Sushi Ann — Restaurant in New York

My husand and I used to love this place but were badly disappointed at our last visit in august 2023. First let me say that the quality and freshness of the food is still at it's best, it's impecable. Greatest comliments to chef Noriyuki Takahashi. The price and the service were seriously questionable. We had booked seats at the counter to have Omakase. Upon arriving at the restaurant - which was half empty - we decided to have some hot food after all and asked if we could move to a table. The host was clearly very unhappy about that stating "You make me lose business". Are you serious? How unpolite can you be? We overlooked his remark in favor of chef Takahashi's wonderful food and sat down - and waited then for 15 minutes to be served. The service was unengaging and sloppy. Since we have been to Sushi Ann last time prices have increased by almost double. We got presented with a bill of 700 $ for 4, 5 beers, 4 sakes, 2 menus and 3 extra orders of sushi. We are absolutely willing to pay a certain amount for a fantastic meal, but this felt seriously overpriced. We would have overlooked this circumstance if it weren't for the impertinent remark of the host at the beginnig of the evening, which quite frankly ruined the experiene a bit for us. I guess what makes you lose business it not your lack of seats at the counter but your lack of manners. This was clearly not the japanese approach to hospitality for which Sushi Ann was...

I did not dine at Sushi Ann, so my review is not on the caliber of cuisine which I'm sure is amazing. However, I booked a reservation for my boss the same day, and later found out (no more than 1 hour after I reserved) that his guest had covid and could not attend dinner. I called the restaurant to see if they could waive the 25$ per person fee for cancelling, since I only held the time for no more than hour. The person who answered was very rude and told me "I should have been sure before booking" and to reach out to the manager, which I did cordially. No response. In this day and age of covid and flu etc, would they have preferred we kept the reservation and got everyone sick? It is ridiculous to hold people to reservations when they are sick especially ones that were not on the books for more than an hour. My boss dines in the city frequently we will not be giving our business to Sushi Ann...

A cautionary tale...

The people are friendly, and the sushi and sushi chef we great. One acid test for me is the uni, the sea urchin. If it's bad, it's horrible, and I it's good, I find it fantastic. Sushi Ann had uni from three places, CA, ME, and JP. I had the CA, and it was good, and then I asked for a recommendation, and the chef said JP, and it was fantastic.

So the sushi/sashimi is good, but then there was the bill, which didn't line up with what the menu said.

The menu said a serving of sushi/sashimi is two pieces, but for three of my ala cart items I was double charged. When I inquired, the waitress said the menu prices were suggestions.

I am fine with being charge a little extra for the best items, however, we're talking about $30 extra.

Maybe I don't understand sushi house protocol, so I give you the...