Hatsu Omakase

We had our favorite meal this past trip at Hatsu Omakase. You start with 13 courses of nigiri, along with a few small bites. My favorites out of these courses were the salmon and foie gras, seared chutoro, and unagi. The best part was the AYCE portion of the meal, where I ordered quite a few pieces of chutoro and wagyu. The service here was fantastic, with our sake cups constantly being filled with quite a bit of variety for their AYCD menu. Shoutout to Amy for the warm hospitality. It’s also pretty awesome to see the chefs in action, with so much focus and experience. Hatsu is the best. You get a great meal and a pregame wrapped up in one. I will come here every time I’m back in NYC.

My boyfriend and I had an amazing time here. There were courses that came out that we were eh about and some that we were talking about for the rest of the night. All you can drink sake included and I tried about 5 of them? The owner, Jackie, is the main chef and superb in what he does. The sushi is on the smaller size but the perfect pop in your mouth size and then the all you can eat at the end, they are VERY generous. I left so full haha

I dropped by Hatsu for my birthday and it was such a serendipitous encounter. The environment was so friendly and the food was so good. I love how they don’t give you too much rice, and the flavor of the sushi is superb. I would one hundred percent come back again and bring all my friends!

Compared to SourAji and Sushi Hayashi, Hatsu is the worst of the three. I came for their 15% off February deal for last seating at 9:30. Inside is very small so you’ll be elbow to elbow at the sushi counter. Service was very good, but they poured the drinks slower than other places. Their sake selection was also not great, but they did offer champagne. The omakase itself was underwhelming. Most of the fish during the omakase course were bland or had no taste. The AYCE portion was a generous 2 rounds and 30-40 minutes with choice of salmon, lean tuna, fatty tuna, and wagyu. I wasn’t a fan of how they torched the salmon or undertorched the wagyu, but the pieces were regular size and not filled with extra rice. I ended up ordering 37 additional pieces and wasn’t that full. I wouldn’t recommend this place and would say go to Sushi Hayashi (1) or SourAji (2) instead.

My friends and I decided to check out the AYCE sushi here, priced at $99pp. The omakase includes 13 pieces of nigiri and one appetizer to start. The miso soup was surprisingly good and comforting. I will say the nigiri pieces were on the smaller side, but the quality was slightly better than what I’ve had at SourAji. I didn’t realize the restaurant was BYOB, but they do offer a variety of sake. Once you’re done with the omakase course, you’re allowed to have two additional rounds of salmon, lean tuna, toro, and Wagyu. I went all in with 6 pieces of toro and 18 pieces of wagyu. The wagyu was good but a bit on the tough. :/ Overall, it was a good experience. The service was great, both the servers and the chef were incredibly friendly and welcoming.

Tried this new omakase in east village and it was absolutely worth the try!!! This omakase comes with 16 courses, not including AYCE option after you finish the 16 courses for price of $99. You can BYOB!! The starters starts with my favorite oyster, then real crab salad; following by miso soup. The omakase consists for 13 different of nigiris. The highlight was the fatty tune with caviar dusted by gold flake. It was definitely very fancy!! After you finished the nigiris, you have a choice to fatty tuna, lean tuna, wagyu beef and also salmon for AYCE. You can simply tell the chef how many pieces you would like. After we were finished with the meal we finished off with dessert!! I was super duper fulled after the meal, usually I was left hungry after trying other omakase place but this AYCE omakase place is over my expectations. In addition, I got 15% off for the grand opening, but I heard it’s only for the month February only. Definitely will come back next time!!

💰 Price: There was a 10% discount in April. The average cost per person was around $100. Surprisingly, they brought the POS machine directly to the table for payment—not even a bill holder 🧾 😅 so awkward! Overall Rating: 3/5 • Food quality and portion size were good. • Rice was not great at all. • Lighting and ambiance were poor—this is actually very important! The dim lighting made it feel like a depressing study hall. ⚠️ be careful about Some Sketchy Tactics: • 90-minute time limit, but they deliberately slowed down the service at the beginning, leaving very little time for the AYCE portion at the end. • The thing is… even with AYCE, I only ordered a few extra pieces, and I barely drank (just had a sip of dry sake, which was pretty good) 🍶. Why was the owner so worried? If you can’t afford to run an AYCE place properly, maybe don’t do it at all! Wasting customers’ time is not okay. 🍣 Food Breakdown: • Set menu included: appetizers + 13 courses. Appetizer was crab meat + caviar—pretty solid. • AYCE selection: fatty tuna, lean tuna, wagyu, shrimp, and sake were included. 💁 Service: • The staff were nice, but there was only one server and one chef. • There were only four groups of customers, and we all made reservations in advance, so the slow service felt more like a deliberate tactic by the owner. 💺 Seating Recommendation: • Best seats: Window counter seats. • Avoid: Bar seating inside (a bit cramped) and tables (awkwardly far apart for two people). 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️Biggest Disappointment: • I specifically came for AYCE salmon sushi 🍣, but when we arrived on April 1st, they said it wasn’t available this month? We saw it advertised before, so it felt really misleading. If you can’t offer something, don’t advertise it. 🙂‍↔️ Very disappointed. 👍 Salmon from the Omakase set was delicious, as well as the sweet shrimp 🦐🐟. 👎 Uni was so so—not fresh. 👎 Sushi rice was mediocre and slightly cold—this was the biggest issue. Would I come back? Maybe, but only if they stop playing games with the AYCE timing and menu. ____ Below was added according to the owner’s reply: I ordered sake because the waiting time was too long, and I started feeling cold. The service staff was very nice, but the owner’s deliberate delay in serving the dishes was completely unnecessary! As you mentioned, we only had a little sake and added a small portion to the AYCE, so the limited time was not an issue. What was truly frustrating was the intentional delay in serving the food, which wasted the customers’ time. Additionally, such a personalized response from the business is also quite uncomfortable!

I came here a weekend prior with my girls and needed to come back with my boyfriend this weekend! 13 courses, all you can drink sake, and 2 rounds of all you can eat (shrimp, lean tuna, fatty tuna, and wagyu) is so insanely worth it! The biggest reason I came back though is the service. Everyone is SO nice and welcoming but Hao is one of my favorite people on earth! His service is top tier and he's so fun to talk to. This has become my favorite omakase place in the city. 10/10 would recommend to anyone.