If there's any part of the city that I really hate, it'll be Times Square. It's crowded, dirty, and full of horrible shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, it's also home to most Broadway shows. I got a great opportunity to see Les Miserables on opening night on Broadway which was awesome but it's always a pain to figure out where to eat pre-theater. The curtains went up at 6pm, so Allison and I had to have an early bird dinner and luckily Haru has a happy hour deal that lasts until 6pm in the dining room and 7pm at the bar, even on weekends! Perfect.
There are a bunch of other Haru locations in the city but strangely I have never been to any of them. It was actually the perfect pre-theater dinner spot since it was only a 5 minute walk to the theater. We took full advantage of the happy hour specials - we ordered all the rolls that they had on special, the lobster gyoza ($8) and Allison got a soup as well. They had 4 different rolls for the happy hour special: california ($4), spicy tuna ($5), crunchy spicy salmon ($5) and the haru wasabi ($8) - it's a nice combination of rolls and I probably would have ordered the spicy tuna, crunchy spicy salmon and haru wasabi roll anyways, so it was even better that they were on special. I felt like the rolls weren't going to be enough for dinner so I threw in the lobster gyoza at the last minute - they were ok, a bit overcooked on the pan and even though I love lobster, I still prefer the pork versions here because you really need the juiciness of the meat to make the gyoza taste good on the inside. The rolls were surprisingly not bad considering that I figured everything in Times Square was going to be pretty bleh. The california and spicy tuna rolls were your standard sushi rolls that got the job done. I did find that the crunchy spicy salmon roll had too much of the "crunch" in it which kind of dried it out on the inside but otherwise it was also a solid basic roll. I was pleasantly surprised by the Haru Wasabi roll which had tuna, salmon, avocado and then it was topped with lots of salmon roe. My only complaint is that if you're going to use the word wasabi in a roll that it should have wasabi in it, right? But I did like all the roe they piled on top which gave the roll a nice pop to it.
All in all, Haru is a nice option if you're forced to grab something to eat in the middle of what is possibility the worst part of NYC. It's even better if you can swing by during happy hour and take advantage of the drink and food specials. Total bill: $25/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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