05/20/09

overhyped, overpriced, confusingly bad omakase

by hk384

heard this place was suppose to be amazing, so for an anniversary I came to try the famous omakase. we ordered a few rolls (good spicy scallop and spicy tuna), and a hijiki salad (unique dressing). so far so good, although the service was far from attentive (well, they stopped coming to our table once we said we didn't want drinks, we had to wave them over to order food after that). the omakase plate comes in sushi and sashimi versions, with sashimi being ~$90 on that day - it is supposed to be the house specialty and each sashimi selection comes with a special sauce. It took about 40 minutes to arrive at our table. of the 12 samples on it, I really liked two - fatty tuna and the fresh scallop. the baby yellowtail was paired with an overly spicy sauce, the boiled octopus was oddly chewy and the sauce was too mild, the snapper was just blah, and so was the tuna with tofu sauce. really, blah. to top all of this off, the oyster smelled funny, when I asked the waiter, he said it was normal... I took a chance and ate it - R O T T E N!! absolutely unacceptable at this, or at any price, really. at the end of the meal we concluded that we must really love each other and have been very deeply fulfilled by the conversation to have withstood that food in peace. I will avoid this place in the future....

• Pros: good spicy rolls
• Cons: putrid oyster in my omakase, otherwise mediocre

04/03/09

Not impressed

by CSMobileUser

Typical Americanized sushi place, with lots of sugary toppings and sauces. Omakase tasting is fine but nothing impressive. This place is not as good as blue ribbon and not even close to Yasuda

01/06/09

Worst place in the city

by sohofoodluv

This place is a joke. I went there once - never again. Boring food, small portions, ridiculously overpriced, crappy servers and no charm whatsoever. Save your money. The only thing impressive about this place is the bill that you'll get stuck with.

• Pros: close to home
• Cons: close to home

11/04/08

RUDEST SERVICE I'VE EVER ENCOUNTERED - HORRIBLE

by nycbrunette25

Have you ever had a restaurant manager call you out of the blue to start a fight? Or call you to convince you to cancel your delivery order? Or hang up on you - twice? Well, I have ordered from Sushi of Gari twice and I never will again. The first time I ordered, the delivery person was late, so I called the restaurant to inquire about when he might arrive. The manager yelled at me and claimed that the delivery person was in my lobby and I just didn't see him because the lobby was too big. No, sorry, not the case. He then hung up on me angrily. I called back and he hung up. The sushi finally arrived and it was very good. The second time I ordered, the manager called to tell me that the delivery person could not deliver to me because he had too many deliveries to make. He was pressuring me to cancel my order! He sounded disappointed when I told him that I still wanted the food. He started actually yelling at me and telling me that it would be hard to deliver! Are you kidding? Why oh why are you on Seamless Web if you can't deliver? Every other restaurant in Manhattan manages to successfully deliver food without insulting their customers and causing a lot of grief. Unbelievable. I wasted so much of my time on this stupid sushi delivery - it's just not worth it. There are way too many other sushi restaurants in this city to treat your customers like this - it's just bad business. If you are looking for innovative sushi that costs a fortune, then go to Haru or Sushi Samba or Nobu etc, just don't waste your time, money, and emotional energy on Sushi of Gari!!!

• Pros: The sushi is good, but you can get the same quality elsewhere
• Cons: Hideously rude service, a huge waste of my time to deal with these psychos, bad business practices

07/13/08

4 Star Experience!

by debello73

I had a great meal at Sushi of Gari the other night. Very tasty the tatsuta-age, gindara kasuzuke and chirashi . And the service was extremely helpful and friendly.

The menu is a bit of a disorganized mess so it takes a bit to figure out everything they offer (ask your helpful server). Also the parking is challenging so plan for that (luckily it's an easy walk for me). Finally, it is extremely expensive if you start beef tataki ($14.00)

Happily, despite those knocks, given the friendliness, uniqueness and tastiness Sushi of Gari still equals a four star experience!

06/26/08

You'll Either Love It or Hate It - I Suggest You Take the Risk

by chiway

Traditionalist sushi snobs typically consider Chef Gari's innovations to be culinary mutilation. They take offense to the way he alters the taste and textural integrity of fine raw fish with his cooking technique. To them, sushi should be prepared and consumed in its purest form, Edomae style (Old Tokyo). As a sushi lover who also appreciates fine traditional sushi, I understand where they're coming from, but I still can't help but to love Gari's stuff. It's fun, it's different, and although pricey, I really don't mind splurging on stuff that just tastes so good to me. Go, try it, and make up your own mind about it. (I must note that it's only worth it if you sit at the sushi bar and get served omakase direct from a chef.)

• Pros: unique, innovative, artistic cooking; fabulous omakase at the bar
• Cons: high prices, cramped space

02/13/08

Not Very Special

by Ritaang

Omakase was delicious. The restraint was small, noisy, and grimy.

We do not see advantage of food and why prices are that so expensive.

Our waiter did not impress anything. He was just a waiter everywhere.

What are the differences bet Seki and Gari. I still prefer Sushi Seki.

• Pros: so so level

01/04/08

Unusual serving of omakase

by maguro

I liked that here the woman told us that we should tell tell the chef when we were full meaning we could eat as much as suited us. That is in contrast to Yasuda (which I love) or Masa (which I don't) where they cut you off

after you've taken up too much time at the counter. The pro's are that the sushi is fresh and many of the preparations are quite unusual. Sometimes, though this works and other times it does not. Some of the toppings and sauces are overpowering both in texture and flavor for the delicate fish. Also while I have had at the other places 5 types of yellowtail or tuna omakase (which I think is available here), I was "saba'd out" by the fourth piece of mackerel. The chef was very pleasant but he served too quickly so there less time to savor each piece and you get fuller faster which expedites the whole dinner by way too much. I thought both the chef and the waitresses were very gracious. The decor didn't bother me as much as it does others but the acoustics are bad, particularly if you get stuck next to a party of six where the mother yells nonstop at the kids with an unappealing Corona accent.

We ran up an amazing bill of $330 with tip in 55 minutes. I would try it again but I think the novelty is oversold and I still prefer Yasuda.

• Pros: Interesting sushi, gracious service, easy to get to
• Cons: Loud, expensive,

09/27/07

I love it

by davimathe

I love japanese sushi, especially here. My Japanese friend said that here is not a traditional Japanese style sushi, but I don 't care! Coz I love the taste and people!

09/17/07

Really excellent sushi

by mcreilly

Although being initially deterred by the quite high prices and crowded atmosphere, the sushi did not disappoint. In order to be at least slightly cheaper, I ordered the tuna omakase, rather than regular omakase. It included tuna about 8 or 9 ways that the chef preferred. Some were fairly traditional (like a spicy tuna roll) while others were unique (tuna sushi with carmelized onion pieces). I'd definitely recommend getting the omakase and just trust the sushi chefs. Definitely worth at least an occasional visit if budget restricts more frequently stops.

• Pros: food, food, and food
• Cons: very crowded and pretty pricey