Tomo21 Sushi — Restaurant in New York

It was a Saturday afternoon and I hadn't seen my friend in a couple of years. We settled on a sushi placed recommended by a Japanese friend. We wanted something yummy, affordable and generous with portions.

We arrived around 4:45 pm and there was about an eight person line already. There was no sign in sheet, so we just waited in line. At 5 the doors opened and a hostess started to let people in.

The space was not big, it was cozy; typical for the area. By the time we sat down there were no empty seats.

We were given the menu and my friend ordered sake. I'm not a drinker, so I'll have to take her word for it that it was very good. There were quite a few choices on the drinks menu for a variety of sake.

Their portions, we were told, were generous, so we decided to split a Deluxe sashimi entree, which consisted of 3 yellowtail, 3 tuna rolls, 2 salmon, 1 shrimp, 2 different fish roe rolls, 1 egg and I think 4 other rolls. In the meantime, we decided to try Spicy Toro (I can't remember the exact name, but it's the fatty tuna belly). It reminded me a bit of a paté, but with a lot more texture, in a hot sauce. It was delicious.

My friend loves shellfish, I generally avoid it (ironic, because I love sushi), so she took the one shrimp roll and I took all the roe, which I loved.

In a fairly short order a creeping suspicion entered our palates: the wasabi had to be the real deal, not the dyed horseradish commonly served in many sushi places. Having some eastern European roots, I'm fairly unfazed by the direct kick in the teeth from the horseradish, but this real wasabi snuck in and, in a typical Japanese manner, delivered an impressive subtle impact despite a modest amount I used. My sinuses took a bit to recover from this new encounter, but asked for more nontheless.

We decided to get a roll each after cleaning the deluxe platter clean. I got fried salmon skin with cucumber and she got spicy tuna. Mine was not like a typical greasy thing that I had tried in other places. It was satisfyingly fatty, with a calm and pleasant flavor. It came in 4 pieces. Hers was spicy and it was 6 smaller rolls. We tried each others' rolls. Frankly, they were so good, I could have eaten both of them myself.

For dessert we split the special: mango pudding. It came on a platter with mango slices and whipped cream. The pudding was made of icecream, on top of some wafer/cracker and covered with a mango deliciousness.

The most impressive part for me was how fresh the raw fish was. It was absolutely delicious. The wait staff were very attentive without being overwhelming and our water glasses were refilled often, in the most unobtrusive way, remarkable, considering how packed and busy it was.

The bill showed us that the place was extremely affordable, by NYC standards. 1 appetizer, 1 drink, deluxe platter, 2 regular rolls came out to a bit over $80 without tip. I thought it was worth every penny. I suspect that the only drawback here, and we plan to come back, is figuring out how to avoid waiting too long to get it. We spent about an hour and a half there, and I think we just got lucky. A weekday visit might prove...

Sadly it has been about 10 years since the last time i was there. As i remember this was very different place all together. I had high expectations and i was excited to take my daughter for dinner. We were on the line at 440pm today, so we were first on the list. We order the chirashi bento box, when it came to the table, our waitress asked placed the bento box down and she walked away. Did not explained what type of fish was included in the box, the fish was sliced too thick and very sloppy and there was a minuscule amount salmon roe. This was not how i remember it. Presentation was very poor and my daughter and i both agreed that none of the fish had flavor. I couldn't tell the difference between salmon and tuna, i was dumbfounded. Yhe audacity of thia restaurant to be providing customers with subpar product, well clearly i will noy bw returning here. Their draft beer system apparently was not working, i ordered a draft beer only to be told that the system was not functioning. Really? The restaurant just open and the waitress had no idea the draft beer is was nott available? On top of that we noticed the NYC SANITATION INSPECTOR on premises, we were on the middle of an early dinner and the inspector was in and out dor another 30 minutes. Refused to have dessert, just a awful experience. Subpar product, the fish was more like a sponge, all you could taste was that the fish had a lot of water probably from being frozen and recycled back and forth. Oddly enough my meal was $35, while my wife's sushimi deluxe $42, the fish she had om her platter actually tasted different than ours. My daughter and i both tasted a piece of salmon from her meal and the fish actually tasted like salmon and it was not spongy and even the color was slightly more orange pink. I believe my experience at the local McDonald's would have been better then to come here and spend $150 on dinner for 3 with no service what so ever and no concern...

So, this is supposed to be (one of) the best Sushi restaurants in New York? Well, we HAD to try it when we spent a long weekend in the city. The restaurant itself does not appear fancy or overly attractive from the outside at all. We got here during the break between lunch ('til 3 p.m.) and dinner (from 5 p.m.) and met some of the staff outside. We asked about reservations and were told that they took no reservations (anymore). Well, since we knew from other reviews, that being early helps getting a table so we returned just on time, shortly after their opening at 5 p.m. and the room was already full. The inside of the restaurant is as spectacular as a post office - not at all. It is comfortable though, and appears to follow Japanese "plain" style. There are only 8 or 10 tables, if I counted right, most of them for 2 persons. The walls are full of self written posters.

I've been to a lot of Japanese restaurants, and some of the "best" turned out to be hyped mediocre restaurants only. I was expecting good food though after seeing them work behind the counter. The fish they were using seemed to be fresh, other ingredients as well. All Sushi was rolled/ cut/ prepared manually and with precision... We ordered Sashimi Salad (Sake) and Ebi Tempura for starters and their Sushi menu with Miso Soup. The fish (salad) was perfectly seasoned with only a little bit of soy sauce, the tempura was traditional (not sweetened, not greasy) and the Sushi they brought us indeed one of the best I've ever had. The fish was tender and extremely tasty, the rice with the typical, discreet taste of vinegar and the Wasabi brought me to tears (in a positive way!). Yes, this was definitively among the best Sushi I ever...