Kouzan — Restaurant in New York

**Update (Sep ‘25): While their overall grade has been bumped up to an “A”, if you dig into the report results you’ll still find that they haven’t addressed the rodent issues yet! Granted it’s NYC, but many restaurants are able to mitigate rodent risks while this looks to be a long-running issue that Kouzan has failed to (or chosen not to?) address. And since they finally got their “A” rating, they have since posted the grade sign on their main entrance rather than the side/unused door for their prior “B” signs 😒. So careful with blindly relying on “A” ratings folks! Definitely worth the 10 secs to go online to quickly check the report. For me, long-running rodent issues are a deal breaker! I wish they would get around to addressing properly.

**Update (Mar ‘25): Looks like they haven’t addressed their sanitary/rodent issues yet, with their most recent inspection/grade as of January 2025 still a B. Aaaand they’re still posting their B grade sign at an unused side door rather than their main entrance. 🤦‍♂️

Update (Oct ‘24): Looks like they finally posted their “B” grade but they posted it next to a side, unused entrance. Kinda shady.

This has been our family’s go-to neighborhood sushi spot since we moved to the UWS over 10 years ago (both in-person and delivery). They had always been reliable, fresh and offered decent value. However, we learned recently that their restaurant grade went from a long-running “A” to a “B” starting in August 2023! We try to be very strict with sticking to A-rated restaurants, but especially for places that serve raw food!! We hadn’t dined in-restaurant since early 2023, but have continued to order delivery until we recently learned of the downgrade! And we’ve walked by a couple of times in the past few weeks and their grade isn’t prominently posted so consumer beware. Based on some more recent reviews it looks like that B grade is really being reflected in some customer’s experiences. Hopefully they can turn the ship around and earn that A again. Until then, we’re sad to pause patronizing...

Terrible experience. Everything started out ok but things turned south as soon as we began to eat. My friend and I both ordered noodle soups and sashimi that was our first mistake. Our soups were mediocre in flavor and the sashimi was extremely expensive but the taste was not worth the price. The service was not great as the ladies working there were Chinese, not very friendly, and we had to wave them down to get there attention when ordering and trying to pay or else we would have been stuck sitting there for a half hour just waiting. The REALLY BAD part of this experince and why I am writing this review was when it was time to pay. My friend and I split our bill and the waitress took our money. Because we split the bill we wanted to split the tip and leave it in cash on the table. The waitress came back and asked us where the tip was in each of our bills she collected. She made us put it in the bill so we did. Then she came back to us and told us our tips WERENT ENOUGH. We already were frustrated that we couldnt get their attention and that the food wasnt great so we were going to give around a 15% tip. She then MADE US GIVE HER A 20% TIP each. She would not accept our bills until my friend put in more cash and I wrote on my credit receipt the changed ammount. She did this forcefully and rudely which shocked my friend and I. Please dont waste your time and go somewhere else. We actually feel as if we were robbed.There are plenty of more affordable and better Japanese restaurants on Manhattan. This made us really sad and ruined...

RACIST!!! I’m a Hispanic woman in my 30s, I come in and the server (female) tells me to sit where ever I would like. I sit at the sushi bar and greet the chefs. I’m sitting for about 3 Minutes before the server comes to the sushi bar to ask for Ginger for another customer this is when I thought she was going to bring me a menu. Five minutes bye And I still didn’t have a menu so I look at my phone nothing anything of it and maybe she’s just really busy. A Caucasian man sits right next to me at the sushi bar and a menu is brought to him within moments. She looked at me sees I have no menu and walks away. I thought within that moment she would bring me a menu, and to not assume anything I sit there for another minute, I look around and I see nothing but her serving caucasian guess and still walking past me. I voiced out loud to the chef, was she serious, he looks at me and sees my frustration, I get up and walk out. I order online from this restaurant often and I have spent hundreds of dollars here. To be treated like I am invisible or as if I’m not a paying customer is Disgusting. I feel personally discriminated against and I will never come to this...