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Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
Neighborhood: Midtown East57th St-6th Ave (F)
5th Ave-53rd St (E, V)
7th Ave-53rd St (B, D, E)
"My favorite sushi in NYC. Always great service and the food is outstanding, a little twist on your traditional sushi. They offer Neo Sushi…" read more »
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Pretty bad..... the place closed until ?????????????
can't wait to try their UDON and SOBA....Fantastic....
Home made udon and soba....all hand made and all imported from Japan...
Price is decent because of its location near 5th ave.....
Service is very good although they are very crowded during lunch hours...
Just miss this place to Re-open after the fired happened couple months ago....
This has been replaced by "Katsuhama" in August 2009 according to the staff here. There is a Katsuhama on 47th Street and this one on 55th Street. Oddly, they don't seem to do alot of breadcrumbed and deep fried meat cutlets. Efficient staff.
THERE WAS A HUGE COCKROACH running down the wall in the restaurant.. I killed the bug in a napkin, handed it to the hostess and she did nothing..
No one came over to say anything or apologize.. The place is disgustingly dirty, the service is horrible.. We had to bus our own tables..
I wrote a letter to the restaurant and they never responded..
Japanese food is supposed to be healthy and clean.. This place is a grease pit. The food all tasted off. Also, don't you think they would have been surprised for a cockroach to be running down their walls?? Must be an every day occurance.
Below find a copy of the letter I sent to the restaurant where I recieved no sort of apology.
"I just wanted to tell you what a horrible experience I had at your
restaurant last night. We were a party of three with an eight year old child. I
had read on Chowhound, egullet, http://mouthfulsfood.com, yelp, and menupages about
your food and restaurant.. This is why we were so shocked by the horrible
service, the off food, and the over all lack of cleanliness of the res
taurant.. Our first complaint was the huge cockroach that crawled down the wall
right next to the eight year old.. I quickly stood up, killed the bug and
handed the napkin with the cockroach in to the hostess/manager? She took the
napkin without saying anything and we never spoke again.. I don't know if
this is common place to have bugs going through the dining room but, we were
expecting some sort of reaction. We did not receive an apology, or even a
new napkin.. We had to bus our on table. We ordered several different
things and during the course of dinner, not one plate was ever cleared.. The
sauces for the tempora, the plate of pickled vegetables, we finished a bottle
of sake and were never asked if we wanted more, or water glasses refilled..
Finally, when the udon arrived, the table was so cluttered, I had to get a
tray and clear the table myself. Meanwhile, my waiter watched me do it and
thanked me.. We ordered the broiled yellowtail collar and it was probably
the worst piece I have had in a restaurant.. It was dried out, with fatty
grisly pieces.. Half of the fish was inedible.. Somethings we had were very
enjoyable but, the whole dinner and night was killed not just by a
cockroach running around the child's head but, just the indifference of the staff.
I dont know if anyone reads these emails but,if I were the owner I would
really like to know.. I myself run a few businesses and these types of things
keep me up at night..
Thank you,
Daniel
VERY GOOD UDON! The 2FL neighbor of Mechanko-Tei (same owner) lies this restaurant. It was packed at 1pm. If curry had an orgasm, that's what my dish would look like. Superfluous sauce, albeit tasty, was a tad overkill. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for sauces, but even I thought this was overboard. They also have a set menu for $25 (3 kinds of apps, 3 kinds of sushi, sea eel, soba, dessert). I glanced over at other tables and the salmon in the rolls looked kinda dull orange, so I think I will pass on the sushi here. To their credit the tofu looked very good though.
-Curry Don Set ($13) [curry sauce w/ duck topped over a bowl of rice (LOTS of it), served with a small portion of plain udon soup and pickles] - If you are into fatty duck and only 5 pcs of it, the rest of it being rice, this is for you, plus how can you turn down duck in curry, that was a first for me, the dish was drowned in curry sauce, the yellow pickled radish was juicy! sauce was good though, udon was very good, served in seaweed soup
-Jyu Wari Soba ($15) - limit 20 orders per day, must be good right? It was just ok, I tried this
-Inari ($4) - rice was cold, yuba outside was fresh though, I liked Soba Nippon's better, I tried this
Total came out to $16/pp after everything
Pics: http://www.meetup.com/...
You MUST order the nama tofu -- it is fantastic. The softness and texture of the tofu reminds me of "doufu fa," a cantonese dessert, but the taste is totally different. In doufu fa, you really need the syrup to add some flavor to the dish, but the pureness of the tofu at onigashima really shines through, even after you add the ponzu sauce and other provisions. It's also fun to figure out how best to eat it ... do you make the sauce first and then dip the tofu in it? do you scoop some tofu and drizzle some sauce? really, the whole thing is up to you but it's hard to mess up this amazing tofu.
The soba and udon were a little disappointing, but after the mindblowing moment with the tofu, it was really hard to compare. I had a cold soba with grated yam & quail egg sauce... errmmm, sauce was really goopy... duck and udon was okay. I didn't realize notice that much difference between this udon and the udon packs I buy at asian supermarkets...
Next time, I think I'll just have multiple helpings of nama tofu instead. :) Also rather curious about the soba w/uni...
It's definitely better than most places and technically would've gotten 4 stars from me, however there really is something about this place that sort of just doesn't quite do it.
Perhaps it's the slow service/food preparation. I went here twice to try to feel it out some more.
The first time I went my dinner companion and I had the duck udon, the curry duck soba (Curry Nanban Udon), tofu skin vegetables and spicy tuna sushi. I found the scoop to be a little reminiscent of an ear pick, although that really plays no part in the experience other than that's what I think it looks like.
The duck was a little overcooked which made it tough to get through and the sauce was a little overpowering.
The second time I went, someone ended up ordering the duck again and so I had to try it. It was certainly better and the proportion of flavor was much better. Perhaps they were off the other night.
Unfortunately what remained the same was the enormously long wait (30 minutes) for the dishes (come on it's udon/ramen/soba).
The server would also disappear from right after taking an order until 30 minutes later when it was time to bring the dish. Then he'd disappear again and I can't even remember how long it took us to get the bill, but we were tempted to go up to the sushi chefs and have them find him for us.
West 55th street between 6th and 7th ave is a strange street full of tiny restaurants. While two blocks north, you have the Big Box restaurants like Nobu 57, Rue 57, Brasserie 8 1/2, you'd do much better trying out the small restaurants on w. 55th.
Onigashima has a great lunch menu. I had the $16 Bento Box - which came with Miso Soup, Cold Tofu, Shrimp and Veg Tempura, Grilled Miso Cod, 2 pieces of sushi, and a California Roll (with real not fake crab). And a salad, and rice.
Actually, the sushi itself was the weakest of the ensemble, a little stringy, but still not that bad. Everything else was quite tasty.
I love Onigashima. I loved it before I even walked through the door and ate their food.
I consulted Yelp for midtown Udon on a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (today). Also it is very cold outside and I am sick. I really wanted some delicious fresh chewy udon noodles to comfort myself with.
I read on their website about their handmade noodles:
"Because we know that the soul of the noodle is in the moment the dough is prepared, in the instant that noodles are sliced out, and in the minute that the noodles are boiled, we begin to make our noodles only after an order has been placed"
The soul of the noodle! Yay!
I got the Curry Nanban Udon lunch set and it saved my life.
I tried their Alaska roll (salmon, julienned cucumbers, avocado) and zaru soba for lunch, about 10 minutes before closing. Unfortunately, I think they were a bit rushed in making the food, since the rice in the roll was a bit too loosely packed (and not quite firm enough) to hold everything together. The salmon, however, was spectacular. I'm not sure if this is what they normally use, or if it was just because the chef just grabbed whatever wasn't put away yet, but it had the marbling and the texture of toro--usually, you expect to see them sneak in their cruddiest pieces of fish into the rolls. Definitely worth it for the quality of the fish alone.
The soba noodles were nice and toothy, a bit thicker than the ones I'm used to seeing at, say, Honmura-An or Sobaya. I think I prefer the other two a bit more for their greater resilience, but the ones here are decently priced (though a bit smaller in serving size perhaps) and they come out quick. I didn't get the water they used to boil the noodles in, but that might be because they were eager to close.
Bummed out that this place is under renovation. The udon and soba noodles are pretty good and the price makes for an affordable lunch. It's been a family lunch destination on our trips to the city for a while now.
While distinguishing between a wide choice of Japanese offerings in Hell's Kitchen, Onigashima offers some in-house from-scratch ingredients in their cooking for the Japanese culinary purists. As for a place to satisfy your udon cravings, Onigashima marks the spot.
For appetizers, we started with the house tofu. If you're expecting the jello cube of tofu you find at Asian markets, you'll be pleasantly disappointed---quite the contrary, you will be getting a portion of Onigashima's own tofu, made in-house in the restaurant. It's fresh, served on crushed ice, and comes with the traditional seasonings of chopped scallions, soy sauce, and seafood flakes, for you to add to taste. Less is more when it comes to tofu--the texture is supple without being runny or to "jello"-y.
Another feature is their wide selection of homemade udon noodles. Selections are available as cold or hot udon noodles with or without soup. If you're an udon first-timer (or "few-timer") I'd recommend going with the classic tempura udon, which is the light udon broth with udon noodles, served with an assortment of tempera fried vegetables.
The duck nanban udon, recommended by fellow Yelper Aaron K. is tasty---instead of the "Chinatown style" roasted duck, the meat is prepared in thick slices which compliment the already aromatic but not overpowering broth of the udon soup. Wash it all down with an Asahi Super Dry (which they sometimes run out of, in which case Sapporo on draught makes a nice substitute) and you're well on your way into a flight of Japanese desserts--some more untraditional than others (not that your sweet tooth will complain).
For dessert, we had the green tea tiramisu and the anmitsu. The green tea tiramisu is an unusual spin on the classic dessert. It's the consistency of tiramisu with a creaminess that won't schlack you into diabetic shock---also, a faint taste of spirulina or barley balances out the sweet from the tart.
The anmitsu is Onigashima's take on a traditional Asian dessert which traditionally comes in various incarnations depending on whether your from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, or Japan. Consider it a sample-platter of Japanese bite-sized desserts all combined in a single-portion bowl for you to pick through and discvoer bit by bit. The red-bean cakes are a great stand-alone dessert in your neighborhood Japanese grocery, go great with the ice-cream.
The upstairs space is cozy, like the rest of the dining real estate on West 55th, but a nice spot by the window will give you plenty o' people watching while you spoon into your fresh tofu.
Delicious meal, I had house-made fresh tofu that was delicate and tasty, and also fresh udon in a yummy broth. A pumpkin 'pudding' with ice cream was perfect - not too heavy, not too sweet. Reasonable prices, good service throughout. Small room yet a low noise level!
Very pleasurable experience indeed.
Everything is pretty solid here with the Udon and noodle dishes having the focus. Try the tempura too in this intimate upstairs setting that is great for 2 people as well as a small group. They also have small share dishes as well, but definitely place I'd return to again, too bad I don't work close to this 5th Ave gem anymore.
I've only been here a couple of times but Onigashima is becoming a neighborhood favorite of mine. The first time I visited, I had the chirashi sushi. Assorted sashimi over sushi rice. Everything was fresh however, the tuna seemed to be cut the wrong way as it was very chewy and fibrous as opposed to how good sushi just melts in your mouth. Anyway, I digress. The lobster salad appetizer was a hit and some other rolls I tasted were good.
On a repeat visit, I decided to go with the noodles, since it's what they're known for. Unfortunately, the Nabi Yaki udon wasn't in season (only runs until April and I came on May 1st!!!) but I went for the Anago (Sea Eel Tempura) Udon instead and it did not disappoint. The noodles were great. Also, a must try is the Hamachi kama (yellowtail collar). It's even better than the one at Hagi.
Oh, they also have Sapporo on tap. Check out the keg fridge!
Onigashima was quite the find for me. The food was excellent and reasonably priced, especially given the location. I ordered a tempura shrimp dinner and a ton of sushi, total bill came in just under $50 incl tax and tip allowing me to fly under my company's T&E radar. Oh yeah and I also ate about twice what a normal person would eat.
Mmm the cold handmade tofu really is amazing just for the images it brings to mind - spring/summer, outdoors, and medieval Japan (too much?)
My friend and I weren't sure how to eat the tofu (dipping spoonfuls of tofu into the sauce you make or dribbling the sauce over the tofu) but I think that was the beauty of it all.
After all the Yelp reviews, i was certainly excited about the Soba. I mean, the restaurant claims to know the SOUL of the noodle and i LOVE noodles. After trying the hot noodle soup with duck. I'm not quite sure I really saw the difference. It seemed boring after the tofu. It didn't strike me as fresh and it seemed too doughy to me. However, i'm willing to give Soba another shot - maybe the cold dish with dipping sauce? If that doesn't pan out, i'm heading back over to quality ramen.
3 stars for ambience , stellar tofu, and green tea with red bean dessert
very quiet, good enviroment restaurant.
I was upset that the waitress and waitors are not Japanese!!!!!
I had yuba udon. This was really good!
my friend had a cold udon with goma (sasame) tare(sauce).
She said it was really good.
for desert, I had siratama tapioca anmitu, they ran out of green tea ice cream so I had azuki icecream with it. I thought there will be more tapioca but there were only 2 tapiocas in the deserts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and they call it TAPIOCA anmitu.... I was kinda upset lol
it was still good though.
I thought the whole bill turned out kinda expensive.
Great Noodlezzz!!!!
I've been back several times and always try a new noodle. As of now i have not been disappointed. The broth is just right and the noodles are made great with the right amount of chewiness goodness that one could hope for.
The decor is a great place for a date, and they are perfectly located for those who might just be visiting NYC and doing some shopping or catching a parade.
If your looking to save a buck they have great lunch specials which make you more want to curl up to sleep then go back to work. But defiantly worth the money.
It's just okay. All the papers for their menus and partition dividers comes from Kate's Paperie as any Kate's Paperie loyal shopper would know. The sushi and shamshami appears fresh. The sushi platter is plentiful and good for sharing with your significant other. Reasonably priced although small seating space. They have specials for Valentine's a subsitute for breathe mints is chocolates as their favors.
Found this place thru a Japanese friend of mine, and I really like the look of the place -- it is small and cozy. As many others have said, the service is a bit off, but the food definitely makes it worth it to go. Although I might get different sashimi, I always get the curry udon. I was tempted to try it the first time and I did and have gotten it every single time since.
Delicious and very authentic--went for lunch and it was filled with japanese ppl. Prices are steeper than expected for lunch specials ($13-18) but quantity was decent and the quality was super fresh. Oyako don came with a side order of udon and the sushi was soft and fresh tasting. Beware their curry is really filling and the rice comes smothered in curry sauce so ask for it on the side if you don't like it soupy. Oh and our Indian waiter was hilarious and spoke Japanese to us the whole time. Loved it here but know it's pricey before you come!
The main feature of this restaurant is the soba noodles. As mentioned in the other reviews, they are pretty good. They have a firm consistency, and the broth that they are served with is wonderfully savory-sweet. Udon is also available, but I have not yet tried it.
There are quite a few appetizers to choose from. I've tried three of them -- fried chicken, whitefish cake with wasabi, and fried tofu with a batter shell. They were all delicious.
The desserts are also fantastic. They have two types of tea jello, green tea tiramisu, and something called cream anmitsu, which has a tea jello, red beans, green tea ice cream, strawberry, and rice cakes (mochi).
Excellent value. Service was very helpful.
one of the freshest soba i've ever had.
this place serves quite descent japanese food, i don't know about sushi stuff though, it's goooood!
the price is kinda ouch to me but i'd definitely come back.
I had the agari soba as an appetizer and it was GOOD. The noodles were al dente and the dipping sauce was tasty. Afterwards, I ordered a simple tempura udon and that was just as tasty. Pretty good overall. Big thumbs up.
my visit to katsu-hama last night reminded me of onigashima(same group of restaurants) and how i've yet to write my review of it.
so here goes.
our primary destination was actually menchanko-tei but as they had a waiting queue, we decided to divert to their sister restaurant located on the second floor.
as it turned out, it was a good decision.
the setting was nice, quiet, clean and classic.
the overall service for the day was slightly sloppy.
not as attentive as you would wish for but acceptable standards.
there was also one order of food that was left out.
the menu was really extensive.
we ordered quite a variety of food and almost everything was good.
the cold silky homemade tofu is worthy of mention.
the sushi and rolls were standard stuff and not their specialty.
the grilled fish(whose name i have since forgotten) was huge, fresh, sweetly delicious.
but the highlight of the restaurant has to be their udon or soba.
i had the uni and ikura soba!
it was richly decadent.
very affordable and recommendable.
This is the lunch place I go to when I need a break. The soba broth is great. The sushi is fresh. ANd everything tastes and looks like someone really took time and attention to make your meal.
If you're craving reasonably priced soba or udon, you won't be disappointed by the fresh, homemade noodles and attentive service at Onigashima. Tucked away on the second floor of a cozy Upper West Side brownstone, Onigashima also offers very good sushi. But noodles (with or without soup) are clearly the star attraction here. According to the menu, the soba is made from Japanese grown buckwheat flown in daily. You can taste the difference in quality - the noodles here are noticeably superior to the nearby Soba Nippon and the many downtown soba shops. And with an enormous variety of soups to choose from (each available with either udon or soba noodles), it would take a while for you get bored. If you're having soba, try the clear broth duck nanban soup. If udon's your thing, you won't be disappointed by the curry duck soup, which is especially nice on a cold winter day. Inari sushi makes for an interesting and tasty dessert. The name is a bit misleading - it's essentially a rice ball wrapped in a honey-glazed dough. This is one of those places you find yourself coming back to over and over again - the combination of conscientious service and excellent food for the money make Onigashima a winner in my book.
Happy Hour Deal~Just 4…
Jersey City, NJ
Welcome Yelp Guests
Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Sushi Bars
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Category: Japanese
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