Kura
“Omakase: $65, $85 (all sushi or half sushi half cooked dishes), $105 (sushi plus few extra sashimi).”
“Each piece was prepared with such love and attention by Chef Ishizuka that it almost felt wrong to eat it.”
“If you can't get into Nakazawa, or don't feel like waiting two months for Tanoshi, look no further than Kura.”
Kura
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
8 reviews
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Not sitting at the sushi bar is total different experience, and that might just be what's affecting my review. My two friends and I opted to sit at the only table in the restaurant because the sushi bar was full until 9:30PM while we were making our reservation two weeks in advance. No one wants to eat dinner at 9:30PM (ok, at least not us), so we took the 7:30PM table seating on a busy Friday night.
It's not the same not having the chef describe to you the fish and it's origin. Aside from that, the waitress needs to brush up on her english. She's as Japanese as one can get which isn't a bad thing, but there was clearly a problem when she didn't understand cuttlefish and squid. I had to google translate English to Japanese to let her know I did not want either of those in my omakase. And guess what? CAME A PIECE OF OCTOPUS/SQUID ON MY PLATE. I just ate it because it was there already, but I was not happy.
Quality of fish is good, I wouldn't say great. I prefer traditional styled omakases much more, and Kura leans towards the traditional side. However, there was nothing distinct about anything I ate. The rice was also *not* on point. Rice was breaking apart in my hand each time I picked up a piece of sushi. The Uni also was a disappointment temperature wise. QUALITY UNI! We had one from Hokkaido from Japan, and also ordered 3 pieces of Santa Barbara. Both were delicious and fresh, but the temperature was off and seriously ruined a quality piece. The Uni was so friggin cold like it just came out of an ice box and getting past the coldness was just torture.
I don't plan on giving Kura a second try just because I think there are places much better in NYC. For $150 for 20 pieces of sushi.. Kura just doesn't meet my standards. My meal was good, but not $150 base good, more like $130 at most good.
*Oh and the beef sushi or whatever is a waste of two sushi pieces, don't fall for that. Just don't.*
Kura is a great sushi omakase spot that is quite relatively under the radar still. There's no given menu, just the sushi omakase options, a few special cooked appetizers of the day, and you can add a la carte to your course. You can easily miss it when you're looking for it or walking pass it since there's no windows or big store front name and the doors are covered by a small light curtain adding a very low key touch to it. You walk into a small minimalistic decor that is noticeably taken up by the big long sushi bar that seats 12 people where you can witness this great sushi experience, and there's one table on the front side of the corner that seats 4 people for a regular private dining time. The ambiance at Kura is totally more on the zen side compared to other omakase joints.
The price fluctuates here often depending on the type of fish that is flown in. Generally the price tier is about $85 for 13pcs, $105 for 15pcs, $130 for 18pcs. On top of the pieces of sushi you get, each of those different tiers will also receive starters that include items like stuffed squid, marinated raw tuna with Japanese yam, and salmon roe over rice, then finished off with a sort of delicious soup, and desserts which were all fantastic !
My omakase course of 18 nigiri pieces consisted of the following nigiris; chutoro, red snapper, hokkaido scallop, seared Scottish salmon, orange clam, marinated bluefin tuna, cherry blossom shrimp, seared mackerel, giant clam, anago (sea eel), live octopus, seared otoro, ice fish, uni from Santa Barbara, abalone from California, mantis shrimp, tamago, toro hand roll. My personal favorite highlights out of the nigiris were the orange clam, anago, abalone, and mantis shrimp! I normally lovee mackerel but I felt like the chef over seared it and also the toro hand-roll wouldn't fall on my top favorite toro hand-rolls… It was nothing spectacular or unique.
Though what Kura is different for from other sushi places is that people really take their time and eat at their own pace but I have to point out one thing I don't like is that the head chef would still make the next nigiri and place it on your plate even if you didn't finish your other piece yet… Some people had 3 nigiris stacked onto their plate. He even served my first piece of nigiri before my starters came. So, weird that it's supposedly a eat-at-your-own-pace but still felt rushed by the chef. Oh, they were also very cheap on letting us taste the sakes before making our decision. There was barely a sip for both me and my boyfriend to try in each cup.
Great service from Kura who took note that it was my bf's birthday to display it on the dessert and took a picture with their polaroid camera for us. Another enjoyable omakase down in the books for all the sushi snobs out there!
Food was incredible!
The sushi is served omakase style, and everything was absolutely fantastic.
I loved how simple the sushi were, not like some of the other sushi places where they go way over board with their omakase with gold leaf or special sauce and what-not.
The service was also impeccable. The only thing I wish they had was a little more interaction, and a little more explanation of the food they were serving. They didn't rush or anything, but they would simply give us the names of the sushi and nothing more. Maybe because our group didn't speak Japanese? I don't know.
But all in all, I certainly enjoyed dining here, and I'll most definitely be returning.
I struggle with finding the right words to put in this review and say something that hasn't been said before. I will reinforce what other people have said and say AMAZING sushi.
This establishment is small yet cozy. I love their utensil and plate layout because it seems as though everything had been placed with much thought. The staff here are extremely friendly and attentive to your needs.
But onto the food. The two of us spent $400 for the expensive omakase, sake, and 4 additional pieces of sushi. Totally worth it in my opinion. Every piece of sushi I felt was well thought-out and you could tell that an excellent sushi chef with years of experience had made this sushi for you to enjoy. Chef Kida Koichi seemed appreciative of every compliment we gave for his mastery.
I would definitely come back here again someday to revisit this awesome experience.
I cannot imagine myself living without sushi, so as my friend suggested me Kura, I made reservation without any hesitation. Have had numerous Omakase experiences before, I have set prett high standard before dining and fortunately, Kura did not let me down!
Four choices for Omakase and we opted for the 15-piece option. Our chef kept providing as we were finishing piece by piece. My personal favorites were uni, seared toro and shrimp; while the others were equally tempting and fresh. Our chef was interacting with us during the course and I felt like I was temporarily shipped to Japan!
As someone had said – Sushi does not go to my stomach, it goes to my heart!
Small. About 12 seats. Omakase. Quiet and serene.
Yes. This is "Woohoo! As good as it gets!" type stuff here. We were in LA a while back and were taken to a "No, really, this is the best sushi in LA" restaurant and, honestly, Kura blew it out of the water.
Fish and rice that aren't freezing. Seaweed paper that isn't gummy. Pieces of fish that are beautifully cut, seasoned, and presented. The tamago. Holy moly. The tiny baby shrimp. Oh yes.
I could eat here for every meal.
It's omakase (I think that's the only option??) and they take great care of you.
For the folks who want their PEPPER MAYONAISE DRAGON TEMPURA DYNAMITE ROLL GROUPON TWO FOR ONE SPECIAL you may want to go elsewhere.
I want to say that this is one of best Sushi place to go in NYC. To me, dine at Kura was really great experience. I went to spot with my girlfriend, and we were enjoying every second while we were seating there. Top-notch attentive service were provided yet does not annoying at all somehow, great quality of fresh food made by professional chef tastes better since it was given from hand who smiles all the time. Everyone seems very friendly, happy and enjoying what they are doing. What a great ambiance! There are important factors to me as I believe it is the element that makes our dinner much more precious. They have built really great atmosphere with decor/hardware, and people/staff. 18 pieces for $130 is not much as it is also given with other side dishes which are very delicious, and served at perfect matching position between each pieces. Highly recommend.
Amazing for my first omakase experience – 4.5 stars! The place is small, 12 seats at the bar so I highly recommend making reservations. The waitress was super helpful picking a great sake for us based on what we told her we liked. We opted for the 15 piece menu for $105 cos we werent that hungry. I left soo stuffed. A few pieces of fish just melted in my mouth (sorry, I dont know what I was eating and none of the pieces lasted more than 15 secs from plate to mouth). I loved the contrast between hot and cold pieces of fish. The fish roe was a bit on the salty side though. Pieces came out pretty quickly. The master looked so happy making every piece for us. The meal was rounded out with miso soup and ended perfectly with this cream puff and green tea. Service was great. I would definitely bring my parents back here since this is pretty affordable omakase compared to the others.