Love this place. Reliable excellent fresh sushi that's reasonably priced with older servers who are efficient but also respectful. I always jydge Asian restaurants by the number if Asian patrons and this is popular with locals. read more

This place really changed for the worse when they updated their menu. We have been devoted patrons with coming here for years.. decades! However after our past few experiences here. we will now have to find another sushi place to replace it. The menu choices have shrunk, the prices have increased and they now charge extra for lots of items that used to be included in their specials and bento boxes. Sadly we must say bye bye to Akai Hana and hello to Bluefish in Northbrook where you get so much more and don't feel like you're being ripped off. read more

Well, last time I was here was 30 years ago. It looked a lot bigger when I was younger . I did enjoy the cold udon noodles with dipping sauce if you're into that and a spicy salmon hand roll.. this place is not that bad, they have good Bento box selection. Check this place out you might like it. read more

Akai Hana - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

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I really loved the food very much. The service is really good out there. C.J is a great waitress. Treated everyone with kindness and respect. He was really kind and asking us questions. I would love to come back here and eat more Japanese food. read more

Akai Hana is one of my favorite hometown restaurants. The chicken teriyaki bento box is delicious and a great deal. I love the atmosphere and the service is great. It's a staple in the area and one of my favorite places to dine or carry out. read more

Akai Hana - Cucumber imitation crab salad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

Oddly bright lighting but plenty of seating Saturday night. Spider roll - warm, deep fried Some other average chilled roll Rainbow roll - extra chilled read more

We've been coming here for years for dine in and takeout and the sushi is generally very good and the service is friendly. However, all of their takeout food is packaged in Styrofoam. I feel like I'm in the 1980s. I've let them know that this makes me much less likely to order takeout from them and they haven't answered, but hopefully they got the message. read more

I have been going here for years but I am done. Any minor addition or change costs like substituting cucumber for avocado in sushi. They are greedy and cheap. My favorite part is that they ask for a tip for a pick up order. For what. .. Handing you a bag? read more

As good as ever! Saturday night dinner and we enjoyed every bite of our salmon tempura bento box and ala carte rolls. Every course is fresh and tasty. The service is consistently friendly and quick with fast water and tea refills. read more

Akai Hana - Salmon Tempura Combination - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

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Food is about average for what you would find at the price. That's not the bad part. The service is so horrible and I keep forgetting how bad it is. They rush you through your meal and slow to help with needs. Waitress dropped off check about a minute after we got our food and harassed us to pay. We went half an hour before their mid day break but the host said no problem. Would have had enough time if they took our order promptly and didn't make us wait for plates and forks to eat. Very rude read more

Traveling a lot in the past couple of years to the Northeast suburbs, of Chicago, we happened to come across AKI HANA. Bit of a difficult time to get parking by the restaurant at peak dining time. The place is always very crowded. The wait staff is small but manages to accomplish their waitstaff duties with reasonable efficiency. Very large, complex menu, condensed somewhat for the lunch crowd. The wife and I have tried several of their offerings that we are used to ordering elsewhere. Quality, taste and freshness compares with the best! Their luncheon Bento Box offerings are especially wonderful. TEMPURA can be included in a variety of offerings. Let me say this; - - - - - I have had Tempura all over the country and especially the Chicago area. I have to rank theirs ***** the best I have had anywhere. Flavor, texture and non-greasy, are their special merits. They usually give you enough TEMPURA included with a Bento Box, that equals what others serve as an entree. I could go on and on. If you dine at lunch you may want to ask for their MAIN MENU, along with the Lunch Menu. Very hard to imagine why anyone would down-rate this restaurant. Of course, no one is perfect 365 days of the year. read more

Akai Hana - AKI HANA patron - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

Great service. Very plentiful amount of food for a very fair price. Salmon was incredibly tasty and the combination came with a ton of food. Sushi was extremely fresh. Love the waitress. It's the same one. I had last time I was there 20 years ago. read more

Our family has been going here for a very long time more than 10 years and we celebrate our family birthdays or special occasions. The food is always consistent and so delicious. The staff are always kind and very friendly. read more

I get lunch here several times a year... so not exactly a regular, but I've been around enough to see the menu evolve and stay the same. It's a nice plaza-style restaurant. Yes, as others have pointed out, parking can be a little tight (it was worse pre-pandemic when the lot seemed to be under repair all the time). I am not a good judge of "authentic" or not... but it is certainly a little more classical in its approach. Yes, there are some non-standard dishes and rolls, but they aren't as crazy as new age stuff out there. We often get the bento box lunches, which is a fair amount of food... a soup, crab salad, entree, and a cali roll. I'm also a fan of the udon, which seems a little more no-frills. I can see service being a little inconsistent, but I've always been a little sympathetic since it's been very hard to fully staff up. read more

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Yuck. Years ago my husband and I use to go to Akai Hana. When I found myself near by, I thought I'd have lunch. First, the service was poor. Next, the sushi was very small, and when I asked for a glass of white wine, they had only one option and it was terrible. I'll continue going to AO Sushi in the same market center, but skip Akai Hana. read more

Excellent food and good service and good food and great people in general I am very impressed by the quality of the restaurant

Haven't been here in a long time. This place is still good. The servers and the host are very attentive. There's lotz to choose from on the menu. We went during the week and it wasn't extremely busy. I wanted the sea bass teriyaki but they didn't have any. So I ordered the orange roughy teriyaki combo. It was delicious. Then my b4 ordered the sashimi dinner. We ordered extra pieces of salmon, tuna and uni sushi. They also had toro sushi which is fatty tuna. It was delicious. I'll ordered more of that. I never had uni before so I tried it. It wasn't for me. He loved it so he could eat mine anytime. It's far for us but we will come back when in the area. read more

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We arrived around 7:45 for dinner because we didn't know they closed at 8 pm on a Friday. Still, they were kind to seat us and had our order out pretty quickly. They brought us complimentary bowls of miso soup. We tried the pork gyoza, which was prepared perfectly with the right amount of crunch and chewy texture. I will say, I generally do not like to eat sushi, but the food was decent. I enjoyed the Louisiana roll and the greedy shrimp roll. read more

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Good lunch spot. My hubby and I were very pleased with the portions for the price and you get to try a lot of variety. The interior is a little dated. They have the sushi bar area blocked off for employees only. read more

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I grew up on Akai Hana, and when I come home to visit, I usually make it a point to stop by for their bento boxes. It gets tricky, as the hubs is not a fan of this place! I think you just need to know what to order - I used to stick with their chicken teriyaki bento box, but I've switched over to the salmon teriyaki - I request this to be well done, and, if I feel a bit more saucy, I do ask for extra teriyaki sauce to come with. The set comes with pickled ginger, a mound of wasabi, your choice of protein on top of a pile of shredded cabbage, 6 California rolls (which I find tasty!), and a cucumber/imitation crab salad. Coming here during lunch is so much better, as the bento boxes do not come with the nigiri (which I find their fish/sushi not so fresh), rice, or a scoop of ice cream. Hot green tea is not complimentary anymore! Service can be a hit-or-miss, as it can be a bit difficult to get your server to bring refills or the check. Plenty of (tight) parking in the plaza lot. +salmon teriyaki bento box +good California rolls +avoid the sushi/nigiri/sashimi +go for lunch! +parking in shared plaza lot read more

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Akai Hana/Wilmette - New menu - much higher prices and less variety. Three rolls at lunch were $17.00. Now they are $30.00.

Below average quality food and poor service, not recommended. When we gave them feedback, the staff and manager are very rude.

Love the freshness of Akai Hana. Consistently great food! Have been coming here for almost 30 years. Would highly recommend.

I think ive only been here once before when i was new in town. So i was craving for Tempura Shrimp and this is one of the places to go to for authentic Tempura Shrimp. It was good Entree of TEMPURA comes with 4 pcs of shrimp and a lot of veggies. You can substitute if u want more shrimp the veggies can be replaces by 2 more pcs of shrimp. Sukiyaki was good too. Serving ia good to share for maybe 2 people. Service was great. read more

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Very good service, decent sushi and handroll. My order was about $30-35.00 for the Chilean Sea Bass bento and a custom salmon Handroll. I had to take the Handroll home. First time I saw sushi bundled up in saran wrap. Nice read more

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I can't stop coming here. Maybe it is because I'm 8+ month pregnant and know that eating at a restaurant will be a luxury soon. My husband and I have been coming here 1/week for the last month or so. This business has been here for a very long time. My husband has eaten at this restaurant when he was in high school (10+ years ago). The same staff has been working for that long too. That says a lot about the business culture that the staff is loyal. I always order the tempura udon and California roll. I haven't had sushi due to being pregnant. For lunch, the tempura udon comes with a roll and it is $16.95. For dinner, the udon is $11.95 and the California roll is $5.00 so the same price. My husband always orders a bento box with either the chicken teriyaki or cutlet. For dinner, a big scoop of rice is what is the key differentiator between the lunch option. The dinner also doesn't come in a bento format and excludes the 4 piece California roll, 2 piece kimbap and cucumber salad. The chicken cutlet is always crunchy and the chicken is never dried out. Yum. I also LOVE the hot tea. It is a green tea that I've been trying to replicate at home but have not been successful. It is only $1 and always scalding hot so I put a few ice cubes in it before drinking. Highly recommend this place! read more

Very good lunch specials - I have been coming here for years and it's just as good as ever! The bento boxes always come with so many options. We ordered sushi this time and did not disappoint. read more

Food is okay and overall service is good, except one waitress (short hair). She is always frowning, grumpy face, and unwilling to serve at all. Good restaurant shouldn't have waitress like this to provide service. Instead of being happy and enjoying delicious food to the fullest, we have to get upset with this waitress who is not willing to serve. The restaurant owners should consider calling her for training to understand her roles better for better behavior. read more

Well it's been a year since the last I went to Aka hana and was so happy they opened again. Beware you have to make reservations ahead of time though by calling in or using those dining apps. Anyways it was very relieving and a blessing that this place had opened up for dining in staff is still around surprisingly and no one had gotten laid off since the pandemic waitress waiters or server wise. This is my latest pictures and the staff was pretty efficient and trying to get everybody in and out despite me not making a call. For those who haven't gone to akahana for a year if not more and have a craving for alcohol please use the GrubHub app or any of those eatery apps or dining and apps or call akahana itself read more

Akai Hana - Ambiance - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

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Sad to say but the last time I visited...they let me down a lot. Especially starting off with our server who literally told me that she didn't understand my order. I said it clearly atleast 3 times and my family was confused why she couldn't get it. She honestly wasn't great. We had to try to get her attention numerous amounts of time. Fish quality seems to have gone down quite a bit. Some of the tuna rolls had discoloration. Not appetizing. Lastly the young manager or owner was coming into the store while we were leaving. He didn't even say anything or open the door for us. While my grandma and I were coming out. I was surprised bc normally he's soo nice and welcoming in the restaurant. read more

Every visit over the past 25 years has been delicious and pleasant. Whether we get sushi, maki rolls, or teriyakis, it is fresh. The dining room is conversation friendly, and service is excellent. read more

i got food poisoning. service ok but took forever. we got seated fast but didnt get drinks until food came.

My 82 year old mother came with 5 friends including the minister of her church. My mom wanted to treat but when the bill came, the server brought over a hand held credit card machine. She does not speak much English and wasn't familiar with the machine. In her confusion, she randomly pressed the pre-propagated 15% tip. The waitress shamed her in front of her guests and loudly chastised her for being so cheap. She said, "Korean people are the worst tippers" and humiliated my mom until she left an additional $20 in cash. This place sucks. read more

Quality of food seems to have gone down while their prices have gone up. Disappointing! Ordered a combination bento box that came with California rolls. I asked for no avocado in the roll and was told there is an extra charge to take the avocado out of the roll. Really? Give me less ingredients but charge me more? My wife had the chicken teriyaki and the chicken was rubbery, and not much flavor. This placed used to be a good go to place, but it seems as though they are not really paying attention to their quality of food, but I will say, they are definitely paying attention to their profits. read more

Long time customer. Very good service and good food. We order takeout often and the orders are always right. The combination boxes are great and love the spicy tuna rolls in particular. Try it! read more

Met a friend here, and frankly I can't believe I haven't gone here sooner. Parking lot is a bit crowded, but the food was great! They had a separate menu for the Nigiri and Shashimi that we had to ask for in a addition to the other menu. We had a chicken skewer food item where the sauce was spot on. I believe it was the Yakitori, but cannot remember so I apologize. We had a few rolls, and were not disappointed. I really like the Sakura roll. I was surprised to see it actually be pink on the outside (see picture if you like). Goma Ae was good too. I am a fan of Goma Ae, and actually enjoy how different restaurants serve it. We didn't get dessert since we were so full, so I can't comment on that. Overall great quality sushi, and appetizers. I can't wait to go again. Check out their website too! It has pictures of most of their food items when you scroll over them. I found this very helpful. read more

Akai Hana - Sakura Roll (Pink), Goma Ae (Left appitizer) - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

It's been here forever and the sushi is always solid. And affordable with good quality. If you are looking for simple and easy this is the place to go especially with kids. Menu is kid friendly to try out sushi rolls. Their best is the lunch and happy hour special as my kids love the bento boxes. As for the adults for a party of 5-6 the party platter please the whole group without sitting there trying to make a decisions read more

Quaint Japanese restaurant located in a small strip mall. I originally came here because they listed a food item on their menu I was interested in, however they did not have that food item at all. Our waiter was a bit rude and the table was sticky when we were seated. The sushi was enjoyable, but the fish might have been cut a little too thick. The tempura was a bit bland. read more

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This place is perfectly fine, and I've come to love/accept it as such. I've come here a lot and the servers don't come around often, don't seem to care very much, and aren't too interested in helping you pick something to eat if you're undecided. BUT if you don't care about that stuff, the food is good for the prices. Especially when they have specials! The agedashi tofu is a favorite appetizer of mine and many of my friends/family. I would come here just to eat it by itself. NOM. The last time I came here I got the sushi deluxe special - it was the lunchtime price for dinner and with a few different nigiri. I think it was a great deal and I really enjoyed it. We also got the salmon and hamachi appetizers (but they came at the end of our meal since the sushi took less time to prepare). Our waiter told us one was only enough for one person as an appetizer - completely false! The salmon would be a light appetizer for 3 people and the hamachi would be a good for 2. I wouldn't recommend getting the salmon as it was pretty meh but hamachi was REALLY really tasty and I would definitely recommend it! read more

Akai Hana - Sushi deluxe special! A great compromise between getting a variety of fish and saving your wallet - Sushi Bars Near Me - Wilmette, Illinois

This is a cute spot! It's in a very busy center, right next to Lou Malnati's, so while you can always find a spot in the parking lot, it's a happening place! They've got a ton of to-go business, especially during Covid times, but the restaurant itself is pretty spacious and can seat quite a few people. They are also being very careful by taking temperatures and wearing face masks within the restaurant. We got the below, which cost us about $75. Nothing below included sashimi or real sushi, so it was a little pricier than I would've liked. Hamachi collar: Surprised they had this on the menu! They also had salmon collar. This was good albeit a bit overly broiled to the point where some of the fish was way overcooked and the skin was burnt. Good thing it's a fattier type of fish! The areas where the meat was thicker was very tender, the fish was of good quality, and with a squeeze of lemon and the side of grated daikon or radish, this was a very good, big portioned appetizer. Chicken teriyaki entree: We got two of these. It was good. You get to choose between dark or white meat for your chicken. There is a good amount of food and comes with miso soup. The veggies could've been cooked through better though or they could've done something to them other than just steaming them, which left them bland and tasteless. Salmon teriyaki entree: It was fine. This dish was $20 which was a bit much considering that it was really just not that much salmon. The salmon was on the thin side and so was a bit overdone, and the veggies were the same story. I also got a California hand roll which I was too full to eat after the yellowtail collar, but it looked pretty straight forward. You can turn the basic rolls into hand rolls if you so desire. The pickled ginger though tasted fresh and was refreshing with everything we ate. read more