Rabbit House Omakase & Sake Bar

Rabbit House has never ceased to amaze me. Incredible food, service -- I've hosted my birthday here a few times for the open bar they offer, and made it a ritual to catch their birthday special which used to be a free omakase but now might just be discounted. They recently started doing lunches on the weekend and it's super affordable for the same quality as their dinner! Only $14 ~

We booked the omakase special on Pulsd. Making the reservation was a hassle. The place is teeny tiny. When we arrived, the server at the counter told us we could upgrade for $100. Silly us assumed $100 total - so we were flabbergasted when the final bill was $200 more lol. Further, its not traditional omakase in the sense the chef is not preparing the courses in front of you. The food was really good, so there's that BUT 2 things stood out far more than the food- the chef was actively yelling at and berating the server in hearing distance of all the patrons. How awkward and unprofessional for all! - a baby COCKROACH ran across the counter inches from my plate - the server saw, yelped, and grabbed it with her bare hand. Appreciate her heavy for that but also, holy shit lol. A BABY ROACH!!!!!!! And all we got was a free nonalcoholic beverage after that This place is trying really hard to be something its not.

We were looking for a late night bite after a show and found this absolute gem of a place! The owner (Yoshiko) warmly welcomed us in from the cold and made suggestions for food and our sake flight. Her presentation and hospitality left a deep impression on us. Highly recommend this cozy, quiet, welcoming spot!

Visited Rabbit House on Friday and luckily there was a sake promotion on. Kubota sake is one of the highest rated sake breweries in Japan. I took their summer course set dinner with sake Pairing. This is a Japanese restaurant maybe but not traditional menu and feeling. This restaurant it self is very small just as rabbit house but my counter seat was comfortable enough. The course started with 4 very small appetizers which they call snacks. There was ootoro fatty tuna and scramble egg based dish as well as roll sushi image seafood items. All were a few bite size snacks and all tasty. Then I had more seafood and some meat items and finished with noodle soup. Each one is small but totally filled my tummy at the end. And furthermore, the very end was again a very small Panna Cotta. During the course they served several different kind of Kubota's sakes and I think they choose to match for the food. Obviously some were fruity and next was deeper rice taste etc. Some of the sakes were I think very rare and I'd never even seen and nama(fresh), I was lucky I had this. Sake sommelier from the brewery was there for the promotion and explained all the detail. Without sommelier I wouldn't get that details of sake last night. This Rabbit House like restaurant is run by solo chef and solo server, service maybe slow but I was good with sake shoots last night. It has separate sushi bar in the back that I couldn't go this time but need to try next. I need to try sushi next time, though.

Fun bar and also resturant that does omakase and sake. A lot of sake options that were interesting.

Very cute small spot where there's only one chef who cooks and serves everything so the pace is a little slow but she does everything by herself! Food is good here and I enjoyed doing the omakase here where it's a set course with seasonal appetizers and desserts! My favorite is the tuna tartar dish with the dragonfruit! They also have a decent selection of a bunch of sakes to go along with the meal!

I came here for restaurant week with some friends for an 8:30 PM reservation on a Friday night. We were seated immediately and the little rabbit napkins were so cute! Although we were seated quickly, the entire experience lasted 3 hours which wasn't the worst for us since we were enjoying our time but we definitely got a little antsy between the courses. They gave us free tortilla chips for the wait (kinda odd?) with nothing to dip them in. But also a free shot of sake!We had the snacks which came with an oyster shot, scrambled egg with carrot, and a DIY hand roll. Presented in an extremely fun style and the scrambled egg was the best part of it! (7/10 taste 9/10 presentation)Then we got the beef tartare (10/10) my favorite dish of the night with a delicious crostini that we asked for extra of.A torched fish (8/10) good and flakey!Pasta with lamb osso bucco (7/10) not my favorite, lamb was on the bone but I also am not the biggest fan of lamb in generalDessert was a matcha tiramisu which my friend and I were able to swap out with a green tea ice cream since we both didn't like matcha. (8/10)Overall a fun experience!

The word omakase is being used loosely to mean a hazily thought-out tasting menu that had a few tasty dishes but a few odd and downright mediocre dishes. We paid extra for the elevated experience but were given subpar maguro and not toro, a scrambled egg bite in a broke eggshell, and mediocre sake that appeared haphazardly between odd courses. We waited awhile after being seated for our reservation and were given plain tortillas chips which felt weird. Sadly, had higher hopes but not a repeater.

It was our first evening out in NYC in about a year, so Jamie W. left it to me to find a place that would suit our chill mood after taking the redeye from the Left Coast. This tiny spot on the Lower East Side seemed to fit the bill because it accommodated only a handful of diners with their $140 six-course omakase tasting menu. Chef and owner Yoshiko Sakuma creates every dish herself.That explains why dining here took over three hours even with one assistant serving the dishes. I didn't mean that as a knock because she's a genuine culinary artist who never splatters her paint unnecessarily. We started with four bites presented on a slate trivet: Scramble Egg with Tiny Vegetable in Straw Hat, Spicy Yellowtail Red Hand Roll Sushi; Sake Bomb Oyster Shot; and Fatty Tuna with Red Quinoa (photo: https://yelp.to/lydgP9qG61).Each provided a unique albeit short-lived delight. By this time, we succumbed to the need for an artisan sake but not enough to invest on individual pairings. We went for a small $22 bottle of the Kitava Ai No Rime Sparking Sake (photo: https://yelp.to/CHZGTHegez). It provided a lively rinse to our palates as we moved to the next mini-course, the Salmon Ceviche, Grapefruit, Mushroom, and Nori Sauce with Sea Urchin on Rice Cracker (photo: https://yelp.to/Kc0emUw1XZ).The sea urchin was an especially nice treat. A slight delay in the next course was filled in with a small bowl of nori chips (photo: https://yelp.to/JuyMB3zDqO). Next came a small delightful bite, the King Salmon Crudo with Green Gazpacho (photo: https://yelp.to/fHRpZdtHix). The gazpacho came whipped rather than as a soup. The heartiest course came next, the Lamb Loin with Salad, Crispy Rice Skin, and White Sesame Dressing (photo: https://yelp.to/jXgOr9tgz8).This was the most satisfying plate of the evening. Cold Udon came next in a Summer Truffle Broth topped with A5 Wagyu Beef (photo: https://yelp.to/YY5hFvr0xG). This was refreshing though the beef was not as essential as the lamb in the previous dish. There was a discernibly longer delay in the dessert course, the Coconut Panna Cotta with Pineapple Syrup and Frozen Raspberry (photo: https://yelp.to/jMX8V96gui).Tasty but awfully tiny. There was never more than seven diners in the restaurant at the same time. A couple of friendly foodie types preceded us at the counter. A family of three followed us - a dad, his art student daughter, and her obnoxious boyfriend. They not only wouldn't stop talking but kept playing YouTube videos. Gee, whatever happened to good manners? The edible highlights still made the evening worthwhile.FOOD - 4 stars...creatively artisan bitesAMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...it's a nice compact space but one loud family can compromise the vibeSERVICE - 4 stars...courteous if a bit tentative server, some long delays between coursesTOTAL - 4 stars...tiny artisan omakase in an unexpected neighborhoodRELATED - Exploring NYC's dining and drinking scene? Here's a collection of places I've patronized and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2YS9ELs

I wanted to like this place but could not. The waiter didn't seem happy to be there. We were the only customers too until the very end. Each dish was just okay although I did like the rabbit with pasta. The chips as appetizer felt like an out of place choice. The scrambled egg was normal, and I didn't like the oyster shooter inside an alcoholic tasting liquid. The meat tartare was good but could have come with more crackers. The cod was fine but i did like the fourth dish which was the rabbit with pasta. The dessert was a sweet cake. The chef came to thank us for coming so that was nice, but overall, I am sad to say that I do not recommend this place.