Ikebana Zen - New York

I visited this restaurant today and was disappointed by the sushi. The two young chefs, who appeared to be around 25 years old, seemed to struggle with making nigiri rice. The rice lacked flavor, was not warm, too tightly packed, and lacked air. It felt like a child had played with and pressed the rice for 5 minutes. The summer tasting menu I ordered for $145 consisted of simple fish without any toppings. The selection included salmon, yellowtail, madai, tuna (not bluefin), sweet shrimp, mackerel, scallop, and tamago. Unfortunately, the fish did not seem fresh enough to warrant high praise for the food presentation, service, and atmosphere. Overall, I was not impressed with the sushi.

I tried the weekly menu at this restaurant and wasn't impressed with the small portions (which are meant to give a taste of the restaurant's cuisine). However, the sushi quality was disappointing - the rice wasn't right and the fish could have been fresher. The restaurant is beautifully designed and decorated, but there is room for improvement in the food quality.

I would give the interior design of this restaurant four stars. This was my first visit and I decided to try their weekly menu. I think it's a fantastic option for those who are new to Japanese cuisine and enjoy trying different dishes.

Amazing, from the moment in which they are guided by the host, sunny, the server and especially the eating, led by koch z_fuji, classically trained Japanese french chef. highly recommended!

This was our first time trying Omakase on the west side. We are very well acquainted with sushi, so we recognize top quality when we see and taste it. The quality here was very good and the staff was very nice. Our kind server even explained a difference and process of filtered versus unfiltered sake, which I was quite unfamiliar with for a long time. The interior is also super cute and very well-kept. I found that the Omskase as well as the à la carte options were very reasonable for upscale sushi. We will definitely be there again. My only hope /wish is that they were open for lunch. However, given the neighborhood, I can see why they reserve their fine dining until dinner. It’s off the theater. In any event, I highly recommend this for quality sushi!