Temakase Hand Roll Bar - 28th St — Restaurant in New York

My friend and I came last night for dinner since Kazunori’s line was long and we had just gotten back from travel carrying luggage and super hungry. She said she’s had Temakase before at the 2nd ave location and it was just as good. So we came in around 8:40pm and the host seated us about 5-10 minutes after we sat in the waiting area as he was no where to be seen when we first walked in. After getting seated he said someone would take our order in a few minutes, we waited about 15-20 minutes before the guy behind the bar actually acknowledged us and apologized for having us wait so long. We got 2 classic Hangry’s and 1 spicy tuna crispy rice. By this time, we still have not had any water or wasabi and ginger (which we finally got after our first handroll) but we thought it’s end of day he probably was tired and forgot. Everything was going well until our third handroll, the guy who was making our handrolls(had long curly hair and a hat) asked us which one he just gave us and we said blue crab, and he gave us spicy tuna when we were expecting the classic salmon. We didn’t think it was a big deal but he noticed right after that he made us spicy instead of classic and apologized and offered to remake it if we didn’t like it but we didn’t mind. He then gave us the hamachi handroll after that, skipping over the toro. At this time we thought he was just doing it out of order until we saw him start cleaning up and we waved him over and let him know he skipped over 2 handrolls and he reacted in disbelief and annoyance like we were lying. Didn’t apologize and walked off to make the two handrolls he missed, one of which he messed up again and made us the spicy one instead of the classic (the toro one) and the other which he put way too much yuzu sauce on our rice( it was too overpowering and not good). No apologies, bad attitude when we asked nicely and on top of that he was whispering loudly to the host about us “lying about our handrolls” as if we weren’t one of the 2 parties in the restaurant left and only sat 3 feet from him making handrolls. Honestly, we were just shocked at how poor the service is and how unprofessional these workers are. The food is not bad but the service definitely needs work. Won’t catch us coming back...

While the food itself was good, the service was not great. When we arrived at around 1:15, it was not busy. However, after we sat we were asked to move seats to fit a party of 5. We moved. We asked the female chef about what was inside of one of the rolls and she asked us to ask the hostess, who then just turned around and asked the chef again, who then had to go and get the other chef, just to answer "kewpie mayo"... Then, as service progressed, it took a very long time to get each of our rolls. After being there for an hour, I only received 2 handrolls, which was making my coworker and I go way over our allotted lunch time. It seemed like this was an issue for everyone, as the female chef was taking a very long time to make each roll. At one point, a customer got up and paid and left without getting the rest of her food. Towards the end, the chef forgot one of my rolls and then when I told her that I was missing one, she told me that I was wrong. Which was incorrect, as it was easy to keep up with the entire time, due to how long it took for each roll to come out. Eventually, everyone got up and asked to pay, some of them even without getting the rest of the food they ordered, as it took so so long. We asked for the check early so we could leave as soon as the food was done coming out, but were told by the hostess that we had to ask for the check from the chef, only for the chef to tell us that we had to pay up front.... its kind of sad because the food itself was not bad. the rolls were a bit too thick, probably too overstuffed for a true handroll, but still yummy. If it were just quicker and the chef in charge were a bit more ontop of things and understood things more, it probably would've been so...

Honest review of Temakase Handroll bar:

Stopped in at Temakase Handroll bar located at 157 Second Ave. NYC for a quick bite. Their slogan is roll up, roll in, roll out which is pretty fitting because you can definitely go overboard with these handrolls! Also remember this is not high grade sushi, it’s quality food but not a high grade Omakase experience. I ordered the “Hungry” option with 1-scallop hand roll, 1-blue crab hand roll, 1-salmon hand roll, and 1-tuna hand roll….all of them went down sooo smooth so naturally my fat ass wanted more so I added a lobster roll and a toro roll! Both were really tasty and they were made lightning fast. I was almost full but I said, I have to order the crispy rice choice for you know….science. The spicy yellow tail was served hot with a very good crunch that messes with the cold yellow tail very well. On a cold day it will definitely hit the spot. I think this place is a great lunch choice or someone with limited time because the courteous staff is lightning quick with your order. I also think this is a great place to bring a friend that hasn’t tried sushi. Nice way to ease them into the experience. Overall it was a pleasant experience and my favorite roll was the Scallop hand roll! if you are in the area give them a try, especially if you are...