Sushi of Gari

Sushi here is perfection! Everything is so fresh and service was great from start to finish. Wasn’t sure which sake to get so waiter let me taste different ones. My friends had the sushi special which was very unique. I had the tuba special which was delish! The seared tuna was not as fresh as the others but was still good. For someone like me who’s not used to trying new types of sushi I liked everything on my plate. Will def come back for more. Enjoy

WOW! What a dining experience. My friend recommended this restaurant and made reservations, which are difficult to get.
The service was impeccable, attentive, though not intrusive, knowledgeable, friendly. Spot on.
The dinner was absolutely incredible. We ordered three appetizers and two dinner specials, chef’s choice and it could not have been a better selection. The appetizers were made to perfection. The sushi and rolls were works of art. I enjoyed the sushi so much that I ordered more and the server recommended the spicy scallop roll which was probably the best roll I have ever eaten.
The atmosphere is quiet and perfect for two old friends to catch up after a long time.
I will definitely go back!

We looked at the menu and ordered a bottle of sparkling water. We then changed our mind. They charged us $ 13.05 for a bottle of San Pelligrino –preposterous !! And then they ask that we pay cash for it! DO NOT VISIT THIS ESTABLISHMENT One star is generous

I have been going to Gari for a long time — about 16 years. It has always been the best ‘fusion’ sushi place on my list in NYC. I would say it easily deserved 5 stars when they offered their sushi omakase at $ 80 for 12 pieces in the beginning.
I am compelled to write this review after so many years as I noticed their quality and price has been going in the wrong direction in the past few years. Their price has gone up from $ 80 to $ 100 and then now at $ 120 for 12 pieces but the quality of their omakase sushi has been in decline consistently.
Their omakase sushi combination still stays the same but I felt like the delicate balance and the intricacy of the tastes in each of the pieces is fading every time … the tomato and the salmon, the tofu cream and the tuna, the pine nuts and the yellow tail. The last time I went, even the slam dunk combination of goose liver and daikon sushi was grilled so dried that the foie gras taste like a jerky, no burst of flavorful foie gras oil onto the juicy radish.
I was thinking maybe now that Gari is no longer working behind the counter the magic is not there anymore? But behind the sushi counter are the 4 same sushi chefs for the past 10 years, Is it that they no longer care about the tastes of their signature sushi blend or is it the quality of the ingredients? Gari, I hope you read this and see if you find a way to bring back the magic to this former gem of a sushi place in NYC.

Somehow I believe that if you are going to offer Omakase with rushed and initially rude service in an underwhelming divish and dated sidestreet hole-​in-​the-​wallish kinda place then I expect spectacular sushi. What five other of my friends and I received at Sushi of Gari was a spectacularly underwhelming experience. The sushi was good but at $ 200 a person the sushi wasn’t good enough. Neither was the manager’s insistence that he put seven people in a six person table and when our seventh friend didn’t show the manager demanded that six of us be seated a a recently vacated four top. We protested. After an embarrassing, polite but firm 15 minute exchange the manager yielded. But not before my friend threatened to inform the owners of the five star hotel whose concierge referred Sushi of Gari to him, about the restaurant manager’s lack of hospitality.
We were ready to walk. We didn’t because the final couple of our party had driven from Jersey and were parked. Nevertheless, we had our line in the sand and the manager didn’t cross it. Admittedly the restaurant is small. However, several tables were available and there were no people waiting. Nor could we discern that they were being reserved with the exception of our table. I made a mental note at the time we left, that there were at least a couple of tables available throughout our time dining at Sushi of Gari.
Please know however that my rating is based on the lack of imagination and lack of value that we received from the Omakase, combined with our peculiar and inhospitable experience. Perhaps the sushi chef was off that day or perhaps we couldn’t shake the proverbial bad taste in our mouths from our experience with the manager? I’m not going to learn for some time – if ever – what it may have been.
PS I deliberately held-​off writing this review for a few weeks to see if my feelings about the restaurant would subside but no such luck.

Took 40 minutes for a pick up order. And apparently they’re racist, they carried a white man’s pick up out to him once it’s ready where we were waiting while my order was sitting inside for who knows how long.

I had been to Garis many times and was always able to enjoy my meal there, until my last visit.
During one of my visits, I actually saw a rat ran through the sidewalk, right outside of the restaurant, as we were waiting to be seated. It was garbage day, and they had put two big black bags of trash right in front of the restaurnt. I didn’t freak out. This is Nyc. Rats run around. It didn’t stop me from coming to Garis.
This time was different.
We were seated at the sushi bar at 5 pm, first diners of the night. Chefs kept a straight face, no smiles, none of them looked like they enjoyed working there. No big deal. They are Japanese. They probably look so serious because they are serious about sushi, right? NO!
We were served ice cold, refrigerator tempeture fish on warm sushi rice. Don’t get me wrong. The fish weren’t frozen. I didn’t taste ice in the fish. But they were very cold and I couldn’t enjoy them at all.
In all my past sushi omakase experience, fish and rice was always room temperature, so you can actually appreciate and distinguish different textures of the fish. Wasn’t that the point? Eating sushi so we can taste them? Their signature salmon sushi was served with burning hot tomato piece on top of ice cold salmon. The foie gras was hot and topped with a piece of really cold daikon. The crab was delicious but again tasted like they had just taken them out of the refrigerator.
Our dinner came close to $ 600 including tip and tax for two people, for one small sake, one omakase sushi and one omakase sashimi.
We both vowed to never return.

Really lovely sushi, fantastic tuna rolls. The California rolls taste like a special roll from anywhere else, not your average roll at all.
Soy sauce was way too salty though. There was regular soy and then some extra salty version. Not sure if maybe Charlie the Tuna is their biggest customer but for sure it’s too salty even for him. Great if you have low blood pressure though.
The spicy sauce was more like colored mayonnaise with an icky taste. Kind of like a Cartier watch from Canal Street that doesn’t tell the time. Would have taken a picture but forgot because I was so parched already from the soy sauce I was busy trying to hydrate.
Would have given more stars but service wasn’t helpful and accoutrements kinda off.

Great service, but to me it was another typical sushi restaurant. I must say though, the quality is one of the better spots in the city

After hearing so many amazing things about Gari’s innovative use of toppings on their sushi, I finally got to give it a try. I know there are purists out there who don’t think these toppings should be on their sushi, but you gotta give this a try.
For apps we had Edamame Beans and the Tuna Avocado. The edamame beans had the perfect amount of salt and stayed hot the entire time. The Tuna Avocado was the real treat, spicy for sure but didn’t ruin the cubes of tuna and avocado.
I love tuna so the Tuna of Gari ($ 55) was a no brainer for me. All 8 pieces were some of the tastiest items of food I’ve ever had. The flavors were all very unique and it definitely didn’t taste like «just tuna» after each one. Even the spicy tuna roll was awesome and unique.
I was pretty full but still wanted to give the Red Snapper and Octopus nigri a try. So glad I did. Both were chewy but I like that!

Excellent sushi and excellent service. I’ve visited all Sushi of Gari locations and had equally great experiences at each. The fish is very high quality and the sushi rice is quite flavorful. My biggest issue is that the prices are equal to Sushi Yasuda yet Yasuda is in a completely different class. I really enjoyed my meals at Gari but now having been to Yasuda I can’t see myself eating at Gari again.

Absolutely outstanding. Melt-​in-​your-​mouth sushi, spectacularly fresh. Sit on the sushi bar and dont miss the omasake, and be marveled by the chefs selection served one piece at a time. If you dont want to spend much, but still want to try the incredible flavors, go for the sushi special or deluxe. Service extremely attentive. Best sushi I had in the city, better even than 15 East.

I have been here twice. One time I sat at the bar and had the omakasse, another time I sat at a table and ordered from the menu. My favorite piece of sushi here is the salmon with tomato. Most of the pieces I’ve had were very creative, fresh and delicious. This place has no ambiance, it is very bare bones and casual, but food is great. Very cramped small space and expensive, but I will return.

I had to try sushi of gari after what people said about it as a fan of japanese food, but I thought the overall experience was just alright. Naturally we made a reservation to ensure seats and we had the omakase to truly experience what they were about. I would say about half the sashimi we had though tasted just normal. The other half were really unique in the mixture of flavors they had in it. For this price point though, there are definitely other places that can do this better. Overall it was great food though and a good experience to add onto the list of many restaurants I wanted to try!

My omakase meal for two including about 15 pieces came up to $ 297 before tax and tip. The reason why I am giving Sushi of Gari three stars is as such: while the toppings are creative and surprising, more often than not they overwhelm the fish and the rice end up just being a mushy glob in my mouth.
I would say that the downside to this restaurant is that there’s no set tasting menu and that you tell the chefs when you just want one or two more pieces. This means that they are not able to take you through a carefully composed journey from start to beginning like the thoughtfully crafted omakase at Cagen or the value-​for-​money omakase at Kura. While the omakase at Sushi Yasuda was also based on the chef’s judgement of how full/​hungry you are, at least the fish got to shine and your tastebuds weren’t bombarded by pickled radish or vegemite-​tasting sauces.
I would say that things started going downhill after the tenth piece. It was a tuna nigiri topped with mealy tofu and spicy sesame oil, and the entire composition was just so mushy with the tofu. I like tofu but not like this. The second to last fish was a piece of tuna nigiri topped with a juicy radish and what tasted like balsamic vinaigrette — the entire thing was way too mush for me.
My favorite pieces came in the beginning: a beautifully elongated piece of unshelled crab leg on rice, buttery uni, ebi with a pickle of jalapeño and plum.
The salmon tomato piece that everyone raves about? Came a little too hot, and too much mush in my mouth for me.
I think my displeasure with my experience came from a) the excessive futzing with perfectly good fish and b) the lack of a thoughtfully crafted flow from start to finish. I think if these factors are less important to you, you’d probably enjoy Sushi of Gari but I’m going to keep looking. Meanwhile, Cagen remains at the top of my list.

Hands down the best sushi I have had so far, even better than sushi from Tsukiji Market. My husband and I came here on a sunday night and the restaurant was pretty packed. We sat at the sushi counter and quickly ordered the omakase. They explained to us that for omakase they charge per piece so they just keep giving you new pieces until you tell them to stop. We each had 15 pieces and every single piece was an explosion of flavor in my mouth not to mention each piece was extremely beautiful to look at. Their sushi is sort of a new style versus the more traditional nigiri style, each piece of fish is paired with a «topping» that compliments each other so well. All the fish i had were very fresh and melted in my mouth instantly, I can tell they put in a lot of thoughts which topping to pair with which fish and that makes me appreciate this place even more. We had fluke, snow crab leg, toro, scallop, salmon etc. My favorite is the snowcrab leg with uni sauce, the foie gras with daikon, the chopped toro with radish and the spanish mackerel with mushroom.
For 15 pieces of sushi each for the 2 of us, one hot sake and one beer the total came out to about $ 305 before tips. Well worth the money in my opinion and I cannot wait to go back again.

After reading all the 4 – 5 star Unilocal reviews, Sushi of Gari seemed like one of the best choices for sushi on the UES. I had no rez, but it was late, and I had no problem getting seated. I ordered Ankimo (monkfish liver) served cold with ponzu sauce to start. Frankly… underwhelming. Typically its poached or slowly steamed in sake. My serving was a bit overcooked, had no discernible flavor, and was served with a soy based sauce that lacked the citrus zip of ponzu.
For my main, I ordered the Chirashi (typically, its sashimi served over rice). Here it was sashimi served in a separate bento box. It came with 2 smaller size pieces each of seared tuna, seared salmon (not raw), tuna, hirame & yellowtail. There was one shrimp, and a small bento box of rice with nori & sesame seeds and ikura (salmon caviar) The tamagoyaki was not house made. It was the defrosted frozen stuff. What was in abundance was the pickled ginger. They must have served 4 ounces!
While I wasn’t expecting the type of fish which came with the Omakase menu, the 10 pieces of fish and one shrimp for $ 42 was slightly overpriced. I don’t think I will go back to try the Omakase. If I’m going to spend $ 100-​$ 120, it needs to be semi-​stellar.

I had been wanting to come here for a while, and I finally got the chance to last night.
I couldn’t communicate well with the waiter even after taking 8 semesters of Japanese (lol.) so I just randomly chose an 8oz of sake from the list.
I ordered the sashimi special (which was I think 12 or 15 pieces of sashimi), and it was so so so delicious. When I asked the waiter the difference between the sashimi dinner and sashimi special, I couldn’t understand if it was more pieces of fish or just better fish. He kept saying more better so I just assumed it was more and better fish? Anyways, definitely very delicious and was actually a ton of sashimi. I also ordered an udon noodle soup because I had the sniffles and wanted to warm up. It was nothing special but fulfilled its purpose.
The main reason for three stars is because the service was really slow and I even had to stand up and walk to the waiter stand to ask for a menu. It didn’t help that we were seated in the back corner which is basically completely isolated and not easily accessible. Nice and private, but no service was received here! Avoid this table if you can haha

The restaurant was inconspicuous located at a quiet corner in upper east. Inside it was a little bit small but very clean. We ordered the omakase at the counter and it was amazing! I would recommend foie gras sushi, crab sushi, and sushi with egg yolk on top. The creative combination of different ingredients neutralize each other.
We sat at the corner. The waitress spilled some soy sauce on my dress by accident, but she cleaned it immediately and carefully, and offered us a free dessert as compensation.

Sushi of Gari is probably my second favorite sushi restaurants in NYC, after Sushi Yasuda but before Sushi Nakazawa.
Reservations are highly recommended. We have gone for both bar and table seating before and really prefer the bar experience. Love watching the chefs work so quickly and yet create such artistry.
Tuna fans unite! Gari does one thing that its peers don’t do — have an entrée solely decided to the ever fantastic, wonderful, succulent fish that is tuna. Each time I get their «Tuna of Gari» entrée, I’m always blown away by how one fish can provide such a myriad of different flavors, textures and experience based on how an expert chef prepares the fish. One of my favorite sushi entrees ever!
I would unreservedly recommend Gari for any serious sushi fan or for a special occasion.

Speaking from a takeout perspective through postmates so cannot speak to the in room dining experience. Had the sushi special and the side of spinach and garlic. Very impressed by the sushi quality — fresh, delicious, not too filling, good variety.
Have to say the presentation of the sushi (it was delivered through postmates) was very nice Especially for take out.

For someone who has never been into sushi, this experience has completely changed my world. Seriously one of the best meals I’ve EVER had!
We had 8:30 pm reservations at the sushi bar but called in advance to let them know we were running late. They were gracious and we arrived around 8:45−9ish and our seats were still «reserved» for us. we noticed more of a late night foodie scene as the bar started to fill up after we’d arrived. Man, UES… totally poppin’ on a Thurs night.
Sat right in front of the sushi master in charge of putting together take-​out orders. Amazed that they put as much thought and care into serving their patrons dining in AND out of the restaurant. Leaned over to my friend and said, «We definitely need to order take out from here next time!»
We opted to do the sushi & shashimi Omekaze. Ordered a sweet sake which I loved (wish I could remember the name of it!). Sushi is served 1 piece at a time. Our favorite pieces were probably the smoked fluke, uni seaweed roll, crab, and grill fois gras. Ended our meal with a fried red bean cake for dessert topped with strawberries, mint, and green tea ice cream. LOVED every bite I had here from beginning to end. Servers and sushi masters were completely helpful and patient with answering our questions and describing our sushi.
Such an amazing experience. I can’t wait to come back here!

Absolutely incredible! The restaurant made me feel as if I was dinning in Japan again. The first noticeable thing was how sterile the bathroom was… this is a great indicator of how clean the kitchen is etc.
The sushi melted in my mouth and was full of flavor! Highly recommend this place!

F ME. i can never eat at my local sushi place EVER AGAIN! seriously THE BEST hands down. salmon will never taste the same again…
hubster got the omkase and he enjoyed every bite of it and ordered more a la carte.
you might want to get another meal after (maybe like mcdonalds or 2bros pizza because this place is gonna put a hole in your wallet) but it’s seriously worth it. highly recommended!

An unexpected marvelous experience.
After the theatre my husband i looked for a place to eat. Based on previous reviews and the fact that they were open at 10:00pm we chose to eat here. We lucked into a beautiful and interesting meal that was much more memorable than the show we had seen.
We sat at the bar and put ourselves in the chef’s hands by ordering the tasting menu. Not only was it presented beautifully the tastes were outstanding. This is NOT classic sushi. The chef’s blend traditional cuts of fish with other delicate ingredients that enhance each other. Each piece is it’s own work of art whose flavors sing in your mouth. We had 12 pieces that included the best baked oyster I’ve ever had and a Bonito that literally melted in my mouth. After dinner we had the Green Tea Mille crêpe that my husband originally wasn’t sure of; however it was delicate and delicious and I still think he ate more than half.
A lovely meal that we thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

It was a small sushi restaurant. You can get Japanese traditional sushi and new style Sosaku sushi.
I had Chirashi. It was great. And I like grean tea there.

WOW. This place is as good as the hype. While the décor is unassuming, make no mistake– best sushi hands down in NYC. And unique too. Came here with my close girlfriend to celebrate her big move out of NYC (and my engagement!), and while we stressed a bit over the price, we felt it was well worthwhile.
We had an easy time getting a reservation for Tuesday at 8:30. The restaurant is small so mostly accommodates 2 people or small groups– you can also sit at the bar but we got a side table away from the action. Service was good and fast, and staff goes out of their way to keep traditional Japanese traditions (we got green tea and the minute it went a little cold, they instantly refilled it– and this is you know the real stuff not green «tea») and bash popular ways of eating sushi in NYC (i.e. no soy sauce with this sushi, NO all you can east sushi).
We got the Omakase and let me know this ain’t cheap– the sushi and sashimi combo is $ 120 pp. It changes frequently and sadly I can’t remember each dish– it came with 3 courses of sushi, 1 course of sashimi and 4 styles of sushi and sashimi each. But each bite was well worth it and I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like. Some things I remember :
Among from what I remember for the Sushi:
— the signature warm tuna piece with tomato and cream cheese– very filling and good.
— foie gras sushi with daikon — huge piece of foie gras in really good balsamic vinegar (I don’t even like foie gras)
— tuna with tofu horseradish
— yellowtail with jalapeño and lotus
— crispy tuna or was it salmon?
–cod or fluke with quail egg
Among what I remember for the sashimi:
— peppery yellowtail
— Fleshy tuna, a bit seared
We started off with a delicious soft shell crab, and ended with a delicious tempura green tea ice cream in strawberry sauce.
Since I sort of can’t describe the food, I’ll post pictures (a Unilocal first!) shortly. Trust me, this sushi is different (not for the purist) with the all the temperatures (hot and cold), textures, high quality ingredients, and pure skill in putting flavors together. Whether you like sushi or not, PLEASE do yourself a favor and come here once in your life and do the omakase. They do of course have standard items like the chirashi or sushi/​sashimi platters, cooked fish, etc but do the O to get the full experience.
Also FYI– come to the UES location because the others I hear just isn’t the same.
Do it.

After 4 years of searching for other sushi spots in New York this place remains as my number 1. The sushi dishes are so unique and flavorful that it is definitely worth the price tag.
I came here a few days ago with my friend and her dad to just show them one of my fav spots and they left in high spirits. We all got the omakase and ordered one extra plate of it and then some hand rolls.
My favorite sushi dish is the Sea Urchin on grilled squid selection and be sure to ask for it if it is not included in the selection given to you. My friend’s dad absolutely loved his salmon skin hand roll and so I guess I would also recommend people to try it.
The only down side was that the dessert was pathetic compared to the quality of the sushi.
This is a great place for dinner!

Just wow! but only for the food part.
The reasons to why i didn’t give it a 5 stars were due to the service and restaurant space.
First of all, I was 10 minutes early to the designated reservation time, and i got one of the worst and smallest seats at the very back corner of the restaurant!
It was so tiny like it was almost the size of a restroom! and was impossible for me and my two other friends to even move and enjoy our food! I hated it!
However, thank god the food was great! at least for my part since i ordered the recommended chef’s tasting menu! my friends ordered individual sashimi and nagiri.
I loved the chef’s tasting menu, because it was very similar to actual japanese sushi places I’ve tried in Asia! very fresh and innovative! almost a mix of east meets west!
I would recommend you to order the tasting menu if you are a first timer! Enjoy the food but make sure to request a table that has more moving space!!!

I wouldn’t dare say Gari is cut from the same cloth as its higher end competitors (we won’t be naming names) but I can say it most definitely holds its own in respect to graduating into the self-​esteemed ranks of high calibre fish. They reinvented the wheel, for crying out loud. With sequins.
Unconventionality seems to be the MO here, and who can argue with that? Normal is boring, anyway. That’s not to say I’ve adopted some sort of iconoclastic stance on traditional omakase; in fact I was a little startled at some of the combinations offered at this place, but going outside of your comfort zone is important to me, and that meant relieving my purist viewpoints for the moment… even if it was for dinner.
Braced yourself? Foie gras with daikon. Seared salmon with a beautiful char. Black cod. Red snapper with a piece of dried lotus on top. Salmon with roasted tomato (Wow, did that scorch the roof of my mouth). Still with me? My favorite pearls of the dinner included the yellowtail with jalapeño and snowcrab with uni. Put double exclamation points for the latter, because that one was truly amazing in itself. Presentation was so unpredictably exotic we would mutually exchange looks of equal parts confusion and awe (followed by understanding smiles) with our neighbors at the bar every time a new plate was placed in front of us.
Service is akin to the traditional hospitality you would expect from an authentic Japanese house: accommodating but never obtrusive. And while the only unattractive factor of the experience will probably be the bill at the end (as well as the cramped spaces, why?), reserve the place for a special day because it’s worth it. In this case, I was treated here for my birthday and I loved every moment of it.
I never say this (and I’m not sure if it’s even socially appropriate), but their bathroom is like WHOA. You had me at crystallized sinks and frosted glass.

Sushi Gara
NY Manahattan UES
7:30pm Saturday 24^th January 2015
Four Stars
You have to make a reservation for this delightfully cozy sushi restaurant. I enjoyed a few bottles of Sapporro Beers ($ 6.5) and my date had green tea ($free). We enjoyed the sashimi/​sushi tasting menu ($ 150 each).
We started with a triple amuse bouche. Yumi our silver haired waitress described them as fish cake, shrimp, and a Japanese leaf. Fish and fruit is always an interesting flavor profile but the crispy salty texture played well against the juicy flesh of the unknown fruit (kumquat) I put into my mouth. The shrimp had a really fresh imitation crab taste. The herbal bite tasted of earth and wasabi and if you have read my other reviews you know that earthy means like actual dirt.
First Sashimi Course. There were four separate components. A) Ultra Fatty Tuna with fresh wasabi and Daikon. B) Winter Yellowtail C) Smoke Salmon with seaweed D) Ceviche Style Lobster on top of lemon wheel.
Second Sashimi Course. E) The Mackerel was firm and flavorful. F) The Ahi with tofu cream nicely blended the firm fish and silky soybeans. G) I am not sure what it was but it tasted like monkfish (I really didn’t like this one). H) Sea Urchin was delightful and my dates first time trying it.
Final sushi Course. I) the White Tuna Nigiri with Japanese vegetables, corn, and daikon chip. J) The Salmon with tomato was fatty and sweet. K) This piece of fish was seared and looked like piece of flesh. L) the Snapper was simple and delicious.
All of the fish was top notch, well prepared and extremely delicious.
We finished with a spiced plum wine shot.
All in all it was a good restaurant.