Nobu Next Door

10/09/09

Nothing Special

by nycityrat at Citysearch

Absolutely nothing special about this place. A couple of the preparations are unique and taste good, but it is a very poor value. $20 for a shot glass of spicy salmon tartar? $27 for a mid range 7oz beaker of cold sake? The service is technically competent but surly and uninvolved (not a a too cool for school thing) they just don't care and seem bored.

2 of us spent $250 including tip for a small dinner that has no standouts. If this place was exactly the same but called Joe's next door and run by a regular chef- no one would go.

• Pros: Unique sushi preparations
• Cons: poor value, bored service

02/24/09

Deplorable food for such a well established name

by Boff at Citysearch

I want to start this by saying I am not a native New Yorker, I was merely in town on vacation, and I feel that I have developed a strong sense of good Asian cuisine. That said, I was very disappointed with the quality of food at Nobu Next Door. Our maki was very meger (think diameter), our nigiri was woefully thin and 'fishy' tasting/smelling, and my hot meal, what they called 'squid pasta' was just rubbery over-cooked squid chunks drowning in soy sauce tossed with wilted asparagus. A friend of mine had the Beef Toban Yaki and what was a $32 meat dish looked more like a $5 fajita platter at your local Mexican restaurant. Having spent the day in Chinatown I have to say my $5.25 bowl of Pho at Bo Ky was hands down better than our $100 meal at Nobu Next Door. If this is any indication of what the food at Nobu is like, you can count on me to stay far away from it's doors.

• Pros: We got a reservation by calling three hours before we want to eat
• Cons: Terrible, over priced food, snooty staff, boring decor

10/14/08

Try the Omokase

by hedkandie at Citysearch

Seriously, the number of reviewers who came here and rated it poorly because they ordered off the menu and found it pricey for small portions obviously do not understand " fine dining". I hate to sound like a snob, but portions are not meant to be huge!

Anyways, we ordered the $120 Omokase (tasting menu) and it is beyond ridiculous how amazing it was. We sat at the sushi bar and watched our sushi chef prepare our food which was beautiful to look at and heavenly on the palate. The sashimi was fresh and light. Interspersed with the raw were hot dishes that also blew us away- the shrimp was to die for.

For dessert, we were given a palate cleanser and then presented with a tofu cheesecake ( doesn't sound great but it's the best cheesecake I've ever had and I've had lots) that was light and not overly sweet with the creamiest texture. This was balanced with two apple dumplings and two tuiles. I so wanted to finish the whole thing because it may have been the best dessert of my life thus far, but I was too full from our 12 courses of sushi to eat another bite.

I rarely walk out of a sushi restaurant feeling this full or this satisfied but NND did it for me. It's too bad so many other reviewers had such a negative experience; maybe they just need to try the Omokase next time!

• Pros: Everything!
• Cons: That I can't eat there everyday!

03/18/08

GREAT PEOPLE, GREAT FOOD, GREAT ATMOSPHERE!

by sharee11 at Citysearch

So after reviewing all off the sushi restaurants on citysearch...I gave up! There are going to be ups and downs of a restaurant everywhere you go. So, i decided to ask an old friend who has lived in the city for years. He wasn't a huge sushi fan but he seemed to know what he was talking about. He recommended Next Door Nobu to us, and made reservations for us, so be decided to give it a shot. Me being an avid sushi lover eating at top well renowned sushi restaurants across the nation..I was EXTREMELY impressed! They seated us as soon as we got there.. a little close to the neighboring tables, but at one was a very famous celebrity so that was neat! Lighting was dim but they gladly gave us a candle. We ordered cocktails (over priced house wine) two cut rolls rolls from the sushi menu and dessert. It was all above and beyond out standing!! Some of the best sushi I've ever had.. not expensive at all compared to even to your local market. I highly recommend the Shrimp Tempura roll and the chocolate peanut butter banana for dessert. We had some regulars on one side of us and they treated them like royalty.. if I lived near TriBeCa I would definitely be a regular. Also, its a lot of locals, it was no nice to get away from the touristy crowd. Overall, SO FRESH!! I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

• Pros: Really fresh food, even soups!
• Cons: Overpriced cocktails, hard to see menu in such darkness (at night atleast)

02/22/08

Avoid TAKE OUT

by assistant2 at Citysearch

I ordered take out from Nobu Next Door awhile back and it was a miserable experience. The people on the phone were rude, the person at the restaurant was rude and just down right nasty. They charge a huge service fee for the food, got the order wrong, and what should have been a dinner for 4 was a dinner for 2 children it seems. Big disappointment!!!

• Pros: The food is good
• Cons: Service is AWFUL

12/29/07

Don't be fooled by the hype - Overrated, pretentious, and overly priced food. Terrible sushi.

by yumyum2007 at Citysearch

I took my parents here because I was told by friends that it had the most amazing sushi. We even got there early to make sure we got a table. My Taiwanese family loves sushi - we've been to Japan several times, my grandparents on both sides were educated there, and my grandmother lived there for years before she retired and moved to the US to be closer to her kids. Growing up, we ate it at least 2-3 times a month.

The food at Nobu Next Door was extremely disappointing. The kushiyaki had a Mexican taste to them. The tofu tempura (what I assumed was supposed to be like Agedashi tofu) came with a very plain, flavorless dipping sauce. The rock shrimp tempura (reportedly one of the more popular dishes) tasted like a less-tastier (yet more expensive) version of a Chinese dish we've had. These non-sushi dishes seemed more like Americanized food than Japanese food with a pretentious presentation to fool customers into thinking they're expensive.

We ordered sushi, as well - the portions of fish were skimpy and mediocre. I expected so much more after the rave reviews from friends and online. The service was really good, though.

Overall, we were appalled that people consider this to be the best (or even good) sushi. Save your $ and get better sushi/Japanese food at your neighborhood joint.

• Pros: Service
• Cons: Food, price

09/19/07

Greatest Japanese Fusion Food in NYC

by tadevosy at Citysearch

We go to Next Door regularly and order takeout from them at least once a week and never once have we had a bad experience. Granted, we've picked a standard set of dishes we normally order, but the food has remained consistent over the years, never disappointing. Without the hoopla of Nobu, you get the same great food and solid service (although the basement floor could be better ventilated and deodorized). From the sake selection to the specials to the old favorites, great great great. True, not the best sushi joint, but one would be missing out ordering sushi from their kitchen.

• Pros: Great food, good sake selection
• Cons: Can't really think of any

04/06/07

If you wanna eat Sushi, don't go to Nobu!

by odagiri at Citysearch

Nobu isn't the best sushi restaurant in NYC although some of kitchen appetizers are good.

A waiter who served for us wasn't nice.(Is it because I'm Japanese?)

I just don't understand the reason why Nobu is so popular.

You can pay less money and have more delicious sushi. I think it's all about fame.

I won't go back to Nobu Next Door.

• Pros: good appetizers
• Cons: sevice, loud, expensive

02/11/07

A Worthy Splurge

by aeprice at Citysearch

First, I should admit I'm not a lover of raw fish. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed both the sushi and cooked fish at NND. After reading other reviews, I can't say the lighting was too dim or the tables too packed in or the service rude or rushed. In fact, I think it lived up to most of the hype. The waitress was pleasant and the food arrived at perfect intervals. Our party of 3 was seated promptly (a 20 min. wait at 7pm on a Saturday night) and we shared several dishes and two desserts. I highly recommend the rock shrimp tempura, black cod, spicy seafood soup, new style sashimi, and all of the rolls--even the eel which I would never have imagined myself eating.

For those who say it's too pricey, that may be. I knew I would be spending around $100 per person and that was almost exactly what it ended up being. We enjoyed an excellent bottle of sauvignon blanc (Redmond Reserve) which perfectly complemented the fish dishes) and some deliciously decadent dessert wine (Bonny Doon) along with the chocolate bento box and a sticky pudding. I guess it's a matter of expectation, but I felt the overall service, food quality and price were reasonable and well worth the occasional splurge--even for a non-avowed sushi lover like myself.

• Pros: nice atmosphere, good people watching
• Cons: a definite splurge

12/10/06

UGH!!!!!!!!!!

by bongsquad420 at Citysearch

i went there expecting the restaurant to live up to the hype: high price for high quality, right? WRONG. the food is overrated. for the same amount if couldve gotten a sushi/sashimi combo thats 3 times bigger from the local place i frequent (also zagat rated), and tasted just the same, if not better. the place is dark, dark enough where i have to put the menu up to my face just to read it, the seating is cramped and inconvenient. i actually had to pull a table out just to let my guest sit. the waiter was rude, i asked him a question about the food and he looked at me as if i insulted his mother. food took a long time, and the portions were extremely small for the price. the menu selection was VERY limited. another reason why i left the place feeling like i got fisted was because i was nice enough to still tip after all that...

the only thing that amazed me was their wide selection of sake & spirits.

cliffnotes: i am never going back there.

• Pros: wide selection of sake & spirits
• Cons: everything else