Ishikura Sushi
Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
Neighborhood: Manhattan/East Village67 1st Ave
(at 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10003 (212) 979-6646
- Nearest Transit:
2nd Ave-Houston St (F, V)
Astor Place (6)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
41 reviews
Neighborhood: Brooklyn/Williamsburg - South Side
"yum yum in my tum tum go to bozu get me some fresh fresh rolls, cozy atmosphere even a celeb or two, oh dear! service--friendly, prices--low…" read more »
21 Reviews for Ishikura Sushi
When I crave good sushi on a budget, I swing by here. It may not taste like the fish jumped out of the water and landed on your plate, but the freshness and quality is still pretty good. It's not the most interesting in terms of culinary innovation, but sometimes, I just want good fish and rice with my nori, and for that, it's perfect. The fact that it's still consistently good six years after my first visit makes it even better. The salmon special is worthy of a try, even for non-salmon lovers. The service is always excellent to boot!
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Good rolls, good service. Just nothing so spectacular to make me choose to return here before exploring a ton of other options in this neighborhood. The only memorable thing was the cool glass sake pitcher with a built in divot that served as a reservoir for ice to keep the sake chilled.
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I decided to check Kura Sushi after all the good reviews on Yelp. It was half full on Saturday so we were seated right away. It is very good restaurant for that price range. We ordered lots of appetizers. Most of them were decent but nothing spectacularly tasty. I ordered sashimi for the main course. I ate the best salmon roe here which I usually don't finish all of the roe. All sashimi went through pretty fast with the conversation and good sake, nothing to complain. Our waitress was friendly and made a very good sake recommendation. It looks like Kura Sushi will be my regular sushi place in the neighborhood.
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Wow, along with Takahachi, two really great sushi joints with fresh high grade fish at bargain prices within one long block of one another...I'm torn which I like better. I'd say the only noticeble difference was that the pieces tend to be longer here and thicker at Takahachi. The assorted sushi was a lot more adventurous here ....I had a raw shrimp and also a salmon roe ...neither are my favorite, but both tasted fresh!
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I had been to Kura before a couple of times, and I always like their sushi, but I hadn't been there for a long time. Last night I went to Kura again and asked myself why I hadn't been there such a long time.
They have great sushi and it's cheap for the quality. The quality of fish is great and the size of fish they use for nigiri is very big. Especially toro!!!! It was melting in my mouth. It'd been such a loooooooooooog time since I had great toro like that last time.
I am not really a big fan of rolls because most of the rolls that I have had at other restaurants did not have much taste of fish or of whatever they used inside of the roll. Also some restaurants do not use the rice they are supposed to (I mean Japanese sticky rice) or do not season the rice with vinegar and sugar. But Kura's rolls are different. They season the rice and use good amount of fish or vegetables.
The decor is very simple, and beautiful. It makes you feel like you are in Japan.
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Ok jerkies, I hate to burst your ikura bubble but this place isn't all that.
I wanted to see what the hype was about so I caved last night.
Valuewise, ok fine. Qualitywise, this place leaves something to be desired. Grant it, I have a LIST of Orgasmic Sushi which costs more than a kidney, but that's not that point here.
I ordered the following sushi:
1 unagi - too damn hot - overnuked lol
1 white maguro - ok
1 blue fin tuna - watery - gross
1 salmon - ok
1 hamachi - decent
1 uni (west coast) - very good
rolls:
1 spicy blue crab roll - ok..was expecting more..Sasabune's is better
1 spicy tuna roll - blah
Those without discerning palates need to brush their tongues.
That's the final word on this and I am not going back there. Peace.
I took my foodie meetup here:
http://singles.meetup....
Cute little japanese restaurant with surprisingly roomy seating. The sushi was reasonably priced and fresh. The service was great, the staff was attentive and it wasn't dirty (my biggest pet peeve for cheap sushi places). I'd definitely come here again. Might be my new staple.
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Went there recently because Kanoyama couldn't seat us until 9:45. The place was dead, but it was on the earlier side of a Thursday night so I didn't think twice about it. Service started out great as did the food. To start we ordered the seaweed salad, white tuna sashimi and shumai. Everything was good, particularly the seaweed salad which was very good. Our waiter was attentive at the outset, let us taste the bottle of sake we had ordered before committing...no complaints. We ordered a couple pieces of sashimi, including toro as well as a spicy dragon roll and a blue crab roll. The rolls were ginormous, but delicious. The sashimi pieces were quite large but it was exceptionally fresh (guess, it must have been a delivery day) and things were still going well UNTIL I was chewing on a piece of toro sashimi that I couldn't quite enjoy because of its sinewy texture...it was GROSS. I'm not sure what it was (muscle? cartilage? wait, isn't this tuna belly??!?). I spit it out into my napkin and summoned the first waiter I saw. I'm not sure he understood but he certainly didn't apologize after showing him the thick,white stringy bit and our waiter didn't come over after the incident. When he finally did come over it was to ask if we were interested in dessert. I explained what happened and he stared at me blankly, frustrated I asked for the check. He came back with the check, no apology, no comp on the MP toro ($6.50/piece). We left a 5% tip with a note.
Sinewy toro aside, the food here would merit 3 stars.
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this is a 6-star place... atmosphere (simple), food (great), vibe (extraordinary - feels like the bar Cheers or something; everyone knows your name...and you hear coltraine or mingus or byrd any night of the week...some smooth jazz). and after you've eaten there 1/3 of the year it gets even better (seriously - 3, 4 times a week...prices are incredible, fish fantastic, etc.) it's worth it.
this is one of those places where everyone else will hate me for reviewing because you don't want to share it. and *most* nights of the week, there's no wait at all - stroll up, get your sushi, you're good.
the owner is also the sushi chef so he gets the best cuts of fish, knows how to prepare...excellent stuff.
the menu is exhaustive too - the miso black cod appetizer a personal favorite. you have your regulars - unagi, yellowtail scallion, mackerel, tuna, ikura...love all that stuff. and again, prices are great.
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I LOVE LOVE Kura. It is my no nonsense sushi spot. Lots of choices on the menu, quick service and the prices are ridiculously cheap for the amount you can eat. And when my friends and I come here, we eat like queens. And this place has the best fried ice cream! I haven't found a better place yet!
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My companion and I had been planning on hitting a different sushi locale the other evening (based on my fellow Yelper's fab reviews) but found the location to be closed. It was an odd evening to be closed, but since we had walked passed Kura on our way we thought we would try it out.
It was fairly empty which, although not always a good sign, was pleasant. Straight off we noticed the music was a touch odd... It was some kind of moody low-key Japanese Yoko-Ono-ish music. We didn't mind much, but it was strange.
We sat down and were immediately provided with disposable hot towels - the lemony-scent of which took me back to a time in high school when I had this Japanese air-freshener thing in my car... Anyway... It was very pleasant to have such prompt service.
We ordered edamame, miso, salad, spicy tuna roll, salmon roll, salmon skin roll, tamago, and inari (not on the menu - so we asked). The tamago and inari rocked. The salmon and salmon-skin rolls were pretty good. Not sure about the spicy tuna roll. The salad and miso were tasty, but the edamame was a touch undercooked and not as salty as I like - plus there wasn't a lot of it.
They gave us free seaweed-salad-ish stuff and free green tea afterward. The tea was hot and jasmine-y - mmmm.... Also the service was top notch - seemed to notice whenever we needed anything.
Definitely an option for a solid sushi outing.
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Have been searching for my go to sushi restaurant, somewhere i can become a regular at and which is reliable. I think i found it with kura.
the sushi was very very fresh and the rolls were just different enough. and lots of great choices. the staff is really friendly and the service was quick. they even gave us a free seaweed salad to start.
I can't wait to go again.
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Better 1/2 and I have been going here for over 5 years....yes, we live right around the corner but we would travel miles to visit this place nevertheless.
Why? The sushi rolls are top-notch -- absolutely scrumptuous rolls include their volcano roll, spicy blue crap & avocado (with REAL crab meat) and a perfect spicy scallop roll.
The decor is simple, clean and inviting -- often times you'll hear jazz standards that go perfect with the food and drink.
An absolute gem in the East Village -- crowded often on a Friday night (the word is getting out), but cozy and local on weeknight. The wait staff are friendly and attentive. The sushi chef/owner is warm and really cares about the quality of the food.
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The prices are good at this spot, and the fish was fresh and tasty, but the fish portions of the menu were totally ordinary. They did have some more inventive rolls, which were pretty good. The service was appalling, though; it took us at least 20 minutes to even get a hello from a waiter, and it wasn't busy. It's probably a 3.5, but drops to 3 for exceptionally poor service. In the universe of E. Vill sushi, I'd call it slightly above average - not as good as Hasaki, Ebisu or Kanoyama.
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First off: the greatest chicken teryaki I've ever had. When I was in high school, me and my friends were on a chicken teryaki kick for awhile and I wish I knew about this place then. The sauce isn't overly sweet or sticky, the chicken is organic and it's a huge portion. Served with white rice, veggies and awesome fried mashed potato balls.
We also had the pork gyoza - so good! The skins were thin and crispy, not at all chewy. It was perfect.
We also ordered a vegetable roll, but the sushi was pretty much falling apart, which got annoying. And I felt like it could've been a little colder.
But the decor was awesome. It's loud in there, but it still has this relaxed, low key atmosphere. t was pretty crowded for a Sunday night as well, so service was not totally on point. But as soon as we had the chicken teryaki, we forgave them.
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You know you've found a good sushi place when their sushi is even good on Sunday, baby!
Yeah, it's all good. Their sashimi is about as fresh as it gets. Especially the octopus. Amazing. And even though most good places put it between two slices of lemon, here the lemon actually comes across without killing the innate flavor of the meat.
Other favorites that are always good is the Rainbow Roll and the Tempura Roll.
To start with, be sure to get the excellent sauteed Shitake mushrooms. There's no going back.
Compared to other places in the neighborhood, it might be a tad bit more expensive but the quality is hands down better than any other place tried.
Also, though they don't deliver, they do do takeout.
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Kura is a terrific little sushi spot. I The sushi is as good as almost anything else I have had in this city. It's super fresh, and there is a very good selection of rolls available. The decor is traditional (lots of wood) and to a lesser extent, so is the food. They do get extra points for using some fun ingredients. It's been a few weeks, but I remember getting a roll with some kind of fish, asparagus, and honey mustard. The shrimp tempura roll was also something special.
This is quite possibly the best sushi value in the city. The only gripe I can think of is that a few of the pieces fell apart when I picked them up, but you shouldn't let that get in your way of enjoying an excellent meal.
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Great little hidden spot. I stumbled upon this place many years ago and still return regularly. Nothing fancy by any means, but consistently good, fresh sushi, authentic Japanese and lots of variety.
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This place is my favorite sushi place in Manhattan. It's inexpensive, the fish is fresh, and they have the best hot house sake I've ever had. They have some unusual rolls that are to-die-for ... try the "ume-shiso" (it's got plum paste ... mmm) and the "honey shrimp asparagus" (honey, shrimp tempura, and asparagus ... mmm). I love it!
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This is a solidly good sushi restaurant that we often frequent before or after watching a film at Anthology Film Archives (just a few blocks away). There are at least two great features of this restaurant: One, they play lots of jazz -- not corny muzak "jazz" but stuff you actually want to hear: the other night we heard Coltrane, Monk, Miles Davis, Bill Evans in the mix. It's a pleasant change from the typical "oriental!" music you often hear in the background of sushi restaurants. Two, they use REAL CRAB in the California roll. You can get a cheaper version with Krab Stick (the standard stuff you see in Cal. roll) but for six bucks you get a generous roll with blue crab. Tasty! The dinner box is a great deal; we often get one of these and supplement it with a la carte sushi. The house sake is also a good deal. Try this place after throwing back a pint at d.b.a. just down the street.
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While we were in NYC, we ate at one restaurant, Kura-Sushi. I'll bet you can guess, this is a sushi place. It was nice and cute and little, off the beaten path. When we got there, it was a little early for dinner, so it was pretty empty, but it filled right up as we ate. It was really good. They gave so many different combo choices, and the choices were all varied. They had traditional and non traditional sushi choices. There were also the other usual foods as well. I had a special that included the dragon roll, and tempura roll, plus a few of the plain sushi on rice. All were mmmm! And the salad that came with it had such a yummy orange ginger dressing! Another yummy thing, which I tried off of Dave's plate, was the pork dumplings. The prices were nice and cheap, so if you're in NYC, go here. And, around that area, there are a billion of other good looking restaurants which I didn't get to go to, but maybe you can.
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