Aki on West 4th - Review

Aki on West 4th - Recommended
181 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10014-6855
Phone: (212) 989-5440

Met the wife up for date night and we were looking for sushi. Stopped by Aki on West 4th for the first time and we were definitely satisfied. I've stomped around West 4th many a time, but I never had any desire to stop in before. Too bad I didn't because they do some decent sushi for a good price. I give the restaurant an 81/100.

Our Menu
1) Ankimo **
2) Omakase *

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) We've raved about ankimo in the past and this was some pretty good stuff. Flavor and texture was solid and paired great with the ponzu dressing. Oddly enough, at first I thought it was good - not great, but as I ate more I dug it a lot more.
2) Pretty decent sushi here. The rice was pretty damn spot on in texture and flavor - no clumpy ass rice here. The texture of the fish was great, but the flavor from some of the fish was just OK - a wee bit too muted for me. Felt like I had to double dip sometimes in soy to extract maximum flavor which would never be done at most joints. Stars included - tuna, eel, fluke, sweet shrimp, salmon, and mackerel. The fun Americanized rolls were so damn great though - spicy yellowtail rocked. The seaweed was pretty damn good as well - great flavor and texture.

Overall Restaurant Experience (80/100)

• Food 7.8/10 – Sushi overall was decent with some great ones out there. The rolls were pretty awesome though.
  
• Service 7.8/10 – There are only 2 sushi chefs there and they definitely rock the food out at a decent pace. Sushi chef doesn't provide much interaction though, since he's insanely busy preparing the sushi for the other tables.
  
• Atmosphere 8.0/10 – The place seats 15-20 heads (6 seats at the sushi bar) and has a very cozy relaxed feel - all white walls. The place was fully seated at all times with people waiting in the hallway. Got there at 7pm on a Friday and we were seated immediately without reservations. The place consisted of groups of 2's.
  
• Price 8.0/10 – I had a decent amount of sake and left incredibly full all for the price of about 70 a head including tip. Pretty happy with the value.
  

Closing Comments
Would definitely go back to maybe order some of the other dishes - looks like they have some inventive dishes like tofu pizza. If I want great sushi, this would not be the place though. However, if I wanted decent value and a mixture of fun rolls and sushi this would definitely be a go to.