Aki Japanese Cuisine

Meh. When they first came to Brunswick, the experience was much better than their local competitor, Little Tokyo. Our first hibachi experience was great! The food was good and the chef was entertaining.
Our second hibachi experience was not as good. Overall, the food was okay and the service was okay, but the chef was obviously tired.
Our third hibachi experience the other night was the final straw and we’ll never go back. First, we had reservations at 7:30, were seated at 7:45 and our food order wasn’t started until 8:30. An hour of waiting — we were starving! The issue, though, is one of our guests had a seafood allergy, made that known when the reservation was made, and reiterated that when we placed the food order. To our dismay, the chef rolled in his cart with all of the food contaminating each other — shrimp and scallops were loaded on the same tray as the meat and the chef loaded it all on the grill at the same time, his spatula flipping through all the meat and seafood, further contaminating the meat. When we said something about that, they were apologetic, but we’re over an hour into this experience and one of us couldn’t even eat! The chef was bored and not entertaining — you could tell he was just going through the motions, only cracking a smile once.
The chicken was fatty and rubbery, the meat not so tender, and the service was horrible. There wasn’t one positive thing about our last experience, so we will never be back. p. s. Despite the horrible experience, the checks arrived with a 20% tip added — what an absolute insult.

This place is awesome, great hibachi and very very good sushi. The fish is very fresh and high quality. The sushi specials are the best deal because you get a variety of sushi plus a bowl of miso soup.

My family has been going to this place since before they moved to Brunswick. Let’s just say even though it moved another 20 minutes away from us it’s still a favorite!
We never do hibachi because frankly the sushi is just too good. If it means anything, I’ve had sushi in an Aomori Japan so I have a decent frame of reference. The salmon sashimi is consistently like butter it’s so rich and creamy. The avocado salad is also worth a go because the dressing is lovely. Never had a bad experience here– only complaint, if any, is that the wait staff doesn’t seem to know how to pronounce Japanese – but hey.

We chose Hibachi for this dinner, and were not disappointed. We were seated right away, and were offered beverages and an opportunity to order from the Hibachi menu. A good beer and drink selection — a good mix of local and Japanese beers.
The Hibachi experience was just right; entertaining but not overbearing. We enjoyed the chef’s performance but were still able to carry on a conversation. Both the quality of the food (filet Mignon, scallops, and shrimp) and the how it was prepared was just right. A very good experience on the Hibachi side.

Can’t believe this place even has 3 ½ stars. My experience: Arrived at 620pm on a Friday night and promptly seated (2 adults and 1 child). Ordered food by 630pm and water was brought to the table. Between 630pm and 8pm we saw the waitress ONCE, at which point she said our food would be out shortly (she said this at 715pm). At 730pm the hostess noticed we were visibly upset and said she was grabbing someone. She grabbed a random waitress that came over and asked if we wanted her to take our order… at which point we said we ordered an hour ago and just wanted our food. She said she was going to grab our waitress. 8pm… still haven’t seen our waitress OR food. After 90 minutes we cut our losses, leaving angry and hungry.

This is our local go to Susie place. Never had a bad meal. Consistency is important to us and aki fits the bill. Typical sushi, great house salad. They have the chop chop flip knives thing in the back room. It’s OK but we like the sushi and Udon noodles.

Decent sushi. Kinda overpriced for the selection and the location. However, both times I’ve been in at lunch, great service and very clean. Selection is decent and a lot of options for vegetarians and vegans. Very cute street and get a window seat so you can see beautiful downtown Brunswick!

A group of us came in for my friends birthday dinner and everything started off okay… Our waitress was friendly and accommodating, but it was clear that she had not received the correct training from the management.
When we ordered menu house favorite cocktails from our server, neither she nor the manager knew how to make them…
Our food was mediocre – over priced for the portions we received, and the plates were still wet from the dishwasher (hopefully!), with visible food scraps.
Our visit there felt very rushed and we were getting glares from the owner/​manager and a woman who poured us water, all evening. The manager brought drinks that we did not order and was very irritated when we told him that nobody had ordered them.
When we got our separate checks (our server had asked how to split them at the beginning of the meal) they were all messed up. The server was very apologetic and we understood that we were a larger group and that it may have been confusing.
When our server asked her manager to help her correct the mistakes, he visibly rolled his eyes and got very angry with her. It took 45 MINUTES to «clear» up our checks, and even then, people were charged for the wrong meals.
The manager did not say or do ANYTHING to help the process and acted like we were causing him a whole lot of grief.
I am a server and bar tender and sympathize with our server and understand that learning new computer systems and menus can be difficult, but I have NEVER seen such poor management skills as I did that night.
We did not expect special treatment, but the fact that the manager not only put down and embarrassed his staff in front of guests, and made us feel beyond uncomfortable, we could have used an apology or a smile as we walked out the door, rather than him yelling after us that we did not leave enough money for his tip out.
Disappointing.

If I could give this place 0 stars I totally would!
When ordering it’s upsetting that the waitress didn’t know 1. How to pronounce the food or drinks correctly and
2. Names of the rolls after explaining the type of roll we were looking for.
After we received our food one my friends cut her foot on something under the table so bad that she started bleeding. We called the manager and he had asked what she cut on her foot on. To our discovery, the rug was super filthy! We didn’t know what she cut her foot on but it was enough blood to go down her feet. There was used chops sticks and toothpics under the table, horrible stains and food. Totally grossed out! He had apologized for the incident and ONLY TOOK 20% off my friends bill. Seriously! But at least they had a first aid kit!
The food was mediocre, the teriyaki chicken plate was bland. Red Dragon roll was delish, though. But with our experience already, I just wanted to get the hell out of there. You can bet that same night I wasn’t feeling so well and stayed in the bathroom all night long. Can you say FOOD POISONING!
Today my friend had called me to say to check our bill because the restaurant had over charged her card by $ 10. I had checked my account they had done the exact same thing to me. So I had gone to the restaurant and spoken to the owner. I had informed him that my credit card had been over charged and asked to see the receipt slip from my meal. When I saw the receipt, not only did I see a $ 10 tip that I never wrote but someone had FORGED my signature! I mean it wasn’t even my signature, they clearly looked like they had signed my initials. I had asked him how this could have happened at this restaurant. Denied any other incident like this in the past. Then I brought up my friend who this had happened to and he said that there mistake because they couldn’t read the hand writing. But on my receipt, someone had clearly reprinted and signed it. I had not only asked for my money back but also a copy of the forged receipt. All the manager gave me was the tip money. As for the forged receipt, he only gave me a copy because I was raising my voice.
I warn anyone that eats at this restaurant or any other. Check your bank accounts and keep your receipts. It doesn’t matter if it’s this or anywhere else, this incident has taught me a lesson to always keep my receipts and check my bank statement! NEVER GOING BACK TO THIS PLACE AGAIN!

An excellent meal we had. If you enjoy sushi then you have found the right place. Highly recommended!

We’re visiting for a few days and missed our weekly sushi fix.
I reviewed all the remarks and possible restaurants. We ordered take out, had the dog with us. I ordered our typical order we get at home. Three types of nigiri three rolls. I found the portions very good sized fresh and tasty. The rolls were large and delicious.
Thank you for a great recommendation.
Tourist from Rhode Island

Ive been eating at Aki for quite a while now, must say I really enjoy the Habachi and Plumb Saki. The layout of the Restaurant is very nice and always exceptionally clean. The other night ordered a wonderful Sushi dish that had a variety of fresh fish. Overall excellent food, nice atmosphere, and more importantly friendly staff make this one of my favorite eatery’s in the Brunswick area.

Don’t eat the chicken! Can you say food poisoning! I was sick for days!
I will never go back!

Came here with a large group of friends. We sat in the traditional seating section to try something new. We ordered the avacado salad, shrimp tempura, all sorts of spicy makis, and hibachi steak. Everything was excellent. The scorpian bowls are strong (thats a good thing). The service was great and our food came out fast. I will definetly be back to experience the hibachi side of the resturant!

Excellent for a little town in Maine. I struggled a bit with how many stars to give this place since I have travelled to Japan a number of times, but it is not quite fair to compare Aki to that standard. That being said, the sushi can be excellent at times. I had salmon sashimi tonight and it was as good as any as I have ever had; perfectly cut and the mouth feel of briney butter… just wonderful. On the other hand, the tempura is good but nothing like true tempura… Way better than you get in your average asian restaurant… but still missing the magical lightness that true tempura has. Overall, this is a place that is worth the visit.

Ok, not bad. Good steamed shrimp dumplings and miso soup.
Loved the Yellowtail. Hubby said California Roll was small but good.
Our server was so pleasant and funny. We had a nice lunch and we will return

Hair in the sushi… then in the dessert… buwhattttt. never again. the people i went with were the unlucky ones.

Great service. Very good sushi. Great flavors, had a sushi roll that was a special with tuna, salmon, avocado, cream cheese. Tempura fried with 3 sauces and very colorful fish eggs. I wouldn’t say 3 dollar signs, closer to two.

Qualifier — I am not a Japanese Cuisine aficionado
I enjoyed my udon noodle bowl, especially because it had an egg… my favorite! The food was hot and fresh tasting. The service was fast and pleasant. The people in the back where the hibachi tables were located, sounded like they were having a fun time. A lot of laughing (NOT drunken chaos noise).
We arrived right at 5 on a Saturday and were able to get a table for four with no wait. The place filled quickly and the live entertainment in the My-​ty lounge downstairs started up as we were leaving, seemed loud, but intriguing. :)
If you want a seat at the hibachi, you may want to make a reservation.
I am looking forward to trying it again.

Hibachi (Teppanyaki) performance is great, fun, and delicious! Since these are super expensive at Hilton in Hawaii (3 times more). I would take an advantage of having Hibachi here. Love it!! xoxoxTa
Peaople are super nice as well!