Sakaya

Sake there are much more expensive than at Astor Wine. I don’t see any point in buying there.

This place is the palace of sake — the equivalent of La maison du chocolat for chocolate or Mariage Freres for tea. The sake bottles are just so beautiful that it is like being in a museum. You take your time to read on each little paper the description of the sake and the food that will match the bottle. The lady who was working there on last Saturday help me to chose a bottle for my sake testing. I will come back to buy more.

Best Sake selection and educated staff… this is all you need.
small store but big selection…
Call about the tastings.

These people are smart for opening a sakaya. Like I am so happy this store exists.
Very cozy and wood floor and interior make this place such a calming spot to buy amazing sake.
Most of this sake is found in many known sakayas in NYC (Decible, Hi-​Collar, Sakamai, Satsko), so if you want to buy your own bottle at a reasonable price, I think you guys should stop by and try this place.
They have sake tasting, but I don’t know when haha.
All I can say is that if you love sake and don’t want to spend 100 – 200 dollars on a sake bar.
COME HERE! And get it cheaper :)

They sell actual Mirin (like, the quality that Brushstroke and other Kaiseki places cook with in NYC). And they custom order whatever they don’t have in stock. And the staff are awesomely friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. You don’t get much better than this.

A wonderful little shop, very warm and inviting with a carefully-​chosen selection of high quality sake at every price point. I was welcomed by the owners who took their time with me and were very understanding of my newness to sake. I ended up getting a couple of bottles including a Dassai 23, which was spectacular! A great place… I will definitely return.

Super friendly owners, welcoming and most importantly informative. The whole store is sake only and it’s set up is clean and refreshing. Love this place! We will be returning to buy more sake soon! Thank you!

I emailed Sakaya out of the blue recently about a pear Sake I’ve been trying to hunt down forever. Rick got back to me right away and even had done a bit of research to educate me about what I was looking for. I very much appreciated the attentive service. Thank you.

ONLY IN NYC: Can you find something like a cute little shop that sells nothing but Saki. And will guide you to the right bottle, even if you know nothing about Saki.
Now I just need to find a good BYOB sushi joint…

Wonderful selection. Always find what I’m looking for here. Really quality stuff. Find new items here every time I’m here. Great customer service. Always helpful and polite. Get great service here on regular basis. And their prices are very reasonable and affordable. Great location too.

This is a nice little sake shop with the right blend of intimacy and variety. I wanted to get my boss a gift for helping me out, so I walked in and asked the staff what she thought he might like, given his taste for earthier, deeper alcohol (whiskey, etc.)
I have no idea what the hell she recommended, but my boss liked it. It was from the northern part of Japan, which is more rural and a land of myths and legends. It seemed to be a reasonable price (maybe $ 35). I’ll probably go there again when I want to get more sake, as I felt rather comfortable here. The aesthetic, as I hinted, is cozy and somewhat small. It’s rather Japanese in that regard — everything is in its right place, and nothing is out of order. They make good use of space, color, and lighting. At the risk of hyperbole, stepping inside Sakaya is good foreplay to downing some sake with friends.
I would like very much to go back to Sakaya and get something else. They didn’t have habushu the last time that I was there — the Okinawa alcohol with the snake lurking within. Alas — not everything can be imported effectively and at a cost-​effective price. Although I never tried the sake that I bought, my boss said that he enjoyed it, and regardless it looked tasty (I’ve sampled a variety of sake in my time and know generally when it is of good quality… I think.)
Eventually I will take up the Okinawa jamisen, buy something from Sakaya, and walk the five blocks to Union Square and host my own party and throw out a tip jar. In the meantime, I’ll go to Sakaya for any other time that I would like some delicious, smooth Japanese sake.

Sake is the new wine, oh you didn’t know? Ya better ask somebodeeeee!
I fell in love with sake about a few years ago and Sakaya is one of the best stores to feed my habit.
Small and quaint, Sakaya defines the essence of Japanese culture which is beauty by simplicity. A great selection of sake which is placed on a wooden wall. Also labeled by name along with tidbits of information such as prefectures as well as acidity levels.
The real bonus is that the store clerk which I’m also assuming is the owner is VERY knowledgeable in his craft. If you don’t see the brand or type you like, you can even place an order for it!
Please skip the sake selection at a general liquor store and come here. I won’t steer you wrong. Kampai!

This is overly overpriced. Take the example of the most popular Dassai 23, price in Japan is 5000yen, right now that’s about $ 50, compare locally, Mitsuwa has it for $ 96.99, and Astor wine and spirits has it for $ 86.99. In Sakaya they sell it for $ 112.99!
I don’t know… they seem to have a good selection, unless you can’t find what you enjoy the most somewhere else you can come here. But definitely do your price research first!

5 stars for the selection… AMAZING
3 – 4 stars for the pricing… but they’re a local store so I understand.
My go to place before finding Astor wine store…

You will not find another place with a greater Sake selection than Sakaya!
Sakaya offers a variety of different sake at different price ranges. You don’t need to break the bank if you don’t want to. However if you are a sake connoisseur, they can also order $ 200+ bottles for you.
I find myself there more often now that I’ve signed up for their mailing list and I hear about what new or limited sake they just got in stock. I appreciate the weekend tastings, it allows me to try out the flavors before springing for a full bottle. Although my fridge is full, need to drink more before returning for another bottle.
The owners Rick and Hiroko are knowledgeable and are willing to help you select a bottle for whatever occasion. Last time I was there, a girl came in looking for a bottle that costs (some price she wrote on her phone) but tastes like a million bucks. Rick found her a bottle.
Since it’s spring, don’t miss the opportunity to try out namasake, which is unpasteurized so it is much stronger than your traditional sake. Love love love!

I have an Asian fetish, nothing unhealthy or queer, but definitely a strong reverence for the culture, people, clothing, food. I fondly recall my first instructions using chopsticks as a child and have never lost my attraction for their use. Cereal with chopsticks? Totally possible.
Naturally a love for Asia should include a love for SAKE, I mused, although my experience with sake was limited to the too common collegiate event (I went to a top ten football school, don’t judge) where one places two chopsticks parallel on top of a glass of beer with a shot glass of sake resting on top. Chanting loudly «sake, sake, sake» the table is pounded powerfully by one’s fists to «bomb» the sake into the beer, which is instantly chugged down with gusto. Bomb to the head. I was itching for a new education.
It was time to give sake a real go, a proper test, and guess what? It is AWESOME… a refined beverage with flavors that retain ones origin, a luxurious product akin to a fine wine in sparkling, sweet, unfiltered varieties. Truth. Plus the bottles are so damn cute.
At Laut in Union Square I made this initial sake unearthing after sampling a delicious milky sake in lieu of dessert wine and was determined to continue my edification. So I headed to the East Village to Sakaya to peruse the options, receiving instruction on the terrior, style, etc. of this enchanting Asian potion. The store is brightly lit and intimate, the personable owner extremely knowledgeable and eager to impart his sake skills. And the store is home to the first sake club in America. Woot woot! Join the ranks!
Sake mimosas with cereal munched with chopsticks, sounds like a perfect brunch.

This little sake store in the East Village is amazing! It’s the only store in New York City that stocks the plum sake (Aragoshi Umeshu) I was looking for. Rick, the owner, was really nice and he told me about the different types of plum sake. The price are on the higher end but only because most, if not all of these sakes, are imported. If you take the shipping cost from Japan into account, the ones they have here are actually cheaper.
I’ll come again to get my plum sake and perhaps something else in the future.

Sakaya is amazing, even though I can’t really afford to buy from there that often. This is not really their fault, as they can’t move sake in volume in the States like they can with wine and pass the savings onto consumers yet. But until it does, this is one of the premier places to buy it. Rick and Hiroko have a great relationship with sake breweries and fly to Japan to make new connections and bring even more delicious stuff stateside.
With Sakaya, I subscribe to their newsletter and keep an eye out for seasonal namazake (unpasteurized sake.) This is not to be confused with nigori-​zake, a sort of unfiltered sake that is more popular stateside. Namazake have fresh, fruity, rich tastes and due to the unpasteurized nature, the bottle’s flavor can change significantly throughout the year. Buy these when they are released, and drink soon.
(This namazake isn’t like beaujoulais nouveau where wine is hurriedly made and shipped out to the world for a marketing stunt. It’s really a lot better, and well worth the $ 30 – 40 you will pay for one bottle.)

Looking to learn about sake? Go to Sakaya.
Looking to impress a Japanese coworker with a gift? Go to Sakaya.
Looking for sake glassware? Literature? Go to Sakaya.
This tiny store has it all.
When you’re the only game in town, it’s easy to rest on your laurels. Sakaya has been the only premier saka-​ya (sake shop) in NYC for 4 years now. Their elegant, yet simple interior is a shrine to sake. From affordable «introductory» sakes to high end premium, they have something for everyone.
The husband and wife team who run the shop know their sake like nobody’s business. They curate their selection without bowing to the whims of their distributors. To keep on top of their game, they take frequent trips to Japan to learn even more.
Their shochu selection is also growing along with American interest in the spirit, and their selection of these spirits is also well curated, though much more limited.
You can find cheaper sake elsewhere, but you can’t find this combination of selection and knowledge anywhere else in the area. It’s worth a stop even if just to browse, but beware, if you show up during one of their frequent weekend tastings you may end up coming home with a bottle or two.

I’m not a sake drinker — but i had a few good experiences drinking Sake lately and I wanted to learn more. So after reading a little bit online, I wanted to ask someone about Sake.
The staff is really helpful. This store is run by Rick and his wife and they are pretty much there all the time. They are very knowledgeable and are willing to stand and talk with you for a while and discuss sake with you.
So with that said — the prices are a little pricey, although I don’t know what sake usually goes for. They do say that most of the sake they stock are smaller craft sake from smaller places as opposed to the mass made stuff.
What I actually got was this little gold can for 8 bucks. (7.99 plus tax or something) — of some sake that was pretty good and sadly the cheapest item on the shelves. According to Rick it was their best seller and it makes sense! It’s a little can that looks like an energy drink. You could pop it open anywhere and drink it!
I like this store — very neat and clean. I’ll sure to be visiting again. Oh Be sure to get on their mailing list. They have free sake tastings every now-​and-​again so you drink a little — learn a little and maybe buy something.