Ootoya Union Square

The food at Ootoya is consistently good. Last time I was at the Times Square location, this time at he Union Square location. I like both. What stands out at the Union Square location is the service. Our server did a great job telling us about the sake options. She checked on us to make sure our water was filled and we liked our orders. Can't wait to come back when I am in New York next time.

The restaurant is super pretty. I asked the waitress if I should get the Toji set or the beef broth one. She was really nice and recommended the beef broth one. The price is also incredibly good with the quality you get in the city. Amazing service, food and decor. Love it.

On a Saturday afternoon, this place felt peaceful. I was able to read a little of my book before my food came. I felt comfortable dining by myself as others came to do so too. Service was efficient. I liked the crunch to the colorful sushi pieces. Second time going to Ootoya, but different branch. The lunch experience was more my cup of tea. Would continue to dine at Ootoya.

Got the autumn special! Kinda salty/overly sweet for me, but decent for vibes and space! Think you can get a better bang for your buck elsewhere. Service was fairly quick, and all the waiters were very kind as we ended up yapping for an hour or so after eating.

YummmmThis is my favorite spot to get Japanese food in NYC.This establishment has been here since Covid - there's a lot of seating especially during lunch time.I usually get the salmon meal with multi grain rice and onsen tamago with salmon roe.The food is delicious This place is a great for a solo meal or for sitting down with friends.Highly recommend if you're in the area!

I wanted to check this place out due the high reviews. It didn't meet my high expectations at all. First of all the service wasn't that great. Maybe because there were only a few servers during a weekday? The people next to our table were complaining and said, "Why is this location so slow?" You shouldn't ask for waters to be refilled. It should just be done asap. So one of them got up and went to all the servers at the bar to fill the glasses up. At least they knew all the dishes like the back of their hand. The chef recommendations weren't that great. I couldn't eat a lot of stuff off the menu as it was fried. I was quite disappointed. Service and food were subpar.For the table, we ordered the Bara Chirashi Don, Mazemen, the Toro Salmon Sashimi Ponzu, the Ootoya Futomaki Roll, and the Dessert Box. I liked the dessert box out of everything that was at the table.

Food (3.5/5)- Food was decent- I got the tonkatsu as a teishoku set which was a lot of food but with smaller portions- Thought it was pretty good/decent. No complaints other than portion sizes given the price pointService (5/5)- Very friendly service- No complaintsAmbiance (5/5)- Casual, good for large groups

I stopped by for dinner with a friend last Friday - we did make a reservation but there were plenty of tables available throughout our whole meal. We started with an order of the beef potato croquette. The filling was very tasty, with the warm mashed potatoes blending very well with the savoury ground beef. The outside was a bit lacking though; not as crispy as I would have expected and the sogginess made it a bit difficult to pick up without it disintegrating lol.We ordered to share the katsu ju and the yosenabe hot pot.Katsu ju was fantastic! Pork was tender and oh-so-flavourful, and while the broth somewhat means the fried part isn't that crispy, it wasn't soggy at all. The egg was a great addition, and the dashi-flavoured rice helped balance and tie everything together. Very yummy overall, albeit a bit smaller (portion size) than I would have expected.Yosenabe was fantastic. It really is "all-in-one" as described, so you get to try a little of each type of meat in there. Portion size, in contrast to the rice above, was surprising large, and had a lot more fish in particular than I expected. The beef and the pork belly were my favourite parts. The broth flavour is a lot fishier than expected though (a lot of the mackerel flavour seeps throughout), was a bit of negaative point for me.We also had some nice drinks, too; I had the yuzu amasake and my friend the sake blossom. Yuzu amasake was surprisingly tasty - a very powerful yuzu flavour through and then a very satisfying rice-y aftertaste from the underlying amasake. That being said, the cup was like barely half-full even with a crazy amount of ice, so I'm really not sure if I'd pay $11 for this again.. Sake blossom was similarly tasty but even more expensive.Anyways, all in all a very nice meal, and for a pretty reasonable price, too (again, except for the overpriced drinks). I hadn't been here in years before this visit so it was nice to see that generally the quality and price stayed rather stable since then :) Would love to come again soon!

I go to Ootoya often but this was my first time at this location and it still is amazing! My friend opted in for their $30 Restaurant Week set which came with a Matcha Curry. She said it was delicious and didn't taste much different from regular curry. I did their general lunch teishoku set. The Tonkatsu Curry Set is so good. The pork katsu is fried well and juicy inside, with a rich and thick Japanese curry over a bed of white rice. I also love that the set comes with miso soup, salad (with your choice of dressing), and carrots. I also added on Onsen Tomago, which is the runny egg for dipping my pork!The service is wonderful. There is also lots of space inside and it was easy to get a table for two on a Sunday afternoon without making a reservation.

I really wanted to like this place. First time trying and read pretty good reviews. Came for the RW experience. My friend did the $45 set and I did the $60 set. Steak and eel rice: This was good. It was flavorful but not too much rice. Steak could've been more tender. 3.75/5Mushroom and buckwheat noodles: This was simply but pretty good. No complaints but also nothing special. 4/5Chirashi don: This bowl had tuna, salmon, and some other fish in here with masago, cucumber, etc. It was small but I think it's fine because it was served with the hotpot. The fish could've been fresher. 3/5Hotpot: This was a lot of food in this pot but the fish was overpowering. Loved the beef and pork pieces and the udon but the makeral (?) had bones and was so fishy that I couldn't finish it although I don't like to waste. 3.6/5Appetizers: This was served in a small trio tray. The eggplant was marinated in something that didnt suit our taste. The salmon was solid. The chicken on bread seemed out of place and tasted like tuna to us. Not a huge fan of these. 2/5Dessert: Huge fan of matcha so this icecream was yummy but didn't care for the matcha jelly and yuzu jelly (it had a minty aftertaste). The mochi pieces in this weree really chewy and soft. 3/5There was also a huge delay in getting us the dessert and we had to follow up to get it (but no delay and no need to notify us with the check since they plopped it right down pretty fast). Overall, maybe I would've liked it if I ordered non RW sets? Not sure but wasn't exactly happy with the taste here.