Sushi - Upper East Side

[quayfisher]

what's your favorite upper east side sushi restaurant? i'm looking for recommendations

[UES Mayor]

-Sushi of Gari
-Sushi Yasuda
-Gajymaru
-Tokubei
-Ooki
in the above order!!

[MMRuth]

I agree w/ Sushi of Gari, but it is very expensive - if you go there, do find the posts that suggest what to order - you will be disappointed if you order straight off the menu. Yasuda is in mid-town East, but another wonderful option. Our current less expensive favorite is Inase - we usually get the $60 omakase and add to it. Rolls aren't so interesting, but the sashimi is beautiful. Very sweet staff. Our local "cheap" sushi is Ichiro.

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Inase
1586 1st Ave, New York, NY 10028

Ichiro
1694 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10128

Sushi of Gari
402 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10075

Sushi Yasuda
204 E 43rd St, New York, NY 10017

[Leeannaray]

I was cruising the Manhattan board a few days ago, looking for the same thing as the original poster. Thanks to MMRuth's reccomendation my husband and I made a reservation at Inase, for Friday night. We had a wonderful meal. We both ordered the $80 omakase. We were asked if we wanted japanese fish, or just american. We chose to have anything the chef thought was good. Everything was delicious, and we were completely stuffed. So I just wanted to say thanks to MMRuth for the reccomendation, and second it.

[MMRuth]

So glad you enjoyed it. We've not been since earlier this summer. How busy were they? They've been pretty much empty when we've been there, though we do eat pretty early.

[Leeannaray]

We were there at 6:30 and it was pretty empty. But after a while a group of about eight people came in, and then a group of four came in. So they were doing some business. They were also packing up some things for either pick up or delivery while we were there.

[MMRuth]

I just realized - you ordered two $80 omakase? Wow! We shared the $60 one, but also ordered a lot of other things, and asked them to leave off the "extras" that come w/ the omakase - salad/soup/appetizer/dessert - and just supplement the omakase as they thought appropriate, which they kindly did.

[Leeannaray]

Since we were celebrating our anniversary, we decided to indulge ourselves. Have you had the "extras" that come with the omakase previously? They were delicious. We had sea eel tempura, uni chawanmushi, and the soup was full of clams. They mistakenly gave us an order of the grilled squid, which was the tenderest squid I've ever had. It was wonderful meal, though I did feel like I needed to be rolled out of there.

[MMRuth]

My husband had the uni dish the first time, but much as he loves uni - and custard - he didn't really like it. I loved the squid guts!

[Leeannaray]

That's on our list of things to order the next time we go.

[NYULawFoodie]

I also pick Sushi of Gari and Yasuda. However, my cheap eats is Haru. Not amazing, but consistent and pretty cheap. Good drinks too.

[jeanki]

Haru comes from the late 90s monster sushi model popularized by Chinese-owned sushi joints, and doesnt always serve the freshest fish in my experience. There are better moderately priced sushi joints than here on the UES as listed above.

[MMRuth]

I agree - and was just meaning to post on this thread as we tried Ooki last night.

Mixed review - the Yellowtail Jalapeno was quite good - in a citrus ponzu sauce with a little bit of what I think was a pickled salad in the middle. Sashimi was a real disappointment - all of the pieces were mushy and watery - and they included white tuna, which I really dislike though, in fairness, I forgot to ask them not to include it - but still, to me, a sign of a lower quality sushi place generally. Eel and avocado roll had that slight moldy/musty taste that I find eel occasionally has.

Things looked up however with my pieces of salmon nigiri sushi - the fish was sliced much thinner than the salmon sashimi, and seemed a better quality of fish. Salmon skin roll was decent. My husband said his uni was so so, and it didn't look so great to me (I do "eye only" analysis of uni - haven't acquired the taste).

Very nice selection of wines by the glass and I enjoyed two glasses of Pinot Grigio, served in a "good" glass, as well as a cocktail of lychee and vodka to start. They have a list of maybe 15 cocktails, many of which combine vodka and rum, which strikes me as odd (as I'm sure lychee and vodka does to others!) The place has more of a "downtown" vibe than a lot of the other choices on the UES (not that I'm too up on what constitutes a "downtown" vibe these days). Place was definitely busy and service was a little slow, but nothing to complain about. I might go back, but would avoid the sashimi.

Oh - bill, including the above, a beer and two hot sakes, was about $110 plus tip, which I thought was quite reasonable given the quality and quantity of drinks we had, sashimi not withstanding.

[MMRuth]

Place:

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Ooki Sushi
1575 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10128

[racer x]

Although the food is presented well, I can't say I care much for Ooki Sushi. I have found some of the fish to have a mealy texture, and it has been served much too cold. Also, their rice is not very good; it has been too firm and gritty for my taste (plus, there seems to be something about the intrinsic flavor of the rice they use that I have not liked).

[foodwhisperer]

sushi gari, sushi seki, sasabuni(sushi nazi) ,,,,Yasuda isnt on the UES but you can travel alittle ,,also Hatsuhana the original best sushi place

[UES Mayor]

Add another for great quality at reasonable price : Tenzan!! been there dozen times now-very fresh and great service AND SOOOOOO CLEAN!! 2nd ave and 89th

[fein]

sushi of gari is amazing. just tell the waiter what you like and they bring you such yummy food. i've never been but i hear POKE is a good spot. it only seats 12 and is byob.

[MMRuth]

Poke is much bigger now, since they moved - and the decor much nicer. I enjoyed the rolls there but thought that sashimi was lousy. Was also cash only.