Akiba

Just so people dont get confused. This is not a dessert place anymore. They remodeled and is now a karaōke place with the same name.

Apparently, this place has reopened.
My friends and I were looking for a place in sunset where they served food, dessert, and had a KTV where we could all hang out. This seemed like the perfect spot. Went in, and immediately was greeted by one of the Chinese girls. She was very rude, and didn’t seem to want our business. So, we went inside one of the rooms, and it looked very cheap. The room size was okay, but the LED lights were very annoying and cheap and it was bothering us a lot. The KTV system is outdated.
We wanted to order food, so we called one of the waitresses over (I think her name was Tissue), because apparently some of our friends have seen her around town and she’s pretty notorious around the Chinese community. She was extremely unpleasant. She didn’t seem to want our business, and seemed like we were bothering her. Anyways, we ordered chicken wings, honey toast, and the food was actually quite good.
When we were ready to leave, we asked for the bill from the same girl but she didn’t seem to be «working». She literally just sat outside and played on her phone all night. So we asked another girl washing stuff (she was wearing an apron) for the bill and she helped us right away. The bill was about $ 700+, which was relatively not expensive consider how many people we had and how much food/​drinks we ordered.
5 Star for Food.
1 Star for Service.
1 Star for Bad Rooms.
We will probably not visit this place again.

Honey toast. End of review. Just kidding. To be honest, I’ve only tried the honey toast which is essentially a half loaf of bread covered with ice cream, honey, and fruits such as strawberry and bananas. There’s a few dozen variations of toast and its a matter of personal taste to decide which is best.
I’ll make an effort to try other things besides the honey toast but the toast is that good that I don’t really want to try the other stuff. Oh, Akiba is semi-​far from the downtown SF area so if you want to try it, make plans for a nice dinner close by.
EDIT: I see that this place is reported CLOSED on Unilocal.I had this review as a draft so I didn’t know it was closed. I hope they relocated because it’s a good dessert place =/

For all you Comic– Con junkies, this might be a pretty cool place. You can see all kinds of childhood animé posters on the wall. My favorite is, of course, SLAM DUNK.
I don’t really like the food here that much. You know how when something looks SO MUCH better than it tastes? That something refers to Akiba. No hate though. I think just coming here to look at their dessert is worth your while. But as far as taste goes, everything just feels like a bunch of sweet stuff mushed together. But I guess this would be a perfect place to bring your kid cousin though… hmmm.
If you’re coming with your friends, I have a discussion topic for you guys during your time at Akiba. Do you think it is appropriate for the waitresses here to dress like maids? Is it too provocative, not provocative at all? Ladies, do you find this degrading? Haha, it was our hot topic while we ate here last time. Please be discreet and use library voices lol

Cute decoration with animé. They used to have an art room, which customers can check out when there’s a wait for a table. I’m not sure if they still have that but I thought that was pretty awesome.
Whenever I ask for the Shibuya mini, they are always out for some reason. So I end up getting the single toast one instead. I have a feeling they just don’t make Shibuya mini’s anymore, which is kind of disappointing. :(

When I need a real sweet indulgence — and no I don’t mean a half ass attempt at a low-​fat cheesecake or a ‘less sweet’ tapioca drink — I do mean when I go all in and toss out all the ‘high sugar’ and ‘fat’ warnings out the window, then I find myself here; usually with some friends or at least my significant other.
The Shibuya Style Honey Box with 2 scoops of gelato is my go-​to pick each time I’m here. It’s the traditional honey box with toasted bread walls and soft and warm bread pieces on the inside. Two scoops of your choice of gelato, whipped cream, chocolate drizzles and some sliced fruits.
For gelato, mango and vanilla made a rockin’ combination, while the green tea flavor disappointed. Their green tea was a little too matcha for my friends and I, to a point it was sweet yet medicinal, if you know what I mean. The taste probably works for some, but just something to consider.
If you get cold water, they are served in these cute red or pink plastic cups that are round on top but heart-​shaped at the bottom. Hot water or tea come in mugs.
Extra: ask them to sing you their song when they serve you the honey box! It adds to the Akiba experience.

Shibuya style honey toast box!
awesome. huge. delicious. fruity. crispy. sweet honey with bread.
sesame ice cream tasted just like peanutbutter super yummy! way better than the coconut ice cream.
1 box can be shared by 2 hungry people who have not eaten dinner, if you are eating real food before this, then save plenty of room and make sure you have lots of people to share with
bring your family and friends! this is a great place for all you sugar feinds out there!

Not much to say… cuz I wasn’t too impressed…
FOOD: Shibuya Honey Toast box with Lychee & Melon gelato
TASTE: ** [Looks great, but the taste is not impressive. Bread overload… too dry even with gelato and fruit.]
CONVENIENCE: *** [Local neighborhood, ample parking, but CASH only.]
AMBIANCE: **** [Dessert served in a café with an art gallery for local artists in the backroom. Japanese artwork adorn the walls.]
SERVICE: *** [Female employees dressed in French maid’s outfit.
PRICE: $ [Under $ 10]
OVERALL: **/​* [2.5 stars… Plenty of other Asian dessert spots located in SF… the only thing Akiba’s got going for them is the art gallery.]
Nuff said.
[#4 of 100 Unilocal CHALLENGE 2013]

I’ve been recently touring honey toast box places and this was utterly the most overly-​saturated fiasco to-​date. I’m used to boxes with a nice, crunchy crust that tastes slightly deep fried with slightly toasted squares snuggled inside. This was barely toasted, not even warm and completely smothered in butter. It made most of our party gag as they could not stomach the ones completely drenched in that oily goodness.
If I had known it would be like this, I would’ve simply bought a loaf of unsliced bread from the nearest Asian bakery and carved it myself for a better tasting and economical treat. The Toast came with two scoops of ice cream and that was okay, we ordered pudding (quite popular) and melon, which seemed out of place but someone in our party insisted on it. I would say that if you want a decent brick toast, ETC Desserts in Sunset is probably your closest option nearby. The service is way friendlier too despite not having the magical allure of waitresses in costume.

I love bread, don’t get me wrong, but it’s so expensive x_​_​_​x
Worth going for the experience though!

Shibuya Style Honey Box $ 10.50. I’m in love…
Choice of 2 gelato flavors. The brick toast is butter and drizzled in chocolate, add ice cream and whipped cream to that and you cannot go wrong. ONE is big enough to share amongst 4 people. It is a heaven. Enough said. Go try it!

I never thought white sandwich bread could be a tasty dessert! :)
The concept is definitely creative, but the taste wasn’t as exciting as I had expected. Or hoped for! It looked so pretty… but the taste didn’t WOW me.
The bread was sweet and soft but not warm (not sure if that was intentional or the ice cream made it cold). I ordered the Shabuya mini, inside the box, the bread was drenched in condensed milk (SUPPPER SWEET!) and chocolate syrup. Outside, the box (which was made out of the ends of the bread loaf) was drenched in whipped cream and topped with fresh bananas and kiwi. I had a hard time even finishing the mini!
Overall, I give it 3-​stars for creativity, 2 stars for taste. Probably won’t come here again except if my friends want to come.

ALL YA’LL ANIME /​MANGA LOVERS ARE GOING TO LOVEEEE THIS PLACE!
Besides their dessert, they have waitresses dressed in a maid outfit, walls filled with animé pictures, art, and dolls, and a secret gallery in the back (that i have yet to see) covered in animé.
At the counter they sell Asian Snacks, mochi, ice cream, etc.
This place is well known for their honey toast which looked AMAZING! I got the Shibuya Style Honey Box (2 scoops of gelato) for $ 10.50. They have a decent sized selection of ice cream and they ran out of strawberry ice cream (which I really wanted) the day I came. But it’s ok, we got the yogurt flavor and vanilla. The honey toast looked amazing as it waltz it’s way to our table. Of course, as instagramer addicts my friends and I whipped out our phones and gave this celebrity it’s photo shoot before touching it. I liked the honey toast here much better than sweet gardens in San Mateo because the toast was more moist. However to be honest we didnt finish it because the proportion of the ice cream to toast was not the best. We ran out of ice cream quick and it’s definitely hard to finish it without the ice cream. However, with the amount that I’ve had, I would say it’s pretty good.
TIPS:
–CASH ONLY!!!
–parking is a bit difficult because it’s only street parking and it gets pretty crowded sometimes!
All in all, great customer service and I am looking forward to return and try THE PYRAMID & crepes!

If Akiba had been around when I was in high school, I’m pretty sure one of my friends would have wanted to hang out here all the time. Even though he won’t admit it, he’s got a bit of a crush on anything Japanese — the language (took it in high school), the food (especially ramen), J-​Pop music, horror flicks (made us watch every «Ringu» movie with him), animé, manga, and, of course, Japanese girls (like his girlfriend…). While there’s no way to prove it, I swear he was Japanese in a past life.
Between the TV’s on the wall constantly cycling animé, the waitresses in cos-​play outfits, and the Shibuya style desserts, Akiba is right up his alley. Although it may not have the same effect on me as it probably would on him, it is a pretty chill place to get dessert with friends. Service was great too — super nice waitresses, and the manager/​owner chatted with us while explaining how to properly eat the Honey Box dessert we had ordered (
).
Served literally in a box made of bread (think of a loaf that’s been shelled to leave only the crust), it’s essentially toasted pieces of bread that’s topped with whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate sauce, and ice cream (we chose Espresso, but they offer nine different flavors). After cutting off one of the sides, it was pretty cool to see how the slices of bread were stacked up ever so neatly (
).
While I liked how each piece had a buttery flavor, the combination of the honey, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and ice cream made everything too sweet by the end. Then again, maybe it’s because we tried too hard during the «sweetness chant» our waitresses had us do when they brought our order out. Still, it’s pretty cool how they offer something so unique and different from other Asian dessert places out there. Akiba, I’m sure I’ll see you again… just as soon as my friend finds out about you.

I have been DROOLING over the photos for this place for months now, and I finally got my hands on not one, but two (!) of these honey toast boxes this past weekend and completely. totally. devoured. them.
First off, yes, the waitresses are dressed like maids, but other than that, they do everything else a normal waitress would. They come take your order, give you your food, and that’s that. It’s not awkward at all. Second off, they have quite a display of animé décor and even have a gallery of cute art in the back (which I didn’t have the chance of taking a tour through because they told me about it as I was leaving…) so it’s a nice place for anyone who is into that stuff.
And the toast boxes? THE TOAST BOXES. The Shibuya-​style Honey Toast Boxes are cubes of toasted heaven filled with fruit, your choice of gelato, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and condensed milk. There isn’t a sweet tooth or broken-​hearted girl in the world that this dessert wouldn’t satisfy. Does it sound a bit excessive in the sugar department? Absolutely. So if you’re looking for something a little more toned down, try another one of their toast boxes or crepes. We went with the Fruit Box that night, and it was a nice contrast to the Shibuya-​style one. The box itself wasn’t toasted as much, so the bread was lightly crispy and much softer. The Fruit Box also came with fruit, gelato, and whipped cream, but it felt much lighter compared to the Shibuya-​style one.
All in all, a very satisfying trip. Why only four stars? Because I feel that $ 10.95 for a honey toast box is a little ridiculous, even with the cute presentation and unique atmosphere of the place. And the fact that it’s CASH ONLY kind of makes it a pain when it comes to paying. But would I go back? Probably, because you can’t keep this girl away from sweets for too long.

I was so excited to check out Akiba a couple months ago after it first opened. I drooled over pics of the Honey Box that my Unilocal buddies had attached to their reviews. Bf, my friend & I were intended on sharing that huge thing… that is until he & I had to do family party duties (you know going from one house to another w/​tons of food)…so we were stuffed. And my friend is teeny tiny so she doesn’t eat much. I mad the executive decision for us to share the single sliced toast with fruit & strawberry ice cream. Even though we were still full, it wasn’t enough for 3 people. we shoulda got the double.
Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t bad at all. The fruit was sweet, the texture of the toast was right on, but I just didn’t feel like it was as special as everyone made it out to be. Maybe the others variations are better. If I come back I may come with more of an appetite & a group & just try the humognous one that everyone is raving about. The waitress we had was nice even though we felt so bad that our friend took so long to meet up with us, so we were sitting there with just one coffee ordered til she arrived. If you want to get your not so standard dessert, get one of the honey toasts. but if you feel like being traditional, you may just want to get their crepes which are only $ 3 & big!
**Cash only**

Warm sweet bread, bits of strawberry, oodles of butter, topped with creamy whipped cream and gooey ice cream to be absorbed by said warm honey bread. How can you go wrong?
We arrived around 10pm and surprisingly, the place was packed. The place only fits around 25 people so we waited about 15 minutes. Seong P was smart enough to order while we were waiting so that by the time a table became free, our food was served in a jiffy.
Going back to the honey toast: It was a cubed sweet toof bite of creamy yumminess! The toast bits were LOADED with butter so the dish was definitely on the heavily buttered side, chewy and moist on the inside and crispy edges (when the ice cream absorbed around the crispy edges, it was heavenly!). I don’t remember there being huge amounts of strawberries in our dish, just kinda sliced as garnish on the top. I think this was a good starting point but I felt like it was a lot of just. bread and butter. Maybe we should have added more fruit or nutella or something to it?
There were four of us and the honey brick toast was definitely enough to share.
Cute server in French maid costume. They have cute animé figurines and mugs décor to purchase.
Three and half stars for the honey toast we had but since I have a sweet toof and this place has potential, I’ll round up.
Cash only.

This is the first time ever having Thick Toast with Fruit inside. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I was disappointed. It is EXACTLY like you would expect — Chocolate Sauce, Ice Cream, and some fresh fruit. Did not leave me wanting more.
Not only was it mediocre, but it seriously took like 15 – 20 minutes. I understand the importance of really fresh fruit, but they can definitely precut some of the fruit.
I don’t know how I could have doubted the authenticity of this Japanese dessert house, but you know it’s legit because of the animé covering the walls, the very strange Japanese maid outfits — they need to get rid of this-​, and the animé videos playing on TV.

I came here last tuesday night, Luckily right before they closed. We were greeted immediately and we took our time deciding that to order. My mine goal of coming here was for the brick toast. I’ve had the one in Judan and the one in SoCal, and I have to say this place comes in 3^rd in my books. It was made perfectly cute, and it came with my choice of ice cream topping. I picked the pudding ice cream, which didn’t disappoint me. However, the toast did. It wasn’t as buttery as i hope. It’s big enough for you to share among 4 people. They have other items here to such as their fruit box, crepes and other snacks. I will come back here again to try there other stuff and maybe give their brick toast another try.
FYI– Cash only!

In retrospect, I essentially just polished off a third of a loaf of bread for dessert, not too long before heading to bed. My body really didn’t need those extra carbs…
Love that Akiba is offering something NEW to this city. The bf and I shared the Shibuya Style Honey Box, and that thing is like a 6×6×6 inch beautifully presented monster or an Asian dessert motorloaf (see review here:
) or a bread version of a twice baked potato. The box’s (made of bread) insides are cut out, «sweetened,» and arranged back inside with a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and fruit on top and a little cup of honey — to add to your liking — on the side. A bit pricey at $ 9, but one box can easily feed at least two people.
Mark, who I assume is the owner, was nice and easy going. He checked in on us a few times, apologized for the 15 min wait time, brought water without us having to ask for it, and engaged in friendly conversation.
So will I return? Course! Love the concept, love the service. I’ll just be certain to visit during the day rather than at night to have a better chance at working off those carbs before bedtime.
Extras:
— Open 2 — 10pm.
— Cash only.
— Menu, which also offers sweet and savory crepes, coffees, bagels, and croissants, is a work in progress.
— Love how the Japanese magazines available for browsing are clean, new, and fresh… for now.
— Apparently there’s also a correct way to eat the box — rather than starting at the top, break down one of the walls like a garage door and dig in to allow time for the ice cream to melt into the box and better flavor your bread.