Sushi Dojo NYC
“I've had the Omakase at Sushi Nakazawa and Tanoshi; Sushi Dojo easily stands toe to toe with these places at a much cheaper price.”
“I usually dabble in tempora shrimp or easy sushi rolls, but David gives EVERYTHING his own touch.”
“But Sushi Dojo gives you pieces like sea urchin (uni), o-toro, sea scallop, sea eel (anago), and more.”
Sushi Dojo NYC
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
8 reviews
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This is one of my favorite sushi places in NYC! The fish is always fresh and the chefs always do a great job presenting everything (I recommend sitting at the sushi bar). I always do the omakase and always leave happy (and with a full tummy!)
Dojo serves an absolutely delicious and affordable omakase. The chef began by asking us what our favorite fish are, to which my friend and I both responded: salmon. This is the sampler that he ultimately tailored for us:
1. Grant fish
2. Bluefin tuna
3. Japanese salmon
4. Horse mackerel
5. Stripe jack
6. Ocean trout
7. Golden snapper
8. Live scallop
9. Medium fatty tuna (chutoro)
10. Amberjack
11. Belt fish
12. Hokkaido uni
13. Alaskan salmon
14. Yellowtail belly
15. King salmon
16. Fatty tuna (otoro)
17. Eel
18. Large shrimp
20. Fatty tuna hand roll
We also started with an appetizer of baby clams cooked in a sake broth. I would highly recommend this if you're a fan of clams!
The highlights for me were definitely the 3 types of salmon, the fatty toro, the live scallop, and the perfectly cooked rice. If you're ordering a la carte, make sure you order these!
The Hokkaido uni was very light but not bitter, so I enjoyed it, but some may prefer a creamier uni. The raw shrimp was slightly bitter, so I can't say it was my favorite.
I'm subtracting a star because there were hiccups in the service (a mini piece of bone was found in one of the pieces), but the chef compensated for that by giving us extra sushi. Also, aside from the baby clams, the appetizer selection was also not very impressive, and the dessert selection was even more mediocre. The only option was ice cream. Given that this restaurant is located in the East Village, a part of town with plenty of specialty ice cream shops, I was not compelled to choose Dojo over any other for ice cream. I would have appreciated some more specialized Japanese desserts.
First off, I have to say I messed up when making the reservation. I did it through OpenTable and forgot that default you'd probably get a table reservation that way. Don't make the reservation through OpenTable and call them instead. Reserve for the bar, not the table. The experience is completely different. The table experience is definitely sub-par comparatively.
I ordered the $45 10-piece and my boyfriend ordered the $115 Sushi and Sashimi Chef's Choice. My 10 pieces consisted of seared yellowtail, tuna topped with fatty tuna, seared king salmon, fluke, mackerel, scallop, fatty tuna, amberjack, king salmon belly, and anago. I also ordered an extra $8 Russian uni off the seasonal menu.
Because we were seated at the table, our fish was cut by the youngest and most inexperienced sushi chef. The fish is definitely high quality, but the cuts and presentation were lacking. No knife work, no special sauces on the pieces. Nothing really stood out to me and usually there's at least one piece that should make my jaw drop open. The fatty tuna was not a melt in my mouth experience like it usually is. Neither was the salmon belly and those are usually two of my favorite pieces.
I did find the Russian uni an interesting experience. It was unlike any uni had before. It had a slight floral taste, but not as strong, creamy, and sweet as Santa Barbara uni. The texture was also also much softer and the taste didn't linger as long.
I do have to say, I probably got better pieces than usual for my $45 omakase. Since we ordered different choices, the chef had to balance our pieces. I had mostly everything my boyfriend had, minus a few pieces and the sashimi. My boyfriend was pretty disappointed with his $115 omakase in that respect. I probably should have gotten the $115 omakase to balance it out.
Overall, I think this was a 3.5 star experience for me, since my boyfriend was quite disappointed with his omakase. I think if we had sat at the bar, this probably would have been a 5 star experience. Lesson learned. Get the bar seating. I will have to come back another time for that.
Uh Maze Zing!
Sushi Dojo is exactly where you want to be at if you're a fan of sushi and a fan of feel good music. We didn't bother with rezzie and just walked in while it opened.
Caught seat at the corner of the sushi bar which I'm such a big fan of. Omakase runs 85 dollars for 15 pieces. Yes please! Probably one of the best deals in the city for this quality of fish.
Honestly I should of came years ago prior to chef David Bouhadana release, but after hearsay of some racial epithet outburst – I'm ok with being served by another just as skilled. My most gracious thanks to chef Jun.
If you sit at the bar, the omakase is mandatory. You can also order off the menu as well! We started off with
– Manilla clams
– Uni Croquette
As for the main course
– Red Snapper
– Amber Jack ( kanpachi )
– Bluefin Tuna
– Horse Mackerel
– Squid
– Fluke
– Mackerel
– Tasmanian Trout
– Hokkaido Uni
– Chu-Toro ( medium fat tuna )
– Scallop & Uni from Santa Barbara
– O-toro ( fattiest tuna)
– Golden eye snapper
– Fresh Water Unagi Eel
Just amazing! Most of the seafood derived from Japan's infamous Tsukiji Fish Market. After one taste, you can really tell the difference between your everyday sushi and this powerhouse. Well worth the price value and really affable employees here. Worth coming back? I'm making my next reservation as I write this. 30 stars if possible. Do it, you won't be sorry.
I thought my Omakase here was great, the sushi experience here was very different from any I've had before. Omakase at other places are typically very formal and stuffy, at Sushi Dojo it seemed like a more casual and fun Omakase experience for a younger crowd. Throughout the entire meal, they were playing house music and sushi chefs, on multiple occasions, were drinking sake with the patrons. At the end of my meal, they gave complimentary sake that we had with the chef and our waiter, it was actually pretty cool. In terms of the sushi itself, it was very unique since the texture of all the sushi was a lot softer in texture than other places. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing just different. And for those who are sensitive to wasabi, every piece had a generous amount, I didn't mind at all but my dining partner had a little sensitivity to it. I also thought the rice was prepped nicely, it had a really nice texture and good flavor. My friend and I each ordered the 20 piece $120 Omakase.
The food:
Red Snapper- In all Omakase, they always build up the sushi from lighter to fattier fishes and this was the case here. The Red Snapper was a mild fish that paired well with nice kick of the wasabi and the acidity of the lemon. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Amberjack- The Amberjack was great and had such a wonderful silky texture.
Horse Mackerel- This as well had excellent texture but came off on the fishy side. The addition of the ginger and scallion was great and helped mellow out the Horse Mackerel a lot. I normally love Horse Mackerel but the one here was just OK. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
White Shrimp- The flavor on this was nice, the texture was kinda weird, though. The texture was super soft and squishy.
Blue Fin Tuna- This was very tasty, I thought the Blue Fin here was great. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Spanish Mackerel- This piece was excellent, it was one of my favs and the ginger addition went together perfectly. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Yellowtail- I love yellowtail and the one here was perfection. It looked different from what I am used to but the chef said it was yellowtail and it was incredible. Another fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Scallop- This was an great piece and the addition of the salt really went well. Another fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Tasmanian Trout- This is in the Salmon family and it tasted as amazing as it looked. This was amazing. Another fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Med Toro- Amazing. Another fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Santa Barbara Sea Urchin- It's funny since I thought the Santa Barbara was so good and the seaweed was perfectly crispy but the piece from Hokkado was even better. This was a fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Amberjack Belly- Excellent. So melt in my mouth perfect. This was a fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Mackerel from Japan- This was the only true miss of the night. Mackerel in general is a tough sell for me but the one here was really fishy. I did not like this piece.
Botan Shrimp- The texture was great and the flavor was good. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
New Zealand King Salmon- This was a good piece, it was nice and silky but the above Tasmanian Trout was a better piece. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Hokkaido Uni- Holy Shit, it was magical! It was super creamy and excellent. I would say it was probably the best piece of Uni I ever had. This was the star of the night! yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Striped Jack- This was excellent, it's in the yellowtail family and it was great. This was a fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Fatty Tuna- Perfecto as always. This was a fav. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Golden Eye Snapper- This had a nice smoky element since they torched the skin and it had a nice acidity from the lemon.
Sea Eel- This was good, it was unique in the sense that it was the first time I had a sea eel that resembled fish more than eel, it was still good.
Sushi Dojo was on point on my revisit.
The sake sommelier was on point tonight and made my experience a 5 star!!!! Ask him for some suggestions and he will show his skills.
Omakase at 45 dollars is a steal and well done.
Excellent Omakase at a decent price. I'm a noob at omakase, but must say this sets the benchmark. Only complaint I had was having a little trouble hearing what the fish we were eating was called. Maybe a sign or something would be nice.
Made a reservation and was seated promptly at the bar (this is a must for omakase). You get an up close and personal view of the chef making one (two if you're with a date) piece at a time. You might get reasonably full at the end, but don't expect to be stuffed. Hey, if you're hungry still, get a dollar slice to cap the night. Or go to a bar and drink beer.
Some of the best valued sushi in the city. I really do think their omakase menu is a steal. We sat at the bar, and because we had an earlier dinner reservation, we had an option to pick which chef to sit by. I sat in front of the chef that had a more traditional style of serving sushi vs the other, who likes to add garnishes and is a bit more modern in that respect. We had red snapper, amberjack, horse mackerel, white shrimp (a favorite), trout (very fresh), lean tuna, uni from Hokkaido, scallop, medium tuna, stripped jack, hard shell clam, uni from Russia (so sweet), fatty tuna (a favorite), golden eye snapper, sea eel, and otoro hand roll. This took me back to Japan. Everything is truly authentic and it's all about the rice and the freshness of the fish. I was very happy leaving this place.