AFin Modern Japanese Tapas

The happy hour is bomb.
Ahi Tina tower also bomb but not on hh. Worth it.
wrote this review months ago. unfortunately this place is closed now.
boooo

Went here on my anniversary a couple weeks ago. I forgot to take pictures of the food because I wanted to grub immediately since I was starving.
The food is delicious! Ordered the beef sashimi, ahi tuna tower, several nigori and sushi rolls and ended it with an awesome green tea ice cream with mini donut dessert. Everything was incredible! The service was superb!!! I will be back! Yummm!!!

Not too bad. I was pretty impressed with the inside feel, which was definitely a good sushi restaurant ambiance, considering the outside looks like an old chinese restaurant and I wasn’t too sure about going because of the stores around it.
Really liked the agedashi tofu, fried pretty nicely in a broth. I’d recommend eating it right when you get it unless you like it a little soggy, because it happens fast. I also got the dynamite roll (count on me to get the fried things on the menu) and the black widow. The dynamite was a little overwhelming for me, and there’s 8 pieces, which I guess is good in terms of quantity. The widow had only 4 but looked pretty topped with caviar and salmon, and had some pretty interesting flavor as well. Points for creativity.
My total was around $ 12 during happy hour, a pretty reasonable price with an extra $ 3 for tax and included gratuity (thank you, party of 10). The waitress (Mai?) was nice and polite regardless, writing all our names on our happy hour sheets and correctly charging what we’d designated on the back of the receipt for 10 different cards. I’d be open to coming back and trying other things for a more rounded review.

This review will cover Happy Hour at AFin, the setting for Jennifer O’s big 2 – 9 birthday celebration.
AFin was actually placed on the map for me by none other than Jennifer O. herself, who commented on my check in at another nearby sushi restaurant that AFin offered a spectacular and affordable Happy Hour that she just adored.
Catherine T. and I were there first at 4:30 (Happy Hour is from 4:30−7), and we sat smack dab in the middle of the tables set up for a large group. Actually, we were sitting right where two tables were pushed together, to which I commented that I’d be just fine handling «the crack». Catherine responded dryly, «Unlike Whitney Houston?». Oh, honey. Too soon. :(
The interior is very… blue, but that works for a sushi restaurant. A past reviewer had mentioned it resembled an upturned boat, and based on the curvature of the ceiling, that was all I could think about from then on. It’s like we were having Happy Hour in the wreck of The Titanic… albeit a cleaned up version with a lot more black lacquer tables and Asian-​inspired artwork on the walls.
I ordered an iced tea, which at AFin is by default an extremely sweet tea. I asked if they had unsweetened. Negative. Oh well. Happy Hour Kirin is $ 2, and sake bombs are $ 3. If you’re looking to get buzzed on the cheap, AFin has got you covered.
The birthday girl arrived, looking fabulous and settling in with us as I serenaded her with Belinda Carlisle’s «‘Heaven is A Place on Earth» that was playing in the background. That was my gift. (By the way, if you’d like to make this an «interactive review», you should play all the 80’s songs that we were treated to throughout the meal on Spotify or YouTube when I mention them.) As Journey’s «Don’t Stop Believin» started playing, we discussed sushi roll options. Jennifer and I also discovered we are probably the only two people in the world who can’t help but think of Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci making out at a skating rink in that stressful movie «Monster» during that song. So we were like, Pavlovian-​Journey-​lesbian-​movie-​scene twinsies. Which is pretty awesome to me.
As Jennifer’s very nice friends began arriving en masse, we began placing our orders. As is customary, everyone gets a piece of paper to mark down their selections, but do not forget to write your name at the top so they know who you are when it comes time to settle the bill. I forgot to write mine, and when it was returned by the waitress, I proudly penned «Anastasia Beavuerhausen» at the top, which Catherine said would only serve to confuse them. Yeah, and?
Jennifer ordered the Karai Escolar, which is an amazing treat for the palette if you are into spicy flavors. The tempura vegetables were lightly battered, and the whole fried asparagus looked yummy. During «Take Me Home Tonight», I sang Ronnie Spector’s part while enjoying their flavorful miso soup and a sample of their pot-​stickers. I ordered three pieces of sushi: salmon, escolar, and red snapper, all three of which were fresh and the perfect precursor for the rolls.
My God, the roll selection. In all honesty, it took me a while to make my decision, as all of them sounded tempting. Naturally there are the classic standbys: e.g. Spicy Tuna, Philadelphia, and Salmon Avocado, but I was wooed by the Spider Roll (deep fried soft shell crab and avocado), the Spicy Jen-​Jen Roll (Spicy Tuna, avocado, wrapped in Scottish salmon and crumbles), and the Black Widow Roll (Spicy crabmeat, asparagus, avocado, topped with salmon, tuna, and black caviar). Other gems included the Mr. Smith (Shrimp tempura, avocado, wrapped in spicy tuna, and topped with salmon roe), and the Russian Roll (California roll topped with white tuna, fresh salmon, and black caviar). I couldn’t help but try some of Catherine’s Jalapeño Rolls, which basically tasted just like a jalapeño popper. Which is a very good thing. (Real quick: «Mr. Smith»? «Jen-​Jen»? Anyone else think «Mr. & Mrs. Smith» and Brad’s betrayal of Jennifer Aniston? Or is that just me? Kind of a weird theme for sushi rolls…)
I hate to make sweeping generalizations in reviews, but as long as you have no disagreements or feuds with any of the listed ingredients, you can’t really go wrong with any of these rolls. I savored each and every one during «Material Girl».
Even though there is a delectable dessert menu (bourbon chocolate mousse with raspberries, anyone?), Darla A. had brought in a red velvet birthday cake made from scratch. It was so moist, I had to ask the secret. A cup of oil, apparently. I polished it off during Madonna’s «Open Your Heart To Me».
3 things happened before I left: 1.) The waitress called me Anastasia (ha!); 2.) Jennifer said she’d be coming to my bday party (yay!); and 3.) AFin has garnered a new, thoroughly impressed fan.
4 Stars. And happy birthday, Jennifer!

My neighbors brought us here on Sunday night to enjoy their happy hour and I have to say it was a great deal and a spot I might’ve missed had it not been for them.
We got mostly rolls, with the Mr. Smith being one of our favorites. But everything was very tasty. The husband felt the unagi was as good as almost any he’d had in town. The tempura was spot on with the shrimp being particularly good. The fried tofu was really good. I normally prefer smaller pieces, but my neighbors were impressed and they aren’t tofu eaters. The gyoza were very tasty. I highly recommend them. The spring rolls were alright, but tough to handle with chopsticks and you didn’t want to pick them up with your hands as they had a tasty sauce on them.
Our waiter was super friendly and worked with us so we each had separate bills. Considering all the food we got, the price was pretty amazing. Sushi is not cheap, but I would consider the happy hour affordable and a great way to expand your sushi palate.
We will be back. They had a ton of options and I didn’t even get to go crazy with the sashimi menu like I normally would.

Afin, you are the love of my life, and I feel as excited giving you my first 5 star as I do at a Bingo hall yelling BINGO.
motherfuckingBingo. I love this place.
Real quick though, the only thing I would ever change is their sometimes godawful music playing over the restaurant. Once it was 90’s grunge, which i’m not particularly fond of. Usually it’s just popular hits, which does not work at all with the atmosphere. Last time I went, it was a weird dubstep mix, which I found strangely appropriate.
Ambiance aint horrible, but isn’t «get your stilleto/​mini dress on» which i LOVE. I was recently at Uchi and was desperately wishing to be at Afin, with a much more comfortable atmosphere where I dont mind if the tobiko drips down my chin. Also, after the dinner at Uchi, we got hamburgers, cos we were hungry… and classy. And we immediately had our next dinner at Afin because I had the strongest craving for their hot starter blackened tuna. Pants down, that is my favorite thing ever.
We had the beef sashimi, which was crazy tangy and I’m drooling right now just typing this.
I’ve tried most of their rolls, and I, like most, am crazy about the Jen Jen. The only thing I’m not too keen on is the Lava Roll, which is pretty much a huge mound of fire in your mouth. Oh, and the crab cakes were way too salty. I DONT CARE.
Look, all I“m saying is that I’m one special lady. For my Birthentine’s dinner, I had the choice to go anywhere, and I chose Afin.
Twice, I’ve had the filet mignon with sea urchin butter. Holy shit. HOLY. holy. shit. Next time I may dare to ask for a tub of that butter. to roll around in. Like the inner obese child I am. Anyhoo, the asparagus are absolutely perfect with the steak, as well. The 2^nd time the steak was accompanied by the asparagus and very chunky fries, which did the plate no justice. Dont eat them. Save room for the motherfucking donut.
SO, maybe it’s because I’ve been here so many goddamn times, or maybe it’s because they do this for every one, but the chef usually sends over a random tasting before the meal. WHICH IS EXCITING. Last time it was Spicy Albacore, which was fried with. stuff in it. it was wonderful and my date kept saying how much it tasted like sausage. In a wonderful fishy kind of way.
OH man, and the wasabi honey sauce. ssaaaauuuuuse. So good.
AND THE GARLIC EDAMAME!!!
And the waiters are always really helpful. They never make me feel bad when I request less (or no) rice in a roll. I always feel like a dick, or disrespectful, but they are always accommodating with my rice abhorrence. (ok, i DO like rice, but only when its’ sticky and hot, and all by itself. NO MIXING.)
I do agree with the previous reviewer’s annoyance at the ahi-​tower being mashed up. With all the rice. I was smiling, but you could see in my eyes I was screaming «NOOOOOO!!!»
2^nd time we got the ahi tower, we asked for no rice, and it was amazing.
Oh, and that one waitress, you know the one I’m talking about? She’s very talkative… but yeah, I’ve grown to like her. Not that I ever didn’t like her, but I usually don’t like to be bothered 5plus times when I eat.
She seems like she is genuinely trying to get the best results for any request, and once, she recommended how we could save some money by ordering something special.
We also tried their all you can order to eat deal. It was definitely good, but I wouldn’t do it ever again. All the rolls start to taste the same at some point, but hey, you should try it once. Do it.
Ummm whatelse?
Their menu changes, which is good and bad. I really miss their streak wraps, but the blackened tuna makes up for that.
I just genuinely enjoy all the flavors that the Chef comes up with. I’m not so much of a sashimi snob, and I believe if you are this may not be the place for you. but I dont really know, because I’ve never tried any of their fish raw, just by itself. Usually you can spot me at the table like a cookie monster OM NOM NOM-​ing all of the wonderfully flavored dishes.
To end this most verbose review I will leave you with the poem I wrote for my Birthentine’s date at Afin:
Roses are gray
Violets are gray
I’m a dog
It’s all fucking gray.
or. wait. that’s not how it went. Fuck. I cant remember.
.

Someone say all you can eat? Yo, we’re all over that. My friend told me about Afin so we decided to check it out over the weekend.
This is what we got:
Rolls — Spicy Jen Jen, Russian, Salmon Skin, Texan, Rainbow, Mr. Smith, & Lava Volcano
Sashimi — Sweet shrimp (2), Salmon Roe (2), & Eel
Other stuff — Ahi Tower, Monkey ball, Chicken gyoza, Shrimp gyoza, & garlic edamame.
And we finished it all because wasting food is pretty much against our religion. We thought the best dishes were the Lava volcano, Spicy Jen Jen, Russian, Ahi tower, and sweet shrimp. Everything else was average and I really didn’t like the Mr. Smith… something about the sauce wasn’t right. Overall the sushi wasn’t bad but I wish the flavors of the fish were more prominent. A lot of times they were overpowered by a more inferior ingredient like mayonnaise or carrot.
We weren’t that pleased with our dining experience. For starters I’ll tell you about the Ahi tower. I’d show you a picture but I can’t … why? Because our waiter smashed it before we got a chance. All the other tables smashed their own. What’s up with that? Another annoying thing was our waiter constantly asking us if we still wanted the rest of our order. Hey waiter, if we ordered it, it’s because we want to eat it so just bring out the food. He only brought out half our order and waited until we finished before he would bring out more. Then there was the obvious ploy to discourage us from eating more. The amount of rice was definitely increasing with each roll. Towards the end, the rolls were about double the size of normal roll. Ridiculous. I’d say the food was 4 star but the annoying service knocks a star off. I’m not sure if I would come back but we’ll see.

What a surprise! I had to spend $ 60 to use up an expiring Groupon. Even with the high prices for that neighborhood, I enjoyed more than enough food for two amazing meals. I wouldn’t normally order steak at a sushi place, but the filet mignon was extremely good. The salmon was also delicious. A few pieces of sushi and some edamame rounded out the meal. Everything was great.
Despite coming in late at night in gym clothes with a Groupon, the staff provided attentive top rate service. I can’t wait to go back.

General Consensus: Experimental and seemingly interesting flavors on paper fall flat with poor quality fish and hit or miss execution. Service was very good, but there are other places I’d sooner go for sushi over this.
Food:
Special: Live Scallop with ponzu. This was by far the strongest item I had tasted for the evening (unfortunately it’s not on the menu). The scallop was fresh and the flavors were light, however the ponzu sauce seemed lacking in a stronger citrus flavor. Stunning presentation – arranged on the shell next to a few flowers with a large green leaf underneath, and served on top of ice.
Karai Escolar: Style over substance. Beautiful presentation but far too much spicy ponzu that overwhelms any flavor the fish has. The ratio of jalepeno slice to a piece fish is too much (my slices of escolar barely extended over the thin slice of jalapeño by perhaps ¼ of an inch). Overpowering heat and spicyness is the only thing I can remember from this dish.
Saba nigiri: This is something I wish had come out earlier in our dining experience. This was a red flag to me. I understand it is an oily and strong tasting fish, however it had a strong, acrid, bitter aftertaste that lingered far too long. We had ordered two pieces and I could not bring myself to finish the last one.
Madai: Red snapper was fishy.
Vegetable Tempura: Oddly enough this was excuted very well. I had a crisp, not oily green bean that snapped pleasantly when I bit into it.
Agedashi Tofu: This was one of the stronger dishes from my experience. The exterior was crisp, tofu was pleasantly warm and soft with yet another nice presentation.
Atmosphere and Service:
Renee was our server for the evening, and immediately let us know that front house service was a bit busy since there were only two of them waiting tables. I appreciated that she gave us this heads up and apologized in advance. I noticed when the place became less crowded she was increasingly attentive and helpful. Great service from her. The atmosphere is interesting – the walls are painted a deep blue, and half of the place has an arch to it with some traditional Japanese décor. There was an abundnace of techno and club music playing throughout the evening. It wasn’t blazingly loud, and the atmosphere noise was moderate.
I had come into this place with no expectations and was excited when I read the menu. However, I can’t really recommend this place and I will never forget that distinctly unpleasant aftertaste the saba left. Did I perhaps come on an off night? The food did not meet my expectations for sushi, and I honestly can’t recommend this place to anyone.

I am probably a minority voice here …
But I think that AFin is overpriced and underimpressive for what you pay for.
I LOVE Japanese small dishes.
Uchi is my idea of a dream splurge meal.
Going to Japan — going to a fine traditional (or modern) restaurant there — and getting lots of interesting small plates — that is my idea of heaven.
AFin ain’t Uchi and Afin ain’t a thirty course meal in a ryokan.
I did have one impressive dish there — a grilled fish with grilled hot peppers, wood mushrooms and amazingly perfectly done grilled brussels sprouts. If the whole meal had been like that this would be a 4 or 5 star review.
Escobar with a cucumber coulis and two kinds of tomatoes had tasteless fish, and boring tomatoes being «blocked «for by a nice cucumber sauce. Dumping a good sauce on tasteless raw ingredients does not make a good dish.
Elaborate sushi concoctions were not that much different or better than top of the line custom sushi creations in many restaurants in town …
and the fish was not remotely as tasty or high quality as the raw fish king of this town … Musashino.
Vegetables (with the exception of the highly meritorious brussel sprouts) do not come off all that well either.
The clear and overwhelming contrast is with Uchi.
In an Uchi small plate dinner — every ingredient and every component of every dish has an amazingly powerful taste. The complex mixes of ingredients mean that every bite tastes different as all the possible pairings make an appearance as you work across the plate.
Here lame boring ingredients are presented with good visuals — good textures and one sauce riding in like the cavalry to hopefully save the day.
If I am going to spend AFin kind of money, I would rather pay a little more and get Uchi quality, complexity and amazing flavors.
or just cut down on the elaborateness and just get amazing raw ingredients which is Musashino’s take on the game.

AFin is easily one of my favorite sushi happy hours in Austin. Located in a small shoddy standalone across the street from The Yellow Rose, one may be skeptical of the legitimacy of this restaurant however upon first bite, you’ll lose sight of all your other senses as your taste buds navigate through the authentic Japanese flavors offered by AFin.
They serve extremely generous cuts of fatty salmon on their $ 1.50 nigiri. For the quality of food and service, that’s a price that can’t be beat! My other favorites were the Spicy Jen-​Jen (Spicy tuna, cucumber and avocado topped with salmon and served in a spicy sauce and crunchy flakes) and the Choo-​choo roll (Spicy tuna, cucumber and avocado topped with tuna and crumbled goat cheese with honey-​wasabi sauce.) Both specialty rolls delivered a unique combination of flavors exclusive to AFin.
Sidenote: To the fellow agedashi tofu lovers out there… one word: Barchi. Don’t bother ordering it here.

Sushi… in Austin. After trying this place, I’m really peeved by the quality I receive in San Diego… and that’s by the freakin’ ocean!
Spicy Jen-​Jen: where have you been all my life? I ordered it as a joke since I was with my friend named Jenn. What was a joke order turned into a perfect choice because it was delicious.
Choo Choo roll: Ok this has potential and what kept this place from being five stars. The pepper on the roll almost made me choke, possibly because I wasn’t expecting it. I ended up slightly deconstructing the roll so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed. Anyways, could be good, but wished for less pepper.
Hotategai: mmm salsa and scallops. Scallops were perfectly cooked, not tough and not rubbery either.
I was really surprised by the quality of the fish because it was really fresh and I felt I haven’t been treated to this for a while despite going to some upscale sushi places.

I’m still at Afin. I can’t decide how many stars to give this place. If the waitress comes by one more time and says, «you guys,» I will stab someone.
We walked into Afin and it smelled fishy. Not a good sign.
Okay, we sat down and noticed it was happy hour. Score! Ordered drinks, looked at the menu. Not ONE veggie sushi roll. Not even a measly cucumber roll. The waitress was annoying. Maybe trying too hard, and I heard «you guys» probably at least 20 times.
So she comes to take our order. I ask about a veggie roll, «is it not on the menu? Did I miss it? Do you have any no-​fish sushi rolls? Just vegetable rolls, sorry, I’m a vegan.»
Her face wretched into a disgusted appalled concoction, as she said, «UGH, ooh, um, just vegetables? No fish, what about fish oil or fish sauce, oh! cream cheese?! Ewww, um, doubt it, like what vegetables? Lettuce or something?»
Dude, seriously.
The husband order flounder and salmon. Jen-​Jen roll, and Mr. Smith rolls. He said the fish was fresh, thick cuts, and good, especially for the happy hour prices. Both rolls were good, the Jen-​Jen was a little better. He was impressed by the sashimi, and a sushi snob, this is saying a great deal.
He couldn’t get over how the waitress reacted to a vegan roll. She said she would «work it out» with the chefs, and she did. It was good, basically a salad rolled up. Tomato? In sushi? Okay, sure. It was good. It was giant. It was more of her reaction that really threw me off. And how Afin does not have any vegan options.
We will probably try this place again. I’m going with 4 stars, because the husband enjoyed it. I would go with 3. Compromise.

Y’know, when you have that amazing server that really helps the meal along and you get along with so well? We had her last time I was here.
And how many times have I been back? Once.
And even though we had a different server (who was great in her own right), and she had many tables, our previous server came over to say hello to me, saying, «I thought that was you! Who else could have such fabulous hair?»
Truth be told, she’s right. And my hair definitely likes to be complimented.
But it was that and the new things we found on the menu that bump this place up to 5 stars in my book.
Karai Escolar. I think that’s the name. Get it. Love it. Pet it. PET IT!
Holy crap, that was awesome. And it’s on HH too!
Also, the Tuna Tower was amazing. Seriously beautiful to look at, and once our server was certain we’d absorbed its awesome presentation…
«Ok? You like it? Want to take a picture?»
SMASH!
She toppled that tower like I topple a bottle of whiskey (into my mouth), with all of us agape and stunned that anyone would want to ever do such a thing to an amazing work of art. She stirred and folded everything in, until it was fully mixed and ready to be wrapped in the negi pieces that come with it. And then, the real artistic nature of this dish came alive. It’s not really possible for words to describe it. Just know, even if you’re there for happy hour, it’s worth splurging and paying $ 12.50 for.
The biggest endorsement was hearing that my lady love went there two days in a row while I was gone to Burning Man. I knew at that point that these folks had a truly winning place on their hands.

Not so tasty and salmon seemed a little «off.» the music is strange 70’s and the like Americana. The staff is friendly and the rolls are big. Strange location: you can see skeazers coming out of the Yellow Rose from across the street.
The rolls are interesting and BIG. The is is offset by the flavor being a little bit lacking. I had a basic salmon roll to top everything off and the fish tasted a bit «fishy» and old, so it seems that they are not on top of keeping all of their fish extra fresh.
The service is very friendly
Football?! C’mon, people of the world… We can do better than this. I know that establishments usually use football on TV as a last-​ditch effort to get the lowest common denominator, not-​typical-​sushi eaters in their business, but frankly it’s unnecessary. I don’t don’t like football in the first place, especially when it’s infiltrating a sushi restaurant that is supposed to be peaceful.

AFin is amazing! We had such a wonderful time, not just with the fantastic food, but the waitress, as well.
We started off with the Ahi Tower. My mouth felt like it had died and gone to sushi heaven! Tuna tartar, crabmeat, avocado, cucumber, caviar and creamy wasabi sauce — THANK YOU SUSHI JESUS!
The Edamame was steamed to perfection. We got the regular and the garlic steamed; both were excellent.
We also got the Spider roll and one other I cannot remember the name… but good GOD! The food there is simply amazing!
We went during happy hour and I got the house shot, which was some sort of wonderful lemon concoction. YUM!
Our waitress was a total doll and super fun, full of great suggestions and what to try. We really enjoyed her.
I can’t wait to go back and try more… and have that Ahi Tower again!!!

AFin is located where Korea Garden used to be (The sushi restaurant w/​the conveyor belt). My boyfriend and I were like «this place looks familiar» We soon realized we had been here before, but at the OLD restaurant.
We had a Groupon, and I was expecting average service bc I always get average, lousy service when I tell people I have a Groupon. Luckily, we got Renee as our waitress. Wow. She’s FANTASTIC. Besides the amazing food, I wanna go back just to see her!
We got…
(descriptions thanks to AFin’s website)
Garlic edamame — the best edamame I’ve ever had
Miso soup
AFin house salad w/​ginger dressing
Hotatagai (pan seared sea scallops with fish eggs on top) — amazingly fresh and tasty
Seafood crab cakes w/​Renee’s spin on it (fried lump crab meat & mushroom balls w/​honey-​chili sauce) — best thing we got in my opinion
4 sushi rolls:
Jalapeño – (deep fried roll w/​yellowtail (although I got shrimp), pickled jalapenos, and cream cheese) very good, but not as light as the other rolls
Mr. Smith – (shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber, topped with spicy tuna w/​AFin special spicy sauce) AMAZINGGGGG
Exotic – (deep fried roll: nori wrapped with white fish, salmon, smelt egg, avocado, spicy scallops, and jalapeño on top) this was my FAVORITE roll. I didn’t think I would like it bc of the smelt egg, but man those scallops were so fresh and tasty!
Land & sea – (albacore tuna, jalapeño, avocado, smelt roe, topped with seared filet mignon, sprinkled garlic chips, and green onion) this was good too!
I’m surprised we finished almost ALL of the food. We only had 5 pieces of sushi left.
On top of ALL that food, we also got dessert; lime & ginger crème brûlée topped with blueberries.
One of the best sushi places I’ve ever eaten. Food AND service was fantastic. Can’t wait to go back!

Answer: Across the street from The Yellow Rose, this sushi establishment offers huge portions of delicious, fresh rolls and is inexplicably devoid of patrons.
Question: What is Afin Modern Japanese Tapas?
So while Amy D’s right and the menu consists mostly of sushi rather than tapas, what we ordered was spectacular. The boy was head over heels for the Choo Choo roll; the goat cheese is not overpowering and the freshness of the fish was obvious. We were one of two occupied tables in this enormous space, so I hope my «yums» did not echo too loudly. Then again, I doubt that’s the worst they’ve encountered, given the nature of neighboring businesses.
The rolls were so hearty, in fact, that the boy and I could not get through them (Jen-​Jen, Choo Choo and the Bellagio plus two pieces each Nigiri). I sent a text for help, but we ended up packing it to go. Of course not as good as when it’s fresh made, but a delish snack nonetheless the following day.
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Answer: Immensely so.
Question: How cute was the waitress, Catherine?
What a sweetie. I hope she’s working when we go back. I checked in on my phone and she graciously provided the house sake check-​in offer on top of our Groupon. Plus she was funny — and I know funny.
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Answer: As soon as humanly possible.
Question: When will I return to try happy hour?
I hear it’s a steal, and I have a sneaking suspicion this would be an awesome place for an event (hint*wink*nudge). Then afterwards we can post-​party across the street! and… no.

Missy B and I stopped in for AFin’s happy hour which runs Monday through Friday from 4pm-​7pm.
AFin has ridiculously cheap drink specials during happy hour. $ 2 sake, saketinis, Kirins and $ 4 house wine. The saketinis come in several flavors such as mango.
The food is decently priced as well but consists of mostly sushi and light on the tapas. We shared garlic edamame, a spicy tuna roll and the spicy Jen-​Jen roll. The edamame was good but a little to lathered in oil for my taste. The spicy tuna was also good but the Jen-​Jen roll had so much mayo and tempura, I could not taste anything else in the roll.
I enjoyed an inexpensive evening with great company in AFins comfortable environment. I have much respect for establishments that house themselves in older buildings rather than going to the newest biggest shopping area (like the Domain). Overall I like AFin and would come back, but with other great options in that area, you would be more likely to find me at Mikado or Ichiban.

I feel like I’ve been terribly stingy as far as 5-​star reviews go, but it’s mostly due to the fact that I don’t usually bother reviewing my absolute favorite places, like Uchi or Odd Duck – who needs to read yet ANOTHER glowing Uchi or Odd Duck review? So breaking the mold today and awarding AFin 5 stars may seem a tiny bit reckless or out-​of-​character, but this hidden gem just has that extremely rare combination of factors that hits all the right notes for me.
Count me amongst the many who LOVED Osaka Mansun while Chef Choo was there (I haven’t been back since Choo moved to AFin – which is much closer to my house – but I imagine Osaka still has it going on). Is AFin on par with Uchi? No, but it’s not really trying to be. Is the fish the BEST I’ve ever had? No… but it’s still damn good. Is the value factor, compared to places like Uchi or Mushashino, out of this world? YES.
We went to Afin during Happy Hour (4:30−7) and ordered the karai escolar appetizer, a spicy tuna roll, a Jen-​Jen roll, a Choo-​Choo roll, 4 pieces of nigiri, a bowl of miso, THREE pints of Kirin and one saketini — and I think our pre-​tip bill was something around $ 38. Are you kidding me? Can someone please corral me a momma to slap? I waited to visit AFin for the first time on my boyfriend and I’s 5-​year Fakeaversary (unmarried anniversary) and when we got the bill I actually wondered if I should have suggested a more expensive joint, since hey, I wasn’t paying. Then I realized that I had enjoyed myself *so much* that I just didn’t care – Fakeaversary was a delightful, inexpensive success and the best part was that I left thinking, «Hmm, I could even come back tomorrow.» SCORE.
Those who’ve been to Osaka Mansun before will recognize some of the menu items, like the delicious wasabi-​spiked Ahi Tuna Tower. Even though we love that leaning tower of pleasure, we opted for an appetizer off the HH menu and were glad that we did – the karai escolar app is totally delectable if you dig escolar (we do). The Jen-​Jen and Choo-​Choo rolls were both out-​of-​this-​world; I preferred the Jen-​Jen and my boyfriend preferred the Choo-​Choo. The nigiri we ordered were huge – basically TOO huge to fit in your mouth, which is kind of simultaneously pleasing and annoying. The spicy tuna roll was solid (and big!). And $ 2 Kirins, sake, saketinis, and «house shots» (that night it was lemon drop) make Jennie a very happy girl.
Hands down, my new favorite sushi happy hour. I was reminded to write this review when I saw today’s Groupon, which is for AFin – I’m sure it can’t be used at happy hour, but it makes dinner here an absolute steal. I predict a triumphant return in my near future… :)