Akebono (Land Park)
food: 4/5
experience: 3/5
overall: 3.5/5
Akebono is the most frequented sushi restaurant in Land Park. It's the one that sends out coupons every week for 10% off, 15% off, sometimes 20% off if you're lucky. We've come here from time to time but I'm kinda done with it after about fifteen visits. I will choose Akebono any day over Miso, though.
First time here I just tried a bunch of their appetizers. Gyoza, steamed. Shumai, steamed. Wakame salad, ...regular. A light dinner. Dining partner had the shrimp tempura. She always has tempura. I think it all tastes the same but she says it's great. On to my food.
Okay so potstickers aren't too impressive. These are small. They taste pretty standard. The sticker part isn't as thick as others I've had.
The shumai is made with crab ground meat and is also pretty simple in flavor. It's like a crab cake without the breading.
Wakame salad is just seaweed, shredded and marinated in sweet rice vinegar topped with sesame seeds. It always tastes the same so I don't know why I got this honestly.
Next time we came with one of those coupons. I used it on some spicy scallops.
I believe the spicy sauce is a combo of sriracha and barbecue sauce. It's pretty good. The scallops are nice and fresh. Comes with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and onions. Pretty healthy. Caveat: they stopped selling spicy scallops! And they replaced them with shrimp. No!!!! They were so spicy and sweet and deliciousness... Why Akebono, why?!
I've tried all various and sundry types of noodles they serve.
This is the Hiyashi Gomoku soba. Not good. I think the noodles are made of buckwheat. The actual noodles just don't taste great, and that's the draw of the dish. Ramen isn't great either.
They have a Challenge ramen (above) that is extremely spicy. It's a challenge for sure. It gives a bit of a burn going down. Yeah I'm just gonna say it, it's crazy hot. Choose your spice level wisely.
Yosenabe: no. All bad. Avoid. Yam noodles are dis-gross-ting. I mean what do you expect, they have literally no nutritional value. They're basically gelatin. The seafood and chicken is the only good part. The udon is where it's at if you want noodles. Get the nabeyaki udon, it comes with that yummy tempura.
Their curry is decent. It just tastes like the packaged curry you get at the store but in a good way. And it's got a bit of a Top Ramen seasoning flavor to it (probably the MSG). It's not bad. That's just what it tastes like. They make it nice and thick.
In case you're wondering, yes, I did try my signature sashimi dish.
This was rather expensive given the variety of fish was pretty damn basic, but it's really fresh at least.
I also tried the BBQ albacore. Unfortunately they put soy sauce in their BBQ sauce so I had it sauceless. It was quite plain, as you'd imagine, and they cook it too well. I like mine done medium-rare.
It's good but, like the sashimi, for the price you don't get much.
On to their big sushi menu.
Ichiro: 3/5
Kinda boring, I wouldn't get it again. It's an avocado roll with seared tuna, salmon on top and some sauce. Sriracha and spicy mayo I presume. The sauce doesn't stand out and the tuna avocado combo is just basic.
Rainbow bridge: 3/5
Not sure if this is on the menu still but it looks pretty cool. It's just a rainbow roll though. No sauce, just a rainbow variety of fish.
Lobster delight: 5/5
I love crab salad so much. Domg. Plus lobster and mango on top? You're killing me. This is amazing. I call this an all-win situation.
Tuna extreme: 4.5/5
Shrimp and cream cheese inside. Gotta love cream cheese sushi. They put two types of tuna on top plus spicy mayo and sweet creamy sauce. A very solid roll.
Angel: 4/5
I am a fan of seared albacore. This is a simple roll with fish, avo, spicy mayo and sweet cream sauce. It works.
Big king: 4/5
The appeal here of course is the spicy tuna on top. And the little lemon slices. Those are kinda weird to navigate. Inside's just shrimp and avo. Simple.
Wow: 4.5/5
Black masago ooooh scary! Just in time for Halloween. The best part of this is the scallop. Oh yeah and the avocado cream on top doesn't hurt. Spicy mayo finishes it off and makes this a mad decent selection.
One last thing: they have something called omakase sashimi which is a new concept to me. Basically you say how much you'll pay and the chef arranges a special selection of assorted sashimi for you based on that price. Pretty cool. Not many places where you can go and say "I want thirty-five bucks of sashimi" without getting weird looks.
Service is normal. Takes a while to take our orders sometimes. Make sure to say you don't want rice if you get an entree otherwise they'll bring it and just throw it in the trash. I mean later. Not in front of you. That'd be weird.
experience: 3/5
overall: 3.5/5
Akebono is the most frequented sushi restaurant in Land Park. It's the one that sends out coupons every week for 10% off, 15% off, sometimes 20% off if you're lucky. We've come here from time to time but I'm kinda done with it after about fifteen visits. I will choose Akebono any day over Miso, though.
First time here I just tried a bunch of their appetizers. Gyoza, steamed. Shumai, steamed. Wakame salad, ...regular. A light dinner. Dining partner had the shrimp tempura. She always has tempura. I think it all tastes the same but she says it's great. On to my food.
Okay so potstickers aren't too impressive. These are small. They taste pretty standard. The sticker part isn't as thick as others I've had.
The shumai is made with crab ground meat and is also pretty simple in flavor. It's like a crab cake without the breading.
Wakame salad is just seaweed, shredded and marinated in sweet rice vinegar topped with sesame seeds. It always tastes the same so I don't know why I got this honestly.
Next time we came with one of those coupons. I used it on some spicy scallops.
I believe the spicy sauce is a combo of sriracha and barbecue sauce. It's pretty good. The scallops are nice and fresh. Comes with carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and onions. Pretty healthy. Caveat: they stopped selling spicy scallops! And they replaced them with shrimp. No!!!! They were so spicy and sweet and deliciousness... Why Akebono, why?!
I've tried all various and sundry types of noodles they serve.
This is the Hiyashi Gomoku soba. Not good. I think the noodles are made of buckwheat. The actual noodles just don't taste great, and that's the draw of the dish. Ramen isn't great either.
They have a Challenge ramen (above) that is extremely spicy. It's a challenge for sure. It gives a bit of a burn going down. Yeah I'm just gonna say it, it's crazy hot. Choose your spice level wisely.
Yosenabe: no. All bad. Avoid. Yam noodles are dis-gross-ting. I mean what do you expect, they have literally no nutritional value. They're basically gelatin. The seafood and chicken is the only good part. The udon is where it's at if you want noodles. Get the nabeyaki udon, it comes with that yummy tempura.
Their curry is decent. It just tastes like the packaged curry you get at the store but in a good way. And it's got a bit of a Top Ramen seasoning flavor to it (probably the MSG). It's not bad. That's just what it tastes like. They make it nice and thick.
In case you're wondering, yes, I did try my signature sashimi dish.
This was rather expensive given the variety of fish was pretty damn basic, but it's really fresh at least.
I also tried the BBQ albacore. Unfortunately they put soy sauce in their BBQ sauce so I had it sauceless. It was quite plain, as you'd imagine, and they cook it too well. I like mine done medium-rare.
It's good but, like the sashimi, for the price you don't get much.
On to their big sushi menu.
Ichiro: 3/5
Kinda boring, I wouldn't get it again. It's an avocado roll with seared tuna, salmon on top and some sauce. Sriracha and spicy mayo I presume. The sauce doesn't stand out and the tuna avocado combo is just basic.
Rainbow bridge: 3/5
Not sure if this is on the menu still but it looks pretty cool. It's just a rainbow roll though. No sauce, just a rainbow variety of fish.
Lobster delight: 5/5
I love crab salad so much. Domg. Plus lobster and mango on top? You're killing me. This is amazing. I call this an all-win situation.
Tuna extreme: 4.5/5
Shrimp and cream cheese inside. Gotta love cream cheese sushi. They put two types of tuna on top plus spicy mayo and sweet creamy sauce. A very solid roll.
Angel: 4/5
I am a fan of seared albacore. This is a simple roll with fish, avo, spicy mayo and sweet cream sauce. It works.
Big king: 4/5
The appeal here of course is the spicy tuna on top. And the little lemon slices. Those are kinda weird to navigate. Inside's just shrimp and avo. Simple.
Wow: 4.5/5
Black masago ooooh scary! Just in time for Halloween. The best part of this is the scallop. Oh yeah and the avocado cream on top doesn't hurt. Spicy mayo finishes it off and makes this a mad decent selection.
One last thing: they have something called omakase sashimi which is a new concept to me. Basically you say how much you'll pay and the chef arranges a special selection of assorted sashimi for you based on that price. Pretty cool. Not many places where you can go and say "I want thirty-five bucks of sashimi" without getting weird looks.
Service is normal. Takes a while to take our orders sometimes. Make sure to say you don't want rice if you get an entree otherwise they'll bring it and just throw it in the trash. I mean later. Not in front of you. That'd be weird.
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