Yuki Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in New York

So I went on a saturday night at 9PM and it was empty. I tried to figure out what was wrong and I soon found out. Here are some honest ways for this joint to improve, or this place is probably going under within the next year.

Pros: Unlimited sushi for $27.99. Fish was actually good. Sushi tasted ok. Not as good as Kikoo sushi or Sushi para 88. This is the only sushi buffet in the upper west side. It is part of a chain, but this 72nd street one has prime location. Listed later closing time than many other joints.

Cons: basically they try too much to save costs and deliver a sub par sushi experience. I felt like they were trying to cut corners wherever they can for a few more bucks. TOO MUCH RICE!!! They try to cut cost buy making massive sushi rolls with lots of rice. When we asked them to put less rice in, they were not willing to do that and say that that's only for made to order sushi. So they're basically saying they are capable of making good sushi but is not willing to if you go to the unlimited. You are basically charging the same as all the other sushi buffet restaurants, and the sushi is only half as good mainly because there's too much rice. You advertise a sushi buffet, not a rice ball buffet. If I wanted to eat rice I'd go to my mama's house not here! STINGY left over policy. You can have 2 pieces of sushi and no rice left over otherwise they charge 1/2 price for every sushi pieces left over. I've eaten at so many buffets and never have I been so afraid to try stuff because I'd get charged. It's like having dinner in a communist sushi joint where every grain has to be saved. Get rid of that policy. Most people are reasonable and won't order a crazy amount and end up not eating it. Charges for literally everything not on the fixed sushi menu. For ice cream, appetizers, etc. you need to pay for each order. Every other sushi buffet in the city throws in appetizers and desserts to their line up for the same price. Another cost-cutting measure that cuts into the dining experience. Buffets are experiences where you treat and stuff yourself. I left not wanting to do that because there was not enough variety of appetizers and desserts. Oh and no unlimited sake bombs of course. And it's $2 for breathing the air inside the restaurant and $1 to sit down. Fixed 18% tip to your bill, for a party of 2! Another sneaky business practice to get a few more bucks. If the service is good (which it's not really), Customers will tip accordingly. It's just so they can list a lower price and then up charge on the tip. Kitchen closes at 10:30, AN HOUR before their actual listed closing time.

Not coming back until these things are fixed. It's no wonder this place is empty on a Saturday night. The only people eating there were the employees. They played themselves. Trying to cut costs at every corner leading to nobody...

This is a review for the AYCE option. Beware: includes glass shards in miso soup.

Menu items -- 2/5 very restricted. Includes about half all special rolls and some hand rolls. Not much variety. Only one miso soup or salad per person. No sashimi.

Rolls-- 1/5. These rolls are mostly rice. See pics. Some rolls are worse than others. The worst part? Their sushi rice isn't even all that great. Fish was okay. Not particularly fresh or good.

Miso soup-- 0/5. I was drinking up the last of my soup when I felt a sharp pain followed by a crunch. I don't think soups are supposed to have a crunch to them.. right? I sift my tongue slowly through my mouth and find 2 pieces of glass. Small, but definitely glass. Looks like a piece of chipped glass, where one edge was really thin, and that's where I chomped it in half.

Scared the $#@& out of me. I'm so thankful that I didn't just swallow the entire soup on this particular day.

But here's the interesting part: the manager comped only my meal. We were charged my spouse's meal since his didn't have a glass shards in it. I'm not griping about the $30, really. But I can't help but wonder how they still worry about breaking even when I could have just choked on a piece of glass. Fam, is that really how you see this situation?

Needless to say, we didn't want the rest of our meal, and left...

UPDATE 9-24-25: Sorry to say the quality of the raw fish here has gone down over the past several months. I still like the shrimp tempura roll, but is it worth going here just for that? The quality of sushi was never top-notch, but it was good enough for the price. Clearly they are cutting corners, so I recommend going elsewhere.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I did not go into Kumo for many years, because it didn’t look appealing from the outside, and the inside appeared small and dingy. Well, never judge a book by its cover. The sushi happens to be good here! It’s not great, mind you. You will not say “Wow, that’s the best, freshest, melt-in-your-mouth sushi I’ve ever had,” but you will be satisfied and feel that you got good value for your money.

Prices are reasonable and the menu selection is excellent. They even have good drinks. For dessert, the tempura green tea ice cream is awesome!

In particular, I’m really impressed with the service. Five stars on that. We almost always have the same woman, who is extremely courteous, conscientious, and gets our order right every time. She is often the only server there, and manages to keep her cool even when super busy. The one time we went and she was on vacation, service was not very good, and the sushi wasn’t as...