3/5 stars
I had read an article about some of the "Best Restaurants in St. Louis." So, we've been trying to go to some of ones on the list that we've never been to before. Akar was one of those.
First, they don't subscribe to any of the online reservation services, so you literally have to go old school and call them in an evening, during business hours to make a future reservation.
Second, the entire restaurant only holds 12 people. There are 2 tables of 2 and 2 tables of 4. Yep, that's it! So, they have timed seatings. You either eat at 5pm, 6:45pm, or some later seating time. We were going to the Fox later, so we chose 5 pm. The tables are CLOSE and the waiters can barely get around. When it was time for us to leave, I was afraid we weren't going to be able to get out...we literally didn't put our coats on until we were at the door because of lack of space. Small is one thing, but this is quite literally too small.
The menu is way small. There are about 5-6 appetizers, 5ish entrees and some specialty drinks. The cuisine is Asian Fusion.
I read after we had been there that someone had a waiter suggest to them to go heavy on the appetizers and lighter on the entrees. That is actually a VERY good suggestion. The appetizers were good. We got 2 and liked them both. The other tables around us got others and they looked good too.
We started with cocktails and there was nothing to note (good or bad there). Then we ordered appetizers. We ordered the potstickers and the lobster "Ravioli" rangoon. The potstickers were small in number (4) but big in flavor. They sat in a typical potsticker soy/vinegar sauce. They were good, but not shockingly different than most Chinese restaurants.
(Sorry, we ate 2 before I took the photo)
The rangoon was just like crab rangoon except that it had small pieces of lobster in the filling. The side sauce was a mango sauce. I tried it and it was a little too bright and took away from the flavor of the rangoon. I liked them better without the sauce. Again, small in number (3).
Other appetizers that looked really good were the garlic noodles and the roasted beet/red pepper hummis with endive (it literally comes in a bowl and the whole thing looks like a flower...super cool). But, alas, Mike doesn't care for hummus.
For dinner I really didn't know what to choose. The fish special for the night was a sea bass. It was "Market Price" which I hate. As far as I can tell from reviews, this restaurant's fish special has been sea bass since the day it opened. It should be able to put a price on the menu! If it is $50...tell me. But I'm too cheap and don't like not knowing, so I ordered the chicken breast and was disappointed.
It was a chicken breast...that had been roasted. Woo. It was served with charred broccolini. OK, I need to interject right here that I'm tired of broccolini. It is like broccoli with way more stalk. I don't love broccoli stalk. It is the tops that people like. Instead of an order of broccoli, you are giving us an order of 3 long stalks. Broccolini is also more bitter than actual broccoli. The chicken was served on a bed of what was called "garlic forbidden" rice. It was dark brown (color of coffee) and it was bitter. I didn't like it. So, bland chicken, broccolini and rice. I should have just ordered more appetizers.
Mike ordered the braised short ribs. He said they were good. They had been brushed with some sort of Asian liquid while slow cooked. He talked about how tender they were. They were set upon a bed of mashed peas. Not especially Asian...a little odd. They came with roasted carrots and an entire head of roasted garlic (still in the bulb...again, odd). Mike liked the meat and carrots...didn't eat the peas or garlic (I ate some of each of those).
The entrees were not big (even though they were kind of pricey). When we were finished we didn't have food to take home, but we still had room for dessert. We ordered the chocolate lava cake with berry compote. It was warm and good.
I think this probably has some more interesting dishes (the eggplant or tofu) but I wasn't impressed enough to go back. This one was a one and done.
