UYE: Sushi Night @ Zest

Everything I ate was dam good, I’m full. BYOB, oh how the wine is flowing.

What a great night out with Unilocalers and the rest of the world. Actually this place is perfect for a happy hour sushi. We had like 20 people with us and they were totally able to accommodate. It was great fun and meeting tons of new people.
So the super highlights and shout-​outs:
–Dorie is super awesome for organizing said UYE
–Everything on the happy hour menu was $ 3.50 (drinks and food)
–There was a great variety of regular rolls, special-​like rolls, appetizers and non-​sushi items
–It’s BYOB and your first bottle (corkage fee-​wise is free, after that it’s $ 10)
The staff at Zest is super nice and the food was really good. They are super accommodating and super service awesome! This place is definitely worth checking out… as are any UYEs!

Three days later, I may or may not still be recovering from this night.
It was a quiet Wednesday night at Lower East Side’s Zest when fifteen friends gathered for a Japanese/​Thai fusion dinner. With brick walls, wood furniture, framed art, and a large, Asian, wooden fan hanging on the wall, Zest felt homey and extremely fitting to host our family-​style dinner.
With their Happy Hour deal ending ($ 3.50 for sushi and drinks) at 7PM, we shared plates of sushi, spring rolls, avocado salads, seaweed salads, and edamame (free with Unilocal check-​in). Later, we also ordered entrees such as Pineapple Fried Rice, Chicken Pad Thai, and more delicious, freshly made rolls.
Since it’s BYOB (free for the first, $ 10 corkage fee/​bottle) and thanks to Deoroop’s smooth pouring skills, we quickly went through the six bottles of wine that was brought. Before I knew it, there were sake shots on the table and the owner, John, was placing thin cucumber slices in each of them. Then a ginormous bottle of sake appeared… and the rest is history.
A BIG thanks to Dorie L. for hosting this UYE at such a chill restaurant and coordinating it among so many of us too! And also to John and his staff for taking care of us so well from start to finish, even splitting the check 15 ways to make it easier for us! I have nothing but praise for them, and I can’t wait to come back!

Event after event after event, so many shots, so little time… smh.
First off, many thanks to Dorie L. for choosing such a quaint and awesome restaurant to host this UYE. Zest is a very small space that could seat about 25 – 30 people and we were a party of 15, so we practically took over half the space. This establishment is BYOB ($ 10 corkage fee for each bottle), so we came fully stocked with wine or so we thought, until the Sake shots just appeared out of the blue.
The happy hour specials at Zest are almost too good to be true. A fair number of hand-​made rolls, spring rolls, shumai, seaweed salad, an assortment of beer and so much more for only $ 3.50 per plate. We caught the tail end of happy hour, so we ordered as much as we could within the 15 minutes that were left. The sushi rolls and fried delicacies were all fairly decent but I would highly suggest the crispy spicy. I really don’t know what’s in it but I do remember was absolutely scrumptious. There were only three on the plate and we only placed one order, there shall be a next time to go ballistic with happy hour at $ 3.50 a plate.
Between 15 – 20 sushi rolls and a variety of appetizers split among 15 people, everyone was well fed but there was still 6 bottles of wine to uncorked. Somewhere in between, I placed an ordered for an entrée to split with the table and several others did the same. The Crunchy Wheel, deep fried assorted fried fish with eel and mayo sauce wrapped in fried fish, not rice. Simply enthralled by a roll that was not surrounded by rice, I couldn’t help but order it. Once I tasted it, it was semi-​weird but just OK. I guess I will just stick to rolls with rice next time.
All the entrees were devoured and the wine had been drained down to the last drop. I made a joke with the owner, John, about taking sake shots and lo and behold, out came three orders of sake for the table on the house. Did somebody say SAKE shots!!!
The owner was particularly helpful because when it came time to pay the bill, he accommodated to us and was able to split the bill and swipe up to 16 cards. Fully organized, and the charging began. Since we were waiting, no better way to pass the time than with another giant bottle of Sake. John came over and garnished each shot with cucumber which was a nice addition to the sake. 30 shots poured, still a half bottle of sake left, John refilled the bottle free of charge. MORE sake… FOR FREE!!! The bottle of never-​ending Sake… SO GOOOD!!!
In summary, the service by John and his staff was simply exquisite (the owner was taking shots with us for God’s sake). The food was decent, not the best but very reasonable for the price especially at happy hour. This place isn’t very big but you know what they say, good things come in small packages. Only way characterize this UYE:
THROW IT UP!!!

Great sushi