Kanoyama
“Also, like Yasuda and 15 East, they brush the soy sauce on, so you aren't at a risk of overdoing the soy sauce.”
“Nobu accepted my sprinkling of "oohs" and "ahhs" with the cutest little bows- I wish I had ooh'd and ahh'd a bit more.”
“All in all, an excellent omakase experience, in a fun, light-hearted environment.”
Kanoyama
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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It's not easy to find good quality sushi these days, But Kanoyama is one of the best. The service was on point and the atmosphere was perfect. Since I am all about atmosphere, this was a huge plus. It was very old-school Japanese, clean, and spacious(which is hard to find in this part of the city). When we looked at the menu, we were concerned at first. It looks extremely overpriced. 7 dollars for a miso soup is always a bad sign. But, the sushi for two combo was 52 dollars which combined 16 pieces of sushi sashimi, including miso soup. It was An amazing deal, and worth every dime. Very fresh fish, great(and strong) sake, and the rock shrimp appetizer was incredible. I highly recommend this place for a nice date night. 5 stars!!
** Warning, lengthy review **
I made a reservation for four about a week before for a Friday night. Someone from the restaurant left me a voicemail to confirm the reservations but there were additional details that weren't really comprehensible. When I made the reservation I stated two people from our party were going to partake in the omakase experience.
Ever since I saw Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I've wanted to try sushi, Omakase style; this is where the chef picks out the different types of sushi cuts according to the day's special and sometimes with your input to your likes and dislikes.
We arrived and were seated promptly. Our waitress informed us that since we made reservations for Omakase that it would be $180 for EACH person… this was not something that was online/on their menu. Their menu stated omakase for $42 a person which is a great deal so that's why I made reservations here. Our waitress informed us that we could not sit at that table unless we got their super omakase at $180/person which was not relayed to me when I made the reservations. She had to go to the manager and came back to say that we would be able to sit in the "special" dining area this one time only because of the communication issue. What made the service worse was that they took the nice plate mats away, and our stainless steel chopsticks and replaced them with a cheaper wooden kind which seemed very unnecessary.. and our waitress's attitude changed after she found out we wouldn't be paying as much money for our food that evening.
All that aside, we were still looking forward to our sushi. We attempted to order the famous Tuna rib sushi (literally, the rib of a tuna fish with the sushi grade meat (toro aka fatty tuna) still attached but was informed that they sold out for the night. The issue that bothered us was that we saw two other tables get the special rib tuna and they were seated after us.. we can only assume since we didn't partake in the super omakase we weren't privileged enough to get that fish.
They were however able to honor the omakase price online of $42 for the sashimi. I also got the following: grilled salmon belly, grilled baby octopus, and one chutorro hand roll. My sashimi omakase was the BEST and freshest sushi I have ever tasted. I don't recall anything that was on my plate, but I got around 20 pieces of sashimi. The salmon belly you can pass, the octopus was spicy and tasty and the chutorro was good, but not as flavorful as I was expecting. Everyone else mentioned that their food was really good but the our experienced was slightly ruined by the terrible service.
TL;DR- service was crappy because of the miscommunication about the Omakase reservations. The sushi was the best I have ever had; super fresh and melts in your mouth.
The sushi here is fresh and delicious, but it's overpriced. The "Sushi for 2" costs $52 and the menu says it comes with 16 pieces of sushi and 3 rolls. The sushi/nigiri were fine but the rolls were disappointing. Each "roll" was half the size of what I normally receive at sushi restaurants (4 pieces rather than the usual 6 or 8). We were still hungry so we ordered the gyoza and fried oysters. I enjoyed the gyoza but the fried oysters had too way much breading.
The service was very slow. We had to flag down servers for more water, sake, and food. The food also took way too long to arrive.
While I enjoyed the freshness and the taste of the sushi here, the pricey menu items and slow service will keep me from coming back.
I actually didn't like this place that much. My friends loved it… Couldn't stop raving about it however most of the items they loved were not there a week later when we all went together. So not sure how consistent the menu…It's listed on the menu but may not be available when you order. Just a heads up. There's so many sushi/ Japanese restaurants in the city I don't necessarily recommend this one. Just didn't stand out to me unfortunately.
Perhaps I dropped by on their off day. Kanoyama turned out to be a disappointment to me on multiple levels.
Disappointment #1 – I was not impressed with the sushi. It was decent, but not memorable. I felt some pieces were a bit tasteless and boring. They were missing the richness that you should expect in good quality sushi. It's a shame that I found myself having the need to dip the fish into soy sauce & wasabi.
Disappointment #2 – As for the rice, it seemed under seasoned since I was struggling to taste even the slightest hint of vinegar. It's an essential component in crafting good sushi but Kanoyama fell short of this.
Disappointment #3 – The nori on my tuna hand roll turned out to be soggy. A hand roll can't be left sitting for a couple minutes since nori is very fragile. It should've arrive to us still crisp. Super fail.
Setting aside the imperfections, there were a couple of highlights for me. The sea eel was fantastic as well as the hotate. Overall, my visit wasn't stellar. We made the mistake of ordering a la carte instead of going for their omakase set. However, we ordered most of the nigiri they had to offer and I wasn't even impressed. I would probably return to give Kanoyama a second shot in the future.
I was meeting up for dinner with my old Cornell friends for a small reunion again this year n was staying in the East Village. so my friend said he knew the perfect place cuz he took his wife there for her birthday last year n the food was definitely above par for sushi on the East Coast. (we LOVE all kinds of Japanese food.)
Kanoyama is located on 175 Second Avenue in the East Village district in Manhattan. it's right on the corner of East 11th Street n 2nd Avenue across from Love Mamak. walk it if possible cuz 2nd Ave seems too crowded n busy to park.
with so many good Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, it's easy to overlook Kanoyama. from the exterior, it looks small n old-school, like a family-style drinking hole in Tokyo; but then u would b mistaken. the interior is large n clean with two dining areas, the front room for groups, n the other caters to individuals where the customers can watch the sushi chefs work their magic.
Omelet : I usually always order one cuz I LIVE for eggs. it wasn't overcooked n it still had a bit of soft n runny consistency which was perfect for me!
Chawanmushi : this was cooked ok. I can also steam this dish at home so it wasn't that impressive to me.
Hokkaido Uni : LOVE UNI!! especially the ones shipped from Japan. buttery goodness. was just a few small pieces, but they hit the spot. it was presented in a bed of cucumber which was interesting. can't say anything bad about Uni from Hokkaido.
Sushi For Three : there's 11 kinds of sushi in this large platter. it's just enough for 3 ppl, although if u r really hungry, it's better to also order some appetizers. the sushi is sliced small n delicate. this attributes to the excellent knife work of the chef of course. everything tasted fresh. the Hamachi was so good! I always try to get the freshest sushi possible to avoid getting sick. HATE it when that happens.
Superbly priced omakase sushi ($39) and omakase sashimi ($42). This is a great place to start trying omakases or frequent often because it won't break the bank, the fish is very fresh and the service is friendly.
Hubs and I started off with the Oyster uni ikura app. I thought I had had fresh oysters before but these were refreshing. The uni and ikura added another level of savory and umami, perfect complements and a great start.
Because we ordered the omakase, we then got miso soup and then got our platters. I don't remember all the fish but the eel was fantastic. Interesting display on the platter but it was boneless, soft, flavorful, divine. We also ordered toro nigiri and the hubs ordered an uni. To end the meal, we were offered a choice of vanilla, red bean, or green tea ice cream. We both chose red bean and the ice cream was so milky and creamy, had red beans but didn't really taste it much.
Kanoyama is a great place to eat sushi if you're feeling for the real stuff made right.
Pretty darn good sushi. For someone who is not a fan of sushi, I was impressed by Kanoyama. Everything was fresh and presented beautifully. We shared an assortment of rolls and sashimi. The stand-outs for me were the soft shell crab and spicy scallop rolls. Very friendly service and a nice casual vibe here.