Sushi by M-East 5th st — Restaurant in New York

I don't claim to be an omakase expert, but I have been to no fewer than a dozen omakases and Sushi By M is the worst omakase. It's not even close.

The first red flag arrived in a poorly written text telling us Sushi By M was short on chefs and moving our reservation. Minor at the time, but in hindsight hinted at what was to come and added to poor experience from start to finish.

When we arrived, the host seated us and immediately bombarded us with questions that felt like ticking boxes. He would pause, then add another question, never really letting us settle in. I don't think it was purposeful, but it was clear he needed more training.

Normally, these kind of hiccups wouldn’t matter and you wouldn't be reading this review at all if the food and overall experience were AVERAGE at minimum but obviously you're here and I'm still typing.

Anyways we shrugged off the uneven start, ordered sake, and waited.

The first pieces arrived. Seated at the corner of the counter, our chef struggled to reach our plates, so he literally TOSSED pieces onto our plates. It wasn't flying across the room, but yes they caught air. Most pieces landed off-center, forcing him to stretch out and push them with two fingers to the center. Not the delicate touch expected at an omakase.

The dishes weren’t often explained to any level of detail. He spoke in a low murmur of one or two words, and when asked, he gave single-word answers “trout” or “shrimp” before putting his head down and moving on. It wasn't dismissive, it felt like inexperience and lack of confidence.

The meal itself was a major issue. I had to spit out parts of four of the twelve pieces. One was so chewy I couldn’t finish it, and several were served at inconsistent temperatures—rice warm, fish much colder. One piece tasted like it hadn't defrosted to which I turned to my partner catching myself midsentence that omakase shouldn't be frozen (or taste like it was frozen).

MIdway through the meal it was clear something had be said.

So at the end of the meal, I flagged the one experienced server, took him aside and discreetly told him about the experience. He immediately involved the manager which was to be expected. That was the start of the second biggest problem.

The manager approached apologizing with her outside voice (so much for being discreet about it). She asked what happened and to show her the inedible pieces, insisting I unwrap the wadded up chewed up fish in a napkin siting on our table. Keep in mind were at the counter with other customers. I didn't want to do her restaurant like that, but she kept asking so I showed her everything that I had to spit or pull out of my mouth.

Her solution? Offering 2 add'l pieces each. We refused multiple times because we honestly didn't want any more and didn't want her to think that offering would redeem the overall terrible experience. However she misread our refusals as modesty and insisted. She clearly didn't read the situation and thought that we could be placated by more substandard pieces. Her refusal to honor our "no we don't want it" just added to the overall frustration. The replacement pieces did nothing to redeem anything.

The final absurdity came when she returned just as we put the new sushi in our mouths and asked, “IS IT BETTER?” It was comical (and my partner thought it was both performative and condescending). At this point, I am angry and I responded we literally had "just put it in our mouths."

We didn’t see her again.

Despite having a third of the dinner inedible and half of poor quality - this isn't coincidence - they happily charged us the full bill.

I'm certain Sushi By M used to be good. My read is their first foray was successful, saw $$$$$ to be had and quickly opened up an offshoot without nearly the same care or quality that made their initial one so well-reviewed.

I would avoid Sushi by M and esp if you get a text that they're short on chefs and moving you to their new location. Thankfully we have options; there's plenty of omakases in the east village at the $70 pricepoint....

I ate there 2 years ago and the service is totally different from today. This time I and my husband got the omakase of $95 each and each of us got 2 additional premium ones which were $18 per piece.

The Thai waitress who served our table was nice till she gave me the premium sake one without telling us that one has sake in it. She was explaining all the premium pieces with the ingredients like oysters, uni, fish, etc but never mentioned sake. We cannot drink alcohol as she should have known since we asked for NON-ALCOHOL drinks instead when she showed the alcohol drink menu and we REFUSED our sake compliments. She should have told me that it included sake which is alcohol when I ordered it so I could choose another instead. Once I first bit it, I felt burning inside. I was looking for her to tell her directly but she was busy inside. After waiting for a while without seeing her and the Asian guy with glasses walked to us with the iPad ( I guess he’s the manager and if he was, I would be very disappointed ). I decided to tell him my problem instead and he asked me “Are you under aged?” I said “No it’s just I can’t drink alcohol”. That showed he understood my alcohol issue properly but he pretended not understanding and asked me to mix everything and take the shot at once. I didn’t need him to teach me how to take the thing that I can’t take. I explained my issue again but he just ignored, pretended not understanding to change the topic and made me feel like I was an idiot. All what I needed was just him to say apologize. Simple is that. Looks like he needs some more years experience in F&B to be come a manager if...

Corner omakase, serve for $68 for 12 pcs and upgrade of $90+ Which is 18 pcs. Sushi was fresh, and my chef doesn’t talk like he’s so quiet, he just serve and serve like a he’s trying to finish asap. I have 2 issue when I dine here. First, some workers do not have their face mask completely cover up, only cover their mouth but not their nose, one of the sushi I was served was so werid, it looks like a chinese sauce call LaoGanMa, taste different but prob they brought those sauce and did something with it. Second, I ask the chef if that was Goose foie gras, he said yes which shows me lack In knowledge becuase last time I came here, the head chef said it was duck and it does taste like duck. Idk but they hired random chinese chef here who prob is just looking for the job. Chef should be train to know what they are serving. Anyway, this is my 3rd here, prob my last time cuz of what happen this time. Anyone who wanna tries it, you should, they do special event for ur birthday, anniversary and also the boss is super nice. Tip, most of the chef here does not have a lot of experience, if u ever eat here. Ask for the chef near the counter, the design is a L shape shorter side of L, ask for that chef, I think he’s chinese too but he does have experience in making sushi and talk with customers and the only one who know the difference between a duck and goose. I gave 2 star because I felt like there is just so many things that could be improve. If the owner sees this, and make sure that these issue will be resolved I’ll revisit and revised my review

Owner reply me and I revisited....