This place is a gem. [[HIGHLIGHT]]Not only is the food incredibly decent, the vibe here is very chill and laid back.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Every time I've brought a friend here, they end up loving Raku. Not to mention, it's open really late so...if you have a hankering for sushi or Japanese food at an ungodly hour, this place will scratch that itch. I'm not a sushi lover, but I love me some Japanese food. I love that Raku's menu is tapa-styled so you can order a bunch of small plates for yourself or to share. One thing I will say - the quality of food is not as consistent as it should be. Everything here is very good, but some days it is better than others, which is why I will only give it four stars instead of five. Some of my favorite dishes: fried shishito peppers, fried rice (probably some of the the best fried rice in the area), karaage, agedashi tofu, and the garlic steak - all bangers. Fort Lee is known for its incredible Asian food, and Raku is definitely a casual spot to add to your list! read more

Decided to try this place and I ordered the katsudon, yakisoba, raw octopus and hand roll sushi. I would say this place is pretty average, I did like the hand roll and octopus it was very fresh and tasty. They do have happy hour til 8pm on their drinks and some appetizers including the raw octopus and hand roll we got. read more

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've lived in Fort Lee for over 22 years, and this experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that I walked out hungry. When I arrived, there was no host, no sign saying to wait, and no employee acknowledging customers. I stood there for several minutes looking around, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. Since no one bothered to help, I sat at an empty table. The table was dirty, so I mentioned it. Instead of apologizing or simply cleaning it, the waiter looked at me sarcastically and said, "The table isn't clean, right? So why are you sitting there?" It wasn't what he said--it was how he said it. His tone was rude, condescending, and clearly meant to embarrass me. The entire interaction felt unnecessarily personal. Within moments, about ten tables opened up, which made his attitude even more ridiculous. The owner came over and said he'd "talk to him," but when employees are that comfortable acting like that in front of customers, it tells me this isn't new. I don't usually leave negative reviews, but this wasn't just poor customer service--it was blatant disrespect. I couldn't bring myself to spend a dollar there and left hungry instead. As someone who's called Fort Lee home for over 22 years, it's embarrassing that a local business allows customers to be treated this way. We deserve better than employees who think talking down to people is acceptable. read more

Came here, midweek for my birthday dinner with my family. My son had recommended this restaurant.. I will say that the food was amazing and the service was amazing as well!!! we ordered a bunch of the appetizers and my younger son also ordered some Ramen. The food came out surprisingly fast and it was definitely delicious.!! Our servers were J and Kate, and they were amazing, super attentive, extremely friendly, courteous, and knowledgeable.!!! I will definitely be coming back here!! read more

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Don't trust the Yelp reviews because the food sucks. I only came to this place because it was the only restaurant around the area open past 9:30PM. If any other place was open, I would rather eat there over this one. Everything I ordered (takoyaki, karaage, and corn cheese) was very mid. The karaage was not crispy at all, and in fact, very dull. The takoyaki was alright but slightly overcooked and flat on the bottom when its supposed to be fully spherical. The corn cheese was decent, but nothing special. Only pro was that the staff were friendly, despite being busy with other tables. read more

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[[HIGHLIGHT]]This spot is dope[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] They stay open late [[HIGHLIGHT]]Ambiance at is spot on[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Joe took care of me and maintained his professionalism and friendly welcome I can't believe I've been In fort Lee and this is my first time writing the review [[HIGHLIGHT]]Alsooooo... while I'm writing this ... music is fucking bomb ......[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more

A decent place to have a conversation and dinner with buddies: -Sake: Dassai 45 & Okunomatsu Ginjo are good - 4/5. No sake glass, just soju glass :( -Food: Gyuza, Hamachi Kama & Stone Pot Beef Fried Rice - 4/5 -[[HIGHLIGHT]]Ambiance: Nothing special, but quite and cozy - 4/5[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] -Service: They are very attentive - 4/5 -Parking: Street parking is limited I would definitely come back. read more

Raku Izakaya - Okunomatsu Ginjo sake - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

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I see there are mixed reviews regarding food and service. This review is solely based on a sushi pickup order. I ordered over the phone for pickup and the woman who answered was very professional, clear, and friendly. [[HIGHLIGHT]]I could tell it was a busy, lively night from the background noise. Yet she was very attentive[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]]. She read my order back to me before hanging up. When I arrived I was greeted right away and led to the pickup station, where my food was waiting for me. I ordered two spicy tuna rolls and a spicy salmon roll. The sushi was some of the best I've ever had! Very fresh and nice spice level. I normally don't like salmon rolls but they were sooo good I thought they got the order wrong; like no way this is salmon. It had the perfect amount of spicy mayo. Solid place for sushi and I will definitely return. read more

The trendy, dim, "Instagramable" ambiance is the best thing about this place and everything else falls short. I don't recommend coming here if you're really hungry. They serve tapas/small dishes but the portion sizes are tiny. The prices are way too high for the quality and portion. I can only recommend coming here for their daily happy hour 5-8pm as a pre or post dinner snack. But don't expect much... We ordered: Pan fried pork gyoza (6 pieces) $7 - Tasted like cheap frozen dumplings you can buy at a supermarket. Spam musubi (3 pieces) $10 - Basically a thin slice of spam slabbed onto a huge chunk of white rice with a tiny smidge of mayo in between. Nothing special. Eel and avocado roll (8 pieces) $10 - It's almost disrespectful for them to charge $10 for this LOL. Even the five star sushi restaurants don't charge that much for a basic roll. The pieces are tiny and mostly avocado with very little eel. Green tea mochi ice cream (2 pieces) $7 - Average but not worth $7. White Peach cocktail $12 - There was barely any alcohol in this. It tasted like peach syrup with tons of sugar. We had to flag down servers for anything we needed. No one checked on us. Nah. I don't care about your trendy aesthetic or EDM music if your food, drinks, and service are below average. read more

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Good service and food for late-night snack. Ba ba ba ba ba da da . I need to fill 85 words for this review? ? read more

Raku Izakaya - It was late ,Music is good on a Saturday night. The food was good. Great for the late-night snack. Way better than fast-food. - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

Going inside raku Izakaya actually impressed me since it looks a lot fancier inside than what you would expect! We ordered a number of things since they're known for the small plates so they are meant to be shared but don't expect to be full. Def order drinks to compliment Kind of sad that they don't have skewers anymore! We ordered: Deep fried Squid legs 4/5 KARAGE 4/5 Raku special roll 4/5 Spider roll 3/5 Sliced Steak with garlic Chip 4.5/5 Avocado salmon salad 3/5 Garlic shrimp 4/5 Deep fried shishito peppers 4/5 French fries 4/5 Everything came out super quick and it was piping hot!! read more

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this is a great find. i love that its open till late, 2am closing. i have been here a couple times. the food is always good. lots of options on the menu. read more

So I frequent this place often and bring people from out of town here and recommend this place often. Now my review is not so reflective of the incident itself as the response. Yesterday while dining. With my family including two toddlers, an accident happened as they do. My husband ordered the steak that comes on a hot cast iron platter. When the server/runner went to deliver the plate , she dropped the steak and my husband grabbed the hot cast iron plate from hitting my toddler in the high chair. [[HIGHLIGHT]]So in response my toddler was shocked and was crying and my husband had stains on his clothes and everything was a mess.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Again, accidents happen BUT after that incident ...the service almost stopped. We weren't upset or anything when it happened and were understanding. However , we wanted to order more food and wine. No one came back for a while to update us or check on us and after I flagged someone down , they are basically reassuring us that everything is fine as if - we dropped it. A bit weird. And we had to ask if the steak was being re-cooked and if we could get refills. I thought they would be more attentive but it was the opposite. So service almost halted besides them later bringing the steak and again telling US , 'no worries' . Then when we when to pay the bill not even our $5 avocado roll was comped or our $3 miso soup off of an almost $100 bill. Like nothing off the bill was comped off of good gesture for the incident or better yet , the lack of service following. Very disappointing on a service level side. Very surprised at this place and unfortunately a once 'gem' we loved , left a bad taste in our mouth. read more

Their Japanese house hot sake was not great, not so good quality at all.. and tuna tartare was salty and they only give two crackers to go along with it, disappointed. Their tempura udon goes well with special roll though. Limited parking spot. Not a good service. read more

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The food is absolutely delightful, and I can confidently say this is going to be my go-to place to eat. Highly recommend trying their menu! read more

Raku Izakaya - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

Overall that the food was good and they had awesome happy hour deals on a Saturday! How can anyone complain. At 6pm on a Sunday they were pretty empty cause it seems like the crowd usually starts later so if you don't have a reservation if you got early you should be okay. We got a bunch of tapas to share and a pitcher of beer and sake because the happy hour deals were too good to get two beers and a small sake. read more

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Sushi heaven! [[HIGHLIGHT]]Late night fun vibes and great customer service.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Love this izakaya spot.

Always great food and ambiance Awesome happy hour until 8pm. They have sapporo on draft Can enjoy both korean and japanese food here and they have the best chicken gizzard in town. Been there twice in a week and a half and always, enjoyable read more

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Food was pretty good and server gave us really good recommendations. Kitchen made our food pretty quickly as well. read more

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Great deals during happy hour 5-8pm. Our favorites are: Hot Sake in the winter, Cold Sake in the summer. A great pescatarian and vegetarian place. Miso Black Cod, Agedashi Tofu, grilled Hamachi Kama, Salmon Kama, go well with Edamame, House Salad, and blistered Shishito peppers! read more

Food was great! Ordered the cod, delicious ! My friend got the clams, it was a big bowl. Plenty of options here, sushi, noodles ... Ambience is lively on a Friday night. Would go back again. read more

Raku Izakaya - Cod and eel sushi - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

This place is extremely overpriced. Sure it's dark and trendy and perhaps a good spot to come for a date, however, as some of the other reviews have stated, it is extremely overpriced with tiny small portions, and just okay for the taste and quality. We actually came here for their happy hour deal and for a family of four with two toddlers we actually spend around $200 which was surprising. The worst thing of all was, we actually left hungry. We order a bunch of hand rolls from their happy hour menu. While they were decent in taste, they were extremely small. We ended up having to order more and more only to find out at the end how expensive the bill was. Taste-wise the rolls were decent, however the tako yaki we had was not good. The salmon teriyaki was decent but tiny again for the portion size. Service here was decent. Overall will not return again. read more

Came here with friends on a saturday night. I like the music they play here. Pretty housey, and contemporary for edm lovers and the food satisfied just the same. We ordered an assortment of rolls which were all fresh, and well executed. They had well rounded flavors. We also ordered the chicken karrage which was crunchy, well seasoned, and came with a soy sauce with korean chili flakes. Lastly we ordered a deep fried soft shell crab which was amazing. Super crunchy and juicy. Service was also really good for a place that packed on a saturday night. Cheers! read more

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Excellent food! This place has the best beef teriyaki I have ever had! Their corn cheese appetizer is delicious too. This is good for dine-in or take out. Food quality is the same. But the vibe inside is great for a date night! I would just recommend they have more cocktail options! read more

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This place is opened late and they have hh. Plenty of parking in the back, you just need to pay and there's also street parking Best tempura! It comes out hot and stays hot.. the best was when we sat at the bar and the tempura came out it was soooo good. The other times were still good and hot but it wasn't as good as that one time and it was so busy. Service is good and efficient. read more

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I have been coming here for years today is the last time I will step into this restaurant the current staff have no respect for customers [[HIGHLIGHT]]I walked in and asked to be seated was told that I could not take the booth I was fine with that so I went and sat at the only other open table[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] I than waited almost 15min watching staff walk past me serve everyone around me a drink even take orders not one of them stopped I was ready to walk out instead I went and sat at the booth the staff were very quick to notice me once I did and instantly came over to tell me that I could not sit there somehow I wasn't invisible anymore I told them I was offended by how I was treated and I wished to sit where I was and be served I asked if they would serve me they refused and I left. I have been coming here many years and have always treated the staff with respect but this was absolutely ridiculous read more

Everything from food, service and ambiance is perfect ! Food pictured is amazing , cooked perfectly with so much flavor The service is fast and the waiters/waitresses super nice The energy is chill in this place, plays good music ! read more

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Absolutely love the ambiance, it was a very cozy restaurant. I had a rice bowl with bulgogi beef which tasted good but I expected a bit more flavor, my friend had a soup (forgot the name) which was mildly flavored as well. I also had a lychee martini which was great. The service from all of the staff was good, but nothing to rave about. I would come back to try other items on their menu. read more

Raku Izakaya - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

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Excellent food and atmosphere. Staff is very friendly and will walk you through the menu items if you're not familiar with the cuisine. We usually have the Tuna salad, Beef Tataki, Chicken Karage and the Stone Pot rice with the Bulgogi. Hits the spot every time! read more

My bsf Bella and I ALWAYS come in and grab something to eat. I've seen a lot of people complaining about there is just small plates that they serve but if you want something on the larger side I highly recommend the chicken teriyaki and it come with a side of rice, some delicious potato on the side too. I've been going there for the past 3 years and it's my favorite restaurant in fort Lee! The service is a sold 10/10, they always given a warm welcoming! [[HIGHLIGHT]]The ambiance is such a chill vibe, if you want to eat somewhere that's chill and not overwhelming, I recommend this place 10/10[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] read more

Awesome deal - the restaurant offers Japanese tapas, plus hot & cold sake. Great atmosphere and excellent food. Awesome happy hour deal from 5-8pm. Our total bill is about $40 for two of us. Good service and definitely worth a visit. 209 Main Street, Fort Lee, NJ Street parking may be challenging. We pay $1 per hour read more

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[[HIGHLIGHT]]Excellent vibes and little oasis of Japan.[[ENDHIGHLIGHT]] Good is solid and large sake drink menu. Notably, they have a suntory beer draft which is great. Skewers are also fantastic, especially pork belly! Prices are on the high side. read more

All dishes were amazing. Great service and affordable price. We will definitely come back soon.

This is a great spot for drinks with a group of friends or family. It's a little pricey and there is a bit of wait for the food, but the food is delicious! We tried their tako wasa, tuna tartar, a few of their sushi rolls, shoyu ramen, beef tataki, potato gratin, and a lot of other things. I wasn't too crazy about their potato gratin, but I loved everything else! read more

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Came for some drinks and this place was poppin even on a weeknight. Great food and drinks, and staff was super friendly! Would love to return to dine in next time. read more

Raku Izakaya - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

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After many years, still a great place for a cheap happy hour. happy hour ends at 8 pm during the week. I think i paid $5 including tax for a whole carafe of hot sake. Love the interior and the artwork. See attached pic for updated happy hour menu. read more

Raku Izakaya - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Fort Lee, New Jersey

Waiting Game. a casual place, but perhaps too casual?? waited a while (eg, almost 30 mins) for a sushi roll, which is almost unheard of so was eating as my friend waited. not great. wait staff barely came by and had to flag them down. after pointing out the long wait time (had to do this twice as the first request fell on deaf ears), management made this right by comping some dessert. still, damage was already done. rock shrimp app overpriced at $16. they really should have comped this app for our trouble. but if you have time and can wait, seems like a good place to hangout, drink and eat some bar food. read more

Food is average. I don't know how else to explain this but some of my food was either too WET or too DRY. Hard to explain, see photos. Flavors sat at bottom of plate. My brother enjoyed some of his food and his fried tempura. I could not finish my dish and I regret ordering my food as it did take a while to receive our meal. Stars for vibe, ambiance and hours of operation. I am not taking into account the parking situation (then I'd give it a 1). RECOMMENDSTION: fried tempura, takoyaki Note: NOT ALLERGY SAFE. Lots of mistakes on our order. We had some allergies- some obvious some not- which the kitchen ignored and I was served food that made me sick. This is NOT an allergy or -for that matter- dietary restriction safe or friendly restaurant. Service seems like an afterthought. Maybe they are used to low paying customers who don't tip? It was seriously lacking and unsafe to eat here. read more

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the miso ramen I ordered was horrible, tasted watered down and was just not appealing at all and didn't taste it either. Was extremely upset because I've had ramen here before and was so much better the last time, one thing iknow is I won't be getting ramen here anymore. read more

Yay! Raku reopened and their food is still delicious! Their happy hour deal is back! So happy they were able to survive through COVID! read more

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