Honzen - Japanese Eatery — Restaurant in New York

Honzen is the type of Japanese restaurant that those who crave an authentic Japanese dining experience will abhor, while doing just enough to dazzle the unsophisticated TikTok crowd (who has no idea what they should expect from fine Japanese dining) into believing that this place is something more than it is: a complete dumpster fire that is a pale facsimile of the Japanese Kaiseki style it claims to emulate.

First, when you walk in, the vibe feels like someone who has never been to Japan decorated the place in the style of a tacky, one-night-only Japanense-themed party thrown in some lifeless modern Williamsburg apartment. The seating is cramped, and the decor is all faux Japanese (complete with an atrocious fake bansai tree, a gigantic Chinese-style fan on the wall (???), and fake tatami mats). To detract even further from the vibe, the music sounded like something that would be played in a New Age meditation class for expectant mothers.

We waited nearly five minutes to be seated; the host came running, literally, from the back of the house towards the front. Anyone who knows anything about Japanese fine dining knows that this is completely unacceptable behavior, no matter how busy or rushed you are. Composure is part of the experience, as is the attention to detail.

After 20 minutes, we were finally able to place our order. I must say, the prices are absolutely extravagant, and my companion and I were a bit shocked given the spreads we saw people eating when we walked in. This sort of food will cost you ~$20 in Japan, but they're asking for probably 3x-4x that here, depending on the dishes you order.

Another 15 minutes (now it's been 40 minutes since we arrived) and the waiter approaches our table carrying glasses and sake in his greasy bare hands; he then proceeds, while standing with his shoes on the tatami mat, to clumsily splash sake into these bizarre stemmed glasses that look like they should be used to drink tiny samples of port wine. Any Japanese server worth their salt would have been completely appalled.

My companion and I made a pact that if we finished the bottle of sake before our food arrived, that we would ask for the check and leave. And if you've been reading the review this far, you won't be surprised to know that the bottle was empty after nearly 20 minutes (now more than an hour since we arrived), our food had not arrived, and the waiter had not checked on us. We got his attention, requested the check, and left.

To add insult to injury, as we were digging into our consolation meal at a delicious Japanese izakaya just down the street from Honzen, the chef on duty (not one of the owners, I believe) sent a text apologizing for the poor service, making excuses, and offering a free bottle of sake if we came back. Sorry guy, you had one chance, and you blew it. Your restaurant makes a mockery of Japanese fine dining.

To the chefs/owners: you guys are delusional if you think this restaurant is even close to delivering a Japanese fine dining experience. Stop paying yourselves so much and hire some/more waitstaff with an ounce of class, or teach them how to serve in a way that befits the outrageous menu prices and the culture that you're trying to appropriate. Right now, your operation is a disgrace and a discredit to the incredible food and service culture of the Japanese people.

Lesson learned. I won't be back, and I would advise you not to go either, unless fake Japanese vibes catering to TikTok addicts...

Overall score is more of a 4.5 and I'll break it down below:

The staff and one of the owner, Wei, were all very friendly, kind, and attuned, providing exemplary service despite juggling various tables. Thus, the overall service is 5 stars

The interior design of the restaurant is beautiful, with traditional Japanese seating and decor arrangements! One of the best looking restaurants I've been too that provides a very warm, comfortable, and welcoming dining experience! The music is relatively soft and the various seating options are all well spaced apart. The communal floor seating fits 8 people max, but perfect for two small parties; it's very reminiscent of traditional tatami dining experience, and we loved it! Therefore the ambiance overall deserves 10 stars!

Now the food:

The entire meal is very well crafted with some minor areas that can easily be improved upon. My wife ordered the scallop main and uni gohan. The scallop was unfortunately overcooked and was on the milder side of its flavor profile. The staff was kind enough to replace it for us and we got the miso cod instead, which was light, flaky, and deliciously soft and tender! The uni were all incredibly fresh and sweet, where it didn't leave any bitter aftertaste, so highly recommend it! I got the wagyu main and salmon roe gohan. The wagyu was very good in quality, but was on the smaller side based on its price. I believe making the piece just a bit bigger or reducing the price by a little bit might make it more balanced in terms of price to quality/quantity ratio, especially since it is now 5 dollars more than it was previously. The wagyu was also a bit overly salty, in which pairing it with rice almost couldn't balance out the saltiness, but that's a simple fix. The salmon roe gohan was also quite fresh, which I highly recommend as well.

Now the little dishes were mixed. Instead of the uni tofu that was displayed on the menu, we got tofu with salmon roe, which was unfortunately a bit disappointing, especially since I already have a whole bowl of salmon roe...Furthermore, instead of sashimi, we got the tuna tartare, which was good but also not stated on the menu. I think it might be nice to pair the small dishes based on people's main and/or gohan selection, or perhaps inform diners that the sides were subject to change ahead of time just so there wouldn't be any disappointment due to expectations. Nonetheless, the other sides were all flavorful, and the miso soup was not overly salty and perfectly balanced with the meal.

All my criticisms are relatively minor, and hence why I believe Honzen can easily reach the 5 stars that I am certain they have the potential of achieving! By balancing the price a bit better and perfecting the various dishes I highlighted above, I think Honzen can easily become one of the best and most affordable Kaiseki restaurant in all of NYC. I have high hopes for Honzen and I can't wait to see what amazing new changes they are able to implement in the mere future; I look forward to updating my review to 5 stars next time, so please don't let us down!

Thank you for reading and please give Honzen a try; they're still relatively new but they are definitely striving to reach...

My husband and I went here for a date and we were really excited because we have been having a hard time finding an authentic kaiseki restaurant in NYC comparable to what we had in Japan. We discovered the restaurant through social media so initially I was kind of nervous because I’ve been to my fair share of IG food spots that were disappointing. But thankfully, this place was everything that I could have hoped for and more!! For starters, the food was so good!! Everything was thoughtfully curated and tasted fresh and flavorful. The individual components of each meal set were so beautiful that I almost didn’t want to eat it! You could tell that the ingredients were really fresh. In addition, the sake menu was top notch. The service was also really nice, and the owner even stopped by to ask us how we were enjoying the meal. He recommended a yuzu sake that was so delicious and had the perfect amount of sweetness. He also mentioned that they source their sake directly from Japan and their selection is not available to buy in NY elsewhere. All in all, Honzen was such a great experience- from the food to the ambience and every thing in between. We will...