Akebono

Horrible service, waited foooorever just for my dragon roll, and seriously wth is wrong them… what dragon roll does not have shrimp tempura?! Never going back! My brother ordered a roll and just had one piece, and was not feeling it. Don’t waste your money!

My (Japanese) mother and I eat here every time we come to Sacramento. The sushi is always delicious… splurge on the blue fin toro… it’s worth it!
Today we brought my family for my son’s birthday… everyone is full and very happy :)

Won’t be coming here again. Started to feel very sick as I was eating the rock n roll. Got home and started to vomit. My girlfriend also had similar symptoms.

Ever since Akebono changed owners, its not the same :(
The quality and freshness of the food has changed significantly to the point where I can taste it. So disappointed…

I’ve been here a couple of times, but my most recent visit was just okay. We were seated in the other room, which was for the most part empty. Not all of our food arrived at the same time. We were nearly done eating when my sister received her dinner. I had the Spicy Chicken with Tempura. Not a fan of the dish at all. It’s very rare that I don’t finish my entire meal, as I hate wasting food. I wouldn’t recommend this plate to anyone. You’ll be disappointed. The mixed veggies with chicken was underwhelming, not the best spices.
My parents are frequent visitors here. Even they were a bit disappointed with the service. Our waiter was decent, but she didn’t come back to fill our waters until the very end of dinner.
I think it’s comparable to most Japanese restaurants. The restraurant’s décor is average and nothing over the top. If you’re there, you’re there for the food.
Great parking, with no hassles.

Not bad, not bad. Came here on a Saturday around 12pm and there was plenty of seating. We ordered the Zaru Soba ($ 7.25), Tuna Lovers ($ 18.95), and lunch Sashimi Combo ($ 14.95). It was pretty good pricing-​wise! The Tuna Lovers comes with a roll that has shrimp tempura inside, tuna sashimi on top, as well as tuna salad on top, and also 5 pcs of tuna sashimi. The Sashimi Combo came with 3 pcs tuna, 2 pcs salmon, 2 pcs yellowtail, and 2 pcs hamachi? I think? Not completely sure cause I get confused with those last two haha. But it was a pretty good deal! The fish wasn’t bad but it definitely wasn’t the freshest I’ve tasted. The roll was alright to me but my boyfriend seemed to like it. It was my first time having soba noodles and I liked them! They just weren’t thaaaat flavorful even with the sauce. Overall, not sure if I’d stop by again – maybe if I was hungry and I was going to the Japanese bakery nearby hehe.

Second time eating in at Akebono and still as good as always.
We had a coupon for half off an entrée so we got the tempura and spicy scallops. I’m not a tempura fan myself (all tastes the same to me) but it was supposedly good. The spicy scallops sauce I can only describe as like this combo of sriracha and barbecue sauce? It’s pretty good. The scallops were nice and fresh. Comes with carrots, shiitake mushrooms and onions. Pretty healthy. Last we tried the ichiro roll. Kind of boring, I wouldn’t get it again. It’s an avocado roll with seared tuna, then salmon on top and some sauce. The sauce didn’t stand out and the tuna avocado was just basic.
Service is normal. Took a while to take our orders. Make sure to say you don’t want rice if you get an entrée otherwise they’ll bring it and just throw it in the trash. I mean later. Not in front of you. That’d be weird.
Some of the best items I’ve had here:
Poki: ⁴⁄₅
Creamy albacore: 4.5÷5
BBQ albacore: ⁴⁄₅
Gyoza: ⁴⁄₅
Shumai: 4.5÷5
Crab sticks: ⁴⁄₅
Baked mussels; ⁴⁄₅
Spicy chicken/​beef/​scallop/​shrimp: 4.5÷5
Curry udon: ⁴⁄₅
Niku udon: ⁴⁄₅
Nabeyaki udon: 4.5÷5
Kaisen shio ramen: 4.5÷5
Spicy miso ramen: ⁴⁄₅
Challenge ramen: ⁴⁄₅
Curry rice (chicken/​beef/​croquette): ⁴⁄₅
Dream Come True roll: ⁴⁄₅
Half Moon Bay roll: ⁴⁄₅
Red Tiger roll: 4.5÷5
I’ll keep updating this list as I get more stuff.
Mini update: I’ve been trying their noodles lately thanks to the coupons they send every month. Their udons are really good but their ramen is not my favorite, the actual noodles aren’t the best tasting. I’d recommend going elsewhere for ramen. Also the challenge ramen can get crazy hot (literally) so choose your spicy level wisely. The curry dishes taste almost exactly like curry seasoning but has kind of a top ramen seasoning packet flavor to it.

The hype– this place lives up to it.
Deceptively larger than it looks from the outside, the restaurant extends to the back of the building… and then some it seems. It’s located in a strip mall between a bank and a massage parlor (happy ending you say? I kid.) on Freeport, looking very plain from the outside.
Combo tempura came out piping hot– a nice touch compared to those plates of fried goodies that have «died» in the window for a while.
Sushi combo had some fish on top of some rice, as well as a spicy tuna roll and a cucumber roll.
Came for Mom’s birthday lunch. Whispered that to the waitress and she brought out a plate of mochis. Nice touch.
I dug it. And I plan on digging it again in the near future.

Still our favorite place in town.
Best roll is the Ichiro (we ask them to add jalapeño), and we typically get a soft shell crab appetizer and the pepperfin tuna. Don’t forget to try pickled wasabi, a great alternative to wasabi+ soy sauce!

Fresh fish!!! dream come true is the best roll! loaded w/​sashimi! soo yummieeeee!!! thanks for being so great!!! going there twice a month now! when I become a millionaire I will be going there everyday! lol

Heard great things about this place. They do take reservation, but have to call a day ahead; they do not do same day reservations. So my coworkers and I decided to try out this place after work. They have a great large area for large parties, we came with a party of about 10 people on a Tuesday night without reservations and we were seated right away.
Everything looks good on the menu, my coworker ordered some saki bombs, Kim chi ramen, chicken teriyaki over rice, and we ordered Rolls on the Boat #B which comes with Hawaiian, Rocky, Rainbow, Ichiro, Vanilla Sky, Unaten and Fish Lover. Lots of varieties of sushi
I would definitely come back again to try other dishes on the menu.

Decided to give this place a try because of the good reviews on Unilocal.It turns out to be a pretty disappointing experience. We ordered an Akebono roll, lunch bento, and ramen. The filling was yummy but the rice was ice cold!
The bento came with freshly fried shrimp and veggies, a big plus! But the rice was under cooked and abit hard. This place definitely can’t cook their rice right! Very disappointing for a Japanese resultant.
The ramen was alright, noodle was over cooked, but the broth was ok. Not comparable to a ramen shop.
Overall, this restaurant is over rated on Unilocal.There are better places to eat than here.

Not your average size sushi rolls that’s for sure. Rolls range from 10 – 15 dollars depending what’s in it. We came during lunch hour maybe an hour and half before they close and we waited awhile for a table it was very busy. Once we sat we ordered our rolls and a pepperfin for starters to share. And surprisingly they came out really quick! Not where it’s been sitting and they pulled it out from the fridge but they make their rolls very efficiently and it looked very good! The taste was just as good too. I forgot the names of the rolls we got I apologize but definitely check this place out! We left feeling satisfied and not overfull.

Although I’ve given them three stars on my previous visits, Akebono has grown on me!
I’ve visited on many occasions and I’m a believer! The menu is extensive, everything to my Japanese hearts desire! We’ve ordered the Sushi Lover’s Boat, quite impressive! Not sure what I was more impressed with? The expediency of the sushi chef or the beautiful display of sushi and rolls. Surely, it’s more than enough sushi for two. So fresh, delicious! Oh lord, the slices of sashimi, are melt in your mouth, fresh! Damn thick slices too!
The bento box lunches are generous and cooked to perfection! The Bento box lunches are a good value too. I used to think that the many food choices were a fault, but now I think it’s a good thing. There’s sushi, lots of noodle choices, (from ramen, Yakisoba, udon, sukiyaki, soba), tempura, curry, lunch and dinner combinations. So many choices, and all of it is satisfying.
Plus, the service is on point, with so many employees, you’re never neglected. The place is always busy but we’ve never had a long wait time for our orders.
I love Mikuni’s but I’m beginning to love Akebono’s more! Wish there were more Akebono’s everywhere!

Hands down my favorite sushi restaurant! I’ve been to a good handful in the bay and SJ area and this place is the best!
I’ve tried a variety of items on the menu and I haven’t come across anything I didn’t like.
Ramen is pretty filling and yummy. And you know it’s good because they also own Ryujin in downtown sac which has really good ramen.
Sushi rolls are pretty good. My favorite is the Ichario roll. Their rolls are a good balance of fish and rice and it’s not heavily drowned in sauce.
Sashimi is soooo good. It’s tasty and refreshing. Majority of the time I’m here, I get the sashimi combo or Chirashi which is really filling and the price is affordable for the portion size. For the same price of AYCE sushi, you can get great quality sushi here and still be full. I’ve been to places where it’s more expensive and portion is way smaller.
Depending on when you come in, there might be a wait. Usually there’s a bit of a wait on Fridays and weekend.
There’s a private lot and I’ve never spent for then a minute finding parking.

The deluxe chirashi is the best deal in sushidom that I know of. Take a look at some of the photos, you get an amaebi with the fried head and all, and a ton of fish! Way more fish than you’d ever expect to get for a little over 20 bucks. I was soooo happy when I ordered it for the first time.

Back again after YEARS, and it was still a dream come true. (;
Despite the Rocky start (my friends and I drove all way from the Bay area so we called ahead in an attempt to make a soft reservation and because we also had a prior engagement to make we ended up still waiting 30 – 40 minutes after arrival to be seated) it was honestly still worth the wait.
We were quickly served water and delicious green tea and all the food we had was amazing. Being use to bay area prices on sushi and that Dream Come True roll is still such an amazing deal ($ 16.95), so of course more than one of those rolls were ordered. I still haven’t quite figured out how to fit an entire piece all at once but I ate half a roll, some geso, some salmon kama and I left feeling food coma-​ish.
Our waitress was also great– without even telling us, she auto added a %15 discount on our bill (as in she found a paper cut out of a coupon and stapled it to our receipt) and even gave us separate bags of ice to keep our rolls cold for the long drive home! Super nice of her!
I only wish this was located closer to us. I’ll miss you. you made my (food)dreams comes true. :3

I’ve been eating here for a while now and I never knew what to write for the review, but only recently have I been eating here constantly! I’ve tried a lot of good here such as their challenge ramen, curry udon, plain udon, multiple sushi rolls, sweet shrimp nigiri, uni, tako nigiri, charashi, chicken Katsu curry, Katsu (pork) curry, sushi deluxe combo, agedashi tofu, etc! So my review is not a «I just ate here» review
Pros:
— Fast service even when the house is packed
— Attentive workers
— Good food
— Nice portion sizes food
— More than fair prices
— Clean
Cons:
— Could be a little crowded at times and depending where you sit may be awkward, especially for couples
Overall:
I don’t have many cons for this place, but it is a little far from my house so if you count that as a bad thing lol Everything here is great! Great quality food! It’s so much cheaper at akebono than other sushi places that charge way much more, but there «50% off rolls» make everyone think it’s cheaper! This is my number one sushi place to attend! Everyone must give it a try. I guess the good reviews may give other people super high expectations and they get all pissy when one thing goes wrong. Just chill and enjoy lol

My favorite neighborhood Japanese joint! Word on the street is that the owners had changed?! But on my recent visit, everything still seems the same; friendly and attentive staff and good food!
Akebono offers a large and expansive menu. They have everything from bento boxes to ramen bowls to sashimi and Americanized sushi rolls. You’re bound to find something that satisfies your craving for Japanese food!

Really good authentic Japanese food! Cooked, raw, doesn’t matter. Flavors are awesome!
Be prepared for a good long wait as this place is popular, but it is worth it. The raw foods are melt in your mouth delicious while the cooked items are savory for sure! Please be forewarned, the sushi is for the most part raw. That being said, it doesn’t have all of the flavors that many other sushi restaurants have because those sushi rolls are more of an American-​made/​Japanese-​titled food item, especially the ones with the various sauces. I love a good and tasty roll, however, this place is more authentic and if you were raised in a Japanese house, the selection here would look familiar. Sushi is raw and very fresh, the soups/​ramen are tasty and savory. I have yet to try much more since I am such a sushi and soup/​ramen fan! Sukiyaki may be the next item on the menu, or perhaps soba… Not sure, but I’ll try it out!
Service is ok, nothing spectacular, but most asian restaurants tend to be that way.
I like this place and shall return! My choicest items are really good.