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| - Prologue:
My girlfriend and I are sushi fans and we're always on the lookout for something new and different.
Generally speaking, I've found that the quality of all-you-can-eat sushi is usually acceptable and it's significantly more economical for me that a la carte.
On the other hand, my girlfriend's sushi dining experiences in this part of the Phoenix Metro area have been limited to just one conveyor belt restaurant (see our review of Teharu Sushi on 10/21/16).
So, an online search of all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants yielded some good reviews for Akita and we decided to give it a try.
The Plot:
One of the best parts about all-you can eat is that you get to try lots of different items from the menu.
My girlfriend and I shared several salads and appetizers, including Seaweed Salad, Avocado Salad, Salmon Teriyaki, Aged Tofu, and Fried Scallops.
Our Nigiri selections included Masago, Tobiko, Red Clam, Mackerel, Tuna, Yellow Tail, and Salmon.
The Maki rolls we tried included, Tuna, Eel Avocado, Sweet Potato Tempura, Shrimp Tempura, Spicy Crispy Onion, Manhattan, Kanpyo, and Gold.
We wrapped things up with a taste of each of the desserts, which included Fried Bananas, Mango Sorbet, Green Tea Ice Cream, and Vanilla Ice Cream.
The Scene:
We both agreed that the number and variety of menu items exceeded any of our previous experiences at this type of restaurant in southern Arizona.
Overall the quality of the food was 3 stars and consistent with, and in some cases better than, what you would expect from a lunchtime all-you-can-eat sushi buffet.
The salad and appetizer highlights for us were the Seaweed Salad, which was a good as we've had anywhere, the Salmon Teriyaki, which was very tasty, properly cooked, with good salmon flavor and not too much teriyaki flavor, and the Aged Tofu, which was interesting, different, and a much preferred alternative to Natto.
The quality of the Nigiri was all as good as one would expect in this setting and my girlfriend was pleased with the portion sizes; however none of the items we ordered really stood out.
We truly enjoyed all of the Maki rolls; the Manhattan was the most visually impressive, the Spicy Crispy Onion was new, different, and definitely worth a try, and the Kanpyo was the most traditional and also a new one for both of us.
The Rest of the Story:
We thought it was noteworthy that all of the rolls can be ordered either as Maki or Temaki and all of the noodle dishes can be ordered either as Udon or Soba.
Over the several courses we ordered I noticed that the quality of the rice varied. Sometimes it was warm with a nice texture and proper seasoning and at others it was a little cold, a little chewy, and consequently had less flavor.
The Avocado Salad was okay but was essentially a waste of time; there are few other salads on the menu that are much better.
Epilogue:
The main ingredient that raised our review from 3 to 4 stars was the price. It's safe to say you will not find a more economical lunchtime sushi option anywhere considering the variety and quality of the food.
We are definitely planning to return to experience their more extensive dinner time menu.
The service was prompt and courteous, all of our orders arrived fairly quickly, and my girlfriend, who is a native of mainland China, enjoyed chatting with the chefs at the bar, all of whom are from China and spoke Mandarin.
Photo design by Billie Z.
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