ITO — Restaurant in New York

The dining experience I have expected the most, and enjoyed the least. I have come to NYC with the main intention of exploring as many Omakases, Michelin guide spots & stars, and the type of indulgence a foodie can dream of.

I heard about ITO, and felt an immediate appeal to pay a visit when I’m in NY. After timing the next reservation availability & rushing to their website at 12pm sharp, I managed to secure out spots. This would have been our most anticipated, and final meal of the trip. We were extremely excited for what we thought would be saving the best for last.

We arrived to the spot, and entered an extremely loud bar sitting space with pop music playing, and a full crowd of sited people who seemed to take advantage of the chef’s attention to have a 2 hour long conversation about fish, Japan and their favorite dishes. As a party of 2, it was extremely hard to carry a conversation without full on yelling at each other. As the dishes started coming out, each one was less balanced than the previous one. From too little flavors, to complete stimulation overload, our taste buds were going through the motions, in the most underwhelming way possible. From too much rice, to too little rice, from too little soy sauce, to wasabi overkill - this was certainly the least balance meal I’ve ever had at a so called fine establishment.

The service was inconsistent. My friend is left handed, and while all the places we’ve been to so far have paid closed attention to perfect the service and presentation, our chef has noticed, but had seemed to forget after perfecting two nigiri’s to fit her left hand grip. While it’s not necessarily a problem, was rather underwhelming to know $100 omakases have paid more attention to details than a $300 meal.

By the time we reached the 9th course we were just hoping this would all end soon. We were counting back the minutes to come back to our hotel, lay off the nausea of the unbalanced flavors, and watch Netflix.

I would say this was by far the most underwhelming dining experience during our 3 week stay in the US. Really wish we had invested our last night in a place where we could carry a conversation, enjoy every course, and not count getting the check and leaving as the highlight of the evening.

Overall 3/10 experience. Food & experience weren't bad, but highly not reflecting of the price and...

Came with very high expectations and left disappointed. (Final bill 1175 USD for 2.)

Reasons: The restaurant is extremely crowded, the man sitting next to me constantly make physical contact with me because of lack of room, and when ever the server serves you you have to bend or move sideways - no class.

The food is extremely average. They charge 295 per person but according to my experience this meal is on par with a 99-175 dollar restaurant. Wine pairing is 165 dollars but only six tiny glasses and there is no “pairing”. They just serve six glasses and doesn’t explain why they are paired.

They charge extra for the food that they ask “how are we doing? do you need any more sushi? In omakasi restaurants when the chef doesn’t tell me the price of an item and just asks me if he can serve it to me, I assume it is free. If after 400 dollars of main course, I’m still hungry, it is the omakase chef’s duty to provide extra food and feed me - I have never encountered a situation where they ask me if I want it, doesn’t tell me it will be extra, and charge 60 dollars for one hand roll. Even Per Se will let me know that! I don’t want to straight up say this is a SCAM, but I doubt the owner doesn’t know they should disclose the price before serving anything.

There is no communication between chef and customers. It is a very loud restaurant, when the chef introduces the meals I can’t hear it.

Overall, it has not been a pleasant experience. Food is over priced and average. Atmosphere is horrible, restaurant is loud and crowded. Wine pairing is over priced and not well designed, chef doesn’t tell you what they serve after main course is extra and doesn’t disclose the price until they show...

I’m always sorry to give a business a low rating, but wow was this a tasteless, mushy disappointment. I try a different omakase every other week and this was the only truly bad experience I’ve had so far, after trying ~3 dozen places in NYC. It was $620 for two (before a $100 tip). I’ve had more expensive omakases that were worth the price, and also omakases half this cost that tasted incomparably better (albeit I’m comparing to something I pray never to repeat).

The fish was completely tasteless, mushy, and wet, like long-frozen and improperly defrosted fish. It was concerning. I literally took a Covid test after to check that it’s not my tastebuds that were at fault. The first few dishes were also so odd in execution. There was a bowl of salmon roe with rice underneath and uni on top, and there was just so, so much salmon roe that it totally overwhelmed any other possible taste in the bowl. If I wanted to taste only mouthfuls of salmon roe, I would just go to HMart and buy a tub. Then there was an oddly heavy, creamy miso soup, I guess to fill us up before the tasteless sushi courses. The tamagoyaki was also mediocre. No unagi, by the way. At least the dessert- a yuzu panna cotta- was good.

Again, sorry to write such a scathing review, but this was truly a shock. Completely inauthentic and...