Category Archives: Japanese

East Village, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

Ama Raw Bar

December 11, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my awesome Ride & Review video for this joint HERE:

Ama Raw Bar has two locations. I met my wife here for happy hour at the alphabet city location to try some of their cocktails and discounted bites. Everything was good. We started with oysters ($1.25ea).

Then we moved on to this nice batter-fried shrimp.

This rice paper chicken quesadilla was unique, but I think it would be excellent if they fried the rice paper wrapper.

The cod cake was nice, a different sort of take on a crab cake using salt cod.

The Szechuan dry rub wings needed a hit of salt and some of that mala numbing spice to really make them perfect. Otherwise, good cook and crunch on them.

“Luscious Mussels” come with a broiled lobster tail and nori fries. These were probably our favorite dish of the night.

Definitely would go back to try the lobster ramen, and also perhaps to try their other west village location.

AMA RAW BAR
190 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

East Village, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Thirteen Water

October 31, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This 13-course omakase joint is a pretty great deal for just $75. It starts off with a few really awesome pieces like the medium fatty tuna, the shima aji and the tuna with truffle.

Then in the middle you have some really unique stuff like the salmon with tomato, and a real banger with the ebi (shrimp).

And toward the end, you get the otoro fatty tuna with caviar, hand rolls, and the delicious Hokkaido uni on toast. Those were definitely some really great pieces.

I would go back here again, for sure. I just wish they allowed you to bring your own bottle of wine. A corkage fee is totally fine – we just have a lot of wine to get through here! That said, they have a great selection of sake and Japanese imported beer.

THIRTEEN WATER
208 E 7th St.
New York, NY 10009

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Kaki

October 3, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife discovered this newly opened joint in our hood called Kaki. They have a 15-piece omakase that includes sake for just $75. WHAT A STEAL! The pieces are clean, beautiful and delicious. A bit more on the traditional side in terms of presentation.

Here’s a photo dump of all the pieces.

I will definitely be back. We really like this spot!

KAKI
129 Rivington St
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Domakase

May 14, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First check out this quick Ride & Review video HERE:

This joint offers 13 pieces with unlimited sake for $120. We had about 4 or 5 carafes of the stuff, so we definitely got our money’s worth. Our favotire pieces were the lean and fatty tuna, the foie gras on crispy mochi, and the bowl of uni, ikura and caviar. Awesome! Would go back for sure! Only criticism was the sterile, medical office type lighting being a bit “fluorescent blue,” if that makes sense, and the loudness of the music.

DOMAKASE
23 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

East Village, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Sushi Kai

May 2, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my comprehensive Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I have been on a mission to try all the under-$100 omakase joints in our area, and there are a lot!

Sushi Kai offers a delicious 13-piece meal for $85. We both really enjoyed it, and from what I understand, they are still offering BYOB.

My favorite pieces were the wagyu + uni, the hand rolls, the shrimp + foie gras, the fatty tuna with caviar, and the scallop + caviar.

We will definitely be back! Here are some more pics (I especially loved the anniversary bowl they gave us on the house):

SUSHI KAI
332 E 9th St
New York, NY 10003

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Matsunori

April 8, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First and foremost, check out my Ride & Review video HERE on YouTube:

This small sushi counter offers an $88 omakase, which consists of two appetizers, ten pieces of nigiri sushi, two hand rolls and a bite of dessert. Here are the two apps:

The nigiri:

This tuna with truffle oil was so good:

Scallop with uni – delicious:

Since my wife can’t have scallop, they gave her this uni piece instead:

This salmon with shaved manchego cheese was wildly unique:

Below is the chef, and the final piece (which was our favorite): Fatty tuna belly with caviar and truffle oil.

The hand rolls (eel + foie gras, and tuna) and dessert (melon):

This is probably one of the best deals I’ve come across when you line it up with quality and portion sizes. I left full/satisfied, and every bite was better than the last. The staff was super nice and offered us a free shot of yuzu sake in return for us offering the chef a glass of our wine.

I highly recommend this place, and I will definitely be going again, as their BYOB policy is a very attractive lure!

MATSUNORI
151 Allen St.
New York, NY 10002

Japanese, Korean, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

DDO Bar

March 18, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out the Ride & Review video of this joint!

Okay, now on to the written.

I heard about this place through a food friend, and it sounded enticing. I love tofu skin, for some weird reason, and this Korean style omakase features a majority of the pieces served upon fried tofu pockets called yubu tarts.

$75 gets you 13 high-quality pieces. See them all below, with my highlights for favorites.

Cacio e pepe.

Citrus cured bass.

Scallop.

Squid was swapped out for my wife, since she can’t do scallops.

Hiramasa.

Smoked duck breast pastrami – a top piece.

Shrimp – a top piece.

Ponzu salmon, everything spice with horseradish – my favorite.

Poached lobster – a top piece.

Beef tartare – a top piece.

Pork belly “ssamjang” – a top piece.

Tuna tataki hand roll – a top piece.

Crispy chicken on a stick.

Sea salt + earl grey tea ice cream.

I would definitely do this omakase again. It was good!

DDO BAR
Olly Olly Market
601 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Downtown, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Shikku

February 14, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Shikku is a small, elegant sushi counter inside the Tin Building down by the seaport. I took my wife here for an early Valentine’s Day dinner, since she likes omakase meals. Check out the Ride & Review video HERE:

The meal started with this sashimi salad. Very light, crisp and refreshing due to the avocado sauce on there.

Next, another sashimi salad of sorts, this one made even better by the presence of ikura, uni and shrimp.

Next up was six pieces of nigiri. All were delicious, but the otoro (fatty tuna belly) was my favorite.

This hand roll was awesome! Probably my favorite part of the meal.

Or perhaps this sliced A5 wagyu rib eye from Miyazaki was my favorite?

Either way, it was a great meal, finished off with a surprisingly rich miso soup, and a blackberry and chocolate mousse heart.

I would definitely go back here again. This was one of the better omakase meals we’ve had.

SHIKKU
96 South St
New York, NY 10038

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Ume

January 15, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I took my wife to Ume for her birthday. This place serves an Omakase set of 12 pieces for $73.

Everything is really delicious, but my favorite three bites were the red snapper (center, with broccoli florette), the fatty tuna belly, (bottom center, with truffle) and the quail egg with crispy fish skin (center right).

We also grabbed this “literally everything don” bowl, which was better than the actual omakase (and more killing) for just $60.

Really enjoyed that.

A few negative things to note here: the enclosed outdoor garden area is too cold for winter dining. They leave the door open between the inside area and the garden, so even if you’re sitting inside, you’re going to be cold. To make matters worse, they double down on that chill factor with their “no shoes” concept (my toes were icy). Sitting on the floor isn’t too comfortable either but I’m not really gonna complain about that. I didn’t mind it so much.

UME
237 Kent Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249