Upon further review, Akai is just fine

Wheeler District destination has slipped since its splashy arrival last fall

Last fall, Akai Sushi opened in the Wheeler District, garnering all kinds of effusive verbiage from the influencer crowd. Now that Instagram and friends have created a cottage industry for folks willing to work for free meals they can trade in for social media street cred, it’s hard to know the difference between what’s good to eat and what’s good content.

Akai owner Viet Pham, who made his fortune in tennis and tennis academies in Minnesota, came to the 405diningscape after a conversation with one of its top dawg’s. Jimmy’s Egg CEO (and soon-to-be-first-time-author) bumped into Pham at a local steakhouse and the conversation led Pham to pursue a state-of-the-art sushi restaurant in downtown Oklahoma City.

kai opened in the early fall, and Jared Gleaton had a phenomenal dinner experience not long after. At the time, the kitchen was under the direction of executive chef Shinichi Okamoto. Chef Luke Fry, veteran of numerous local kitchens, was on hand as sous chef.

When I was in the 405diningscape just before Christmas, I stopped into Akai at Jared’s request. The experience was transcendent in many ways. My dinner guest and I tore through an amazing meal under the guidance of the aforementioned chef Fry.

He served us the amazing Scallop Aji Amarillo, in which fresh scallops arrived swathed in an aji amarillo ponzu neither of us will soon forget. Truffle paste and crispy onions bind the flavors and textures.

Wowza. We also had the Crispy Belly of the Beast, an inventive combination of pork belly, apple miso, apple slaw, and avocado. Also, the irresistible Turf (& Surf) Crispito Tacos stuffed with wagyu beef plus jalapeño and tomato ponzu.

Fry was especially excited to serve us the Eggplant, which includes dengaku miso, chives, and edible flowers. If not for the Eggplant Miso at JK by Chef King, this would be the best eggplant dish in the 405.

We also had the Salmon K-Pop, which includes karashi miso mustard, kizami wasabi and crispy onion. Tasty for sure, but not the peer of the Scallop Aji Amarillo. Chef Luke served us a new dessert he was working on at the time and informed me as we were leaving that he had just accepted the executive chef position at Akai. Couldn’t have been more thrilled.

About a month later, I saw where Luke had left Akai and I’m not sure who took his spot. Chef Shinichi Okamoto is still listed as the executive chef, but Fry told me in December that Akai had always been a consulting gig for Shinichi.

Regardless, when I was back in town last weekend to celebrate the birthday of the person who’d been my dinner guest in December, Akai was the request. Same lovely dining room, same acute attention to detail in the service, but the food didn’t quite hit the same marks.

Maybe it was because we weren’t under the watchful eye of the executive chef, but if that’s the case then that’s a problem for a restaurant aiming for the stars.

This time, we started with the seaweed salad. Its arrival was met with wows as were the first few bites, but once we realized the salad was floating in a virtual bay of onion ponzu our opinions changed. After the first few bites, the salad was literally drenched in so much ponzu the salt content made it unpalatable even as a condiment.

The high point was the Shogun roll. Tuna, salmon, yellowtail, jumbo lump crab mix are wrapped in cucumber and served with a spicy sesame aioli and umezu.

Out of deference for the Aji Amarillo Scallops from before, we tried the Jr Yellow Line. With yellowtail, pickled cucumber, yuzu kosho, aji amarillo sesame sauce, crispy onion and cilantro what could go wrong? Nothing much, but it raised little enthusiasm.

The Cherry Blossom (jumbo lump crab mix, avocado, cucumber, tuna, yellowtail, yuzu masago, yuzu yogurt sauce and crispy onions) was fine save for rice that ran a little dry. The Poke Master (poke, shrimp tempura, avocado, spicy tuna, crispy gobo, spicy ponzu, unagi sauce) was way more than a mouthful served in soy paper. Couldn’t really discern any flavor composition.

Akai is an incredibly ambitious operation and hitting the marks it aims daily was never going to be easy. I’m definitely rooting for this restaurant to reach its goals as it will only be a feather in the cap of the 405diningscape. Sure the splashy opening and loud announcement of its lofty goals make for high expectations, but the restaurant isn’t even a year old. By all means, go and be prepared to spend a little, but don’t be afraid to voice any complaints. For a restaurant to reach the heights Akai has set for itself, it will absolutely have to get better but won’t have a chance without plenty of supportive, constructive comment.

Leave your experiences at Akai in the comments.