Sake Bar Kirakuya

Went here for lunch. Might be better at dinner.
They are running some special lunch menu. Choice of a lot of dishes, no menu prices which is weird. Their house Sake is your generic Ozeki so don’t bother.
Had the Sawara Soba, turned out to be 12 dollars which was fine for the quality. Sawara is Spanish Mackerel. Good piece of fresh Mackerel. The green tea was fine.
Otherwise there were noodles, which had excellent firmness.
The vegetables in there were good as well. Enoki and other mushrooms as well as some greens. There was a little too much wasabi but the broth was good otherwise.
I’ll give it a 4 for now but if the next lunch is similar, I’ll switch it down to a 3, at least for lunch. If they are hosting the same lunch special, I’ll try their demi burger or something, looked good from the other tables. Looking forward to a dinner there however.
3.7 or so.

I don’t wanna come back again. Btw I’m Japanese I went to many restaurants in NYC. Service was not good. Some waitress was okay but I ordered hot tea and wanted to refill. I asked Japanese waitress to refill. She took teakettle to the back and then other waitress said «again!!!» small voice in Japanese…
I’ve never heard waitress complain about my order. Can’t I drink hot tea again?!
And we ordered hot pot. At Japanese hot pot and Chinese hot pot restaurant service some big spoon usually. One is to take vegetable and meat. Other is to skim off form the soup but this place is just one spoon. We skimmed off form many times one spoon… And usually spoon put the some water because it’ll clean when skimmed off. But they didn’t prepare it. It was very messy.
People think I’m picky but many Japanese restaurants are good service and there are good waitress but here is no. If you wanna eat Japanese food, you should go to other restaurant. Price is not cheap. Waste money.
They served white tuna for sashimi. Nice Japanese restaurant don’t serve it don’t eat it. It not good for health!!!

I am a huge fan of this place…
every time I come here it’s a really good time! Except for last night where the table right next to our table started playing this «game» WHICH INCLUDES weird noises and, somewhat, I don’t know, out of my common sense. In case anyone wants to play a bar game or a drinking game, this place is NOT for those kind of games.
It’s an intimate, more of a low key setting where people are not loud. Last night when I went, everyone was fairly chill and not loud except for that one table.
Anyway, back to the food and drinks–
I have had hot-​pot here and everything tastes very clean and well prepared. Def recommend hot pot as well as rolls and everything else… I love their omurice too which is creamy and cooked to perfection.
They have an extensive sake selection too but if you’re there before 8pm, get their happy hour sake or beer. A large sake is only $ 11. It’s worth it!
Seriously, visit the place. It’s awesome! :)

It’s my first time to come here and everything was good! From food, staffs and the place. I’ll come again here for sushi.

Neat place on the 2^nd floor with a huge selection of skewers and other Japanese God. We had a couple of the set menu meals (available from 4 – 8). Both were a huge amount of food at a very reasonable price.
They also have a gigantic sake selection with many high end products available by the glass.

The best sushi in NYC so far! Nobu not even close haha with their crab substitution in rolls lol
Great service! Our waitress was very nice and attentive! Very authentic place! Nice Japanese music! Not too crowded, comfortable sitting. Crispy tuna rice and sunset spicy salmon roll must to try!
And of course the best miso soup!
The place with a great energy!

I love their lunch special.
Great food, resonable price, great service too! I really recommend this place at lunch time.

great selection
great service
amazing food
and the best sake outside of the land of the rising sun!

Came here for dinner with Dad and Uncle and had a good meal for a good price. This place is pretty hidden and was probably the last place on the block I hadn’t gone yet. $ 12 happy hour sapporo pitchers. My dad really loved the spicy mussels dish. Takoyaki and okonomiyaki was good. Crab sushi was okay. Fried squid was eh. Overall: good, but nothing special.

Hidden gem in K town! Perfect place for your date night with some good Japanese food and sake. Chef is Japanese and the owner knows so much about Japanese food and sake. Their sake selections are wonderful so that you might not be able to decide which one to try. Ask the server for sample and they will pleasantly give you a free sample before you order the bottle. Overall, food is all good so don’t hesitate to try anything that you want here!

Lovely and quaint bar with BBQ and all the specialties one could desire. Our reason for visiting Kirakuya was for sake and it was special. We will definitely try their cuisine in our next visit. Great service, sake selection is excellent!

Best hot pot in Manhattan!!!
Comes with fresh beef and their dipping sauce is def worth trying out! Everything is fresh here. I recommend half and half for the broth.

I can’t believe I didn’t find this sooner!
Food is on point and as is the HH because it’s from 4−8pm and the lychee martini’s here are delicious ($ 5 and keep them coming!), along with the sake (which is half off!)! Sapporo pitchers? Sure why not?! $ 12!
It’s not crowded, which blows my mind because it’s literally right smack in ktown (32^nd St). It’s a little hard to find — and to get there you’re going to have to enter a narrow apartment looking entrance, into a even more cramped elevator to the 2^nd floor (where there’s a hair salon #what) but rest assured, once you enter the door of Kirakuya, it’s going to feel like you’ve always meant to be there!
It’s dimmed, but welcoming — the first thing you’ll see is the sushi bar, but turn right and there’s plenty of seating for you to choose from. I think you can hotpot too (whatttt) but I was just there to catch up over some apps and drinks! The wait staff is so kind, and they even let us sample some of the sake before coming to a conclusion of what we wanted. I’m knocking myself in the head right now for not remembering the name of the sake — but it was light, sweet, starts with a G and is their most popular — shout out to the person who lets me know because — that will be my go to (although I mean… I’m definitely going back and will update this, I’m sorry Unilocal world!)
Food — bear with me because I had a mix of things lol
Skewers (choice of meat or meat & veggie which is what I got) — really really good! There was a good mix of chicken, pork belly and some tomatoes and peppers for the veggies skewers!
Takoyaki (~$ 7) — Yea I mean. how can you not! Good for sharing and a good choice for an app in my opinion!
Salmon Roll — Fresh Salmon, more salmon than rice — can’t complain on that!
Tonkatsu Ramen — I shared this and with everything together I was super full! The ramen is really flavorful and the noodles chewy just the way I like it! I recommend it!
To bring all back though — lychee martinis were my favvvvv! It’s not like Verlaine’s (if you’re ever been), but it’s just as freakin good — without having to fight with a million people to order or scream through loud music. This is a relaxed spot, good for small and large groups, and I totally dig the vibe!
~Chow and chow again!

Ate here 2 years ago and had a nice experience but it seems like things have changed. I have heard the sake sommelier back then is no longer working here and it seems like their menu quality has dipped a bit. Had an assortment of dishes — sashimi, yakisoba, gyoza, yakitori, salad, etc but nothing really stood out. Everything tasted average and a bit on the bland side.
They do still serve excellent sake, I’ll give them that.

We were looking for an izakaya around K-​Town because 1. We didn’t want too heavy Korean dishes and 2. We wanted a change our usual beer and yakitori combo and venture towards something more high end with some nice sake to compliment our meal.
Service was a little slow despite multiple servers coming to our table. Granted, it was pretty late and most probably they were already tired by then.
Upside: Sake was decently priced and they had a wide variety. Okonomiyaki was surprisingly good as well.
Down: Yakitori portions were tiny and weren’t really well seasoned.
Overall, a satisfying place to come for some sake and a few small plates. Will come back during peak hours, maybe service will be quicker on those times.

Came here with a friend in search of food after hanging out at a bar upstairs. On initial inspection, the place looked pretty classy (read: expensive), but considering I have a real job now, I decided to just go with it.
The menu shows various izakaya standards including kara age, various yakitoris and a sake list that we cast to the side because my friend always drinks house sake. I don’t remember the food here being particularly amazing or the prices being especially cheap. The ambience is nice and you have a great view of the chaos that is 32^nd st at night if you sit by the window. The service as with all Japanese restaurants was well mannered and deferential.
I wouldn’t mind coming here again, but honestly, it’s doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from all the other izakayas around town. Not to mention, it’s not underground, which we know that all great izakayas should be.
Happy drinking!

I left like a celebrity!
Just this week I watched restaurant redemption with Chef Ching. She «fixed» this place. We had the same trouble finding Kirakuya on the second floor of this office building in Manhattan’s Korea Way where we have had fabulous Korean food before. As we entered we saw one familiar face, the older Asian female chef from the TV program. Also we recognized the lovely origami wall.
Although we originally wanted to just have drinks, I couldn’t resist. The owner, Mae, did not follow Ching’s advice. Although there were not 500 menu items, the choices were numerous. We had to try the hot pot also along with the pork belly and the squid plus some pickled veggies.
We chose the happy hour Sapporo pitcher plus a bottle of Korean Sochu.
Service was delightful from a Japanese-​Korean gentleman. Arigato and kamsamnida!
The hotpot was delightful. All the dishes were delicious. My niece who works around the corner was delighted to have found a new place for lunch!

Came here on a Friday night after wandering around Ktown for a good half an hour seeing if my usual places have a wait (everywhere was at least an hour unfortunately). Kirakuya is located on the second floor with a hard-​to-​find entrance, so that probably keeps the crowds of tourists away and we were able to get seated immediately. The restaurants on the second floor are generally a better bet when everywhere is full and you’re cold and hungry and just want to get seated somewhere.
Kirakuya’s menu is split in half, with sushi and rolls on one side of the menu and a mixture of more traditional Korean and Japanese food on the other. The food was decent, although here’s definitely better in the near-​vicinity (if you’re willing to wait), but the selection is extensive if you have a big group who all want different things.
While the servers are friendly, be warned that service here is very hands-​off. If you want something you’re better off flagging down a waiter than waiting for a server to come around.

Came here for happy hour and ordered the combo dish and the Sapporo pitcher. Seems like a decent deal and the beer tasted really good. The atmosphere is actually pretty chill and Japanese in a good way. It’s also nice and quiet which is always appreciated.

It seems like the reviews of Kirakuya are hit or miss; my visit was a hit, however… The sake selection is decent, and the service was reasonable — though definitely not the usual punctilious, attentive service I’m used to at most Japanese venues.
That said, it was low-​key with decent snacks and a reasonable collection of nihonshu.
That, of course, reveals my ridiculous bias towards Nihon-​ryouri. :)