Sushi Hayashi — Restaurant in New York

The food was good. Honorable mentions: toro, scallop, wagyu. The uni icecream was sooooo good. Don't knock it 'til you try it. However, the service was horrible. I brought my niece along with me and I wanted to introduce her to her first omakase experience. The sushi chef had great skill but the chef concierge was unbearable. After maybe the 2nd course he eventually ignored us and ended up talking to the only male patron at the counter (there was a total of 4 of us in the entire restaurant). He spoke to him about cars, how fast his cars were, how he likes driving fast cars, and how he no longer drives fast bc of a recent accident. Inappropriate conversation to have and to initiate while there are other customers. And this continued on the entiiiiiiire time. Up until our last course. The male patron wasn't even speaking to him about cars in the first place but was having a conversation with his female friend that accompanied him. What tops off this horrible experience is he started cutting some bread in front of us while we were still eating. I assumed it was part of dessert but it wasn't! He made a sandwich! The sushi chef crouched down under the counter and started eating the sandwich in front of us (he wasn't really hiding to be honest). Come on bro. That was the wildest thing. I'm laughing at how ridiculous this was but I can't...

Ambiance (5/5): The restaurant can fit 10 to 11 people at the counter. There were 2 small 2-person floor tables that were not being used. I liked how they had a coat hanger for us which helped with the bulk of our winter coats. Inside was brightly lit and low volume. Service (5/5): The counter had 2 sushi preppers and 1 server. The server had the best personality that brought a lot of excitement/entertainment to the experience! The sake pours were nice and heavy and ever flowing. Food (5/5): It is $98 for a 14-course omakase with AYCE (4 types of sushi available) and drink (sake, beer, and soft drinks) There’s 2 appetizers: Amberjack wrapped around a crisp Asian pear. The toro uni was not my favorite. Then there was a 10-piece sushi course. Everything tasted super fresh (apparently the shrimp consistency was the only piece that had a funny texture but tasted good). Followed by a 1 piece maki roll and 1 small homemade matcha ice cream! At the end of the 14-course meal, there are TWO rounds where you can order from the scallop, lean tuna, fatty tuna, and eel. Any piece left uneaten (including the rice) costs $6. The parties next to us were ordering like 20 pieces!! I was stuffed with an additional 6 piece order. Overall, the quality of the sushi was amazing. The value is worthwhile for the AYCE...

We went after seeing all the good reviews on social media on their uni selection and ice cream. I have had my fair share of omakase and this one is by far the worst experience.

The second dish was an abalone dish. It was very fishy and the restaurant used heavy flavors to mask the taste, making the dish very sugary. For all the sushi pieces we had, the rice was extremely salty. There was too much wasabi as well. With every bite, the saltiness from the rice and the wasabi clouded the taste of the fish. I think this was intentional given that when I was able to taste the fish, the quality was subpar. It always had a fishy taste and it was too warm. For the price of this omakase, there are so many better options in the city. The food here is honestly pretty disgusting.

Service was fine. Nothing spectacular but not bad. The atmosphere was not great the day I went. The seating arrangement is a bit tight so the couple on our left kept on hitting and turning the back of my friend’s chair, making it spin throughout dinner. The group on our right was extremely loud and obnoxious, more suited for a dive bar vs. a supposedly “nice” omakase setting. Overall, terribly poor experience. I caution people to not fall for the social media hype that this place...