Shinn WEST — Restaurant in New York

A few facts that are universally true as of the time of this writing:

1. The cost of living in NYC is exorbitantly unsustainable.

2. Many New Yorkers love sushi.

3. Omakases are now as ubiquitous as Starbucks in the NYC restaurant scene--and most are just as generic, forgettable and interchangeable.

This last fact is especially important. I cannot emphasize it enough. And why should these omakase restaurants attempt to stand out? The average omakase-goer--in my personal experience--doesn't even know what the term means.....just thinks it's some vague concept of "fancy sushi served one piece at a time with a price range of $80-200 depending on where you go". Sigh. And to think, omakase isn't even considered the pinnacle of Japanese cuisine.

At this point of omakase burn-out (or should I say, blur-out, because they mostly all blur together), I've decided that I'm only patronizing spots that are either really affordable (~$80 or less) or demonstrably unique. Anything in the movable middle is just too generic and forgettable to justify the expenditure.

Thankfully, this new West Side outpost of the popular Shinn East falls delightfully in the former category, being only $69 for 13 pieces, including a toro handroll at the end. Additional specials are generally $7-10 per piece unless they're very high-end like A5 Wagyu or contain many high-end elements.

And for $69, you get some amazing bang for your buck. Most notably, the Salmon piece, which comes topped with foie gras and freshly shaved black truffle. We've all paid way more for a lot less. For the specials, definitely try the sea perch and barracuda if you've never had them--both rare finds in omakase spots and both priced $10 or less.

Ambience-wise, this spot isn't going to win any interior design awards, but for $69, you're can't expect the Langham anyway. The service was a bit rough too, with some really young, green, clearly inexperienced girls doing all of the grunt work, so I think some polishing up there should be a priority.

But all in all, it's a $69 omakase that gives more than many places $50 more expensive.

Also, their take-home Literally Everything Don for $78 is awesome and makes me feel brilliantly smug for never paying $700 for Masa's overpriced version.

Full menu of the $69 omakase: Hamachi Madai Botan Uni Ikura Zuke Akami Chu Toro O Toro Caviar Hotate Sawara Shima...

Super rude receptionist, despite reservation and being on a date, it was pouring and they locked the door inside and can’t give us entry 10 mins before reservation time. Already rude and uncultured, waiter/ receptionist came out and told me to get away from the shade near door where I was trying to hide little from rain even though rest half of my body was still getting wet in rain and on top, that rude creature pointed me finger towards road side where I can make line with umbrella in had and heavily pouring.

First I will never come back, second such pathetic customer service should never be tolerated. Gone are days when one human can help other human in rain and heat and give some relief when pouring specially when you are same person who will pay their bills and spend more than $100 for a lunch and wow I paid 20% tip as well, because that was minimum option.

Shame on these inhumane workers and rude workers and restaurant itself to not gave any waiting area and can’t even help when pouring specially.

Food was okay, below normal omakase standards and since I was on date I didn’t want to argue but this experience was one of the worst in my entire life....

Luckily, we managed to find an open reservation for 2 at Shinn West for the next day, so we jumped on the opportunity. They were still doing the BOGO omakase deal so for about $40 a person we were able to have a nice little omakase meal. I think every dish was good, but not exceptional. I think the quality matched the price range, however if it were more expensive it would not be worth the price. Regardless of the food quality, service here was top notch. Hostesses constantly refilling drinks and water while the sushi chefs in front were constantly monitoring the pace of their diners. Due to being only 1 hour, the meal did feel a little short, but everything was great and at the end of the courses we were allowed to chill. Joey, our chef, even hooked it up with extra rice, which was one of my favorite parts of the meal. He said that they throw out any excess rice between seatings so he offered us a whole baseball sized ball of rice at the end of the meal. For the BOGO price I would definitely recommend this place for quality and variety. However, I would be a little more hesitant if it was for the...