Aki, a new Asian fusion restaurant, opened on August 1, 2024. The highly anticipated restaurant drew a bigger-than-expected crowd during its first few days, co-owner Laura Cigri said. Courtesy of Laura Cigri

On Aug. 2, the Friday after Asian fusion restaurant Aki opened for business, crowds of locals and tourists filtered in and out of the new spot.

A modest wait time accumulated for the sushi menu, and teens popped in to grab Boba tea to go. That evening at the busy restaurant, servers placed complimentary bowls of miso soup on tables that were still waiting for food.

“The first few days, you never know what’s going to come,” said Freeport resident and Aki co-owner Laura Cigri, later adding, “We saw so many familiar faces excited to come through, and we also saw a lot of new faces because of the anticipation.”

The restaurant, which had previously operated in Brunswick as a hibachi restaurant for over 11 years, had closed its doors last year due to spiking rent. Cigri’s family opted to reuse a building they already owned at 10 School St., the former site of the Mediterranean Grill, and opened Aki on Aug. 1.

“The way we look at it, is whatever money we invest into spending on the building will be for us — all together,” Cigri said. “Also the location is great.”

She said prior to opening, the business was getting constant calls, messages and emails from excited customers. Once doors were open, staff had to manage a challenging influx of customers. It was difficult to keep up with the orders, Cigri said. However, she promised that the experience at Aki is only getting better each day.

Cigri said Freeport’s customer base is diverse given the tourists that come through the area. It helps that competition is low, since they are only restaurant of their kind and the only sit-down Asian restaurant in the area. Cigri and her co-owners also now get to work closer to home.

Though no longer set up to have hibachi grills at the table, the Aki menu offers the familiar hibachi dishes, along with a wide variety of sushi and small platters. Plates range from Chinese lobster boa buns to a Turkish house borek — a nod to their former restaurant, Mediterranean Grill. Cigri described the much of the cuisine as East Asian small plates, ergo, the “tapas” on the sign out front.

The Smoked salmon, Crazy and Dynamite roles at Aki. Kristian Moravec / The Times Record

She said that Aki also tries to make the selections a little bit healthier than other local offerings. Much of the sushi menu features veggies like asparagus, and the starter menu has a range of salads to choose from. The restaurant also tries to use local products  such as lobster, scallops and fresh grown veggies whenever possible.

“You’re just kind of blending stuff,” she said. “So we’re blending in what [is] most popular in Asia, what we know how to make well and what our customers will love.”

The restaurant is now the new Boba provider in the area – all a customer has to do is pop in and place their Boba order to go (or with a meal). Cigri said the move will draw in younger crowds, especially with the drink rising in popularity.

“We were excited to add Boba to the area because Boba is very popular in Asia, and its just recently been a trend in the U.S. In the larger cities, it has been introduced already for a long time, but being in Maine — there’s just a lot of people that don’t know what it is,” she said.

Cigri said that a celebration for their opening may happen in the future.

For now, foodies can stop by Aki any day of the week except Tuesday’s. The restaurant is open Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.