Kotobuki- CLOSED… :( NOOO…..!!!

10/10

Kotobuki
Japanese, Sushi Bar, Asian
(212) 353-5088
56 3rd Ave between 10th and 11th street

One of my really good friends took me here as she swore it was one of the best sushi joints she’s been to in Manhattan and conveniently located 10 mins away from the both of us. We went on a Thursday night, waited five-10 mins for a table as it was absolutely packed!! But we didn’t mind as we took that as a sign for an amazing meal to come.

Service is friendly and efficient and they deal well with the volume of people. It’s quite busy but not overwhelming. The atmosphere is fun and different from your typical asian restaurant.

I ordered the seaweed salad, a couple pieces of sashimi and the UFO rolls while my friend ordered the sashimi dinner which came with some of their most popular sashimi, a salad, miso soup and a smaller version of the UFO rolls. A perfect, filling amount for the both of us. We also shared a small bottle of sake which again was a great size for the two of us.

The UFO rolls were out of this world. It’s riceless, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, avocado, scallions, tobiko roll wrapped w/ daikon. Usually I find rolls that don’t have any rice to be too light and healthy tasting however I honestly preferred this to any roll I’ve had. My boyfriend also ordered it (when I insisted we go to this restaurant together less than a week since I had been with my friend) and said he liked it better than the other rice roll he ordered it was that good!

The sashimi as well is just so fresh and flavorful. Every piece melted in your mouth.

I’ve been back multiple times, which I don’t usually like to do as I want to explore all I can while living in New York, however I constantly crave that UFO roll and impeccable, fresh sashimi that many places cannot compare with.

Warning: menu is extremely extensive and everything looks and sounds delicious. Try looking online first and narrowing down your choices before you get there or you will feel very overwhelmed… :p Also it’s not your typical Japanese restaurant as mentioned earlier. You can get traditional Japanese rolls and whatnot but the restaurant has definitely catered to Westernized Asian food with menu items such as “Sushi Pizza” and rolls deep fried and filled with cream cheese… Definitely wouldn’t appeal to many but then again it’s a business in East Village and is extremely popular so whatever works for them.