Raku

Overall, the place is pretty decent for the price. Not too expensive if you stick to sushi.
Their sushi is good, not great but adequate.
The crispy chicken appetizer is not that good, the chicken was very oily and the skin was super soggy because of so much oil.
BUT, their coconut red curry broth & noodles (with chicken) is BOMB. The broth is very flavorful and the accompaniments that come with it make this coconut curry dish good. (This dish is the main reason I gave it 3 stars)
The review for me lost 2 stars because of these three reasons: just alright sushi, the service wasn’t the best, actual restaurant is like a sardine can, they just pile tables next to each other it’s like you’re having dinner with the couple next to you.

OK food with higher than average prices.
Recommended with reservation — the quality of the food does not justify the price points for entrees. Clearly, this business does well, partly, because of it’s location and exposure to high volume foot traffic.
My wife and I travel worldwide 330+ days a year and eat at restaurants daily. It’s easy to develop discriminating judgment about value and price points for each market we visit. Sadly, this restaurant misses the mark for Japanese offerings in this market space.
This place is located smack dab in a dense foot traffic area of Bethesda along Woodmont Avenue. As a result, it does a brisk business and is busy.
Surprisingly, the food, while good, isn’t very good or exceptional. This is surprising since we usually experience high-​quality offerings with restaurants doing a high volume business in cities around the world. This was not the case for us with this place.
We enjoy Sashimi and Sushi. We ordered a boat of the former and two rolls of the latter. The quality was OK — not very good or exceptional. Unfortunately, the prices were too high for the quality.
We won’t return and don’t recommend this place given the vast array of Japanese dining opportunities in the DC Metro area. Don’t misinterpret this review as negative: the food was good. Having lived in this area for many years, we know there are many options for Japanese food dining in the area that are much better for the same price point.
Visited August 2015

Frequent this place for lunch.
Food is always excellent and servers are attentive. Place is pretty small so getting a table can take 15 – 20 mins during peak lunch hours, 11:30 — 1:30. Lunch specials are pretty filling and fairly priced for the Bethesda area. Sushi combo is around $ 11 and comes with a soup and salad. Bento boxes range from $ 11-​$ 16 and come with a lot of food and the soups are great for a cold day. They are pretty big and can be big enough to share if you aren’t that hungry.
It gets pretty loud and the tables to the right by the sushi bar and bar seats are pretty tight, you may get your elbow or chair bumped into a few times.
Minus one star cuz the service can be slow but noticed it’s a bit faster if you sit at the bar.

Raku is just okay. The location (Bethesda) and the décor (elegant) may justify the price hike for some people, but not for me. Also, the online menu needs to be updated.
I got the Alaskan roll (crab) and there was such a thin, thin ‘lump’ of crab that all I could really taste was the avocado and the scallion.
I could pay less than the amount I paid here to get an enormous bowl (bigger than anyone’s face) of fresh chirashi from Yuraku, miso included. Just saying.
Also, the online menu had said that shirataki noodles were available as a substitute for udon/​egg noodles. The shirataki was honestly the only reason why I picked Raku for the evening. When I got to the restaurant and asked for the shirataki, I was told that Raku no longer carried it. Note to management: please update your menu.
Otherwise, the restaurant itself is quite nice, the bathroom is clean, and service is prompt. I personally will not be returning though!

If you like all things Japanese food, this is your spot. I mean, I wouldn’t go out of the way for Raku, but if you happen to be shopping on Bethesda Row and love Japanese food, give it a go. They serve an array of sushi, udon noodles, and bento boxes. If you like big portions, order a bento box as it’s more than enough good for one. If you aren’t a fan of Japanese food, I’d go to one of the many nearby restaurants like Max Brenner or Shophouse.

The first time I came here was for lunch. The service was good, no complaints, my water stayed filled and she took our order promptly.
I got the chicken terryaki lunchbox. It came with a salad, vegetables, California rolls and the chicken. The chicken was good, a good amount of sauce and there was a mayo mashed potato underneath which added a creaminess. The salad was tossed in a ginger dressing, I liked it. The sushi was good too. My friend thought his chicken was undercooked because it had a weird texture. We think that maybe it was just frozen previously which made it taste less fresh.
The next time I came was at night, the service was still good, however they were more lazy about filling up water glasses and getting our check processed. I got the tuna pizza, which was interesting, not the best and I would not order it again. The tuna was really good though and I ended up eating the tuna pieces off the pizza.
We also got a bowl of udon soup. It was good, classic udon! I feel like it is probably hard to mess this dish up so good that they didn’t.

I love the noodle soup. This is my favorite dish in this restaurant but everything else is very tasty as well.
For appetizer I love the prawn.
For sushi crunchy shrimp, soft shell crab and red dragon
For entrée their salmon is really good.
My only criticism is their drinks.
Their cocktails need more creativity and stronger in alcohol.

We chose this spot because we were up for some kind of Asian food and it was within walking distance of our hotel in downtown Bethesda.
We tried to make reservations but couldn’t get anything until fairly late, but we decided to go anyway. We did have about a 15-​minute wait but got a seat in a booth.
Bottom line: We enjoyed Raku but found it a bit uneven. Some dishes were excellent, others (such as the fried calamari and the pot stickers) were so-​so. Perhaps we should have stuck to the sushi and other strictly Japanese dishes?
It was definitely crowded and loud, and dinner for three with drinks came to around $ 150 with tax and tip, so it’s not a cheap meal, but overall we enjoyed it.
Service was super friendly and efficient.

While far from the best sushi I’ve had in the area, this has an upscale feel and good location right in downtown Bethesda. 2 of us came here for a weeknight dinner and split 5 sushi rolls — each ranged from $ 6 – 12. I liked the philly, spicy tuna, and rainbow, although those are pretty standard at most sushi restaurants so you can’t go wrong. Our total came out to $ 50 after tax and tip.
There were some cool specialty rolls on the menu that I would be interested to try next time. They also have a good selection of reasonably priced lunch specials.

I have been loving RAKU for years but today was the worst! I usually eat with my kids and we are a party of 6 and we always love it. Today I stopped in solo at the start of lunch and was practically the only one at the Sushi Bar. I ordered soup and the deluxe Jo nigiri sushi and the soup came but the Sushi never did. I watched the restaurant fill up completely for lunch and everyone else get served. I asked on three occasions to check on my food and finally had to leave with out the food. The woman next to me got a bento box and as she started to eat it they took it away realizing they brought her the wrong persons meal. I watched that meal come from her mouth right back to another diner after she took a taste. So disappointing today.

AH-​MAZ-​ING
At first walking by I would avoid it because it looked pretty fancy and i just assumed their prices were really high… boy was I wrong! The food here is great and the prices are even better! Especially in the Chevy Chase-​Bethesda area, finding reasonably priced food is a steal! I usually get the $ 12– $ 15 Bento lunch boxes… best $ 15 I have ever spent, they give you SO much food!
So happy I found this place! Never change RAKU

My boyfriend and I ate here on a Monday night for dinner. The food was fantastic the place is just literally jam packed. We had an end table for two by the sushi bar and our table was actually bumped into more than once. Will definitely be asking for a booth the next time we dine here!
Also– although our food came out pretty slowly, when we didn’t finish our entire sushi assortment our waitress asked if we wanted something else assuming we didn’t like it. This made up for the late arrival.

The best food in downtown Betheada. Absolutely amazing fusion of Japense and Thai food. Udon noodle soup and dragon roll are both great choices.

This place is very hit or miss for me. Some days the rolls are bangin’ and other days they’re very mediocre. It’s very centrally located, which makes it a convenient place. But it does not rank in my top three sushi spots of bethesda.
The only useful thing I can remember is that the large seaweed salad has a lot of mixed greens in it. So if you’re expecting a lot of seaweed — that’s not this dish.

I absolutely love sushi but my experience at Raku was underwhelming. We ordered one of their sushi platters as well as an actual entrée. For the same price, I could have gotten much higher quality food elsewhere.
Additionally, the seating in Raku is incredibly cramped. The tables are replaced within maybe 1.5 feet away from each other, just enough for someone to squeeze through. I could easily hear the conversation from the table next to us and took away from the overall experience.

Deserves the stars and rave reviews for great food, fare pricing and wonderful service. Al fresco dining. Indoors is noisy but comfortable. Small fast paced restaurant with open kitchen. If you are lucky enough to try the ramen noodle bowl with chars u pork on special, a new dish, go for it. The correct balance of rich flavorful broth and perfectly cooking ramen noodles. Ask for the seasoning hiker to bump up the flavor. Salads are a mist here, roasted wild mushroom with arugula and a simple mixed with ginger was bright and engaging to the tastebuds before tucking into salmon belly rolls, soft shell crab roll and hamaki.
Do save room for poached pear for dessert. Large enough to to share

Three and a half stars. Small bar to the right, patio seating available, pretty limited lunch menu, décor clearly aiming to establish themselves as a date night option. Service is polite and a little overwhelmed during peak hours. For a slightly steep Asian fusion spot, I’d say sashimi’s not their strong suit– decent quality fish, but thin and uneven cuts. Octopus was poached a little too long, especially stingy on mackerel, and the eel teaser in the menu description never showed. More rice than fish in the deluxe chirashi to fill you up, but at least they have the decency to add a generous mix of goodies to the lightly seasoned base layer: diced tamago, shredded nori, ikura, kanpyo, etc. On the other hand, I liked their ginger pumpkin soup enough to be intrigued by the less raw half of their menu. Will probably return to try Szechuan crispy chicken, coconut red curry noodle soup, Chinese five spiced duck breast; Chilean sea bass tempura roll, Maine lobster roll.

Patio seating was mandatory for my annual birthday Sushi meal (not that I don’t eat Sushi often), but it’s my extra gift to myself before the big day/​night of fun. I tried very hard not to allow my experience hinder my special day.
The hostesses were the highlight of my culinary outing. There were two of them & those pint size ladies were in sync with their wait list & seating duties. Our wait time was 30 minutes which wasn’t too bad for this cramp yet busy little spot… off to the bar where my Sister & I sat until our table was ready.
When I say cramp, I’m being generous as this place is a tight space, with the sushi bar being the biggest object in here. & the pickup station which seems to almost overlap the bar area, causes a bit of hectic traffic/​friendly collisions. It was a unique visual appetizer watching the commotion.
& speaking of the bar, there was only one bartender, not sure about that game plan in place for the early SAT Night, as it was already crowed when I arrived & became more crowded by the minutes. Now I’m very cognizant to the culture & language barriers, yet please don’t be in the mixology service of all positions of the restaurant industry if you don’t have any patience or social interaction. 5 minutes to be acknowledged, 5 minutes for the Wine List & another 5 minutes to place my order. The 2 glasses of Malbec was not a tall order yet the bartender came off very timid… multi-​tasking must not have been her strong suit. Additionally, there were only two other people at the bar, so not sure why the frantic looks when I asked for a glass water with lemon.
Flip side, our wait wasn’t a full 30 minutes so I became excited when the one of the dual hostess came & got us. As I scanned the patio when approaching the restaurant, I saw how condensed and small the tables were, so I wasn’t surprised when were seated. Our server was a jazzy & witty individual who embraced the cultural variations. She was pretty quick with our order & the food didn’t waste it’s time coming out.
I ordered the Petite Sashimi & the portion mirrored the name perfectly. For $ 15, I would have expected more than a few slivers of Tuna, Salmon, Whitefish and Octopus, in which I swapped out for more of whatever the Server told me I would get… no customer substitutions please. Hence, I was still hungry after that brief consumption so I ordered the Red Dragon Roll. It had a great combination of Salmon, Ell, Avocado, Cucumber, Spicy Tuna, Serrano Peppers and Eel sauce; this selection definitely put me in a better foodie mood.
When it was time for the check (we went Dutch), it took our savvy server two times to get our check right, wasn’t too much of trigonometry going on, just a glass of wine on each check. I must say my Sushi Roll was very good and will be the only reason I come back, but overall the customer service needs to improve.

They also have a gluten-​free menu and gluten-​free soy sauce if you ask!
Service can be a bit slow if it’s busy, but the food is well worth the wait. Love it!

I found a huge bug in my miso sauce after I ate the entire salmon box lunch. I would give them 1 star but they comped my lunch and my friend’s lunch as well and he probably ate $ 40 worth of sushi.
But all I got to say is Ewwwwww!!!

KAY — was our really polite and attentive server who made our dinner very very enjoyable! A couple times, she let us know our food was coming out shortly, brought us more than one cup of hot water, and was quick with our bill.
PROTIP: you can ask to split the Coconut Red Curry noodle soup in two, and they will bring it out in two bowls. Between a friend and I, we split the noodle soup, and ordered two rolls of sushi (and paid less than $ 20 overall including tip!!). Very filling and enough noodle soup for leftover lunch the next day.