SENBEI NYC

Got a set that comes w your choice of Senbei, tea & basque cheesecake. Went for the Octopus Senbei, it was crispy, savory, and addicting! They also came out with some new desserts and you can really tell they put effort into the ingredients. The black sesame basque cheesecake was so nutty and rich. Black sesame usually isn't that strong in flavor but this!! And the panna cotta, as soon as I saw the vanilla beans I knew this is a real deal. It's a small shop with only three seats, run by one person, so some wait time is expected since the Senbei is made fresh to order.

They sell the senbei cracker which are hard to find in the US. They offer the softshell crab, hotate scallop, prawn and squid. So if you can't choose just order the deluxe one like me I recommend. You can order from the kiosk or order at the cashier with the owner. It might take some times to make so I waited around 20-30 minutes. I ordered the deluxe one and a small seafood chowder soup. It was good to pair together. The price and the taste are not bad.

I visited Senbei for the second time today, and it was just as enjoyable as the first. The Senbei (Japanese rice crackers) are exactly what I remembered from my trip to Japan—crispy, flavorful, and perfectly seasoned. I tried a few different varieties, including the spicy sauce with octopus and salted egg one with shrimp, which brought me right back to those days in Japan. I also had a strawberry matcha latte this time, and it was delicious—soothing and refreshing with just the right hint of fruitiness. To top it off, I also bought home a sesame cheesecake that was creamy and perfectly balanced. The whole experience felt like a little getaway to Japan, with the authentic flavors and cozy atmosphere. Definitely coming back soon! —————————————- New: Third time visitor to this place, the new seafood chowder is a delicious add to this place. The creamy broth is rich yet light, with a perfect balance of seafood flavors, and the texture is smooth with tender chunks of shrimp, scallops and octopus along mix of vegetables. I love the way you can pair with the freshly made Senbei, that give the satisfaction of what I needed. My kid and I also got the blueberry matcha latte to share, you can see this place is using fruit jam instead of sugar syrup, I feel better that my kid is drinking that instead of bubble tea. He loves it a lot and doesn't want to share.

Senbei NYC is a new store located in Chinatown, specializing in giant Senbei, rice crackers with fillings on the inside. The store is very nice and small, not too humid even with the rice cracker press they utilize. The workers are very nice, and even help explain the process while making the senbei. The options for the Senbei are nice, with choices between the batter used as well as the filling. The filling is seafood-based, so you can choose between shrimp, octopus, & more. It takes a few minutes to make, but the senbei is pressed down and made giant and thin, which is good for its price. The cracker is easy to break, though it was a bit tough with the octopus inside and didn't really have much more flavor added on with it there. Overall a great place to visit and try once, but I don't expect myself to be going here multiple times.

We ordered the soft shell crab cracker and we were told to wait 20min hut ended up it took 50min to make only one order. The cracker is very thin, it’s not as thick as we got from Kyoto. And it was a windy day that the wind can actually broke the cracker lol. The owner failed to make the first one and she had to redo it and we saw she kept using a scissors to cut the sides to make it look nicer. It’s not time efficient and the cracker is salty as well. It’s a nice to try for once though.

10 star service. Everything was homeade, made to order and fresh. I ordered the scallops and spicy flavor as well as the soft shell crab and shrimp flavor. The strawberry matcha was the best I've ever had. The house made basque cheesecake blew my mind.

They had me at GIANT shrimp chip. I've always wanted to try these in Japan so I'm glad to find it locally. I ate the whole thing in one sitting. The taste is addictive! Get it with the spicy tare sauce if you like a kick. Will be back to try the scallop with salty egg batter. Their Jasmine tea is also authentic and fragrant. Service was great, staff are friendly.

I’ve been here a few times. The owner is so nice and the food is delicious. I ordered an octopus Senbei and it looks so pretty! Def a hidden gem in Chinatown.

Senbei has been on my list to try for a while now. I was in the area for Chinese New year lunch over the weekend, so I decided to finally order. I arrived at 11:15 and noticed the sign says they open at 11:30 on Saturdays. I came back at 11:30am, and they were not opened yet. I decided to get coffee next door, and then I noticed them opening up shop at 11:45. The woman who opened up the shop turned on the machine so I could place an order. I ordered the deluxe (3 toppings) for $25. Crab, Shrimp and Scallop was what I selected. After I placed my order, she then tells me that it will take 20 minutes. While I felt that she could have warned me when she saw me ordering, rather than after.. It's fine. whatever. I can wait 20 minutes. She starts degreasing the machine.. again I felt like that should've been done the night prior. Who am I to judge though? 20 minutes in and I still don't see my order being prepped. I didn't ask her about it.. but I was starting to run out of time before the Chinese new year lunch with family. Fast forward ~ 40 minutes in. I see her start my order. At this point, I'm getting text messages that the family is all waiting on me to start lunch. The batter goes in, then the crab, then the shrimp , then the scallop. She closes the machine and cranks it tight. Her timer goes off to open the machine... but it gets stuck. It continues to burn.. Now we're 10 minutes in and the cracker is burnt and ruined. I'm trying to be patient but we're 50 minutes in at this point and I have an angry family waiting for me. 50 minutes in - She apologizes to me and said that it's probably because the machine is not hot enough. She starts to remake the order. I assure her that I'm not mad at her and I understand that things don't always go to plan, but I really have to go soon. Now the timer goes off, and she's opening up the machine and once again the cracker is split, half of the seafood is on top and the other half is on the bottom. She's scraping and it's burnt in different spots. Goes straight to the trash. There's also 3 other people who ordered after me and they're not getting theirs anytime soon either. I feel terrible for the woman working, but I felt just as terrible for the wrath that I'm about to experience from my family for being late and holding up CNY lunch. She was nice enough to help me cancel the order and gave me a red envelope that contained coupons (when you order $25 or more with them). So about 1 hour waiting, I didn't get the food. I have no idea how it tastes and my fam was all mad that I held up lunch. TLDR - I waited over an hour and got nothing to show for it. I feel that they were possibly understaffed that day, but also not prepared to operate. Opened their doors late and didn't let me know that it was going to take 20 minutes to get the first order out. I asked some friends that tried it before and they said it's not worth it, especially at this price point. Will I ever get to try Senbei NYC? I honestly don't know!

My bestie saw videos posted on social media. We were intrigued and curious about this place. We ended up ordering the deluxe senbei $25. For the deluxe option, you selected 3 seafood protein. We opted for the additional $2 up charge for crab in addition to squid and octopus. It was nice to watch the process to make the cracker. Results: Ginormous crackers with seafood encased in it. Aesthetically pleasing, it really does look like fossils. Art you could frame. Taste : the pressed seafood part ended up being way too chewy for my taste. As for the cracker part, it was okay but as I was in Hokkaido last night. It just doesn't compare to the what I've had. Overall nice to try but too pricey but theyre lovely pieces of art. Also hard to eat in store since paper plates aren't included and you wouldn't want to place it on counter/table.

Oops I took a few bites of this before taking a picture. This unique shop in the heart of Chinatown is one of its kind in this neighborhood. I was so fascinated in how some batter and shrimp just becomes chip texture right before my eyes. The experience alone was worth me coming back. I actually saw the other review about how expensive this place was which I guess I see her point, 15 dollars for a snack is kind of pricy. But I'm not going to lie there are bubble tea shops making drinks for 10 whole dollars, I guess it's just New York pricing. Also this cracker was double the size of my face and I could not finish it by myself and had to split it with 2 friends. I would come visit for the experience if you've never had a senbei before. I want to highlight my favorite thing at the shop though was their cheese cake. It was AMAZINGGGGG. I tried their matcha and crème brûlée cheesecake and oof I'm coming back just for those alone. The owner was also the sweetest person ever explaining everything since it was my first time and super detailed in making sure I was allergic to anything. So glad there is a fun place like this in Chinatown.

Sure it looks cool, but it's not something that makes me say I want to eat it. Service was good, but the price of this doesn't make sense for what it is. I got the shrimp, but you can't really taste anything, but the batter and I rather order something else for the price you pay for Japanese street food. No street food should cost this much. Cost extra for flavour too, so yeah beyond crazy. Even straight up tea for my Oolong is overpriced. Like I don't mind paying for Oolong when it's served with boba, but this literally was just hot tea. This wasn't for me.

Dropped by hoping this is something good. Was a bit disappointed. It was a little too burnt. There was only a burnt flavor. I get that you need to make it exactly a square but if it's at the cost of the flavor please don't. I had to tell the staff it's okay you can give it to us now. I see that it's browning. If you do it one last time it's gonna be way too burnt to eat. At least was able to save it but still the flavor got covered by the over being done. I'll give the other small desserts a try next time. Got the crab with the shrimp. Sad that it turned into a crisp seafood burnt chip.

Third time visitor to this place, the new seafood chowder is a delicious add to this place. The creamy broth is rich yet light, with a perfect balance of seafood flavors, and the texture is smooth with tender chunks of shrimp, scallops and octopus along mix of vegetables. I love the way you can pair with the freshly made Senbei, that give the satisfaction of what I needed. My kid and I also got the blueberry matcha latte to share, you can see this place is using fruit jam instead of sugar syrup, I feel better that my kid is drinking that instead of bubble tea. He loves it a lot and doesn't want to share.

This review is primarily for the senbei. The crackers are pretty giant (think the size of a personal pizza, but square), manageable for one person, possible to share with a friend or two. Since rice crackers don't have much of a flavor, I recommend getting the spicy flavor. Our group selected the octopus, and after a short wait for the press to reach the right temperature, we got to watch the process. It's a bit mind-boggling to see an entire octopus pressed into batter and flattened, like a fossil. Keep this in mind when thinking about the cost; it's a specialty seafood item! It's worth noting, too, that they do sell smaller shrimp senbei for a third of the price; that would be my choice if I were to come back and order anything else (most of the drinks are priced fairly high, so we didn't order any). We appreciated the care put into the making of the senbei and the employees' willingness to clean up the crumbs we left on the counter! Fun recommendation if you don't mind spending a few extra dollars for what is as much an experience as it is a snack.