Perhaps the most overpriced menu I've seen for the most basic Japanese dishes, even as lunch menus. Their soba lunches ranging from $27 to $30 average - for a cold, hard soba regardless if it's hand made - is a far cry from the authentic soba I know. Service was incredibly slow and they sat another diner next to me who had BO - she smelled like she hadn't showered in several days. It was so disgusting I did not finish my overpriced meal. I will not go back again. read more

Just had lunch here with my mentor. The beef curry with rice was really good; the curry had a great consistency and flavor. The portion size was on the larger side for lunch, so I could not finish it even though I liked it so much. The service is polite, courteous and unintrusive. The lay-out of the restaurant provides enough space between tables and the noise level is low, which enables you to actually have a conversation with your dining companion without the risk of laryngitis from yelling above the noise. All in all, I think the denizens of East Midtown have a solid Japanese lunch spot right here! read more

In the spirit of the illustrious, inimitable gastronome Jeff C - "BEST NOODLES EVER." Superlatives are a risky business in food, and particularly perilous to proclaim in the pasta + derivatives domain. (Didn't Ippudo outnoodle Setegaya which outnoodled Menkui which outnoodled Menchenko?) But, really, I can't say enough nice things about my meal here- When asked to describe what made my cold chicken soba noodle salad - artfully patterning a plate alongside neat blooms of seaweed, chopped carrots, onions, radishes and a dollop of some wonderful miso vinaigrette - so ostensibly -perfect-, I could only babble incoherently about the texture (the ideal consistency of noodles - cooked through, but retaining a perfect shadow of raw springiness) and the flavor (fresh, fresh, fresh). It was light and filling and delicious; the agadashi tofu starter and best-mochi-I've-ever-had bite-sized mochi dessert (charmingly Japanese - wrapped in rice paper) rounded off the meal really nicely. But, aside from the incredible food, the pleasing, mono no aware aesthetic of the place - clean, quiet, elegant - really enhanced the dining experience. Highly recommended. ~$25 for hot or cold, udon or soba soups or salads. Starters start at $6. read more

This is place is good. but sad. i'll break it down for you. 1st the good. this is one of the 1st japanese restaurants in the USA, and might be the 1st sushi bar in the USA (more on this tidbit in the sad section) they own a farm in canada where they grow their own soy beans, and their own buckwheat for the soba. Those are very good things. they also use REAL wasabi, something rare indeed in these here parts. most of us have never had the real deal, and it makes a difference , i assure you, 1st we had some sushi, including some anago that was really nicely prepared. then we moved on to soba - the people i was with had hot soba w/ duck, i had cold soba with kasagi tempura. The noodles are amazing, firm to the bite with a strong soba flavor. Having grown up on kasha i know this grain, and theirs was top quality. The broth from teh duck was rich warm and flavorful, the dipping sauce, once the REAL wasabi and scallions were added was fantastic. Not an off note in the meal. The sake was nice, served in a funny teapot like pot, with ice where the leaves would go. now the negs - ok - this place IS costly for what you get. the sad: It was peak hours on a friday night and it was nearly death valley empty. and even so the gaijin were barely deserving of good service, apparently. The place has an old school kyoto kaiseki elegance to it, that spoke of glory days long gone, of a style of eating out that no longer matched what people want in a fine meal. poignant like a faded kimono. so yeah. great meal, but steeped in an aura of existential ennui. read more

Delicious Japanese food. Very gracious staff that served us quickly and courteously even though we got there kind of close to the end of the night. Good tempura and sushi and miso soup. Also got the black cod, duck, and chicken on a skewer. Would definitely go again. read more

We went to this restaurant to try its special fugu (puffer fish) menu. Fugu is considered a super luxury in East Asian cuisine, and we truly wanted to try it out when it's in season. I have to admit that we had high expectations - why shouldn't we? After all, this is a restaurant that served the Showa Emperor of Japan when he visited the NYC. Also, fugu is considered as a to-die-for delicacy by the Chinese people: given that it was very hard to remove all the poisonous organs in ancient times, people literally died from eating it. It still stays on the menu of both Chinese and Japanese cuisine despite all the intricacies involved in cooking, which tells us how delicious this fish should be. For information about the tora-fugu (tiger puffer fish), refer to this wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takifugu_rubripes. We ordered the tasting menu of tora-fugu (tiger puffer fish) (240 pp), which includes a fried fugu dish, a fugu sashimi, a hot pot of fugu, and a congee dish that was made out of the soup of the hot pot. Given it's my first time to try fugu (there aren't that many restaurants that offer fugu), I can't say how fugu here compares to other restaurants', but all I can say is that fugu at Restaurant Nippon tastes no better than a a regular fish. I'll do a dish-by-dish analysis so that you don't have to spend 480 USD plus tax and tip like we did to know what I know by now. (1) Fried fugu: I think this is the head/cheek part of the fugu. Too many bones, too little meat, and the taste didn't make up for the lack of quantity. I seriously doubt if any kind of fish, after being deep-fried in this fashion, would taste any worse than fugu. It's by no means a correct way of preparing the fish, judging by its effect. (2) Fugu sashimi: I liked the fugu sashimi, but I wouldn't favor it to, say, top-quality otoro, or well-prepared saba sashimi. I liked the crunchy skin more than I liked the fish... (3) Fugu hot pot: I had expected this to be the highlight of the menu, but it was so plain that my heart sank after the first taste of the fish, and sank even harder after trying the soup. Come on, even I can make a more richly-flavored soup than this by using a special kind of carp that sells for 2 USD per pound in China. To sum up: tasteless soup, and very chewy (definitely overcooked) fish. The housemade tofu in this hot pot turned out to be the most delicious component. (3) Rice congee out of the soup: okay, given that the soup was a failure, there's no reason to expect the rice congee made out of it to be great. Yet the restaurant was able to screw up the presentation even further by having a rookie waitress to pour the bowl of rice into the hot pot BEFORE bringing the hot pot to boil. She was immediately reprimanded by two other waitresses in Japanese (and yes, I understood the entire conversation and felt bad for the young waitress) but the damage was done. The congee dish was so bad that neither of us had the wish to finish. We also ordered two wagyu beef dishes, but neither was delicious. In simple words, this restaurant does not use top-quality materials that one should expect from a restaurant that offers expensive tasting menus. We were thinking of coming back to try the kaiseki after trying the fugu tasting, but now we aren't. Also, a word about service: I think the rookie waitress was in a distress pretty much throughout the night, making mistakes at our table every now and then (forgetting sauces, then double-delivering them; didn't refill our teas until we repeated asked for t). Maybe other waitresses would've given us a different experience, but there's no way for us to know without risking spending another evening at this place. Given how awfully stressed we were at the table that night, it's highly unlikely for us to return. Oh did I forget to mention that we went during the Valentine's Day? read more

This was my last night in NY, and I had planed to eat at Yasuda. I went to Yasuda at 6pm on a Thursday, right as they opened...and i was turned away because I had no reservation. One person at the sushi bar...nothing for the whole night, wow! So I checked out Yelp, and found NIppon. Nippon is old school sushi, and the Restaurant looks the part. I was the only one at the bar and there were a few lonely single souls at the tables. The decor was old, the bar was old...kind of depressing overall. The food however was good and the Wasabi was fresh grated. I ordered Omakase style and was served some interesting things. The usual suspects, Toro, Scallop, Hamachi, Aji, etc. Saba and the Uni were probably the best two items. I did have one strange clam that I have never tried before, I can't remember the name of it but it was great. So, 2 stars for atmosphere...but 4 stars for the food. I guess that's an average of 3...but the food was better than Kanoyama so 4 stars! read more

An excerpt from Wiki (on Kaiseki): "In the present day, kaiseki is a type of art form that balances the taste, texture, appearance, and colors of food.To this end, only fresh seasonal ingredients are used and are prepared in ways that aim to enhance their flavor. Local ingredients are often included as well. Finished dishes are carefully presented on plates that are chosen to enhance both the appearance and the seasonal theme of the meal. Dishes are beautifully arranged and garnished, often with real leaves and flowers, as well as edible garnishes designed to resemble natural plants and animals." Albeit a gastronomic capital, there are maybe a handful of places in Manhattan where you can get a true Kaiseki meal. Nippon Restaurant is one of them. Having only been to awesome sister resty Soba Nippon in the past, we expected great things. I mean, what better way to celebrate V-Day than with Fugu right? Boasting having CREATED Beef Negimaki in 1963 and the First Sushi Counter in 1963, they have the white hairs to prove it. In 2006, they were also credited with the 'only importers of natural wasabi from the Gifu prefecture in Japan. Upon walking in, you are greeted by a very respectable elderly gent in a suit and likewise as you walk by the sushi bar. What caught our eye immediately was the huge, shinny copper wok to the right of the sushi counter for all things tempura. Right at that moment, we knew we had to order something made from that wok. A more than reasonable price at $60, their V-Day menu included Fugu, the famed puffer fish, deadly when not prepared properly. In hopes of variety, we ordered one $80 omakase as well. The differences in menu were that with the omakase, you get in addition: 3 appetizers (marinated raw squid, seaweed in vinegar, fresh yuba tofu), 3pcs sushi (medai, amaebi, toro), 2pcs tempura (king crab and mushroom), king oyster, and freshly sliced papaya (vs ice cream), well worth the extra 20 bucks. Else (glass champagne, miso soup, sukiyaki, soba) were pretty much the same, besides that on the V-Day menu, soba was served at the beginning salad style as opposed to being served at the end on the omakase menu. While not a mind-blowing experience, it was a nice treat to finally try this much coveted fish in sushi form. We've tried it in its cooked state at Kyo-Ya, but that's not quite the same. It was served with a dash of seasoned daikon with a tiny scallion strip over it. The fugu texture was a bit stubborn when eating it, one which you don't get clean bites out of unlike Ika (squid). Appearance was plain white, so white one could have mistaken it for albacore tuna. Zero smell, zero aftertaste, just one of those things that you can check off your list of 'to do' items before you die. The soba here is in a league of its own. They even have their own soba farm in Montreal. As Stuart Scott would say, "That's dedication, holmes." They cultivate nihachi soba grains there, comprised of 80/20 buckwheat flour to wheat flour ratio. Competition wise, only Matugen and Sakagura, and their very own Soba Nippon can be mentioned in the same breath. Prior, Soba-Ya and Soba Koh were indeed our favorites. The mouth feel of that super chewy texture witnessed is unparalleled. Some of the grains stick to your teeth and leave a glutenous 'ricey' aftertaste. In our opinion, only when served cold can the true beauty of their soba be truly unmasked. After only two bites of the appetizers, Jeff already knew this would be a 5 star review. How? Restaurant Nippon delivered in EVERY aspect of the kaiseki definition. Every dish is truly a masterpiece with delicate but complex broths, down to their miso soup. To give you an idea, even our miso soup was packed with umami containing burdock, carrots, and nagaimo. The sushi quality was outstanding and super fresh. Service wise, all dishes were cranked out in an expedient manner without being overbearing. Pictures are truly worth a thousand words. If you peruse through our FB album, you'll see what we mean. It's no wonder why Japanese food is Jeff's default Asian cuisine, as when done right, it's the healthiest and preserves the greatest integrity of every ingredient. Even though the notorious fugu was overhyped and didn't numb our mouths like we expected, we still left in awe of what just transpired. We'll be back for years to come as we still want to try their season sashimi dish ($45). We're still baffled why this gem is not packed to the gills, but some things are better that way, especially for those 'in the know'. Consider yourself one of them. We urge you to run, not walk there. As Mortal Kombat would say, 'Flawless Victory'. Total came out to $90/pp after everything Pics are up on our i8NYC FB page... Fugu menu: http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/181991_171228849589679_160562947322936_342436_2322418_n.jpg V-Day menu: http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/182230_171228892923008_160562947322936_342437_7490373_n.jpg read more

I am having a really hard time to write this review. Here is what happened. I went to Nippon for fugu, which is what I ordered. As for the Fugu? It is something you try, but really is not something worth try again. My problem is with the services. I only have one word for it - terrible. I was here for dinner; the waitress should have told me that the Fugu is not enough for an entire dinner. I would have ordered something else. Of course she said nothing. The food I had was barely enough for a three year old. Anyways, I can't really say anything about the food, because I never had any..... read more

The guy who greeted at the door was super courteous as well as our waitress. She was very friendly but she forgot one to put in the order for my friend's entree - that was the sad part of an otherwise decent dining experience. It was my birthday dinner and we ended up having 7 people - called the night before to change the reservation from 5 and they didn't have an issue. I got the sukiyaki cooked in the kitchen. It was super hot when it came out, but got luke warm pretty quickly. I liked the taste and the yumminess of all of the ingredients (homemade tofu- yum!!, shiratake noodle, shiitake mushroom, onions, cabbage). Cooking the dish in the kitchen was an extra fee of $2 (cook at table $28). The 5 slices of beef was nice and fatty and pretty big so it was a nice portion. You get a choice of rice or egg. WHY???? I kinda wished they would give me both. Also tried a piece of friend's spicy tuna roll. It was ok. Everyone else got soba. Friend's 3 pieces of tonkatsu was the one that got forgotten and it two reminders for it to come. However, the manager was super nice and comped his rice and gave all 7 of us the special matcha mochi from Japan. That was the highlight of my meal. I didn't tell the waitress it was my birthday but somehow that got shared as we were trying to get the check. She told me that for birthdays, the restaurant provides 3 scoops of ice cream and everyone sings (awww....). I usually avoid this kind of spectacle in restaurants, but I wanted ice cream so agreed to this. It was actually really nice. :) red bean, green tea, and some kind of vanilla. It was definitely big enough to share a few bites per person amongst all 7 of us. I think next time, I'll revert back to French/New american restaurants for birthday meals. Maybe, the experience would be different in one of the private rooms, but I wasn't super excited or wow'ed by the food. Don't take me wrong, nothing was bad, but nothing was amazing either. read more

I've been wanting to try this place ever since reading about the rave Yelp reviews, but it's really too expensive for lunch ($20 - $30 sets). But then I found an opportunity to make someone else pay. Chica bow bow! I had the rib eye soba salad and a few pieces of sushi. For a place known for their soba, the sushi is QUITE delectable. Fresh, melt-in-your-mouth, good selection... My coworkers enjoyed their tekka-dons too! My soba salad was really good, with tender beef and crisp lettuce leaves and a nice, light flavor. My coworkers had either the soup or dipping soba, and didn't like them much. But soba isn't something that's really inherently delicious; to me it's more of a comfort food. The soba in my salad was a lot firmer than I'm used to, but it looked kind of broken in the soups. Good stuff, though. I'd like to try this place again. Great service and nice, quiet atmosphere. read more

This was my 2nd time here and food is consistently good. Great work lunch venue as it's never too noisy and service is quick. You'll definitely leave full. Easy to make a reservation via opentable.com Always local Japanese present. RECOMMEND: (all below served with edamame and salad) 1) Beef Sukiyaki ($27) Japanese tofu stew with premium meat 2) Soba & Sushi Mini-Don ($23) Mini don (e.g. 2 pieces of sashimi and roe over rice) + choice of cold soba, hot soba or udon I enjoy my meal with hot green tea, which is consistently refilled by the waitstaff. read more

This restaurant is totally overpriced, and the kaiseiki menu did not even impress me. There're so many much better and much more reasonably priced AUTHENTIC Japanese restaurant in the neighborhood, such as Ise, Onya, Donburiya, Hidechan, etc etc. It's ok for a Japanese businessman group dinner; otherwise, no thank you. read more

Authentic Japanese in every way from the food down to the decor. I would've loved to sit seiza style but didn't feel like paying an extra charge for that. I went with 3 other people on a Thursday night and it was pretty empty, save for a two other groups of salarymen. I ordered the kamo nabe (duck nabe that you cook yourself) for my boyfriend and I, a special kabocha dish (Japanese pumpkin), and a plain sake roll (salmon-- surprisingly this wasn't on the menu but they were happy to accommodate me). Well, the waitress misunderstood and for some reason the kamo came out cooked in a single serving bowl floating amidst soba noodles. I knew beforehand I wouldn't be able to try their soba which they're known for because I'm gluten intolerant. I just let my boyfriend enjoy the soup and snuck out a piece of duck to comfort myself. It was yummy-- but then my boyfriend had to rave about how amazingly good the noodles were. :\ That little mishap aside, the kabocha was in a clear, slightly thick broth of ground chicken and overall was a delicate yet tasty dish. I then proceeded to eat the sake rolls and they were fresh and delicious. The biggest surprise I had for the night was the unagi nigiri (eel slice on rice). I was the only one in the group who professed a dislike of eel. The last time I had it, it had a very odd texture almost hairlike. I took the plunge and ordered it upon the urging of my friends that it was just a bad experience and the eel should have another go. It was pretty good-- so good that I don't think I dislike eel anymore! I have seen the other reviews that their sushi is subpar but I have to disagree. Finished the meal with the matcha mochi (green tea flavored-- not the ice cream). They give you two small pieces that I enjoyed thoroughly. :) Making it a point to try their sukiyaki or shabu shabu next time. I have a feeling they won't disappoint. read more

Great food. Baaaad/slow service, which is very unlike the Japanese. No waters refilled, took forever to sit down, get our check... Granted, I came here with 2 girlfriends the day after Hurricane Sandy at 8ish, but still. Out waiter ended up complaining about a smallish tip (which was not small- we broke it down 3 ways and I paid in cash and he totally didn't discount there was tip in that, he just look at my friends' total on the credit card bill). Getting over the slow service (it was slow but our waiter was good- he made good recos on the authentic Japanese stuff), I have to admit this was a very authentic place for Japanese food. So authentic that the guy next to us who asked for salad with a carrot-ginger dressing got some raised eyebrows. They don't even have sushi rolls here. This is a Japanese soba house. The soba is very good. I got the Ten Zaru- chilled soba with tempura (2 small shrimps and veggies- not the Jumbo kind. It was very good and had thicker breading, but the panko type). The soba, (which only has 142 calories per 4.5 oz) is really chilled, al dente and fresh. Apparently they cultivate it up in Montreal. My dish was $14 and I felt like I got enough to eat. It's not the best soba I've had though- that's Cocoron downtown. (My waiter cheekily said that Japanese people eat theirs chilled, American people. hot). My one friend got the seaweed salad and agedashi tofu, which I didn't try but seemed standard and fresh. My other friend got the roasted duck hotpot, which consisted of duck meat, enoki mushrooms, lots of greens and ricesticks (which she did not want since she doesn't eat carbs). I personally always think this kind of hot pot is overpriced- it was $35 for that and mainly just to boil raw ingredients in front of you. All in all, worth a revisit - perhaps- though I'd like to think their service is faster on a normal day and that they wouldn't overlook the tip we gave. read more

This restaurant has THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE! We were a group of eight coming to the restaurant. Me and a friend arrived early and the rest of our party was in transit, we were surprised that they seated us immediately. Usually, most establishments make you wait for the whole party to show up. So I was impressed right away. While my friend and I waited for our dinner companions to arrive, we were attended to, rather than ignored, because we were sitting alone. Also, the owner of the restaurant came over to our table and made super friendly conversation with us! Once our dinner guests arrived our orders were taken immediately and we were helped in picking out sushi. Food took a while to arrive, but I really appreciated that the owner of the restaurant came over personally and apologized for the delay. I know that specialty food like sushi takes a while, but it was nice for someone to recognize that a simple gesture as providing recognition that your customers are waiting goes a long way. When our food arrived it all looked delicious. They did forget to bring out my rolls - which normally would have upset me, but the servers and the owner were so nice and apologized profusely, I couldn't hold it against them. Also, I have to admit - I changed my order after having initially placing it, which could account for the mix up. It turned out to be a good thing that my food didn't arrive with everyone else's food, because I got try all the different rolls ordered at my table! Everything was really good, and when my food did arrive it too was delicious. Over all this place had a great mix of customer service, tradition and class. You really felt like they wanted you to have a good dining experience and the wait staff and owner insured it with their attentiveness. read more

Outstanding sushi, especially the selections noted on the menu which are flown in from Japan daily. Also, I love the zaru soba + the broth they bring at the end. This is high Japanese dining, every bit as authentic as you would find in Tokyo. It is not a scenester "boom chikka boom boom boom" "saketini" nonsense place. It is seriously good Japanese dining. Chefs are trained to serve fugu for cryin' out loud! read more

Terrific dinner here on New Year's Eve (with no special menu, thankfully). We were 3 and kept it simple: each had a green salad -- fresh, crisp and refreshing, with a light soy sauce/oil/rice vinegar dressing. We then had shabu shabu for 3. This was excellent: beautifully-cut ingredients included creamy homemade tofu blocks, napa cabbage, snow-white enoki mushrooms, half-moon onions, yam noodles and rosy thin-sliced ribeye. Not overly salty broth, and accompanied by perfectly seasoned citrus ponzu and sesame dipping sauces. Generous but not excessive portioning. Matcha mochi and hot green tea for dessert. Service could not have been nicer; the hotpot was periodically replenished from the ingredients plate (and scum-skimmed) by smiling, unobtrusive waitresses. We had a comfortable table set in a nook enclosed by a wooden screen that effectively turned it into a mini private room - nice. With a jumbo bottle of beer and hot sake, tab worked out to $75/pp incl. tax/tip. Great experience; I plan on returning soon to try the sukiyaki and the soba noodles. read more

Great japanese restaurant. Its authentic and "very japanese" food. The place is packed, the food is just huge. I had a great time discovering food I never tried before. They also got booths if you want privacy. I will be back! read more

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coming from a Japanese background, I was SO excited to find an authentic Japanese restaurant. The ambiance is fantastic, and the food is always fresh. I have been here two times, and haven't been disappointed yet. I went in the winder, and i LOVED the duck hotpot. The broth was amazing, and the duck was so tender. On top of that, at the end of the meal, they give you the option of adding Udon noodles or rice and egg to the broth. MMMMMM so good. I also recommend their soba! It is the best soba I have had in NYC yet. read more

Very nice and quite restaurant, and you can feel Japan right away once you sit in. Looks very authentic! The food is so fresh and amazing! Very very delicious, I will definitely come back. The only concern is that it is a bit pricy and the portion is relatively small. I have to order more than usual. read more

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This place is a staple for my boyfriend and me. We stop by here for dinner whenever we have the chance and the quality is always excellent. Fresh sushi, delicious soba noodles, and excellent tea! All of the waitresses are super nice and the owner is very polite. The restaurant is extremely quiet, so it would be a good place for an intimate get together or date. I'll be back for sure! read more

I love places that try to preserve traditions, from food to service. Nippon Restaurant is now on top of my list. They claim to to be the first Japanese restaurant in the US with a full sushi bar, operating since 1963. The service is very typically Japanese, overly courteous. The food is the traditional menu of soba, sukiyaki, sushi, but perfected. Every ingredient is made from scratch -- they actually produce their own buckwheat for their soba and soy for their tofu! If you want wasabe, the server brings over a whole root and grinds it right in front of you! Their sukiyaki is my favorite, and I would eat it even in summer because I don't often get a good sukiyaki anywhere in the US. read more

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The noodle of the Soba salad was little bit colder. When you bite it, it tasted like just take out from the cooler. The fugu was delicious. The waitress and waiter were really friendly. Really good experience. read more

Nippon - Fugu - Sushi Bars Near Me - New York, New York

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Great foof and even better service! The waitresses and host were very friendly and exceptionally accomodating to our requests. We trusted the old iPod for local Japanese food and it hit the mark with this one. The Michael Jackson memorial is a bit distrubing, but otherwise we loved the place! read more

Pretty good Japanese food. I've been here a couple of times and each time I leave full and content. I really love their sukiyaki, which is really flavorful. I like that they give you a choice between meat types (lean or not), since I'm not a huge fan of fatty meats. The vegetables are cooked just right, not overcooked or undercooked. I like pouring the soup, a soy sauce based sauce with a hint of sweetness, over the rice to finish. So good! read more

One word: overrated. I've been here twice now and I still don't understand why this place gets so many rave reviews. I've had the udon, I've had the sushi, but I have yet to have anything memorable. Maybe it's the fact that their waitresses wear kimonos and getas? Who knows. read more

Nippon introduced me to traditional Japanese cuisine for lunch and dinner. And I 'm eternally grateful. And why I respect and love them. When you dine at Nippon, you're not in New York. They transport you to Japan, somewhere delicious, with their warm hospitality, and love of their kitchen and country. It took me awhile , but I learned to understand the privilege is mine, not theirs. read more

LOL. 3 people lunch turned out to be $200 check when nobody was close to getting full and the food was subpar. DO NOT VISIT. Classic Japanese rip-off place. A true authentic japanese place??? lol Americans have no idea what that means. Portions are ridiculously small and way over priced. Never again. I'm so bitter that I gave this place a shot. read more

One of the most authentic Japanese restaurants in America. Handmade soba - checked. Handmade tofu - checked. handmade tofu skin - checked. Limited and curated menu -- checked. All Japanese crew in their yukata -- checked!! I had such a great experience at Nippon Restaurant. It transports me right back to restaurant experience while I was in Japan. It surely is pricey but I had such a good meal. Good, small portion, freshly prepared authentic taking Japanese meal. I had handmade soba salad, handmade cold tofu and salmon-charbroiled with anmitsu as dessert. I will visit this place when I'm in the area again and again. read more

Very good service. The restaurant is decorated very nicely and it was interesting to see all of the awards that were on the wall. The beef sukiyaki was amazing. Everything else was fine but not worth the price. read more

Nippon - Beef Sukiyaki - Nippon's specialty, most popular, Japanese beef dish - Sushi Bars Near Me - New York, New York

This place is known for so many things such as sukiyaki, kaiseki ryori, making their own organic tofu, using fresh wasabi, soba (from their buck wheat farm), as well as being the first Japanese sushi bar restaurant. If you want to eat at a historical Japanese restaurant with authentic food, come here. Advice to customers: Some things to keep in mind for people who have not had Japanese food from this type of traditional restaurant, some appetizers are a very small portion -- enough for 1 person. So don't expect to order a bunch of different appetizers and share it with your friends. read more

You don't find many Japnese restaurant in NYC that serves a full suite of authentic Japnese food yet boasts a great ambience. Nippon Restaurant is one of them. Their signature SUKIYAKI is legit. beef is so tender and flavorful. Even the hard tofu sucked up the broth They make textbook pork Katsu too. Just for these 2 items (and the duck xabuxabu!) I'll def come back. My friends at the dinner tat day all agreed on a second outing here ------ gruntles----- soba salad was mediocre the first app- tuna with cucumber was tooooo salty. read more

Delicious, upscale traditional Japanese restaurant filled w/ lots of Japanese business men. Likes: -Friendly, polite staff dressed in kimonos -Authentic Japanese Green tea -Delicate Homemade Tofu- The owners of this restaurant have a tofu farm in Canada. This dish comes w/ 3 chunks 1 topped with matcha powder, 1 topped with fresh Wasabi and the other topped with salt crystals -Crab miso - broth is very flavorful, and rich - reminds me of very refined Korean Dwenjang soup -Sushi - We got Tuna and Yellowtail w/ scallion rolls. I like the yellowtail slightly better. The seaweed wrap was soft and fresh and the roll was tightly wrapped. The fish was super fresh and the scallion was delicate and crunchy. You must order the fresh Wasabi if you get sushi. They grate the wasabi root right at table. The waitress told us that they're one of few restaurants in the city to have fresh wasabi. They have a contract w/ the top Japanese mountain wasabi root grower. -Agadashi tofu- Hearty lightly fried tofu, tiny mushroom caps (about the size of a chickpea), and grated daikon in soup. -Soba- thick, chewy and cooked al dente. Get soba with tempura. Tempura here is great!!! -Red bean dessert- comes w/ two tiny balls of mochi about the size of a grape Dislikes: -Small portions -Pricey read more

3.5 stars. Authentic Japanese in a warm, spacious ambiance. Well known for their Beef Sukiyaki! I've been here 3 times for their sukiyaki, and you can choose to have it cooked in the kitchen or at your table. Although i don't like all the smokey-ness, I recommend to have it cooked at your table. The last time I asked for it to be cooked in the kitchen, the overall presentation of the dish was rather bland and i felt short-changed on the ingredients. I'm not sure if it's a Japanese thing, but Nippon does not serve soft shell crab in any form on its menu. Nevertheless, sashimi and sushi are very fresh. Slightly pricey, but well worth it. P.s. I almost gave this place 4 stars until I tried Hatsuhana =). read more

An extremely traditional Japanese restaurant which, as you walk in, time has stood still. If you're looking for a real "classic" Japanese restaurant ambiance, Nippon is the place to go. The food is extremely authentic, fresh, delicious and, yes, a bit pricey, but worth it! I had the duck hasami-yaki and their agedashi homemade tofu as appetizers. As an entree, I had their pork cutlet (tonkatsu). Needless to say, the plates were delicious! The service is truly top notch. The waitresses are dressed in traditional kimonos and are super friendly. I noticed that they had private tatami rooms which I must try. That'll be for a special occasion of course! :) Fun factoid: Nippon opened in 1963 as the first truly authentic Japanese restaurant in NYC. Also, they introduced the first sushi bar counter in the United States! read more

You can tell this is a regular spot for some, as they know everyones name as they walk in! With that said, I knew it had to be good! Definitely went with the recommendations on yelp.... Sobe noodles for sure. Went with the salmon appetizer portion for my meal and it was perfect! The portion was perfect, but even better, the dish was great! Salmon was tender, and the dressing was amazing. I really liked it. We also started with Agedashi Tofu appetizer..... YUMMMM you must try this! Overall, Great experience! If you are looking for sushi and sushi rolls, this may not be the place... The menu does not have too much variety, but what they have, they have it right! read more

Highly recommended. I came here during restaurant week and this place is as Authentic as you can get. The staffing is top notch (and sometimes a little awkward as they WILL wait for you to finish that last bite to clean up your plates, but to be fair, i reserved at off-peak hours, so it wasn't crowded). It's really amazing otherwise. The food was delicious. One minor complaint is that service is a tad too fast. Expensive food is meant to be savored and enjoyed for its taste, but when we were one of their few customers there at that hour, we literally finished our set prix fixe dinner meal in literally under 20 minutes! Again, this has to be done with the rapid and attentive service, which should be slightly slowed down overall. Portions were also a bit small. The portions we got looked like lunch-sized portions, but I was expecting a bit more out of dinner. I understand that smaller portions are generally used in restaurants as a means of class & style, but come on, we kinda left the restaurant still questionably hungry. Other than those two issues, food quality is amazing - everything is fresh and fried/cooked to perfection. After all food quality is the bulk of my reviews on yelp. They just need to tweak their service and they have an easy 5 stars. Btw, this is really amazing place to take a girl to a date. If you want to impress someone, go for it. read more

My office is around Nippon and we always head to Nippon for lunch. Soba is always fresh and service is superb. I admire the Japanese culture of Omotenashi. Delicious SOBA in midtown ! read more

* old school sushi with tatami rooms * great customer service, fresh food * pricey, but top notch sushi this is not so much an american style roll place, they fly in fish from Tokyo Tsukiji market. I hear at lunch, they're known for their sukiyaki, but i got the sushi and cold soba lunch combo. delicious, the soba was al dente. sushi was fresh and they threw some fish roe in there as well. place seems like it's been there awhile, but they've definitely maintained it pretty well. I came for lunch with a friend, he go the same but with curry instead of the sushi, it's his go to place. after your soba is complete, they give you hot soup to pour into the sauce bowl. make sure you pour some sauce out before putting in the hot broth otherwise it'll be too salty, i'd def come back. we got a soft shell crab roll. it tasted fresh, crab was good, but they didn't do it up quite like american roll places do the "spider roll" with extra flavor. So, i'd recommend just sashimi/ nigri. read more