Iroha Japanese Restaurant

We were trying to go to Sake Bar Hagi, which is right next to this place, but we didn’t make a reservation and the line was too long. This was right next to it, and seemed fairly empty! Maybe a sign…
Everything was pretty mediocre. The best part was the service and the winter cocktail we ordered, which was basically ½ alcohol ¼ hot chocolate and ¹⁄₅ whipped cream. My boyfriend’s chicken teriyaki and sweet potato roll were very bland (he said I could’ve made better!). I ordered the winter special ramen, which came out with a pot of boiling broth and the stuff you put into the pot yourself. As the pot was boiling the whole time, It was very difficult to eat, and the pot was too small to hold all the material (but a big portion, at least!). At the end, everything had been boiled into oblivion and the noodles were disintegrating.
At least it wasn’t crowded for being in Times Square, so we had a leisurely experience before our Broadway show! Needed that time too, as it took me forever to actually eat my boiling dish.

There was nothing terrible about this place. The prices were good. But they didn’t have many options where fish weren’t cooked. I thought the sushi was wonderful though. I noticed when walking in that there’s a certain amount of time you’re allowed to sit there and eat. I’m not sure if all of the city is like that, but I noticed that sign while there. Our waiter looked like he was the only one serving the whole restaurant. So, our drinks needed to be filled when they weren’t. But our food came pretty quickly. It was alright, I would try something new next time though.

The food is very savory, fresh and good. However it is a bit overpriced, especially compared to other Japanese places in the area. I recently bought green salad, a california roll and miso soup and it came out to $ 13 which completely shocked me. I won’t be buying from them again but the inside of the restaurant and sake bar are very nice so if you have money to blow and want a cool place to hang out, this is it. However it’s just not for me.

We were walking on the jonas storm and we were surprised that it was opened at first. The stuff was overrun, too many people too short on stuff but continuously apologizing. The food was nice and nicely proced as well. At the end after an unusual day, the result was a fair food and high quality.
We will repeat to evaluate in a normal day.

I should’ve paid more attention to the Times Square location and realized that this Japanese restaurant might not be up to snuff. First, it’s crowded during the lunch rush. I was squeezed in at the sushi bar between two other parties, meaning I could hear every Ramen slurp and word said in two directions.
Second, the food is just okay. Miso was fine. Salad — heavy on the dressing. I ordered the Salmon teriyaki, which was in a tasty enough sauce but it must have been spiked with sake or something because I definitely could feel and taste the effects. The salmon itself was garnished with a huge mass of shredded cabbage. Curious choice, and of course, not really tasty or desired.
Value? Overpriced. I had the salmon set, which came with just soup/​salad and white rice, and was $ 14 + tax & tip. I’ve had plentiful bento boxes in the area for less. (Their lunch bento box is $ 19, for reference.) The person next to me had the grilled fish of the day ($ 12), and I was thankful I didn’t get it – brown and parched appearing, it looked like it had dried out in the sun on a hot day in Death Valley.
I will say this — I was in and out in less than 40 minutes; the servers are speedy, so speedy that they gave me someone else’s check and credit card. Okay if you find yourself lost and hungry in times square; otherwise, there are much better Japanese restaurants in the area (e.g. Nippori), and easier on the wallet (Ocha).

3 stars because the fish looks relatively fresh — although the color of the tuna is questionable.
$ 26.00 for a sashimi deluxe set that I picked up. Comes with miso soup, salad and steamed rice.
They forgot to give me the salad and the rice — got the miso soup, which is laughably small.

The unagi don is tasty. It is worth the money. The service need to be improved. The waiter forget my order.

Good for quick dinners in the neighborhood. Had the chicken teriyaki and a bowl of white rice on the side. No brown rice though?

Another odd restaurant that I totally missed in terms of reviews, but dined and ordered from frequently.
In short:
— This place has had many incarnations, but has settled into a mix of Japanese comfort food and your typical entrée and sushi offerings.
— The menu is huge
— Overall the quality of food is pretty solid.
— I’m especially a fan of the eel over rice/​unagi. It’s actually quite good.
— The sushi here is above average
— The delivery service is good. Thankfully the moron who used to always spill food in my (and apparently other people’s) bags is no longer there so stuff gets to my place pretty quick and in one piece.
— The price is reasonable relative to what you get.
— Dessert is kind of overpriced IMO
All in all, I’ve been dining in this place for way too long (I think since 1995 or something like that). It’s changed a few times, but it’s still a reliable option if you’re looking for a decent Japanese joint near Times Square.

Food was so underwhelming.
Couldn’t wait for Sake Bar Hagi so we opted for this place upstairs. There was no wait on a Saturday night which was nice. Service was very quick, not necessarily friendly.
I always like it when the restaurant’s menu is filled with photos. That’s always nice. Food was cheap and affordable pero NO BUENO.
Tako Ball (octopus dumplings) — absolutely boring
Yakinuku — good, on par, does not include rice so you have to order it on the side
Omu Soba — Ordinary. I can make a better one. Egg was not a good idea.
If you’re looking for an affordable Japanese place with no wait, consider this place. Just don’t expect the food to satisfy you.

I love IROHA! This is my favorite restaurant in the neighborhood. I would like to pin point a few dishes for people to order:
1. Gyu Don
It is the beef rice top with slices of fatty beef. The beef is well cooked with onions. It is very juicy and has a poached egg on top of it. I love to stir the egg together with the beef, onions, green onions and ginger. The beef rice comes with a side salad and a soup for lunch set and it is only $ 12. You can’t find a better Gyu Don in the area.
2. Summer special dinner set Eel rice
Usually for the UNI DON in most restaurant is $ 16 to $ 20 with one layer of eel. The UNI DON here has two layers of eel!!! The eel has the perfectly cooked bronze color and with the eel sauce on top of it. After eating the first layer of the eel, you could add the soup into the rice and stir it together with the side dishes. It is like two dishes in one depends on how you would like to eat it.
3. Sashimi Salad
FRESH, TASTY, FABULOUS
AND YOU CANT BEAT THE PRICE
Well I am writing this because I can’t believe the rating of IROHA is lower than Sapporo. UP UP UP!!!
GYU DON IS MUST TRY! Better than any store around!

Came here last Thursday night for dinner with a friend I hadn’t seen in years. She selected it and it was a great choice. This is a real Japanese place. This isn’t a copy-​and-​paste sushi joint, this is real deal. Two gentlemen were speaking in rapid fire Japanese the entire time next to us before being replaced by another Japanese family. You won’t just find the average Japanese food, like teriyaki, sushi and tempura, but a whole selection of donburi, takoyaki, and okonomoyaki.
While some dishes may seem small, it’s still a filling portion. I went in, eyes bigger than my stomach and ordered a sushi don and a steamy bowl of soba noodles. I ended up taking much of my noodles home, no real surprise there. The menu itself is a little overwhelming, with stock pictures instead of pictures of the actual dishes and so many yummy options it’s hard to pick just one. I think the sharing route makes the most sense here, if you truly can’t decide or want to try something new without all the risk. The family next to us had plate after plate among all of them and looks like they knew the way to go.

many items here are a hit or miss
the good:
Def get the Octopus balls– so fresh! they use their own batter and make it right in front of you. We wished we ordered more of these.
The chicken skin, the bacon and enoki mushrooms, and shissito peppers were great and cheap!
the bad:
tuna tar tar– very bland and slimy texture
Fried rice– pretty bland needed lots of hot sauce
stir fried soba noodles– these were not soba noodles– they were definitely lo mein noodles with overcooked beef

What makes this review difficult to write is that nothing at Iroha really stands out as very good or very bad. Every experience I’ve had here is very average.
But for the prices and given that we are in Times Square, this place does stand out. You won’t wait longer than 15 minutes even during lunch rush on weekdays. Their menu is comprehensive and has something for everyone. A nice lunch will run around $ 15 – 25, and may include a few pieces of sashimi or sushi, shumai, a garden salad, and miso soup. The quality is quite average, and it will do in a pinch. That’s why I come back here for work lunch fairly often.

Came here with a friend and wanted to try the Japanese whiskeys. On the menu it was stated it would cost $ 16, but when we tried to order, the waitress said it is actually $ 23! That is a huge jump from the menu price, a clear issue and the restaurant has not fixed this on their website or their actual menus.
Since we couldnt get the whiskey, we settled for the following
Mojito — It tasted good but it wasnt very strong at all
Lychee Sake — Very tasty, would like to get one for home! Got it neat, no ice
We ordered the following foods
Appetizers
Sashimi Salad — This was very good, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the portion was big. Good flavor, but we still went for the wasibi/​soy sauce at times as well which we had to request for.

Between this place and another similar restaurant that I visited in Midtown. This one was honestly better overall for a variety of reasons. Came here for some late night bites and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t too busy, and had a nice, cozy vibe. It really felt like a restaurant you might find in Japan. Very narrow, but not claustrophobic by any means.
As for the food, this place has it all! The menu was very extensive holding numerous Japanese dishes. Grilled, deep fried, raw, and more. This place just had a dish to satisfy any appetite. They also serve dishes that are both traditional and modern. One of the highlights of my meal was their pressed saba (mackarel) sushi with shiso and ginger. Coming from California, pressed sushi is hard to come by. It was very cool to see that here. The other food here was great too, it’s a great place to unwind after a long day. I’ll definitely be coming back here when I’m back in NY.

I like Sake Bar Hagi downstairs better– they claim its the same food, but they don’t have everything that they have on the menu downstairs. I guess it’s whatever, not bad for midtown, but much better options in St. Mark’s or downtown for izakaya type food. Lychee chu-​hi drinks so good. I really enjoyed the omu soba too wrapped in the egg. I know my pic of the short ribs looks amazing, but that actually was eh.

We came by for lunch after some Black Friday shopping since lured in by the advertised special.
We were seated at the bar, our waiter came to us immediately and offered a hot green tea. We appreciated the gesture since that day was probably the coldest day in November!
I ordered the Gyudon (beef rice bowl) it’s Shredded beef on top of white rice with raw sunny side up egg and you mixed them together like you would in Korean bibimbap. It also came with a delicious miso soup and vegetable salad. It was filling and delicious. The Iroha roll which consists of tuna, salmon, mango, sweet corn and avocado with their signature spicy sauce is simply delectable!
This place is solid. For its price value and great customer service, I can’t wait to come back for dinner next time.

4 star service,
2 star food.
2 star value.
I ate here on a Thurs night. It was full at 5:30, probably a lot of pre show eaters here.
Service was excellent and friendly, prompt.
I was a little hesitant about going all in, so I started in the hole with some beef and garlic chips. The beef was not very fresh, with pink in the middle made easy to tell. The overall acidity was off. The garlic chips were an interesting take but it was not enough to redeem the dish.
Next came the flop, 3 bar skewers.
The chicken skewers were my second shot. At $ 4 each they are pricey, considering the tiny morsels you get. The «chicken oyster» skewer was the only edible one, the other two were so stingy. I mean its cartilage. I was put off by the tiniest morsel portions.
At this point I folded.

Oy shi dess!
This little spot of Japan has been our frequented space for years. First started with Sapporo Ramen, that was my ish.
Then it was Sake bar Hagi downstairs. Enjoyable but always loud and crowded felt like a college hangout spot, good for them.
Now it is Iroha, who we were enjoying with their traditional menu but went and changed things up from a traditional Sushi restaurant with tradition rolls and such to having a more fun and open menu. They are now a casual Japanese restaurant according to their website. Now you can get the traditional sushi with skewers found at most of the Sake bars, i.e. ginko nuts, chicken meatballs, karage, and many many more options.
None of their rolls have disappointed, recently we went and ordered the Iroha Roll, which is very refreshing with Tuna, Salmon (say it with me Sam On, yeah that’s it!) Mango, sweet corn, avocado and spicy sauce. We’d prefer a couple more pieces (maybe 4 more :)
We also ordered the Crispy roll, I like spicy mayo so right away I was like YEAH, and crunch, so good. Comes with fried salmon (Sam On, YEAH!) avocado and cream cheese. I was question markin the cream cheese but we threw caution to the window and got splattered in the face, don’t throw words at wind!
It was a enjoyable roll to try, VERY crunchy, so ya gotta like that to enjoy it.
I ordered my go to, which is chicken meatballs, oh so enjoyable, which I like dipping in the spicy mayo! Yata!
Dessert we shared a Lady M Green tea Millie cake and a side of black sesame ice cream, I ate most of this as my buds weren’t that up for dessert (sharing in this case is like they had a bite and I ate the rest). Separately they were enjoyable, I found the master combo by eating them together yes Green Tea cake with black sesame ice cream (you’re welcome Iroha).
Check it out you wont be disappointed.
BTW Iroha is the parent company of Hagi. One big famiree.