Akitsu

It’s extremely difficult to give only 2 stars to such a good place, but the customer service ruined it completely for me and my girlfriend. Food alone, one of the best sushi places I’ve ever eaten. But the speed of delivery was terrible.
We ordered 5 – 7 items and had to wait for 20 min for each item individually. It’s incredibly annoying when you get a little bite, want more, and then have to wait for another little bite again. Such frustration… would expect them to be better prepared for a busy evening, especially with that price tag (we paid 87 euros for two people)

The name Akitsu is actually a train station in Tokyo and like I would expect from food at a train station, high prices for ok food. But before I start, I will have to warn the Unilocal readers out there, that I did not have any sushi. Actually, if you want a true Japanese eating experience, it’s good to come here because they have normal Japanese food items instead of just sushi.
So with that said, let me give you the Hello Kitty run down on Akitsu. The interior is nice and you can choose to sit on tatami so you really feel like you’re in Japan. So two full peace signs and a Japanese school girl giggle for a nice inside!
Foodwise, I usually order typical izakaya style with a bunch of small plates to share with others like karaage (fried chicken thighs), shioyaki sakana (salt baked fish), tempura, chazuke (rice green tea soup?), agedashidofu (fried tofu in special juice?) and others I’m not sure how to translate like Maguro no Yamakake and Ika Mentaiko. We had a hungry one at the table so he ordered a bowl of miso ramen with chashuu (special marinated pork slices). Some dishes were good, some just ok… but nothing really stuck out.
You can hear in the kitchen people shouting in Chinese so I think the flavors might be a little mixed making it not so Japanese-​Mt-​Fuji-​esque. Also the service was nice, but some things were really slow! Some forgotten items, things that took waaaaay longer than others. And, here you definitely can’t order like you normally would in japan by screaming SUMIMASEN across the restaurant. I’ve been here twice already and for the high prices for average japanese izakaya dishes, I would much rather go to Hakata Senpachi near RAI station.
日本人の方も来ると思うので一応日本語でレビューを書きましょう！ここが居酒屋みたいに寿司以外の和食があるけど、値段が高くて、味も微妙で、注文したものが忘れられて、居酒屋じゃない雰囲気で、もう二度と来ないと思います。他の人のレビューを読むと「ここの寿司うまい！」って言ってるけど寿司はどこでも食べれるし、オレには洋風のカリフォニア巻きとかドラゴンロールより居酒屋にある物のほうが欲しいです。そういうふうな食べ物をお探しのならRAI駅の近くにある「博多せんぱち」のほうがいいと思います。

Great Japanese spot on Rozengracht. Sushi was fresh and tasty, as was the miso ramen, the veggie tempura, the gyoza, and the green tea ice cream. We drank sake and sat on the floor at one of the low tables. The service was friendly and quick, the atmosphere was relaxing and the prices were reasonable. Nice go to Japanese spot that I will be frequenting.

So glad we came back and had a proper meal this time including sushi! This is now hands down the best place in the center for sushi. (Okura hotel is amazing, but not a place I would trek to regularly.)
The cuts were just right with a long enough tail, the sushi rice was a perfect temperature and stickiness, the fish was really good quality. I generally avoid any maguro tuna these days because of the low quality and lack of flavor at most places (and of course the general tuna-​overfishing), but I have to say it was really good here.
The sweet shrimp sushi had an amazing flavor. Even the really simple side salad had a unbelievably subtle but oh-​so-​tasty dressing that I just wanted to lick from the bowl. The tamago egg was sweet and so light — delightful.
They didn’t seem to have a really wide variety of fish, but if you have to minimize to keep quality high, then I don’t mind!
The only gripe is the general Amsterdam one regarding service, which is essentially discountable because who really has great service here, hence the 5 stars.
Make sure to call in advance for a reservation because they are busy for good reason.
Will definitely be back soon! I can’t go back to eating that crappy takeout stuff now.

Akitsu may be the best sushi in Amsterdam. We tried sashimi, sushi rolls and small dishes including the agedashi tofu and gyoza. All were delicious!
The hamachi melted in my mouth, as it should.
If you go to Akitsu, please call me. I will join you!
Thanks to Flip for the recommendation… it only took me 8 months to go. Duh.
More here…

«It’s so good I want to cry.» Yes, that came out during dinner.
In all honestly, this has been the best sushi I’ve had so far in Amsterdam. Each new piece was like an adventure in flavor. Even things which I don’t normally like, omelette for example, were still quite good. Among the highlights were that blissfully beaming and buttery fatty tuna. Oh what I have been we were in to taste that. also on the strangely different side was the role made from pickled pumpkin. Very different and tasteful, of course like everything else there. we also guts one of the 10 piece sushi sets, which was a good mix of things on the menu. Although I always feel ripped off on some level when I get shrimp in that. Now that I know what I like best, I will be more apt to buy them piece by piece next time. Oh and how are that will be a next time!
As for the ambience and the staff. The one warning I can give is to make a reservation and/​or get there early. We arrived without a reservation yet’s early in the evening so we could get a table at the bar still. The service was good up until the point when the restaurant got busy. After that we sort of were forgot about. what drew us in but we were unfortunate to mess was the load tables and Japanese style eating area towards the back. It looks very gezlling, so next time we will book that for sure.
I haven’t yet found a better sushi restaurants in Amsterdam. So if that’s what you’re after, this is the place. So tasty you could cry.

In my opinion the food is 5 star. It’s other factors that prevent it from being a business that is worthy of 5 stars. That being the service is good not great. I came in solo to meet up with people later but I came early so I could order something to eat. I mean I was dying to try the sushi. I had two pieces of unagi and a california roll along with a japanese beer. The beer was meh. The sushi was yummy! Fortunately, just before the kitchen closed the waitress asked me if I wanted anything else from the kitchen as there was time to order something just before they closed. I had another california roll. Yummmm. Okay okay I like sushi. So I was more than gratified to hear that there was a japanese restaurant near where I live. I had to try it out.
It is located on a busy street and intersection on Rozengracht next to the fire station. From the outside it appears to be small and lo and behold it is… Regardless, I cared not on the size of the space but the food being offered within it. There were some traditional tables and the décor was definately asian. For a Friday night around 9 pm it was busy. It wasn’t jam packed but definitely busy. The kitchen was cranking out plates and the servers and hostess were busy putting together plates and serving them as well.
Later on a few more people joined me so I moved from the bar to a table. What threw me and lost them a star was when I went up to the counter to pay for what I’d had, the hostess said plainly she’d put all the additional peoples items on the bill as well. I just don’t get why she just couldn’t start another bill for the different parties that arrived. I get it but I don’t get it. Ah well it was just one star and the food was still good if not great. I’ll be back. I was so eager to try the sushi I forgot to take pictures lol.

I was in Amsterdam for a few weeks, and this was right across the street.
The staff was very good, and all spoke English very well. I sat at the bar watching the chef work. The toro was delicious, and had a few wagyu yakitori’s that were like butter!
I travel to Amsterdam a fair bit, and this is one place i can recommend that is a bit off the main path of the Dam Square.
Takes Amex, but check before ordering if their machine is working.

Excellent japonais qui vous reçoit dans un décors très japonais. Les ramens sont délicieux, probablement les meilleurs que j’ai mangé. Les sushi sont également très bons et copieux.
L’accueil et le service sont de très bonne qualité.
À noter pour les puristes, vous pouvez manger sur des paillasses mais attention aux crampes :)
Le restaurant est facilement accessible par le tram 13 à l’arrêt Manixstraat.

The fish selection is excellent. The salmon is always perfect and the toro is always spectacular. Can be a bit expensive, but good quality fish and nice presentation is definitely worth it.

this is the freshest sushi on earth and i have had sushi everywhere. the staff speaks great english and its one of the only sushi places in amsterdam run by a sweet japanese family. its pricey but amazing and has the best appetizers. the green beans in sesame sauce are awesome. the tempura is panko breaded and great. everything here is classy and well worth the price.

Oh Akitsu, I wanted to love you…
Actually, to be honest, the food was really amazing. The sukiyaki amazing, the waygu beef we had as an appetizer delicious, sushi wonderful and fresh.
The service was SO bad that I just cannot give it more than 3 stars. Our reservation was lost (though we were still able to get a seat), we were rushed to order, then after our food came totally neglected (despite tables around us being served) but the real blow came when we went to pay and they informed us the PIN machine was down. Really? You could not have told us that when we made the reservations (earlier the same day) walked in the door, or at any time during our meal? Fortunately one pal had enough cash to cover everyone, because the place ain’t cheap.
I might go back, the food was that good. But it is going to be a while.

The place looks typically Japanese: simple and straightforward. The sushi though, is unbelievable.
We had dinner here with a group of spoiled sushi lovers who travel a lot and some of them said this was the best sushi they ever had. I couldn’t agree more.
Next to sushi they also serve plates, which are very good as well. There’s plenty of choice if you are a Sake lover.
Service was good.
The owner and chef Hiroshi Koruchi has run this place for 20 years and I heard the quality has been perfect ever since.
Not cheap, but well worth it, especially compared to other places in Amsterdam who charge the same or more but can’t touch the quality of Akitsu!