Bleu Monkey Cafe

oh. my. goodness!! this place truly blew me away - the food was amazing (and even that’s an understatement!) the food came out super quickly. by far the best sushi i’ve ever had in the local area!

Best sushi in the ‘cuse! At least that’s what we think👍 food is excellent! Delivered quickly and very fresh with good portions. Not super fancy inside, and it’s on Marshall street on the hill so it’s tough to park and busy at times. Everyone working there was super friendly and efficient.

Stopped in twice while in Syracuse for the weekend. This is a delightful restaurant with a comfortable atmosphere that is accentuated by a wonderful staff. The food is fantastic and portions are generous. I highly recommend the Beef Spicy Curry; to die for.

I was eating dinner on 02/05/26 and I saw a waiter start yelling at one of the take out customers. The guy employee was telling them they made a mistake repeatedly when he didn’t need to be this rude to them. The food was great, but after seeing the waiter treat others, I wanted to leave this review.

On a Friday night(6pm) we grabbed a table for two right away. Our server was Sam, he was good and very conscientious. We were offered the happy hour(5-7pm) special for food and drinks. The appetizer and soups came quick and were delicious. The main course was worth the wait. The rolls had eight pieces and tasted fresh. There is an open kitchen and everything seems to be very orderly. The place was filled with mostly college students as it is in the university area. We enjoyed ourselves in all.

Best restaurant in Syracuse! The bento boxes are back and their curry dishes are amazing! Many new items added to their menu, including vegetarian and pork dumplings. Many incredible options for vegetarian. Table service is back and staff members are super friendly. Highly recommended!

I placed my order on February 5th, 2026 at 5:58 PM. I called in and clearly asked for the Gahum Roll, but the employee took it as a salmon hakamoku roll instead. I acknowledge that I may have misunderstood when the order was repeated, and I immediately apologized for the confusion. However, the employee (a skinny male with glasses) became extremely rude and aggressive, repeatedly saying, “I told you the order and you heard it wrong,” in a confrontational tone. His behavior made me very uncomfortable, to the point where I felt intimidated. Even after I apologized, he continued to grill me rather than calmly resolving the issue. I eventually received my order, but when I asked the manager for his name so I could report the incident properly, the manager refused and told me to leave. I did my best to remain polite throughout the situation, but the way I was treated was unacceptable and unprofessional. If anyone knows the employee’s name, please let me know, as I would like to escalate this to management.

Used to order from here frequently just over a year ago. Was absolutely fantastic before they shut down during this last summer break. When they opened back up we’ve tried it a couple times and neither were anything I would ever recommend. This last time is one I would never wish on anyone. Wife bit into Chicken Katsu just to realize it was raw on the inside. Most expensive possible salmonella exposure you can find in Syracuse if that’s what floats your boat.

Discovering a Japanese restaurant that not only serves delectable sushi but also understands the essence of taste and quality service can be a delightful experience. Such establishments, where the ambiance is just right for both romantic dates and friendly gatherings, become cherished spots for many. The bento box, a traditional Japanese meal that offers a variety of flavors in one convenient package, represents a thoughtful balance of nutrition and taste. It's no wonder that a well-crafted bento box can be considered a 'value for money' choice for those who appreciate the intricate flavors of Japanese cuisine. These restaurants often become landmarks in their locales, celebrated for bringing a slice of Japanese culinary artistry to the table.

This could be me just being a snob, but my sushi and sashimi slices were HUGE. Not in a good way. I had the sushi and sashimi set with a warm sake. Instead of delicate slices, these were hunks of fish. The nigiri slices were much larger than the sushi and made for an awkward bite. And the sashimi was so thick it felt a bit too much like taking a bite out of a side of tuna. The fish was fresh, the sauces and flavors were right. But Sushi is so much about knife skills and these were not it, for me. Someone else might have loved the generous portions, but I prefer a more traditional experience.

I order from here frequently and have been inside to eat often as well. The service is always very quick! They have my order ready in 5-10 minutes. The staff is always nice and helpful. There is plenty of seating in the place as well. They have updated over the last few years but I really like it in there. The ambiance is just a typical sushi place. The sushi is always sooooo good! I usually get the same few items but I tried the Gahmun roll and it was amazing! I think they really stepped up their sushi game and am excited to try other items on the menu. I recommend this place to anyone looking for some good sushi!

Fantastic soup. Fantastic service. My favorite place in town. We have some family in town and this is the place that always comes up where they want to it.

It's my favorite place to get lunch to go while at work. It offers a number of good vegetarian options. I've had the Tofu Teriaki bento, Tofu Curry, Vegetable Soba Bowl, and Sushi (Inari, Tamago, and Veggie Rolls). Portions are very generous (unlike another reviewer, I did get a big bowl of rice with my curry), and ingredients are fresh.

I had forgotten that I left a review here a decade go, and apparently not a great one... so I'd like to update my opinion: My husband and I were on the hunt for sushi and decided to stop here (my first time inside) for lunch. I had the Jacob roll and miso soup, and it truly was one of the best sushi rolls I've had! It was around $15 for the roll but it was freakin huge... it was 3x the size of other locations, so the price was well worth it. It tasted so fresh and delicious and the miso soup was equally perfect. I see there are a lot of 1 star reviews, but our experience was a full 5 stars-- delicious sushi, great waitress. I'm not sure what's changed in a decade (probably a lot!) but this was not the same sushi that I had 10 years ago! Amazing. We will be returning.

This place has been on campus for a long time. The food is solid and the menu is pretty extensive. This place gets crazy busy around events and on busy weekends and people tend to linger at the tables, so a wait can be long even if the line isn't that long. I had a poke bowl and miso soup. The person with me had pork belly tonkotsu ramen. Both were very tasty. It took a while to get our food because they were so busy. If you're on a schedule, budget extra time.

The takeout doesn't have rice with curry dish and when I called them and asked for refund, they offer an option to send rice to my home but didn't allow refund. Although I know they are busy, the lady on the phone was very arrogant.

Bleu Monkey's Poke Bowl in Syracuse is a value meal, easily stretching across two meals. Opt for the brown rice base, add edamame, crispy tempura flakes for a couple more dollars. Swap the fish for chicken. The game-changer here is the spicy teriyaki sauce; it adds a kick that works well with the sweet classic teriyaki in-house. Make sure to check that the chicken is thoroughly cooked before leaving. Bucha enjoyed the sushi rolls whenever we went here. California roll specifically as it was balanced and the rainbow roll as the quality of fish was great.

Popular for students like me but I haven't loved their food. You have to pay for all ramen toppings which is annoying and costly. But their Tonkotsu broth for noodle bowls is very good. Tonight I had the over rice bowl with the Katsu pork and it was good but VERY dry as it was just rice and fried pork- a sauce would have made it much better. It was served with some sort of spicy mayo which didn't pair very well with it. My friend said the the Salmon Teriyaki over rice bowl was very good!

Seriously? Again? Such a racist place. The cashier always pre-added at least 15% tip for ASIAN customers. Based on my observations, they only intend to do it to Asian. All the customers in front of the line can choose tip amount by themselves. As a SU alum, I used to dine here every time when I attend event in Syracuse. But this place keep making me disgusted. ASIAN peers, please SPEAK UP for yourselves. You have the RIGHT to choose the tip amount based on the service quality. Otherwise they will not treat you respectfully.

I USED TO BE a loyal customer my first year of Syracuse, often ordering delivery and taking friends who visited me to this place to dine at Bleu Monkey Cafe. Food was mid but it had a vegetarian option for me. Now, I would only recommend this place if you wanted to be scammed and bullied by their petty employees. Today, they called me after ordering my meal that they will not be making my meal because I "cancelled my previous meal and got it refunded through GrubHub." What ACTUALLY happened was that I got a suspicious soup concoction delivered to me that was not miso soup, and I got that singular soup refunded. I have the billing information in my bank statements. I did NOT get a whole meal refunded. The employee on the phone demanded that I was wrong, and that she had the receipts, and hung up the phone without any further information. Not sure what I did to deserve this kind of service but I will not be dining here anymore. What a disgusting and immature response. Such a shame, honestly.

I was surprised to see that they have a huge smoothie menu with lots of options for customization. You can add juice or club soda to your sodas. I tried a super fruit smoothie (blueberry, acai, pomegranate and goji berry) and liked it but thought it was too sweet. I cannot tell if it was made from a concentrate or syrup. I got that impression based off of how sweet it was. I ended up adding my own flavored bubbly water to it to balance the sweetness. That tasted great. I tried two rolls: mama tsang roll (carrots and tempura shrimp topped with shrimp, avocado, scallions, spicy and teriyaki sauce) and bleu monkey roll (tuna, scallions, almonds and fish roe topped with tuna, avocado and wasabi sauce). Each roll was $12.25. I really enjoyed both of them and thought the fish was fresh in the bleu monkey roll. The slivered almonds on top seemed a bit random. The tempura shrimp in the mama tsang roll didn't see as freshly/recently fried. It had a bit of a soggy quality but it could have been due to the fact that I got the food delivered. You can order ahead online. Outside of sushi, they also have bento boxes, noodles, curry and desserts. I was full after eating a little over 1 roll.

I recommend this restaurant for soups like udon, ramen, etc. The sushi wasn't stellar, but it will fill you up. It's extremely close to Syracuse University, so most of the customers are University Students. The staff was pretty nice.

So after a long time I decided to come back here and give them another shot. It actually was a friends idea who had to go to class right after. I have to say while there have been some definite improvements, they have some glaring issues I wish they would address. So I ordered the teriyaki beef box and was very delicious. The meat was very flavorful and all of the sides (there were a lot) were quite delicious. My friend ordered the poke bowl and said it was fantastic. So their food is something I would recommend wholeheartedly! The prices are quite fair as well. So the major issue here is the service is just terrible. The staff are so rude it's hard to ignore. We place extremely simple drink orders. 1 hot water and 1 cold water...they brought two cold waters. That already sets the stage. It then took them about 10 minutes to take our order after we asked 2 different people for assistance. Our waitress was really rude the whole time and my friend tried to convince me to not tip it was so bad. If they fix the service the restaurant will be fantastic.

The food was great, the service was phenomenal. We got our food easily under 10 minutes. Its also a very pleasant little restaurant to be in.

Excellent sushi - the cobra and California rolls were great; good saki offerings, excellent appetizers in the tempura shrimp and miso soup. Quick, efficient yet not intrusive service. Couldn't be happier with the meal

Bleu monkey is a staple on Marshall Street and I hope it never runs out of business. The hosts are always so friendly and they know my face by now and it makes it feel so homey. The food always taste fresh which is surprising because we are in upstate New York, but I have been going every single week of college and I would definitely recommend edamame. The portion is great and they always plate it so well.

GF-Vegans there's something here for you! There usually is with Asian food and this is a great little place near campus where you can build a GF Vegan bowl as pictured. It's fast and tasty. I had the shoyu sauce but you could eat it clean too. It's a little grubby and very casual inside, which suits me perfectly.

We were browsing /walking the streets near Syracuse University for dinner and we came across this restaurant. We saw them serving sushi rolls and we thought they looked good so we decided to try eating here. They had great service. My family ordered teriyaki chicken bento, salmon bento, and i ordered the Lindsay Roll. The Lindsay Roll had crabmeat, seaweed salad, avocado, unagi, and some crunchies on the top. It was super good. The teriyaki salmon was pretty good. We didn't expect the teriyaki chicken to be white meat. Because we prefer dark meat, we were not impressed with the chicken bento. But overall, we enjoyed our dinner experience here.

We ordered Bento boxes, late night order and delivery to our hotel, they were so fast and the food was such a great value for what came with, it was so cold and snowing and the woman even came up to the room . The bento boxes came with a protein Katsu Chicken or Salmon, white rice , salad, miso soup, 4 sushi rolls , spring roll ! It hit the spot after working all day and getting delivery!

In town for a conference and wanted to try something close to the hotel. Excellent service (Sam was our waiter) and quality food! Sam made some suggestions from the menu. I chose one of the item he suggested, the Ha Ha, and was NOT disappointed! Great flavors!! My coworker had the Eel over rice & enjoyed his meal as well. Great experience! Thank you, Sam and the chefs!!

The service here was great. Our waitress was friendly and our food came very quickly. The sushi and calamari were very yummy. Definitely recommend.

Closed until further notice. Would be helpful if their operating status was posted to their website...or if when a customer called to place an order, there was a message saying as much. ::shrugs::

4.5 stars I don't eat sushi, but the 3 people I was with said it was the best and most interesting choices of sushi they have ever had. The happy hour drink and appetizer specials are plentiful. The Poke bowl was amazing. Yes, the floors are sticky and the crowd is young and loud, but don't discount the place because of the reviews.

Coming from California, at first, I thought this restaurant was wayyy below average. But, after going to eat once every couple of months, it's the closest thing that reminds me of what I can get back home in K-Town, Los Angeles. The Chicken Katsu Bento comes with so much food ( rice, cali. rolls ,katsu, miso soup, egg roll, salad) and the Poke Bowls are my favorite! A poke bowl with 1 protein can fill me up for 2 meals! It's unlimited toppings of your choice and is offered for a very reasonable price. I've never made a reservation and had no problem being seated. It's not too loud, and the food comes out fairly fast!

the food was not worth the money, sticky tables, no napkins anywhere, server was impatient and rude. And the cashier begged for a tip, and when I gave the tip she said it was rude and it wasn't enough.

From the get-go coming into the restaurant, something was off. We entered around 9pm (an hour or so before closing -- it says 11pm on Yelp), and the waitress asks us "table for two?" and just points at some tables. Doesn't say anything about it so we were confused. So we voluntarily sat at an open table in the area she gestured at. We had to call a different waitress for the menus. Once approached by the first waitress again, we told her we needed a couple minutes to decide. She said that "we can't take too long" because the kitchen is closing. 5 minutes pass by and we are ready to order. After waiting another 5 minutes for her to take our order, my partner originally orders the poke bowl to which our waitress agitatedly says "we stopped serving that at 8." He changes his order, and then I order the soup. A few minutes later, she comes to us and asks us if we could pay now without even receiving our food yet! We agree to, and my partner chooses to not give her a tip because of our experience so far with her. Irritated, she storms off. She hands us our food with no response to our thank you's. We were just uncomfortable with the environment and service. Another waitress came over and asked if there was something wrong with the service. It was all weird. We had been rushed in and out of this restaurant. The food is mediocre at best; nothing special. We will not be back. Tips should be earned, not expected.

The sushi is very solid for a restaurant that is all around the country. I believe that they should open up their selection a little bit and the menu was a bit confusing, but the food was solid and my friends and I enjoyed our meals.

We've been here a handful of times, it was only due to convenience. The service here was relatively friendly and fast, the food was pretty bland and nothing special, didn't even finish my miso soup, which I'm usually a fan of. I've had better sushi in Syracuse, I wouldn't recommend it being a top choice or really a choice at all.

Ok so this was my first and last time coming here! I had a few hours to spend since I have a baby at home! I was really looking forward to go out and this was a bad experience! Paying $40 for 3 regular rolls that were basically tons of rice is not exactly what I had in mind! The kani salad was just crab meat and that's not a kani salad! Kani salad has cucumber and masago! Nothing was good or even close to decent! I don't understand why it has good reviews, maybe sushi is bad... Anyways I will never come back! I left unsatisfied and feeling sick!

While we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food at the Bleu Monkey Cafe, it does not stand up to Japanese restaurants in the New York City or Fairfield County areas, so I've limited it to three stars. That being said, this is Marshall Street in Syracuse, and we had a very pleasant meal here. The Katsu pork I had came with an orange sauce rather than the dark sauce it is usually served with. The sushi is fresh and tasty. The poke bowels are new. If reviewers could give half stars, I'd give this place three and one-half stars.

I can't find anything bad to say about this restaurant. That makes me happy. The food was delivered very quickly - tasty! And exactly as we ordered. The rolls came out with soy paper as requested, and with all wasabi on the side. The chicken teriyaki was Delish! The sake was good, and our waiter was spectacular. I would go here five times a week if I lived in Syracuse.

I used to love the Bleu Monkey! I ate there three to four times per week. But then, one day I went to pay. I was moving quickly on my way to class and must not have tipped on the kiosk when paying. I took my receipt and left, yet as I was walking out the employee checking me out followed me out of the restaurant to argue about me leaving a tip. He bullied me into buying a soda just to leave a tip, which I am sure did not go to the server I had, which for the matter just brought me my food and check. I did not have bad service, but as a student with limited finances, I did not have the luxury of tipping extremely well, and do not feel that it was right to be bullied into tipping especially when in the state of New York, tips are not mandatory. If this employee feels this strongly, he should recommend something to the business instead of bullying college students into buying other things to leave a tip.

All around, Bleu Monkey is a great restaurant. I love coming here to catch up with friends. It is such a convenient location -- close to campus and also surrounded by other local restaurants. Their sushi rolls are amazing and are worth the price, considering how much is put into the rolls (salmon, tuna, crab-meat, etc.). By comparison, Bleu Monkey is one of the best local Asian cuisine restaurants in the University campus area.

Not sure about this place it's a bit odd. First off the octopus app was a nightmare looked nothing like the other pics on yelp. Sushi was ok I'd actually give the sushi 3 stars but the rest has drug down the rating. Also had ramen and I wasn't impressed. I've been to Japan a few times and this was meh ok. Also it had corn which is pretty new to ramen and usually only in northern Japan. But worst of all the corn was frozen corn. I rarely complain about price but this place is a bit excessive for what you get. At almost 50 buck for a roll octopus app and 2 ramen I'd expect not to be served frozen corn at least The server was good Doubt I'll be back

Fantastic! Fresh food with a beautiful presentation and everything was delicious! I'm so glad I found this place. It's my go to now when in Syracuse. We had the avocado salad, shrimp dumpling miso soup, a custom noodle bowl and a poke bowl. Everything was so good!

I'm disappointed I came all the way from Utica (since we don't have any ramen there) And the ramen just taste like cheap ramen from an Asian market I don't like the broth, it's not rich. Didn't knew that this restaurant is in a campus. Miss California's good ramen so bad right now

We found this gem when we were in Syracuse for a convention. I wanted a different restaurant but they were closed. On the walk back to the hotel we saw this place... Devine intervention. Service was great, sake was fantastic and the bowls... oh my my.

Wow! Sat there for 15 minutes....no service. Just walked out. How do these waiters not see people sitting there that haven't ordered? Gotta tell you not impressed with this place at all....disorganized is the only word that comes to mind. Not a good way to end our visit to Syracuse! I'd stay away from this place. Sorry I can't give an honest review of the food since we were never served!

bleu monkey haiku: mediocre food close to hospital and school few options, still come

I was totally unimpressed. I really just wanted sushi at a reasonable price and I thought this would be it. I ordered through grubhub and the prices were ok, a little pricey. I mean I am from Philadelphia, so our sushi should be pricier than this but it was actually more expensive here than home. We ordered a ton of food and when it arrived I was just flat out disappointed. We ordered multiple sushi rolls, they were all "meh". I mean the tuna was fatty and flavor-less. They seemed to be mostly rice and very loosely rolled so they were falling apart. We ordered shrimp shumai and it was bland and unappetizing. We also ordered a special roll, which I cannot remember the name of, but it was again bland, too much rice, not enough filling, and the ingredients came off as very cheap tasting. I also ordered a pork bento box. It was a large portion and around $13, so reasonable on price. However, it was a large dry piece of breaded pork on top of a bed of sticky rice. No sauces for it. On the side it came with a plain salad and one spring roll that was again very bland. I am actually quite upset and I wish I could get a refund but, at the same time, I guess it's my fault from ordering from there. I just know in the future I definitely won't get sushi from here again.

One of the best quick eats next to campus! They've expanded into a new space (not sure how much I like it). I also always got solid sushi takeout here during cram time for assignments or had a nice quick lunch with a fellow grad student before running back to class. Their lunch specials are awesome! Get combos of your fave rolls (the sashimi will not fill you up though, so I usually go for a couple rolls). The dressing on the salad is especially memorable (asian ginger sesame kind of thing), and I am no salad fiend, but I would go back here just for that! Note: This is *not* a place to get nigiri. You're not looking a top sushi place (Ambrosia downtown, surprisingly, was better @ sushi, as were some places on Erie - or make your own sashimi with Fin n Tail). I wouldn't go out of my way to go here from elsewhere in Syracuse, but if you're on campus, it's a good spot. FYI They also serve Bleu Monkey sushi upstairs at the Unique Tea House.

Great place for japanese food. They've got noodles, rice, sashimi, the works. I had the chirashi here and eel over rice. The chirashi is an assortment of raw fish served in a bowl of sushi rice, comes with miso soup and a salad. It wasn't bad at all, I just had one complaint, the slices of sashimi were way too big. It's not bite sized and hard to bite apart. It's cumbersome to eat. The eel over rice wasn't bad either. It also comes with miso soup and a salad , like most of their meals. Definitely great quality food here. If you're trying to decide between here and Sakana Ya for japanese food, come here if you're hungry and want variety. Go to sakana ya if you're just looking for sushi or have a sushi craving.

Came here the first time and it didn't live up to my expectations. Came here again and it blew my expectations. Had the beef with rice. Popular sushi dinner place for Syracuse University students.

Meh, college sushi nothing special. I feel like this is the kind of sushi you get at a grocery store.

For a sushi place in Upstate New York, this place is worth a try if you want ramen or sushi. The food came out fast but they got parts of our order wrong which is why I didn't give it the full 5 stars. The ramen soup with tofu in the miso base was delicious, they prepared the tofu well so it was still tender and not chewy.

Lacking hospitality, tried their noodle soup & was not impressed or pleased in the slightest.

Delicious sushi and ramen in a fun setting with lots of chatter. The monster roll was truly a monster and delicious as was the spider and spicy tuna roll. I don't think you can go wrong!