Thirteen Water West — Restaurant in New York

I went in without any expectations and I was extremely impressed, every piece was so delicious and unique! All of the toppings and sauces went wonderfully with each fish, every bite was truly perfection. The fish here were incredibly smooth and melted in my mouth, nothing was fishy or too chewy. The first bite was the madai and I knew from that moment the rest of the omakase was going to be amazing. I also had the nicest chef, Edison, who explained and crafted each nigiri to look like a masterpiece. He kept us engaged throughout the dinner, was very attentive, and I really appreciated him asking about our preferences. My favorite pieces were the madai, chutoro, tuna truffle, botan ebi, otoro toro caviar, toro handroll, and the toast. I’ve had all these pieces (except the toast) before at other omakase places but it just tasted so different here in the best way possible, the quality and flavors are insane. I was also pleasantly surprised that the ikura here was slightly sweet and salty, which made it so much more enjoyable whereas other places make their ikura overly salty. I don’t have any major critiques as I think everything on the menu is stunning but if I had to change one thing, I would say to make the piece of tomato smaller on the salmon tomato nigiri so that you can taste the salmon more. The tomato was delicious but because it was a hefty piece, it became the star of the show and overpowered the salmon. They’re known for this piece though so perhaps majority of people enjoy the bigger piece of tomato, it’s a really interesting combo that compliments each other well. I can’t recommend this place enough, I can’t wait to go back again in 2 weeks and try some of...

DO NOT and I mean DO NOT recommend this place. The experience was terrible from the start.

There is a little waiting hall when you walk in but NO ONE to greet you or to bring you in. It’s just all other guests that made reservations. There were guests walking out and told us we had to go find the host??????

We were then led to the back room where there were four counter laid out in an oval with four chefs. I would have to say it was louder than a bar in there. I asked to be moved over to the middle of the counter in front of the chef so I could see the preparation of the food but was ignored by both waitresses.

The servers walked around pouring water (also spilled water all over the counter for another guest and never went to clean it up) and never came back to ask for our alcohol order even though everyone else got theirs (some people are probably saying why didn’t you flag them down and place the order? That’s because there was no one around). So we didn’t end up ordering alcohol.

There was a bone in the first course (the couple sitting next to us found one as well) and we told the waitress and she took the plate and left. Came back with another plate and left without giving us time to say anything and she did not apologize for anything. None of the courses were outstanding. Just fish on rice.

We asked for the check the minute we finished our last course and my boyfriend was nice enough to leave a 10% tip for the bad experience and lack of...

Thirteen Water West is the sister location to Thirteen Water East, located in the Chelsea/Midtown area of NYC. Part of the same Hospitality group that owns other Omakase spots such as Ume or Shinn East, it brings another experience for special occasions.

The staff are quite friendly and attentive, as our water was refilled before it even got half way empty. The staff interacted minimally, though did ask us what our favorite ones were and also helped initiate any extra pieces. They also provided us with a free matcha ice cream, as it was our anniversary when we went which was nice of them to do so.

The Sushi was of great quality, though a bit smaller than we were expecting. It felt very delicate and easy to fall apart, especially when some pieces had many different layers to it. Some combinations sounded off at first to us, like the Salmon tomato, but the pieces were chosen effectively and we couldn't even taste the tomato with the salmon. Our favorites were the tuna ones, as the caviar or the truffle balanced the fish quite well. We also got a snow crab uni as an extra piece, though it was good, but wasn't outstanding to us.

For $75/person, it is a great value for omakase and...