VIP Sneak Peek of Fashion Week at Roka Akor

I arrived slightly before 6p and spotted Unilocal CM Lindsey F. talking to a couple of people outside the front entrance, so I went to greet her. She smiled and bade me a warm hello, and then told me to go on ahead and find a table and that happy hour had already started. Hmmm… that last phrase had my sensors go up! Something smells a little fishy…
I’ve never seen Roka Akor hopping during happy hour until that night! I liked the atmosphere– I’ll come back again and again if HH is as hot as it was then! Secured a four-​top at the back of the bar/​lounge area– nice space! I was quickly given wine and happy hour menus, but I thought I’d hold off until I knew what hors d’oeurve were going to be passed around, but I did want to try the Pink mojito– a twist on the classic w/​the addition of pureed prickly pear– $ 5 during happy hour. Friends soon joined me and at 6:25p, it was clear to us that the finger foods were not arriving any time soon, so we placed our orders in for Berkshire pork bellies (Michele M. and Bao H.) and a Soft-​shelled crab slider (for me).
The Pink mojito was so good that I decided that even if the foods turned out to be mediocre, I’d go back just to have the cocktail! Thankfully, the food was pretty special, too. :)) I rarely choose to consume fat that I can trim off, but Bao H. was adamant that I try the pork belly here, and since I was already tipsy from sipping on my pink mojito, I said WTH? Let’s do this, and I’m glad I did! The pork belly was perfectly-​seasoned, w/​such great umami flavor. It was so tender, and so juicy, I just had to have another bite, and then another… Soon, I was contemplating on getting another order for the table, but then my soft-​shelled crab slider arrived… Oh my! Now this was a terrific deal for $ 5! I did order it sans avocado, but someone forgot and included it anyway. It was too dark indoors for me to spot it, but my tongue could certainly detect its buttery consistency, as well as taste its creamy goodness– mmm! At this point of the evening, I really didn’t care anymore if hors d’œuvre were being passed, but servers started making their way around the lounge. It didn’t seem like many were making their way to our area, but after speaking w/​many other Unilocalers, it seemed like there weren’t very many complimentary apps to go around. Edamame, zucchini skewers, and butterfish tataki were the major offerings. After the pork belly and crab slider, I was still hungry for more, and so for my last few bites, I tried a Chibu slider, which came w/​Bao H.‘s thumbs-​up stamp. It certainly was tasty, but I preferred the crab. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t order the Chibu again, but for $ 5, the crab was the winner for me!
Roka Akor– you’ve won me over w/​your happy hour menu!
p. s. What «sneak peek?» There weren’t any models, nor a fashion show. Just a few «hipsters» dressed in hats, starched shirts, and a pair of suspenders, or two (ala 21 Jump Street, if you will), but where was this «sneak peek» we all came to see? Word finally went around that the event was more of a meet-​and-​greet for fashion events’ coordinators and vendors. It was all very strange, but my friends and I still had a great time, and that’s all that mattered.
Thanks for the swag bag that included coupons to come back and eat at Roka Akor! We’ll be back. :))

I had high hopes of looking at a sneak peek of the fashion show. No fashion show, but ended up chatting with friends all night. Unilocal did a great job promoting this event. I just wish Roka Akor had done a little more. I had the corn fritters, which was all batter and salty. My favorites were the grilled zucchini, sweet potato, and calamari. I thought it was sad that only couple of Unilocalers went to the after party at Wild Knight. Hopefully if they do this again next year, they might want to consider having this event on a weekend.

Where was the fashion? As most of my fellow Unilocalers have mentioned, there was definitely a lack of fashion at the event (Well besides the attendees). Beyond that I can’t complain at all. Roka Akor was an excellent host; the food and service was spot on! I was really impressed by the wine list and vegetarian options. We decided to order a few items off the menu to try in additions the tasting provided. All were excellent, but the corn tempura and sweet potato skewers were by far my favorite!

This was my first Unilocal event and first visit to Roka Akor. The food was great, especially the calamari with lime. It helps that we were apparently standing in a lucky spot, where the waiters with samples reliably stopped by. I’d definitely be up for checking this restaurant out for dinner if I’m in the area in the future.
However, like a lot of the other reviewers had mentioned, there wasn’t much of a «fashion» theme to be found. But I can’t really have any complaints about free tasty snacks (and wine!).

I had a great time for the short time I was there. I got to meet some new Unilocal friends and say hello to some old ones. I wish the hubby was not feeling so lousy so I could have stayed longer and watch the show. Oh well, maybe next time.

This was my very first Unilocal event. Everyone built it up to be so great. But, even they said, it was not the best. First off, very little parking area here. Being fashion week we thought we would see some fashion, NO None, just from the patrons. Wine was on the house and it was very good. So thanks for that. Food was few and far between. But, we did order from the menu. Very salty. Maybe we will give it a try when they are not so under pressure.

This was my first Unilocal event and I had a great time! Beautiful people, delightful food and great conversation. The bartenders were personable and happy to talk to us about Shochu. The food was plentiful, and the flavors were right on. Was there a lack of Phoenix Fashion Week presence, yes. Looking back, who cares? We had a great time and everyone looked like they stepped right off the runway. We don’t need no stinkin’ models!
We will definitely return to Roka Akor. It was great meeting a few of you. I look forward to meeting more of you guys soon!

I’m glad that I’m not the only who was disappointed with this event. Was there suppose to be something about Fashion Week at this event? Maybe models? Unilocalers brought their A-​game to this party! Loved the beautiful fashionistas that came out! The swag bags were just bags minus the swag.
On the plus side, Roka Akor was awesome! I have been wanting to try this place and I am glad that I got a chance to check it out. I loved the décor and feel of the restaurant. The Crispy Fried Squid with Chili and Lime was phenomenal! The serving size was the right amount. The Sweet Corn Tempura was my favorite! It was so yummy. I can’t wait for another visit to Roka Akor! Great job to the bartenders and servers who provided awesome service!

Well, i was very excited to go to this event, however, not so excited when it was all over. The music was great and it is a very nice place. It really reminds me of Vegas. However, it was fashion week and we all thought that we would see models sashaying down the runway. But, no. No fashion at all. The wine was comp and it was very good, i give great praise for that! But the samples of food were few and far between. The Servers skipped out many times. Not like most Unilocal events which are usually out the door GREAT! We ordered from the happy hour menu. I fully agree lots of salt, but i think it was the soy sauce, it was the most salty. i have ever had. There is very little parking here as well so be prepared for that as well. All in all we had a good time. But, not as fabulous as most Unilocal events.

Wow, who knew Unilocalers were such beautiful people? I guess I didn’t make the connection to Fashion week and so my friend and I weren’t dressed on the same level as the A-​listers who went all out. Now that I know what to expect I will definitely be channeling my inner fashionista and stepping it up next year.
Never having been here before, I really enjoyed the décor and ambiance of Roka. Some of the reviews of this place say they are snobby but our waitress was super sweet. She helped us score some of the food samples since like Michael F. we were also getting skipped by the servers. Fortunately, we had gotten there early and ordered some stuff from the happy hour menu. My favorites of the samples we did try were the butterfish and sweet potatoes. Both were really amazing! The music was really great, too. Overall we had a good time.

I just want to agree that I expected more of a PHX Fashion Week kind of atmosphere. It was disappointing that there wasn’t much of a presence (or so it felt).
That aside, this was my first visit to Roka, and I will be back! The chili & lime calamari and the soft shell crab mini sammich were fantastic! I want to eat more! Also, the bartender, Cory, was great to chat with. All of the servers were swamped, but they seemed to be doing a great job (I didn’t have any bad experiences with them at least).
Though I was sad about the whole Fashion Week thing, this event was a really fun time. It was a real treat to see a lot of my fellow Unilocalers lookin’ snazzy!

Me too! I thought it was a sneak peek of a Fashion Show, so I was a little disappointed not to see any models walking between the appetizers. LOL! I have been to Roka and it rocked but it was so bummer that everything I had was salty this time. The beef skewer, the burger slider, chicken skewers, etc. I thought it was me, but Linda W. said the food was a little salty too! There was only a few appetizers types of and came by, so we ordered off the hour happy menu. Too bad, they did not offer the regular menu. The stuff on that ROCKS!
It was fun to see everyone! Enjoyed the place and music!

The fashion connection was completely missing and the «fashion bags» constisted of skittles and airheads aka the dessert of the evening and Unilocal wrist sweat bands aka the fashion accessories. No models on the runway but good free food and drinks so I have no complaints. :) One of my girlfriends ordered the blueberry martini and loved it’s fresh taste and not overly sweet taste. We ordered panna cotta (yum!) for desert with yuzu sorbet (gross to me). This is my second time at Roka and I wouldn’t be opposed to coming back :)

i was looking forward to some fashion event to kick off Fashion Week and we brought along 2 guests to get a peek, but maybe we missed it. although there were plenty of well dressed folks there, i had different expectations.
can never get too disenchanted with Unilocal though. most things are a hit. i did enjoy all the tasty apps that were being brought around. one of the servers walking by our table graciously left us a bowl of edamame and even a whole tray of the butterfish sushi. i loved each app we tried, although we did have to hunt down the sushi rolls.
nice venue, felt very swank. and the goody bags were a cool touch. the DJ was excellent.

I’ve never been to Roka, so this was a nice chance to try it out. The bar and lounge area was cool-​I liked all the decorative sake bottles around the bar. They had a great DJ there last night as well.
Pretty good wine and from what what we got to try of the appetizers they were very good-​especially the butterfish. We got passed over though a bunch of times, which is kind of frustrating. All the servers were very nice though, probably just really busy.
As we were sitting and waiting hoping for the fashion show to start… we finally realized that there was no fashion show-​which was a disappointment. I was really looking forward to that as I hadn’t participated in any fashion week events before. Well, it was still a nice evening with friends and got to check out a place I hadn’t been before.

What an awesome Sneak Peek of Fashion Week @ Roka Akor!
I brought four friends and we were very impressed by their choice of appetizers! Let’s name them:
Steamed Edamame with Sea Salt
Crispy Fried Squid with Chili and Lime
Butterfish Tataki with White Asparagus and Yuzu (favorite)
Zucchini with Miso Mustard
Sausage Platter
2 Other Sushi dishes
Good wine (as my friends would say) and awesome photographers! Nice touch with the swag bag! It’s always the cherry on top! Although we wish they had other offers inside. I won’t be picky, the cool Unilocal mints and buy 1 get 1 free lunch entrée was a nice touch! =) One thing we were surprised at was we thought there was going to be some models at the restaurant. That or some sketches of clothes or even real clothes. Overall, we enjoyed our time and it was a great success from Unilocal,Roka Akor, and Fashion Week! Bravo!

I had a great time at the Roka Akor event last night! I had been here once before for a cocktail but this was my first opportunity to try their food. It was outstanding; I wish I’d been able to keep a couple of those passed trays of scrumptiousness all to myself! My favorite was the butterfish tataki — I’m not sure if it’s called that because the smooth, velvety fish just melts in your mouth like butter, but I’d believe it. A close second was the chile-​lime calamari — lightly breaded, crunchy goodness with a snappy lime kick.
The area where the party was held was just right for this event; not too crowded to move but lively and bustling. In the end I’m not sure what the party had to do with fashion week, but if that’s the excuse I need to come here again I will throw on my stilettos and run back :)

Good event at Roka, but I thought it was a sneak peek of Fashion Show?
I was expecting models sashaying on the runway, but I guess I was mistaken.
However, It was the perfect opportunity to try this place.
I sat with Teresa S. and Marios table, and we ordered a bunch of items from their menu.
We didn’t get to try some of the samples because some of the servers kept skipping our table. What’s up with that?
It kind of bothered us a little bit, but oh well they were busy.
I finally had to wave someone to take our orders. We ordered a variety of appetizers from their menu.
I hadn’t eaten all day, so I ordered a bunch of items including the Roka Akor Mushroom Burger, Corn Fritters, Grilled Eggplant, Roka Akor Sweet Potato Skewer, Edename, Chili Calamari etc.
I don’t drink anymore, so I ended up giving my drink coupons to Teresa.
Of course, It was always cool to see familiar faces also got to meet new ones.