Ootoya - Union Square — Restaurant in New York

We had a very negative experience here at Ootoya. We were actually here to celebrate my birthday and we were really excited. I was mostly excited to try their butterfish which is like my favorite fish. We were seated at the bar even though we got there 10 minutes after it opened. Literally every table had been reserved. Fortunately we did get seated right away but it all started going downhill from there. My husband and I usually don’t make any complaints about food taking time because good quality food does take some time, but we realized we’ve been skipped after we saw 4 other parties get served before us and it’s already been 30 minutes. We looked over to our waitress who then approached us and asked if we got our food yet. Which is obvious because we had nothing in front of us. She then says their printer died for a moment and that’s why they never got our order. But this is extremely strange because we, the only dark skinned people, there were not served. She apologized and made excuses and said they’ll make it as soon as possible. They then say it’ll take about 10 minutes, to which we agreed on the basis that we were genuinely curious to try their food. The manager (I believe) offered edamame to which I said no to because edamame worsens my diverticulitis to which I didn’t feel was necessary to say other than a simple no. However, a couple minutes later we get edamame served to us with no words and almost slamming the dishes on our table to which I could not even eat like why are they catching an attitude with us?? When we were the ones trying to be patient and waited quietly). Our waitress brought my husbands food then another waitress came with my food but almost offered my food to the guy next to me who also ordered butterfish but came after us (lol, at this point I feel like they actually hate me and I regret ever coming here). Now we got our food (myself: butterfish, my husband: sukiyaki), it looked great, but my fish was overdone and had a very fishy taste. Now I love butterfish, lived in Hawaii and travelled to Japan so I know what butterfish tastes like. A fishy butter fish means OLD FISH. My husband said his food tasted okay though. I will say the restaurant looks nice and is presented nice but the quality that we received was subpar and the service was very disappointing. Not sure if it was because we’re the darkest people in there but it definitely felt like we’re not worth being served. There’s kinder and tastier authentic Japanese spots in the city, not this one. Unless you’re a light skinned Asian person maybe it’s okay lol

TLDR: bad quality food, long wait for serving, racist, pretty restaurant but not worth the...

Eating at Ootoya in Japan and knowing how much food actually cost. I would have to say it is the most overpriced food I have ever paid for, for what it is worth.

Food - Kaisen Don ($25): The presentation to beautiful and simple, the food is not salted and easy on the palette like any other Japanese food. the Kaisen Don was nothing special, because it is just Sashimi slices on Rice Vinegar. The slices are a bit thin and you get filled by the rice, not the fish, they portion it out thinking you will get filled on the Sashimi. In the end the Kaisen Don tasted no different then you just going to Sunrise Mart or Dainobu in the city and buying your own Sashimi slices and putting it over rice for half the price at home. It is not worth it.

Food - Salmon Tonyu ($26): This was extremely disappointing, I did not expect it is be only 4 slices of tiny Salmon! Mushroom, Cabbage, 2 Slices of Tofu, Carrots, and Potatoes. The portion is absolutely terrible, you get filled off the vegetables and don't really enjoy the Salmon, because it is only 4 1-inch cubes. The Tonyu (Soy Milk) soup is was horrendous, it tasted like water with "mystery white sauce" added to it. Mitsuwa in Edge Water give free samples of Tonyu soup that actually tasted like Soy Beans. The flavor was flat and seemed like frozen Salmon and was dropped into the soup because there is no flavor.

Service: No tipping is a small reason why the prices are a bit higher and the service is good like any other fancy restaurant.

Other Notes: The Teishoku Set ($3 - Rice and Soup) add on used to be included for free, now everything they do now is charged extra. Bonito Flakes for an extra $3 is ridiculous, it should be free service as Bonito Flakes cost nothing. There was even a charge they did was a friend where they charged him $3 dollars for a squirt of Mayo! Worst part was that it wasn't even Kewpie Mayo and if you know Japan, Kewpie Mayo is the only brand people use.

Experience: I only came here because we miss Japanese food and enjoyed Ootoya once in awhile in Japan. But if you come here for authentic Japanese food, it actually isn't, it seems the America side has a cheaper concept because those who don't know wouldn't know they are using garbage ingredients and how it is suppose to taste. Never again I would go here nor recommend it. If you want good Japanese food, you should go to Tomoe Sushi instead, much more worth it. I expected more from Ootoya being a multi-million dollar...

Ootoya is a popular chain in Japan and now have 3 locations in Manhattan. The concept is more upscale here than in Japan and the prices are correspondingly higher. However, what you get for the price is consistently well made traditional Japanese teishoku (set meals). The sets include your main choice, a choice of white or brown rice, pickles, miso soup, chawanmush (a dashi-based egg custard), and usually another small bite depending on which set you order. There are also additions such as grated mountain yam (a creamy, gooey white paste that comes over your rice), onsen tomago (very runny poached egg), etc.

They also have an ala carte menu that's more extensive for dinner than for lunch.

Every teishoku I've had has been very well made and delicious, though sometimes with some odd hiccups. For example, the Tori Kurozu-an, fried chicken and vegetables in a Japanese style sweet and sour sauce (much less sweet than Chinese style sweet and sour) made with traditional Japanese black vinegar, came with both potatoes and zucchini in the vegetable mix (along with the more usual egg plant, carrots, and bell peppers), but lacked onion. This is odd, because zucchini does not go well at all with the kurozu sauce, and potato adds yet more starch to a meal that alreay comes with a heaping bowl of rice, while onion is a staple in kurozu dishes in Japan. Nevertheless, the dish was overall delicious, but might be even better if the zucchini were substituted with onion.

They have a beer and wine license with several draft beers available along with white and red wine and sake and umeshu (plum wine). There doesn't seem to be much of a bar scene despite having a bar as people seem to treat this Japanese restaurant much more as a restaurant to dine and dash rather than lingering and savoring their meals.

Staff is very professional and the decor is beautiful - two signs that this is a very good restaurant chain in...