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. Upon inquiring, they also gave us the Kitchen Menu and the Sushi Bar Menu.
Complimentary green salad. 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.
The next dish we shared was the 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.
This is the Beef Tataki ($11.99), served with a citrus soy sauce. 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 sauce.
In my opinion, the BBQ Eel Pancake ($5.99) was just okay. We ate half before taking a picture – oops! 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.
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633 Silver Star Blvd #108
Scarborough, ON M1V 5N1
Mon-Thu: 11:30 am – 1:00 am
Fri-Sat: 11:30 am – 2:00 am
Sun: 11:30 am – 1:00 am