Osaka
“It's located just a few blocks from Penn Station, Macy's etc. so there's quite a bit of foot traffic in the area.”
“(Totally random pick, as I am never in this neighborhood, but we were trying to converge in a convenient location and it turned out to be really good.)”
“The green tea was a little lukewarm, so I'm guess it wasn't the freshest, since I reckon this is more of a lunch place than a dinner place, but good overall.”
Osaka
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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By outside appearance you may second guess coming in here and once your in you may still second guess why you actually came in. It's kinda of dark in here and not very appealing.
When I work in the hostess looked at me and walked away. I'm thinking rude, but I decide to look over the menu anyway. I decide to get the sushi combo lunch special I looked for the hostess to place my order. She took my order and my money and told me to have a seat while I waited. Their is no waiting area with sits so your forced to sit at a dining table while you wait for your food. The sushi making station was right next to me so I was able to see my food being made. The sushi station was clean and my food was made rather quickly. When the hostess brought me the bag with my food, she dropped the bag in front of me and said here's your food. All I could do was shake my head and take my food.
The sushi taste fresh and was good. I may eat from here again but it will definitely be take out only.
Pretty good sushi. Made fresh in front of you but maybe not the highest of quality ingredients. They offer a nice lunch special but it takes a little while for your order to be completed so I would move on if you are looking for something fast.
Prior to it being Osaka, it was a Hawaiian food place, so you can still see minor traces of it in the menu. Osaka is pretty good and was close to one of my internships and my job so I ended up here frequently. I do thoroughly enjoy their bentos however it is fair to note that this place is busy and slow during lunch peak. Go during a slower time and it's nicer to just sort of take everything in — the decor isn't great but it's nice listening to the guys at the sushi bar and not freaking out over being late back to work. It's also higher than your average lunch place nonetheless when I want to introduce people to Japanese food in the city, I usually drag them here before breaking them into more advance sushi, sashimi or nigiri places (after all bento boxes are the greatest intro you can have). Not bad overall.
Desperate for sushi as a result of a lunchtime craving, I couldn't help but order Osaka despite knowing that they are a largely Chinese owned and operated joint with a reputation that is known more for its fast delivery than it is for its sushi. I decided to ignore the naysayers and my own gut instinct and clicked a few times on Seamless Web and ordered 3 of their lunchtime rolls. I now want my money back.
The Chinese delivery man arrived and in a Fukinese (Fujian) accent told me to tip more as he was not satisfied with his $2 tip. I looked at the sushi and thought it looked fairly good and decided to give him another $1. Upon trying it, I was a little disappointed that it lacked any kick or flavor and was some of the blandest sushi I've had in recent memory. The Spicy Boy roll was so-so, my Green Dragon roll was not stable and fell apart with each chopstick attempt, and the Sex on the Beach roll was the only good one of the bunch. I will pass on this place down the road.
I'm very skeptical of Sushi restaurants that are not authentic so had it not been for coming here with a colleague at lunch time, I would've never ventured to Osaka. The first thing I noticed was the Chinese food in the back, and the long line for it. That tells me… they have good Chinese food, for sure. Upon careful inspection on my way to the bathroom, they offer a variety of stir-fry veggies, meats, steamed ground pork patties, steamed fish, fried fish… quite an awesome deal for $5 – 3 item combo in my opinion. I asked if they offer this special only for lunch – and unfortunately, it's an affirmative.
Delicious Chinese grub in sight, but alas, I must behave and not devour ghetto Chinese food (white Styrofoam box, plastic bag… it's not something you'd consume in the restaurant although many did) as I keep my professional demeanor, and ordered the Salmon teriyaki. I was tempted by the sushi prices – but a foodie knows better than to ever, EVER order anything raw from a non-authentic sushi establishment. Salmon teriyaki was good, and the redeeming value of the California roll (bland enough I dipped it in teriyaki sauce), ghetto salad (iceberg leaves w/ random cream-based dressing), and sumai was that everything was very, very fresh – which makes it a cheap meal I'd still come back to, even though I'd never classify this stuff as sushi.
Drab and dark inside, as soon as you walk in, it's a bit narrow and messy, with papers, plates, used dish towels, all visible on the counter right by the entrance. It doesn't exactly feel the most welcoming. There are 10-15 dark wood lacquered tables with maroon cushioned seats, as well as a small sushi bar up in the front with a few more chairs. For those looking to score a cheap lunch, there is a Chinese steam table in the back. Such offerings from the Chinese steam table include the lunch box (General Tso's, Chicken Broccoli, or Chicken Teriyaki Dark Meat) for $5, and the lunch box with three toppings over rice for $5. You're probably already asking why a Japanese restaurant would also prepare Chinese food. It's a mystery and usually taboo to mix Japanese and Chinese.
I ordered the Three Roll Lunch Special ($10.99) which is served from 11:30am – 3:30pm, Monday – Friday. Included is choice of Miso Soup or Salad. I opted for the Yellowtail Jalapeño Roll, Salmon Jalapeño Roll, and Eel Avocado Roll along with Miso Soup. The miso soup was served steaming hot with the usual fare of seaweed, scallions and tofu bits. The color of the miso soup was lighter in color and erring to the ever so slightly bland side. Not the best of miso soups, not even the norm, and I ask myself how can they mess up such a simply made soup which many Japanese restaurants just resort to the instant-made variation. The pink ginger and wasabi paste was standard, that of which I have no qualms about, nor did I care much for it. As for the rolls, the rice on the rolls were very firm and dense, even slightly wet. The pickled jalapeño in the the two rolls (yellowtail and salmon) were a bit questionable in sight. Very light green in color, but flavors were familiar, sour and spicy along with a nice crunchy texture. However the jalapeños overpowered the yellowtail and salmon, giving you the impression that you were eating all jalapeño. If you have the chance to pick at the fish, you'll note that the fish is decently fresh and tender although not buttery soft. But another gripe I had was that the size of the fish in each piece was not consistent, some pieces including almost twice as much fish as some pieces barely included anything. The only roll I seemed to appreciate was the Eel Avocado Roll, but again, it's not really difficult to mess up as most eel these days come frozen and just need to be broiled and reheated. The eel was yummy and avocado fresh.
Overall, Osaka didn't really do much for me. It far from impressed me, and I most likely won't come back for a return visit. For the quality of rolls I received, I probably would expect to pay no more than $2 for each roll you'll likely to get at those less than stellar mystery Japanese restaurants. Come to think of it, those places seemed to impress me more than Osaka did.
We walked in because the neighborhood is a bit scuzzy and this place looks respectable. The first sign of disaster was when we looked at the menu and saw that it was a Chinese / Japanese restaurant. That can mean only one thing. Chinese sushi. First rule of sushi: "Never eat sushi from a restaurant that also serves beef with broccoli".
Things just devolved from there.
We walked on and our instincts were right. The chef and waitresses were all Chinese. Not good juju for a sushi place.
We got gyoza, hibachi ribs, and three specialty rolls.
The ribs were predictably tough, but most meat at Asian places is tough, so I was expecting that. However, they did have an odd smell about them, which made me nervous. It turns out I was OK, but I was a little nervous for a few hours.
The gyoza were pretty good, but obviously frozen, so you can't really give the restaurant kudos on good gyoza. They were, however, very stingy on the gyoza sauce.
The sushi was, and this is no hyperbole, quite possibly the worst sushi I've ever had in my life. No joke. It was simply terrible. Completely tasteless. Devoid of quality, either good or bad. It had no quality whatsoever.
Seriously. If you read any reviews saying the sushi was "decent" or "not bad", don't believe them. The sushi was just dreadful.
I want my calories back.
NOOOO. Please don't go here for sushi.
Service- bad / rude / unattentive
Sushi- Not good. not horrible….but not good by any means.
the miso soup is GROSS
Sweet & Sour chicken bento box (lunch) My b/f loved his sweet & sour, but he doesn't know good asian food (i hope he doesnt read this … :p) it was hard and chewy to me. the rice portion is TINY
I asked for water…I got luke warm water w/ no ice in a small glass….really?
this only gets 2 stars instead of one b/c my boyfriend seemed to enjoy his food and i cant give 1.5 stars.