Bondi Sushi — Restaurant in New York

I recently visited a newly opened restaurant in Williamsburg. The main area of the restaurant serves as an omakase bar, while the back entrance is designated for takeout, offering a larger menu with cut rolls and more. The interior has a modern and high-end ambiance. Despite the restaurant's aim to provide a "lower cost" omakase experience, I found it quite disappointing.

I opted for the lunch menu, which started at $26 and included one appetizer, two pieces of nigiri, and one hand roll. However, considering the portion sizes, it felt like a kids' meal rather than a practical lunch option, totaling $32 for a miso soup, two nigiri pieces, and three bites of a hand roll. Other lunch options were priced at $45 and above, offering slightly more variety. Comparatively, it's possible to find top-notch omakase experiences priced at $30, which include 7-9 pieces of fish, or even 10+ pieces for $40. Thus, I found the lunch menu to be excessively expensive for a normal-sized meal, even with the additional salmon appetizer I ordered due to hunger.

Regarding the food itself, the miso soup ($6) was disappointingly watery and lacked flavor. For its price, I expected a more robust taste and perhaps the addition of flavorful tofu or seaweed.

On the positive side, the nigiri I had was fresh and above average, and I appreciated being able to try different varieties. Unfortunately, the tuna hand roll was served extremely cold, almost frozen, which detracted from the freshness and overall enjoyment. The bar feel allows for watching the chef make the sushi but I don’t see the appeal of unwrapping fish from small plastic sacks.

Lastly, during the payment process, I encountered an unexpected situation. As I tapped my card on the mobile Toast device and the tip screen appeared, I reached to hold the device so that I could conveniently select and sign. For the first time, my attempt was met with force from the waitress attempting to take control of the device, scrutinizing my tip selection. I felt pressured and uncomfortable, as the staff seemed overly focused on the tip percentage rather than the overall dining experience. This interaction soured my overall...

This was so disappointing! There’s no good sushi places in Williamsburg other than pricey Nami nori, so I was very excited to try this place. I got takeout. I got the Spivey tuna over crispy rice and a spicy tuna roll - im not sure if the quality of the takeout is subpar by design ( maybe the food is assembled by the staff in the back, not the sushi chefs at the front) but the food was really subpar. The crispy rice has obviously been cooked long long ago, making it not crispy at all, it was just chewy and dense.

The spicy tuna rolls felt very inexpertly assembled, kinda like what you’d see at a grocery store. The rolls had a weird bitter after taste, the spicy tuna obviously not being freshly prepared. I did like the strong scent of the nori. The wasabi also felt kinda like the fake stuff.

I also got two nigiri of yellowtail scallion - these were tasty but the size was very small, it was a pair for 8$ and they were miniature. Not sure how pricing compares to other spots in the area for these, but it was disappointing to see these tiny...

I’ve dined here 3 times- food is always great (love that they have vegetarian/vegan options) BUT the service is always so slow bc it seems to be understaffed.

Sometimes there is only one server in the entire space who is also a host, busser and taking orders. They always seem stressed and overwhelmed.

Today I came by for Bondi’s 7th annual birthday party. I made a reservation last week ask requested for 12:45pm. We arrived and the staff were stressed, no tables were open for the official seating (they were running behind clearly.) We waited 30 minutes, watched other parties (who arrived after us) get seated before us- so we eventually left. When we asked the staff how much longer the wait would be, he’d say 5 minutes and then seat another party. It was infuriating - especially because we had made reservations and agreed to the very tight reservation requirements of arriving on time and leaving after 45 minutes.

Oh well! Maybe this is better for takeout to be honest. Or if you come in the middle of a weekday for an afternoon lunch when...