Asuka Asian Bistro & Sushi Bar

Good food, good values, and the friendliest sushi chefs I’ve ever met! I ate here two days in a row and had a great all around experience both times.

Agus is, hands down, the most hospitable man in
matter how busy he’ll say welcome to Asuka.
My kids love going there and, as a divorced dad I take the boys to see him every other Wed.
Me​.My favorites are the firemens roll and Asuka special. They’re sashimi is as fresh as can be. However, be patient on weekends if they get slammed. it might take a bit longer but it’s worth the wait.
Also, my son has ordered off the regular menu and loved the coconut tilapia.

Favorite sushi place in Wake Forest! Really happy with the sushi and staff. Looking foward to going back for an asuka roll!

This is one of our favorite sushi places in the Raleigh area. It’s tasty and a good value. My husband and I go there regularly, so the sushi chef, Agus, often sends over free miso soup, and sometimes even some hot sake! For apps, the crab rangoons are the best choice, or the sashimi sampler. The rest are meh. Truly, though, you should skip the apps and just order more sushi! They have a 2 for $ 8 menu, and a 2 for $ 16 menu. They also do nigiri. Sometimes it takes a while to get your sushi if a bunch of people came in at the same time, but it’s worth the wait. The service used to be lacking, but is MUCH better now. We are always concerned that their dining room isn’t full, because we’d hate to see them go, but we do appreciate being seated right away every time we go.

Recently moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area, we were looking for a good sushi restaurant. My hubby and I had went to another sushi place before finding Asuka and that place was horrible compared to this place.
The food tastes fresh, the prices are just great and the service is spot on! We didn’t think we could find a decent sushi place around here that would be comparable to the many sushi places in the bay area so we were happy to find this place! It reminds us of home and the chef/​owner always greets us when we walk in.

The bento box is the best deal on the lunch menu! I would skip the sushi combos from the main menu, they look pretty skimpy compared to other sushi places — maybe it’s the presentation (see my ohotos). The Asuka Special roll was given a thumbs up from my son.
The place was all but deserted at 1 o’ clock on a Saturday, but our waitress failed to provide requested chopsticks. After waiting 10 minutes — during which we never saw her appear from the back — we got up to ask the chefs at the sushi bar for them.

Not only top notch sushi and service but everyone is so welcoming. The food is great but the owner is the reason I come back week after week. A definite go to place for me.

Very good service, just about the freshest sushi you can find about anywhere in the Raleigh area. The bar drinks were good and the staff was very good. The sushi was flavorful and well prepared. The rolls are tasty and not at all crazy in nature the sushi and sashimi was delicious. Overall well worth going to and visiting.

Hands down best sushi I have had on the east coast. The service is outstanding, I would recommend this sushi place to my close friends and family.

Love this place! Owner is super-​friendly and the sushi is outstanding. I have never had a bad experience at the sushi bar where I always get a complimentary salad and a good chat. Can’t wait to go back!

The five stars is indicative of my overall feeling about this restaurant. It is not the best sushi I’ve ever had but the rolls are consistently very tasty. You can save yourself a lot of money compared to other places with their 2/​$ 8 regular rolls and 2/​$ 14 selections of more deluxe rolls (Dae’s Talk with grilled eel on top instead of fried and the Miki and Chip are our family favorites) which is a huge help when you’re feeding a sushi-​loving family.
I’ve had several selections from the full price rolls (about $ 9 — $ 15 each) and love the Piano and Snapdragon. Most of their rolls are pretty unhealthy with something fried, slathered in mayo, or coupled with cream cheese (or all three) in most selections but that is probably what makes my kids love it so much– and seems to be the general trend in sushi these days everywhere in NC. Salad and miso soup come with your dine-​in sushi order. The salad has a ginger dressing that is among the best. The miso soup is on the bland side but not at all unpleasant. Sort of like a very accessible white wine. Just lacks character. Anyway, if you are a sushi snob this probably isn’t the best place for you to go but if you are the average American sushi eater, chances are you will really enjoy your meal– and they always have tables– and save yourself 20 bucks or more per couple compared to other restaurants in the area. For take out I highly recommend over Harris Teeter. Much, much better value and more delicious.
The fish always tastes «fresh» but since all fish served raw in the U.S. MUST be frozen to kill parasites, it is, of course, no more or less so than the fish from anywhere else you buy sushi.

Great food, great prices, and friendly service. I am a regular here most weeks and like to just ask the chef to make me some rolls of whatever he thinks is good, and I am never disappointed.
Sushi is great but don’t pass by the bento box or Korean dishes. The kimchi is great.

This restaurant is awesome! They have pretty great service and the food is even better. The food is pretty delicious for Asian cuisine, and I grew up eating Asian cuisine (Korean).
My fiancé ordered the donkatsu and it’s even better than the one we’ve had at seoul garden. I had two specialty rolls for $ 17. More than filling!
Not only is the food really tasty, it’s very beautiful. Presentation of the food was actually really surprisingly aesthetically pleasing.
Also, the waitstaff are pretty friendly!

Great place, friendly staff, great atmosphere. Food was really good. I will definitely be back.

Our favorite sushi restaurant! The owner/​chef remembers us every time we come in and is very happy to make a «chef’s choice» roll upon request and even comes to the table to see if we liked it. Service sometimes leaves a little to be desired, but the food is excellent and the drink menu is fabulous!

We were warmly welcomed by sushi chef when we entered restaurant. Restaurant is spacious and nicely decorated. When you are seated in a booth by the sushi bar you are really in your own little space and it is so pleasant. I ordered a two for one ($ 7.95) sushi for an appetizer. This took quite a while to be brought to us, but when it did it was fresh, just the right size pieces and had wonderful flavors. Hubby had squid salad and it had lots of other things in addition to the squid that he enjoyed. It was a very plentiful sized portion. Also hubby had a spicy martini which he loved. I had the large sake, but wound up sharing it with hubby, as I did the rest of my food, as it seemed my eyes were bigger than my appetite. For mains we both had two specialty rolls, they were so good. I like the fact that we can get specialty rolls that don’t have mayo, crème cheese or anything fried in them. Oftentimes when we go to sushi places that have bogo, they are always the kinds that we don’t like. So it was refreshing that on all the bogo ones (3 options), we were able to pick rolls that were right for us. The mains were also plentiful and delicious, and not as long a wait as the appetizers were. I truly enjoyed our dinner tonight and will definitely not wait another two years to return.

Been driving past Asuka for some time. What was I waiting for! Spent some time with Augoose the resident Sushi Master. What a great experience. The food we had was Delicious. We’ll be back for sure! The Miso soup was perfect, the fire Cracker and Spider rolls were fresh and delicious. We followed up with a chefs surprise Spicy Tuna Jalapeño roll. We finished up with a shot of tasty Saki. Great Meal!

We have been coming here for 7 years under various managements but it’s finally taken a turn to a great place after the new Chef has taken over. Not only is he extremely personable which percolates into awesome service all around, but also the quality and the variety of food is excellent now ! Good job guys — please keep it up and we loved the Korean Flavours today and do bring on the Indonesian cuisine.

We tried to get into another Japanese restaurant on a Saturday night with seven people, but there was a long wait. We tried Asuka instead. There were a lot of open tables, and we wondered if that was a bad sign.
Even though there weren’t many customers, the service was very slow. It was 20 minutes between serving appetizers and the main course. And the waitress didn’t come to our table very often.
The food was only ok. The ginger salad dressing was bland, the chicken and salmon were overcooked and tough, and the sushi was mixed. The best thing on the menu was the crab rangoon, which was fabulous. [I’m going on the comments of others in my party for some of this.]
It was also a chilly night, and although we had a table about 40 feet from the door, there was a direct pathway of cold air that chilled us whenever the door opened. A simple screen would help a lot.
We were grateful to have decent food for a large party on a Saturday night, but will not seek out this restaurant if we have other choices.

Fantastic! The staff is super friendly and attentive. I went on a Thursday evening and the place was only about half full.
I ordered the 2 specialty rolls for $ 16.95 and got the RTP roll and the spicy sashimi. The prices were very reasonable and the rolls I had were quite tasty. There’s enough on the menu to have a variety but not so much that you can get overwhelmed with choices like some other restaurants. I also like that the menu had photos of the different sushi rolls so you have some idea of what to expect when you order them.
I had a spicy pepper martini that was great… kind of a strong cucumber taste and just enough pepper to have a hint of spice. It had a light, refreshing taste.
I was kind of impressed to have such a tasty sushi place in little old Wake Forest. I would definitely go back.