Asuka Sushi — Restaurant in New York

My friend loves sushi. I don't love sushi. So naturally, I needed to compromise or get left behind. My friends said let's go to Asuka and I recoiled because, you know, it's sushi. We arrived, and I have to say it is a remarkable space. As you enter, there is a wonderful waterfall over a glass partition. Inside, the dining room has a very pleasant layout. Mildly tight, but pleasant. The staff is great! Smiles all around, and patience with the guy that doesn't like sushi but is eating in a sushi restaurant. On that note, they had a number of dishes that were not sushi centric! I had this half pineapple filled with rice and sauteed vegetables. Oh, and they had this thing called tempura, which is basically anything battered and thrown into a fryer. So naturally, I love it! A word of warning though; that stuff is hot when it first comes out. Strange how a place that isn't really known for cooking things over a heat can make something so hot out of the fryer. So anyway, I got really adventurous and order some sushi! Okay, my friend claim it isn't sushi if it is just avocado and peanut rolled up in rice like sushi. I disagree. So now we go have sushi together at Asuka at least twice a month. Okay, sushi for him and an avocado peanut roll for me. But I feel like I am partaking, so it's sushi to me! That's my life. Living...

In a neighborhood that has 47 sushi restaurants on Yelp, newcomer Asuka Sushi actually stands out.

It's not a big, mediocre chain (I'm looking at you Monster Sushi)

It doesn't have any pretense of an all-too-famous celebrity chef (yes, Morimoto you know who I'm talking about)

...instead, this semi-casual, but incredibly tasteful place in the heart of W. 23rd just gets the job done.

The sashimi is consistently fresh and beautifully presented. Really. No sushi boats here.

Our personal favorite special is the Monkfish liver, that tastes like foie gras, and has the most amazing texture. However, tonight when we ordered it there was a problem with the serving. The floor manager (yes, his name really is "elvis") immediately swooped in, removed it and brought us a new dish of it, on the house. Amazing service, and really appreciated.

OK, so maybe they're not going to hand-cure some tofu for you at your table like Morimoto will. But the fact is, you're not going to walk out of Morimoto stuffed from a fantastic meal of hand rolls, sashimi, edamame, salad & soups for under a hundred bucks.

Nicely done Asuka. I really hope they make it in this very tough neighborhood. They...

My wife and I used to order from asuka regularly. We live 3 blocks away and it was our go to sushi spot. Earlier tonight my wife got the yellowtail avocado roll and the fish was a sickly grayish color and smelled terrible. The salmon jalapeno roll also tasted like the fish had gone bad. When she called to ask for a refund the person she spoke to said it was impossible to give a refund and said they would give us a credit that could only be used on those exact 2 rolls. After receiving rancid fish my wife did not want to chance those 2 rolls again. When she said she would go through seamless and attempt to get a refund from them Asuka was miraculously able to give us a refund (funny since it had been "impossible" a minute earlier). We still have not received the refund.

I wouldn't be leaving this review if Asuka had just refunded the money or offered us a different roll of equal cost. I'm leaving this review because of the poor way this was handled and because the person we spoke to outright lied to us. Attached is a photo of the yellowtail roll. Pretty sure the fish isn't supposed to...