Lab 13 Handroll Bar — Restaurant in Newton

Spotted a few food safety concerns when we dined here: the chef was touching their tablet with the same gloves that he was wrapping handrolls in. Not at all aware that he is being watched by literally the entire counter. He also never put the containers with the dish mixtures in the fridge. They sat on the counter without any covering the whole time. Same for the rice. It was cold and left out in the open air without a lid, for the entire time I was there.

About the food.. They had a small oven to heat up their eel, but my eel arrived colder than the rice and dripping in way too much sauce. I couldn’t really taste any of the fish which made me question the quality of their ingredients. The soy sauce they provided has something floating in it which tasted like bonito flakes. The handrolls were all cold but the seasonings on the fish was either unbalanced or overpowering so you really only taste seasonings and cold rice. They had each nori toasted before wrapping but they weren’t crisp still. They also didn’t have proper plates for their sashimi? Ours was placed on the rim of the plate and didn’t have any garnishing like their photos on google maps. I had somewhat high hopes due to the fancy photos I saw posted by the business on their own Google page, but none of that was witnessed in this meal. There was no minced fish, just chunks. There was no caviar even as an add on.

I could tell that the staff is really trying but they’re just kinda overwhelmed.. they all had pretty good vibes except for the shorter chef in glasses who seemed to have issues with their own system and kept giving out the wrong handrolls to different groups of guests. This happened before we sat down and after we sat down… he even told off the other staff that was trying to help him and his attitude towards the guests that informed him of his mistakes was not nice or apologetic at all.

I know they’re still in their soft opening but this is not a great start... In addition, videos I’ve seen on social media also painted a different picture with very nicely plated sashimi dishes and nigiri’s, full handrolls that has much higher quality ingredients.. if they’ve decided to go in a different direction, I’d really hope there’s some...

As others have mentioned, most of the handroll fillings were just chopped-up pieces of fish overwhelmed with seasonings that didn’t pair well. Food was mediocre at best and the shrimp roll the worst.

What really ruined the experience was the older sushi chef. Throughout the meal, he made the experience very uncomfortable. After my friend pointed out that she was served a roll she hadn’t ordered, he kept insisting she should have just eaten it instead of speaking up. He even blamed her for wasting a roll even though it was his fault. On top of that, he was audibly muttering “what the hell” to himself about the number of rolls he had to prepare, which felt unprofessional.

Other reviews mentioned friendly service, but we had a very different experience. We noticed that English-speaking customers were treated with much more respect. Since we spoke Mandarin (as he did), he repeatedly made inappropriate jokes in Chinese, even after we stopped engaging and were visibly upset. The tone of these comments, especially those about our nationalities, left us extremely uncomfortable. I don’t want to go into further detail but some of the comments he made were borderline harassment at best. The chef knew as well because after we paid he said “Don’t post a review [about what I said] on Chinese social media.”

It was also obvious that other staff members picked up on his behavior but did nothing to address the situation. The younger chef and the male server both looked awkward and uncomfortable during these interactions, and judging from their reactions, it didn’t seem like this was the first time.

Overall, the combination of mediocre food and the unprofessional, harassing behavior from the chef makes this a place I...

Wow what an incredible new restaurant! If you like sushi you have to try this.

Located right in Chestnut Hill with lots of easy parking. Easy to find and right between Dry Bar and Sweetgreen. On entry the staff were so friendly and seated us right away. It’s all counter seating so everyone has a great view of the rolls being freshly made. The restaurant itself has a pretty light wood color scheme.

We each ordered 5 hand rolls and collectively we tried the Salmon, Shrimp, Snow crab, yellowtail, toro, bay scallop and eel avocado rolls. They were all incredible (no notes!) but our favorites were Toro, snow crab, and scallop. The scallop roll is just scallop and mayo which really highlights the flavor of the scallop. The toro roll is paired with a mild daikon which adds a perfect crunch. All of the fish was incredibly fresh and high quality. And best of all the prices were SO reasonable. The five hand roll set was $30 which is so affordable for the size and quality of the rolls.

We also had the chance to speak with the owners at the end who shared that the full menu will have 13 kinds of hand rolls, nigiri, and take-out options. Their goal is to provide a light meal that fills guests 80% of the way without being heavy. The rolls are also on average only 100 cal each (lobster/shrimp are less, eel/salmon are more) which makes it a diet-friendly place to eat.

Overall this place is incredible and I cannot wait to go back for the full menu launch...