys, lets just go"" and I say to the guy, ""You heard us talking about it for 5 minutes... why didn't you just SAY you owned the chairs outside?"" and we walk out. As we are getting in our car, the guy chases out and starts screaming profanities at us. Most of it was not understandable and to ME was somewhat humourous. But some of the phrases he screamed that I DID understand included, ""I'M NOT A F*ING FRNCHISE I CAN CLOSE WHEN I WANT!"", ""I DON""T NEED YOU $10!!"" (good math guy, there are 4 of us, we would have spent about $35 and 2 of us eat there every weekend...) Lets see... there was ""DON'T EVER COME BACK HERE, IF I SEE YOU INT HIS SHOPPING CENTER I WILL KICK YOUR A**"" so apparently we can no longer get tattoos, go to the ABC store, or the convenient store ever again... at this point we are in the car, but one friend will not get in. She is just standing with her door open. Our driver just rolls down his window and says, more calmly than I would have, ""Man, you have some great customer service here..."" and the guy screams ""I AM THE OWNER I CAN DO WHAT I WANT"" and our friend who is not in the car yet says, ""Man, WHAT is your problem!? We didn't even DO anything to you!?"" and the goes off MORE screaming at the top of his lungs, ""YOU GONNA LET YOUR GIRLFRIEND DO ALL THE TALKING FOR YOU? WHY DON""T YOU GET OUT OF THE CAR!?"" (I mean, what was he going to do if all 4 of us got out? seriously???? his cook was looking at him like he was insane) Driver finally told our last friend to get in the car and this guy literally chased our car screaming after it until we left the lot. Now, I seriously doubt this was the owner. My 2 regular friends say they've never seen him there before and he was young, maybe late 20's... perhaps the owner's son but DEFINITELY high on something. It's the ONLY thing I can think of that would make him react that way.... but, none of us will ever be back, and anyone we can convince not to go there won't either. I know this sounds like a joke, but I promise it is all true. We went and ate at Jasmin's instead (always fabulous!) and when we got to karaoke, we dedicated the song ""face down"" to the crazy 'owner' of Akari Express. and to the owner... 2-4 people will no longer be eating at your establishment every weekend. that isn't $10... that is about $4,500 a year on average. In this economy, I wouldn't treat that kinda money lightly... you wont be in business long with an attitude like that. Pros: apparently the food is goo, i wouldn't know Cons: verbally abusive'owner' more

Akari Express is an amazing, hole-in-the-wall, quick order Japanese place. They have awesome specials nearly every day of the week; including everything from bargain priced hibachi chicken to their version of sesame chicken. The owners are a few young guys who really make an effort to make sure you're pleased, and the chef never fails to deliver. He even makes his own shrimp sauce which is way better than sauces of other Japanese places, even kanki's sauces pale in comparison. Seriously, you'll be tempted to dump it on everything. Akari also has an awesome sushi guy. The sushi is superb for the price you pay, and you can get it even cheaper if you go on one of the buy one get one half off days. Pros: Awesome Staff, Great food, Amazing value Cons: Realize it's short order japanese. Don't expect a Swanky sit-down place. more

They have amazing food, just one try and you will feel the same and be hooked!! At first we were all skeptical bc it was kind of small and not expensive so we thought we'd grab something quick, but how good could it really be??? We were shocked at how good the food is from this small restaurant. If you are a sushi fan, they have the best sushi in the Triangle (and I have tried many places) made by an award winning sushi chef, they even have exclusive Akari rolls! Just wanted to say we will never go anywhere else to eat Japanese and Sushi ~ its Akari all the way!!! Pros: great food, exclusive sushi rolls you can't get anywhere else, best sesame chicken in the world, believe me!! Cons: a little small, but comfortable more