Hi there,

Can anyone please recommend a great sushi restaurant in the New York City area. I will be staying in the Times Square Area.

Thanks a lot

You can eat world class sushi from chef Masa Takyama at $300-$500 prix fixe per person. Behind an unmarked door in the Time Warner building.

Or for considerably less, but still not cheap go to Sushi Zen on west 44th st. betw Broadway & 6th. I also like the very neighborhoody (ie not fancy and not expensive) Kodama on w 45th betw 8th-9th.

I must admit I was not impressed by lunch at Nobu....omitase at the sushi bar. Regrettably. I'd set my expectations higher than this famous place delivered.

I can recommend our favorites, Mishima which is a bit of a hike from Times Square (Lexington Ave &31st ST), but it is one of the best in the city.

We also LOVE Minado on 32nd St between 5th and Madison. It is all you can eat for about $20 and the "spread" is amazing and includes just about anything you might want and all kinds of deserts as well. I can not recommend any of the restaurants just across the street in Little Korea, since we had two of the worst meals we have ever had, and still laugh about it.

The last time we tried Little Korea, we started with tea, (how can any restaurant ruin tea, but they did it was awful, ever heard of corn tea), and the meal went downhill from there. We even noticed a huge water bug dying on the floor, we decided it had committed suicide since the food was so bad,,,,lol.

Have a great time while you are here.

If you do not want to go far from Times Square, check out Blue Fin. I believe it's in the W Times Square. Also in the neighborhood is Haru, another upscale sushi restaurant.

Otherwise, there are tons of great sushi restaurants ALL over the city. Yama on Houston Street is one that I enjoy, but they don't take reservations, so there is sometimes a wait and a line. For some fun, try Sushisamba which does traditional sushi, but also some fusion with Brazilian flavors. (also serve brazilian cooked food).

Downtown - Yujin opened last year to critical acclaim for both it's food and it's chopstick art on the ceiling. Their menu is quite extensive and the service superb. Japonica is a big favorite in the same area but they often have a wait, and I don't think they take reservations. If you have a large party they have a great private room. Lan is a great local favorite with Kobe beef on the menu and excellent seaweed salad.

To splurge - forget Nobu - go to Bond Street for amazing and pricey sushi. Be sure to make a reservation!

In the same area Blue Ribbon Sushi is a winner too.

Honestly, the better sushi is in the downtown areas - but if you don't want to go too far, you will be fine.

Thanks so much Ellielah

We were thinking of doing Nobu one night but I think we will cross that off our list as I dont seem to hear that great things about it.

Do you live in New York?

Not in the same "great" category as Nobu or other very expensive places, but really good sushi in a nothing atmosphere is Kodama on 45th just west of 8th Ave. It is very popular and excellent, just nothing special in decor. Excellent tempura and various "boxes" also.

I would recommend reconsidering Nobu but not as your "sushi" stop. Just get the Oamakase and enjoy the wonderful dishes. For exclusively sushi, I'd go to Blue Ribbon. I also like Sushisamba if you want to mix it up with other meat/non-sushi dishes too.

I've been a sushi fan for over a decade, and in my opinion the best rolls in Manhattan can be found at Totoya on First Avenue (at about 62nd Street, east side of avenue).

Amazing!

If you want a "scene" experience, then Sushi Samba is for you.

I agree w/ Loki. Nobu is a great restaurant, but the it would be a waste to go there and order the sushi, which is merely good, when it is the other dishes that are great.

Your chances of getting reservations are approximately nil anyway. I finally walked in at 5:45 after years of trying to get a res.

please, what wowed you? I had a shrimp dish, and the sake bass? the only thing that wowed me was my first bite, which I don't have an idea of what it was. My experience went from magical and crashed and bunred, the shrimp being fine, sake soaked fish moderate, sushi, nothing special, and I'm no fan of the icecream covered in rubber thing.
But that first bite, a tuna thing was magic.

You need to go to this forum and ask the same question!

http://www.chowhound.com/main.html#boards

A whole forum for food lovers ("chow hounds")

I was asking Loki, and would love a response on this forum, but thanks for the info. Honestly, I'm really not comfortable with chowhounds format or editing policies, their search tool,and over stringent rules. They are failing imho what could and should be a great forum....too many disney police for my taste. But again thanks for trying. Others will see this and love their forum.

I just moved out of NYC and my favorite, very reasonable sushi restaurant was Mizu, around 20th and Park. It's not expensive and famous like Nobu, but it's constantly great with great service, a personable manager (Joe) and really nice ambiance. You can read reviews of Mizu and other restaurants at NY citysearch.com....great source of local reviews! enjoy!

I agree that Minado is actually really good. Surprised me!

couple of other non-trendy spots:
* Koi - 2nd Ave.
* Avenue A - on Ave. A

gyppielou, I agree about Chowhound and I get so tired of people suggesting strangers to a city to check it out.
You could spend hours on their site and it is so user unfriendly, making you click back and forth to continue reading additional comments. And most of the comments are made by locals "in the know", so you could read a dozen comments about how the forks were turned the wrong way last week or that the carmelized onions were too soft, but still not have a clue what that restaurant is like, what its prices are, or anything else. And you'd have to go elsewhere to cross reference where it even is.

I think it's OK if you know of a restaurant and want to get some personal opinins about the service or the food, but for someone looking from scratch -- the comments will usually mean nothing.

thanks Patrick,