I've become a Blue Monkey poke bowl fanatic in the last few months! The poke bowls are well priced for the portion size. To me, the bowls look like works of art. The first time the spicy tuna looked a bit suss to me, but I promise it tastes great and I keep coming back for more!! Service can be a bit hit or miss at times, but generally speaking I can be in and out in an hour. read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Spicy tuna poke bowl - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Came during lunch after a tour of Syracuse University. Enjoyed the warm foods on a cold day in February. Service was friendly. Food was served fairly quickly. We had steak teriyaki bento and ramen. Good size serving. We sat in the side area just inside the door. read more

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Eat here once a week when working on the hill and foods always fast and absolutely amazing. Never have had issues in the past 3-5 years of eating here. Highly recommend. read more

Great spot for sushi and ramen on Marshall Street. It's definitely not Michelin-level, but it gets the job done if you're craving solid sushi or a warm bowl of ramen. The service is friendly, though food can take a bit longer when it's busy. I highly recommend the pork tonkotsu ramen, rich and flavorful. Overall, a reliable go-to for casual Japanese eats in the area. read more

I used to love this place. Made changes recently that are not good. Got a bento box, the tofu was cold and mushy, used to be crispy and warm. asked for extra teriyaki and was barely ANY on it. Didn't give me any dressing for my salad. the edamame that replaced the sushi was just ok. the rice was good at least.... read more

This place has been on campus for a long time. The food is solid and the menu is pretty extensive. This place gets crazy busy around events and on busy weekends and people tend to linger at the tables, so a wait can be long even if the line isn't that long. I had a poke bowl and miso soup. The person with me had pork belly tonkotsu ramen. Both were very tasty. It took a while to get our food because they were so busy. If you're on a schedule, budget extra time. read more

I had forgotten that I left a review here a decade go, and apparently not a great one... so I'd like to update my opinion: My husband and I were on the hunt for sushi and decided to stop here (my first time inside) for lunch. I had the Jacob roll and miso soup, and it truly was one of the best sushi rolls I've had! It was around $15 for the roll but it was freakin huge... it was 3x the size of other locations, so the price was well worth it. It tasted so fresh and delicious and the miso soup was equally perfect. I see there are a lot of 1 star reviews, but our experience was a full 5 stars-- delicious sushi, great waitress. I'm not sure what's changed in a decade (probably a lot!) but this was not the same sushi that I had 10 years ago! Amazing. We will be returning. read more

It's my favorite place to get lunch to go while at work. It offers a number of good vegetarian options. I've had the Tofu Teriaki bento, Tofu Curry, Vegetable Soba Bowl, and Sushi (Inari, Tamago, and Veggie Rolls). Portions are very generous (unlike another reviewer, I did get a big bowl of rice with my curry), and ingredients are fresh. read more

food is freshly made and seemingly very fresh. went on a day where it wasn't too busy and it was a good experience. server was kind and attentive. the vibe of the restaurant is very chill. not too expensive. would go again. especially for just a quick sushi pickup and go. read more

This could be me just being a snob, but my sushi and sashimi slices were HUGE. Not in a good way. I had the sushi and sashimi set with a warm sake. Instead of delicate slices, these were hunks of fish. The nigiri slices were much larger than the sushi and made for an awkward bite. And the sashimi was so thick it felt a bit too much like taking a bite out of a side of tuna. The fish was fresh, the sauces and flavors were right. But Sushi is so much about knife skills and these were not it, for me. Someone else might have loved the generous portions, but I prefer a more traditional experience. read more

Popular for students like me but I haven't loved their food. You have to pay for all ramen toppings which is annoying and costly. But their Tonkotsu broth for noodle bowls is very good. Tonight I had the over rice bowl with the Katsu pork and it was good but VERY dry as it was just rice and fried pork- a sauce would have made it much better. It was served with some sort of spicy mayo which didn't pair very well with it. My friend said the the Salmon Teriyaki over rice bowl was very good! read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Katsu Katsu Pork Over Rice Salmon Teriyaki Over Rice - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Fantastic soup. Fantastic service. My favorite place in town. We have some family in town and this is the place that always comes up where they want to it. read more

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I order from here frequently and have been inside to eat often as well. The service is always very quick! They have my order ready in 5-10 minutes. The staff is always nice and helpful. There is plenty of seating in the place as well. They have updated over the last few years but I really like it in there. The ambiance is just a typical sushi place. The sushi is always sooooo good! I usually get the same few items but I tried the Gahmun roll and it was amazing! I think they really stepped up their sushi game and am excited to try other items on the menu. I recommend this place to anyone looking for some good sushi! read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Mama Tsang Roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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I was surprised to see that they have a huge smoothie menu with lots of options for customization. You can add juice or club soda to your sodas. I tried a super fruit smoothie (blueberry, acai, pomegranate and goji berry) and liked it but thought it was too sweet. I cannot tell if it was made from a concentrate or syrup. I got that impression based off of how sweet it was. I ended up adding my own flavored bubbly water to it to balance the sweetness. That tasted great. I tried two rolls: mama tsang roll (carrots and tempura shrimp topped with shrimp, avocado, scallions, spicy and teriyaki sauce) and bleu monkey roll (tuna, scallions, almonds and fish roe topped with tuna, avocado and wasabi sauce). Each roll was $12.25. I really enjoyed both of them and thought the fish was fresh in the bleu monkey roll. The slivered almonds on top seemed a bit random. The tempura shrimp in the mama tsang roll didn't see as freshly/recently fried. It had a bit of a soggy quality but it could have been due to the fact that I got the food delivered. You can order ahead online. Outside of sushi, they also have bento boxes, noodles, curry and desserts. I was full after eating a little over 1 roll. read more

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The service here is unacceptable I understand it's a college restaurant but serves chicken that isn't necessarily raw, but extremely chewy and undercooked. I was also stung by a bee in this restaurant and management insisted the bee sting was from elsewhere, when u literally got stung by the bee sitting there. There is also an indescribable sewage smell that has been there for years. read more

The food is great, it comes out quickly, and there are so many options! The prices are fair, and the food is fresh. This is my favorite place for sushi. read more

Seriously? Again? Such a racist place. The cashier always pre-added at least 15% tip for ASIAN customers. Based on my observations, they only intend to do it to Asian. All the customers in front of the line can choose tip amount by themselves. As a SU alum, I used to dine here every time when I attend event in Syracuse. But this place keep making me disgusted. ASIAN peers, please SPEAK UP for yourselves. You have the RIGHT to choose the tip amount based on the service quality. Otherwise they will not treat you respectfully. read more

The takeout doesn't have rice with curry dish and when I called them and asked for refund, they offer an option to send rice to my home but didn't allow refund. Although I know they are busy, the lady on the phone was very arrogant. read more

So after a long time I decided to come back here and give them another shot. It actually was a friends idea who had to go to class right after. I have to say while there have been some definite improvements, they have some glaring issues I wish they would address. So I ordered the teriyaki beef box and was very delicious. The meat was very flavorful and all of the sides (there were a lot) were quite delicious. My friend ordered the poke bowl and said it was fantastic. So their food is something I would recommend wholeheartedly! The prices are quite fair as well. So the major issue here is the service is just terrible. The staff are so rude it's hard to ignore. We place extremely simple drink orders. 1 hot water and 1 cold water...they brought two cold waters. That already sets the stage. It then took them about 10 minutes to take our order after we asked 2 different people for assistance. Our waitress was really rude the whole time and my friend tried to convince me to not tip it was so bad. If they fix the service the restaurant will be fantastic. read more

Bleu Monkey's Poke Bowl in Syracuse is a value meal, easily stretching across two meals. Opt for the brown rice base, add edamame, crispy tempura flakes for a couple more dollars. Swap the fish for chicken. The game-changer here is the spicy teriyaki sauce; it adds a kick that works well with the sweet classic teriyaki in-house. Make sure to check that the chicken is thoroughly cooked before leaving. Bucha enjoyed the sushi rolls whenever we went here. California roll specifically as it was balanced and the rainbow roll as the quality of fish was great. read more

Honestly never had a problem w them until today when they rushed us through an order on the phone. We made a mistake on our order so we called back less than a minute later, the person on the phone was very rude and said it couldn't be changed, we said okay, she said "do you want to cancel the order orrrrr" as we were deciding she was very rude on the other line and we decided to cancel the order all together. Then she called US back a minute later to say that we shouldn't have even cancelled the order because it was "inconvenient " we were shocked that this person felt entitled enough to call us back and complain. She proceeded to argue over the phone with us/invite us to fight her at work?? It was bizarre. She called us r*tarded and kept yelling and screaming over the phone. Literally the most insane shit ever, don't go here. read more

I USED TO BE a loyal customer my first year of Syracuse, often ordering delivery and taking friends who visited me to this place to dine at Bleu Monkey Cafe. Food was mid but it had a vegetarian option for me. Now, I would only recommend this place if you wanted to be scammed and bullied by their petty employees. Today, they called me after ordering my meal that they will not be making my meal because I "cancelled my previous meal and got it refunded through GrubHub." What ACTUALLY happened was that I got a suspicious soup concoction delivered to me that was not miso soup, and I got that singular soup refunded. I have the billing information in my bank statements. I did NOT get a whole meal refunded. The employee on the phone demanded that I was wrong, and that she had the receipts, and hung up the phone without any further information. Not sure what I did to deserve this kind of service but I will not be dining here anymore. What a disgusting and immature response. Such a shame, honestly. read more

I recommend this restaurant for soups like udon, ramen, etc. The sushi wasn't stellar, but it will fill you up. It's extremely close to Syracuse University, so most of the customers are University Students. The staff was pretty nice. read more

GF-Vegans there's something here for you! There usually is with Asian food and this is a great little place near campus where you can build a GF Vegan bowl as pictured. It's fast and tasty. I had the shoyu sauce but you could eat it clean too. It's a little grubby and very casual inside, which suits me perfectly. read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Poke bowl w/o poke. Vegan and GF - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

Excellent sushi - the cobra and California rolls were great; good saki offerings, excellent appetizers in the tempura shrimp and miso soup. Quick, efficient yet not intrusive service. Couldn't be happier with the meal read more

THE PLACE HAS RATS Used to be an avid monkey fan before they called us r*tarded on the phone for simply trying to change an order 30 seconds after making it. This place is disgusting and horrible their service girls are the most wretched people and truly appalled by the way they think they can talk to people. She threatened us and told us to "Come fight" at the restaurant, clearly they have a rat problem. read more

We were browsing /walking the streets near Syracuse University for dinner and we came across this restaurant. We saw them serving sushi rolls and we thought they looked good so we decided to try eating here. They had great service. My family ordered teriyaki chicken bento, salmon bento, and i ordered the Lindsay Roll. The Lindsay Roll had crabmeat, seaweed salad, avocado, unagi, and some crunchies on the top. It was super good. The teriyaki salmon was pretty good. We didn't expect the teriyaki chicken to be white meat. Because we prefer dark meat, we were not impressed with the chicken bento. But overall, we enjoyed our dinner experience here. read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Lindsay roll - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

The food was great, the service was phenomenal. We got our food easily under 10 minutes. Its also a very pleasant little restaurant to be in. read more

In town for a conference and wanted to try something close to the hotel. Excellent service (Sam was our waiter) and quality food! Sam made some suggestions from the menu. I chose one of the item he suggested, the Ha Ha, and was NOT disappointed! Great flavors!! My coworker had the Eel over rice & enjoyed his meal as well. Great experience! Thank you, Sam and the chefs!! read more

4.5 stars I don't eat sushi, but the 3 people I was with said it was the best and most interesting choices of sushi they have ever had. The happy hour drink and appetizer specials are plentiful. The Poke bowl was amazing. Yes, the floors are sticky and the crowd is young and loud, but don't discount the place because of the reviews. read more

Ok so this was my first and last time coming here! I had a few hours to spend since I have a baby at home! I was really looking forward to go out and this was a bad experience! Paying $40 for 3 regular rolls that were basically tons of rice is not exactly what I had in mind! The kani salad was just crab meat and that's not a kani salad! Kani salad has cucumber and masago! Nothing was good or even close to decent! I don't understand why it has good reviews, maybe sushi is bad... Anyways I will never come back! I left unsatisfied and feeling sick! read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Spicy salmon roll??? NOT!!! More like rice with rice! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Not sure about this place it's a bit odd. First off the octopus app was a nightmare looked nothing like the other pics on yelp. Sushi was ok I'd actually give the sushi 3 stars but the rest has drug down the rating. Also had ramen and I wasn't impressed. I've been to Japan a few times and this was meh ok. Also it had corn which is pretty new to ramen and usually only in northern Japan. But worst of all the corn was frozen corn. I rarely complain about price but this place is a bit excessive for what you get. At almost 50 buck for a roll octopus app and 2 ramen I'd expect not to be served frozen corn at least The server was good Doubt I'll be back read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Octopus? - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Closed until further notice. Would be helpful if their operating status was posted to their website...or if when a customer called to place an order, there was a message saying as much. ::shrugs:: read more

Coming from California, at first, I thought this restaurant was wayyy below average. But, after going to eat once every couple of months, it's the closest thing that reminds me of what I can get back home in K-Town, Los Angeles. The Chicken Katsu Bento comes with so much food ( rice, cali. rolls ,katsu, miso soup, egg roll, salad) and the Poke Bowls are my favorite! A poke bowl with 1 protein can fill me up for 2 meals! It's unlimited toppings of your choice and is offered for a very reasonable price. I've never made a reservation and had no problem being seated. It's not too loud, and the food comes out fairly fast! read more

The sushi is very solid for a restaurant that is all around the country. I believe that they should open up their selection a little bit and the menu was a bit confusing, but the food was solid and my friends and I enjoyed our meals. read more

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We've been here a handful of times, it was only due to convenience. The service here was relatively friendly and fast, the food was pretty bland and nothing special, didn't even finish my miso soup, which I'm usually a fan of. I've had better sushi in Syracuse, I wouldn't recommend it being a top choice or really a choice at all. read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

From the get-go coming into the restaurant, something was off. We entered around 9pm (an hour or so before closing -- it says 11pm on Yelp), and the waitress asks us "table for two?" and just points at some tables. Doesn't say anything about it so we were confused. So we voluntarily sat at an open table in the area she gestured at. We had to call a different waitress for the menus. Once approached by the first waitress again, we told her we needed a couple minutes to decide. She said that "we can't take too long" because the kitchen is closing. 5 minutes pass by and we are ready to order. After waiting another 5 minutes for her to take our order, my partner originally orders the poke bowl to which our waitress agitatedly says "we stopped serving that at 8." He changes his order, and then I order the soup. A few minutes later, she comes to us and asks us if we could pay now without even receiving our food yet! We agree to, and my partner chooses to not give her a tip because of our experience so far with her. Irritated, she storms off. She hands us our food with no response to our thank you's. We were just uncomfortable with the environment and service. Another waitress came over and asked if there was something wrong with the service. It was all weird. We had been rushed in and out of this restaurant. The food is mediocre at best; nothing special. We will not be back. Tips should be earned, not expected. read more

Drop by from out of town for dinner with family. It's more of a college place with nearby students from Syracuse University dinning. Overall not a bad place. Nice decorations and reasonable prices for Japanese meal. Had the Miso Udon and two bento boxes (one beef n one chicken) Miso udon was fair portion and tasted not bad at all. Chicken bento box was good but beef bento had too much sauce on beef.., probably made for Americans. Ordered the mochi ice cream -two mangos and one green tea. Pretty yummy Waitress were decent. Would return next time while in town. read more

Bleu Monkey Cafe - Miso udon soup not too bad - Sushi Bars Near Me - Syracuse, New York

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Bleu monkey is a staple on Marshall Street and I hope it never runs out of business. The hosts are always so friendly and they know my face by now and it makes it feel so homey. The food always taste fresh which is surprising because we are in upstate New York, but I have been going every single week of college and I would definitely recommend edamame. The portion is great and they always plate it so well. read more

My experience in Bleu Monkey Cafe was overall great. We were a group of ten people and the waitress made sure to take our orders in an efficient way. The food was good as usual. I love the tempura shrimp rolls. I would recommend them expanding their menu into other options, for those who aren't sushi fans. read more

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