Yuka — Restaurant in New York

LOYAL CUSTOMER - NEVER RETURNING

For over two years, I’ve been a loyal patron of this once-beloved 5 star sushi spot, visiting at least monthly for its unbeatable AYCE combination of fast service, great prices, and amazing sushi. The food was always quick, fresh, and satisfying. I knew the chefs, who were friendly and skilled, and even though the waitstaff was consistently aloof and curt, the speed of service made up for it. Yuka was king. I raved about this place to friends, ranking it #2 on my Beli for all of New York City.

But now, that gem has lost its shine.

Disastrous Tuesday Visit: I came in on a Tuesday at 6 PM, aiming for a pre-movie dinner. We placed our first order at 6:10 PM, expecting the usual 10-15 minute turnaround. Instead, we waited nearly 40 minutes—and even then, only half of our order arrived. Another 40 minutes passed before we got the rest. I noticed immediately that one of the chefs was unfamiliar, and they had gone from two chefs to one. Still, 2.5 hours for two rounds of sushi? Unacceptable. The indifferent waitress ignored us for a full 25 minutes, in a tiny restaurant where that’s impossible to excuse. We ultimately had to cancel our movie plans. My patience was wearing thin, but I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt—new chef, post-day-off struggles—I told myself.

The Final Straw on Friday: I returned, hopeful that things had improved. This time, they had two chefs, but neither was familiar. Optimism quickly gave way to frustration. We ordered at 7:05 PM and, again, the food trickled out painfully slow. The first part came in 20 minutes—reasonable enough—but it was incomplete. Another hour passed before we got a third of what was left. The scene was chaotic: diners glancing around in bewilderment, visibly frustrated. The waitress, who should have been on the floor, was instead behind the sushi bar, helping the incompetent chefs. At 1.5 hours in, she admitted to losing part of our order. When we asked where the rest of our order was, she yelled: “Everyone waits!” No. No one has ever waited here before. This place used to be somewhere people came in hungry and left full and happy—now, nearly every single person in the restaurant was complaining. How is that sustainable?

What Happened to This Place? This used to be more than a restaurant—it was a dependable ritual. The old chefs were efficient and genuinely cared about their craft and their patrons. Now, the entire experience feels like a bad joke. The food is staggered and slow, and it feels like the restaurant is purposefully dragging out service to cut down on the amount of food patrons can eat. It’s cheap, disorganized, and entirely disappointing.

Yes, the food is still good—it always has been—but what kind of all-you-can-eat place does business like this? If your sushi chefs can’t keep up with the style of business you’re running, you need to hire new chefs. Clearly, the restaurant is successful enough to afford chefs who have the skill set to make this happen. It’s embarrassing that they can’t.

Adding insult to injury, the place reeked of cigarettes on my last visit. This once-iconic spot has become a shadow of itself, and it’s heartbreaking to witness its fall. I can no longer recommend it, nor will I return. To everyone I once told to come here: save your time...

They lost our food ticket and didn't say anything, so we were just sitting here like idiots for an hour :) said we couldn't put another one in because they were still waiting for our first ticket to come out, didn't ask if we wanted drinks, didn't offer the miso soup that we were apparently entitled to and had to read through the several papers on the table to notice. It took one of our friends leaving for the server to double-check if we were waiting on things. An HOUR later. The moment we told them that we got our second order before our first order, we IMMEDIATELY got the rest of our food (AFTER re-ordering it) and you can tell the chefs, like, frantically put it together in two seconds. One of the rolls wasn't even fully closed... The food like, tastes good, or whatever... When we got it. By the time we got our sushi, though, some of us weren't even hungry because we ate the two pieces of chicken they dropped... They didn't explain that it was going to be two pieces rather than two orders despite the 6 people that were sitting at our table.

No free drinks, no free dessert, not even an explanation, LET ALONE an apology. Genuinely if they just like explained that there were issues with service or that like a mistake was made, it literally would've been fine, but we were ignored for over an hour as EVERY table around us got their food within 15 minutes.

When I put my card down, tip was included when there's no indication on the front of the store (including tip without a warning is illegal), so I asked our server to take the included tip off. She pushed back and told me that that's just what they do for tables and I explained that that's illegal. She forced a smile and did it, and when I left no tip, she was like "I took the tip off" and I went "yeah, that's why I asked you to. We waited an HOUR for our food." She tried to explain that it was busy, as if we weren't surrounded by tables that came in after us and then got our food and were nearly out the door before us. On our way out, she sneered at the rest of my group and gave them a dirty look. Never in my life have I EVER not tipped on a tab, but our experience was so one-in-a-million that I just had to break that streak... Don't go here if you have literally any plans the same day, because they might waste your time and, trust me, it really won't be...

Absolutely terrible. One of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. This “all you can eat” sushi place is a complete joke and feels like a scam. Every roll looked exactly the same, same shape, same rice, same seaweed with only slight changes to the filling. There was no flavor. No creativity. No effort. It felt like they just rolled some rice and called it sushi.

And shockingly, they didn’t even bother to use any sauce, not even the cheapest kind of soy or spicy mayo you’d find at the most basic sushi spots. Everything was unbelievably bland. There was absolutely nothing to balance or enhance the taste just dry rice and a sad, tasteless filling.

To make things worse, the price was ridiculously high. For what? You’re paying premium prices for food that tastes like it was thrown together in five minutes with no care or skill whatsoever. Honestly, I could make sushi like this at home with zero experience and it would probably taste better. I’m not even exaggerating. You don’t need any training to replicate what they serve. It’s that bad.

This isn’t sushi. It’s a plate of overpriced, flavorless rice rolls pretending to be sushi. Even grocery store sushi from Publix is fresher, better made, and far more enjoyable.

Avoid this place at all costs. It’s a complete waste of money, time, and your taste buds. If you have any respect for food, go...