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Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
Neighborhood: East Village2nd Ave-Houston St (F, V)
"Words cannot express how much I love this place. Go to sushi samba if you're looking for gimmicky fusiony "inventive" sushi. This is back…" read more »
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We all have our go to spots. Takahachi is one of mine. I try to get here before 7 to avoid waiting and always ask for bar seats. I like this area most because their head sushi chef named Jack, is friendly and always recommends the best cuts. The menu is a mix of traditional dishes and non traditional. I always have to order kinuta maki which is unagi, avocado and seaweed wrapped in cucumber. Very refreshing! Hamachi kama, ankimo (when in season), yellowtail with jalapeno are also favorites. Besides these dishes, asking Jack what's freshest sashimi is the way to go.
Dining here won't break the bank. They even have early dinner specials. Here, you will definitely get your money's worth versus most of the spots in St. Marks.
My number 1 most frequented restaurant in the city. I love this place. It's no frills, nice people, good service, on point sushi chefs, always excellent food at the right price.
Things I always order:
Sake Aspara Make - salmon & asparagus wrapped in seaweed lightly battered and fried
Crab Shumai - 5 triangle shaped steamed dumpling packed with crab with spicy mustard on the side
Nabayaki Udon - fresh udon noodles, egg, chicken, spinach, green onion, fish cake, and two pieces of shrimp tempura (thus far, best udon in the city)
Toro Jala Maki Roll - tuna with jalapeno
Superman Roll (rarely ever on the menu but they will if asked) - tuna, avocado & mango
They don't take reservations and wait time can be up to an hour or more on weekends but it's worth it.
Takahachi is my go to spot for sushi in the East Village. I try to get there early (before 7pm) & hit up the early specials. I'm particularly fond of the Donburi specials. Normally meat over rice with sauce, a sashimi salad & a little side dish of whatever the chef feels like. All for $10, which is a pretty good deal.
I think that the fish here is very fresh & the chefs take real care when preparing the dishes. There are daily specials (20 plates or so), so you can look forward to something new every time you go. They had Miso Oxtail last time & I'm really angry at myself for not ordering it, but I was full of Donburi.
Service is good, but the place does tend to get packed really quickly. It can go from near-empty around 6:30 to full to the brim (with as line outside) in a blink of an eye, so my suggestion is get there early.
All in all, really good sushi. Check it out.
On a chilly winter day after shopping in SOHO, I decided to come here for dinner with my cousin.
We decided to start off with some sake and asked the waitress for recommendation. I forgot what she got us but my cousin and I were both very happy with our sake.
There weren't too many items on the menu, your regular traditional japanese dishes and some unique dishes from the restaurant. I wanted something traditional so I ordered Chirashi for my main dish and my cousin ordered hamachi kama. For the appetizers, the waitress recommeneded a shrimp tempura with spicy mayo sauce and the Jalapeno Hamachi sashimi.
The food come at a comfortable pace. The appetizers were delicious. I was pretty suprised at how well the hamachi sashimi blends in with the jalapeno. The tempura shrimp was "okay" as some times I feel like I was just eating the tempura batter.
Then comes the main dish. The Chirashi was fresh and exciting. The octopus, hamachi, maguro, unagi, salmon, and tai slices were generous. All the ingredients were fresh and tasted great. Often times, and (I've had this happened to me numerous times at japanese restaurants), I half expected the maguro sashimi to be tasteless and the octopus sashimi ridiculously hard to chew. However, I was pleasantly suprised when I bit into the octopus sashimi to find it soft and juicy and the maguro filled with tuna goodness.
My cousin liked her hamachi kama. The portion was very generous for the price and the flavor was spot on.
All in all, I really enjoyed my experience at Takahachi. The restaurant is unpretentious and provide good quality food for a very reasonable price. I would definitely come back again.
This place never disappoints. Just another fantastic meal. Flavorful, perfectly cooked Skate Wing for $8 bucks. Eggplant Skewer $1. Asparagus and Bacon Skewer $2, Hamachi with slightly sweet and tangy Jalepeno sauce $13. Fresh, generous portion of Toro $13.
Eating at my favorite neighborhood spot and not breaking the bank:
Priceless.
PS-Has this place jumped the shark? I saw one of the Olsen twins here on a recent visit. Not sure which multimillion dollar doppleganger it was, but I swear she did not eat anything in the 30 minutes that I was there, just sipping on a Kirin. That's a shame, because the food at Takahachi is GOOD.
You can order just about anything off the specials-of-the-day menu and be glad you did. This stuff… Read more »
Yep, this is where I tell everyone to go for great traditional sushi and japanese cuisine. Unlike many of its competitors, Takahachi is not trying to reel people in with a swanky interior or an endless amount of comprising non-traditional speciality rolls. (They only have a few of those.) The chefs, including the super friendly head sushi chef Jack, pump out awesomely tasty food with freshness guaranteed. They serve both traditional dishes (monkfish liver) and interesting originals (toro jalapeno rolls) that win over my tummy time after time after... you get the point.
Tip: ask Jack for what's fresh for the day. He'll never steer you wrong.
So many people in the neighborhood call this their go-to Japanese / sushi place. And I'm no different. Fish is always fresh and perfectly seasoned. On a cold day, the best meal for me is the udon noodles soup with vegetable tempura (I get it with no shrimp and an egg on top) and a roll or two. So cozy. And in warmer weather, really anything in the sushi or sushi appetizer menu is always amazing.
We all have our "go to ______ (whatever is important to you)". I've got my "go to" slice of local pizza, my go to cappucino, and my go to affordable sushi - Takahachi. My first trip to Takahachi was in 1994 and I've been coming back ever since for fresh sushi at reasonable prices. The decor is what you'd expect on Avenue A and makes me feel as relaxed as the reggae through their speakers. Lots of specials - sometimes hit and miss and less than fantastic noodle soups. It's all about the sushi here though and in that regard they are rock solid. And at the top of the list - please take me up on this - is their spicy tuna hand roll. The spicy tuna has no mayo - it's all about the sesame oil and wasabi - hands down the best I've had in New York.
Is Takahachi the best Japanese restaurant in the city? God no - not even the best in the neighborhood (I'll take Hasaki). But since I can't afford the best every other week they will be my go to for a long time come.
I don't get what all the hype is about. I was excited to check this place out as I've been looking for a good reasonably priced sushi in the East Village and this one is only a couple blocks away from me. I got eel, salmon, and tuna nigiri and wasn't impressed at all. None of it tasted very fresh. It was just ok and not what I would call inexpensive for the quality.
There are better places in NYC, especially for the price. I tried Umi in Murray Hill based on reviews here a week later and it was SO much better. Plus, it was cheaper. Even the place at St Mark's and 2nd Ave with $1 specials has better quality nigiri.
This place may be ok for rolls, but that's not the best way to judge sushi quality and freshness. Everything tastes better in a roll since you can't taste the fish as well.
Always good and really fresh.
I am sometimes skeptical trying a new and unfamiliar sushi place, but we were looking for a good sushi place in ABC City that wasn't Avenue A Sushi. A friend found this place using good and ol' trusty Yelp! There was a wait on a Friday night, but it was well worth it. Having a difficult time deciding what we actually wanted, we ordered the sushi/sashimi combination for 2 (there were 3 of us) and two special rolls - oyster roll and a pumpkin roll. The sushi was fresh, plentiful and delicious! The oyster roll was pretty unusual, but I certainly did like it! Takahachi has a good mix of traditional and non-traditional sushi and rolls. Good ambiance, friendly wait staff, a pretty solid sushi restaurant.
I always wondered what that line was for that didn't go to the questionable lounge, Drom, or whatever it is below it.
I was browsing yelp for a good sushi place near me, decided to try it out and on arrival was like "Oh, this place". Even more to my surprise, once I was inside, I realized "Oh, I've been here before!" its alllll coming back to me now. good sushi....
The prices are completely reasonable, the sushi is good and fresh, and what is that I hear about a box of sake? I've only ever gotten rolls, but if you're willing to take my word about it, they done em right.
It does get crowded, and they pack you in there good. But the food comes quick, and everyone in there happens to be adorable, patrons and staff. so cute I'll never take my boyfriend back there again. Jokes, I'll suck it up.
Excellent experience. Arrived at 9:30 on a Wednesday night and had to wait about 15 minutes for a table because it was packed (still packed when we left at 11pm). And I can see why.
There's an excellent sushi bar - I highly recommend trying items from the specials. The sushi pieces weren't the largest, but the prices are low for high quality fish. Also very original combinations and ingredients.
But if you're not in the mood for raw fish, the restaurant still has plenty to offer. Skewers a la carte of beef, chicken, or fish/shellfish that are small but only cost a few dollars each. Also tempura a la carte and cooked appitizers.
The price is good, as long as you keep an eye on what you order. We ordered three sushi rolls, a few peices of sashimi, beef tataki (excellent), a tuna skewer, edamame and two sakes and the total was less than $40.
I gotta agree with Andy H. This place is good, not great. Yes the prices are reasonable, yes everything seems fresh, even the service is attentive, but it certainly is not the bomb diggs.
I really wanted it to be excellent. I've heard from multiple people that this is THE spot for quality reasonably priced sushi. Since I live around the corner I was crossing my fingers that that was the case. Alas, the search continues.
Hate to admit it, but LA done got us beat in the category of reasonably priced quality sushi. Seems to me like you really gotta pay through the nose to get the heady sushi here.
Love this place! I usually go to the Tribeca location on Duane Street and my family and I love the fact that it's good sushi and even better prices!
I like the fact that there are vegetarian rolls which i can eat (really love the Buddha roll) and the waiter is nice as well.
I recommend this location as well as the Tribeca location that i usually go with. From friends to family, i've brought them all here and they all enjoy it. :)
Below average yakitori. Overpriced.
Friendly neighborhood spot for very good sushi.
With all the Japanese restaurants in this part of town, one might think any sushi place would be fine, just like walking into any Starbuck's on any Manhattan block for a mocha frap. Alas, that is not the case because I've stumbled into a couple of mediocre sushi places in the East Village before. And that's why I decided to check out reviews for Japanese restaurants in the East Village before hopping on the 6 train to Astor Place today. I wrote down the names of a few places that got high marks on Yelp and decided on Takahachi with my friend.
We were happy to discover fellow Yelpers didn't let us down. The sushi and hand rolls are all fresh (easily detectable and extremely important when it comes to sushi). The proportions are huge and prices are reasonable. In addition to the daily specials, there are many dinner combos to choose from. I ordered the sauteed oysters as my appetizer and the sushi sashimi combo as my main course. If I had known that the sushi sashimi was going to be larger than at the average Manhattan sushi place, I would have ordered just the sushi or just the sashimi. That right there proved to me Takahachi is NOT your average, over-priced Manhattan sushi place.
Had the sushi deluxe platter and it was very good. The service was attentive and the sake was delish. Nice place to sit at the bar and eat. Very good atmosphere in the restaurant. Reasonably priced. Nice wait staff.
I think it's good, but I'm a white guy. My Japanese wife says it's "Ok. Cost performance is good." Classic.
At least there's a high Japanese to Mexican sushi chef ratio, which is good for the east village. The service is great: they're super friendly, especially considering what a bunch of rude douchebags most of the locals are that go there. Ambiance is fine.
My wife said to give it 3 stars but I'm giving it 4, cause she's comparing it to fish straight out of the ocean, never frozen, cut by an expert with a 12,000 dollar knife and real wasabi in Japan. That's just not fair. I'm comparing it to sushi in New York and it's pretty good.
UPDATE: Ok, 3 stars. She's right.
EXCELLENT food
NICE staff
Went on a Thursday night at 9pm. Short wait, not a big deal.
I got the bento box -- which turned out to be a mountain of delicious food. The salmon was great as was a brocolli and sesame small plate we ordered.
Staff was attentive (many water and hot tea refills). Chill, affordable
yay
My friend really liked this place, but I thought it was only so-so. The sushi is ok, fairly fresh, but nothing spectacular. Their specialty rolls were not overly creative either and their spicy tuna wasn't so spicy, but also not bad. I thought their specialty rolls were fairly priced, being $9, but when I realized they only came with 6 pieces, instead of 8, it actually comes out to more.
The service was nice and friendly, but again, nothing very impressive. Overall, its just ok.
You know . . . I used to think of Takahachi as just an "ok" sushi joint, but in the last month I've developed more of an appreciation for this place. Takahachi is nothing exciting or amazing, to be sure, but it is damn reliable. I've met friends here for dinner so many times when it's one of those nights when we're just like, "Where should we go for dinner?" "Uh, I don't know. Why don't we just go to Takahachi?" And every time we've gone, the service has been fast and polite, the fish has been fresh, and we've been satisfied with our meals.
I stopped by tonight to get some sushi to go, and even though all the tables were filled and there was a wait outside, I was greeted right away. A waitress came over to take my order, I sat, and I swear not more than 5 minutes passed before she came back with my tuna and avocado rolls, seaweed salad and miso soup. When I got home, I was very happy with my food -- the seaweed salad had 4 different kinds of seaweed and it was huge! The tuna in the tuna rolls was fresh and tasted decent.
Bottom line, this place will never be the best Japanese food you've ever had, but you won't find a bad dish on the menu. This place is inexpensive, convenient and has quality food and that's why it's always busy. Go when you can't think of anywhere else to go and you will be pleasantly surprised!
This place is OK. Sushi is a but under par, but the hamachi kama averages it up. If all their grub was of that quality, they'd get 4 easy.
Fish collars are delicious, muscles that are moved a lot have a lot of taste be they oxtail or otherwise, and the hamachi kama, rubbed with sea salt is juicy, crisp, charred to perfection, and very reasonably priced, there is a load of meat on there.
I'd come here just for that and skip the sushi. The tuna maki didn't taste of mush and the rice was too dry. Nigiri marginally better. Don't get me wrong, it was ok, but I can (and do) easily roll a better one than here. It ain't that hard.
white wine: okay
red wine: balls
Ebi asparagus roll: good
spicy tuna roll: good
barbecue skewers: good (when not on floor)
tempura udon broth: delicious
tempura udon noodle: meh
Great large, fresh, soft, and pliant sushi. The rolls were pretty good as well. The miso was unremarkable though. But I really enjoyed their hot sake which was surprisingly inexpensive.
My only complaint is that I had a really bad seat AT THE SUSHI BAR. I didn't think that was possible. But yes, for some reason, all of the to-go orders were handled on the seat to the right of me at the sushi bar. This involved servers bumping into me several times during my meal, or dropping napkins beside my plate. Plus the seat was close enough to the entrance that it would get pretty cold and drafty at times, even though they use 2 sets of doors. So, yeah, ambience was definitely lacking. Maybe I should have got my order to go and put some other unfortunate soul through that shoulder bumping nonsense.
The sushi here was great, one of the best places i've been to in a while!! Reasonably priced, typical sushi restaurant atmosphere... The Bacon wrapped scallop appetizer was delicious!
Overall would absolutely recommended this place, and will go back for sure!
fresh sushi at a great price. This place gets pretty crowded and they don't take reservations, but its worth the wait. The services is attentive and the prices are especially cheap for the east village.
As we walked into this place the BF said..."I've been here before." The interior looks pretty similar to many other sushi places around. However, after our first bite we quickly realized this was a new spot to him and it was well worth the visit.
The fish was fresh, the rice was cooked perfectly and the price was nice.
Service was decent. Nothing amazing, but prompt and friendly. Really...thats all I need.
Its a definite revisit for us!
Wow--I could eat the tuna tar-tar here every day. It's fantastic--a mix of spicy tuna and thin slices of avocado sculpted into a small puck-shaped mound with a bit of green onion and what I believe is sesame oil with rice vinegar for dressing. Absolutely delicious.
The shrimp-stuffed lotus wasn't that great, the lotus was a bit too hard. I like it fresh and crispy but this was more like eating uncooked bamboo shoots...I preferred this dish at Ebisu (R.I.P.) before they mysteriously closed (we bumped into the owner one day by accident and he told us the chef had gone back to Japan for his honeymoon, and rather than get another chef, they preferred to wait for him. Since then, it's been a few months and now their phone is disconnected...doesn't bode well)
Their tempura here is good, I especially like the vegetable tempura appetizer, with enoki (or similar) mushrooms, eggplant and squash.
Unfortunately, I think I'll stick to rolls and appetizers here, because my chirashi (mixed sashimi over sushi rice) wasn't as fresh as I've had in other places. It was good, and I certainly finished it, but I've had fresher (again, at my darling Ebisu...)
If you come here, definitely play around with the sampling of appetizers. You'll find something delectable (especially if you get the tuna tar-tar)
Soooo good! Oh how I wish I had this place around the corner. I didn't do the sushi, but the lunch special was deeelicious and satisfying! Loved the staff too.
the extent of how adorable the chefs were is n-a-i-l-e-d in that restaurant profile shot. when i sat a the sushi bar by myself on a slow weekday evening, the two of them and i had some brief exchange like this:
chef A: are you a moodoo?
me: what?
chef A: a moodoo? (started to catwalk behind the counter)
me: oh no (happy face)
chef B: really? you look like one..
me: no i'm not (still happy face)
chef B: .. on Macy's catalog!
me: oh. (sad face)
food wasn't as funky. i did like their flying fish roe over salmon/fluke sashmi though. haven't wound up to the omakase yet but for an inexpensive casual meal at a well-energized place, i definitely won't mind trying.
We got 5 rolls all together and each single one is delicious. The sushi rice is warm and well cooked. The sushi is very fresh and a generous size. The service is pretty good; they kept filling our water and food came really quick too. This is my new found good spot in East Village. I plan on coming back for their early bird tasting menu sometime (from 5PM to 7PM.)
I had no idea this restaurant was there! I must have walked by hundreds of times (well... maybe not hundreds but you get my point...) without noticing it, until my former boss decided to take me there for dinner.
It's pretty standard Japanese: very good food (but not the best I've had in New York), a little pricey. We were there early, so we ordered the early bird special: sushi or sashimi selection, selection of skewers (yummy! except for the steak which was too greasy), soup, salad, rice, sample of appetizers, and ice-cream for dessert, all for $16: not bad! I got the sashimi: it was tasty but not out of this world. Also, we tried a couple of appetizers, and I highly recommend the salmon-stuffed shiitake mushrooms: delicious.
Service was friendly, even though our waitress (who was not Japanese, as far as I could tell) tried a little to hard to get us drunk and sell us more sake. I think I still prefer Marumi in Noho, but I'd probably come back given the opportunity.
Sorry Takahachi. In a village (east that is) of outstanding Japanese restaurants such as Sobaya, Oh Taisho, and hell, even Kenka, you are as forgetable as Alicia Silverstone post Batman Forever.
The menu has your standard fare of rolls, noodles, grilled entrees and soups, which are all well done, reasonably priced and tasty.
However, I have become jaded by the glut of more interesting places around Astor Place. Where is the soft core porn on the walls? (Kenka) Or the upstairs speak easy? (Angels Share) What about an extensive sake menu or a specialization in yakitori?
Takahachi is following a tough act, and in my opinion, fades into stage left.
I've been Takahachi a few times starting in 1994. I had always heard how great it was. Every time I went I found it to be just average.
Last night was different. I ordered the Sushi Deluxe (8 Pieces and 1 Tuna Roll) and from the daily specials the Hero Roll (tuna, asparagus and shrimp tempura). Everything was amazing. The fish was tender and fresh. The rice was perfect.
It was one of the best sushi experiences I ever had.
best affordable sushi in NYC, well so far. SAKI IN A BOX. Have you ever had it. it's yummy. the saki absorbs the cedar flavor from the box. $5.50 give it a try. It's on me.
We really enjoyed this place. The fish is fresh, the service is excellent, and we got there just in time to avoid waiting for a table. The hamachi kama was perfectly grilled with sea salt and although we thought a dipping sauce would be helpful, the condiment of white turnip complemented the dish perfectly. We also had the california roll with wasabi sesame seeds (very good- with real crabmeat, not the fish mix) and sashimi deluxe. Everything was very nice, and what a lovely ambiance as well!
I've found my new neighborhood go-to for casual sushi (incl for pick-up). Good, tasty, fresh sushi at affordable prices and the last few times I was at Takahachi, there was hardly a wait. They offer a full menu of pretty much anything Japanese (sushi, rolls, tempura, shumai, soba, udon, sake, etc.). The place has a casual fun vibe and the service was friendly and fairly efficient.
I tried a variety of sushi/sashimi and different types of rolls... pretty much everything I had was quite good. They didn't have any scallop the day I went... disappointing but I got over it. I loved one of their special rolls... a crunchy unagi soba roll. My friend thought it didn't sound good at all on the menu... but trust me, the crunchy tempura-fried soba noodles with a fat piece of freshwater eel wrapped in nori turns out to be an excellent combo. My first meal here was a pleasant surprise, and the next day, when my friends and I were craving sushi (again), I recommended Takahachi. There are very few restaurants in this city that I would do two nights in a row.... and this is one of them.
Complementary Drink
Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Complimentary Admission
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Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Japanese
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Category: Sushi Bars
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Sushi Bars
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