Momoya Upper West — Restaurant in New York

TL;DR: Spend your money elsewhere at a restaurant where the manager actually cares about his guests.

Dined at Momoya yesterday and was disappointed in my experience - especially with the manager. I want to preface this review by mentioning that the waiter/waitress/hostess were all very kind and I had no issue with them. My only qualm was with the manager.

My girlfriend and I were quickly seated at 4:30PM where we immediately ordered the following (very simple rolls in my opinion and important to this review as you will see below): Salmon Avocado Roll Toro Scallion Roll 4 pieces of sashimi (amberjack, Madai, uni, and mackerel) Rainbow Roll Spicy Tuna Roll.

30 minutes went by and not a single dish arrived. We asked the hostess if she could tell the chefs to just send out any ready dishes as we didn't need our entire order to come out at once. She kindly told us the kitchen was slammed with orders but that she'd give us some miso soup to tidy us over which was appreciated.

Unfortunately another 30 minutes went by and all the tables around us had already received their dishes - except for us. These included guests that were seated 30 minutes after we were. One table behind us got all of their food within 10 minutes which included crispy sushi rice and about 3 rolls. Another table sat down and got their tempura entrée in less than 10 minutes. One would think that these dishes would take a little bit more time to prepare than our simple Salmon Avocado Roll. Furthermore, if the kitchen was slammed, why was everyone getting their food before us? We even had a waitress ask us if we wanted anymore food in which we kindly told her that our food hadn't arrived yet! At this point, people who sat down after us had finished their meals and were asking for the bill!

Finally, the food arrived to our table after 1 hour and 15 minutes. We kindly asked a waitress if we could speak to the manager and see if we could at least get one roll comped for the ridiculous wait. The manager did not come out and instead had the poor waitress run back and forth between us with his responses to our complaints. She ran out saying he would give us some free dessert which we said we didn't want dessert. Then she came out asking us if we wanted some free sushi. Again, we didn't want free sushi. Finally he came out and handed us a plate of dessert, a quick apology, and then left. Which is not what we wanted. Finally he delivered our check with a portion of the meal comped.

In my opinion, if the manager doesn't care about a customer complaint and instead relies on his waitresses to deliver his responses, do you honestly think he cares about your experience at the restaurant? Why did it take so long for him to finally show face? My girlfriend had to ask the poor waitress if she could just ask him to come out as we felt bad that she kept running back and forth. As a manager, you should come out and talk to your customers when they have an actual complaint. The fact that he didn't for so long is the reason I'm writing this review.

I will never be coming...

My brother and I visited on a Saturday night. Made reservations a week in advance via Open Table with specific instructions to sit inside. On arrival the host tried to seat us outside and we had to push back and wait for a table to open up inside. They did try to accommodate us and did so fairly quickly. We decided to try the Sushi Sashimi Tasting chef's special, which is on-menu. The sushi and sashimi are chef's choice, with your choice of one signature roll. We chose the Bakudan and since we were feeling pretty hungry we added a Greenwich roll, too. Presentation of the tasting was dramatic, but the care of execution of both the sashimi and the roll were lacking. I expect sushi to be a carefully crafted artform, but unfortunately, everything looked hastily prepared. The flavor and freshness of the food were very good, though for what we paid for the tasting ($75) I was expecting to be wowed, but was merely satisfied. The Greenwich Roll (spicy yellowtail, jalapeno, asparagus, eel sauce) lacked the subtle heat and umami that I was expecting. That coupled with the rough composition was a letdown, but not entirely disappointing. We did eat everything in front of us. Again, the flavors and freshness were good, not great. The problem was, we were still hungry, so we ordered two more signature rolls. Crispy Rice Roll and Lobster Roll. The lobster roll came with a "spicy" mango sauce that was way too thick and sweet, and again lacked the heat I was promised. I ate my half of the roll without the sauce and even without, the roll itself was very sweet with its mangos and avocados. The lobster was in there somewhere, but it definitely came in late on the palate. The saving grace of the meal was the Crispy Rice roll. Spicy tuna, jalapeno and eel sauce had a nice, mellow heat that seemed to be highlighted by the crispy rice topping. If I did this visit all over again I would have just ordered three Crispy Rice Rolls and saved myself a bunch of money. The staff was fine, the decor what you would expect in NYC, but I could have received the same quality meal just...

Went to Momoya's for the first time with a friend after wandering around Central Park until about 10pm. It popped up on local places on Google maps and the reviews were decent so figured we'd try it out. We were by no means disappointed with our decision.

The darker lighting that restaurant has combined with the wooden panel design, mellow music and candles throughout gives the place a very relaxing feeling to it. The staff was very courteous and had a good sense of humor/patience as we figured out what to get.

When the food finally came, we were quite content. My friend and I weren't feeling or best do we kept to lighter fairs but that proved more than ample. Their miso soup was richer in flavor than others we've had, a delicious surprise. The Chicken Yakitori.... yes.. all the yes. Do yourself a favor and try it out! We tried a few of the sushi rolls and loved every but of it. Even the Wasabi seemed to have a little more of a kick to it than usual but want 100% sure if it really was that our I just hasn't had Wasabi for too long (in any case, it was awesome). When the bill came, it wasn't bad at all for what we ordered.

It was my first time and there definetely be more trips to come. There are several things on the menu that I'm really wanting to investigate. Especially their soba chicken or beef noodles that I witnessed one of my fellow patrons savoring. Come out and give them a try, you will not...