Akira Back - The Colony

This is our 5th time at Akira and we reserved a table for 6 for my birthday. When we arrived 15 min early they made us stand in front and wait for one more person to arrive before letting us sit even though dining room was very empty. Then took us to a closed off private room that was freezing cold and when I mentioned to hostess it was too cold she said they couldn’t do anything about turning heat up. Requested to move into normal dining area since I didn’t reserve a private room and at first she told me the 6 top that was empty was reserved. They ended up reseating us at 6 top in main dining area. Service at dinner was excellent, but then at 2 hour mark they brought check and told us we had to get up. When booking reservation it clearly states parties of 6 get 2.5 hours. Server said because we booked private dining it was 2 hours. I went and showed hostess that my reservation showed main dining but it didn’t seem to matter. Our table spent over 1300.00 before tip last night and would have spent more had we been able to enjoy the last 30 minutes of our reservation until 9pm. Unfortunate situation to happen while celebrating my birthday.

The 8-course tasting menu was imaginative and creatively presented. Excellent sake flights paired well with the food. Attentive service as expected at this price point.

8 course tasting menu was spectacular and filling (even for my husband who is never full after tasting menus). Excellent quality. Great service. Amazing cocktails.

Even asked them to customize our rolls a bit. Wonderful service and a great ambiance.

My wife and I both did the 6 course tasting menu with sake parings. Of the 6 dishes, 4 were excellent, 1 was a total flop and one was so so . With a Kaiseki meal you expect the freshest, most unique dishes. The failure dish was their take on a A5 Wagu taco. Totally not in keeping with the Japanese theme. In Texas if you do a taco, you gotta beat some stiff competition! The so so dish was a flatbread pizza with truffle oil we felt this was a halfhearted effort you can get similar at many Italian restaurants. The other flour entrees were excellent and showed the scope of the chef 's abilities from salmon sushi to black cod, to a Wagu rib it was all perfection! I hope they will continue to refine this tasting menu as it is really special. Our waiter was a savant when it came to the sake parings giving us a lot of background on the different taste profiles. Really appreciated that! Oh, and the apple pie dessert was perfectly done. We had an enjoyable evening and I hope restaurants of this quality can continue to thrive.