Oita Sushi — Restaurant in New York

The inside was rather small, with just two small tables by the entrance. Even though they had few counter seats by the sushi bar, there was no one sitting there to eat. It was more of a take out place from what I saw.

There was only one female waitress and one guy behind the sushi counter. Of course there were more staff, back in the kitchen. They were talking in Korean, so I am not sure if this restaurant is owned by Japanese person, or it is more of a Korean establishment? But they were really nice and friendly.

I saw they have a good lunch set, a Lunch Special that comes with choice of bento plus udon (half portion). We chose Sushi 5pc bento set, which comes with salad, pickle, and kimchi. It actually came with more than that. It also had seaweed salad and one shumai. The sushi was fresh and cut at nice thickness. And udon could be changed to Curry Udon with extra $2. It had fried tofu (abura age), broccoli, and big chunks of mushroom that were sliced really, really thick. The soup was ok, more watery than thick.

An interesting part was that everything was served on plastic plate and paper bowl, and plastic utensils. I guess it is cheaper for them to do it this way? I am not sure... But it feels like it lower the atmosphere and value of the meal.

They do not have public restroom, which is understandable with the place being so small. The lunch special was reasonable and freshness of the food and the number of offerings that comes with the special is great. Read my full review of this restaurant and food on my food blog,...

Horrible service. They seated my girlfriend and I even though the kitchen didn't have capacity to make our food.

We were told there was a 20 minute wait so after 30 minutes I asked about our table. They said "more than 10 minutes". Which sounded very ambiguous so I asked if we could order a bottle of sake and wait at the bar. They said yes, and we could order a few sides that weren't from the sushi bar.

About 40 minutes later which I figured was long enough I asked if we could place the rest of our dinner order. They walked us through what we could order, and we ordered 3 dishes but were only served 2.

While waiting for the third dish we were just given the check and not asked if we wanted dessert.

They should have never seated us. And if they were to seat us communicate better instead of making me check up on everything.

Order: 300 ml bottle dassai 23 2 complementary shots of yuzu liquer

Karage: pretty good a bit spicy for me but I think most people will like it

Asahi Glass of yuzu liquer

Temaki set: this was okay, but it's very similar in style to Nami nori and not nearly as good

Hamachi kama: the flavors of this were great, but the plate must have been super cold and/or they forgot about it in the kitchen because it came out on the...

(From someone that is extremely hard to please regarding Japanese Cuisine) This is my new NYC favorite. It fully embodies the essence of Omakase, and executes beautifully.

I have been searching for true Omakase within the city, and it has been surprisingly difficult to find. What I ask is a place that puts thought into the food, focuses on the fish, with reasonably pricing. Oita hits all scores. Impeccable combinations focusing on bringing out the delicacy of the fish, the Akami (tuna red meat, 赤身) is especially astonishing... even better than all my 20+ experiences in Japan.

The dining environment is pleasing, using wood as its main décor just as tradition. The seats are so generously spaced, you won't even overhear conversations from the next table.

Oita does not abuse toppings to mark up its price. On top of all this, on Christmas the Omakase even came with a glass of Kubota Manju (very high-ranking gourmet sake). At $85 Omakase, it is truly a pearl of the NYC Japanese cuisine scene.

(Please forgive my poor photo capabilities. It does not match the amazement of Oita and is missing the...