Asaka Japanese Restaurant

We try to come here as often as possible. It’s definitely a step above all the other sushi places we have tried in Indy. There’s a reason the place is full of Japanese people. The happy hour is ridiculously underpriced. It’s really the place to go to for good nigiri.

Good sushi, great prices! Atmosphere is not great… It’s a little cramped. Service is consistently decent.

I am known as the uni lady here. Why? Because every time I dine here, I always ask to check if they have uni in stock *teehee*.
They have happy hour every day between 5−7pm, half price sushi! Their service is super friendly and if you go regularly enough like me, they are the type of people who will remember you.
You can also make reservations prior regardless of party size so it cuts down on the wait time when you get there.
The sushi quality is just as fresh if not better than anywhere else in Indy. Their sushi portions are inarguably the largest! Order a nigiri, you’ll know what I mean.
Needless to say, I have no desire to go anywhere else for sushi anymore.

I try to come to Asaka regularly, and I have never been disappointed. Unfortunately for me, I work Tuesday, so I can only get to Asaka on Sunday evenings.
Their happy hour has an amazing selection of sushi, and Nina and her father are the best sushi chefs I’ve met. They clearly have a care for their craft and are dedicated to making their customers feel welcome and like family.
I always get the sushi, but will usually throw in a side here and there to try out the regular menu. First, the sushi is amazing. Always go for some nigiri in your order! They make sure their slices of fish are double (if not triple) the size of the rice, and their quality and freshness is incomparable! The rolls are made very well and Nina has the highest expectations of any dish that goes out, so you know you’re getting a great plate.
I’ve also tried their takoyaki, their seaweed salad, and their ramen. Each of which have high quality all on their own. Anything that comes out of the kitchen or sushi bar are extremely well made.
Highly recommend and will continue to return regularly!

I’m a fan because I think young female sushi chef was cool and friendly. The sushi was good, they have happy hour EVERYDAY 5−7pm even on weekends! They also have Japanese vodka cocktails that were cool to try. They also have hand wrap sushi but I didn’t get to try.

Best Japanese food in town! Always a treat to go there. Happy hour has great sushi prices, beware the waves of people that line up outside the door to get it!

Best sushi in Indy hands down. Salmon is delicious and the 5 $ roll is always tasty. Highly recommended for any sushi lovers.

Omg. This absolutely one of the best sushi experiences I’ve had in the US. The happy hour special is the such an amazing value. The fish portions on the nigiri are amazing. The quality of the fish and the sushi rice was excellent. Our server was gracious and helpful. This will be a regular stop when we come back to Indianapolis. Recommend getting a reservation.

I don’t know. Maybe my expectation was too high. Rolls were good but I was little disappointed with chef’s choice on sashimi combo order. Also yellow tail sushi tasted fishy. I’m not sure if I’ll go back. If I do, I’m going to try other things, not sushi.
Oh and recommend to make reservation before you go.

I’ve sat with my thoughts on Asaka a few days before reluctantly writing this review. First, let me say I was really stoked to try out their vegetarian ramen. Totally jazzed. We waited patiently for about 35 minutes in the restaurant’s doorway before being seated because we just *knew* it was going to be amazing. (All based off of a gorgeous photo of their ramen we’d seen!) Once seated our waitress took our drink order pretty quickly. Free hot tea? Score! I also had a Japanese bottled beer. Nice. She disappeared for quite a while afterward but it was all good… we wanted to peruse the menu anyway. So much authentic Japanese cuisine! (Anticipation was steadily building.) We ordered veggie ramen, some avocado rolls, soup, salad. A light dinner essentially. My ramen came first and it looked nothing like the photo we’d seen and had fueled our trip. I waited about 10 minutes before digging in because the rest of the food hadn’t arrived and I didn’t want to be rude. I eventually started eating my lukewarm dish. Pretty bland and underwhelming. I finished and the sushi still hadn’t arrived. (My husband just stared at me while I ate– cause what choice did he have.) About 40 minutes later half the sushi came. Warm, freshly cooked rice was used so it was falling apart. Topped with greasy fried panko, too. It was super sad and lacked that cool, clean flavor we enjoy in sushi. We didn’t want the other half but our waitress hadn’t reemerged so we couldn’t cancel it. Someone else brought the rest and we boxed it up. (And fed it to our chickens.) We were bummed. While the ginger dressing on the salad was great and so was the tea, the actual meal was lackluster. *deep sigh* We would’ve felt less dejected has we gotten happy hour half price sushi but that hadn’t been the case. I wanted deep in my heart to love this family owned business but it just didn’t work out that way. With H2O Sushi being history we were hoping for a place to make our new fav. This isn’t it.

Asaka’s happy hour is high quality and high quantity.
If you like sushi rolls, nigiri go between 5−7pm
I didn’t expect much of the quality since it was happy hour, but they stunned me on my first visit. Huge pieces of fish, tasty rolls. Have not tried other things, but heard they are so so.
Come here for the sushi happy hour.
I’ve ended up going for many more times after the first visit.

Came here for happy hour on Sunday. I cannot believe the amount of sushi we got for the price. I’ve been looking for an authentic Japanese restaurant in Indy for awhile now. We ordered the Sashimi platter and edamame as an appetizer and there was a variety of fish cut in very generous portions. I was with 3 other people and we each picked a few different rolls and everything came out on one giant plate so it was really easy to share and try different types of sushi. Everything was really authentic and fresh with excellent presentation. Our waitress was also incredibly helpful with answering any questions we had about the fish and brought over pictures to explain things to us. While I was eating I noticed a lot of people waiting for a table so I would recommend making a reservation beforehand.

Asaka is consistently one of the best most affordable and authentic Japanese restaurants in Indianapolis. I have been to this restaurant several times now and it is one of my favorite places to go. Asaka sits in a lackluster stripmall just outside of the ritziness of castleton. Walking in, it is a small establishment with a few tables and a sushi bar in the back. The value for what you pay and receive cannot be beat. My most recent visit on a Friday night with 4 friends went as expected. We made reservations and were seated immediately. I ordered the Asaka Ramen along with just about everyone in our group. The noodles are cooked to perfection and the temperature of the soup is on point. It comes complete with toppings, egg, pork, chives and bamboo shoots. For a mere 8.95 for a bowl of ramen it blows the new establishment Ram Ray out of the water. Not to mention a 10% discount on your visit if you pay with cash. I believe in Asaka

Happy hour is the best time to go, although tough to get a seat (small place), especially if you are with a large group. Keep in mind the restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday. Try everything!

I needed to wash the bad ramen taste out of my mouth from Ichiban, so when our normal Wednesday night dinner spot got cancelled, I jumped at this opportunity. I ended up going with the Akasa ramen, which was *much* better than Ichiban, but… not exceptional. The noodles had good flavor, but the broth wasn’t as rich and flavorful as I wanted, and the pork slices were tasty, but pretty thin. All in all, it’s OK ramen, not great ramen.
We also got in right under the buzzer for happy hour, which meant downright cheap sushi. I went with a few nigiri options, and their «roll of the day», hamachi with cucumber. All were good — the nigiri portions are absurd, with huge slices of fish that realistically should be used to make two pieces of sushi, but I guess I shouldn’t complain. All the fish was pretty good — tender and flavorful. Tuna especially was a little oilier than normal — it can be a weird texture when it’s super lean like meguro can be. The special roll was also excellent. I love yellowtail, and this was good yellowtail, plus I liked the crunch of the cucumber. Price for this is super reasonable, and the quality was fine, definitely nothing sketchy here.
This is going on the list for when I need some noodles. They’re closed Monday Tuesday, so not sure how many chances I’ll have, but I would like to return.

Went here for dinner on Sunday right at the start of happy hour. As usual, we each got three rolls, most of which were ordered off of the Happy Hour menu making it a really affordable sushi dinner. They also had a $ 5.00 special roll (today it was yellowtail and cream cheese topped with eel sauce and green onion) and it was good. For our orders off the regular menu, we got the Monchi roll (which came with jalapeños!) and another roll whose name I can’t remember but that had salmon, cream cheese, and something tempura involved. We shared a seaweed salad. Everything was delicious as always, and the staff is consistently friendly.
NOTE for next time: If you pay your bill in cash, you automatically get 10% off of the total of your check.

Asaka, hands down, has some of the most gorgeously plated sushi in Indy. Not only that, the authenticity is undeniable as you’re surrounded by all Japanese speaking patrons in this family run business. It’s quite literally a diamond in the ruff, as it’s surrounded by chains and strip malls.
I often dream about that gesokaraage, monchi and funky avocado roll, and lil rice balls shaped like bunnies and Hello Kitty. Oh god, it’s so so good.

Love authentic Japanese food here, the sushi inert is really awesome and FRESH!
I also tried their asaka ramen, miso ramen and ton katsu, excellent!
You definitely need to make reservations if you come here for dinner at rush hours, the waiting lines are long more than you can expect.

I was in town to visit one of my best friends from the time I was living in Indy too, and she practically took me to all of her favorite restaurants in Indy! This place is a hidden game — don’t let its look outside fool you!
The atmosphere inside is cozy, warm, and full of character. It reminds of the little restaurants/​shops in Japanese/​Korean dramas. It’s one of those places where you walked in, and you almost know immediately that the food is going to be great and authentic.
1. The nigiri pieces are priced very reasonably — cheaper than the ones in Minneapolis and LARGE portions! I think they also have Happy Hour prices as well.
2. We ordered the sake, ika, sweet shrimp, and uni nigiri. The sake (salmon) pieces were practically three times the amount of rice! This goes for uni too; it seems like they used three lumps of uni instead the standard two lumps. And they were some of the freshest fish I have ever had in the US yet! Butterrryyyy, creammmmyyy, HEAVEN! It is definitely on par with the sushi I had in Dallas, where it is probably a little easier to get fresh seafood.
3. We also had the chicken skewers and takoyaki balls. Both were done very well :)
4. I am not so sure how the regular service is like to a typical customer since my friend knew the owner, and we received excellent service with complimentary salads to begin with. I was also thinking that maybe we received bigger pieces of fish with the nigiri because of this as well, but I am not so sure.
I KNOW I am going to miss this place going back to Minneapolis, where there is a lack of decent sushi restaurants. I can’t figure out how Indy, which is also a landlocked state, can have such fresh and cheap Japanese restaurants, but Minneapolis doesn’t.
I also had to get another order of uni at the end! I joked to my friend that I would come back to Indy just for this place!

If you pay with cash, you can get 10% off on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and 7% off on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (not sure how long this lasts). They also have happy hour here.
They have a separate menu for their sushi rolls but my boyfriend and I opted to get the ramen. There are 3 types to choose from: Shoyu, Asaka (Tonkatsu), and Miso.
The Asaka was my favorite. The broth was pretty rich. The Shoyu got a bit too salty near the end. Normally, my biggest complaint for ramen places is that the noodles aren’t cooked enough. However, I thought that our noodles came out at the perfect doneness level.
The restaurant itself is pretty small. They do have an extra side room but this is not really the place for big groups.
We experienced great service. Definitely no complaints here. Thanks to fellow Unilocaler Sean C for the recommendation.