Hongsuk S.
Yelp
I came here by myself on a late Friday night for a quick snack and this place was still packed. Luckily, there was a spot open at the bar. I had heard about this place from a friend and was told that this place was the best ever so I came with high expectations.
To start, I ordered the Smoked Salmon Oshi. It was one piece of a oshizushi (osaka style box sushi) in a glass cage of a smokey/chilled air mixture. The presentation was beautiful and it was unique to my experiences. The piece of oshizushi was quite flavorful and the chilled smoke gave it a nice additional oomph. I don't think I aired mine out enough before eating it so I did get a bit more smokiness than I bargained for, but was still happy with it. I'd recommend trying this at least once.
Next, I went with the Tsukiji Sashimi Omakase. For $24 that night, I got 2 slices of torched pike mackerel, 2 pieces of stone flounder, and 2 pieces of scallop. The pike mackerel came with its own sauce and was awesome. It had great, bold flavor, was a good temperature, and the soy sauce mixture complemented the fish extremely well. The stone flounder and scallop I wasn't too pleased with at all. I wouldn't say the condition was bad, just not very flavorful like I'm used to. Maybe I got a not so good part of the actual fish/shellfish sections themselves. Unlucky.
Finally, I got the salmon oshi based on reviews. I've had oshizushi before, but Kishimoto's spin on it was quite different and delicious. All the ingredients mixed in well with each other, while not being slathered in mayo like I see in the U.S. Just a warning, the jalapenos that came on my roll were quite spicy, so if you're averse to spiciness, maybe sit this one out. My only gripes about this roll were that there was a little too much rice to ingredients ratio, and the jalapeno spiciness was a little bit too overpowering, but I understand the spiciness of a jalapeno is unknown until you cut into it and taste it.
The prices are a little bit higher than what I'm used to, but it is a popular restaurant so I understand supply/demand laws. Everything on the whole was really great. I was a bit bummed out that my stone flounder and scallops weren't that good, but it wasn't like they were spoiled or anything. I might have been a bit more bummed out that they had run out of what was originally in the omakase so they replaced it with the stone flounder, but I did come in late so... you win some you lose some. I would definitely try the smoked salmon oshi and at least one of the large oshi sets. Would definitely come again to try a safer omakase (salmon, tuna, hamachi), and another oshi.