Sasabune Express
“To be fair it is a little awkward sitting there with no noise; however the guys are really friendly and you can tell they love what they do.”
“It'd be lower to a sushi connoisseur judging it against the like of the Yasuda's and Ichimura's of the city, of course.”
“This is the best of the best sushi-grade fish in the city at cutthroat prices.”
Sasabune Express
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
6 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Extremely fresh fish. Limited menu, limited seating, limited staff, big flavor! You come here to get simple and clean raw fish. Very good, the warm rice was a first for me but I would do it again.
Enjoyed the miso soup, salad was a sesame oil dressing not ginger.
Had tuna and scallop – extremely fresh. Don't be thrown off by the Hispanic sushi chef behind the counter, he has he job down pat. Not only enjoys what he is doing, wants you to enjoy his product as well.
Will have to try the non-express original spot.
Sasabune Express is a place you come to if you're a fresh fish purist and you are unconcerned about atmosphere, variety, portion sizes, or convenience but a little concerned about prices. The menu is highly compacted, as is the restaurant space itself – the bare bones aesthetic probably means your money goes towards the food more than it does the dining experience.
I got myself a salmon and ikura don. Perhaps I'm too used to overly processed ikura, but the ikura here tasted almost bland because of its lack of brine. There was also not enough salmon to really go around the generous quantity of rice – could have used a more generous heaping of fish. But what little of the fish there was was good, and the rice itself was evidently carefully prepared too.
The quality doesn't nearly make up for the otherwise mediocre dining experience in so many other aspects.
I've always been interested in trying Sasabune on the upper east side, just haven't gotten around to it.
I wouldn't say I'm a purist as the original Sasabune caters to. When the express opened up with a more open menu I was excited to give it a go. The menu is pricey for a small sushi place, but this was to be expected going off the namesake and the area.
I figured I'd wait for a special event to go try Sasabune Express. I had one and took my lady and friend out for lunch.
The lady ordered a Don Buri with tuna and salmon roe, I ordered the Don Buri with Spicy Salmon and Eel. We both opted for the salad as our side. My friend ordered ala carte rolls Blue crab, shrimp, and ? Lol he didn't remember. He requested Spicy mayo on the side but we had to request it a second time. ( not a big deal but details are where it counts right?)
First our salads didn't have the usual ginger dressing, instead what we got was iceberg lettuce with a couple of tomatoes and a soy sauce and vinegar dressing, this is something I find at the knock off Japanese/ Fusion restaurants. Not horrible just not to our expectations.
My lady said she enjoyed her Don Buri. As for mine it was tasty and the presentation was fine.
My friend didn't seem amazed at all, but didn't give specifics as to why.
It is quiet in the small restaurant, and feels a little sad to me.
Total cost with tip and beer for $81.
Now it's time for comparison, one of my favorite places for sushi is Iroha, which is also a izakaya (side dishes and more). The energy is better, the value is better. Admittedly it is a larger place in a busier area but still the morale at Sasabune Express leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall the sushi at Sasabune is good, but the value and energy are not something I would return for.
This is a good, convenient sushi option but keep in mind it is ultra casual and an "express" sushi joint, thus, it's 4 stars at what it does. It'd be lower to a sushi connoisseur judging it against the like of the Yasuda's and Ichimura's of the city, of course.
First off, this is very much a hole in the wall type of location. There was some litter on the street nearby, and you're basically next to a major underpass so not exactly scenic.
The positives:
– Service is friendly and cheerful, in fact, it's quite a bit friendlier than at Sasabune UES
– The fish is good, and some pieces even very good (such as their specials of the day)
– The rice is tasty, especially if you're into warm sushi rice which is the Sasabune hallmark
– Blue crab is admittedly tasty and the same recipe, AFAIK, as the namesake uptown
– Same cute little plates as Sasabune
– Pacing is surprisingly well thought out; I had the sashimi deluxe, which was served in two courses, followed by a few pieces of special nigiri from the day, including an albacore tuna belly to round out the experience
The cons:
– Fake wasabi, lower grade ginger, lower grade ikura, no uni, no very fatty tuna (sometimes they have specials but not all the time)
– The presentation, already somewhat haphazard at Sasabune, is even lower quality
– The servers, while pleasant, are not as prompt to remove dishes
– One of the sushi chefs may have been in training, as he struggled with some simple requests, such as hosomaki rolls (nori on the outside, so smaller)
– Miso soup was pretty low grade
I enjoyed the sashimi special, and the scallop was very special. The other highlight was a fluke fin nigiri, which was warmed up and brought out the fresh flavors. A lot of the fish is local, which is their thing, and the Japan purists may blanche at that thought, however, it does give Sasabune Express's (and its namesake restaurant's) fish a very bright, clean flavor.
The fish here is so fresh, they have a short menu its mainly omakase but you can order from the menu as well. It smelled fishy in the restaurant and its a little runned down but food is good. Sushi rice is warm. They bring the sushi piece by pc which is nice and they don't accept tips. They def need to improve the veggie sushi, they only have one roll: cucumber avocado, and it tasted like more like fish then the sashimi for some reason. Would recommend getting one of the options a,b on the menu. This small place def needs some reno.
As part of the Michellin starred Sasabune, one would expect something, but my overall impression was "awkward". Narrow seating in a tiny space (former wine bar), silence (no music), and the menu all seemed awkward. We felt awkward sitting and eating there. These things may improve over time but I was not very happy with the sushi either. The menu seems somewhat limited as well as the fish selection. The sushi chef said they serve the same fish as Sasabune but the nigiris we had didn't taste particularly good or fresh. The rice seemed of lower grade with too much vinegar. It was also awkward they charge for a tea bag of regular green tea. I do not think I will eat there again, at least for a while. There's no delivery, just pick up.