Grill Akafuji

Small family own restaurant, decoration old and a bit wear out. I came for the Pork Katsu curry, no so cheap as it was $ 11.50. The curry sauce was good, made with beef. There were not much chunk of veggies on the curry: it was some onion and the most 3 small pieces of carrot. The lady has to verify if they still have… maybe that was the last of it. The pork cutlet was well fried with outside crispy and the meat was tender and juicy inside, the rice they use goes very well with curry. The disk come with a small salad and miso soup. It is a descent meal… just that I had much much better with cheaper price, maybe millbrae is expensive.

Stumble upon this when looking for parking, its a small hole in the wall, family owned business. Husband and wife team. The quality of food is good and tasty and the price is reasonable. I also like supporting family businesses. The Lady owner is super duper nice and always asking if everything was okay, very great discovery and will be sure to come back. The chicken katsu, and pork katsu and tempura are cook to perfection.

This was my weekly lunch destination for close to 18 years.
Owner Mr. Mizuno is a kind man. and prepared sensible lunch to me and my office colleagues.
My favorite was Katsudon & mini Udon combination and Tendon & mini Udon.

I was looking for a decent Japanese Curry spot in my area and Grill Akafuji came up on my Unilocal search. The pics looked good and I figured I give them a try.
I started with an order of Gyoza –
The Gyoza was okay. Not much to say about it but it made for a decent appetizer.
The Katsu Curry here was pretty good –
The Curry has a nice consistency to it and wasn’t watered down. It gave the rice and Katsu a nice flavor. And the Katsu was a nice sized portion as well.
There really isn’t much I can say about it this place. The experience for me was pretty much: go in, get curry, enjoy, pay bill, then leave. Pretty straightforward. Not sure if I’d come here on a regular basis, but if I’m around and want some decent curry, I’ll know where to go.

This place was the worst japanese food I’ve ever had. One of my slices of sashimi was actually frozen when it arrived at my table. When I told the server, her response was «oh just let it sit for a minute to defrost». Unbelievable. What an idiot.

I enjoyed Akafuji so much! It’s a cute mom and pop restaurant with great service and a menu with a decent variety of options.
Their Croquettes are so delicious.
Did a combo plate with Hamburg (seasoned, japanese style hamburger without a bun) and the chicken teriyaki. Hamburg was so well-​flavored and juicy juicy juicy.
Prices are reasonable.
FYI– Because they are a smaller business they seem to rotate the menu seasonally. My friend and another patron both wanted to order menu items that were «out of stock» for the time.

Delicious, comfort food bento-​style Japanese. Our go-​to resto for many years now. It’s never failed us. A combition bento of sashimi and tonkatsu with miso and salad and complimentary bowl of edamame is just $ 15.95!

Although the area around Broadway hosts a decent variety of restaurants, I was pleasantly surprised to find a homely Japanese restaurant like Grill Akafuji. The place is practically the epitome of a mom-​and-​pop restaurant… except I’m not sure if it’s actually run by a mom and pop. But you get my drift.
With a strong tilt towards cooked comfort foods, the menu is a little different than a typical Japanese restaurant. Different as in, no sushi or sashimi (except with the bento box) on the menu, but plenty of hot plates, noodle dishes, and bento box combos to choose from. All around, the food isn’t too shabby.
— KATSU CURRY RICE PLATE…$ 8.50
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My usual order, and not just because I don’t come across it that often. The tonkatsu is both meaty and moist, and the curry is pretty tasty (it has chunks of beef thrown in). It’s not as good as my usual spot in SF (Volcano), but it’s pretty solid, especially given the lack of nearby alternatives.
— TONKOTSU RAMEN…$???
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Pretty «ehhh». The noodles were fine, but the broth was modest on flavor and the chashu was just okay. The Chinese cabbage (?) was an odd addition, but I didn’t have a problem with it. Not bad on a cold day/​night, but I wouldn’t make a point of trying this one.
— TEMPURA DONBURI AND MINI UDON COMBO…$ 8.50
Tempura Donbui (
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The Udon was simple like the ramen, but much tastier. The broth was light yet flavorful, and the noodles had a great consistency. Conversely, the Tempura Donburi was a miss — it tasted alright, but the tempura batter was soggy and limp instead of crunchy/​crispy.
— SABA SHIOYAKI AND TONKATSU BENTO BOX…$ 8.25
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I don’t know about the other bento box items, but these two were sound. The Saba Shioyaki was quite tasty and not too salty, while the Tonkatsu was just as good as the one in the curry katsu dish.
Even though the food and friendly service gets them THREE AND A HALF STARS, what keeps me from rounding up is the value. The prices aren’t terrible, but a couple of things aren’t worth the money (ramen and tempura don). It also doesn’t help that the tables are kinda sticky — great how they’ve been around for so long, but I don’t need to be reminded of it whenever my arm touches the table.

If you could picture what a Japanese diner from the 80’s look like then this would be it.
Old school furniture, little divey, everyone dining here all looked like regulars, even the waitress looks like she’s been here since the 80’s. She was also the hostess/​busboy/​etc so Akafuji may not exactly be the place for a quick lunch. (
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They have Japanese comfort food with plenty of lunch specials around $ 8.
As good as the udons, pork chop cutlets, and Japanese hamburger sounded, went with their pork katsu curry ($ 8). Great value since it came with salad and miso soup. It’s probably sinful to soak the crispy tonkatsu in beef curry but I just thought it was really good. I liked the beef chunks, in the curry. Nothin’ fancy but just good solid food that’ll leave you feeling full. I also tried some of my friends sukiyaji, that was decent. (
They also have ramen on the menu but I doubt it’d be better than Ramen Parlor. If you like this place, you might also like Ramen Club. A tier below Usagi in San Mateo.

I’m being a hard ass on this review because it’s not that the food wasn’t good.
It’s because you can’t really go wrong with chicken teriyaki and tempura bento boxes. I mean, I guess you can. The chicken can be undercooked, the teriyaki sauce not good (really??).
However, here, this chicken was cooked to perfection. The tempura was not given to us stinge-​ly; there was plenty of of it. The tempura batter was buttery and fresh. I’ve never noticed that before at other places.
Why am I giving it three stars? Because, damn, we paid $$$ for something I could’ve cooked at home. Well, ok… they ain’t got no rolls. Sad face.

I usually go to San Mateo for Japanese food, but decided to give Akafuji a try since it’s closer to my home. Based on the reviews I read it seemed like a safe bet.
The exterior looks like it’s a modest restaurant and it certainly is that inside. Nothing fancy, just numerous pictures of Mt. Fuji. On a Saturday night at 8 pm there was no wait, which is something that thrills me. With 2 young kids I really dislike long waits for a table.
The menu is simple, but with enough depth that you can come back a few times if you like what you have. I was impressed to see a few dishes on the menu that you don’t often see such as hamburger steak and ten zaru. These are common dishes in Japan.
For four of us (2 adults/​2 kids) we ordered 2 combi dinners and an agedashi tofu appetizer. We also ordered California Roll, but were told that with only one cook in the kitchen they weren’t offering sushi as it’s too labor intensive. I was willing to skip the sushi knowing that we probably already ordered enough food.
What we did order was very good. I really appreciated the fact that that server gave us extra bowls of miso soup and salad for the kids. Most places would charge you extra. Not Akafuji. We didn’t even order extras, they just brought them. We also got edamame free at the outset.
They use a lot of green onions in their cuisine. Be aware of that if you’re not a fan. The hamburger steak has regular onions cooked in to it, which I liked. The tempura batter is good.
The portions were plentiful. We took some of the food home. So, four of us ate as much as we wanted for $ 40 with a little to go. That’s super in my book.
The Growth Coach tip for Business Improvement: Have a sushi chef on duty, and especially on weekend nights. Turning down certain food orders is never a good policy. The place looks like it could use a bit of a refresh. Something to consider for the future.

I normally don’t order beef teriyaki. Its for the same reason I don’t order pad thai (thai) or bulgogi (korean). All these dishes are legitimate enough but I feel that they are more a gateway dish to their culture. Maybe I’m just being a snob. Hmm.
But upon strong recommendation, I tried the beef teriyaki here. And for good reason. It was pretty good. The beef was more akin to steak than the pitiful beef strips you may get at other places.
The sauce wasn’t saccharine sweet. The beef was tender and juicy!
I heard the owners talking to some customers in Korean, so I think its Korean owned. Doesn’t detract from the quality of food here at all.
I might have been converted to beef teriyaki now. Oh no.

I got the bento box from the lunch menu. I had the tempura with NY steak. I usually order that or katsu curry or the bento. This visit was one of my worst visits as the steak kept tasting like macro fish. I hated it. Ive had the beef before and It used to be delicious. This time it was awful since it had that macro taste. At this visit, I would rate it 1, but since I really like their katsu curry, I gave it a 3. Come here for curry, if you feel like steak, go somewhere else as your steak may taste like fish.

God, this korean/​japanese operated Japanese restaurant is so amazingly good I cannot explain! I go here whenever I’m craving Japanese comfort food/​bento box specials and mainly potato croquettes. .How potato croquettes get me I don’t know. I must be a croquette vampire! Dun dun dunnnn!
I highly highly recommend the ribeye beef teriyaki (not bento form) for $ 15,
the 2 item bento for $ 14 – 15 (saba shioyaki, said croquettes, and hamburg w/​mushroom sauce). I also highly recommend their curry dishes. They’re the cheapest items on the menu at $ 8.50-$ 10/​curry and soooo good! Why not try the potato croquette curry for $ 10? You shan’t be disappointed. And a note on their sushi: I haven’t really ventured to trying their sushi (kind of afraid of that actually) so I’d say stay away from that.
Go here because their hours are good (open till 930pm) and you get a great meal at a great cost. The meal pretty much comes with comp tea, edamame, salad, miso soup!

When I think of Japanese food, I think of sushi but this place isn’t the place to go to for sushi, it’s definitely THEE spot to go to for lunch platters!
Their katsu donburi (with veggies and egg) is pretty delicious by itself but the fact that it came with miso soup and salad for a total of only $ 7.95 made my entire lunch taste even better! My bf ordered the beef curry over rice, which also included a miso soup and salad for only $ 6.95! The portions they give you is totally worth your money too.
Overall, I had an excellent experience with this little restaurant and our waitress was really nice and sweet! So if you want a place to eat for Japanese lunch platters, akafuji grill is the place to go! :)
Lunch specials end at 2pm btw

YES, GO GO GO! If that’s not enough to convince you read below…
I’ve been going here since I was a toddler and loved it then and still now. The ownership has changed I believe to a Korean couple but the food is reminiscent of Japanese home cooking.
I ordered the combination bento box. It gives you a choice of two items from a provided list and comes with miso soup, salad, rice, small piece of fruit, small portion of pickles, and a small seaweed salad.
I ended up taking home half my meal. My two choices were hamburg and croquettes. I highly recommend the croquettes because they’re crispy and soft potato goodness. Next time I go I’m going to see about ordering croquettes to go!
Other party members ordered beef teriyaki which was raved about all night long. It’s a rib-​eye cut (high quality) and not overcooked with a nice teriyaki sauce. Excellent.
Their curry is nice and thick, which is great with rice but maybe not for everyone if you don’t like thick curry.
Their saba shioyaki was good too but watch out for bones.
The waitress was very kind and patient with us and immediately brought out tea and edamame for us. At the end of our meal she brought us big slices of watermelon, which felt appropriate for the summer season.
We will definitely be going back and look forward to trying other dishes.

It’s ok for the money.
They start you off with a bowl of very good miso soup that was no too salty or weird.
Had the 2 item of Salmon and Saba shioyaki.
Came in a bento with a small salad and rice.
The salad was ok with weak mayo dressing and the rice was barely ok.
2 stars, to me, means average quality. Not bad, not really good.
Customer service: ok.
Décor: meh.

For past year and half, all I’ve been ordering is the Hamburg Steak. You can order it with the mushroom sauce, or you can have it with the wafu sauce. (like cold tempura sauce with reddish.) I LOVE IT!
Another dish to try is the Croquette! It’s so crispy on the outside, and it’s perfectly mashed, soft potato inside.
Free edamame and miso soup provided for customers while waiting. Remember most of other Japanese restaurants only give you miso soup when it comes with a meal. Miso is one of my comfort food so. YAY: D
The restaurant is a little dimmed, most of the time lightened by the sunlight during lunch hour. Few Japanese paintings on the wall. An average Japanese restaurant with very comforting food.

Small japanese place that can be easily missed if you’re not looking for it.
Kudos for having Japanese Curry and really good Katsu. It was super crunchy on the outside and really moist and flavorful on the inside the way it should be. Their tempura is pretty tasty too. It wasn’t greasy at all and the oil was definitely fresh. (at least it tasted that way) Service was pretty decent and everything we ordered was pretty good. 5 adults an 2 kids and the bill came out to just about $ 90. I’d say that’s pretty good.
i’d come back.

Going to Akafuji for sushi and complaining about it is like going to McDonald’s for their rip-​off of Chick Fil A ‘s chicken sandwich and being disappointed.
Solid and satisfying traditional Japanese cooked foods. Their katsu curry is one of my favorite versions — a nice thick spicy curry and a juicy pork cutlet with just the right amount of breading. Akafuji serves up food that is to Japanese cuisine as good solid Southern home cooking is to American cuisine.
Update 10÷30÷08: They are now opened on Sundays for business and seem to be busier. However, that means that service has also gone down. I stood around for several minutes just 3 feet away from the cash register where a woman was working while she ignored me until I left without getting anything.