Shota omakase — Restaurant in New York

Updated review :

This update follows my original review detailing a disappointing last-minute cancellation of a birthday dinner due to a system error.

Following the published review, the restaurant promptly reached out with a genuine apology and offered to host us for a full, complimentary omakase experience at no charge, a true commitment to correcting their profound error.

We returned last night and the experience was awesome. From the moment we were seated, the staff expressed their sincere apologies. They were attentive, hospitable, and genuinely concerned with ensuring we had an exceptional time and offered complimentary champagne, which further underscored their commitment to making amends.

As for the food, the omakase was, as anticipated, magnificent. It was a traditional, flawless procession of expertly prepared sushi that confirmed the restaurant's reputation for culinary excellence. Every piece was a testament to quality ingredients and masterful technique. The mark of a premium establishment is not just avoiding mistakes, but how profoundly and genuinely they correct them.

They understood the gravity of ruining a special occasion and provided recovery commensurate with the inconvenience caused.

For anyone seeking an authentic, traditional omakase experience, I can now wholeheartedly recommend Shota Omakase. Their food is world-class, and their commitment to customer service—when tested—proved to be exemplary. We are so glad we were invited back. This is definitely worth a visit.

Original review : My anticipated dining experience at Shota Omakase was tragically derailed before I even stepped foot in the door, and the restaurant's handling of the situation was, quite frankly, inexcusable. I secured a reservation two-three weeks in advance to celebrate a milestone—my wife's birthday. Leading up to the reservation, I received multiple confirmations from the Resy system, which should be more than enough time and security to guarantee a table. Then, just four hours before our reservation, I received a call informing me that a purported "system error" had led to an overbooking. To wait until the day of, and with mere hours to go, to notify a diner of such a fundamental error is a profound failure of operational management. This isn't a simple mistake; it's a display of a lack of respect for a customer's time and plans. While the staff member who called was apologetic and offered to rebook us the following day with complimentary drinks, this gesture felt wholly insufficient for the level of inconvenience and disappointment caused. When a booking for a special occasion is confirmed multiple times, a last-minute cancellation essentially ruins the evening. For a restaurant in this tier, the compensation offered—free drinks—is a paltry gesture. Given the gravity of the error and the special occasion, the appropriate recovery should have been to comp the cost of one person's meal upon rebooking. That would have shown genuine commitment to correcting their mistake. The issue isn't the deliciousness of the hypothetical food; the issue is that a restaurant charging a premium for an omakase experience must deliver premium service at every touchpoint, and that begins the moment a reservation is made. There is absolutely no reason why a fundamental scheduling error of this magnitude shouldn't have been caught days, if not weeks, in advance. Shota Omakase, your "system error" cost me my wife's birthday dinner. You need to do better. Until the reservation process and the customer recovery protocols are drastically improved, I cannot in good faith recommend...

There are two omakase bars in this restaurant with main one with the back to the windows facing the street being run by the head chef and a larger bar directly opposite with two chefs facing the main bar, serving ~7-8 customers each. Reservation was easy to get online 8 hours before the meal. Our meal was served at the 2nd bar. I'm not sure how you would go about booking with the head chef but assume that involves calling versus booking via Resy. Overall this was a very good meal and worth the price for quality and taste.

Otsumami

Meichi Dai - One of my favorite courses of the night. Ora King Salmon - Very good. Some skin is left on, intentionally and to my surprise enhances the dish quite a bit. Tachiuo - This is a belt fish crusted in panko and fried. Along with the really good seaweed and cucumber ponzu was one of the top 3 courses of the night. Toro - Menu lists sea urchin but that was not part of the dish. This dish was chopped Toro with golden osetra caviar on top of rice mixed with relish. I'm not usually a fan of adding caviar to a dish but mixing the ingredients together into one bite along with the caviar made it really good. Daishi Soup - Delicious and refreshing soup.

Nigiri

Kanpachi / Amber Jack - Very good Masu / Ocean Trout - Only fish of the night not from Japan (it was from Australia), it was very good. Hotate / Scallop - Scallop is one of my favorite but it was over seasoned with too much salt and a bit more wasabi than was necessary which overwhelmed the taste of the scallop for me. Shima Aji / Striped Jack - I'm not normally a big fan of this fish and don't order it ala carte but do eat it when offered in omakase. I am glad it was served as it tasted very good. Aji / Horse Mackerel - Similar to Shima Aji, this isn't a fish I normally eat but I really enjoyed this one as well. Kineme Dai / Golden Eye Snapper - This is usually one of my favorites at omakase but unfortunately I wasn't a fan this time as the fermented sauce with pepper used in place of wasabi overwhelmed the taste of the fish for me. Kuruma Ebi / Tiger Prawn - My favorite of the night. I can't recall ever having Kuruma Ebi prepared this way. It was very quickly boiled making it taste different than fully cooked but not quite the same as raw shrimp. Really knocked it out of the park. Akami / Lean Tuna - This cut of tuna was served zuke style after being marinated before serving. I liked it. Chu Toro / Medium Fatty Tuna - This was my least favorite of the night. Not sure what happened there but it had that taste that you get if you slice tuna and eat it immediately without patting it dry. Oh Toro / Fatty Tuna - This cut was pretty good. Uni / Sea Urchin - Bafun uni from Nemuro. Pretty good. Added on 3 more types of uni, all were Bafun from Nemuro and all had similar creamy texture to them. The difference was in that they came from different processors and 1 of the 4 was higher grade AAA vs AA. I don't remember the names of the brands but the last one, AAA graded, was the best tasting one. Gindara Hand Roll - This is usually when you would get anago but their version was this grilled fish with a truffle dressing. It was good but in my opinion a slightly disappointing way to wrap up the meal as it wasn't as good as most of the dishes served during this meal. Tamago / Japanese Omelette - Standard...

The BEST dining experience of my life. I commend the chefs for being able to create an incredible experience out of a cuisine that emphasizes purity. They are truly masters of their craft, and it shines through with each and every bite. I also want to thank Brandon, and the entire staff, for delivering on just above and beyond service even for a Michelin star restaurant.

My full review of each aspect of the meal:

Food: We booked the Gentei Omakase experience and loved every bite. I had very high expectations for the rice with how much they talk about it on the website, and even those expectations were exceeded. The rice is spectacular. When it comes to the fish, it was a wonderful mix of classics like Otoro, and an introduction to new favorites of mine like the Kinki. Each piece tastes delicious and came with the perfect amount of freshly grated wasabi. Understanding the selection was seasonal, the mix was just perfect. There were cuts of perfectly springy texture, melt-in-your-mouth buttery sweetness, and delicate umami flavor. I can’t really put into words how the food had changed my view of sushi forever. NOW, let me talk about the sake pairing. My sake experience was H-Mart sake, so maybe I’m not the expert. That said, this sake pairing has completely changed everything I thought sake could be. Brandon, our sake expert, was kind of enough to dumb down the explanations of all the sake to us, giving us a history lesson on each bottle and helping us learn tasting notes to look out for. I felt like it was like someone showing me a whole new world that I didn’t know existed. If you are reading this, best of luck on the exam next year! I want to thank you for making our evening so special.

Service: I may not have the 20+ Michelin meals the other reviewer had, but of the few I have had, this one stands out as by far the best. They were able to blend together an intimate dining experience and a show. It was food with a little showmanship to curate to those who wanted pictures of every piece and those who wanted to just sit and eat. The chefs were attentive, asking questions on taste and consistently giving context to what we were eating. They gave a thorough explanation on the origins of the rice, and even gave context about seasonality of the fish. I felt like I was in a masterclass, being taught by two of the best to ever do it. Then the rest of the wait staff was just absolutely fantastic. They came by with phone rests, and even cleaned up small drops of sauce on the serving plate, to assure it did not compromise the flavor of the next piece. The level of attention was perfect without being over the top.

Atmosphere: Simple. Just the way...