It really kills me to write this review because I really really wanted to love this place. It got rave reviews from one of my favorite food blogs, Immaculate Infatuation, so when Jeana said she wanted to get sushi I immediately thought to check out this place. I wasn't sure what kind of sushi place it was: whether is on the higher end or one of those mid-range but still totally awesome local joints. As soon as we walked in, I soon realized it was more on the higher end range but not to the level of a Sushi Nakawaza.
They had a walk-in table for us but told us that we need to give it up after an hour. So we decided to eat at the bar (not the sushi bar but the actual alcohol bar) where they served the full menu as well. The food on the menu here is in line with what you would find at a nicer sushi establishment - no fancy rolls or crazy sushi platters. The food here is more of the clean, simple and straight forward. We started the meal with the tempura ($12) and edamame ($5) and I opted for the chirashi ($29) and a spicy scallop roll ($6). Jeana got a few rolls and wanted to order one piece of salmon sashimi - but this is where things got confusing. The waitress said that she had to order a minimum of 2 pieces of sashimi or 1 pieces of sushi. Huh? It didn't really make sense and I've never been to a place that had a minimum order requirement. Plus it was confusing because it listed the price as $5 but it wasn't clear if it was per piece (which seemed pretty pricey for 1 piece of sashimi) or for the 2 piece requirement. In the end, Jeana just got the 2 pieces so that we could move on. The edamame was your typical edamame although it was a bit overcooked for me. I usually like them barely cooked with a lot of crisp and bite to it. These were a bit soft and a touch soggy. The tempura was great - lightly battered and served with a fantastic sweet shrimp, sweet potato, and squash.
I was super excited for my chirashi and when it came out, it looked like it had promise but upon closer inspection, it seemed really small and didn't have a lot of variety. The two largest pieces in the dish were sadly the egg custards. The salmon was the seared/smoked variety and not the mouth melting type of fresh raw fish I'm used to. It's kind of the same way I felt about the other pieces of fish - they just seem to miss the element of rawness that I love about sashimi. It's not that the fish was cook - it wasn't but the pieces just weren't that big or delicious. And there just weren't that much of it. The star of the dish was the rice, which was on a separate level and it has this good vinegar taste and it was topped with a smattering of salmon roe. It's never a great sign when the best part of your meal is the rice. I was also really excited for the spicy scallop roll because it got called out by several people on Yelp and it's probably my all time favorite roll ever. But it just didn't taste like a scallop roll - it had a lot of crunch/bonito flakes but I just couldn't taste the scallop. It could have been a spicy tuna or spicy salmon or any other spicy roll for all I know. It wasn't an awful roll but not mind-blowing or really the stand-out that I was expecting.
All in all, it wasn't an bad experience but more of a let down. I was really hoping to impress my friend with the caliber of sushi we have here in NYC but I don't think it really did a good job. It kind of drove home the stereotypical overpriced, not impressed sushi experience that I wanted to avoid. Total bill: $102 for two with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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