akai hana

best sushi in town!. akaihanahas the best sushi in town. you must order carryout 45 minutes ahead because they are so busy. the dining experience is great the prices are little on higher end but once you eat there you will never eat sushi from any other place with exception of grocery store next door. i would bet they are run by same owners. love it!

akaihanawas a wonderful experience and i cannot wait to return! the service was excellent and the flavors are to die for. best sushi in columbus!

an intro to japan marketplace. hello. i work for the company and would like to take a moment to describe what japan marketplace is, since we recently named our group of shops "japan marketplace". if you visit kenny centre at old henderson and kenny roads, you will find a nice little plaza that has 5 japanese shops and restaurants surrounding the plaza. akaihanajapanese restaurant has been here for 25 years and gets tons of accolades from zagat rating company and the general public. j avenue opened summer 2014, and is a contemporary japanese gift shop with unique items. belle's bread is our japanese cafe' and bakery with a french flair, with ample seating, hot foods, coffee of course, and amazing desserts. a community room can be reserved for 40 people or so. tensuke market is our japanese grocery store with tensuke express, our "somewhat fast food" japanese cafe' inside. hope you enjoy your visits here. see www.japanmarketplace.us thanks!

attention to detail evident!. i visited akaihanafor my birthday and it was a great choice! the vegetable and shrimp tempura was crispy and very fresh as an appetizer. my companion ordered the miso soup and spring rolls, both of which i sampled and was impressed with. very common dishes, but well executed and freshly prepared. then the sushi. we ordere the honey, eel & avocado, smoked salmon & avocado and spicy scallop. the honey was fresh and unique! you can choose between raw and smoked salmon and i highly recommend the raw. the star of the show was the spicy scallop, this roll was served hot and tasted like no roll i've ever had. truly a delight. if you order this to share, order two because you're going to want more than your fair share.

our waitress was very friendly and attentive and the service quick but not so much that we didn't have time to finish our appetizers before we got our rolls. the atmosphere is clean and chic, but to be honest with food that good i could not have cared less what the place looked like. overall a great place! it's pricey but worth it when you want a treat.

if you want authentic sushi, akaihanais hands down the best in columbus. been a regular there almost 20 years. fresh ingredients, well made, comfortable atmosphere, fantastic staff. service is often at a "relaxed" pace, so go at a time when you're not in a big hurry. if you sit at the sushi bar, the chefs are very friendly and attentive. not the place to go if you're into trendy establishments with faux, overpriced designer rolls. expect a long but worthwhile wait on friday and saturday evenings. check out the japanese market across the sidewalk or the new japanese bakery next door while you wait.

wonderful service, amazing food. i owe it to akaihanato continue to rave about their restaurant because i continue to come back and bring friends for the past 7 years (when it was called restaurant japan). we come here at least 2-3 times a month due to the quality of their sushi, the flavors (dynamite roll- soft shell crab), and the service. the staff are so friendly and nice. this place is clean, unpretentious, and always jam packed with people. if you want a nice laid back dinner with excellent food...come to akai hana!


-----20 feb, 2010-----

great sushi, great staff, great restaurant!. i've been going to akaihanafor 6-7 years now, maybe even longer (when it was called restaurant japan). they were voted #1 in city search so i had to try it. i was so impressed with the overall ambiance and cleanliness of the restaurant. they do have the best sushi in town. one of the things that i can say about their sushi is it's simplicity. so simple...but so good! the staff are extremely friendly. we have brought so many friends here and every one of them have come back so many times as this is their favorite sushi restaurant too. we get the usual spicy tuna roll, spicy salmon roll, and shrimp tempura roll but try the dynamite roll (we get the soft shell crab) and the idaho roll! they are phenomenal!! we come to akaihanaat least 2-4 times a month.

akaihanais a vegan-friendly japanese restaurant in the kenny centre shopping center, located in the overlapping portions of columbus and upper arlington. sushi is the main attraction, but there are plenty of other soups, appetizers and entrees available

fabulous!. this has been our family restaurant for nearly twenty years. we go to other sushi places and our children live in much larger cities with much more sushi variety than we have in columbus, but they always want to go to akaihanawhen they come to town to visit. in the twenty years, i have never had anything but absolutely perfectly prepared food. my sushi never fell apart. i can't understand all the negative reviews. i typically see some of the best chefs in town among the diners at akai hana-surely that's a testimony of sorts too, isn't it? akaihanais the standard for susui restaurants in columbus. if only they were all this reliable and this good!

fine dining - not. variety - yes. i too am a self proclaimed sushi expert just like the rest of us on this board and i would tell you in my opinion, this place is just ok...

i feel in rating a sushi house, you must first rate them on the quality of their fish... (sashimi) no rice, no additives to hide the flavor. in this category, akaihanais 5 out of 10. not the freshest, but not bad.

next, nigi... choice cuts of fresh fish, not too much rice, and served at the proper tempature... 5 out of 10 again, i go back to the fresh fish thing. it needs to be really fresh with good cuts here. sushi chefs tend to cut on the smaller side here ans substitute rice.

rolls... nothing fancy here and very few ingredients. more rice than fish, minimal flavor choices that are the same as the next. you get a good taste of rice though.

the rolls are not original, and the ingredients are overshadowed by rice. sushi is to be an art, a dining experience, ans a demonstration of skill while delivering a product of high quality to support the cost.

while akaihanahas a big variety of food, i do not understand how this is considered "fine dining" it is definately a place to grab a quick bite and is certainly popular with the lunch crowd due to that. i cannot see myself remotely contemplating this place when i want a dinner to remember that is a result of some cause for celebration.