RA Sushi - New York (Times Square) — Restaurant in New York

I had a less than satisfying experience here. Came for lunch before a weekday matinee. The place was fairly empty, but even so it seemed like they could have used at least one more server, certainly if it had gotten any busier. Ordered the sashimi lunch platter. Fish was very good, and there was plenty of it. After it was served, however, it occurred to me that there was no rice, even though the menu said it came with it. I asked the server about it, and she said yes, it comes with rice, but they don't serve it unless people ask. Pretty strange. How would you know to do that? Shouldn't the server just ask you if you want the rice? Anyway, she eventually brings out the rice, and I take a taste, and it's just plain rice. I assumed it would be sushi rice (you'd think?). At this point I'm getting annoyed. I'm hungry and I need to get to the theater. My beer is getting wqrm. So I flag her down again (and this time it takes a while), and ask why it's not sushi rice. She said it doesn't come with sushi rice, but if I want it I can get it. I asked her if there would be an additional charge and she said no. So she eventually brings the sushi rice, and I enjoyed the rest of the meal. Cut to the end, I get the check, and I'm looking it over, and the amount for the platter is $26.50. I was pretty sure the menu said $24.50. So now I have to flag down the server again. She checks the menu, and sure enough, it says $24.50. Now she says she has to ask her manager, and then comes back a couple of minutes later and hands me a corrected check. Doesn't say sorry, or anything. It was pretty off-putting, and the whole thing felt a little scammy to me. If I hadn't looked closely at the check and remembered the price of the dish, I would have been overcharged. For the record, my friend ordered the same dish but didn't ask for sushi rice after getting the plain rice, and the charge for hers was the same. So it wasn't clear if they had added on extra for the rice, or whether they were just charging more than the menu price. I have to wonder if they're doing this on other items too. Bottom line, food was good, but everything else detracted from it. Who wants to have to deal with all that crap? Sorry, there's no excuse. Serve what's on the menu. Charge the price on the menu. Done. I won't be...

First time going here this evening with a friend—we both live in Hell’s Kitchen—because we wanted to try a new place since we always go to the same sushi restaurant (Ari Sushi, on 44th just a few doors west of 9th Ave).

My experience was disappointing. The quality of the sushi was okay but they seem to LOVE putting sauces on the sushi. Ugh—I just want to taste the fish NOT masked by some sweet sauce or mayo!!! (Big red flag for me.)

Based on this, I would give the food 3 stars. What knocked it down a full star was the service. We were seated at the bar next to the kitchen doorway and it seemed like we were forgotten. We waited 10-15 min before I lost my patience and flagged down someone, anyone to let them know we were ready to order and more importantly, that I really needed some water. It took another 5 min before a waiter came by.

We ordered only the sushi & sashimi for two, which took another 20-25 min to come out. We normally order this at Ari, where it is served on a big boat and the presentation is beautiful to the point that you ooh and aah a little. At Ra, the sushi & sashimi for two comes on a standard large serving plate…There is no soup or salad for two, which I have found to be the norm at other sushi restaurants for an order this large.

Might I mention again how lacking the service was? We were definitely neglected…water glasses not replenished…but when it looked like we were finished, the server swooped in and started to put the small plates on the big serving platter until I told him I was NOT finished. What server DOESN’T ASK before they start clearing things off?!

On the upside, this place has a lot of ambience and has a vibe & energy that would be great for a date or group dinner. It’s got the dark interiors with dim lighting and has the aesthetic for a great social media pic…

BUT if you want sushi in a smaller and quieter setting, where you can talk without raising your voice—AND where you are a NOT a forgotten patron, I...

We are absolute sushi fanatics, so we hold places to extremely high standards.

We hit this spot right in the rush of pre-show for the theater across the street. However it wasn't completely packed, several tables open and we were seated immediately. The problem came after. It took nearly 20 minutes for our waitress to even acknowledge that we were sitting at the table, despite walking by several times. When she finally came to our table she was rushing us to order and in no way got an accurate take of what we wanted as she kept glancing around the room while taking the order. After that we still had no water. The only reason the service made it to three stars is because the Manager, Chris, came to our table and asked how we where doing. After explaining the situation Chris jumped into action. We immediately had our waters, the waitress came back, apologized, and retook the order completely. Our food was delivered shortly after.

Now, the food. We had several of the special rolls (spicey titanic and hell's kitchen for me). My wife had one of the torched options and a special roll. Also ordered was two of the maki rolls and a bowl of seafood udon. The udon was good but had a very pungent seafood smell, which isn't typical. The fish and other ingredients on the rolls where very fresh, but not quite as cool as they should be. The main problem was the rice. It was gummy and flavorless. It was apparent that no sushi rice seasoning was present and it was just straight white short grain rice.

I had a lime mojito. It could have had a little more soda and the mint needed to be muddled a lot more.

In summary it wasn't a total miss, but in my opinion the food was not on par with the price. At nearly $25 per roll on average it did not hold up to places I've been...