The Akai Lounge is a Japanese restaurant in Englewood, NJ that has become one of our favorite places for sushi so we were really excited when they opened up a branch on the Upper West Side. The menu is pretty much identical to the one in NJ so when a sushi craving hits, we know exactly where we can go to get fresh fish and our favorite specialty rolls. While the restaurant is out of our delivery range, it makes a perfect destination for Sunday night dinners.
The restaurant does have a lounge-like feel to it, with vibrant red décor and lots of specialty martinis available. The lychee martinis are always deliciously dangerous because you can barely taste the alcohol but you’ll definitely feel the effects. The food menu is also extensive, with lots of appetizers and hot entrees to choose from, in addition to the sushi, sashimi, and maki rolls.
We always start our meals off with garden salads, which are just simple bowls of iceberg lettuce, shredded red cabbage and a few tomato slices. But what makes these salads so great are that the ingredients are always fresh and crispy, and they refrigerate the bowls until they’re ice cold, which keeps everything cool and refreshing until the very last bite. The ginger dressing is also really fresh and light, with a nice mellow ginger flavor and a slight tanginess that doesn’t overpower.
Crisp, fresh garden salad with ginger dressing served in a chilled bowl
We decided to share a bunch of different appetizers, starting with the ebi shumai, which are steamed shrimp dumplings. These are pretty standard and can be found at many Japanese restaurants but they’re always tasty.
Steamed shrimp shumai
The agedashi tofu is deep fried tofu in a fish broth. This version isn’t drowning in the broth so that the skin still stays crispy, breaking open to reveal the silky tofu innards.
Agedashi tofu
The rock shrimp tempura features plump, firm pieces of shrimp with a super crispy outer shell. The pieces of shrimp are coated with a spicy sauce that I think is made from sriracha and mayo. There are pieces of shredded cucumber at the bottom of the bowl to help cool your mouth down, as it is a pretty spicy dish. We sometimes ask for the spicy sauce on the side so that we can control the amount on each piece of shrimp.
Spicy rock shrimp tempura
We also decided to share some hot entree platters. The first was chicken katsu, which has a coating of bread crumbs fried to a nice golden brown color. The chicken is served on top of a bed of shredded lettuce, tomato slices, and cucumber slices. The vegetables are drizzled with a light vinaigrette and are a nice accompaniment. The chicken is never greasy or oily and the coating stays crispy. In addition, all entrees come with a choice of miso soup or salad, and white rice.
Chicken katsu
Our other entree was grilled skirt steak topped with a miso-teriyaki sauce. Though skirt steak is a cheap cut of meat, Akai prepares it perfectly so that it’s a nice medium rare and surprisingly tender. The sauce is absolutely addictive, as it’s sweet and tangy and a little bit smoky. The steak comes with assorted vegetables and wasabi mashed potatoes. This is my favorite entree here and I often crave it when we haven’t been to the restaurant in a while.
Grilled skirt steak with miso-teriyaki sauce, vegetables, and wasabi mashed potatoes
We finished up our meal with some fresh sushi and specialty maki rolls. The King Crab 2 Roll features Alaskan king crab and avocado topped with spicy tuna. The crab meat is sweet and helps to temper the spiciness of the tuna. The Super Tuna Roll is spicy white tuna and avocado topped with red tuna and black tobiko. It’s a must-order for any tuna lover, and the tobiko on top gives it a nice little crunch with bursts of saltiness. The Mets Roll has spicy tuna, tempura flakes, and avocado topped with salmon and white tuna. Although all the spicy tuna started to blend together after a while, all of these rolls were really tasty. Next time I would order just one roll with spicy tuna and mix it up with other kinds of rolls. There certainly are many options to choose from on the menu.
King Crab 2 Roll on top, Super Tuna Roll in the middle, Mets Roll on the bottom
Finally, we had pieces of mackerel, tuna, yellowtail, and salmon sushi, and a few pieces of tamago. Yellowtail is always my favorite fish, but I love the mackerel as well. It tastes like it’s been smoked a little so it’s nice and salty and has a brinier flavor.
Mackerel on top, followed by tuna, yellowtail, and salmon sushi
The tamago is a a piece of sweet egg omelet on top of sushi rice. Those who aren’t familiar are usually put off by the sweetness of the egg, but I like to dip it into soy sauce to make a nice sweet/salty combo.
Tamago (sweet egg omelet)
Overall I love the food and the atmosphere at Akai Lounge. Both the Englewood, NJ and Upper West Side branches feature basically the same menu and a friendly waitstaff. The owner of the restaurants, James, is very personable and treats his customers very well. Although he is usually at the NJ restaurant, his brother manages the UWS location and is also very cordial, stopping by at the table during meals to check that everything is ok. The menu is extensive and even non-sushi eaters will find something they like. I definitely recommend this restaurant if you’re looking for a more upscale Japanese restaurant that serves quality food at a reasonable price.
Akai Lounge (multiple locations)
507 Columbus Ave. between 84th and 85th St.
New York, NY
