Sunday, August 1, 2010

Japonica Visited 7/31/10 3.75 Forks

Japonica  100 University Pl, (between 12th St & 13th St), New YorkNY 10003

This place has been around NYC for years, but I never went b/c it's a bit on the pricier side of sushi.  But for some reason I couldn't seem to find any other suitable sushi place in Union Square, so I thought this place was worth checking out. 

The menu is half in Japanese and half English, which to me is usually a good sign that they are serious about keeping it authentic.  Also another sign of authenticity is that they don't really have a lot of fancy, crazy rolls.  They stick mostly to the basics, but for the basics, the prices there were pretty high.  Most of the rolls (with the except of the super basic like a tuna roll) were easier $15/each and in the rainbow roll case it was around $30/roll!  In the end, Dan and I decided to split the Hot and Spicy Maki combination ($28) and a Fire Cracker roll ($14), plus a large hot sake ($9).  I was a little worried that we would be getting very tiny rolls and still be starving afterwards.  The miso soup that came out was very salty and I wasn't a huge fan of it.  So I started to get worried that we would be spending a lot of money for bad food and small portions.  Usually for the same amount of money we are able to get more food.  But when the platter came out, I was surprised at how many rolls there were (the combo came with 3 different rolls - a yellowtail jalapeño, a spicy crunchy tuna, and a salmon avocado type roll) and the fire cracker roll was actually a bit larger in size, so it seemed like more food.  What I loved about the platter was that it came with a dish of spicy mayo in the middle! Heaven.  I love love spicy mayo and to have it on the side without asking was great.  The rolls were all just the right size with the right amount  of fish in it.  The yellowtail jalapeño was indeed very spicy and there were times where Dan and I just sat there in pain.  All the other rolls were also very well made and tasted fresh.  In the end, I was pleasantly fully and very happy with my meal.  I saw that they had a bento box dinner special for $25 that looked pretty tasty and to be a good deal.  I think the food here reminds me of my favorite sushi place in Virginia in that they don't offer a bunch of crazy rolls and they have a lot of other Japanese items on the menu...they just offer slightly higher quality food at a slightly higher price.  All in all, I did enjoy my meal even but it's not one of those places I would go to regularly due to the prices.  Total bill came out to be around ~$33/pp with tip and tax.    

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