Yama Restaurant
(212) 989-9330
40 Carmine St Ste 40
New York,
NY
10014
40.7299
-74.0031
Neighborhoods: West Village, Downtown
What People Are Saying About Yama Restaurant
The Editor
Contributor
Citysearch
The Scene
Given a quick makeover, this Carmine Street outpost of the popular Yama chain could easily pass for a trattoria, as fireplaces and exposed brick walls lend the space a rustic country-home vibe. Night after night, the restaurant is packed, and young couples on dates crowd the front two rooms, the tiny sushi bar and the umbrella-covered deck out back.
The Food
Tasty appetizers like crackling fried soft-shell crabs with a sweet ponzu sauce, wasabi-flavored steamed pork dumplings, and Japanese eggplant with miso paste make a good segue into fresh-tasting sushi entrees like the sushi deluxe, which represents one of the better values anywhere. Yama's portions tend toward the gargantuan--the massive wooden boats and platters of sushi that serve groups seem sized to feed twice as many people as they claim to satisfy. But be wary of Yama at peak hours, as the wait for food can get lengthy.
User Reviews
eastbayfunk
May 05, 2009
I love sushi. All kinds. It really doesn't matter. Give me some sticky rice, semi decent fish, and seaweed and I'm happy. Hell, I'l even eat that organic brown rice cardboard sushi from Whole Foods. I'd prefer mediocre sushi any day to Italian or Chinese food. That's why eating at Yama was such an important milestone in my life. Yama managed to create a yard stick that separated my love for sushi, from inedible garbage. Now being from LA I've never had much respect for NY sushi. New Yorkers rave about Blue Ribbon sushi and Bond Street which in all honesty wouldn't survive more than a couple months in the San Fernando Valley. Whereas in LA we actually care about the taste of the fish, New Yorkers still need cheesy Disney Land like Japanese decor and lame boat presentations to enjoy their sushi. That being said, I lived in NY and love sushi and thus had to eat it. My roommate and I were walking down Bleeker street one day and stumbled upon Yama. It looked nondescript and busy enough to warrant a try. We quickly learned Yama has a special strategy for its embarrassingly disgusting fish selection: spicy mayonnaise sauce. Now I actually like spicy mayonnaise sauce. It plays an integral role in the development of non-Japanese style sushi and I have embraced it whole heartily. However, at Yama, they take this sauce to a new level. Every single roll on the menu is pretty much bathed with this sauce to the point that you can't taste anything but the mayo. Eel avocado roll with mayo, tuna with mayo, salmon with mayo, albacore with mayo, shrimp tempura with mayo. After a couple rolls I needed a nap to just digest all the white goo. Now you might be saying "Come on, just order the sauce on the side." Good call and that's exactly what we did. Needless to say, the sushi was so bad that after our soy sauce failed to disguise the fish we turned to our mayo for round two. Thus, if you like mayo, go to Yama. They have great mayo. wwwblankfromhellcom
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jaredfrahs
March 09, 2009
I always order the sushi sashimi combo and I am suffed in a good way when I'm done. The food is always the same, fresh and plentyful. During the summer they have a hidden patio in the back that is nice and relaxing.
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leecam
August 12, 2007
The first time I went to Yama it was amazing, and I was so excited to have another great sushi place in the city. But I went back about a month later and the quality of food had slipped. It was not terrible, but it lost the quality from my first visit.
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