Akashi Japanese Restaurant

How awesome is it when you walk in– you ask the chef what the specials are and they create a roll just for you. Even better they name it for you! I now get to ask for the Lauren roll. It was great and it had a combo of all my favorite fish. This is the third time I have been there and so far it has been my favorite place for sushi. Cant wait to go back and order my roll!

I don’t like sushi, but my friends do so i’m forced to go to a sushi restaurant every once in a while. I love that this place has options for non sushi lovers like me. I usually get their fried rice and katsu chicken. It is delicious! The thai donuts are a must before you go.

I’d eaten at the South Miami Akashi before, and was pleasantly surprised that the Coconut Grove Akashi was noticeably better. Had an excellent experience with take-​out here. The sushi was fresh and flavorful. I especially liked the Night and Day roll and the Dane #2 (which we ordered without the spicy mayo).
We also had vegetable tempura, which was quite good and held up despite the time delay involved with taking it home.
I’d return. I like it better than a lot of the nearby sushi options.

This place used to be sooooooo much better. What happened? The last couple of times we’ve been here the food has been just OK and the service not so great. Plus, the place has gotten very run down.

I’m not really sure what all the so-​so reviews are about on here. I found the service to be very prompt and attentive and the food delicious.
I chose Akashi because I was watching a movie nearby and craving sushi. Akashi is one of the few love it or hate it Miami sushi places I’d never been to so I wanted to check it out.
The place is small and though the decoration is ok you still get that sort of dive feel, which I don’t mind.
I ordered a south Miami roll (lots of raw fish with avocado and Masago) and a night and day roll which is usually called a beauty and the beast roll elsewhere. Both were really fresh and tasty — and the sushi rice was excellent. I’ve found that good sushi rice has so much to do with whether a roll is a hit or miss, and the sushi rice here had the perfect amount of rice vinegar. The one knock on this place is that this sushi is a hot mess. On the roll with Masago the front half was covered in it and the back half had none — same do the other roll with sesame seeds. It didn’t bother me too much since the food was so good, but is worth noting.
Regardless, the experience in general was very good, and I’ll definitely be making this a regular stop when I’m in the grove.

A hole in the wall but I love this place. Everything is excellent including the usuzukuri, salmon toro, shumi, chicken fried rice, and soft shell crab!
Warm, friendly service.

This is my go-​to sushi place in Miami. It’s the best bang for your buck. I’m never disappointed with the quality of food or service I receive here.
For this location, just know that they don’t really have an inside — only two tables. The majority is outdoor seating!
Favs include: tamago, Alex #2, tuna tartare, and (IMO) the best kani su in the city.

Best sushi in town! Sashimi sliced thinly. Rolls are fresh, perfectly bite sized and service is great!!!

We were visiting from CA and we are kind of Sushi snobs but I was happily surprised by great service and variation on the sushi rolls that were a little different than what we get in our neck of woods.
Great service and good food, can’t complain and I would definitely come again.
Cheers!

To start, I would give the original Akashi 4 stars.
service in the Grove location is NON Existent.
We sit down and menus placed in front of us and before our waitress could scurry away, I asked for Ice water.
«Yuh» was her low energy, barely audible response.
Whatever. I grew up in the grove and have been to this location dozens of times.
We were ready to order.
8:30pm. Thursday night. Party of 3. The patio is full and it seems like our waitress is the only one working outside.
Again, not a big deal. I wanted my Americanized, Miami’id out sushi rolls.
10 minutes later, no service.
Tables around us who arrived later had appetizers already.
We wait 5 more minutes and get up. Our waitress is in the middle of the courtyard, 10 feet from our table with her back turned to us about to go inside the restaurant. Didn’t check on us — nothing.
We left, pissed off.
Obviously we were a burden to them, and we gave our business elsewhere.
Recap:
Feeling ignored at a restaurant is the worst feeling.
Hey OWNER OF AKASHI: Train your wait staff in customer service, because our waitress never said a word to us except a lazy «yuh» when I asked for ice water before waiting for 15 minutes and leaving.

Woah! Kinda surprised at all the bad reviews for Akashi in the Grove. This is our go-​to spot for sushi and sake dates these days because we can sit outside and our pup is very welcomed here. I’m not going to say its the best sushi I’ve ever had, but I have never left dissapointed, and service is usually on point! I’ve actually been here many times and I think maybe once, our server disappeared… but I can barely remember that because of all the other times I’ve been and we usually have not just one waitress come to our table, but the owner or another person will usually stroll by and ask if we need anything.
Our usual order consists of the Jalapeño Roll — if you love spicy, this is really good. We also like their twist on the spicy tuna roll. Yes, it comes with a sweet & spicy sauce drizzled over the top of it — it gives it a unique and different taste than your usual, average spicy tuna roll, but it’s good! The other roll we like is the Alex #1, its more simple than #2 and its pretty delicious in my opinion. The sashimi appetizer is a fair amount of (fresh!) sashimi after we’ve ordered the other 3 rolls and 4 large sakes! We are stuffed and satisfied every time!
And again, our fur baby gets treated nicely. They bring him water and he gets to hang out and people watch with us.
My disclaimer is that I am not a sushi snob/​connoisseur, I haven’t taken a 3 course sushi class, I am not a sushi chef, nor a geisha in disguise… but I do love sushi, sashimi and sake.

Alex #2 it’s definitely my favorite, the fish is fresh, the sashimi and the sushi is really good! unfortunately the service is big NO NO NO!
I also called for delivery and it was really bad, I don’t recommend anyone to try their delivery food, the fish was not fresh and with an awful smell!

Service was great. Our food came out immediately. The fried and steamed shumei were amazing. The Alex rolls were both very good. The rainbow roll with shrimp on top was very fresh.

Just as delicious as the original but with the outside seating in the grove, this has become my preferred Akashi location. Highly recommended! Alex #2

Recommendation: get the Alex #2 — it’s by far the best thing they offer and it compares well with sushi from all my favorite places.
On a side note — they have great gyozas too & they aren’t grossly overpriced like most places.
The fried rice is well below average and the menu isn’t all that diverse. Everything seemed to be variations of each other. I can’t think of many places I’d skip to come here.

The sushi here is mediocre. I’d rather buy sushi from Publix. The menu isn’t diverse. Most rolls have a variation of fried seafood, avocado and mayo on top. I’d advise you check out any other sushi restaurant before eating here.
We came to sit outside and eat dinner, but the umbrellas are dirty and there isn’t any ambiance.
I wouldn’t recommend.

This is a «miami sushi» restaurant. What exactly does that mean? It means a sushi restaurant where the traditional Japanese flavors are masked with cream cheese, eel sauce, spicy mayo, and avocado. If this is your idea of sushi, then this is your place. We had the sexy mama roll, and dan’s roll, which were tasty, but over indulgent. The service was virtually nonexistent like most sushi places in Miami. Prices are affordable. Would come back again, but it is not in my sushi top 5!
Service: 2
Food: 3
Cleanliness: 3 (dingy menus, sub par cleaning of tables)
Price: 4(affordable)
Ambience:2 (loud students when I was there. Small place)
Overall: 2.8÷3

Super unimpressed by everything here. My expectations were very high going here as I heard it was the best sushi spot in Miami. and I consider myself a sushi connoisseur.
Also this place was packed on a Monday night so I figured I was missing out on something great. Unfortunately the sushi was below par… well below par. I ordered a spicy tuna roll, and it came with some weird hot sauce on top. When we asked to return the roll we were unable to.
Also the service could have been much better.
I’ll keep looking for the best sushi in Miami because it definitely was not here.

Sorry, but I just was not impressed. My friend and I desperately sought a dining option in the Grove when Bombay Darbar had a huge wait, and after walking around, we fell into the «whatever will do, at this point» trap of desperation. I had seen Akashi’s reviews were quite high, so this further cemented the idea that perhaps this was a good choice. Since it was a cool 62 degrees, we decided to sit outside. It was much more quiet than the inside, and it’d give us a chance to people watch.
As we opened the menu, we exclaimed, almost in unison «wow, it’s not cheap.» I guess this is expected of the Grove, with the exception of bar grub, and maybe some of the small taquerias. The only somewhat affordable option we found was the Teriyaki chicken at $ 16, so we both ordered that. It came with a soup or salad, so I got the salad, while my friend got the soup.
When the main courses arrived, we were underwhelmed. We both expected more than just some strips of chicken with a sweet Teriyaki sauce on top, like oh, I don’t know… some carrots perhaps? Cabbage? Broccoli? I have ordered Teriyaki chicken at other Japanese and Asian fusion spots and they always had something more than just chicken. The chicken was also somewhat charred in spots and was dry. I’m no cook, but I felt I could put together something like this or even better. Service was quite attentive, but the food just didn’t make a great impression. Next time, we’ll just drive a couple of miles for a worthier choice.

Food was ⁵⁄₁₀
Service was ¹⁄₁₀
Menu was confusing and misleading
Probably won’t come back
Prices are Coconut Grove standard.