akaiito

we came here for my birthday last year before the pandemic struck. we ordered the tastingmenuand were presented with a series of tasty dishes, with a few of my favourites being the sashimi platter, wagyu tartare, edamame and the chicken. the dessert also added a lovely finishing touch to the whole meal. the food came out quickly so we didn't have to wait between dishes however the waitress seemed to linger around our table (and sometimes would even stare at us while we ate) due to the quiet restaurant (there was only one other table besides us). while i understand that it may be considered good service, it was a little uncomfortable. i recommended my friend to come here for valentine's day this year, however, was disappointed to see that themenuhad changed drastically, with the new serving sizes decreasing to half of what is shown in my photos, despite no change in price.

the food was not fresh at all. the dishes all looked beautiful but the stale seafood left a nasty aftertaste (literally). at the time of booking i was told they cater to pescatarian dietary requirements but all they did was swap the beef with salmon. the accompanied red wine sauce and mushroom did not go well with the salmon at all. you would expect a fine dining restaurant to change the whole dish and not just one ingredient, after all the food is not cheap. further they swapped a marron dish on themenuwith bread and did not inform us until we enquired!!! very very disappointing, would not recommend at all.

never again! i don’t usually give 1 star but this restaurant i wish i can give zero star. rude unwelcome staff with no service.
kojinmenu$145 pp i am expecting some decent food, but turns out way below average food.
burnt fish skin on way overcooked toothfish, i tried to have a little bite on the skin as i thought may be they purposely charred it or maybe it is seaweed, but turns out it was burnt, total burnt, bitterly, uneatable fish skin. that bitterly taste is still in my throat even after hours. so surprised that they charge this money and don’t quality check their dishes.
entrees were served in a rush, but then long long wait for the mains/robatayaki.
well…$145 pp for this food quality and service, never again, there are heaps restaurants around can do better.

this was an increíble experience. not only was the service perfect, the quality of the food was just phenomenal. the kojin setmenuwas well thought out - it wasn’t too much of the same flavour which can be a common issue in degustation menus. this meant nothing was too overwhelming on the palate and i was very satisfizo by the end of the course. would highly recommend this establishment for anyone visiting melbourne!

got a heart attack when checking the bill of $30 of sunday surcharge. there was no mentioning during online booking nor anywhere on the menu. staff said it’s somewhere in the website under terms and conditions. consumer affair victoria states any surcharge must be clearly shown on the menu! i cannot imagine how many people got ripped off by this dodgy practice by hiding the surcharges. do people specifically locate and read the terms and conditions of each restaurants before they dine? i’m a genuine customer with receipt as proof.
the list just goes on, when i make the booking it was for the a la cartemenubut when i arrived everyone was offered setmenuonly. up until now the non-existed a la cartemenuis still available for booking, what a joke! this place is dishonest and deceptive.

second time here last night but was dining downstairs at the bar area. had really high expectations as i dined upstairs last month and food was amazing, and the dining experience was 11/10.

however last night, a group of 6 chose the $55pp feed memenuand we were there for around 3 hours because the food came out slow and very underwhelming. we waited 30-40min intervals between dishes which were tapas style, with one dish simply being steamed broccoli and bonito flakes. my partner went up to the bar to ask for tap water, where the bartender said he would bring to our table, only for him to forget and my partner to ask a second time. we never got our water through the whole night. we also complained about the wait and asked them politely to get all our food out as we had another reservation at a bar.

birthday girl complained to the bar staff at the end of the night and he did not seem apologetic whatsoever and just blamed the lack of staff. if deciding to dine here, choose upstairs only and downstairs for strictly drinks only.

i loved the vibes at atmosphere at akaiito. intimate dark moody interior with the steady soothing tones of "japanese" inspired chill music, it's a place i can easily unwind.

ordered: setakumenu($65pp)
small
🥟 akaiito wagyu gyoza: wagyu mince, truffle paste, spicy shell fish oil vinaigrette, prawn tartare
🦪 robata scallops (gf): yuzu, seaweed butter
🦐 robata king ebi (gf): king prawn, kombu butter, shellfish oil
+ 🥓 wagyu tataki: wagyu tri-tips, spicy ponzu, leek, egg yolk, garlic chips (+$7pp)

large
🐔 tori koshi yaki: robata grilled marinated spring chicken, yuzu kosho
🍚 truffle fried rice (v): seasonal mushrooms, truffle paste, spring onion
🥩 char siu pork bo ssam: char-grilled char siu style pork neck, kimchi, ginger & shallot sauce, lettuce cups, ssamjang sauce

review:
from the small portion, i really liked the robata scallops. plump pieces and slightly sweet, it was like heaven in my mouth. i absolutely adore scallops at any of the higher end restaurants because it's fresh, and lightly chargrilled to give that incredible sear. would highly recommend this!

now directing the spotlight on to two of the large dishes: the truffle fried rice and tori koshi yaki.
the truffle rice was a little dry. wish there was some fat stir fried in to give a little gleam and a little moisture, but it was ok. niku ou still does it best 😝.
the chicken was a surprise success though! i don't expect much from chicken dishes in general, but the swab of wasabi and/ horseradish added that fiery kick to an otherwise bland dish. i took too much wasabi at one point and it blew out my brains, but it was too addictive!! truly a small but significant addition to the dish which made it memorable.

akaiito has really nice vibes that i gushed over in the introduction but themenuis not a la carte which makes this "set"menua commitment.
also beware, small portions alert! which is why we had to order an extra portion of wagyu tataki to fill us up a bit more.

the staff were friendly and professional. the ambience was beautiful and the open kitchen was great. the food was incredible and i will definitely be returning again. we ordered the sentakumenuand also added several other dishes to our dining experience.

firstly, the interior is amazing! a+ for the ambience: from the dimly lit room with candles everywhere, red ribbon over looking some tables to the grill in the centre of the room, you can watch the talented chefs cook while you eat (resulting in drool even more🤤)

we ordered the $55 pp 6 dishmenu+ added an extra large dish (+$12 pp) and a mocktail each! (+$12 pp)
what we got:
🍣 wagyu steak 36 days dry aged: 250gm fillet mb6+, wafu dipping sauce
🍣 robata scallops: yuzu, seaweed butter
🍣 tuna tataki: spicy daikon, ponzu, pickle onion
🍣 robata king ebi: ling prawn, kombu butter, shellfish oil
🍣 robata gindara saikyo yaki: char grilled miso marinated 51 tooth fish, pickled ginger, lime
🍣 truffle fried rice: seasonal mushrooms, truffle paste, spring onion, white soy
🍣 maki roll
🍹fruity mocktail
🍹sweet mocktail

i absolutely can not fault the food! my favourite was the tooth fish (hands down the best piece of fish i’ve ever eaten) and my boyfriends was the wagyu. we also recommend the scallops and the ebi but honestly i loved all the dishes- not one dish i didn’t like - everything was beautifully cooked and flavoured to perfection, and the presentation is stunning.

however, the servings aren’t really generous (was tiny 😭) so i wouldnt come on an empty stomach. our hunger was not satisfied after all the dishes and even went to maccas haha (shoutout to maccas $2 for 2 hash browns deal on the app that day) i also wasn’t a bit fan of the mock tails too, tasted a bit watery and diluted... but maybe from the ice melting after all the photos? idk 🤷‍♀️

overall the food here is amazingg, ambience is one of the best out there and i would definitely recommend this place! (provided you’re not starving beforehand)

i opted for the sentaku setmenuas it sounded very appealing. it was 55pp and the set consisted of 6 dishes in total (3 small and 3 large dishes).

when the dishes came out, i was disappointed as the portions were smaller than expected. i thought ordering another dish on top of the course would help but i was still unsatisfied with the meal. i actually had to go to another restaurant afterwards as i wasn’t full.

we were a table of 4 people. when we decided to visit this restaurant, we had decided to get the $55 6 course setmenubecause we thought that was a great deal.

we ordered it but when the food came out we were surprised by the small portions and were left hungry by the end of the 6 courses.

so of course we ordered more food, maybe 3 more plates between 4 of us. then when the bill came it ended up being $500!!! how does a $220+ dinner turn into $500. yes we ordered drinks but we definitely weren't planning on forking out that much more money. if we had known, we wouldn't have gone.

⭐️ 4/5 stars

🍓 food - we got $65 setmenufor 3 small dishes and 3 large dishes and also 9 piece sashimi for $29 as a starter. the food was amazing, we loved the wagyu tataki, king prawn and truffle fried rice. the ribs were a slight let down as it was mainly bone and no meat was on it. however the flavour profile was still nice.

🥝 ambience - the ambience at akaiito was amazing! the red ribbon is such a unique feature with dimly lit lighting and candles everywhere. if you walk past the robata/grill, the aroma leaves your mouth watering.

🍒 service - service was great. staff were friendly and helped out when needed.

treated like a rock star!
i've been dying for akaiito to re-open and booked in early last night and loved it. with the stunning restaurant and friendly staff virtually to ourselves were treated to a fabulous new set coursemenuwith 6 choices and all of them superb for $55 pp. i'm not sure how long they can serve that quality at those prices, so now is the time to get out on lockdown and in to this place to spoil yourself.

akaiito is a very sleek and sexy venue hidden away on flinders lane. you can sit upstairs in the main dining area or downstairs in the bar, either location definitely delivers on mood and ambiance.

we attended as a group and sat in the “red thread” bar downstairs whosemenuis made for sharing and has 3 sections: tapas, kushiage (deep fried skewers) and robatayaki (grilled over charcoal). we had an assortment of dishes from across the menu, highlights included the luxe wagyu fried rice, addictive wok fried edamame and duck leg san choy bao.

overall a stunning venue serving quality modern japanese food perfect for groups or couples to share. individual dishes can be quite pricey but there is a $55 feed me option that would be worthwhile to try.

dined here last night to celebrate an anniversary and after reading 4 pages of reviews here, i didnt have high hopes before going.
we arrived and no one greeted us for 5 minutes until a chef saw a line of people at the entrance and called out to a staff member.
we were seated promptly after that though as they only had one other table there.
we were seated in the downstairs bar dining area and there were only 2 wait staff the whole night and despite not being busy at all. the female staff was the most unattentive person. she took our order using her memory and had to come back to confirm again what we ordered and she still missed an item and we had to ask her again at the end of the meal and she realised she forgot to enter it in. after finishing our meals, i was trying to get her attention for the dessertmenubut after 10 minutes i gave up and just asked for the bill as everything was extremely slow. when she gave us the bill, she brought over the eftpos machine and just left it all on the table and walked away into the back kitchen? she didnt even enter in the amount of the bill into the machine and just left it. after paying the bill , my partner and i sat there for a few minutes thinking she'd come back and acknowledge we had paid or thanked us for dining, but nothing. she never came back so we got up and left. it was such an unpleasant experience. the food portions are also extremely small, we ordered 7 dishes and paid $155 and ended up ordering ubereats once we got home. needless to say, i would not recommend dining here.