Soon Yi Sushi — Restaurant in Astoria

While on a getaway in Astoria, my wife and daughter were out being tourists, while I was stuck working from the hotel. As lunchtime approached, I knew I was going to try out the Sushi place just down the street - so I did, and it was fantastic!

About 10 minutes after I got back to the hotel, my wife called and asked if I wanted to join them for lunch... I didn't mention that I'd already eaten, and said yes I'd love to! Well, both places they wanted to try didn't work out, and then my daughter said "What about that Sushi place by the hotel?" and we went back...

As we walked in, we were greeted enthusiastically by the same people who had helped me on my earlier visit - they were thrilled to see that I'd brought the family back! And they then proceeded to spoil us with recommendations and even a bonus dish to try "on the house" - and EVERYTHING was AMAZING. My wife isn't big on the un-cooked sushi, so they brought her a special plate of cooked coldwater shrimp, that was SO fresh and delicious! Literally, everything we got - and we got a lot on this visit, was 10/10. Can't recommend highly enough!

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures to back up these claims, but trust me. Just go. Go and order....

The Nigiri and sashimi was really really fresh...when we all walked in the smell of fish was almost overpowering...and we all looked at each other because we Know the freshest fish never smells. Not Ever!! No matter the fish... smell was strong. Regardless the fish served to us as sashimi was fresh and firm and Buttery. I've never ordered edamame cold before, until tonight. Chilled, undercooked edamame. **The Wasabi had excellent flavor but was not spicy in the slightest. ** There is no table service. You have to order with a qr code from the table and then your order is delivered to the table, that said the very young staff 18-20 were friendly and nice. **The menu is not in Japanese/English- Soooo if you want EBI/Boiled shrimp Unagi/Eel Masago/fish roe Maguro/fatty Tuna and there was double fatty too...not sure but it was fresh and good. All in all we would not return. My 16 y.old said it best..it's like fast food of sushi(minus the cool and delish array of a conveyor belt)..like the McDonald's of shushi And another thing...most of the photos on their site are canned. You will not find the servingware or any of the food on such in the...

We had been wanting to try this place but was disappointed and will not be returning. Not because it was such a horrible experience. It just was not worth our time or money. We had heard from one person that it was More like a fast food sushi place and from another person that it was more like a true authentic sushi restaurant. The first thing we noticed was it was pretty smelly inside. The one Asian gal that greeted us was very friendly. The fellow that served us we only saw twice after he brought our dinner he was never back again. The portions, small bowls with mostly rice were quite small for the $17 and $19 meals that we had. The sashimi seemed like it was old and not fresh. We did get a kick out of the fact that they were honest and mentioned that the tuna was canned and the crab was imitation in some of the sushi rolls so we appreciated their honesty. When we left my husband was still hungry. It was more like an appetizer that we had & later after we went to our movie my husband had to stop at...