Sasabune

This is my second time here in this rather unassuming location. First and foremost the food was out of this world!!! But when you pay $ 150 plus for a few pieces of fish, you would expect a little better atmosphere, and service. The service was basically non-​existent and the restaurant looks like a cheap burger joint. The chef walked out in the middle of serving us to answer a phone call and stayed away talking on the phone for 15 minutes. The excellent sushi is served on plastic dishes, with cheap paper napkin and that is just not adequate for this type of restaurant. I ordered a low end bottle of sake, and it did not even have a label. I do go to restaurants for food, but I just cannot return to a restaurant that costs this much to be served in plastic dishes and paper napkins and inattentive staff.

game changing melt in your mouth sushi. splurge. you won’t regret it.

The sushi at this place is insanely good. Like eyes-​rolling-​into-​the-​back-​of-​your-​head-​with-​every-​bite good. As you already know, aside from stating the items that you will not eat, you don’t have any say over the items that are delivered to your table. As such, you also have no say over the number on the bill that is delivered to your table. Our party of 4 (+ 2 sakes and 2 beers) paid almost $ 600 for our dinner. Was it worth every penny? Absolutely.
With that being said, I would be remiss not to comment on the aesthetics of this place. It’s kind of a dump. I don’t mind the size (tiny), but it’s a bit insulting when we’re paying $ 600 for the walls to be badly scuffed and in need of a coat of paint. All I’m saying is, if they put ¹⁄₁₀ of the effort into the ambiance that they put into the fish, this place would be a perfect spot.
Regardless, I wouldn’t hesitate to come back here again and again…

This is best of best sushi. I am not Japanese, but i have lived in osaka for long time and my best meal is sushi. If you are looking for fancy americanized sushi, this is not the one. If you look for real/​traditional sushi, please come and enjoy. Bring your best champagne/​sake and enjoy sushi, you will be in heaven.

Not as good as I expected. The sushi rice taste sour and too warm therefore it somehow destroyed the freshness of the fish. Also there were only two chefs but so many ppl (including ppl sitting in the back room) ordering omakase. It took us less than 2 mins to finish 1 dish of sushi that has 2 or 3 pieces and 10 – 15 mins just waiting for the next dish.

Great service and food. Sasabune offers a truly unique and unforgettable omakase with super fresh fish, warm, flavorful rice, and deliciously rich sauces. It’s super expensive, we paid around $ 300 for three people including a large sake, but it’s not a place to go to everyday.

Good service, but quality (freshness) is subpar. Would’ve expected a better quality and presentation (in terms of order of dishes) given the price.

The best omakase! Made me watch ‘Jiro dreams of sushi’. The staff there was great and the food was extraordinary. I will definetly go back despite of the high price. It was totally worth it.

A great Omakase place in the upper east side, reasonably prices and has amazing sushi. This is a very small place and very intimate where you are directly in contact with the chef, definitely a place to try for any sushi lovers in New York.

I hate to do this, but I have to dock Sasabune a star. I’m sure they’re super upset that a random Unilocaler is doing this, but they have basically been offering the same omakase for about 8 years now (or as long as I can remember) with the addition or subtraction of a random fish each day. The fish is flavorful, the sauces are heavy, and the rice is warm and tasty. it’s not at all a traditional experience, but you can get some interesting starters if you ask for the «Japanese-​style omakase» to begin.
The chopsticks are cheap, the restaurant is spartan, and the whole «trust me» thing is very old, but let’s face it, it’s a ton of food, it’s delicious, and it’s sort of fun if you’re cool with engorging on sushi for $ 125 and being done in about 45 minutes.

Awesome experience. Tasted awesome too!

This Resto is 5 Thumbs up ! Only Omakase and truly delicious as everything just melts in your mouth. Their pieces is bigger than other Omakase and they give you more food although it is more expensive than other but the food I amazing!

= 3.5 stars=
1. There’s no menu here, you eat whatever the chef makes.
2. Sushi everything.
3. Ingredients are very fresh and tasty.
4. You’ll get about 8 – 10 courses, each consist of 2 – 3 sushis.
5. I felt less impressed by 6 – 7 dish. starting to question now whether spending this much is worth it.
6. For ~$ 135 per person (EDIT: or ~$ 7 PER SINGLE SUSHI), I think it would be better if there is more food choices.

Fresh food however I will consider this restaurant as a pretty bad one considering its price and reputation.
First of all, sushi mesh (rice) is terrible. This is the first time I saw «good sushi restaurant» cooks rice with metal pot rather than wood pot. The sushi mesh is not holding together and it is too hot to enjoy the food no matter using hands or chopsticks.
Secondly, the size of sushi is not suitable. Fish or other seafood are too big for the rice. Salmon roe is the most ridiculous one, some of the roes were on the plate instead of in the roll.
Meanwhile, the wasabi and ginger are all too strong to eat.
In a word, it is really terrible experience for a $ 150 level of Omakase. Just like a amateur drive driving Formula 1, good quality of food but terrible sushi.

Came here for lunch and it was pretty empty. They warned that it’s only omakase and signs everywhere say there’s no spicy tuna roll or California rolls.
Sat at the sushi bar and was served attentively. We had a plate of tuna sashimi. Then several plates of nigiri, about three pieces per plate. We were stuffed and at the end, there was a blue crab hand roll. Some of the pieces I remember are Maine uni, ikura, amberjack, scallop, tuna (don’t remember what kind), butterfish, salmon.
Some of the pieces of fish were very fresh and some were just okay. The ratio of rice to fish was ridiculous – there was too much rice. Also the rice was too hot! A few of the nigiri had loose rice and broke apart when I picked it up. I didn’t like how they do not brush soy sauce on the pieces. I also did not like that the fridge with the fish had a mirrored back so you can’t see anything the chefs are doing.
Décor here is very basic and bare bones. There is a sushi counter and several tables. The omakase was $ 225 for two people with tip included. If you are in this neighborhood, DEFINITELY try to see if Tanoshi will seat you.

$ 150 per person omakase, including two sashimi plates, 16 nigiri pieces, and two hand rolls. Fish were amazing, fresh, high quality, and they gave you A LOT of food. My two biggest complaints, hence the three stars, are (1) rice was wayyy too warm, I felt like it was at the point that the rice was overtaking the taste of fish. (2) Our waiter, as sweet as he was, was lurking over our shoulders after every plate, and the second we were done eating, he popped out behind us to grab the plate.
Not sure at that price point, I’d be back. With that said, I’d say the fish quality is among the top places I’ve been to.

I am utterly disappointed with my omakase experience here. I found it very difficult to enjoy my meal and savor my food since everything was so rushed. It was literally plate after plate with little to no explanation on the origin of the fish. The rice to fish proportion was ridiculous, I felt like we were eating at an AYCE sushi place where they tend to overpack the nigiri with rice. The rice was just wrong in so many ways. Not only was it not holding together, the rice was hot so most of our fish were warm. As for the food, nothing really blew my mind. I was unable to taste the freshness of how high quality fish should taste. Sad to say, this place fell below my expectations. Overall, I would rather splurge my $ 150 at Sushi Nakazawa’s instead.

Before I went to Sasabune, I thought Sushi Azabu would be my favorite for life! But it proved that I was wrong! Best Sushi I’ve ever had! The chef explained every course for us and pointed out for which one we should dip soy sauce and which one was totally prepared. Every course was yummy and with high quality fish. Who cares about its décor? As long as it is clean and the food is awesome!

Hello 400^th! I like my milestones and it’s Omakase and 5 stars, so 400^th it is! Sasabune is considered one of the top tier Omakases in the city and for good reason. Chef-​owner Kenji Takahashi opened up shop in 2006 and truth be told, his restaurant isn’t the most popular or the most talked about, but that’s OK because his food says everything it needs to say. His restaurant sits 10 at the bar, four tables in the dining room and a side section with a few tables. So when one does Omakase, sitting at the bar is the way to go, it’s an experience in itself and you are given the food directly from the chefs themselves, which you should accept with both hands (it’s polite in Japan). One of the things that did surprise me was the pace at which everything was served. Once we sat down, the sashimi plate was served and everything after that was bang bang, dish after dish, it was an onslaught of food. This was easily the most pieces of Omakase I have ever had, it was close to 30 pieces of sushi and sashimi, and the most gut bustingly full I have ever been from Omakase. The price for two plus a bottle of Yaegaki Nigori sake, which was excellent, ran about $ 400, the price of tip is already included in the bill. Also, the service is worth mentioning since it was wonderful, the meal does feel a tad rushed, but our server was quick, efficient and extremely pleasant. P. S– the sushi may induce inappropriate sex noises as was the case with the two guys sitting next to us. lol
A few notes about the details, the California rice was a tad on the mushy side and it too easily falls apart at times, it was also warmer than any other sushi rice I ever had. It was also a little surprising to see the items paired together on plates of 3 – 4, I am used to one by one or maybe 2 on a plate. The home made eel sauce that was dabbed on a few of the pieces was a tad too sweet for me. I thought it was very unique that he makes the soy sauce and the «wasabi sauce» in house, it was a little step but says a lot about his quality control.
The food:
Omakase plate 1– Norwegian Mackerel (Saba), Octopus (Tako), Santa Barbara Abalone, Orange Clam adductor. The Mackerel was wonderful, super buttery yet not fishy at all. The tako was the most tender and best tako I ever had. The Abalone is a very expensive piece of seafood and while nice, the crunch on it was a little weird. The Orange Clam adductor was amazing, so incredibility tender and flavorful, it seemed like a mini sweet scallop.
Omakase Plate 2– Monkfish liver (Ankimo) and Baby Abalone liver. The Ankimo was nice, it was different than any I have ever had before since it was like firm jelly, I am used to a more firm piece. This was really good, but the sauce was too sweet. The abalone liver was weird for me, it was kinda unpleasant actually, prob my least favorite thing of the night.
Omakase Plate 3– Stuffed Squid with Blue crab with homemade eel sauce and Miyagi Oysters. I was shocked how much I liked the stuffed squid, the squid was so tender and the blue crab added a nice tender, fatty note. The Oysters were wonderful with a dash of ponzu and scallions.
Omakase Plate 4– Med fatty tuna (Chutoro) and Tuna (Maguro). Chutoro was wonderful and perfectly flavored, the maguro was good but a tad sweet for me and the fish was slightly mushy.
Omakase Plate 5– Fluke, Red Snapper, Black Snapper. I really enjoyed this plate a lot with the Black Snapper being my favorite.
Omakase Plate 6– Albacore Tuna Belly, Whitefish and Japanese Saltwater eel (Anago). The Tuna belly was the only one served cold and it was nice, the White fish was served hot, it was good but not amazing, the Anago was served hot and it was excellent, but the homemade eel sauce was a tad sweet.
Omakase Plate 7-​Orange Clam, Scallop (Hotate), Giant Clam. Oh the taste of the ocean, the Orange clam was wonderful, the scallop was perfection and the Giant clam was good but a tad too oceanic.
Omakase Plate 8– Bonito, Salmon with kelp (Sake) and Spanish Mackerel. The Bonito was good but the fish was a tad mushy, the salmon with kelp was excellent and the Spanish Mackerel was wonderful.
Omakase Plate 9– Yellowtail (Hamachi), Amberjack, Salmon Roe (Ikura) and Sea Urchin (Uni). The Hamachi and Amberjack were good, I was surprised that I liked the Ikura because I normally think it’s too fishy and the Uni was perfection. Wonderfully creamy and bursting with flavor.
Omakase Plate 10– Blue Crab Roll. The nori was perfectly crispy and the taste of the crab was really nice, it did have a tuna fish salad feel to it, but still good.

Personally I prefer this place a lot more than Gari.
Environment
The bar is awesome up front and center with action. The head chef and sous chefs are all present making and prepping your sushi. Restaruant is small and I would definitely make a reservation. They are not obnoxiously loud. Bar can get a little crowded depending who are you sitting next. Also you must sit pretty close to the bar or the chair will intrude into the aisle.
Service
Awesome traditional Japanese welcome and thank you. Each Omakase item is clearly explained. They tell you what type of fish and how it should bee eaten. No soy or so. This is all delivered straight from the prep to you. Pretty awesome. After each item the plate is cleared from behind. Service was 5 stars.
Food
I am not going to spend to much time on food. Everyone knows the food is excellent and it was. One sushi sashimi though was served rather cold. This was the only temperature flucuation I encountered. All other dishes and accompanying rich if applicable was perfect. For some reason either rice under the sashimi tastes better than most rice. I was rather disappointed they ran out of uni. I was hoping they would have told us this before we started. While we chose the Omakase; uni is rather a staple.