1 or 8

Everything was superb!
Had dinner there for 4 ppl. We decided to sit at the bar and opt for an omakaze menu for $ 60.
Fresh and delicious are two words that come to mind right away. It was nice to watch the chef making our meals. Perfection and pride comes to mind as well:)
Very Nice experience overall!

Unique cocktail list, drinks were excellent… BUT… the service ruined the whole experience. I will never understand when you are at a restaurant, and someone has an attitude. after having a drink at the bar and being treated like we were an annoyance, we left. We will gladly spend our money somewhere where they appreciate the business.

I’ve been here a few times now, and I think this might be my last. The quality of the fish is excellent, and the cocktails and apps we ordered were delicious, but my main concerns here are the price and service.
We got seated at 7:30 and we didn’t place our order until 8:20. The service was slow the last time as well. The restaurant wasn’t even that crowded. And the prices are just way too expensive. Don’t get me wrong, the quality is good, I just think there are better places in the neighborhood.

Love 1 or 8! The only reason I’m giving it a 4 stars is because it’s not my favorite omakase spot!
Interior & décor is super modern and simple. Perfect for a dinner date!
Please do try the roasted green tea!!! It was definitely the best green tea I have ever tasted!!! Very authentic and original!
Omakase here is excellent — the selection & quality of fish are great and the ginger is soooo sweet and refreshing! LOVEEEEEE! (and I am usually not a fan of ginger!)
Good selection of sake for you alcoholics!

The place is beautiful and gives off a good vibe, the service is great. My boyfriend and I ordered the omakase and it was good, but not amazing. The presentation was very nice though.

This was such a fun/​delicious experience because of master chef Kazuo Yoshida; you’ll wish you could take him home with you! Everything is incredibly fresh and just ‘outstanding’ in quality; the white minimalistic interiors combined with it’s pleasant lighting add to all the pleasurable sensations this place causes. There’s no doubt there’ll be plenty more visits! :)

The fish quality is excellent. The salmon was literally melting in the mouth and so was the toro.
The main problem with this place is that, despite being a good restaurant, the ratio price-​quality is very bad. Way too expensive for what it is.
Do NOT (I can’t highlight this enough) order the 1 to 8 roll. It’s essentially a massive roll, hard to eat, with 75% of the toll made of some vegetable, egg custard, rice and seaweed. There’s a couple of good fish pieces in it and it’s topped with yummy uni, but it feels like eating cheap sushi and you are paying $ 50 for it.
All in all, a good restaurant, with excellent fish. But for the price, I much rather go somewhere else. And, trust me, do not pay $ 50 for the 1 or 8 roll.
They have some excellent and very well priced sake.
Don’t expect an intimate and quiet space. It’s big and very loud. Very modern space, though.

This opened many years ago, and I was being swallowed by the hype and excitement of so many other concurrently-​opening sushi restaurants that I never made it here. Plus, a posh sushi bar in Williamsburg? Just seemed like a scene.
Boy was I wrong. A few years later, maybe the scene has died down, but it is definitely well worth a trip. The décor is minimalistic and almost art-​installation-​esque in its purity and serenity — everything is white, including branches extruding from the whitewashed brick walls. The food is stellar, as is the attentive and friendly service. I had the squid appetizer and full skate entrée. Both were flavorful, perfectly cooked, and every component of each dish served a flavor/​visual purpose. Every ingredient was fully utilized to bring out its best flavor.
Had a really lovely time here, and would happily come back.

This review is for omakase at the sushi bar. They have a 60÷90÷120 price set for 10÷15÷20 pieces. I got the 15 piece set which ended up being $ 155 w/​tax/​tip/​sake. I would not recommend this place based on a couple factors.
— Service was very awkward. First, we asked for a sake rec and the waiter asked what we liked. My friend (who drinks sake often) said she wanted it on the dry side. The waiter said «well dry isn’t a flavor profile of sake.» Then looked at us. Ummm ok, how about instead of making us feel stupid you just take in what we’re saying and try to recommend something? I got a very condescending vibe from him which I didn’t like. I also asked him how many pieces we got at each price point and he said to ask the chef even though he obviously knew (perhaps he wasn’t supposed to talk to us about the menu but the chef was distracted).
— No hot towel at the start to wipe hands like in other high end sushi places
— When we sat down, the chef was having a grand old time talking to the people next to us. He didn’t even acknowledge we were there until we were staring at him ready to order. I felt like we were interrupting his fun time. My friend wanted half sushi half sashimi (because I guess they don’t offer 100% sashimi for omakase). Because I wanted all sushi, he made her get all sushi too. Then she wanted a smaller portion of rice in her pieces and he said it’s already a small amount of rice anyway. It was such a weird exchange because she was getting rebuffed every time she asked for something. But he did it in a joking manner so it made it very awkward.
— I haven’t been eating sushi that long so the chef asked if I liked squid and I said I didn’t know because I never had it. So he starts making it and takes out the container and it’s whole squid (sorry couldn’t stomach the thought of the tiny tentacles). I immediately said «no, i don’t want that» before he even scooped it out of the container. He became annoyed, took out some random pre-​made hand roll from the refrigerator and sliced off a piece of that for me and slapped it on my plate. He threw out the rice he was going to put the squid on. So awkward. Didn’t appreciate this random piece (I’m paying for omakase not a slice of handroll) but I didn’t want to make him more annoyed so I didn’t say anything. He could have put another piece of fish on the rice he already made.
The good points:
— The fish was good quality and I liked most of the pieces. He didn’t do any crazy flavor combinations which I liked (I don’t like «creative» sushi). There were some sesame seeds and other simple flavors added in some pieces. The pieces were on the small side but it seems like that is status quo with these higher priced places.
— I liked the interior. The sushi bar is in the back. It was not crowded at all. I liked the dim lights and the ambiance.
— The waiter was very attentive in refilling our water and sake which I appreciated. The host was nice as well.
Overall, as another reviewer said, it didn’t feel relaxing and was not a fun dining experience. $ 150+pp I will go somewhere else.

My wife and I eat here whenever there’s a special occasion since we don’t live in Williamsburg. Chef Kazuo Yoshida is our go-​to chef at the sushi bar and he is at the absolute top of his craft. We’ve never had better omakase anywhere. As a food photographer, I appreciate the fine presentation also. Chef Kazuo is simply brilliant and has a warm and friendly personality to boot. Great sense of humor also!
Highly recommend treating yourself to a spectacular meal!
Robert D.

1 OR 8 OR ALL. This would be my top choice for a sushi restaurant in all of NY. By far, it is the most underrated of them all. The fish is cut divinely, and the prices are reflective of the stellar quality. I came here for my birthday and was blown away by the platter of sashimi and rolls that I ordered. My favorite sashimi is the uni (sea urchin), but I was quite taken by the mackerel here. I tried three different ones: the mackerel, horse mackerel, and the pike mackerel, which has since been replaced by kohada. Of the three types, I loved the pike mackerel. The waiter notified me that they had just received the shipment of it. Short of using my blood rubbed on worms as bait, this was as fresh as the catch could be. I’m salivating as I am writing this review, and hoping that a generous soul will take me back «just because.» I don’t want to wait another year.

Great place with a beautiful white dining room and large bar area. Eat your way through the delightful sushi pieces, especially the salmon! We only sampled the sushi/​sashimi and sake but very impressed. Will be back for more tastings.

Pros: fantastic fish and rice quality, very cool modern interior design, good location, good bartenders
Cons: way too expensive, very poor service, especially from the sushi chefs. They acted like I was a retard and would roll their eyes at my questions with the menu. Not relaxing at all and they made me feel very awkward at the sushi bar.
Overall: worth checking out if you avoid the sushi bar and have some money to blow on some good fish

Have you ever been to a friend’s house for dinner and been ignored? Or not given a seat when there were 5 empty ones? Well 1 or 8 is gratuitously giving away this slap-​in-​the-​face treatment but it comes with a bill at the end.
5 friends walk in at about 11:40pm (2 of them Japanese) to have ramen. They are told ramen doesn’t begin until midnight. No problem; we can order appetizers in dining room. Promptly at 11:59, bill comes and we are rushed out of our seats as dining room is closing. Ok no problem, we think we will be equally rushed to the bar for the ramen we walked in announcing that we wanted.
But alas, they show us to a wooden table with no seats. There are at least 5 empty seats at bar but separated, and covered with other patrons’ coats. Rather than explain to us what is going on, the busboy all of a sudden doesn’t work there, tells us to ask manager. We ask to be seated and they look at us like we’re crazy. No it’s too much trouble to pull the empty seats to the empty wooden table. Why you ask? Good question. Who knows. All we know is the manager rolled his eyes at us, did not address us and while the 2 Japanese of our party were politely negotiating (read: basically begging) to have us seated, the rest of our party *stood* there asking ourselves how this went so terribly wrong.
Is it too much in New York City to ask for some goddamn hospitality and a place to sit to eat oversalted, overrated and overpriced food? There’s a total lack of pride in this business when you have patrons willing to pay for this crap and you can’t even trouble yourself to give them a place to sit or at least a civilized response.
1 or 8? How about 0 or double 0? If I could give no stars, I would.

All I wanted was to think 1 or 8 was great. Not just because I love rhyming, but because I prefer fantastic dinners to mediocre meals.
Don’t get me wrong; there were definitely highlights to our meal: The large space hidden behind a seemingly small bar is gorgeous. It’s clean, and vibrant, and we felt primed for a stellar meal. Our appetizers were also excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed the fried chicken, the dumplings, and more… all satisfying and delicious.
Unfortunately, the sushi is supposedly the star of the show here, and it was nothing if not underwhelming. I suppose we could be somewhat at fault because we didn’t opt for the much-​praised omakase option, but if the place is high quality, that excellence should extend to the maki, the nigiri, and across the board.
Even more frustrating was that the service was perfunctory and inattentive. The servers simply forgot about us on multiple occasions. I can appreciate that they might be extremely busy on a Saturday evening, but we were forced to actually flag someone down after 15 minutes to order. When we finally did, the woman who I suppose was slated to be our waitress got visibly angry at the man we tapped, took back the table… and then proceeded to again ignore us for the rest of the meal.
Quite simply, especially at this price point, I have to expect both the sushi and the service to be much better.

I didn’t think I would find a very nice sushi place in Williamsburg to my liking, 1 or 8 is located on the quiet side of town, we went on a weekday night thinking that we could avoid the crowd, we got there when they opened, we ended up being the only guests until about mid-​way through our dinner.
The restaurant is simple and minimal in terms of décor, open kitchen and sushi bar, quite chic with rough stone floors. Three of us ordered so much food, the sushi was not bad but I prefer their duck lean dish and pork belly. Both were marinated so well I still remember how they taste a month later. In terms of price it’s not as expensive as Zenkichi right around the block, the menu is very short so if you are very picky about what you have, there could be other options out there.

Omakase was top notch. Everything was delicious. Their fish is so fresh. I highly recommend 1 or 8.

Sunday evening dinner in the summer = no wait for a table for 4
for 3 guys and 1 girl, we ordered the following (and this was more than enough food):
— Kara Age: what is it with Japanese fried chicken? It’s so good.
— fluke carpaccio: standard delicious
— 1 or 8 sushi roll: we split this as we were curious why a roll was $ 50. The roll was huge but it wasn’t very good /​don’t think we appreciated the uni /​wasn’t worth $ 50
We ordered a special — don’t remember what it was called.
however, i did get the bento box and that was amazing. ate everything in there and a really good deal. based on all the apps we ordered, the guys ordered the smaller sushi entrée.
All in all, great experience. delicious food & great staff.
we ordered a few cocktails but they were a bit on the sweet side… so we stuck with sake and beer.

I have never had a bad experience here at all, in fact. I love this place and cannot believe that I’ve never reviewed it before now.
My last experience, I showed up close to an hour earlier than my reservation, hoping to get a spot at the sushi bar. After the hostess graciously ’ negotiated ’ a spot for me at the bar, I was served an amazing Omakase. At first… Chef Yoshida playfully. busted my bananas because I asked for ‘no shellfish. As I had lunch at Randazzo’s in Sheepshead bay that day and was good with clams and oysters… once unexplained to him this was why, the ice melted and my sushi journey for the evening was underway.
What can I say. Red snapper Tasmanian salmon, needlefish, big eye something. chutoro, otoro, amberjack, spotted sardine. It was all amazing ! I ordered a few more pieces and then I had to run to catch the may weather/​pacquiao fight.
Superb sushi. I didn’t mention it before but the chopped horse mackerel with ginger scallion, sesame seed with some type of sea salt and a vinegar marinade blew my mind. I live oily fish and this was it!
Thank you Chef Yoshida!

I haven’t tried many omakases in NYC but 1 or 8 TOPS my list!
I took my friend here for her birthday and wow what an amazing dining experience! I fell in LOVE with the décor — all white, minimalistic yet trendy.
We opted for the sushi bar (always sit at the sushi bar — it changes the whole experience) and had the wonderful pleasure of tasting Chef Kai’s dishes.
I’ll try my best to re-​capture the night —
We started off with the scallops. The dish stayed true to the restaurant’s motif — minimalistic beauty. Perfectly seared scallops with 3 different types of uni in a bed of this amazing ponzu-​butter sauce. Absolutely divine!
Now on to the omakase. EVERYTHING was delicious! My favorites were the chu-​toro, king salmon, scallop, botan-​shrimp, sea urchin and the mackerel.
We each ordered the o-​toro just to splurge a little and I’m so glad we did. I can’t believe how buttery it was!
Just something that stands out — my friend and I were talking about how we don’t really like ginger and Chef Kai overheard this and mentioned to one of the other chefs to lay off on the ginger for one of the sushi pieces. TALK ABOUT ATTENTIVE!
Another shout out to Stefan for all his recommendations. He was so informative about EVERYTHING — travel, sake, food and other places to visit around the area.
I truly had an amazing time here and I can’t WAIT to go back!
1 or 8 is also in a great neighborhood so be prepared to check out some amazing bars!