Sushi Kai - East Village — Restaurant in New York

First time and last time. There are plenty of other affordable omakase restaurants here in East Village that are worth the visit over Sushi Kai. I do not know how one could settle for this place aside from being the food adventurer like me and wanting to try a new place out. Each season has an affect on the selection so it varies but last night choices LACKED in comparison to other establishments at the same pricing. I dined at another place the night before with friends and the experience was PHENOMENAL. Here, it is the opposite. They do not offer much outside of the 12 course. Hardly any engagement, no laughter filled moments, no complimentary sake...

I came in 20 minutes before my dining time and was kindly sat at the end of the bar. One of the girls hung my coat and directed that I could leave my luggage by the coat rack. Off to a great start. However 6 minutes before 9 PM, the chef asked if I wanted to start early to which I said no, I do not mind waiting for the everyone else to join in. I am already out dining alone. I do not want to feel more outcasted. Instead of respecting my answer, he started me off. I did not understand what was the rush for. I had said no.

As for the important part, the 12 course. Decent until the end, the wagyu was chewy and had a taste to it that made me hid the rest in my napkin and the salmon handroll tasted like crushed hot cheetos wrapped in seaweed. Did not finish that. Other than those two, the others were fair. Nothing to go home about.

I was going to tip nothing because I regretted coming here. $100 is not much compared to the higher end omakase joints in Midtown but...I would have rather gave that amount to a homeless on the streets of NYC if someone from the future came to me that day before my reservation and asked me to chose between dining here or donating. The hostess was kind enough to follow up about my experience and explained the situation. Despite her efforts, I felt rushed and the choices and its preparation isn't worth the overlook on the...

The one-star is really for how poorly this restaurant is run. If it were brand new, I might give it a pass, but its been around for awhile and should know how to handle a saturday night. This place used to be great but dine in today was an actual disaster. The waitress seemed like she had never worked in a restaurant or maybe even been to one before that day. She doesn't know how to respect customers and how to solve the reservation issue. We think that making a reservation at this place is meaningless. We made a reservation but still had to wait 20 mins to be seated. That table was occupied with guests from the earlier reservation who still hadn't finished their food. Why would you open up a time slot for reservation if you can’t offer the table to the customers who arrived on time for their reservation??? The whole system is messed up and the food was definitely not worth the wait. There are plenty of other restaurants who can offer food above this average and DOESN’T need you to wait for half an hour to be seated for your reservation. And the waitress here was being unforgivably rude. We were SHOCKED as my friend said nothing but asking about the seat. This was extremely rude and unacceptable. Most restaurants can seat their customers with zero problems when they are early. No restaurant should give their customers such an experience like this. This server shouldn’t work at...

Very good quality to price, especially since it is byob. Super friendly and skilled sushi chef. Very rude waitress. We came at 6 for a 6pm reservation. We waited for ten minutes to sit. They sat us at 6:10. That’s fine. It happens. No big deal. Then we had good sushi for 50 minutes. Very nice chef who knows his stuff. Food was very good. They said it was a sixty minute reservation when I made it. Very clear on that. Okay. We are finishing our meal and a very insistent, rude waitress comes over and says you have to pay and leave because someone is waiting for your seats. I’m like we waited ten minutes to get seated and we have only been here fifty minutes. I mean we spent $250 there plus a $50 tip. It’s a bit much to force us out after fifty minutes. She says again you have to pay and leave. We have people waiting. Super rudely. The chef and the other server were super super apologetic for her behavior. This waitress was not. Could not even say sorry. Terrible service and attitude. They need to train their staff. This should be 4 or 5 stars but I will give it 2 stars because of such...