Katsu-Hama — Restaurant in New York

I love their food. I order from them all the time. Second time dining in with my family and we had subpar customer service. Came on a sunday for lunch with my husband and kid. We were told by the staff that there are no seats inside and asked if we can sit by the bar/area in front of the chef. I told him we’re willing to wait for a table. Another customer came behind us and there was 2 of them. All of a sudden, the staff (guy) motioned for us to go inside. There is actually a table available inside. So I was wondering why he said there was none initially. The same staff (guy) took our order and it felt like he was rushing us. I don’t know what is up with him because he didn’t make us feel welcome at all. Our food came and my husband asked him if he can give us the pestle to grind the seeds. He refused to give it to us saying it’s already ground. Does he really think we are that ignorant? I just let it go because I didn’t want to ruin my very good day. I really love this restaurant and their food. I just wish I could say the same for their customer service.

Update: Dined here again September 2025 since my son loves this place. We were seated promptly but the staff took a loooong time to take our orders. This spanish staff kept saying he’ll take our order but he goes to other tables, even chatting with the customers when he knows we’re waiting for him. Eventually he had to ask another staff to take our order because he probably thinks he’s too special to serve us. Customer...

Between the two locations, I think this one is more "traditional" with interior decoration, service, and the staff who works there (Japanese staff). Most of the basic offerings are the same, but 55th offer ramen and other additional menu, while 47th offer more varieties of traditional Japanese food.

The entrance area is rather narrow, as soon as you walk in, you see a long counter tables, starting with bar counter, then to sushi counter. After the counter seats are more open space, with tables and chairs, but not that large space. They only have windows at the entrance, so it is kind of dark in the inside.

Their Katsu has been consistently great, lightly fried, not greasy, but yet juicy in the inside. This is where they shine. However, other offering, I am not so sure... We ordered Katsu Curry, and it was small portion, with small katsu. They give you lots and lots of shredded cabbage with the curry, but when we are ordering curry, what we want more of, would be curry and not the shredded cabbage, right?

The service is not great, but it is ok. It is always better when it is less busy, as most of all places you go to. Once it gets even just a little bit busy, the service gets slow, and you have to catch a server to get you more water...

I say this place is good if you want just the katsu dish, or donburi. Read my full review on this restaurant and food on my food blog,...

Great spot for some katsus!

We came in a little past 12nn on 3/18/23 and we were seated right away (there was only two of us fyi). It’s slightly tight inside so its not the most ideal place for larger groups unless youre all willing to wait for the larger table. Otherwise its not so bad for smaller groups of like 2-4 or when youre eating solo.

Service was prompt and we got our orders timely. The takoyaki was delicious although not as meaty as others ive tried. Tasty nonetheless. My favorite app that time though was their tuna poke! Very nicely flavored with sauces that didnt overpower. Fish was fresh and had beautiful color too.

As for the katsus: Both Big Berkshire and my order of Berkshire curry katsu were delicious. Perfect in crispiness, delicious flavor, meaty and generous in portion. We had no left overs at all lol At first hubster was worried that Big Berkshire might not be cooked right because it was “big” but the meat was cooked very well while maintaining that tenderness of the meat but still having that nice crunch on the outside. For me, I enjoyed my order as well. I loved the added pickled peppers since it added color to the dish. And more importantly, i definitey loved that the curry katsu was so flavorful and when you smother that rice with that sauce…man its such a good...