Akira Japanese Restaurant

This was my very first trip and I enjoyed it. I loved the chef cooking your food in front of you. I had the steak and chicken and it was very delicious.

Good place for lunch. Went in today with some friends and there was no wait time. The waitress came promptly to serve take an order on drinks and the cook came right away.

Had New Year’s Eve dinner there with my wife, 11 year old daughter and 1 year old son. Food was fine, nothing out of the ordinary but the gentleman who cooked our meal was a different story. He told my family and another party of 4 seated at the table a «joke» that referenced two separate racist stereotypes, aimed at African American’s and the type of food which they prefer. These were by no means funny statements and in fact it made everyone at the table very uncomfortable, especially my wife who has an African American brother.
Makes me very sad that in today’s society this is something that someone would deem socially acceptable enough to tell to their customers, especially at a meal costing over $ 100. Akira must do a better job in the future with whom they hire, I am very embarrassed for them.

We love going to Akira for a special teppan treat. Just took our adult son who was visiting and we all enjoyed the show and our meal on a slower night. Having no wait is unusual. My daughter chooses it for her birthday annually for about the last 10 years. I highly recommend the New York steak and chicken combo. Our family gets a lunch for the next day out of each entrée, and we also enjoy the sushi. I like their special margarita too. The chefs have all been fun and are specially good with children.

My absolute favorite place to eat in Bakersfield. The food is amazing as well as the sushi. The lady at the cash register isn’t always pleasant but the food and rest of the staff make up for it!

My Favorite dinner to have in bakersfield! The chefs all seem to be really talented and the food is yummy!

My husband and I went to this restaurant for 9 years this used to be out favorite place to eat until the last year our sushi chef was fired and all the good and positive aspects of the place followed including every server service good food and even plates and trays now the place is horrible the food and whole place is not the same

We love to come here with my 4yr old. The cooks are engaging with him and make it a fun experience– not to mention the teppanyaki (spelling?) is our favorite meal.
I tried their sushi as well our last visit but it was just too much food– better to do either/​or.

Never ate hear, but service is horrible. I came to order one hand roll Togo bc I just wanted a snack and they said I can’t order just one thing and they wouldn’t let me just place a quick Togo order. I have worked in 5 Japanese steakhouses and visited several others and this is the worst service I’ve ever had at one. I wanted to have a drink at the bar and they wouldn’t let me sit there bc business was slower.

Don’t judge by the cover Akira! Learn good customer service ! Horrible that the server sin asked everyone else at the table for extras but me and my fiancé on his birthday. Horrible. What has come of your customer service experience. And to comment that were not with my mother in law?! We’re 28 years old! Horrible. Poor experience.

Yummy food!!! Been here a couple of times, I recommend reserving your seat. Las Vegas Rolls are my favorite

First time visiting Bakersfield and first time trying Akira’s.
Walked in and immediately we were rudely asked how many in our party.
We were a party of 10 and we requested sushi only.
We were sat and not after the waitresses told us we could not combine the tables.
We sat and immediately she came back and started taking drink orders. We were not given any time and the waitress was rude when she demanding our orders. She kept rolling her eyes and scoffing when we asked her questions.
Food was brought out and it was what I expected. Bakersfield is not a port city so don’t expect authentic Japanese food, or fresh fish.
The salmon sashimi I had was okay, not fresh but not old.
All in all I would not recommend this place to anyone nor would I return.

Not sure why Akira only has three stars, we’ve been customers for 20+ years. Really this place is 10 times better than the Sacramento Benihana, we won’t eat there anymore. I would give Akira 5 stars if the ambiance was better, it’s located in a strip mall. But the quality of the food is definitely a consistent 5 stars.

I have never had teppanyaki before until I told my SO about it and we decided to stroll on in one night for dinner. The interior is dim, once you walk in you’ll notice people are usually waiting on your left side where there’s a few chairs and waitress’ on your right to ask you «how many?» You can decide if you want to eat just sushi or at the grill. (props for this option) I have been here twice, once for the teppanyaki and once just for the sushi.
Review on Teppanyaki Experience:
We got seated with a family group of 8, so a table fits 10 people nicely, not too snug. There are 4 grills (I think…) and sushi area is on the right side of the restaurant. I ordered the scallop with shrimp combo and my SO ordered the filet mignon and shrimp combo. Like any other teppanyaki place (my SO says) they put on a show as they cook. (little did I know of course.) I really liked the show it comes with.
It really is an experience that needs to be experienced, I can keep rambling on and on about how great it is, but you’ll have to go find out yourself. One thing I did notice is that not all of the chefs perform the same show (I’m guessing experience wise?). They make the same fried rice and veggies for everyone at the table, and then they go on making the entrée that you order. At the end of your meal, they offer free ice cream! FREE ICE CREAM! green tea and plum. So my SO and I decided to get both and just share. i LOVE the plum flavored ice cream, the green tea, not so much…
side note: you’ll smell like your food when you leave this place… so hopefully you don’t have anywhere to go but home to shower after coming here.
Review on Sushi Experience:
I LOVE this part of coming here. The fish is fresh, the sushi chef at the bar is really nice and when you don’t know what you’re eating just ask and he’ll gladly tell you a brief story about it.
We loved the albacore here, we just ordered the 6 pc sashimi chefs choice and loved it! Ordered another 6 pc of just albacore. It was that good. And let me remind you, Bakersfield is not a port city, so fresh fish is hard to come by, and I’m glad to have some fresh fish here at Akira.
Another item that we ordered was the PGA ROLL. I believe it was spicy crab on the inside, wrapped with soy paper, and topped with tuna. I really did enjoy this dish, but it was still too spicy for me (I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy food.sadly.). This roll is a little bit on the pricey side but well worth it because it’s a big roll. downside is, because it is such a big roll, it falls apart easily if you don’t know how to properly handle your chopsticks (ahem​.my SO. haha).
Overall, I would definitely come here again whether it is for a casual dinner night out or a date night or just a quick bite and drink at the sushi bar. This place is a must go!

Haven’t been here in a couple of years and it may be another several years before I think of returning. California rolls are the size of pumpkin rolls. Real japanese rolls are smaller and rolled better and do not look like they are rolled by hand. Food had no taste!

Pretty mixed on this place. Been here several times. The food is decent. The place is very dirty. Carpet looks like it hasn’t been washed in 20 years. I could see the old rice and food stuck in crevices around the teppenyaki grills. You also walk right in to the seating area when you enter. I don’t know why they don’t buy a couple of japanese folding dividers to make the place more palatable. Like I said, the food is okay (I had pretty good filet mignon here) and it’s way cheaper than Kai Pan or that rip off SHOGUN.
They need to get in there and clean and clean and clean and change the carpeting.

I’ve been to this place once before for sushi only and it was just ok. The atmosphere is very dark but the staff is friendly. This visit I only had teppan, which was pretty good. Our chef was very friendly, but had some hiccups in his routine. I got the chicken and steak plate, and it was cooked perfectly. Lots of vegetables, good fried rice. I still prefer Tokyo Garden, but this place is solid.

Went in on a weekday at 115pm. A not so friendly female at the front asked how many in our party to which we replied 4 and were just waiting for the other couple to arrive.
I knew right away that I would never come here again. The place is dark and needs ventilation. I like dim and moody but this place was like a dank basement with low ceilings and I feared I would reek of the cooking oil for days.
After 2 minutes or so, we were told that the kitchen closes at 145pm and where was our other party? Just then our friends arrived and they held the front door open a crack while we greeted each other — too long for the hostess’ liking. She asked them to close the door and not so nicely.
Why would we stay here… we did not want to be rushed through our lunch with obvious terrible service/​attitude so we left and never went back.

This is probably my favorite restaurant in Bakersfield. It does get packed on Friday and Saturday nights, which can be annoying but it is so worth the wait. The filet is amazing, as is the chicken. Ignore the negative reviews. I’ve been coming here for years and have never had a bad experience or bad food.

I’m not a fan of teppanyaki. Never have been, never will be. I’m just a white guy in the minority I guess. Mind you, I ordered sushi when we came here for a birthday dinner. We of course, were at a teppanyaki table. I had to ask for a sushi menu since they don’t supply one at the teppanyaki table. Instead of bringing me one the waitress had me go to the hostess stand and get it myself. For reals.
I ordered a spicy tuna roll and it was made very sloppily. It was falling all over the place. It almost look like they dropped in on the ground and just plated it back up. The flavor and freshness was about average. The ice tea was also very bitter and the gyoza my wife and I shared was nothing special, just tasted straight out of the frozen foods section. Maybe if I came here and sat at the sushi bar things may be different. The waitress/​owner/​manager didn’t really appreciate me not wanting to spend $ 38 on overly salty fried rice and overcooked filet mignon.