Kondo
“The green tea parfait is amazing; decked with some green tea pocky and strawberries with whipped cream and green tea ice cream.”
“I have been to Linn once or twice yet nothing compares to chef Kondo under his own roof where his creativity is allowed to flourish.”
“We got 2 orders of the fried chicken which my daughter gobbled up.”
Kondo
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I learned about Kondo on my way to Tamashi Ramen, bookmarked it on my yelp list. The restaurant is spacious and not large. We came on a rainy evening before Christmas eve so the restaurant was empty except for a couple of tables and two people at the sushi bar. Service is prompted. We had the monk fish liver appetizer, shoshito peppers, spider roll, and the sushi deluxe. All ingredients are very fresh. I commend that, but flavor profile wise nothing innovative. We also ordered the green tea parfait and that is a great dessert. 3.5 stars.
Perfection! Super ecstatic that we discovered this gem in Astoria. The quality of the food here is exceptional and the prices are decent for what you're receiving. The chef is Japanese, as well as the staff, so expect the food to be authentic and everything from hygiene to service to be top-notch! We sat at the bar with Chef Kondo directly before us, preparing our dishes. He was all smiles and extremely friendly, glancing occasionally to check on customers. When I reached the deep fried prawn head rested on the side of my sashimi platter, he advised me to break it in half first. I really needed some tips because the spikes from the head seriously would've caused me some injury. Besides the sashimi, we also ordered the octopus carpaccio, uni, fatty tuna roll, salmon avocado and eel avocado rolls (mad rolls) and everything was impeccably made. Do yourself a favor and eat here!
This review is a toughie.
First, the quality of the sushi and food is very high and top notch in fact – the sushi was tasty and enjoyable and it literally melted in your mouth. I read some pieces get imported from Japan and would believe that to be true. It is what you would come to expect from a high-end sushi restaurant along with the price. The japanese fried chicken was delicious, not too salty, juicy and very flavorful. The fried tofu was good and the green tea parfait was excellent. A++ for quality – no qualms there.
The issues that I have with this place was everything else:
First, the decor isn't that great, it's a very minimalist looking place.
Second, The chef special which everyone recommends is confusing. The price says $55+ and when asked the waitress how much it was today, she says it depends on what you pick. Huh? She said $80 for 2 ppl would work out fine so we said ok. When we got the dish, we got one piece of each sushi but would have rather have had one piece each for my wife and I to try out and would have paid the $55 each but did not understand and so we had to split up the sushi.
Third, in most high-end omakase restaurants they make it into an experience for you, they give you each sushi one-by-one or make it into course that allow you to taste the quality in each one. Here you get it on one dish like you would any other sushi roll but you pay the high quality price for it. Maybe if we sat at the single square table it would have been a better experience with the chef? I don't know or maybe I'm just spoiled by other restaurants but then again those are around $80-100 pp.
Fourth, the service was mediocre. The waitress didn't explain well what we were getting or had asked anyone, she didn't come around very often, we got ignored a couple times because she only looked in one direction and at the end had to chase her down for the check.
So a D for experience. Get the issues fixed and this place would be a solid 5 stars. Tell me – would you rather pay the same amount at a similar restaurant for a better experience knowing you will get high quality sushi?
Come here for quality but don't expect much more. Yes, I would still come back again to try other lower-cost dishes like the meats and rolls because I expect the food will still be very good but for omakase I would have to try another place. A++ minus D equals B-?
I'm kind of surprised this place is rated higher than other sushi places nearby. It was great, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't help feel like it was no different than any other $$ sushi place.
The nigri and shashimi were also very thin slices. For the price, they weren't bad at all. I just don't see this place as my new go to.
Service was great and they helped seat us immediately so I definitely appreciated that!
We ordered the fried oysters and the edamame and spicy crunchy tuna roll as appetizers and they were all delicious! The oysters were fried in Panko bread crumbs and were served hot. My son ordered the seared beef and he did not expect it to be so rare…
So my other son ate it. Lol
For main courses we ordered beef, salmon and chicken chimichuri. The sauce was delicious and it was served with a little broccoli and a few baby carrots. The only issue was that one of my sons doesn't really like dark meat chicken. He would have preferred white. Overall it was a great experience and has great decor and felt super clean. We will be back sometime soon.
This is a really excellent addition to the Astoria sushi scene. I had the regular sushi combo (8 pieces and 1 spicy tuna roll) and I was blown away by their salmon and eel. Their shrimp dumplings are not worth the price, but they have excellent quality fish and service. The staff was very attentive and we were seated right away. It's on the pricier side for the neighborhood, but well worth it. It's definitely my new favorite place to go for sushi in Astoria.
I've visited Kondo twice this year and both of my visits have been a good experience. In my most recent visit, I ordered their beef teriyaki. The meat was very tender and easy to chew, definitely tasted like a meat of quality. It was served with greens and a bowl of rice on the side.
For appetizers, we ordered pork dumplings (which had very little meat) and for dessert, we ordered the green tea parfait. The green tea parfait, I would highly recommend. It comes with green tea pocky sticks, mochi, ice cream, and red bean paste. Very delicious!
Conveniently located near the subway station, prices are fair, very clean, and servers are very knowledgeable. It's a spacious area and I don't feel rushed eating here.
Although the place looks rather bare and informal, the food is very good. After long search, I chose this spot for my partner's birthday dinner, and hit the jackpot. We had a feast.
– pork dumplings: light and delicate; very tasty.
– fried oysters: delicious, and very sizable.
– shrimp & burdock tempura: two huge chunks of mixed seafood deep fried and accompanied by tasty crushed sesame seeds (and something else); loved them.
-grilled salmon: the weak link of the meal; not bad at all, but on the dry side.
– chirashi (sashimi on rice): fantastic; the fish is as fresh as previously indicated by countless yelpers; even the rice alone is captivating.
– sushi deluxe: I know, by now we were getting full; however, this plate was the real deal. Everything was fresh and beautifully prepared. It had uni and eel as well. Worth the extra money.
– green tea parfait: as good as previously described. Also, very sizable, so plan ahead… we should have ordered just one.
The service – Aga was our waitress – was impeccable. Several yelpers complain about the pace, but I have nothing negative to say. Maybe bc we ordered many dishes, but everything came at a comfortable pace. Actually, the appetizers could have come more slowly, as we were served the last three practically at the same time. They came with extra miso soup while we were waiting for the sushi to come… maybe this was their strategy to make it seem like we weren't waiting long… and if worked perfectly.
Overall, I can't say enough about this place, and look forward to returning. They even sang happy birthday to my fiancé! Cookie points for that. 🙂