Ako By Kenaki - Calumet-Norvelt

Fresh, creative rolls. For those who need gluten-free, they were careful to prepare the GF rolls separately. There are other restaurants you can order from at this location which was convenient for one person in our party who wanted pizza instead.

I thought the sushi here was very fresh and the service was good! I ordered the spicy salmon and it was delicious. I would say that I'm picky because sushi in NY and LA are typically fresher and higher quality than what I've found in the DMV area, and I found this to be excellent. I will definitely return!

So glad I tried this place today! Some of the best I’ve had in the whole DMV ?

Bottom Line Up Front: Woefully Overrated OKAY at best food.I was hopeful and looking forward to Ako, and really wanted to like the place. I was hoping to try the fatty tuna donburi bowl, but they were unavailable. I thought this was strange as they had another dish using fatty tuna (pictured) which had no apparent shortage. Maybe they were missing some other ingredient.AKO is in the Roost Food Hall, environment is what you would assume nothing bad, just a bunch of people who want variety in food. Unfortunately as the issue with most restaurants in food halls, you get a plethora of choices without real expertise in any of the restaurants Jack of all trades master of none.I had sushi rolls with fatty tuna placed on top along with a salmon donburi bowl. The rice was hard and tacky, something completely unacceptable for any sushi place. With a bad base, it was hard to appreciate the rest of the dishes. The donburi bowl was seasoned nice, with crunchy chili flakes. The sushi rolls looked nice, and were strangely flavorless.I'd give another chance to AKO to try the fatty tuna donbur bowl, but I'd skip on anything else go to a real sushi restaurant and save your money.

Really high quality, inventive sushi, especially surprising to find in a food hall.The Roost is awesome as a food hall first of all. You sit anywhere, order and pay through the QR code, but you also get a high level of table service. Not only do they bring the food out to your table, a floating set of professional and courteous wait staff bring you water, plate, silverware and a cloth napkin (fancy). The whole hall is well designed and decorated.As for AKO, I started with the Black Magic roll (forbidden rice, spicy tuna, pickled jalapeno, truffle oil, tempura flakes, avocado, black tobiko, and crisp leeks). It was a great combination of textures and flavors, and very fresh. Loved it.Next I tried the Old Bay (lump crabmeat, avocado, scallion, and Old Bay crispy potato). It was also pretty dope, like a spruced up California roll with some interesting spice and texture from the key last ingredient). Loved it as well, also a must try.