Akai Lounge

This place is awesome. If you’re looking for NYC quality in Bergen County give it a try. I used to go to Ruby Foo’s in the city to get sushi but they closed a few months ago. Thank goodness Akai Lounge was there to fill the void. The food is great and the staff is nice. Your meal is perfectly paced and the prices are very reasonable. If you like a martinis try the Blue Raspberry ($ 9 with Ketel One, what a deal). The shrimp tempura is delicious. They have a nice lunch special but I prefer to go for dinner.

I’m that person who typically stares and watch people eat sushi because shellfish allergy gets me paranoid about what could happen.
So imagine how happy I was when I discovered the diverse menu at Akai?
The food is consistently good, for delivery, take out and eat-​in. I can even bare the slightly higher (and almost Manhattan) prices for good quality food. I’d recommend a few rolls, but I always forget their names. They have fun naming things, so I’ll let you discover that.

Our favorite local spot. Sushi is fantastic and salmon teriyaki is my son’s favorite. Black miso cod was succulent. The staff is fun, efficient and friendly. Have never had a bad meal here. Great with the kids or a late night date. The bar is fully stocked and there is nothing like a crisp martini with you dinner! I think this place is awesome!

One of the best sushi restaurant! Our favorite for last 10 years. Always friendly staff and the owner is often present to ensure all customers are satisfied with the food. Delicious every time!

Ordered for delivery. They charge 2 $ extra for it. Most places are free. Sashimi is tiny. Sushi rolls are ok. But this place is over priced it seems. For sashimi tani is better. For sushi rolls they are probably a bit tastier here.

Delectable! My first experience was a quick [late — 2:15ish] lunch date during the week, although not packed, it wasn’t a deterrent in our staying. We were pleasantly greeted and seated; we went during Halloween time, so the restaurant was decorated with various halloween embellishments, which added to the experience and made it really fun. The menu hosts many fine selections of rolls, sushi, and main courses; which included one of my favs Chilean Sea Bass.
Everything except the Green Tea (in my opinion) was slamming. My second visit, was take-​in, and again they left me wanting to go back.
Hands down, Akai Lounge is the best Japanese sushi house in the neighborhood. I won’t mention the name, but there is another sushi spot a block away, which is subpar to Akai. Yes, it offers free parking but that’s all it offers. Keep walking, you’ll thank me later.
Dō itashimashite

3.5 Stars– Only because of the recent inconsistency I have been experiencing. I only eat spicy tuna rolls, and my rolls tonight were decent at best. I was so disappointed because it was so much better the last time I was here. Nonetheless, the ambiance is outstanding and will always keep me coming back. Great place for a date with dim lighting and subtle aroma. If the sushi was more consistent I would give them 5 stars but it is just so upsetting to get a ⁵⁄₅ roll one day and a ²⁄₅ that I cannot even finish the next. Next time I will be sure to find out what day they get their fresh fish delivered and update my review to recommended days of week to go. Noodles and chicken are still great tho.
Quality– inconsistent
Creativity– 8.5÷10
Atmosphere– ¹⁰⁄₁₀

If anyone were ever to ask me a popular and delicious tasting Japanese place, this would hands down be my recommendation ! I initially ordered a takeout dish (Shrimp Tempura Roll) but after strolling in to pick up my takeout order and seeing and smelling everyone else’s meal I had to see the menu. I ended up ordering teriyaki shrimp and it came with a delicious side of rice and a house salad which, had a beyond phenomenal dressing! I also got a blueberry liquor drink and it was also amazing !

Best sushi in the area — I am a HUGE favor of the shrimp tempura rolls and the cucumber rolls.
I typically go for the California rolls but they do use imitation crabmeat, so the cucumber rolls work just fine for me.
Very relaxing atmosphere and I crave this place at least once a week.
Haven’t had many other options on the menu because when I find something I like, I stick with it but everyone I know loves what they get.
It is definitely worth trying out if you enjoy Japanese food!

Aside from being a little pricey, this place is awesome. Very helpful and friendly staff as well as a very nice environment makes for the perfect place to eat during the weekends.
I went with my brother and we got Shrimp Tempura, Alaska, and Yellow Tail rolls. All three were delicious. Definitely one of the best sushi spots in the area. In addition to the sushi, we did Sake Bombs! This is where things got a little pricey but totally worth the experience.
If you’re looking for delicious sushi and a clean, modern ambiance, this is the spot to go!

Friendly staff, very clean,
delicious sushi tacos. I highly recommended it and love the Hawaiian martinis.

The food was delicious. The only problem is that it is a little pricey. Aside from this the food was amazing. I highly recommend the Min salad. It is tuna, seaweed and crunch. It is AMAZING. The atmosphere was great all of the waiters wanted to be there. The service was a tad slow, but aside from that it was very good. A must eat if in the area.

I’ve been coming here for almost a decade. This place is simply the sushi on this side of the Hudson. Even then it beats out most nyc spots. Consistent high quality food.

Almost confused this place for Daruma — glad I didn’t. Akai is much better in terms of service and food. Although their rolls are pretty decent, what really shines at Akai are the hot entrees. The rock shrimp appetizer compares favorably to «Bang Bang Shrimp» at Bonefish, and the sea bass was buttery and cooked to perfection. Their udon bowls were really good and made me wish I had ordered them instead of the rolls I got. Again, not that the rolls were bad, just that their hot entrees seemed to fare so much better when I sampled from my friend’s dishes. Not a bargain by any means, but this is one of the better Japanese restaurants in the immediate vicinity (and one that is actually open for Sunday lunch).

The hardest about this place is saying the name, the greeting is always welcoming, the sushi tastes fresh, and the food comes fast with reasonable prices. The drinks are also to die for, the lychee is delicious, and they are generous with the counts. Recently had a birthday on a busy Friday night and everything was still on point, all orders were right and the lady (whom I think is the owner) was very accommodating and fun! Definitely recommend this to everyone :)

I come here often. This place never disappoints.
The sashimi is always fresh. The special rolls are very tasty. The place is a bit pricey but if you’re a sushi lover you def won’t regret coming to this place.

My overall experience with the food and service here was good. Here is what I ordered:
— Chilean Sea Bass: I ordered this because a lot of people recommended it on Unilocal,and it wasn’t anything special. The bass was kind of small compared to the price. I’ve had better Sea Bass cooking it myself from wholefoods. The sauce that it came with was pretty good. It was like tempura sauce except sweeter.
— Coconut Shrimp: I ordered this too because it was recommended on Unilocal.This dish wasn’t anything special either. it was too think with the breading and the shrimp was small. It didn’t taste soggy, but it didn’t have any crisp to it either. No bueno.
— Himachi (cooked yellowtail neck): the Himachi didn’t taste like any special. The quality of the meat wasn’t that great either.
I also had the sushi platter for two and they wouldn’t let me do more salmon pieces than tuna. I thought that was odd. The salmon didn’t taste fresh anyway so I was glad I didn’t order more. I also ordered the tako sashimi, which was good.
Lastly, I ordered this noodle dish and I can’t think of the name right now, but it had a lot of seafood in it except they were out of mussels and clams so it had a lot of only shrimp and scallops and vegetables. This dish was pretty bad. It tasted just like Chinese food.
As you can see, I was pretty hungry that night, so I ordered a lot of food. I don’t think I would voluntarily come to this place again unless a friend was going.

Let me start by first saying i was SO excited to see that this place had crispy rice spicy tuna, and rock shrimp tempura. I have never been to a place in NJ that has this. Im a serious sushi lover and have tried so many places in NYC and NJ. The fact that they had these on the menu was the only reason i came!
Apps were great. Of course i recommend to anyone who hasn’t tried crispy rice to give it a try!
Sushi was also fresh and delicious!
I recommend this place to anyone looking for a NYC sushi experience, and just a great experience in general!

Whenever I order delivery from here I’m always alarmed by the totally cost of my order; that’s Japanese food with nyc prices for you.
The nabeyaki udon is always great. I find that while they have a large list of speciality rolls they have so much going on that they all taste the same to me. I love Chilean Seabass so the basstard roll and ny Knicks roll are always flavorful for me; their spicy tuna is good too. I would avoid the rock shrimp to go; it tastes better at the restaurant.
Fyi they charge for extra wasabi and they now have tacked on a $ 2 gas surcharge. As if this place isn’t pricey enough but yet I’ll suck it up and pay because out of all the Japanese places in the area that deliver to me akai’s rolls are the biggest and most flavorful

Went here with a couple friends for lunch. Had the sushi lunchbox which came with miso soup, salad with ginger dressing, and a specialty role (I chose the NY Knicks Roll which is Chilean sea bass with salmon– delish). I had the lychee martini which was delicious.
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Edit: 2^nd time coming here I found hair in my food. They were nice enough to take the food off the bill. But it’s not the same and I will not be coming back here due to they «hairy» experience (disgusting).