Aki Japanese Restaurant

Aki is a hidden away little gem in the core of downtown.  When I say hidden, I mean it's a bit hard to find because it's downstairs and out of sight.  If you know where Samba's is, you can find this place.

Kaki-ponzu, one of my favourite ways to have raw oysters.

An assortment of some of my favourite sushi - Unagi, Ikura, Toro, Uni, and Saba.

Their robata is pretty good, the chefs have the look - very serious, not distracted and concentrating on their trade.  Aki is one of the few places that has Tori Kawa - or chicken skin....pure bliss.

The tempura is not bad, it's not their speciaty, but not bad.  I'd say if you're going to go to Aki, definitely sample the sushi and the robata, which I consider their specialty.

Aki has some great food, and if your all into that whole authenticity thing, you have that as well.  Except for the fact that they have Robata, Sushi and Tempura all in the same shop, it's pretty authentic (most good places in Japan will specialize in one, and seldom have anything else).  The clientele is mostly Japanese (although you won't see the younger izakaya-type crowd here - mostly salary men, and some families.  Most of the servers, and chefs are Japanese.  It does get pretty busy at times though, so wait times can be a bit long, but I'd say it's worth the wait times.  Price-wise, I'd say it may be on par with or slightly cheaper than Yuji's or Octopus Garden, but not absurdly overpriced like Tojo's.

I'd go more often, but it's in Downtown, and parking is a nightmare in that area.