Aka Oni Izakaya

Rarely are you able to find surf-and-turf for under $20. Aka-Oni’s take bento ($18) meets the challenge with a wee tempura lobster tail and small steak. While the lobster is frozen, you can still taste some of the lobster’s sweetness … it helps when the chef shows restraint with the batter. It’d be even better if it were cooked less.

Surprisingly, the Angus steak arrived pink-in-the-middle medium despite being cut so thinly. Simply grilled, it tasted like beef and was tender.

A generous portion of the saba shioyaki arrives in the matsu bento ($16), but does require a generous squeeze of lemon and grated radish to mask the light fishy essence (not abnormal with mackerel). Moreover, I thoroughly enjoyed the enoki stuffed beef rolls. Some may find it a tad salty, but the flavours were perfect at complimenting all the neutral crunchy mushrooms.

There aren’t bento boxes during dinner, but there is a set meal for those who like crab and sashimi. Not feeling too hungry, we stuck with some sharable dishes that spanned

Came here to check out the place and I'm surprised this only got a 2.7 out of 5 stars.

First off the quality of the sushi is the bomb. The must have is the black Diamond. Foie Gras, gold flakes and caviar on my sushi... yes please.

The staff is pretty nice too. They also have this kimchi beef and cheese roll that was amazing. Also loved their ramen. 

The torched saba sushi roll was also delish 

Must go for sure!

Been having a bento box phase lately and with AKA Oni Izakaya’s fairly recent opening, I went to try it out!. Oni in Japanese is basically demon or monster of sorts. Hence the Oni is the mascot of this logo, they have it imprinted on this cute wooden box that they served the bill in. Bill came in this cute box

Amazing food and environment! A little pricy but the quality is totally worth it. We ordered a salmon roe sea urchin rice. It is very fresh, small portion, but just like the one I had in Japan. It would be better if they drop a piece of two of sashimi in it. The ramen is good, but nothing special. We could have skipped that. We also had a tea pot rice with plum which was worth a try as it is very authentic, a good taste bud cleanser and stomach filler. You might not like it if you like heavily flavored food. MUST TRY their Black Diamond maki / sushi. I won't spoil it for you, but don't get set off by the price. It is TOTALLY worth it. Last but the most important, tofu cheesecake. Amazing! Never had something like it. I would definitely go for more!

Aka-Oni Izakaya is a Japanese restaurant that has been opened for about a month. It is located in one of the plazas along Silver Star Blvd in Scarborough. The interior has a clean and simple look and feel. Aka-Oni Izakaya is largely decorated with bottles of Japanese alcohol which I thought was a good way to reuse.

We arrived at lunch time and upon settling down on our table, the server poured us some Japanese green tea. However, we did not receive menus until we asked for them and even then, we only received the Lunch Menu and the “Today’s Special” Menu. They also have the Kitchen Menu and the Sushi Bar Menu which I had to inquire.Everyone was given complimentary green salad to start. I loved the citrus ginger dressing which is flavourful and delicious. 

The main reason I came here is to try the Black Diamond Wave Roll ($15.99). Topped with a generous amount of foie gras, some caviar, and gold glitter, this roll is packed with ingredients!! BBQ eel, caviar, crab meat, cucumber, and avocado. So delicious! The foie gras gives it a slightly creamy taste.

Black Garlic Ramen ($10.99) - I really enjoyed this because the soup base is full of flavour. If you love the taste of roasted garlic, this is for you! When it arrived, it wasn’t as warm as we would expect a bowl of noodle soup to be. Though this didn’t bother me.

The Beef Tataki ($11.99) - This was dish was not bad, though I’ve had better beef tataki which is seared . The seared beef is chewy, plain on its own but nice when dipped in the citrus soy sauce. 

BBQ Eel Pancake ($5.99) - In my opinion this was just okay. It is topped with pieces of BBQ eel and sprinkled with katsuobushi (bonito flakes). 

Ice cream was on the house to end our meal. The choices are green tea, black sesame, and red bean.

The service is an area for improvement though we will forgive that since Aka-Oni Izakaya is still fairly new. Overall, I think this place has a good large variety of dishes. Whether you’re looking to have ramen, sushi, sashimi, skewers, grilled meats and seafood, or a bento box (lunch only), there is something to satisfy everyone! Since there is so much variety, this is a good place to go with a few others and I would recommend ordering several dishes to share.