Nami Nori West Village — Restaurant in New York

The crispy calamari and any of their temaki are good! The only reason why I would not return is the service.

My partner and I wanted to try an appetizer and just a set of 5 temaki to start with because we weren’t sure if 10 would be too much (we had a day of restaurant hopping planned and had already gone to a restaurant immediately before Nami Nori and another one set for after).

Our server kept trying to push us to order more temaki by saying that it wouldn’t be enough since the average person eats 5-8 temaki even though we had explained that we were at a restaurant right before them and wanted to try 5 initially (we ended up ordering the pricier temaki up through the triple temaki) and gauge from there if we could handle eating 5 more. If she said it once, I would’ve been okay with that and just let it go but she said it an additional 2 times that most people would eat 5-8 temaki to try to get us to order more. We would’ve preferred to have left it as is after the first time asking as we would’ve ordered more ourselves had she not pushed and not waited until after we were completely done to check on us once since we ordered.

I also ordered the black truffle add-on for one of the temaki. She then came back to let me know that it’d be better to have it served on its own rather than on a temaki (it didn’t quite make sense to me, but her reasoning was that it might overpower the scallops in the temaki). I went with her suggestion. My partner heard her confirm it with me that she would place an order for the black truffle for me.

We went through all of what we ordered and never received the black truffle to pair with our temaki. It wasn’t until our temaki chef handed us an uni temaki that I realized something was off. I explained to him that we didn’t order that and that we were still waiting on the black truffle. He told us to keep it since he’d have to trash it if he took it back and that they didn’t have any black truffle at the moment.

When our server came over for me to ask for the check, I explained that the chef told me they didn’t have black truffle. She didn’t have much of a reaction when I mentioned that. When she brought the check, I realized that she had actually put in an order for the uni temaki instead of putting in the black truffle on my order. I brought this up to her that we didn’t order the uni and that we had ordered the black truffle, she confirmed it when she came back with the price to order it for us, but did not tell us that they were actually out of it, and then placed an order of uni temaki even though we didn’t order it.

She didn’t seem to want to take the uni charge off (her reason was that we still received the uni and should be charged for it even though we didn’t order it) and didn’t apologize to or admit to any mistake after I pointed that she place that on the order even though we never mentioned uni for our order. It had to take my pushing for her to remove it since she put it on our order without us mentioning or confirming the uni at all. After all that, a different worker came to collect and run the transaction on our card and asked about us receiving an order of uni temaki after we had already gone through explaining the issue to our original server.

We went to Nami Nori after seeing numerous raving reviews and seeing it mentioned on the Michelin star page. The food is wonderful, but the service is poor with workers who’ll push you beyond your comfort level to order more than you stated that you’d like to order first, mess up your order, and still want to charge you for the mess up. There’s a lack of organization, professionalism, and customer service with the wait staff there.

We had still left a 25% tip because the chef checked in on us when he noticed my confused look with the uni and was the one who took the time to clarify that they were out of black truffle. If we could’ve left a tip directly with the chef only,...

I’ve been meaning to come here for a while because of how much I’ve seen people rave about it. And because it has more complex flavor offerings than similar places.

Weight time + service: I called ahead and asked about the estimated wait time, guy said 40-60mins. I walked in a bit before 8pm on a Friday night and asked for a table for 1. Lady was pretty nice and professional, told me estimated wait time is 40 mins and I’d get a text when a spot opens up. I appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to stand in line to wait and could go out and come back later. I got a text 30 mins later and upon returning was immediately seated. Few mins later the 2 vacant seats next to me were also filled. It took about 5 mins before a waiter came with a water for each of us. Another 5 mins before the waiter (short Spanish guy) came and introduced the menu to me. I had already read through it but appreciated this. I ordered 3 temaki before the waiter moved on.

Food: It took 10 mins to get my first temaki. The following two were given within 3-5 mins. The first- tuna poke temaki with caviar was incredible. ($7 + $12 for caviar add on) Second- scallop temaki with tobiko and lemon ($9) was pretty good, tasted very fresh from the citrus and oniony. Wasn’t too fond of the onion pairing personally. Third was uni temaki ($24) which was so fresh and creamy and delicious. Would definitely come back for the first and third.

Once I was done with all 3 the waiter came over within a few minutes and kindly asked about my experience and if I’d like more. I kindly declined and asked for the bill. Before completing my payment I got up to use the restroom (and let the waiter know my receipt was still there and I’d pay once I was out). There were 2-3 people in line ahead of me. While I waited a waiter quickly came over and carried my seat over to a private table. I grabbed my receipt and continued waiting in line. Once I was out of the restroom, seeing as how my seat had been removed, I awkwardly stood on the side until the waiter came to my vicinity and then stood there and paid before departing.

Overall I had a great experience and enjoyed great food. I appreciated the service and any wait times weren’t an issue for me. Didn’t really appreciate the final moments regarding the restroom and paying but aside from that I can’t complain. My bill was $56 for the 3 rolls which is a bit steep but considering I ordered caviar and uni I felt it was to be expected. The food definitely lived up to the hype and I know I’ll return to treat myself.

Note: I didn’t come on an empty stomach so the 3 rolls were perfect for me. Had I been starving, a set of 5 probably would’ve...

Sometimes when you're walking in New York City, you just bump into a place and you're hungry. This Sunday we popped into nami nori in the West village and ended up having a magical dinner. We learned that we needed to have a reservation but they were gracious enough to accommodate my wife and I. Keith waited on us and he was super kind and helpful. The food was to die for... I've had lots of sushi but the way this sushi was presented and the flavor palette was different than any I've ever had. Certainly an Asian fusion type sushi with a twist. We first started with the calamari and the nori chips. Both were excellent and we were so hungry that they hit the spot. We joked about how we wish we could have gotten a bag of the nori chips to go. They were delicious and the sauce was fantastic. We ordered five of the sushi taco shaped items. I forget what they were called and I know I'm butchering that but you'll know when you see it on the menu. It's fun to remove the outer plastic to be able to eat the dish individually. It turns into a little giggle fest between you and the person that's with you because it's kind of a skill you have to figure out like chopsticks. But it didn't bother us in the least bit. We actually laughed and had a fun time eating our food because of it... I'm sure I looked ridiculous and a bit clumsy and it was a little messy but it was so fun! And eventually I figured it out. We then got some dessert because I could barely move and thought I can't walk all the way to another gelato place LOL. And we got the monchurro's With lemon curd cream as a dipping side. I wish you could have seen our faces when we first bit into this dish. It will change your life as Keith told us when we asked about it... And we also got two of the most tasty warm chocolate chip cookies with a salty sesame seed coating. That made it that much better. How lucky we were to stumble into this place. We can't wait to come back and try some of the other dishes. The coconut shrimp kind and the lobster kind were my favorites. I posted pictures in case it helps. Overall, this is one of the best dining experiences I've had in New York City. Onwards...