Pink Nori — Restaurant in New York

I recently passed along the word that Pink Nori, Astoria’s newest sushi spot featuring New York City’s only “build your own sushi” was open. Their grand opening is scheduled for sometime in February (date TBD), but I checked them out the other night. They don’t have a website yet and just launched their Twitter account, so there isn’t a lot of information out there. However, here’s an early look at some items on Pink Nori’s menu and what we chowed down on.

We started off the meal with complimentary “new style” sushi off of Pink Nori’s menu. Tuna with vinegar tofu sauce and taro chips, and salmon with onion aioli and cherry tomato were placed in front of us. Right off the bat, Pink Nori accomplished it’s goal – taking ingredients that are not native to Japanese cuisine and integrating them into its dishes. The highlight here was the salmon with onion aioli. It basically tasted like a salmon onion dip. Delicious and unique.

Sushi Pizza was next. Another unique dish, this consisted of a homemade scallion pancake topped with guacamole and assorted fish, drizzled with three special sauces. Thick layers of fish – tuna, salmon and white fish – were layered on top of the crispy, buttery scallion pancake and covered with lots of crunchies and caviar. The pictures don’t do it justice. This dish was bursting with color. Pink Nori certainly didn’t skimp on the fish either. Each piece was thick with fish and the crispy pancake gave everything a delicious crunch.

Definitely the most eye-opening roll of the night, the Pink Nori Roll featured seared salmon, cooked shrimp, avocado, tempura flakes and caviar, wrapped in a pink soy bean paper and served with a honey miso glaze. My mouth was in heaven. The honey miso glaze gave this roll a sweetness I’ve never experienced before with sushi. If you’re looking for a sushi taste combination you’ve never had before, order this roll.

The Bird Nest Roll was made up of fried salmon, scallions and cream cheese, topped with kani, tobiko, mayonnaise and panko crumbs, toasted and drizzled with sweet chili, eel sauce and wasabi mayo. Now that’s a mouthful of ingredients. This roll was appropriately named because it literally did look like a bird’s nest, complete with brown accents around the outer rim of the plate to mimic dirt.

The Cajun Tuna Roll was made up of crunchy spicy tuna on the inside, with Cajun pepper tuna and avocado on the outside. The cooked Cajun pepper tuna was the differentiator here. It had a mild kick to it that added to the raw spicy tuna. Basically, a spicy tuna roll on steroids.

The last roll we sampled was the Pink Alecia Roll. This consisted of crab meat, asparagus, and sun dried tomatoes, topped with smoked salmon, avocado, eel sauce and truffle oil, and lightly fried. Once again, Pink Nori didn’t disappoint. While this wasn’t my favorite out of the bunch, the sun dried tomatoes were a unique addition adding a slightly chewy consistency to the roll and a burst of concentrated flavor.

The Verdict

Move over, Junko, you and you’re “C” health grade rating can hit the road. Pink Nori is my new go-to sushi spot in Astoria. The food was outstanding and the service even better. The fusion of non native ingredients into Japanese cuisine (sun dried tomatoes, onion aioli, etc.) gave my palate a pleasant surprise and kept me guessing as I tasted each new dish. Hurry on over soon because once word gets out, Pink Nori is going to be a hot spot on...

After reading all of the reviews I had to visit this place. That and my love for sweet potato tempura sushi runs beyond these New Jersey boundaries I live in. It was a really short walk from the N train about 6 mins or so and I arrived. I was 1 part of a party of 2 and was greeted immediately (ok I like). Once I mentioned that I was waiting for someone the lady from behind the bar offered if I would like a take out menu or to sit at the bar or a nearby 4 top table. I chose the table. Now fast forward a bit I ordered the lychee mojito since someone was late and by the time he arrived ( yup I wasn’t ghosted) I convinced him to get the love on the rocks. Both drinks were delicious however Love on the Rocks had a lot of rocks in a rocks glass so if you drink slowly or don’t want a watered down drink request less rocks. For dinner I couldn’t decide btwn the Yaki soba or Chicken Ramen so I asked the waiter and he highly recommended the ramen for “lots of flavor” and indeed it was. My date ordered fried rice with chicken and shrimp which was yummy but he was disappointed by the portion. He hadn’t ate all day so yeah. Moving along we got the tempura sweet potato sushi which was served warm(yessss) and California rolls. Nothing crazy since I usually like cooked sushi rolls. If you have a chance visit. I know I’ll be back on the...

I was looking for a nice place to eat sushi and ramen. I found this place on goggle. I decided to read the reviews. They were pretty decent so I decided to take my family here. Hana is the best she is so attentive and very nice and sweet. The food was great the price was ok. So I decided to go back and treat my kid to eat after her practice this past Sunday. The food great Hana a sweet heart. However I was so disappointed. I did not get my duck . Then I decided to order it to go. I got home I had the wrong order. I was so disappointed so was my child. I called the restaurant back and spoke to sue I placed another order. I told her if they could please deliver it and how was it possible for them to get my order wrong. I asked her several times to ask Hana what duck I had ordered before. She agreed. When I hit the delivery again wrong food. OMG. I swear if it wasn’t because Hana is so great I would never go back there. The phone order lady sue is the worst. I was disappointed my kid was upset. After everything she expected me to pay them something for her F ups . I don’t think so. I reverse the charges. They need to put someone else on the phone to take delivery orders...