Ootoya Chelsea — Restaurant in New York

This restaurant in the city may present some parking challenges so I would tell you to avoid driving in the city as much as possible unless you like to spend a lot of money in parking.

As we came in my friend told me that they here do not take tips, that they pay their staff enough so they dont need to be tipped, I am not sure about that cause I did not ask but if anyone who reads this has any idea on how this works please leave me a DM I would love to know more.

They also only have an additional restaurant in the city and another in Japan, so there are 3 total.

As we came in we were lucky case they didn't have reservations at the time cause it was ned their mid afternoon closing but it seems like they get pretty busy so it would be wise to not do like me and make a reservation before coming.

The host no matter where they are from they will greet you in Japanese and so all the staff in the restaurant as you enter as well as all will say farewell in Japanese when you leave, that was a nice touch in my opinion.

The decor here is dark and simple, it is a very cold but at the same time well thought out decoration for sure. I can't say this is a sexy or romantic atmosphere cause I did not fell that way but it is well decorated.

POT STICKERS - we got a couple of them and they were good, made as usual and not much different than the usual you can see anywhere you go for this specialty of food.

EHO- MAKI ROLL- so this is a roll the is seasonal for a celebration of something and we ordered it but the waiter I guess forgot so we never got it, once we finished our meal we mentioned to him so he could take it out of the check, he asked if we still wanted but we denied as we were all ready for dessert.

MINI BOWL:

KATSU DON - it was ok cause it comes with the side but in truth this is only good if you will either get a bunch of other small things and appetizers or you not sure about the food and never had it so u don't want to be leaving food behind, but if you do know this dish I would tell you to get the regular size cause the amount of rice and carbs are way too much and the protein here is minimal on the case of a mini bowl.

SIDE SOBA- they give you the option of hot or cold Soba, I got the cold cause I was told that it is the best tasting of its kind, and they were not wrong, I loved it, it was pretty nice and sort o fun to be dipping the pasta on the sauce, it was cool. taste wise, it was nothing very special or memorable.

ANMITSU- this is a Japanese dessert it seems, I never seen before so I am to sure how popular this is out there, but there is green tea ice reran, some mochi balls, red beans and a sauce to pour on top. it was pretty nice, but again nothing super memorable.

I think this place overall had good tasting food, and some of the meals here have great serving sizes if you know what your are going for, so do your research before coming over and make sure to do make a reservation cause with only 2 venues here in the city they can get pretty busy and a table can be a challenge if you do not prepare.

I would come back here to try more of their...

Ootoya Chelsea was my weekly ritual 2012-2020, but inflation and the exceedingly tight margins of the restaurant business has made them (and many previously great Japanese restaurants) lose the things that made them great to begin with.

The biggest most glaring omission is that they don't serve sobayu 蕎麦湯 anymore! And they're not preparing soba when it's being ordered. It's hit or miss. Try to go early and ask that you get a new batch instead of noodles that were pre-prepared and sitting for too long which become the texture of what you get in the Tokyo convenience store takeaway soba. Unacceptable given the generally high quality of their other foods like their tororo gohan とろろご飯, and their homemade tofu.

The barachirashi don is still good but the sashimi pieces are chopped up much smaller and they don't give you as many scallops as before.

There are fewer side dishes in general now and no more nakazuke (pickles). You used to get more variety of vegetables. Still very happy to have okra yesterday but please don't forget about your Japanese customers! (I also didn't see any Japanese customers when I went yesterday which was very surprising and unusual; maybe everyone has gone back to Japan?)

The anmitsu doesn't come with any kuromitsu syrup anymore and only comes with a very small splash of soy milk! It used to be in a bowl of soy milk and the syrup came in the tiny container that is now used for the soy milk! (Regulars, you know.)

Their prices are competitive (for this economy) but it's very sad to see where they have cut corners. It would be great if they can offer the opportunity to pay for sobayu, like they have with their preciously complimentary tea service, instead of removing it from their service entirely.

Please bring back your proper soba service, Ootoya!!!! There are too few places to get authentic soba in NYC!

Despite the issues, I will still eat there when I'm too lazy to grate my own tororo, assemble my own anmitsu, or fly to Japan. Just order wisely.

Best dishes: homemade tofu, truffle dashimaki, tororo gohan, croquette, any warm teishoku sets, especially their grilled fish sets.

The bathrooms were never immaculate previously but they are worse now and need to be deep cleaned. You can see layers of dust that have not been deep cleaned in forever in the edges/crevices. Months' worth of dust have accumulated in the corners of the paper towel holder, months of grime in the gap between the back of the sink and the mirror... It's a huge problem across the majority of NYC restaurants, but especially disappointing when you're at a chain from Japan.

Ootoya America, please bring back the 蕎麦湯!!!!!!!!! You can still be profitable, just...

By far, my favorite restaurant during my nine days in snowy NYC. Since Ootoya doesn't officially accept phone reservations for any times other than 6pm, one of us went in when they opened at 530pm, to request a table for 7pm: in essence, a reservation. Being seated about half an hour late, we eventually end up ordering:

Kaasanni - Delicious soggy fried chicken katsu. And while soggy isn't exactly an appetizing description, what this was was basically pieces of fried chicken topped with shredded radish, covered in a light broth. And while it could have done with a little less radish, it was all around still quite tasty, if you're able to accept the texture.

Oroshi Tonkatsu - This was another surprisingly tasty dish. Panko crust fried pork cutlet, surprising not because it was tasty, but because despite being thick cut, it was still quite moist and tender.cut

Gyu Shiokoji - A bit lackluster at first, I soon realized that the slices of beef weren't really meant to be eaten alone with the rice. When combined with the pickled veggies and a dash of wasabi, the flavor combination ended up being outstanding.

Rosu Katsu Ju - The least interesting portion of the meal, not because it wasn't tasty (because it was), but because it was basically their variation of sweet and sour pork.

All these orders came as a set, which included a tasty bowl of miso soup, and an amazingly delicious cup of chawan mushi (another favorite item of mine in Japanese cuisine, and one which was done very, very well).

Accessibility Info

Venue - Contrary to what one might expect from the outside, the interior of Ootoya is actually incredibly spacious, and getting around or being seated isn't really an issue.

Bathroom - Didn't try,...