Butterfish

This has to be the most expensive horrible sushi I have ever had before. If you are not keeping Kosher, just keep on going. I was suspect when is saw this was a Kosher place, not that I have anything against that being a non-​believe Jew myself, when in NYC that often means just more expensive but good. We had Rainbow Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, tuna scallion roll, and they were all bad. We left over more than ½ and the other 2 people I was with didn’t hardly eat any of it. Since it was a business lunch we said nothing, but the rainbow roll was so fishy smelling that we left nearly all of that over.
I saw some 4 star reviews, we either hit it on the wrong day or the other folks need to spread their sushi wings out. Skip and avoid.

I was very excited to try the new one week only tasting menu. We were quoted a price ($ 110) and made a reservation. A few days later we were told the price was not $ 110, but changed to $ 125. They refused to honor the price we were quoted. So we canceled our reservation. I’m still waiting for a kosher restaurant that has some idea of what good customer service is.

Butterfish is now a kosher Japanese restaurant. While the menu has expanded to include many more cooked items, uni and ebi are no longer available from the sushi bar.
Service is still impeccable, and the spicy salmon handroll is still one of the best I’ve ever had. However the sushi rice seemed a bit dry, as the nigiri did not stay in one piece. Overall, the sushi is still better than average. I did not try any of the kitchen entrees, but some of them sounded pretty good.

I was very excited to dine at Butterfish. I love the idea that it is in the atrium of the Sony building, and had heard that the food is very good.
The service was cordial, and we were seated immediately.
Here is what we ordered:
Miso soup with extra tofu: Was tasty, but did not have extra tofu.
Four Mushroom sautee appetizer: very tasty. Loved the different textures, the flavors, and the variety of mushrooms.
BF Combo. Assorted sushi, sashimi, and 1 roll: The fish itself was very fresh and tasty. However at $ 50 we were shocked at the minuscule amount served.
We were still hungry so we ordered:
Tuna Lover’s roll, and Rainbow roll: Both were fresh, tasty, and nicely presented.
We did enjoy the food here, but found it to be severely overpriced for what we had.

Butterfish is a Japanese restaurant known for its omakase (chef’s selection) style sushi. I went here with the girlfriend on a Sunday evening using a Gilt City voucher for omakase for 2, which included omakase for 2 as well as 2 drinks each.
Note that I’m not a sushi, sashimi or even fish connoisseur (in the sense of being able to distinguish between excellent or just good-​quality fish) so much as I’m a guy who enjoys sushi.
Here were the courses served:
— Edamame: nothing different from usual, slightly warm and salted.
— Tuna sashimi: smooth, served in soy sauce and with finely sliced fresh scallions.
— Salmon and albacore sushi: smooth
— Sea bass, tuna and red snapper sushi: also smooth. Tuna was the toughest piece of fish we had, and that’s only in comparison to the others.
— Spicy tuna roll: I’m not sure how the flavor profile for this is supposed to be, but it basically tasted like sushi of the same except rolled into a thin cylinder.
DRINKS
Girlfriend tried two different cocktails (her verdict: fruity, good) and I tried a dry sake. Of note is that Butterfish has a decent drink selection that does include several sake types, in addition to more familiar alcoholic beverages.
SERVICE
Excellent! Attentive, helpful and accommodating.
ATMOSPHERE
Decent. I would’ve been a bit more comfortable if there’d been more diners while we were there (admittedly it was 6:30 PM on Sunday) but other groups did come in before we left at 8:00.
VERDICT
We enjoyed having dinner at Butterfish. I didn’t provide 5 stars because I honestly don’t know how good sushi or omakase gets. Would I go back? One day, yes, most likely after I fine-​tune my taste and expectations for what makes for excellent versus just «good» sushi.
P. S. A note on FINDING the restaurant:
While you you won’t miss the banner for Butterfish displayed outdoors, note that the restaurant is actually inside the Sony Plaza public space. Tricky.

Assuming everyone bought a deal, there’s probably going to be a large influx of Unilocal reviews based on the Gilt City deal.
Let me cut to the chase:
Service — Very mixed! Service can be way better. The greeting staff were very friendly and professional, but the servers were like deer in headlights. Numerous times servers would show up with orders and be like «did you order this?» then go to the next table and do the same. They also mixed up the orders of ours with the table next to us, and I’m pretty sure the table next to us was really pissed. Flagging down someone for our check also became very cumbersome.
Food — Great selection, fresh fish — seabass and tuna was the best. Probably one of the best tuna I ever had. Rice could’ve been composed better. The «roll» was a bit of a joke — tiny tiny tiny! The spicy tuna though was pretty tasty.
Drinks — we ordered the Emerald and Nama — and both were very sweet, almost like candy.
Restaurant — Place was a little hard to find — it’s situated inside the Sony building where the public space is. Décor is very cute and space is clean.
Value — For what we paid, it was worth it to some degree (drinks are usually like $ 13+ each), but not sure if I will be back without a deal. I was able to eat another meal right after =P

Had a gilt city voucher so had to use it before it ended. boy did I think that was a waste. The food was not good. the fish did not taste like anything to me, they all tasted the same and the rice kept falling apart. The place was also hard to find if you did not know it was in the Sony building.

We came using the Gilt City coupon. The sushi was amazing, tasted super fresh and definitely worth it.
We had 2 sakes, I believe the first was Kitaya and second was Oze no Yukidoke. I prefer the first, a lot sweeter and easy to drink!
It was a special occasion so we ended up ordering some uni and fatty tuna too. These were amazing, just melted in your mouth! I’ve gotta say my favorite was the albacore though, unexpected deliciousness. This place is so close to work, I will definitely be back!!!

Giving this a two star based on the fact that 2 stars in the Unilocal world means: «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» …And I’ve really really experienced better. Like everyone else I bought the Gilt City deal and came here with my gf last Friday. The place was relatively empty, with maybe 3 – 4 other couples in the main dining room.
We got the Kobe omakase… which in my opinion was the laziest and least impressive omakase I’ve ever had. It’s just one edamame dish, worth about…$ 2. Then you’ve got sashimi of the day, which is just some type of salmon doused with vinegar/​soy sauce. Then you’ve got maybe 8 – 9 pieces of the oddest looking and tasting sushi. Unlike most other restaurants, this fish was so incredibly dry and NOT fresh I was at a loss for words. …It’s just… It’ s just awful.
I will say the space itself is very nicely decorated. The staff were also wonderful. They were very sharp, quick, and accommodating.
But you guys really have to do something about the food. It’s just embarrassing.

Butterfish has the unfortunate distinction of being the fourth sushi experience I’ve had in the last six months, the last three being the Tsujiki fish market in Tokyo, Nakazawa in New York, and a seafood restaurant on the Oregon coast. In all three cases, the freshness of the fish was sublime. So take that into account when I write about Butterfish.
Like most everyone else writing reviews in the past few weeks, I went for the Gilt City coupon, which entitled us to the «Kobe» menu option (each sushi set ranges in price from $ 20 to $ 42 and is identified by a city name in Japan). This particular set included Edamame; Sashimi of the Day (tuna in our case); two pieces each of salmon, albacore, yellowtail, and Seabass; and one piece each of tuna and a crab handroll.
The edamame was excellent – fresh with that kind of snap you like in good edamame. Likewise, the sashimi of the day had pretty good flavor and texture, although it was swimming in a bowl of soy sauce, which I found an odd choice. Likewise, the crab hand roll that ended up the evening was tasty if a little odd (it was rolled more into something more like a cigar shape than what I’m used to in my handrolls.
It was the nigiri rolls that left me a bit wanting. We were the first to dinner at 5:00 PM on a Friday, and it really felt to me that I was eating the leftovers from lunch or even previous days. I wouldn’t say the fish had gone bad, but in most cases they were a bit more dry and flavorless than I would have liked, and lacked the kind of texture I’ve found in really fresh fish. My guess is that some of this fish had been sitting all day and/​or frozen at some point.
Still, everything else about the restaurant was excellent. Our server was a Japanese young lady who couldn’t have been nicer and who really displayed the kind of Japanese hospitality you see in Tokyo (and don’t see enough of in Manhattan). The décor is in a simple and elegant Japanese style, with wood tables and glass windows. We noticed that the restaurant was exceptionally clean as well. The one thing I found a little off was the music selection – we went through a «who’s-who» of pop music, from Hannah Montana to Justin Bieber to Nelly to Maroon 5 through the evening, but it was playing so softly in the background that it strangely didn’t feel out of place.
This is one of those Groupon/​Living Social/​Gilt City experiences where I felt that I got my money’s worth as far as what I paid for the meal, but I don’t think I would have felt the same had I paid full price. I’m guessing that this place really shines at lunchtime. It’s the sort of place that I’ll eat at if I happen to be in the area, but if I walk a few blocks I’d much prefer places like Sushi Ann and Hatsuhana,

I recently dined at Butterfish and it was a really unique experience.
My boyfriend and I were introduced to the place by a Gilt City Deal that we bought. We had recently had omakase at Sushi Seki, (known for their Omakase) and couldn’t wait to get our mouths on another bite of omakase style sushi at a much more affordable price. When we saw the deal, we immediately jumped at the opportunity.
While, the deal was called omakase, I wouldn’t exactly say we were served the same type of omakase as that of Sushi Seki, but we were still greatly pleased. Sushi seki decorated and sauced up each and every piece they served us, while Butterfish served us very plain fish that was supposed to be all about the taste, freshness, and quality of the fish. There was no need to dress up this fish.
Our deal included the «Kobe» tasting menu for each person and also 2 drinks per person. All in all, it was a great value! For a sushi place they had quite the selection of hard liquor. Just to name a few, they offered Belvedere, Grey Goose, and even Johnny Walker Blue! Also, my boyfriend loved the sake they served him.
First, we started off with Edamame. Not sure you can go wrong with Edamame, but it was the perfect temperature and crispness!
Secondly, we had the sashimi of the day, which was Tuna in this very amazing sauce covered with scallions. Neither my boyfriend and I knew what was in the sauce, but we kept dipping our chop sticks back into it when we were done eating to get more of the flavor into our mouth!
Next we were served 2 pieces of salmon sushi and 2 pieces of albacore tuna sushi. The flavor of both of these were so fresh and were a much larger size than most places serve. Nice thick slices!
Next up, we were served yellowtail, Tuna, and Seabass Sushi pieces. The yellow tail was so fresh it melted in your mouth. The seabass had such an amazing taste that we later ordered more. I felt the pieces were also of great size!
Next, and my favorite, we were served the crab hand roll. I always never really thought I liked handrolls because I never had them made this good! The crunchy texture of the seawood with the sticky rice and amazing flavor of crab all in one bite made me smile. I couldn’t get enough of this hand roll. We ended up ordering seconds of this item as well :)
I definitely enjoyed my experience at Butterfish and definitely will be back! I think its perfect for a girl’s night dinner since we all tend to enjoy the healthier type of sushi with not a lot of sauce. I wouldn’t go here if you are in the mood for the Americanized version of sushi where you order a Special Roll that is jam packed with crunch, spicy mayo, and 3 kinds of fish all in one. If you are in the mood to really enjoy the flavor of the fish and the fish alone, then Butterfish is your place!

Like everyone else, came here with a gilt city coupon. I don’t like getting sit-​down restaurant coupons but I thought for $ 65/​two people, i don’t really have anything to lose.
So turns out the omakase that you get with this deal is normally $ 32 per person or something so you’re not really getting a «better deal» although you do get your choice of alcohol with the deal.
The tuna sashimi started was barely defrosted. the quality was fine, not amazing and not bad. the sauce was really mediocre, in fact i forgot what it tasted like and the meal was only a few days ago.
the nigiri was served on warm rice — i actually thought the rice was really fantastic. great temperature, perfect mix of sweet & sour. our meal finished with a blue crab hand roll, which was the best part of the meal. i didnt think the 10 pieces would be filling but it actually was

I paid around $ 50 for 2 people’s lunch, drinking only water and green tea.
I was hoping the sushi would be super authentic since we’re in the Sony building right here (BTW, no Sony employee discounts). I’m not a sushi expert but it seemed pretty standard, then again I guess suchi is the most intl type of Japanese food.
They’re lunch packs make your life easier by having several serving times pre-​designed. I had the veggetarian option which was ok but mostly rice and some cold veggies. For $ 18 I was barely satisfied. The other pack had tuna and salmon which I must admit seemed to be cooked perfectly and very finely shreded, my lunch companion was super satisfied; that was $ 22 I think.
They don’t serve free green tea or tea refils, you get a small English tea cup of it, if you want more you have to pay for more — I found that a bit against the common Japanese food place.
Ambience: classy and calm. Service: Not that fast considering they have several servers and it was a bit empty for lunch; but good in general, they may try to hard in some areas and relax too much in others.
Its funny that this is one of the only restaurants in the privately owned public space of the Sony building. There’s space for so many more places but whatever, that’s not Butterfish’s fault.

Despite previous comments I must say they might have changed things around because we had exceptionally great service which I say as a New Yorker that doesn’t expect much .
Sushi was fresh — enjoyed the whole selection I got on the guilt special. Drink selection was excellent … Even their ginger was fresh.
It is difficult to find however but just go inside the sony public space instead of standing outside for 5 minutes confusingly staring at your google map.

We came here on a weeknight with a $ 65 Gilt City Omakase for 2 with drinks deal.
We each had 2 glasses of sake — Oze no Yukidoke and Kitaya. Then we had a small plate of edamame. Next we had 3 pieces of tuna sashimi, fresh and flavorful but they were ice-​cold! With the nigiri sushi, all the fish was fresh, but we didn’t like the rice. The vinegar in the rice was so strong that you cannot really taste the fish. They also didn’t mix the the seasoning evenly so some pieces had more vinegar taste than others. To close out the meal, we each had a crabmeat handroll. The crabmeat in the handroll was delicious and the seaweed was crispy, but again, the rice wasn’t good. It’s really unacceptable that a sushi place doesn’t know how to cook their sushi rice right.
The portion size and selection of the included drinks were good. Overall the Gilt City deal was great because of the drinks, but if quality of sushi is important to you then you would be better off going elsewhere.

Really disappointed.
Omakase for 2 gilt city deals. They gave you a good amount of food, but after all, I felt like I hadn’t eat at all.
3 slices of marinated tuna sashimi — good
1 edamame — ok
10 pieces of sushi (salmon, tuna, white fish) — very average
2 drinks — good
The service was great, the deal was still a good deal, but the food was just not worth going… and the place itself being in the sony building wasn’t attractive either.

Butterfish was offering an Omakase on Gilt City, and I’ve been yearning to try an omakase for WEEKS.
So I had to get in on this.
Butterfish was a little hard to find. It is nestled in the Sony Building, which during the weekend, nothing else was open. Once we found it, it was a cute, spacious, clean, venue.
The service was super nice, and fast.
We sat down and was served with edamame. I wish there were more wasbi and ginger, but that came out next. I love ginger. It was clearly very fresh tasting because it still had the kick.
I am usually a huge rice fan, but I’m blown away at home perfect moist and warm the rice was on these sushi.
We had tuna tartare to start. Followed by Salmon, yellow tail, sea bass, and more tuna. Our omakase finished with a crab hand roll. I was hesitant at first, but this was the best hand roll I’ve ever had. Delicious crab taste with the fresh seaweed and warm rice. My mouth got hugged.
The dinner was wrapped up with yazu sorbet and green tea cake.
Fast service, clean establishment. AWESOME 2000s playlist. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would come back.

The first thing you’ll notice about Butterfish is that it’s very difficult to find. And not in the trendy, «in the know», speakeasy kind of way. It’s just hard to figure out where exactly it is. We ended up going through the lobby of the Sony store building and into this surreal indoor atrium. The point is that the restaurant does indeed exist, but it’s a bit of a challenge to get there.
Once you arrive, get ready for some truly great sushi. Large cuts of fresh fish over warm sushi rice. The salmon, albacore, tuna and yellowtail are great, but for me, the sea bass was phenomenal. Also fantastic is the tuna sashimi which comes soaking in what I assume is some kind of mirin/​vinegar mixture. The crispy seaweed wrapping the crab roll is also worth mentioning.
The bar seems to have a great whiskey selection. Maybe when I’m rich and famous, I’ll come back and order a Macallan 25 year, but for now, I’m pretty content with the Yamazaki. Lots of sake on the menu as well that I may have to try out at some point.
It was pretty empty for a Saturday evening, but this part of midtown is generally a ghost town around that time. Maybe they do more business during lunch hours, but I’m really hoping that it’s enough for them to sustain themselves. I’m counting on them to really take off in the future, they deserve every bit of success that comes their way.

Décor is nice and modern. Inside the Sony building. Lots of seating but did not notice any sushi bar, which was weird. It was very, very quiet for a Saturday night.
Came here because they have a cheap omakase deal on Gilt City. For $ 65, we get omakase for two. This place has only been open for a few weeks and got good reviews so why not right? It’s not really omakase though when you already know what you’re going to get. Their regular menu has prix fixes that are similar to this gilt deal that ranges from $ 20s to $ 40s, without the drinks.
The host/​waiter was super nice and when we forgot about the two drinks, and ordered sake by the bottle, he still accommodated us. It was a huge bottle! So I thought, even if the sushi sucks, it’ll be okay because I’m drinking.
Now to the food which was all included in the deal. We got the edamame, it was fine. Then comes their sashimi of the day-​slices of tuna with scallions on top. The tuna was still in the process of defrosting, almost ice cold. Then came the nigiri– two salmon and two albacore. The fish was again on the cold side but still okay, but it was paired with hot rice! The rice was so warm, it was sticking to my chopstick and it was just so wrong with the cold fish. Then we had another plate of 1 tuna, 2 yellowtail and 2 sea bass. By the time this came out it was much better– the rice was cooler and the fish was less cold. Then we got a crab hand roll at the end, which was the best thing of the whole meal. Crispy seaweed and fresh crab.
The sushi was not good overall but I’m giving it 3 stars for the good service and décor.

They are newly opened sushi restaurant. Excellent service, nice interior and the sushi is amazing. Definatly recommend the crab roll, and spicy tuna roll. Super fresh ingredients. Very friendly and smart staffs, comfortable seats. I highly recommend this place!