Nakaji

Delicious omakase with so many types of seasonal fish, ambiance was one of a kind (especially the cocktail bar with an insane collection of Japanese whiskey), and service was impeccable. Highly recommend for a special occasion! Chef was so polite and knowledgeable.

I don't know what to start. I'm Japanese and tried many Japanese athletic Edomae sushi in Japan and Us. Nakaji is the best Edomae sushi restaurant in my experience for now. Chef Nakajima san is 3rd generation of Edomae sushi chef. He knows all about fish, sushi history. Also he is such an entertainer! You must try this place when you are NYC. But the worst things is you can't go anywhere else after this Edomae experience!!

One of my favorite omakases in NYC (as it should be for the price)! I especially enjoyed the seasonal special purple uni they served that evening with the higher priced menu. It was so sweet and clean tasting! The appetizers here are also super creative, although not necessarily totally to my taste. There were a lot of grilled pieces which I'm not sure if that's what I prefer; but the main courses were amazing. I also really appreciated the chef handwriting menus for everyone and taking pictures with us after the meal!

Overall a very nice experience. I do see the difference between Nakaji vs other sushi restaurants. But I disagree with what people see Nakaji is not good or the way it deals with fish is bad. From my perspective, nakaji dish is good if you don't like to drink too much of water afterward. But just noted, that nakaji has a regular menu and a pricey menu. If you got the money, go ahead to order the pricy one.

Always a great time here. My friends and I left after a few hours but then came back again because it was so great. We got to try a lot of new drinks. They also had a special gyudon that night at the whiskey bar which was delicious! Hope to return soon!

Nakaji is a strange omakase experience. While Chef Nakajima tries to be playful throughout the evening, there are moments where you wish he would be a bit more serious. Instead, I felt like I was at the circus the entire time, and especially with the weird shenanigans the crowd was pulling off, it was just a very weird experience (more on that later).So for the starters, it was probably the most mid set of appetizers I've ever had. The clam soup was strong flavored, and not very savory or soothing. It was just clumpy and didn't have much flavor. The Uni seaweed salad felt like a waste of uni. It was an assortment of very water vegetables, which watered down the uni, and was way too cold for my liking. The bonito sashimi was just ok, and had way too many onions on them. The fish tasted like raw meat more than fish, and I felt that more prep could have improved the texture and flavor. The squid tasted like something I'd get at a mall, especially the sauce which was strikingly sweet and very crude. The grilled fish was way overcooked, and the only interesting part of the dish was the exotic red fruit. But the fish itself was flavorless and overcooked.Ok so the apps sucked. The omakase must be good, right? Yes it was good. Was it mind blowing? I would say no. The quantity is not very much either, i think you get around 8 pieces, but ok, the cuts are pretty thick, and the flavor is strong -- which btw I think is a pretty salient characteristic of all the food here. It's ok to have strong flavors, but up until now, I felt that the flavors were all very strange and nothing really tasted that good. The nigiri procession was all good, but just not enough. Wish there was more focus on this part rather than the very underwhelming set of appetizers.Finally the closing grilled fish was ok, and the Tamago was good. The mochi dessert was also very good and apparently a recipe from Chef Nakajima's grandma.As promised, the shenanigans. So the crowd I was in, included "regulars" who got Chef to write them a poem and draw a picture at the beginning of dinner (delaying dinner by around 20 min), people constantly buying him champagne (and these are heavy pours), someone gifting him expensive liquors, and people who ended up buying a whole tray of tamago. It's ok to do these things, but it just felt so obtrusive to the whole experience. It just felt like a weird flex competition, and I didn't want to be any part of it. I also know it's fine for the chef to drink some alcohol during service, and I do offer sometimes as well, but I disliked how much Chef (probably felt pressured) to drink so much, and it seemed like enough to the point where it would impact his cooking.Nakaji is a different sushi establishment, but it is not well-polished, still under experiment, and varies highly on your crowd you dine with. There is no enough Nigiri, and the appetizers were extremely underwhelming.

It feels more in line with my taste and is what an ideal high-end sushi restaurant should look like

I've been a regular at the bar at nakaji for almost a year now and it's truly a hidden gem in the city. The bar food is tasty and the drinks are excellent. What really makes the bar are the bartenders who add great energy to the bar (I'm looking at you john)Recently I've had the opportunity to also try to omakase and it does not disappoint. Really enjoy chef's attention to detail with his seafood preparations.

Finally got a reservation at Nakaji! Both the service and the food was awesome.At the entrance, the receptionist helped us check our bags and led us to the bathroom to wash hands first, which was very thoughtful. Walking past the whiskey bar was the Omakase sushi bar which was bright and spacious, the room was really cold though - if you're going in the summer, wear a mid-sleeve & pants and/or bring a cardigan.For the Omakase menu, there are two options: $295 with one uni, and $385 with two uni and a grilled lobster. We got the first one because I am not a big fan of uni, but the lobster smelled so good and I wanted to try badly. I also ordered the yuzu shiso mocktail which was tasty.I really loved the food here, the fishes are super fresh and you can taste the natural sweetness in the fish. There's not a lot of seasoning on the fish, instead of pre-seasoning the fish, the chef brushes a stroke of sauce on top of the fish, which helps preserve the original flavor of the fish. The entire meal is on the less salty side, at first I thought that the courses are a bit under seasoned, but eventually I came to really appreciate the lightness in flavor because I can enjoy the original flavor of the fish more and I didn't have to drink a ton of water like I usually did at other sushi restaurants. The amount of rice of each course is also slightly less than elsewhere which i also liked, so that I wouldn't get too stuffed after the whole meal. At the same time the slices of fish were very generous and satisfying!My favorite courses were the ikura bowl, freshwater eel bowl, and Hokkaido uni. The ikura is very fresh and sweet and not too salty at all. The eel was very soft and super delicious accompanied by the vinegar and peppercorn. The uni was also very fresh - I usually don't like uni because it has a weird taste that can easily upset my stomach (probably because of not fresh), but I loved the uni here - it's my top two uni sushi in NYC!Overall, the experience was awesome and the food was very delicious. Highly recommended!

The Whiskey Room is exceptional great list and bartender. Emily is lovely. The Chef stopped by to say hello. And the food is transporting. Recommend the chirashi and the clams big time.