Retired and moved to Aptos this year. I live within walking distance to this place. When I bought my home I was very excited to have a Japanese restaurant so close. I love Japanese food - culture and vibe. Sadly Kira disappoints on food, culture AND vibe. Pretty much a ZERO star experience... And I've really tried to like this place. There have been evenings when I have had to call 10 - 20 times just to get the phone answered. The 4 times I have actually been able to place an order (out of about 15 attempts) the staff was rude.. abrupt. The food was decent 1 out of 4 times... and every time I waited over an hour.. twice it was 2 hours. If you are really persistant.. they might actually take your order... plan to wait, and don't expect much. Super disappointed every time. read more

We waited for 22 minutes and I had to go to the host to order because no one came to greet us at our table. The food is amazing. Service, not reflective of the prices. I usually get takeout, that's what I'll do moving forward. I was surprised there wasn't a manager there, no one was there to realize me and my kid were sitting there that long without being helped. The worst service I've had in SC County. read more

This is my favorite sushi restaurant of all time. We eat here regularly. The service is always wonderful and the food is amazing. The best part is they have a ton of vegetarian and gluten free options. Something for everyone. read more

This is my favorite Sushi. It is rather small and can get crowded quickly so I go at off times and have never had to wait for more than a few minutes. Our first waiter was actually from Japan and was very knowledgeable and good at recommending dishes we've not had before. I live far away and will have to make a trip just to eat here. read more

One of the best sushi restaurants I've ever been too! Ask the server for recommendations, they are knowledgeable and have been very helpful in the past. I've eaten at every sushi restaurants that I've come across and this place is the top 5 in food quality, flavor, service, etc. Try: silence of the yams, add fish of choice. Try: 0-face. Try: call me the hunter. Try: nosegrind. read more

I'm not sure where to start but twice now, in a month , I ended up with food poisoning from Akira(ordered the firecracker FYI). I've ordered so many times from here and never had an issue but the most recent time I called back to let them know what happened, in case it was a bad catch, and the attitude I received was just unacceptable.... pretty much blaming me and that their restaurant was fine. Mind you I wasn't asking for a refund or a manager just giving the local place I always eat at some info/advice... read more

Congrats, Akira, I think you finally lost my business. Most of the time, staff doesn't even answer the phone. If you can get through, orders will not be ready when they say, even if it's an hour or more. When you arrive, they may not acknowledge your existence and then be told it's not ready. This time we got the order home and find out we were shorted, and good luck getting them to answer the phone to let them know. Not cool, Akira. They've also added a 6% packaging fee on top for take out orders without warning. When we've dined in, it has been completely hit or miss whether the wait staff will be great, or if we'll ever see them again after we get our order. Often will sit there with empty water and other glasses, and want to order another beverage and are never checked on. The fish is fresh and the rolls are good enough, but honestly, it's not worth the hassle at this point. This has gone from being one of my favorite places to a last resort if we want sushi. read more

I will preface this by saying I LOVE good sushi and I have eaten some of the best in the country. At Akira the service was excellent. Got right in and sat at the sushi bar and everyone was very attentive. I ordered sashimi and the pieces of fish were VERY large. I was pleasantly surprised by this. However, all of the fish was previously frozen. I don't care for previously frozen fish... Only fresh. It tastes soggy and spongy, and you lose much of the flavor of the fish. This fish was very much that way. That said, many sushi restaurants are doing this. I'm not sure if it's because of Health Department reasons, or they can freeze the fish and keep it longer, or for money reasons... But it's become common practice, unfortunately. If you're not a sushi snob like me... And don't mind the fish previously frozen I think you will like this place. I did not order one of the rolls, but everyone around me had one and they were huge and looked very good. I'm a purist so I don't eat all of the sugary sauces. read more

I've been here more than once it's amazing they have vegan stuff too! Im so happy that this place of here in aptos 10/10 definitely recommended read more

Fresh sushi, huge portions. Nice outside seating also available. It's a little hard to find, but worth the search. Ample parking too.

As a local, I've been going since they opened. I'm over it now. The service was always horrible but the food was good so I stuck with it. The last few times have not been good. Burnt California King, overly salty miso, scaled down portions with higher prices. read more

Best sushi in town for sure. Bento boxes are also super good. We usually order to go because it is so crowded. The food is definitely worth the wait. I highly recommend. read more

Hello Sushi Fans, This delightful restaurant in Aptos offers attentive check-in service, excellent tasteful dishes for adults and kids. The menu is packed with creative roll options. We have been once and ordered to go as well. Expect to pay about $14 for a complex sushi roll with lots of toppings and about $9 for the kids menu. They also have some sports games on and lots of chef seating for your entertainment, beer, wine and the usual drink options. I wish they offered reservations but they don't. read more

Always super yummy !! And such a cozy place and good vibes! (: definitely recommend the natural bridges roll and the karage appetizer!!

Overall really great food, less sugar than most other Japanese restaurants I've been to. Their dishes and rolls aren't drowning in sauces and sugar. We got three different rolls, and two main entrees to go. Things I liked: paper to go containers, chicken and meat wasn't overcooked (which like never happens at most restaurants), the entrees came with two sides of different veges plus two very unique salads, all the rolls were all unique and flavorful, generous portions, the Firecracker roll is Keto I believe (there wasn't any rice with it) which is a fun change, they skip the whole bad Japanese iceberg lettuce salad option that most other Japanese restaurants do. Things I didn't like: the menu is huge, that they don't put menus or have a to go menu and there's not one on Yelp! This place is much better than Takara in Watsonville, who overcooks their meats and drowns their rolls in sugary sauces. My dinner companion said the whole super sugary sau ces is not a Japanese thing, but the American version of Japanese food. It's a small place and it gets pretty busy. But they seem to keep up with the orders. We will be back to try more!! read more

Akira Aptos - Crystal Emotion, vegetarian roll. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Aptos, California

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The sushi gods have spoken and Akira was shouted from the heavens. I've been eating sushi for decades in Santa Cruz - and still remember my first taste of this fare at Pink Godzilla when i popped an entire ball of wasabi in my mouth thinking it was mashed avocado. Since then I've explored countless sushi establishments, all with some redeeming qualities, but always lacking in either selection, flavor, or service. But then I walked in to Akira and heard angels sing. From the moment I entered I knew I had found the quintessential sushi haven to rule them all. There can only be one. Not only does their decor personify the Santa Cruz spirit, but their menu pays tribute to it as well. My girlfriend and I sampled their sushi decadence, wrestling with the conundrum of which delicious roll to indulge in next. Every bite was more satisfying than the last and prompted excited thoughts of what was to come. This has now become the only sushi establishment (2 locations) we will frequent and actively inform all we know of it so that they too may bless their taste buds and discover the place which had freed us from an eternity of sushi purgatory. Thank you Akira for bringing your unique style, exemplary service, and superior menu to Santa Cruz. Suggestion: After eating here for years now, my lady and I have settled on 3 Rolls which have NEVER disappointed. If you have come to your senses and are ready to experience a sushi epiphany, I highly recommend the Santa Cruz, Soquel, and Akira rolls. Be forewarned though. Dining here may result in Akira addiction and exquisite sushi dependency. read more

Not the most attentive staff. Great selection of sushi and rolls, including vegetarian! Tofu donburi was also good, but the tonkatsu was dry as death according to my father. I had the vegetarian Yuri roll which was delightful. Our server strangely tried to push me to order another Yuri three times, explaining that further orders were fast tracked to the kitchen and served in minutes, versus orders from tables just seated that can take a long time. I stood strong but found her insistence strange. read more

We use to eat here often because everything is usually fresh and good. Ordered to go today and the bento with chicken katsu and was not edible it was so overcooked and meat was so thin. Cooks should of redid it before sending it home with a customer like that! read more

Akira Aptos - Ordered chicken katsu but not even sure what this is, it was so hard it wasn't edible. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Aptos, California

The sushi here is pretty decent for Santa Cruz standards. Most of the fish was fresh, the rolls were ok, although some of the sashimi was a little bit frozen. The staff is horrible though. I placed a to go order and when I showed up, they had confused my order with another order. They didn't attach a name to the orders, so it really wasn't surprising that this mix up took place. Not a big deal, but it was a little bit more of a hassle in this instant since I was merely picking the order up, and didn't know what was in it, so I had to call the person who placed the order etc. The girl who made the mistake was very insistent that since she was not the one who answered the phone, she was in no way at fault, and there would be no way she could find out which order is which since they don't have names attached to them. The guy who's order mine was confused with was there too. We waited roughly 35 minutes at the restaurant for our orders to be made. Despite that we called in advance, placed our orders, and were told when they would be ready, they only began to make our orders once they processed our payment. There were a lot of staff there, and most of the time they were all just standing around socializing with each other, including the chefs. I was standing by the register because I kept expecting my food to be ready soon like an idiot, so I had the privilege of hearing some stimulating "I got so drunk last night bro" conversations. read more

Excellent quality, service, price and atmosphere! great outdoor seating. Amazing Happy Hour menu. I highly recommend Akira.

Went with the family on a weekend, we were the last to be seated but we were not rushed. Got like 7 rolls, 2 drinks, 2 bento meals for less then $160. The rolls were big and amazing, they had the perfect ratio of rice and fish. The parking lot is a bit funky as it is shared with the Starbucks and other businesses, but after 5pm you can park in the "non parking spots" when the businesses are closed. I prefer this location over the one on Seabright. read more

Great sushi restaurant tucked away in Aptos. I enjoyed everything about this place. In addition to fresh and delicious sushi, they have unique appetizers, like the vegan "nachos" and spicy garlic edamame. To top it off, the service was friendly and efficient. read more

My only experience so far was during the SIP order, so take out only. The specialty roles were delicious! We loved the Akira fries, and everything we got had very generous portions. It even held up to be great leftovers! They have wonderful vegetarian options as well. I can't wait to go back and try additional items. read more

Some of us from the office went here for lunch Decent food, nice ambiance, friendly server but way too S L O W. How long does it take to deliver sushi to four people? If you guessed 30+ mins you'd be correct. Should have known this would happen. Typical of Santa Cruz area restaurants Anyway, we won't return. read more

Amateur hour. Went to this resturant with my family and it was a bad experience. Miso Soups were cold, edemame was cold, the pot of tea we ordered was just pure hot water. We all ordered bento boxes and everyones salmon was burnt and black, we order steak without teriyaki sauce because my mom has celiac issues and the steak came covered in teriyaki. We requested new tea, unburnt meat and left complaints about the rest of the experience. The second round of tea and meat were better but the lunch that should have taken 1 hour took 2, they also compt us $5 off the bill. On our way out the hostess said "Sorry we have a new chef and hope you come back again, but if not thats okay." Its a shame because the Santa Cruz one is much better. read more

Always really good food. A loud atmosphere but always with a return. Will be back soon

Akira is one of our favorite places. The food is consistently delicious. They have a huge menu of veggie rolls and lots of things that are not sushi. We love the mushaboom, teriyaki steak, and Akira fries. They have all day happy hour Mondays. read more

We arrive at about 6pm. We waited outside in the sun along with a few to go customers and another group of 5. There were at least 5 open tables we could have been seated at. We went inside and put our name on the list. We were behind the table of 5. After 10 minutes I asked if when were to be seated and we were treated like a nuisance and rude. The waitress and hostess were very cliquish it seemed. Maybe she forgot what a restaurant does and why it exists. Will never go back there. The food was ok but definitely seems to be run by the brat pack. read more

Been coming to Akira (seabrjght location) since the first week of opening. Since I moved out of town I always stop in when I get a chance. Tonight we (husband and I) stopped in for a togo order from the Aptos location. Ordered 2 topical poke bowls cut up small. Upon arrival they only had one poke bowl made for the order. They made up a second one and charged us separately. We drove the rio Del Mar beach to eat as it was 7:30 when we ordered, now almost 8 so the beach was perfect. Turns out the second bowl didn't have the white deliciousness at the bottom of the bowl. We had to go back to get it as it is one of my favorite parts of the bowl. After getting home to Salinas, it turns out the jalapeños were not in the bowl either. The pieces were huge and was a terrible bowl. My sushi roll had some of my husbands roll sauce, spicy Mayo on it. I don't eat Mayo. I didn't get to eat all of my roll either. I am not real happy with dinner tonight. Guess we should have gone to seabright. read more

Sushi is always phenomenal at Akira. Sakile was the most welcoming, attentive, & fun server we've had in a long time. Can't wait to go back to try new rolls & hang out with our favorite server (: read more

Oh my gosh this is one of the best sushi places I have ever been. If you are looking for a good quality delicious sushi I highly recommend this place it is the one of the best things I've ever had in my life. Although the pricing is pricey but I think it is very worth the price. read more

Great food that I was still admiring the following day. Well staffed with fantastic folks

It hurts me to give Akira 2 stars as the one sushi roll I had was delicious and the salmon sashimi was fresh and amazing but... My husband and I came out for our 5 year anniversary and we don't get out often so we were really looking forward to dinner and a movie. We only ordered three rolls which took a very long time. We had to ask where our food was and it came out about 15 minutes after our waitress asking the chef. The extremely disappointing part was that I clearly said a couple different times in my order that I could not have gluten and loved the gluten free friendly menu. When our rolls finally came out they were all on the same plate and my roll was sitting in and slightly sprinkled by the tempura crunch which is gluten. I was so disappointed as we were now in a rush to eat and I was able to eat one of my rolls and couldn't eat the other. The one roll I had was delicious and my husband said his was so good! But I was not even able to try my second roll. They did not charge me for the glutenous roll but I went to the movie hungry and had to figure out something when I got home later instead of just fully enjoying our anniversary. If they don't take gluten free that seriously then it makes me uncomfortable going back as what if they are not careful how they make the rolls as well or even pouring the tamari sauce in the correct containers. This is very concerning to me. read more

We got there at 7:30pm on a Sunday night and there was a 25-30min (appreciate they had chairs outside). We were seated at the stated wait time. Waiter was efficient with menus and taking our order. We waited about 20 minutes for our food, I expected that bc they had a full house. Our order Tsunami roll- generous size, presentation was great, fresh in taste. Bento box- chicken Katsu and chicken teriyaki -generous potions and taste was same as a pono's. Steak donburi- Not a huge fan of charred taste for my meat. I like my steak a bit rare and the steak was well done, the rice serving that came with it was so overwhelming. It could feed 3 people! I will definitely be returning to try more of their sushi rolls. Highly recommend, friendly staff and clean. I appreciate this Japanese restaurant making its way to Aptos since Sushi on the Run closed. Can't wait to come back. read more

The food is amazing, but they never answer their phone. When we usually call they tell us it's going to take about an hour! Before covid they were our go to spot, but now it's hard to even get a single roll. read more

Great little Japanese restaurant in Aptos Village. We have been here for dinner when it can get really busy and recently tried it for lunch which was much easiier to get a table wIthout waiting. Their lunch bento is available until 4pm and happy hour is from 2 to 5pm so seems like mid-afternoon might be a primo time to go if your schedule allows. Everything is super fresh and we saw the Stagnaro's van delivering more fresh fish while we were lunching. We both had the 3 item bento ($16) and ended up taking some of our food home. Great mixed green salad with a miso type dressing and served outside of the box after the miso soup course. The Teriyaki Salmon was cooked perfectly and very tasty, tempura was crispy with a light batter, sashimi portion was 6 pieces and excellent. If you are a light eater you may want to order the 1 or 2 item bento, unless you like having food to take home like we do. Don't go here if you are in a hurry, the service was not quick and the food was brought out at a leisurely pace which is better for your digestion, of course. read more

Akira Aptos - Salad with lunch bento - Sushi Bars Near Me - Aptos, California

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Horrible service, waited over a hour for a table. When seated waited over a hour for sushi!! It's raw what takes so long to serve, then they came out and said they don't Have some of the food we ordered after the hour. Don't come here read more

Super Amazing Sushi ! Love the sweet potato fries and the sauce is delicious. Super Amazing staff! I definitely feel the Sushi Love here. Thank you, Akira!! read more

Sushi was not great tonight. Very bland and the rice was terrible. The roll just feel apart when you tried to pick it up. They are always around a B/ B-. Today was definitely a C-/ D+.They only redeeming item was the ninja sticks. read more

We stumbled upon Akira because everything else was closed! What a lucky thing. Super friendly staff. Delicious rolls. Our kids loved the chocolate mochi. With easy Parking, and fresh rolls, it's a no brainer for the next time we're feeling like sushi. The dynamite roll was our favorite! So good. I'd pass on the roll with the asparagus in it next time (shocking, I know). Only downside was they serve Diet Pepsi. read more

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