Akida @ Broad St

Desperately trying find a decent Japanese restaurant in Richmond, it was ironic that the best one thus far (admittedly n=3) is within walking distance of our apartment. My husband, once again, found good reviews of Akida online and we decided to give it a shot. We had high expectations: we were patrons of Sushi-Ota in San Diego, which we consider to have the best sushi in that city. Akida has two locations, and the one close to us is in an unassuming unit next to a Food Lion. You couldn't quite see into the restaurant so I had actually thought it was closed a few times I walked past it.

The menu looked interesting, and there were some specials written on little whiteboards scattered around the restaurant walls. We had four in our party so we ordered a couple of appetizers, a sashimi platter and a few rolls. We were presented with an amuse bouche, which was a pleasant surprise. It was a slightly spicy seafood salad made of surimi crab and cucumber. I forgot to take a picture before trying it *grin*.

The agedashi tofu was ok... I had better. The bonito shavings on top of the tofu was a nice touch but the tofu was of a firm variety, not quite the silken type that is typical of agedashi tofu. The fried oysters (~$8) were a better choice: coated in panko and deep fried, they were served with sauce that reminded me of A1 steak sauce.

The sashimi platter ($25) was pretty good as well. There were slices of salmon, tuna, snapper, mackeral, octopus, and cooked shrimp (ebi). The sashimi was fresh and I guess the only bone I'd have to pick is that the slices were too thick. The platter came with miso soup and rice.

Off the menu, the rolls we ordered were the avocado salmon roll (~$4), the dragon phoenix roll (~$8) and the oshinko (pickle, in this case, yellow pickle) roll (~$4). Off the specials board, we ordered the Queens roll (shrimp tempura and spicy tuna) and the Naruto roll (low carb alternative as they use cucumber instead of rice). They were all excellent.

Sushi is never inexpensive so I think need to spread out my Akida visits before I burn a hole in my wallet. ;0)

Food: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10
Will I return and why?: Most definitely! Esp when my sushi craving strikes.