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| - I had high hopes for Akaihana, but unfortunately the food is mediocre at best and the service, while friendly, seemed disorganized. I did like that there is a private parking lot with plenty of spaces outside and that the interior was neat and clean.
I came with a party of two for lunch on a weekend, and the restaurant was pretty empty. We were offered a small table for two while other two-people parties were offered larger tables. I didn't mind this at first, but after our dishes came and the table would no longer fit all the plates (the waitress almost knocked a plate off because of how small the table was), we were still not offered a larger table even though there was a four-person one right next to us and the restaurant was still mostly empty. Our waitress was very friendly, so I believe it was more a lack of awareness than ill intent, but it did make the experience less enjoyable. She also accidentally brought us regular coke instead of diet coke and mistakenly added an item we did not order onto the bill while failing to charge us for another item.
Happy hour prices are super worth it for some dishes, but really not for others. We tried three happy hour dishes: fried octopus, fried soft-shell shrimp, and cooked salmon and avocado roll. Out of the three, I would really recommend the cooked salmon and avocado roll because it was a good size, cooked well, and worth the happy hour price. The fried octopus and soft-shell shrimp were less worth the happy hour price, and I definitely wouldn't recommend them normally priced.
Fried octopus:
The fried octopus appetizer was very heavily coated in batter and over-fried so that the octopus was very rubbery. I appreciate that this restaurant offers baby octopus, but I had a hard time finishing the dish despite the fact that there were only five little octopi. There was a side salad on the bottom, and I nibbled at some to cut the greasiness of the fried octopus.
Cooked salmon and avocado roll:
Like I mentioned above, I was a fan of this roll, especially for the happy hour price. This might be the only roll I would come back for out of all the dishes we ordered. I thought the salmon was nicely cooked, the pairing with avocado was classic, and the roll was flavorful without being smothered in sauce.
Fried soft-shell shrimp:
These shrimp were fried in oil that was too hot so that the meat stuck to the shells. It was a good coincidence that the shells were soft and thus could be eaten, otherwise it would've been nearly impossible to peel off the shrimp from the shell. For the price of these, I thought three shrimp skewers was a small portion.
Nadeshiko roll:
This roll was on the colored menu, but not on the paper one where orders are marked. I thought that this roll sounded amazing on paper, but in reality it was a textureless glob that really wasn't worth it. The spicy tuna on the inside was so minced that it was like baby food, although it did pack a nice punch of spiciness in flavor. The salmon on top was unevenly seared, and with the soft salmon and soft spicy tuna inside, each bite was a gloopy, soft puddle that I wasn't a fan of.
Arizona Cardinals roll:
Another roll that sounded amazing on paper, I think that this roll would've been tasty if the components had been executed properly. Similarly to the octopus and soft-shell shrimp, the soft-shell crab in this roll was over-battered and over-fried. This made the crab completely lose its flavor and become very dry, which wasn't alleviated by the tuna on top because it's a rather lean fish. I did think that the tuna was fresh, but I was confused by the soy-based sauce that came with this roll. It was bland and nondescript, and I much preferred regular wasabi and soy sauce to it for the roll.
I think it's unlikely that I'll be back a second time, but perhaps if I'm in the area I'd take that cooked salmon and avocado roll (at happy hour price) to go..
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