Yushi

Unimpressive. My colleague really wanted to eat here, so I wandered around the establishment in vain trying to find something that appealed to me. I settled on a fairly innocuous looking salad. It was fine for what it was, though I doubt I finished it.

The best way for me to describe this is it’s an Asian Chipotle.
Chipotle is not real mexican food, it’s americanized, and is delicious for what it is.
That is Yushi. It’s not Japanese, Chinese, Thai — it’s all of that thrown in a bowl and made for American palates.
Coworkers and I are now in love with their Yu-​Bowls (a chipotle bowl). You get to choose rice or salad (or ½ ¹⁄₂ as I do), a protein (pork, steak, chicken, tofu), veggies and a sauce. My personal favorite combo is ½ ¹⁄₂ salad/​rice, with pork, mushrooms, carrot slaw, beansprouts and sweet chili sauce. YUM.
Portions are pretty reasonable. I was able to save half of my bowl for the next day.
Their sushi looked alright, but if you’re already on 47^th you should just walk to the japanese grocery down 1 block.
Décor: dim modern, but looked very clean. Most people were taking their food to go though. Lines were pretty clear as to where to stand for the Yu-​Bowl but was unclear for the sandwich/​soups. Lines were not long at all.
Cashiers were a little snotty, and kept asking «which protein?» to which some of my non native speaker friends did not understand.…
Overall though a solid place to grab a quick lunch in midtown.

I tried the tofu Yu bowl. Protein was prepared very well. But for this price, I can get a larger portion and better bibim bap style food.

Warning: This review is solely on the «banh mi» sandwiches Yushi serves.
A relatively quick and cheap place to get your Asian fix. Yushi is conveniently placed in the central hub of Grand Central, accessible to many busy and hungry workers in neighboring buildings.
There are an array of Asian-​American dishes ranging from sushi to dumplings to bibimbap-​style noodle bowls.
Here, dumplings are dumplings and sushi is sushi and noodle bowls are noodle bowls. However, their «banh mi» sandwiches are not truly «banh mi.»
It’s hard to even put a name on what they call banh mi sandwiches. The only vietnamese things about what Yushi claims as «banh mi» are the pickled radish and carrots, parsley, and Sriracha. Other than that, what is tofu doing as a topping? Why is there kimchi?
My co-​worker and I came here to silence our curiosity and were very disappointed. These were far from banh mi sandwiches we were hoping to try.
Ordering was very uncomfortable! The man taking our order and making our sandwiches was trying to make conversation but made the atmosphere very uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate customer interaction but please don’t talk to me about partying at a club after work.
On my sandwich, the «spicy beef» wasn’t even spicy and very dry.
On hers, the teriyaki chicken was drenched in sauce and lacked that marinated juiciness and succulence. The pickled radish and carrots were watered down and did not have any tang to them. The kimchi just didn’t look good period! There weren’t any signs of proper fermentation, thus no flavor.
While my sandwich was being made, I noticed that the man cut the ends of my baguette and cored the inside. He also threw out some of the leftover beef that couldn’t fit on the sandwich instead of putting it back in the bowl. I don’t know why that was necessary.
I am all for coming up with crazy new recipes and reinventing traditional dishes, but please don’t mislead!
Overall: Don’t come here because their banh mi sandwiches are simply just sandwiches with a mix of Asian flavor. Overpriced sandwich with a bunch of contrasting Asian ingredients that lacked authentic flavor for $ 9.25.

My colleague already warned me that this is Americanized Asian food to manage my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised when we dined here. There’s a lot of options for food. They have rice bowls (she said its like «Asian Chipotle»), banh mi, and sushi. Cheap prices for midtown. Also, they have a Unilocal special here which I didn’t know about until it was too late. Definitely coming back to redeem my deal!
I got the banh mi. It does not taste like the more authentic ones from Banh Mi Saigon but it was still good. The pork was a bit salty and there is less vegetables. It was a nice change since I was eating the same thing for the past few weeks.

After my initial review, Yushi contacted me directly to apologize. I always appreciate follow-​up from a bad review, since it shows the restaurant cares about their customers, and they made a very generous offer to allow some of my coworkers and I to try their food.
The food is totally fine for a fast-​casual type restaurant — above your average «deli sushi» if you want a quick lunch, but rolls and other cold items definitely seemed to have been prepared ahead of time (my coworker’s hot noodles were made fresh and looked tasty). It seemed some items were misrepresented on the menu or we were given the wrong thing, and I’d skip the pork dumplings next time, but overall the sushi is definitely higher quality than the deli we usually get it from, with far better/​more creative options and roughly similar prices. (Caveat: keep in mind this is Midtown workday lunch… never going to be cheap)
Overall, we definitely appreciated the free lunch and will give them another chance as real, paying customers in order to try out some other things on the menu… but nothing was particularly stellar or notable.

This is right next to my office and it’s a convenient lunch place for me. They have recently added some new items to their menu — vietnamese baguette and this thai chicken coconut soup. They have a deal for a huge baguette (choice of pulled pork, chicken or beef — beef is my favorite!) and a cup of miso for $ 10. I also like their rice/​noodle station where you can choose white/​brown rice or noodles + a protein + 3 vege and lotsa cilantro and spicy sauce on top! All for less than $ 10. I wish they can add fish to their protein options though (it’s a japanese resto after all).

This is expensive but decent fast food sushi, and sometimes that’s what you crave for lunch.

Went again & got the Spicy Tuna Roll (6 pieces) + Shrimp/​Chives Dumplings.(6 pieces). This time, the maki roll was not overly spicy & had just the right amount of spice without killing it. I liked it this time. Dumplings were also pretty good.
I have to say, I love the level of service here. Everyone is so nice & helpful & you leave on a happy note (despite the fact that you just paid $ 13 for 2 items!).

I should’ve known better.
I should’ve recognized their logo and name from the bad sushi that’s delivered to our cafeteria.
I shouldn’t have ordered anything when I saw no customers.
The rice was… hmm another word that starts with Y. YUCKY!
The sushi was mediocre, I just ate the salmon off the top of the sushi.
I’m never going back.
Although the conveyor belt looks tempting.
Nope not doing it.

Great go-​to spot for quickie sushi and udon!.. Like, like, like.
A little pricey but I guess it’s due to the high-​rent, décor and upscale fast food joint.
I like that you can pick up and go, sit at a table and enjoy, and they’ve got running sushi on a conveyor belt.
Love the little bottles of soy sauce that your pre-​packed food comes with, however, I doubt that is environmentally friendly… unless of course you take them home and reuse them…
I like this place! Fresh sushi, cute décor, friendly staff, and conveniently located in east midtown.

I swung by here for lunch with a colleague this past week. I didn’t expect much, given that it seems very much like a take-​out sushi place, so my expectations were somewhat beat by the conveyor belt sushi. It’s not at all like the real thing in Japan (and I had no expectation of it being so), but 3 different dishes for $ 10, plus a very generously-​sized bowl of miso soup (relative to what is usually served at these kinds of places) is a solid deal. There’s not a lot of variety, but the California roll, salmon sushi, and the special roll (which was like a dragon roll with spicy tuna on top) all tasted surprisingly fresh relative to expectations.
I wouldn’t rate this as an amazing sushi spot, but as a place where I could take a slightly longer lunch than usual, it’s not bad for the price. It also isn’t terribly crowded in the middle of the day, so it was nice and laid back, given the frenetic pace that Midtown lunch spots usually operate at.

Dazzled by the gimmick of Conveyor Belt sushi I ventured out to this spot towards the end of a lunch hour.
IF the décor can be taken into consideration, its very modern. A little too busy for a sushi joint, in my opinion. But its all about gimmicks here.
I sat at the refrigerated conveyor belt.
and its freezing there.
I ordered soup so i could warm up a bit.
The miso soup was really salty.
Which prompted me to order water, which came ice cold… and then i was cold again.
As the conveyor belt went around, there were different things that caught my fancy. The plates are colored by price. They go from «expensive» to «You’ve gotta be kidding me».
I grabbed whatever looked good and disregarded the color system. the rolls were okay. As someone who makes her own sushi (thankyouverymuch) I did not love the rolls and thought there were a little cheap with the rolls too. A standard roll makes 6 HUGE piececes whereas Yushi serves you 4 medium pieces and calls it a roll. What I think is happening is Yushi is making a standard size roll but selling you half and telling you its an entire roll.
Not nice!
And im sure to pass certain food temp laws, the sushi has to be refrigerated and I am not a fan of cold sushi.
I wouldnt come here again… maybe if it was hot outside and i won the lotto.

this is a solid go-​to lunch spot. it’s quick and the sushi is fresh, so why complain? it’s not masquerading to be a gourmet establishment.
i had a yummy soup with dumplings and noodles and a spicy tuna roll. both of which filled me up. calorie counts are a bonus, too. it was a little pricey (all of this plus a soda for $ 18 w/​tip), but i didn’t leave unsatisfied. all in all, yushi is fine. just fine.

I once wrote a scathing review for the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck and the absurdity of their astoundingly dull, yet overpriced dumplings (6 for $ 6). Yushi has sunk well below the ‘Mendoza line’ of dumpling mediocrity, by serving a 4 pack of truly offensive dumplings for $ 4.95. Despite the high price, these little disasters are thick skinned, oddly flavored, and drowning in sesame oil. Additionally, they’re pre-​made long in advance, giving them a mushy (rhymes with Yushi?) unpleasant texture.
The dumplings only add insult to the injury of their $ 9 banh mi. The banh mi’s are pre-​made, thus become simultaneously soggy and stale. Theirs could only charitably be called a ‘banh mi’, due to the weak pork, melancholy vegetables and much too crusty bread, lest it make a douche-​y (rhymes with Yushi?) mockery of the real thing.
Oddly, this place becomes overwhelmed with diners during the weekday lunch rush — the crowds are compounded by the slow service. Whether it be on the deficiency of quality, high prices, or maddeningly slow service, this is a place to avoid.
More Yushi Coverage:

All Natural Ingredients in Pick-​Up & Go Bentos Boxes.
Yes, it’s a little pricey. Yes, there are things I’d stay away from (namely everything that looks coated in black sesame seeds). Yuck.
However, I LOVE their Bento Hot Box Greatest hits & their dumpling bento box. Soooooo good. Those are def my favs.
I’d stay away from the thai options, executed poorly in taste and the noodles are generally really soggy (I htink b/​c of the way they’re stored).
Décor is ultra modern and nice if you have time to sit and enjoy your meal.

I love Yushi! Love the selection, love the packaging, the originality! That being said, I have only ever ordered delivery from this Yushi location as it is a bit too far for me to walk to (*sad face*). If it was closer I’d definitely go more often!
Things I love at Yushi:
— Peking duck roll. Can’t go wrong, it is SO filling too! And the sauce that comes with it is delish too!
— Spicy salmon or spicy tuna rolls. Fresh, delicious, worth it! And I love the sauce that comes with this one too.
— Salmon rocket: crunch from cucumbers, softness from salmon, creamy from avocado.
— ANY of the sushi bentos are well worth it and the green salad on the side is SO good.
— Tickle me pink salad is REALLY fresh and good.
They have some new additions to the menu too since the last time I tried Yushi. The dumplings were pretty good (though honestly I prefer pan fried to steamed) and the fried rice comes with yummy pickled ginger on top.
OH, and don’t forget to get a lucious chocolate shot as a quick little dessert. Hits the spot in a perfectly small amount.
And delivery is pretty quick, and they give you plenty of extra napkins, chop sticks, and little soy sauce cups. And obviously the presentation is delightful!

Upon getting word from
that Yushi was, starting today, offering three hot peking duck pancakes and vegetable fried rice for $ 9, I decided that I had to go check it out. I’m a huge lover of peking duck in all forms, with hoisin sauce greasing my gears, I’m unstoppable. That said, the peking duck was carved in front of us and put into little pancakes with cucumber and scallion and was incredible juciy and tasty, without being too fatty (although for you skin lovers it was definitely in there). The fried rice was also really good.
In addition, my love for duck sushi from london seems to finally have appeared here, so I got a peking duck sushi roll as well, which I found to be very moist and flavorful, even though it was cold.
The lemonade wasn’t very good, they went too far, pick one flavor! I don’t need mint-​basil-​thai iced tea, pick one, and do it right.
Overall I’ll definitely be back for peking duck thursdays.

Overpriced sushi has perfectly situated itself in the lobby of my office building to prey upon those who do not have the resolve to stay outside of an air-​conditioned environment for more than 5 seconds.
While choices are plentiful from sushi packages to medium-​sized hand rolls, the food does not ooze excellence in any way. It is merely adequate in freshness, texture, and portions. However, on occassions of near starvaion, a chicken teriyaki hand roll ($ 3) can really hit the spot. Prices are not unreasonable for a midtown lunch spot. A sushi package and an extra roll bringing it out to a $ 15 lunch.
One can enjoy the chic décor and music when having a meal inside. Seating is always plentiful, and waitstaff/​receptionist are very friendly. The service alone makes up for the average quality sushi. Well, almost.

I wasn’t impressed. The prices are very… midtown. $ 3.50 for a miso soup? It was 2:30pm and there wasnt any hot food out and they’re open till 9pm? Interesting.
The venue itself is very warm and inviting and the packaging of the rolls is for lack of a better word, cute.
The girl behind the counter was very nice as well.
Otherwise im really not impressed. I feel very «ehh» about it.