Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya
“The oxtail bone marrow fried rice: Think the word "decadence" in a bowl — topped with fried egg and braised daikon for good measure.”
“From their sushi and sashimi, to their agedashi tofu, right down to their ise ebi…”
“Its inside of the Thompson LES hotel, so you have to go around to the Orchard St side and up the second level.”
Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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2.5 stars. Disappointing. Steer clear of the things you've not seen before at a sushi bar, such as jellyfish rolls and filet mignon salad. They were not good. Lobster, avocado and tuna rolls were okay but nothing special. Yam dish was inedible. We split a glass of wine and left hungry; the bill was $140 for the two of us. They also did nothing special despite the fact that we indicated we were celebrating a birthday.
More like no ribbon sushi!!
I have been wanting to try this place forever. Constantly telling the hubby that the reviews were great and everyone seems to love it, that we should trek down to the LES and check it out.
Well, I definitely lost some street credit here……
At first we walked right by the restaurant, distracted by another restaurant down the block – that must have been "The Sign" that we should skip Blue Ribbon. When we realized our error, we traced back our steps and found the restaurant. Up 2 flights of steep steps (already thinking how we would navigate them after a few glasses of sake…), we step into Blue Ribbon Sushi (the causal part) and Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya (the fancier part).
The hostess showed us into a lovely room where the sushi chefs give a hearty yell when we walked in (welcoming at first, but after the 10th couple comes in……).
We are shown to our table and given menus.
The prices aren't bad and the menu is diverse. Sushi and Sashimi are broken out by the ocean in which the fish is from (nice touch). They also have a list of specials where some of the items are more than double the price of their counterparts on the regular menu (ex: regular tuna $7 a piece, semi fatty tuna $17 a piece – and I know that fatty and semi fatty tuna are more expensive but that is a huge difference).
The plating of the fish was lovely! The couple next to us (who loved their food ironically – clearly never had good sushi or was too drunk to care…) had a display with seashells and fish that was just beautiful!!
We ordered:
– Semi Fatty Tuna Sashimi – the best item on my plate
– Scallop Sashimi – tasteless, overpowered by the lemon it was sitting on – which is the normal way to plate it but it literally tasted like a lemon slice.
– Sweet Shrimp – tasty
– Regular Tuna – bland
– Fried Oyster – all batter overpowered the oyster
– Lobster Caviar roll – lobster was overcooked and tough
– King Crab Sushi – visibly dry
– Sea Urchin – bland and overpowered by the cucumber it sat on, something that I would have told you was impossible – two days ago!!!
– Salmon Sushi – bland
– Scallop Sushi – bland and dry
– Assorted other Sushi pieces – no flavor and totally dry
– Tomago – terrible and completely inedible
– Green Tea Ice Cream – the hubby enjoyed
– Hot Green Tea served through the meal – good
Now before you call me a sushi snob (which admittedly I might be….) I have enjoyed sushi at lower end establishments (see reviews of Sushi Ren and other small shops on the UES).
The bland food coupled with the constant (classless & annoying) yipping of the sushi chefs, Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya is not worth the price of the Uber we paid to come downtown.
LOVE their chicken wings here. The way they bread and fry it is very different from many other joints I've been to. But where else can you get fried chicken, sushi and bone marrow fried rice all at the same time? Here you can! This place never lets me down and I always order the wings appetizer that comes with honey dip, their bone marrow fried rice and a platter of sushi.
I came to Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya on a bustling Saturday night and truly enjoyed my experience. My date and I sat at the sushi bar sat at the bar and enjoyed an assortment of fresh sushi and ramen. The restaurant is quite trendy, and it is definitely a place you want to make a reservation prior to visiting, especially on a weekend.
Had a great meal here! Good miso, great fresh rolls. Strong and delicious cocktails and the service was attentive and helpful. Much more of an ambiance than the other blue ribbon sushi in soho. Would definitely come back. Had a blue fin tuna app special, spicy king crab roll, spicy tuna, salmon tuna yellowtail roll – all great.
First time here. The sushi dishes were good. A lil pricey, but you are paying for the ambiance
I'm still salivating.
Great find in the East Village.
We ordered an assortment of sushi, along with some wings and miso soup to start.
The wings were light, crispy and tender, and the wasabi honey and chili sauce perfectly complimented them.
The fish, especially the fluke, was melt-in-your-mouth good. It left me wanting more, but my stomach told me otherwise.
The service was unpretentious and quick. This will definitely be in my list of places to return to whenever I'm in the area.
I was excited to finally try one of the Blue Ribbon restaurants while in NYC this week. My husband and I were feeling a little more izakaya and less straight up sushi so we decided to check out Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya for a bit of both cuisines. The atmosphere was great, trendy and chic, modern, and comfortable. Not pretentious at all. We had skipped lunch and needed an early dinner so it wasn't surprising that the place was completely empty on a Wednesday evening at 6pm. By the time we left, it was getting more lively for sure.
Overall the meal was great. Service was attentive and impeccable. They have a pretty vast sake menu with choices for all types of sake lovers. We opted for a nigori bottle and were extremely pleased.
For food, we just went with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Started with a couple of skewers – the beef short rib and the rock shrimp with garlic. The short rib was pretty good but a little more chewy than I was expecting and the rock shrimp was good but the sauce overpowered everything else and the grill flavor was lost.
Next up we had the chicken katsu bun, which was a special for the day. Excellent – perfect soft bun, perfectly fried katsu, and a great blend of flavors.
After that was the miso marinated black cod. This is a pretty standard dish at any higher end Japanese restaurant and I was expecting Blue Ribbon's version to blow me away. It was solid for sure, but no different from any other miso black cod I've had at Japanese restaurants in Chicago and others in NYC. The portion was small for the price, but not so small that we were annoyed. The cut of fish was great, the flavoring was great. The fish flaked off to perfection – so everything was done correctly, I was just expecting a little more wow factor in one of my favorite standard Japanese dishes.
We finished the meal with the deluxe sushi set which included 10 pieces of nigiri and a standard roll (we chose spicy tuna). The spicy tuna roll was excellent – you can tell that rather than make their spicy tuna with the scraps of tuna left over, they actually use fresh tuna and blend it. The nigiri pieces were much smaller than I was expecting and although very fresh – they were not the freshest I've ever had (which I was expecting with the Blue Ribbon name). The deluxe set gives a good variety of fish, all fairly standard options.
Overall we had a nice dinner and a nice experience last night, but there was no wow factor or differentiator that would entice me to come back again. I put it on par with any higher end Japanese izakaya type of restaurant in any large city.