Origami Restaurant

We stopped at Origami for an early dinner. Their rolls were fresh and tasty! Miso soup was kind of okay. The outdoor area looks very nice but we sat inside because it was a hot day. It would probably be fun to sit at the bar and watch the sushi chefs work. Their staff is kind and helpful. I thought the service was quite fast too which was great because we were starving!

Great food and huge variety. Definitely looking forward to me next visit.

This is my go-to spot for sushi in the city. While there are several more premium options for sushi, they come with premium price tags. None of them hold a candle to Origami in terms of value. The menu here is extensive, so it will be easy to find something for everyone in your party. The rolls are pretty standard, but all are good. Their nigiri in particular stands out for being excellent yet being almost half the price of some of the other more hyped sushi locations in the city. Their cocktails are great as well.

I had the chirashi lunch, and it was fabulous. Really generous amount of sashimi and rice. Loved the iced green tea, and was glad to get a refill.

This restaurant exceeded our expectations in every way - I highly recommend giving it a try and experiencing it for yourself.

If I could leave zero stars, I would. My daughter and her friend both became violently ill within an hour of eating sushi here. We called the restaurant out of basic concern for public safety, not to ask for a refund (despite the overpriced 71$ for mediocre sushi). The response from management was appalling. The manager cut me off, refused to even listen, and made comments to the effect of “these kids always do this, they’re grifters.” In other words, he dismissed local area students as scammers rather than take a legitimate health risk seriously. He then made a veiled comment about “having our credit card number.” In the background, I could hear a waitress reading my name from the caller ID, saying “is this the one you were talking about,” which made it sound like they were already expecting complaints. At one point the manager even admitted “this always happens.” That alone should be enough to keep people away. The Louisiana Health Department has recently cited Origami Sushi for food protection, sanitation, and garbage/refuse violations. Those reports are public record. Add that history to what happened to us and you have a clear picture: unsafe food practices, dismissive management, and outright hostility when customers raise health concerns. This is not just bad service. This is dangerous. If you value your health, your dignity, or even basic decency, avoid Origami Sushi on Freret Street at all costs.

I have been a passionate connoisseur of Japanese food for over 20 years. Origami is a fusion of westernized Japanese cuisine that does not sacrifice too much of the authentic flavors and brings quality ingredients and generous portions. Take a look at some of my photos - the slices of fish are nice and thick and not overwhelmed by filler. Other things that we tried such as karaage and cucumber namasu were also really flavorful and well executed.

Nara Wood Blood Orange had me at hi… Origami Japanese Restaurant is a fantastic spot tucked into the Ferret Street corridor. Dishes abound with favorites and original combinations. Do not roll out without trying the signature cocktails or chop to it and stick to the soups and veggie options.

This sushi restaurant has been a family favorite for years, and they seem to have recently separated themselves as the purveyor of the freshest sushi in southeast Louisiana. I couldn't believe how tender and on point every seafood item we ordered was. Que ilusión the octopus, the tuna, the crab... Every ingredient on point. Exquisite. Not to mention the staff are polite and attentive. Very pretty interior with plenty of natural light in the relaxed freret street atmosphere.

Seated: 6:45. Order drinks (bottle of beer and: 6:50 Waiter AWOL til 7:05 7:05: order appetizers and entrees. Ask about drinks. 7:15: appetizers arrive. Ask about drinks again 7:25: entrees arrive. 7:30: bottle of beer arrives. Cancel order for old fashioned and decide to go to Cure. It shouldn't take nearly 40 minutes for a beer to arrive. I was excited to try the Ume Old Fashioned and the Tears of Montelobos. Instead I'm trying neither. We've been here many times, but this was sufficiently disappointing that I don't expect we'll return anymore.

This is the perfect sushi place. It has great food great service and really cool atmosphere where the decor is really cool and the music was wonderful. I really enjoyed that. The owner had a good mix of some Parliament funkadelic I really enjoyed. It's a funky music playing! We ordered the tuna avocado, which was incredible and also the tuna sushi was wonderful. We also ordered another roll involving a topping that was made of of spicy tuna with a soy paper. We also ordered tempura, battered vegetables, was really good of vegetables perfectly done as well with a great dipping sauce.

The NOLA roll is great!! Also interesting selection of Japanese beers which was nice. A little pricey, but worth it IMO. Service was very nice as well. Definitely recommend for some high-quality sushi.

I have been a regular at Origami since its establishment. It was sold a couple of years ago and the quality suffered. I visited it last night after hearing good reviews from family members. Well, the rumors were correct. It has improved and serves good Japanese food again. Miso soup was tasty. The fish was fresh. The chirashi plate was generous with a good variety of ingredients. Rice was nicely sticky and was easily eaten with chopsticks. They had aji mackerel. They prepared the sashimi and the bone properly. There was a very tasty sauce on the aji sashimi, which elevated the taste. The nine was crispy and crunchy. I think serving Aji is one of the important aspects of a Japanese restaurant, and speaks to being a full menu rather than serving various rolls. I will definitely go back.

good food and great service! we were seated immediately and ate Sushi and Tempura which was so good. They were very accommodating to my specific requests and our server was very nice.

This sushi restaurant is nestled in the hip part of town near the university. The food there was great and the service was fairly quick. As far as the quality of the sushi cut is concerned, the quality and size is great! We enjoyed everything we ordered and left completely satisfied.

Food was delicious. I love anything tartare. Fried shrimp was crispy and delicious. Love the "feel". I'll be back very soon...want to sit at the bar area. Servers courteous and to the point.

Such an amazing local sushi spot! Even though I don't eat sushi I've been going here for years since I was at Tulane because everyone loves it so much and they make an amazing chicken teriyaki plate that you can see in picture two. And basically no matter how full you are, DO NOT skip out on the banana tempura for dessert! They serve it drizzled in honey and it's just fantastically sweet. You can really see and taste the craft in how they prepare their dishes... and there cocktails! Plus it's such an affordable delicious meal too! Plus, I really enjoy seeing all the staff because a couple of people at the front of the house have been there for years and are so kind and energetic and you can tell they just love running this restaurant.

If this is one of the best sushi places in New Orleans, then New Orleans must have pretty mediocre sushi throughout the city. Tl;dr is average sushi and ambiance, terrible service. We went on a Tuesday night, waited 45 minutes for a table. Service was slow and sloppy start to finish. Our server ignored us for a full 10 minutes without even giving us water, and from then on, every part of our meal took an excessive amount of time. Beers took 10-15 minutes. Our food took nearly an hour. After about 40 minutes, our server placed a large tray of rolls in front of us and didn't say a word. We all looked at each other slightly confused... this doesn't look like what we ordered? Lucky for the restaurant, we were hesitant to start, and wouldn't you know it... another server comes by 2 minutes later and tells us it's not our food! She picks it up and delivers it to another table. Weird! I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. We wait another 20 minutes for our actual food, which is delivered without any explanation of what each roll is. The sushi itself was fine--good, but nothing to write home about. The server mutters something under his breath about having been at the restaurant all day as he refills a water glass. Now we feel guilty being here, apparently making his day unintentionally worse by having dinner with some friends. It seemed like the restaurant may have been understaffed, which I total understand and have encountered many times. I can imagine how stressful that must be. But also... set expectations and tell us that upfront? Or seat less people if you don't have the staff to provide good service? Instead, we had a mediocre time and felt disappointed enough to write a negative review.

This place was a long-time favorite of mine, mostly because of the lunch menu prices and the salad dressing balance that favors the ginger over the sweet more than many other locations. Like many eateries, this place was affected by the pandemic, but because of an increase in prices, I'm forced to re-evaluate the value of this location. It has previously been the best valued location for years, but the price of my favorite meal increased by 5 dollars per plate. In light of the approximately 35% increase of charge and the recent decrease in quality, I am forced to think that the price is horribly average or even slightly high for sushi in NOLA. It will hurt since this location has been a staple of my sushi needs for so long, but it's time to part ways Origami and find a new location to regular. :(   Value is 7/10. I would suggest going here if you are in the area, but not going much out of your way to visit.

Not sure if it's covid or seasonal but I wanted to cry looking at the menu last week No eggplant app No squid app All the rolls changed My heart came wanting certain things and definitely left a little sad Nonetheless everything we got was fresh and delicious but the menu changes left me a little depressed Is it covid? Is it seasonal? We will never know

Food is extremely mediocre. I ordered 2 sushi rolls for takeout. They put both rolls in one box. My co-worker and I do not eat from the same plate, so one person ate, the other went to nearby Rouses to get lunch. Pretty ridiculous for them to pack 2 orders into 1 plate. BTW, they charge a "take out" fee!!! I've never seen anything like this. Bad food, bad service, very overpriced.

Such a disappointment. This place USED to be amazing. We should have left when we saw they'd completely changed their menu. Now their sushi is overworked and over sauced. We will never go back and hope you others save yourself the trip and money.

Been here five times. Very typical sushi, but cute decor. Wait staff is always rushed. Food is fine but nothing special. It's often freezing to the point of discomfort. I asked 3 different servers to please increase the temperature. Another customer heard me and said it was always too cold in there. When we left I noticed that the decreased the temperature during our dinner, making it even colder. It's a cute restaurant but not worth being cold to the point where you can't enjoy eating.

The absolute best dessert ever! The tempura was crispy with the banana being warm. The honey adds a subtle sweetness. I need to go back for seconds.

So happy this place is in uptown! A new owner currently bought it and the head sushi chef, Matthew, is great and so accommodating. He definitely knows his fish and takes pride in every piece he makes. He recommended the striped bass and hirame. I actually liked it better than the salmon belly and that's a surprise! I loved the scallop as well. The servers I had were really accommodating and paid attention to when I needed a refill. The outside of the place looks like a home. They definitely aren't at full capacity which is great. There's a lot of room to sit and be far away from others.

Origami was an early settler in the Freret Street renaissance, moving into a space formerly occupied by a rowdy bar. Service and sushi are up to par with other New Orleans places, but without some of the heavy glitz in some of the larger places around town. The decor is predominated by light woods and is refreshingly spare and modern, even after nearly a decade. Recently an outdoor deck was installed, but the big hardwood booths and sitting at the bar are somehow more conducive to eating here. For cold weather, the soba and udon noodle bowls are OUTSTANDING choices, with a base salted just right and served steaming hot. Hot tea comes in its own traditional ceramic pot that keeps it warm. If you like bananas, try the eponymous Origami Roll, a basic eel roll with an inch-tall banana slice that's been tempura fried and set atop each piece. I'm not sure how the eel and the banana complement each other, but those little banana cylinders are sublime. The sushi slices serve as the perfect base by keeping the bottom of the banana bits from turning soggy. This is one of my favorite banana concoctions in town--and this is the same town that originated Bananas Foster. Some of the other rolls have names that harken back to when Origami opened. There's a Chocolate City roll that goes back to a controversy three mayors ago and a FEMA roll named for either the "heckuva job" Federal agency or the temporary trailers that were ubiquitous in the aftermath of the 2005 Katrina levee failures. Origami should consider creating a new roll, the "NFC No Call Playoff Roll" where the little piece of yellow tail stays firmly tucked inside no matter what you do to it

Sushi is mediocre and overpriced, sat on patio and got absolutely pummeled by flies as soon as food was set down. We counted and there were upwards of 24 flies (not fruit, the big kind) around us-- at one point 4 landed on a single piece of sushi. I've eaten at sushi (and other cuisine) restaurants across the city both inside and outside and never had so many flies-- very curious as to why this is such an issue. Wish the hostess would have given us a warning, instead of seating us and giving us a little fan thing "to keep insects off" (spoiler alert: it didn't work).

This spot was pretty average, nothing too special but nothing too horrible either. Crunchy rolls had fried onions on the *inside* which was very interesting? They weren't that crunchy and were hard to discern from the regular California roll. We also tried the Rock n Roll which had shrimp tempura and it was good! But was definitely more of the type of sushi you'd get from the grocery store than a specialty sushi place. I think the prices were pretty decent though! And if you're feeling yakisoba, they were also pretty average.

The food was incredible. Highlight was this roll. I ordered a to-go order but then decided to sit in and eat. The staff immediately set up all my food on plates, brought me water, and constantly checked in to see if I needed anything else. They were amazingly attentive even though I inconvenienced them by deciding to eat in. The staff was all friendly and I couldn't have been happier. Will definitely go again!

Fabulous Sushi and Salad too -actually I have never had anything that wasn't Great! Always welcoming and they have Tabasco Sriracha sauce which Is fabulous with the Mackerel. Their Egg custard is homemade and the first one I have ever liked!

One of my favorite places to get sushi in NOLA. The box fresh salmon is the best! Everything here is super fresh.

Disregard any negative reviews. This place is fantastic. Compares to, if not exceeds, all of the best sushi restaurants in Nola. Treat yo damn self and come here!

the sushi here is great! They have a variety to choose from and it has a really nice setting and vibe overall

The 3 roll lunch special was filling and reasonably priced. Pretty crowded at lunch time on a Friday, but there was plenty of space. They were understaffed with only one waitress so she was extremely busy. My friend got the poke salad which also looked good. A solid sushi option for good value.

I find Origami is truly so dependable. Great service. Spacious booths (I love a booth). And fantastic sushi. My go to is the Baby Mama Roll. Essentially, a vegetable roll topped with spicy guacamole. Hey, don't knock it till you try it. Seriously it's fantastic. The guacamole also comes ontop of the Funky Margarita Roll. The enoki mushrooms are the best I've ever had. Large menu and I've never eaten one item and haven't liked it. Love this place.

I LOVE Japanese cuisine and love to give new joints a try. Origami is an above average sushi establishment that I certainly wouldn't mind dining at again. The interior decor was new, clean, and stylish. It was a welcoming environment that has a clear view of the sushi bar and kitchen, both being very clean along with the rest of the restaurant. The waitress was attentive and knowledgeable of the menu. I kept it traditional with the lunch roll combo which comes with 3 rolls, a miso soup, and a ginger dressed salad. The side salad wasn't my favorite, I've had better for sure. The miso was above average but lacking in tofu and there was no seaweed at all. The rolls were filled and rolled tight and tasted fresh. My only other minor complaint was that I couldn't get tuna avocado rolls yet there is a salmon avocado roll on the menu which was confusing to me since the rolls are made to order. It was odd but I ended up getting spicy tuna rolls instead and they were actually fairly spicy which came to my surprise since I don't find spicy rolls to actually be spicy. Overall great experience, just good luck in attempt to find parking!

Origami is a great place to get some thick rolls and relatively variated fish on the menu. I was surprised they sold uni, but they sold out before I could try it. The chef was right in front of me, and he was swift and prompt when making my food. I did have some questions about the menu, and the manager (not sure) came over and he answered my questions. Maybe it was the communication or the hard of hearing but I did feel like he had a slight condescending tone. Needless to say, I didn't think our interaction was the most pleasant. The service from my waitress was cool, she was swift with service and I felt like she was pretty good with her hospitality. The sushi itself seemed a tad bland. I ordered a roll with spicy tuna and it didn't have a spice or flavor note. The Sara 2.0 was good but the sushi itself was way too overpowered by the tempura/fish topping they put on it. Overall, I would give this place another try but only order their nigiri or maki rolls because their menu is quite eclectic.

Big fan! In my opinion, this place is one of the best sushi restaurants in NOLA. Everytime I go, the fish is always fresh and excellent. Service is always on point. Also, the portions are decent for the price. My go to things: Chirashi, Salmon Carpaccio, Spicy Tuna Tartare.. Don't sleep on this place. Check it out!

Our favorite go to sushi, dine and and take out! Their happy hour is a fun way to try different sakes too!

A nice sushi spot tucked a little further down Freret. I really loved the atmosphere inside, it was a little unassuming from the outside but the inside was refreshing and light. We ordered the edamame and 3 rolls: spicy tuna, salmon and avocado, and vegetable. Each was delicious and the vegetable roll was delightful! It was a little pricey but delicious nonetheless and I'm sure we'll be back.

Sorry. We gave this place - our former favorite of many years - a second and then a third chance. Stay away! Must have been sold (twice?) recently, and new management has tweaked the service and kitchen quality. Prices went up, menus got fancy, but everything else about the Origami experience has gone downhill. Sushi is boring now, and the tofu and noodles dish is kinda gross. The dish is redolent with some off-putting spice while the stir-fried tofu essentially tastes like cubes of cardboard. Tempura is no longer delicate, crisp and tasty; now it's served thick, dull and chunky. American chef much? Servers seem annoyed, sushi chefs look overworked, and some bearded guy (the new owner/manager?) shows up tableside from time to time to loudly interpose himself, or barks commands to staff. Specials are dubious-sounding (we did not try) but evidently make that dude very excited. Even the music is wrong: fast moving tired pop from the 1980s. Searching elsewhere now for good sushi. You had a good run, Origami.

I'm writing this as I'm eating the Black Jack roll and y'all. This is my second time doing takeout and I can't believe I'm just trying this place. The sushi is so fresh and even the presentation in the to-go box is nice. I heard about this place from another local and was amazed to realize I live 3 minutes away from this gem. The staff are also really friendly and attentive and the place has a very laidback vibe. I'm looking forward to becoming a regular at this spot. 11/10 :) (So far I've had/ highly recommend the Black Jack roll, the Funky Margarita, and the Burning woman.)

This is in my opinion, one of the best sushi places in the city. The staff is attentive and friendly. The restaurant is comfortable and clean. Any roll that you order is fresh and tasty. Their tuna sashimi is so yummy! The appetizer comes with 8 pieces. The edamame was served hot and delicious. Their squid salad is a nice sized portion. It had the perfect amount of ginger. So good!

I absolutely live this place. I came here several times. Every single time their sushi was delicious, exceptional service. Always clean. This time I brought some out of town guests who are sushi lovers and can be really picky with their food. They asked our server what her favorite rolls were. I find this question awkward since we all have different tastes. She recommended is 3 rolls. We ordered them (Burning Woman, Rainbow and I don't remember the name of the 3rd one). All the were fantastic. I also came here for lunch on other days. Normally lunch portions in other places are tiny. I never felt that way at Origami. I strongly recommend Origami Sushi. I will most definitely come back!

Restaurant are clean and you get variety of sushi to choose!! I can tell it top quality fish for price you pay, also friendly waitress, I recommend you ask for Kukai to be your server she is amazing!!

Food was excellent. Able to accommodate gluten free food and had Yamato sauce!! Will return

Service was good, sushi was pretty terrible, didn't have any food from the kitchen so I can't judge that.

I would say this place is quite alright among all the other sushi places in New Orleans. I had the yellowtail sashimi and it was quite fishy in my opinion. The rolls were pretty standard as well.

Hard to say I've been to a less welcoming place. We walked in 20 minutes before "closing time" and were basically told to get lost. Not politely. Aggressively. By the "owner"...which may be accurate. Who knows. Anyway, when we said we'd be happy to order quickly we were told to leave. Completely bizarre for a restaurant starving for business in tough times. The sushi frankly is average for uptown. Repeat business should be what they are liking for. Maybe we caught them at the wrong time but it didn't seem like it. Rather, it seemed like an entitled owner uninterested in doing the little things to make things work was more interested in flexing. Sadly, I'd recommend avoiding. Slow service, average sushi, shitty attitude.

Was uptown in the Freret strip for a bike ride and wanted a quick bite to eat. I ordered the poke salad off a recommendation from a fellow Yelp member. The salad was ok but in no way compared to the one I had at the now closed Kyoto. The fish was cut a lot smaller than I would have liked, no large chunks, and the sauce almost had a mayonnaise flavor that I didn't like. Though the poke salad is very filling and very fresh.

If you are a local, you know what I'm talking about. This is one of the closest things to Kyoto restaurant. The owners son used to work at Kyoto on Prytania and has brought a lot of knowledge with him to origami. At times, staff may be slow but the sushi is nothing but fresh and fabulous.

Love the sushi and the customer service.they have my favorite sushi roll "spicy shrimp roll"

**Stellar lunch specials** But first let me remark on the chandeliers that appear to be dripping with swan feathers. Now, I'm sure they are not actual swan feathers, but how gorgeously Josephine Bakeresque! On a similar note, while Origami may not be as disco-sushi- fabulous as Sake Cafe (read: trendy), I like their ambiance a great deal more. It's half way between authentic Japanese minimalism, with a more sleek & modern appeal. The long sushi bar is more inviting and less intimidating than at most Japanese restaurants I've been to, with young, friendly sushi chefs behind them (one female! So awesome). On to our meal. There is a lunch menu with reasonable prices for Bento boxes and sushi/sashimi plates. I got three vegetarian rolls (choose from avocado, cucumber and asparagus) for 11.95 which included soup *and* salad. Everything was fresh, flavorful and the sushi chef arranged my wasabi in a leaf and carrots in the shape of blossoms. How lovely can you get? Our waitress was as sweet as pie, speedy (much appreciated at crunch, I mean lunch time) and our water glasses were never empty. Note that there are a fair number of vegetarian options. I look forward to returning regularly. Tofu steak, here's looking at you!

This place just didn't do it for me. The first time I visited was during lunch hour so I guess with it being significantly cheaper than normal hours I over looked it but when I had to pay full price I wasn't excited at all about it. There isn't anything special or creative about their specialty rolls. I can't remember what they called the roll I ordered but it was just a cucumber roll with what looked like whipped avocado on top. If that's even a thing? Yea... not easy on the eyes at all. They don't do hibachi so tried to create my own rice and veggie dish for my son. They tried. LOL. They only offer plain white rice which doesn't bother us but I know some people enjoy fried rice better. The veggies were all cooked until they were mostly colorless so besides the carrots I couldn't tell u what they were. The sauce was way too salty also. One good thing about it is its toward the less busy end of Freret so parking usually isn't hard. Also they just completed an awesome deck addition so I think that would be cool for autumn and spring evenings.

Good food - good service nice ambience. You can taste that the Sushi is fresh and not out of the Freezer. The noise-level is good - the wooden benches - I had to get used to it. Parking in this area is a challenge. The noodle soups are very good.

Origami continues to be a quick, yummy option in Uptown! Their menu is HUGE and their ingredients are fresh. Everyone is able to find something they'll like at Origami! Great atmosphere for a date, friends, family, oneself, or a meeting!

Stingy new owners--I've been coming here since they first opened 10 or so years ago and they have steadily declined in quality and what they offer for the price. Just in the past 2 weeks alone their prices for a simple roll- think salmon avocado has gone up from $5.50 to 7.95... this is unheard of for a simple roll. Even just a crunchy roll no fish was $7. And such a sudden and sharp increase in price with no warning is enough to make me unfortunately not want to come back. The new owners are stingy and don't listen to their own servers or their customers. The sizes of the rolls do not reflect the prices either, as the special rolls are barely larger than the regular and they are 15-16 dollars a roll. Prepare to blow some serious dough coming here, and you'll probably be hungry an hour later. I was a longtime customer but unfortunately will not be returning as I don't feel it is worth the experience anymore.

This place has really good lunch specials. I recently met a friend for lunch here and the sushi was okay. It's a decent area with on street parking, which was great. I probably won't be going back anytime soon, because it's kinda out of my way for only decent sushi. But if you're in the area and have sushi in mind, it is certainly a pocket friendly place.