Kondo

This is the only place run by Japanese people in Astoria that you can taste authentic Japanese dish.

Finally stopped by for dinner and I think this is now my favorite Japanese spot in Astoria. What some reviewers are describing as «non-​existent décor» is probably just the Japanese minimalist aesthetic, which is lovely. The fish was very high-​quality, the fish-​to-​rice ratio was on-​point, and eating the green tea parfait made me feel like I was a five-​year-​old girl at a very upscale tea party. The dishes were paced perfectly and we didn’t feel rushed at all on a Friday night. Can’t wait to return.

The best sushi and Japanese food I have tasted in Astoria! Sushi and sashimi are so fresh! I believe I ordered only the specials for the day (see pictures). Food was light, flavorful and delicious! It had me craving more– so I ordered another fries chicken special ! Dessert (green tea parfait) was so much fun to eat! It had jam, pocky sticks, mochi, fruit and ice cream!
My server was very nice and very knowledgable about the food and its flavors.
If you haven’t ate here yet– try it!

Everything here from their apps to the quality of fish and service were all amazing. Stand outs were the eggplant appetizer, fatty tuna, ika, and eel. Price was incredibly reasonable for the quality. Good sushi makes me happy and this place made me very happy. Can’t wait to go back to get uni and monkfish liver which they were sold out of.

Food: Ordered the days special which was cod. Also ordered the eel avocado and another sushi roll for two. The cod was excellent, well cooked and buttery as it should be. The other sushi dishes weren’t outstanding but were good enough for dinner.
Drinks: No drinks
Setting: Fairly large spot, probably sit 30 – 40 at tables and a few at the sushi bar.
Service: Fine.

Four. one star review.
Prior to being Kondo, the previous spot was called Linn and one of the few actual Japanese restaurants around the area actually run by fine Japanese folks (not that I have anything against the Chinese and or Koreans running Japanese restaurants, but there is a difference). There are some Japanese-​run restaurants around the Ditmars area as well.
The décor is quite minimalist giving the atmosphere an intimate vibe. It also makes the interior look clean clear of clutter and noise. It adds on to the Japanese feel of the restaurant. No gimmicks or hipster prone designs.
Now, I have to admit the food here is a bit more expensive than the other Japanese or sushi spots within the vicinity. But like I mentioned earlier, it is an actual Japanese restaurant and the fish here tastes more fresh. They don’t diverge into new or «original» territory as far as sushi goes, but that’s what Japanese sushi is primarily about, freshness and quality rather than trying to add or change too many things about what made sushi taste so great in the first place. The best time to come here is for lunch when there are lunch specials and more specials to choose from.
For example, for lunch you could get an assorted sushi tray which comes with some spicy tuna, shrimp, mackerel, etc. Then there’s also the fried chicken which comes with white rice, broccoli, potato, and carrots. The chicken is juicy and doesn’t taste too oily. The batter is also nice rather than being overly too breaded. The pork belly is full of flavor in addition to the fat juicy goodness that I love.
There are a handful of other items to try at Kondo. If you’re willing to shell out more cash, having dinner here would also be a treat as it’s usually calm since they’re not a large restaurant.
My only gripe is that once for lunch, the waitress had told us that she’d deduct $ 1.00 from the price of our pork belly since it was smaller than usual… but she forgot to to do that.
It’s nice to have a quality Japanese restaurant in this corner of Astoria.

Kondo is one of the most straightforward reviews ever.
Sushi = great to sometimes fantastic. The actual fish is quality thus they don’t have to actually do anything fancy with the rolls. The food alone deserves my four stars. Of course you can do better in the city but get ready to open up that wallet.
Décor: non existent
Service: not that great. Feels like there is a language barrier with some of the staff.
Verdict: come here for sushi and go to watawa for the atmosphere if that’s what you need.

I learned about Kondo on my way to Tamashi Ramen, bookmarked it on my Unilocal list. The restaurant is spacious and not large. We came on a rainy evening before Christmas eve so the restaurant was empty except for a couple of tables and two people at the sushi bar. Service is prompted. We had the monk fish liver appetizer, shoshito peppers, spider roll, and the sushi deluxe. All ingredients are very fresh. I commend that, but flavor profile wise nothing innovative. We also ordered the green tea parfait and that is a great dessert. 3.5 stars.

As other reviews have implied, this place is the real deal. You can’t really get omakase in Astoria but Kondo has changed that. It’s an authentic Japanese experience. There are reservations to sit at the sushi bar so you can watch the actual Japanese chef prepare your food. My husband really likes Americanized rolls– philly, sweetheart, etc. and they don’t really do that here. While I feel sad for him, I’m more a sashimi eater so that’s fine by me. The fish was really fresh and the presentation is wonderful. The appetizers were good too– gyoza and shumai tasted made in house, none of that frozen sh**. And it’s so clean in there you could eat off the floor– not that you would want you but the point is– you could. I’m so happy this is here, it’s much more inviting than its previous incarnation, Linn. And it’s right next to the Asian food market too!

Hands down one of the best in Astoria and a top choice in all of NYC for an authentic Japanese style experience. Look no further than the Japanese locals holding court at the the bar chatting with the charming and skilled chef.
This is not Americanized sushi. Don’t order a spicy whatever roll. Try their simple offerings or the chef’s recommendations. A 50 – 60 dollar tasting plate will give you a curated taste of his best fish of the day. Crazy good uni and toro. Their black cod is tender and delicious. Their ikura is so fresh. Even their green tea is hearty and smokey.
The space itself is overly lit and fairly sparse but you’re not here for the looks. (It’s not a high end looking space, but perfectly comfortable and casual.) It was on par with NYC places like Bond Street Sushi as far as quality ingredients.
Go enjoy some real fish.

Although the place looks rather bare and informal, the food is very good. After long search, I chose this spot for my partner’s birthday dinner, and hit the jackpot. We had a feast.
— pork dumplings: light and delicate; very tasty.
— fried oysters: delicious, and very sizable.
— shrimp & burdock tempura: two huge chunks of mixed seafood deep fried and accompanied by tasty crushed sesame seeds (and something else); loved them.
–grilled salmon: the weak link of the meal; not bad at all, but on the dry side.
— chirashi (sashimi on rice): fantastic; the fish is as fresh as previously indicated by countless Unilocalers; even the rice alone is captivating.
— sushi deluxe: I know, by now we were getting full; however, this plate was the real deal. Everything was fresh and beautifully prepared. It had uni and eel as well. Worth the extra money.
— green tea parfait: as good as previously described. Also, very sizable, so plan ahead… we should have ordered just one.
The service — Aga was our waitress — was impeccable. Several Unilocalers complain about the pace, but I have nothing negative to say. Maybe bc we ordered many dishes, but everything came at a comfortable pace. Actually, the appetizers could have come more slowly, as we were served the last three practically at the same time. They came with extra miso soup while we were waiting for the sushi to come… maybe this was their strategy to make it seem like we weren’t waiting long… and if worked perfectly.
Overall, I can’t say enough about this place, and look forward to returning. They even sang happy birthday to my fiancé! Cookie points for that. :-)

This is a really excellent addition to the Astoria sushi scene. I had the regular sushi combo (8 pieces and 1 spicy tuna roll) and I was blown away by their salmon and eel. Their shrimp dumplings are not worth the price, but they have excellent quality fish and service. The staff was very attentive and we were seated right away. It’s on the pricier side for the neighborhood, but well worth it. It’s definitely my new favorite place to go for sushi in Astoria.

Kondo is a decent place. There isn’t much in terms of creativity but you’ll get good sushi. The décor of the place gives you the «I’m in someone’s living room feel» and that’s not meant to be a compliment.
The fried chicken with tartar sauce was good. Although the chicken is anything but crispy.
Charashi bowl is good but it’s not spectacular.
Best thing of the night was the Green Tea Parfait. Hands down one of the best I’ve had.
Other than that… Eh

Came here recently with a group of 6, for dinner.
First impressions: The inside is very contemporary/​modern and clean. Restaurant is on the small side, with tables spread out and a small sushi bar area, with only one sushi chef working at the time.
We get seated and we immediately know what we want: sushi rolls. That was the objective of our dinner that night.
This is where my 3 stars come in: The waitress kept on telling us «No» — and proceeded to pout and make multiple dramatic crying faces, repeatedly telling us that we couldn’t order sushi rolls. We found this to be quite odd… and insisted on the sushi rolls, assuring her that we’d be patient, as she had expressed that there was only one sushi chef. Apparently she didn’t want it to be too burdensome on the chef and wanted to reduce the number of sushi orders in the restaurant. I understand… but I came here for sushi… at a Japanese restaurant.
Sushi was definitely tasty, but nothing special. If you don’t live in the area, it’s not something I would recommend traveling out of your way for. The group next to us sat down for no more than 5 mins before heading out.

Amazing!
get
the
chirashi.
get
the
chirashi.

This was definitely a pleasant surprise. Kondo was described to me as being one of the best and more superior sushi joints in Astoria with the freshest and tastiest fish executed at a high level. I rarely ever let anyone take me out to dinner. But once in a blue moon I let my guard down. After imbibing in way too many ‘sips’ of wine at an event and deciding to find food with the idea of just going to Broadway and running into something, we went to Kondo.
I wasn’t tricked. Even the miso soup tasted better than other Japanese joints with agedashi tofu and a rich silky broth. Pan fried pork dumplings, which I exclaimed were just dumplings followed. But the main star of the show was the fish. I’ve never tried uni before or most of the other items that were assembled on the beautiful and colorful sushi sashimi combination platter. But if I could eat uni every day for the rest of my life, I’d probably be the happiest, fattest kid ever. In my state of ebbing inebriation I ordered more sushi as my dining companion opted for a green tea parfait. The green tea ice cream is pretty out of this world as is their tea. Don’t skimp on desert. A memorable meal with great company and a praise worthy restaurant and chef.

Looking to try a new sushi spot in the area, Kondo had great reviews and a welcoming interior.
Despite some good drink deals, only wanted food: got the Fried Chicken ($ 6) and a Salmon/​Avocado roll ($ 8). Fried chicken came first — not overly breaded and juicy on the inside. Didn’t really need the tartar sauce but it did add a good amount of flavor over the breading. As for the sushi — it took a particularly long time to come out. For some reason they have one sushi guy making the rolls for the entire restaurant, not a great idea. When it finally did come out, I basically scarfed it down (basic roll, nothing out of the ordinary).
Clean spot with good amount of room between tables, so probably good for a date, but nothing more than an average sushi joint.

I was excited to see Kondo open up since I have been to the previous restaurant, Linn, a few times, it is good to hear the chef came back and took it over. The menu is a little different than before, it seems it’s more of a Japanese restaurant as opposed to being a sushi restaurant. Also, the walls don’t have art like the way it did before. Overall, I was happy with my meal.
The food:
Grilled Stripe Bass w/​Miso paste– I thought the flavor of the app was nice, the fish was super fresh but I thought it ran a tad salty and a little overcooked.
Omakase– The Omakase was kinda weird since there are no set dollar amounts. You basically throw out a number and the chef makes it for you. I thought $ 50 was a safe bet so I went with that, it came with 11 pieces and I asked for nigiri only. I really thought I got a lot of food for the $ 50, I thought 11 pieces was great. It came with Miso soup and it was good, but Miso soup is not what brought me to the restaurant. This was a first for me but I never had Omakase served all at once and it kinda took me off guard. My favorite pieces were the King Salmon, Hotate, Ikura, and the Botan Ebi.
Side Plate– I ended up ordering King Salmon, Uni and Unagi as sides and all three were great. The King Salmon was nice and silky and fatty, the Uni had really nice texture but had a tad bit of Uni funk but my fav piece was the Unagi, the eel was excellent.

Wow is all I have to say! GO NOW.
I can barely find the words to describe the artistry of this sushi chef, and my mouth waters as I write this! I have been to Linn once or twice yet nothing compares to chef Kondo under his own roof where his creativity is allowed to flourish.
From the scallop sashimi to the hamachi kama, futomaki rolll, baby yellowtail & japanese mackerel everything far surpassed my expectations.
The fish is freshly shipped from Japan & their menu changes daily!
Order from the specials, you will not regret it. The 2 ladies in my group went crazy over the desserts as well, certainly not typical of any Japanese restaurant I’ve ever been to. From the refreshing sparkling sake drinks/​sorbet ‘dunked’ inside them to the green tea parfait (see my photos here) everything was uniquely superb, I will return!

I’m sold. The fish the fresh, and you can taste in each bite that the sashimi has been carefully selected, treated and prepared. The chirashi is an excellent choice to sample an assortment of sashimi. The décor of the restaurant is simple, the staff friendly. Veering towards being an authentic Japanese sushi bar, you won’t find any crudely made «ie. Dragon bomb rolls» Americanized sushi rolls here.

Definitivement l’un des meilleurs sushi d’Astoria!