Akariba

The popcorn shrimp tempura was great.
The oysters were great.
The chilled edamame was ok.
The salmon Donburi was good.
The place is strange though. It’s probably 250 sf tops, and ¼ of that is taken up by the large tree in the center of the room. There was a window next to our table that peered into the restaurant next door (Zenkichi). The setup was just uncomfortable. Cute, but cramped.

Amazing décor. Cozy. Great place for a date. Wide selection of sake. Delicious food, everything we had was ⁵⁄₅ quality

Nice ambiance, came here on a rainy day. Listening to jazz and the rain hitting the roof while enjoying the amazing authentic Japanese food from Zenkichi… great. :)

Same menu of Zenkichi… So I give a 5 stars rating. They just accept cash (There is an ATM inside) and the ambience is less private than Zenkichi. Very good service.

Went in base on my curiosity. Cute place, tiny but comfy! They charge a little more than the place we usually go east village, but a lot cleaner and decent food! Will definite return!

Shrimp tempura was impressive. Came on a dead night and enjoyed the entire place to myself. Would come back and try the oysters.

Not bad. Some things are a miss (grilled amberjack) and some things hit the spot (fresh tofu). I’d return if I run out of options in the area. The waitstaff was polite and pleasant. However, I never got a water refill so I left the establishment parched.
Cash only. ATM is available inside. Order the tofu!

Overall impression: delicious, tapas sized portions. Beautiful ambiance. Good service.
Tempura popcorn shrimp — as you’d expect, with a nice dipping sauce
Hajiki mushroom salad — we weren’t fans
Chicken meatball — this and our salad came with a soft boiled egg in what seemed to be salt water? you break up the egg to make a dipping sauce. delicious
Duck salad — pretty good
Cod — omg, delicious
The food came out SO fast. the waitress will ask you if you want to keep the menu after ordering, and you soon find out why. we weren’t very full when we left.
complaints: was so SO dark inside. I get it, but I like to see what I’m eating. cash only. that’s all I got

Went here expecting a relaxed, light jazz, soothing lounge experience, which is how it is advertised, and above all special oysters! The reality is more meh.
This is really a spill-​over room for Zenkichi rather than something of its own. Can be very loud as it gets full quickly from folks waiting for the rest of their party for reservations at the restaurant, which cancels out the cute atmosphere.
Basically the same ala carte menu as zenkichi. The advertised focus on oysters is a bit of a misnomer as they have very little flexibility on oysters (must be purchased 6 at a time; can’t mix and match; only two kinds to choose from; a bit pricy at 6 /​$ 21)
Oysters not particularly exceptional — just ok.
The other menu items are from zenkichi, which is to say very high quality (but of course appropriately expensive).

I went here last night with a group of 8 people to start my (low-​key?) bachelorette party. I’ve been wanting to go here for a while, and it was fantastic.
First, the service was excellent. Really friendly service, it is not super-​fast but in this instance it was a good thing, as our cocktails and every other detail of the meal was just perfect. I got the (warning: not using the correct terminology or names at all here): wasabi octopus, the eel and cream cheese roll things, and the rice ball with cod roe mayonnaise. Everything was very good. The sake the waiter recommended for the table was delicious. Also, the place itself is beautiful and relaxing.
All in all it was a great experience and I would definitely go back! I also want to try their sister restaurant next door, Zenkichi. Definitely recommend!

This Japanese oyster bar serves the closest food to what I have eaten in Japan.
The Raw Jewel of the Day (12 piece Sashimi) varies, the last time I had it It was yellow tail, salmon, and red snapper. All of them were sublime. They regularly have the kumamoto oysters which are very good.
Their donburi is very good as is the udon soup and those two meals shared on a cold night are something to look forward to in the winter.
They also have some bar snack type things like the curried tempura shrimp which are deliciously fragrant and exotics such as wasabi cured octopus, which for me is not my favorite, not that they don’t do it well, just that I don’t think I particularly care for wasabi cured octopus. They share a kitchen with Zenkichi and a few of the restaurants menu items are available.
Their cocktails are always spot on, and they have a nice selection of sake and Japanese beers.

Not an oyster guy but my date was a huge oyster fan so you know,
NOT ONE TO COMPLAIN.
4 stars for gettin my girl in the mood.

Akariba is a small Japanese bar adjoining Zenkichi. Its Brooklyn kitch and upscale, with amazingly attentive service, solid menu choices, and delicious cocktails. I stopped in pre-​dinner and didn’t want to fill up too much, so I ordered a pot of green tea, a sapporo, 6 kumamoto oysters on the half shell, and pork belly. Everything was delicious, every detail thought out and moment savored. The oysters were fresh (and we scored 7 oysters since they were a bit on the small side). The tea was well rounded and flavorful, with high quality matcha. The pork belly was served more like a soup, so it ended up melting in your mouth and tasting more refreshing rather than heavy (that’s an amazing feat in and of itself). Price point for what we ordered was fair. Everything just makes me want to go back and try Zenkitchi!

Not having reservation at their Zenkichi turned out to be an awesome new find.
Food was great. Good drinks list. Perfect, romantic ambiance for a date. Can’t wait to be back.
for full review, pls visit my blog

I have been a big fan of Zenkichi for years, but I was pretty disappointed when I came here for the soft opening. I am glad to say that Akariba has overcome its early issues and is now a great spot. You can now order all of the a la carte items from Zenkichi plus a few Akariba specialties. The Tako Wasabi is a major highlight, as is the Udon and the shrimp tempura. While all the sake is good, they could use a few more options. Also, would love to see some shishito peppers a la Ippudo.
Note Akariba is cash only and only open Wed– Sat.

I really enjoyed my little nosh here.
I walked inside not knowing what to expect, and found myself in a beautiful indoor garden. After a crazed workout at the gym this was a great calm atmosphere.
Our server was really quick to attend to us and we decided fairly quickly on what we wanted.
There were some out of this world meaty oysters, delicious (but too few) chicken wings and some outstanding tempura complete with a green tea sea salt which I discovered was salt after slathering it all over my tempura… ummm yeah pass the water!
Other than my culinary faux pas, I definitely saw many other things I would like to try and will be returning soon. The portion sizes for the appetizers are definitely skimpy making it difficult to share with more than one other person but that shouldn’t stop you, just order more! DUH!!!

Akariba, thank you for giving me one of the most unique experiences I’ve had in a while.
With my best foodie friend, we circled the block a few times looking for a big sign. We didn’t see one, but the bldg #77 was clear as day and we found ourselves at a barn looking type of place. As we walked in, I was surprisingly amazed at the décor because yet again, I didn’t know what to expect. Real cool vibe, sort of an indoor garden with rocks in the ground, trees and plants surrounding us and smooth music playing in the background. The super low lighting made it a little hard to see the menu and the words were small as well. But nevertheless, we made it through and ordered a half dozen fanny bay oysters, shrimp and nasu tempura and the nagoya teba wings.
Oysters were very meaty and very creamy. I’m accustomed to eating blue point so that was definitely a game changer. The tempura was excellent. Accompanied with green tea salt and a dipping sauce, it served as a great addition. The wings were good as well, salty and flavorful.
Portion size is small but flavor is big. Judge for yourself, but don’t go on an empty stomach.

Walked into Akariba with some friends when we saw the sign for $ 5 mojito’s. I am not a very big fan, but everyone else seemed to be and the fact that they had them for $ 5 was enough for everyone to enter. The place is basically a «zen backyard» with a large tree (not sure if it was fake or not) in the middle. It is definitely a different atmosphere from a regular bar.
We ordered 4 mojito’s and it seemed to take about 10 minutes for the drinks to come. LOTS and LOTS of smashing. Finally they arrived and they definitely were tasty, but where was the alcohol? I guess for $ 5, what can you really expect, but it definitely was a good tasting drink.
I probably won’t come back to the bar section, but the restaurant upstairs (after some fake bathroom sneaking around) looked really cool and definitely will be back for.

Here’s my rare Japanese restaurant review… ta-​dah! Although I’m 100% Japanese born in Japan, I tend to Unilocal more non-​Japanese restaurants, ha ha! Even though I was more interested in trying Zenkichi first, I finally gave in to peer pressure after being persistently persuaded by friends to try Akariba’s special dinner for 2 deal that they found online. Located adjacent to its sister restaurant Zenkichi, Akariba is a small, dark, and cozy sake-​and-​oyster snack bar that offers reasonably priced small bites.
I tried the following:
1)½ dozen oysters: 3.5 stars. The oysters were a tad too dry for my taste. I suggest to add extra condiments or accompanying sauce besides just a slice of lemon, like momiji oroshi (grated daikon radish with chili pepper), kizami negi (thinly sliced scallions), ponzu, or even just a cocktail sauce will help. Purist might prefer just a slice of lemon, but I believe general public prefer to eat oysters with a sauce. It will make it appear fancier for sure!
2)salmon donburi: 2.5 stars. I expected more surprises or at least a typical donburi flavor but this salmon donburi was just a no-​frills grilled salmon placed over a bowl of plain white rice. Too boring! I’d rather pour green tea and furikake (dried mixed seasoning sprinkled over rice for added flavor) and turn this into sake chazuke (salmon rice soup). I actually poured the thick chicken flavored sauce which was meant to accompany «jidori chicken donburi» over it and also added the sauce from «wagyu tataki» and turned it into a custom made Jewel special donburi. It tasted better than the original plain version so I encouraged my friend to do the same.
3)jidori chicken donburi: 4 stars. Waaaaay better than salmon donburi!!! It has more interesting flavor and the chicken was juicy. It went so well with yuzu kosho («yuzu and pepper», a spicy Japanese sauce).
4)wagyu tataki:4.5 stars. The meat was tender and flavorful, beautifully marinated. Highly recommended!
5)Frozen black sesame mousse: 4.5 stars! I must say I was more impressed with the desserts than savory dish. Although it’s supposed to be a «mousse», it tasted more like a rich black sesame ice cream. This was my favorite dessert out of all 4 that I tried.
6) Mineoka Tofu Cream: 4 stars. This tofu based pannacotta-​like dessert was not too sweet and certainly will appeal more towards Japanese customers like myself.
7) Grapefruit Agar Gelee: 3.5 stars. I like the presentation more than the taste itself. It’s very light and citrusie, I think this would be a good dessert for diet-​conscious folks.
8) Walnut Chocolate Pudding: 4 stars. This is probably the safest dessert for anybody who doesn’t want anything too exotic. It’s like a chocolate soufflé with a slight twist.
9)Lychee cocktail: 4 stars. It’s a nice girly drink but was pretty strong!
My overall experience was 3.5 stars, but since we got such an amazing deal, I’m rounding up to 4. Next time I’m definitely going to try Zenkichi!!!

This place has been on my radar since I am a huge fan of Zenkichi. I decided to try it when I got a Daily Candy deal for dinner for 2 and got some friends to go with.
The interior is not as exquisite as Zenkichi’s space but the tree in the middle of the bar is kinda cool. The service is pretty good.
We had a selection of oysters (Originality: 3 stars, Presentation: 3 stars, Taste: 4 stars) which was pretty standard quality, Jidori chicken donburi (O: 3.5 stars, P: 3 stars, T: 4 stars) and salmon donburi (O: 3 stars, P: 3 stars, T: 3 stars) with soup and Washugyu beef tataki (O: 3 stars, P: 3.5 stars, T: 4.5 stars). For dessert we had all four in the menu: the grapefruit agar gelee, walnut chocolate pudding, Mineoka cream, and black sesame mousse. All scored 4 stars in originality and presentation. For taste, all were not too sweet and I’d rank it in order of my preference as black sesame mousse, chocolate pudding, Mineoka cream, and grapefruit gelee last.
For drinks, I opted to have wine this time but my friend did have their lychee cocktail. It had shochu and lavender and was lovely.
My bottom line: the over all experience combined with the quality of food you get for their prices this place gets 4 stars from me. But, since Zenkichi is right next door I suggest you go there for dinner and hang out here for drinks.