Roka Akor Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Roka Akor 801 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 362-8887

Why did we dine here? – Roka Akor is a modern Japanese restaurant that opened in San Francisco in 2013. They have branches in Scottsdale, Arizona as well as Chicago and Old Orchard. This is an offshoot of the popular Roka in London.

This restaurant was one of those on our might want to dine at list. We just happened to be nearby and they had space available. The restaurant is beautiful and sexy with a large open kitchen filled with modern and Asian accents. A bar is located downstairs from the main restaurant.

Insider Tip – Order carefully, ensure you have filler items.

Cuisine – Japanese Fusion
Location – Jackson Square District, San Francisco
Opened – 2013

Service – Roka Akor had some interesting service. Our waitress wasn’t very present, but did help navigate the menu well. There were a ton of helpers to insure that we had full glasses all the time. They were also trained to say goodbye to us, something that reminds us of Yank Sing. A bit surreal, but something that should be more common place.

Verdict – Roka Akor is a beautiful restaurant in a nice part of San Francisco. The food is very good but extremely expensive when you start to factor in how much you have to order to get full. So this is one of those restaurants where you really have to order carefully and listen to our suggestions. It is a must to order some starchy filler items like sushi or soup to fill your belly. Frankly we spent hundreds of dollars and emerged slightly hungry. We hate when that happens!

Roka Akor Signature Dishes – Butterfish, corn, rice pot, ribeye, miso cod. These are clearly marked on the menu. Nice.

Roka Akor’s Menu has a pretty extensive menu with lots of small plates, traditional sushi items, and some fusion dishes. A couple options to satisfy vegetarians. An expensive Omakase is also available. ($128)

Website Roka Akor San Francisco Menu

Roka Akor Food Picks:
Mojito ($12) was tall, strong, and well made. The bar downstairs appears to know what they are doing.

Butterfish Tataki with White Asparagus and Yuzu ($13.50) was highly recommended by the waitress, and was also a signature dish. Six beautiful pieces of sashimi, sliced thin and topped off with some nice accents. These six bites hit the spots and went by fast.

Beef Tataki with Shaved Black Truffle and Truffle Jus ($22) was another beautiful dish that should be ordered. Some chewy beef with rich truffle essence in every bite.

White Miso Soup ($4.50) was one of our filler dishes and a necessity.

Robata Grilled Berkshire Pork Belly with Marinated Golden Beets ($13.50) was more reasonably sized than the butterfish. Nice blocks of fat with some beet cubes to give it less of an oily texture. A must get for fans of the beast.

Dry Aged Prime Rib Eye (12oz) with Wafu Dressing ($38) was a solid dish of quality meat cooked to a nice medium rare and precut for us. We’ve had better ribeye elsewhere, but this was reasonable. A steak we had at Mason Pacific recently, still lingers in our memory.

Yuzu Miso Marinated Black Cod wrapped in a Japanese Magnolia Leaf ($34) was highly recommended, and we were still hungry, so we had to order it. Frankly when it arrived, it did not look all that appealing. It proved to taste a little better, but is surpassed by versions elsewhere, like Nobu.

Sweet Corn with Butter and Soy ($7.50) was a tiny dish full of buttered corn. We would order it again just to add some vegetables to the meal.

Japanese Mushroom Rice Hot Pot / with Black Truffle ($11) is a must order. It is finished off at the table and looks wonderful. Strong mushroom flavors in a restrained broth. Definitely eat this with the rice. A good way to fillup at lower cost.

Tuna Roll with Green Chili Aioli ($9.50) was a reasonable dish. You would only order this more pedestrian item, to fill your belly at a reasonable price.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
Robata Grilled Scallops with Yuzu and Wasabi ($14.50) had 3 lightly seared scallops with a topping that gave it a slight kick in the pants. A decent dish but not remarkable.

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

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