Asaka Sushi and Bar: Quality sushi and Japanese cuisine in North Berkeley

 

Asaka Sushi and Bar

Asaka Sushi and Bar is a cute little Japanese restaurant in North Berkeley that creates great food with good service. It's a wonderful place to bring family and friends to enjoy a truly amazing meal.

Food 

Proudly using only natural, organic, and local ingredients, Asaka Sushi and Bar distinguishes itself in terms of quality as it pursues providing North Berkeley with interesting, modern, and authentic spins on Japanese cuisine. With lots of gluten free items and menu items that don't utilize raw fish, this long menu has a large appeal. The food here is delicious and hard to dislike. 

Menu Highlights 

The menu includes hot and cold appetizers, like Hamachi Capriccio, Cajun Tataki, Edamame, Chicken Karaage, and Beef/Vegetable Gyoza. They also serve a variety of salads from the House Salad, to the Wakame Salad, the Sashimi Salad, and the Tempura Salad. If you want noodles, they have several types of udon. In the way of fried food, they offer pork and chicken katsu. There's also the option of beef and salmon teriyaki. There's pretty much every type of roll you can imagine from traditional to modern and from vegetarian to lots of different types of fish. They have sides of rice, sushi rice, and miso soup, and a large selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The bentos are the best deal and let you choose from a small portion of more than one of these appealing options and others. Everything is moderately priced and delightful to consume. 

In particular, this restaurant uses thick slices of cold, fresh, thick, and buttery sashimi. The sushi also carries that distinctive taste of fresh fish. The rice on the sushi and as a side is refreshingly soft and adds a traditional and simple bland flavor to the contrasting bold flavors of the meal. The katsu is fried in a delightful, light and crispy breading, and the beef gyoza come perfectly fried on the bottoms to give them that signature crunch that pairs perfectly with the savory minced meat interior. 

 

Environment 

The eating area is small but luxuriously clean with white walls and funky lights hanging from the ceiling. There's a kitchen and a sushi bar, where the food is made. You order and pay from your table, as it is a full service sit-down restaurant. The staff are polite and treat you with respect, indicating that this restaurant is a formal destination. But that's not to say it isn't kid-friendly. People love to bring their families here to experience Japanese cuisine as it is interpreted by the Asaka Sushi and Bar chefs.

Conclusion

I really liked it here. It was slightly more costly for some items than the competitors, but I did not feel I was overcharged. In fact, there are some items on this menu (including the two and three item bentos) that are  a real bargain. In any case, the food was top-quality and deserved respect. It may add up to be a bit more than other places if you aren't careful, but it's hard to deny that this restaurant provides a premium product that feels like it's worth it.