Sushi of Gari/Upper East Side New York Tripadvisor Reviews - Sushi of Gari/Upper East Side New York - Buy Reservations
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9 Reviews
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Fine. Just fine.
Visited with family and friends mid week. Restaurant was busy for a small site. Sushi fish was incredibly fresh, but that was the main redeeming quality. If you want nigiri or sashimi that is incredibly fresh then this place is for you. If you want anything creative, in any way creative, then quickly pass this restaurant by. The few items that attempt creativity land flat or bland. This is for hardcore raw fish fans, rather than those looking for creative combinations of flavors curated into great sushi that features fresh fish.
Be the first to ReplyGreat Sushi
For any sushi lover who has not eaten here, it is a must. The food is terrific and creative. At the upper east side location the man that works the door can be a little rude but it’s all fun and the food there and every location is truly terrific.
Be the first to ReplyIt was a return for us but this time with two of our four foodie grandsons.
In this tiny frenitic restaurant service is prompt and accurate. Our two boys ordered an assortment of shushi and round one for my wife was shrimp tempoura .I had the meat goyza. My wife left most of her shrimp on her plate as being too greasy, and ordered two pieces (they came large ) of tomago that were delicious. My gyzo were tasty but also far to oily. Dinner for four with no drinks was $209.59 not including the tip. I probably would not go back for my wife and myself.
Be the first to ReplyRude
The worst experience ever! We call asking if they have gluten free sushi, they said yes, but once there a very rude waiter told us that the rice have gluten...so no sushi.
The manager give us no explanation and do not apologize.
Tremendous Omakase option
Sushi of Gari
The story goes that Chef Gari was appalled by the fact that American sushi eaters were slathering too much soy sauce and wasabi on his sushi creations (which they do) and masking the delicate tastes of the fish and rice. So he first tried to convince his guests to go light on the sauce. When that didn’t work he took the soy sauce bottles off the sushi counter and dressed each piece of sushi with the appropriate kind and amount of sauce, sometimes just a slight brushstroke of soy and a bit of real wasabi, other times more elaborate and unique sauces. And the Sushi of Gari of today was born.
This story is about Sushi of Gari’s Omakase menu at the bar – there are a la carte menus at the tables – which is slightly different from the typical Omakase menu. It is unique in that, instead of a fixed number of pieces and a fixed price for the experience, the chef just keeps supplying you with new delights until you say “keko desu” (I’ve had enough). The other variation from today’s Omakase offerings is that you can ask that specific favorites can be added to the mix. We love to end the meal with uni and asked for “Uni to uzuru no tamago” (sea urchin with a raw quail egg yoke) as our last piece. (The uni was from Hokkaido.) Another difference in the rarefied world of Omakase, no prices are mentioned until the non-itemized bill is presented. You have to trust the chef, and, as the saying goes, if you have to ask you can’t afford it.
Sushi of Gari is a small sushi bar and restaurant on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York (there are other locations on the Upper West Side, the Theatre District, the Financial District and in Hollywood, California). The Upper East Side version is presided over by Executive chef Aoki-san, who was our chef. He was very friendly, explaining what each fish was called in Japanese as I furiously took notes for this post on my iPhone. He also tolerated my bad Japanese. He masterfully kept track of four or five different groups working their way through the various courses and timing the presentations perfectly (the pace is deliberately slow.)
Before I turn to the centrepiece sushi, I should mention that Sushi of Gari offers an excellent range of Sakes from modestly priced to very top shelf. Our (Japanese) waitress helped me find a very nice karakuchi (dry) Sake. The wine list is also excellent, my wife and daughter, who aren’t big Sake fans found a very nice Sancerre, which paired great with the fish, for $90. (There are less expensive wines available.) There is also a full range of Japanese and other beers.
We started the feast with a small amuse bouche (there is an equivalent Japnese term for that but I forget) of Tofu skin with wasabi soy sauce jelly. Simultaneously, different but excellent, it set the stage for the rest of the evening.
Here are the sushi items we ate. Although the pieces were correctly sized (i.e. not oversized as you get in some non-authentic sushi bars, I was surprised when I added up all the items: we had eaten seventeen pieces!
Here’s what we had. Caveats: some of the fish are variants on typical sushi bar fare; some of the sauces were unknown and/or hard to describe; there were fish I didn’t know (which after eating adventurous sushi for more than three decades is unusual). I was furiously taking notes on my iPhone but I wanted to enjoy the experience as well. So here we go. I’ll just number them and plough through: (1) Scallop (Aoki-san remembered that our daughter Ariel did not like scallops and she got amae ebi(sweet shrimp); (2) simply dressed Sea bass from Japanese waters; (3) melt in your mouth O-toro with a touch of real wasabi (best O-toro I can remember); (4) a sliver fish from Japan that is in the Aji/Saba family but I couldn’t quite get the name; (5) another unidentified white fish seared lightly; (6) lightly dressed Yaki Uni from Hokkaido; (7) Hamachi Yubiki (a variant of the more common Yellowtail); (8) Shimagi (seasonal Horse Mackerel) topped with jalepeño; (9) tiny Fairy Squid with a sweet soy sauce dressing (only available seasonally in the Spring); (10) Alaskan Sockeye Salmon; (11) medium grade Tuna with chili oil and crème fresh; (12) a first for me: Japanese Trout tempura style served as nigiri; (13) Japanese Sea Bass with shiso leaves; (14) Salmon with a hot tomato sauce (yes it is very usual but it works); (15) basic Aji; (16) lightly seared Yaki Toro; (17) and finally by request Uni with quail egg. You could keep eating beyond this point if you wanted to.
The bill came to just a shade under $1,000 with the tip but that is a bit deceptive. That was for three persons, not two and included about $250 worth of top-shelf Sake and wine. Also, as noted, we had seventeen pieces of sushi each. A couple could get by for a lot less.
Reservations are highly recommended. Eat at the bar, not a table.
What an overpriced and disappointing meal...
Our host recommended Sushi Gari and there're many good reviews on TripAdvisor... however, the Omakase dinner was really disappointing.
It was a bit unusual and uncomfortable for us that there's no set number of sushi that one gets from their Omakase dinner, instead, you pay by piece (yet we were not told the price of each piece). We didn't like the first few pieces of sushi mainly because the fish didn't taste fresh and the sushi rice seemed to be a bit too sour. So we asked the waitress to switch us to some sashimi, and the quality of the sashimi wasn't much better.
The restaurant was very loud and it was very hard to hear the servers and the chefs.
Overall, we didn't enjoy our meal and will definitely not return to Sushi Gari.
The Rudest Ever
Just walked in to Sushi of Gari on 78th St., I understand they don’t need business but was greeted (not actually) by 2 of the rudest people I have encountered in a very long time. They spoke Japanese to each other making me feel like I was from the 3rd world. I would never go back or try one of their other spots. The only thing they had available at the sushi bar was “omikase” ❗️❗️❗️Which I know is expensive & which I could certainly afforded.
Be the first to Reply40 pieces of omakase--and could have eaten 40 more!
A cozy, little neighborhood sushi place on the upper east side just knocked my socks off. Omakase at the bar for one at 5pm on a Weds. I was given the corner and was told I would be charged for each individual piece for as long as I could eat. 40 pieces later, I stopped but would have kept eating, if I could; there was a constant flow of new bites, never a repeat, unless you asked for one. The cuts are right-sized, not too big; the rice, appropriate mouthfeel, not too gluey. Especially good: uni, raw kumamoto oyster, chu-toro and o-toro; anago; squid.
The service was excellent. Extremely warm and friendly, including the sushi chef. I was being served by the head chef. He was gracious and warmly explained each piece and answered questions. He also giggled when I said I would stay for breakfast tomorrow morning.
At the early hour, the small restaurant was dominated by parents with young kids. The rolls that were being served to those tables all looked delicious, varied, and inventive. Yes, the plan is on the expensive side, but not outrageously so. Good sushi is expensive, and you can get a better deal by ordering rolls here. Omakase for 40 pieces plus three carafes of cold sake was an average of 10 dollars a piece. Considering alcohol was included, the price does not seem that outsized.
Delicious but 💵💵💵
You must have a reservation there were no walk-ins allowed fully booked every night we were there. I did not know that you have to make a specification of sushi bar or table there are different menus for the sushi bar than there are for the tables
the food was delicious and innovative but very expensive for the quantity served excellent service friendly cozy delicious dinner