RICE BALLS ARE LIFE. I divert myself to Grand Central Station instead of Penn, just so I can take the walk to get rice balls. Every time. Best food going on in midtown. read more

Omusubi Gonbei is kind of like an all-in-one Japanese grocery store and food stall. They are most known for their rice balls, which were very affordable. There is also a counter in the back of the store with ramen if you are looking for a more substantial meal. The service was as expected of a grocery store and the ambiance was a bit quiet that morning. I got their Spam Musubi. It was really tasty. The egg and spam had savory flavors that paired well with the plain rice. I wish the rice was not so thick and that the nori was a bit thicker, but still a scrumptious meal to grab on the go! I also bought this Japanese apple jelly drink which was refreshing. I want to come back to try their rice balls (onigiris), specifically the Shrimp Tempura. Very convenient spot to get some quick Japanese snacks and food. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Spam Musubi - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

I stopped by Omusubi Gonbei to grab a rice ball for my son since he always loves salmon, and I picked up a jako brown rice ball for myself. I came in because I adore the rice balls at Mitsuwa. The foot traffic seemed a bit low and there were a lot of rice balls behind the counter, but even after carrying them around for an hour or two, they were still tasty. They weren't quite as good as Mitsuwa's, but they definitely hit the spot and gave us a nice little energy boost. The brown rice version was a bit crumbly, but the flavor was solid. I'd consider coming back if I'm in the area. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Salmon with white rice and jako with brown rice - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

I came here with high expectations and left disappointed. It wasn't bad, but I can't say it was very good either. I had the ell, tuna and salmon onigiri and they were all okay. I wouldn't get them again. There was alot of rice so it was filling at least. The staff was friendly read more

maybe quality has dropped over time but wasnt very impressed by the omusubi here. got the salmon, spicy tuna, mentaiko, and nitamago. the salmon was somehow pretty fishy despite salmon not usually being so even raw. rice to filling ratio is quite high but i think thats normal. nitamago inside was not jammy at all. its nice to see everything handmade but quality was kinda disappointing. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - omusubi - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

Got the bomb brown which is brown rice with spicy tuna, salmon, and kombu. Rice was super well cooked and had an a decent amount of filling for the price. My fiancée got the eel donburi in the hot prepared foods section. He said it was only ok and wouldn't get it again. He was drawn in by the jammy egg. Convenient place to get Japanese food in general but note it can get crowded quickly. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

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The prices points for onigiri are one of the most reasonable I've seen in a while. I like the homemade feel of the onigiri versus other supermarkets where it's more pre-packaged. One is good for a snack or light meal. The chashu pork is on the lighter side, I don't really taste much which is a disappointment since I was hoping the chashu sauce and umami flavors would be tasted in the rice. I would go back to try another flavor. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Chashu Pork - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

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I always get their spam musubi when I can. It's a takeaway shop inside of Katagiri Grocery. Other favorites include the eel onigiri and spicy tuna. They have fresh onigiri that can sell out fast. They're polite when you need to get the ones behind the glass. Spam musubi is on the counter. Just a great snack or a few make a great lunch. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Spam musubi - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

I saw this place on instagram and of course, I had to try! There are soooo many rice balls to choose from, im sure you can find something you will like. I did come early, so the inventory was still stocked but im sure if you come during lunch, options will be limited I got the salmon, tuna mayo, oyster, and eel. My favorite was the oyster. There was a piece of fried oyster and it was a little spicy bc i think they put spicy mayo. The others were a little disappointing because there was very little filling. The filling to rice ratio was 10/80. I would've liked it more if it had more filling All in all, you can't really beat the price. It's hard to get food around midtown that is less than $20 read more

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Go-to lunch spot! Such affordable and freshly packed onigiri. You can't go wrong with any of the options. My top so far are the salmon onigiri and karaage onigiri. I also feel like they pack it more than any other onigiri spot I've been to. Line may look long but it moves so quickly. You walk in, let them know which onirigi you'd like, then go on line to pay for it with one of the cashiers. The outside is a little hidden since it's inside the Katagiri covering btw. read more

I really enjoyed the onigiri here! My husband and I tried the following onigiri flavors: eel, ume, karaage and salmon. My husband enjoyed the ume more than the eel surprisingly! He said it had a nice pickled but also sweet flavor which complimented the salty rice. Unfortunately no pictures because we were so hungry we basically devoured them the moment we got them I enjoyed the karaage onigiri the most as the chicken was still moist and delicious. The salmon was tasty as well. The store is located in a bigger Japanese convenience store which sold other items like sushi and bento boxes, I also saw other food stores located deeper into the convenience store as well. I had my stroller with me and although it was a tight fit at times, I was able to get around pretty easily still. read more

We had omusubi gonbei in New Jersey before at the Japanese market. We were glad there was one a few blocks from our hotel. We stopped by for lunch to grab a few onigiris. We stopped by a few times during the entire trip. We grabbed a few different types. They have a variety of flavors. My most favorite was the onigiri with the whole boiled egg inside. They are inexpensive, delicious and quick. read more

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This lunch made my hot and sweaty (it hit 100 degrees F today!) city kids (15 and 12) into new people who could consider walking 20 hot and sweaty additional minutes back to our hotel, so yes we will be recommending this spot to everyone we know visiting NYC (we're from Chicago). We got - spam misubi, spicy tuna, tuna mayo, eel, chicken karage, and the brown bomb (highly recommend). Thank you for a reviving, delicious meal! read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Storefront of Omusube Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

Great spot to stop in for a snack especially for a long train ride! It's great that they have both their onigiri and a small grocery store so you can pick up a variety of things at the same time. I visited with my family a couple years ago and we picked up some onigiri and snacks before taking the train upstate to visit my uncle. I liked it so much that I did the same thing on a later visit by myself to stock up before taking another train trip. The karaage onigiri is probably my fave but the eel and salmon ones are good too. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

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Great spot within the Mitsuwa Marketplace for rice balls! They have every rice ball flavor and combination that you can think of and, more importantly, at a VERY reasonable price - about $3-$4 a rice ball! The lone exception to that price scale is the Bomb rice ball, which is as you guessed is an all-encompassing rice ball with salmon, tuna and kombu. All of their rice balls are neatly and clearly displayed in their display case and the prices of each are clearly marked. Overall, their rice balls are fantastic. They're delicious, compact and you can get a full meal without breaking the bank here. read more

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((4.5 stars)) Omusubi Gonbei is a small food counter located inside Katagiri Japanese Grocery, by the entrance. there are a variety of omusibi (also known as onigiri), which are rice balls with a filling wrapped in nori (dried seaweed sheet). neatly arranged and labelled for customers to chose from. they have white rice balls or brown rice balls. i've tried a variety of omusubi from salmon to spicy tuna to shrimp tempura over the years and they are good. there are a lot of variety to choose from. whatever the filling is, the rice is the star of each omusubi as it tastes clean, fresh, sticky soft yet firm not mushy and the rice has it's own natural flavor / sweetness that complements the filling but doesn't detract from it. really like the spam musubi,here--are layers of flavors from the rice, nori, slice of egg omelette, to the fried spam. a savory comfort food in each bite. also really like the chasu pork omusubi--a thin slice of rich savory pork combined with rice and nori. if you're in the Murray Hill / Grand Central Area...it's worth a short walk to enjoy a snack or light meal of omusubi...plus you can get other meal and snack items items within Katagiri to enjoy with your rice ball. enjoy! read more

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Updating my review because I got a "soft boiled egg omusubi" and to my delight, the egg was actually perfectly jammy and soft boiled! I have been wronged one too many times by chalky hard boiled eggs so this was lovely to bite into. read more

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The selection was amazing! We got a bunch of their items and they were all a hit. My favorite was probably the spam and egg rice ball. The curry brown rice ball was also flavorful. You can get full from just 2-3 of them! I also tried some of my husband's karaage rice ball and roast pork rice ball. The staff there was nice and friendly. It is located within Katagiri Japanese Grocery so there's a lot of other food and drink options as well. read more

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Good value takeout onigiri and musubi counter in a Japanese grocery store Everything I tried had nice rice texture (not too hard and is still soft) and some onigiris were seasoned too with sweet / savory sauce - meat was pretty good quality too tasted fresh, perfect as a yummy snack or takeout meal! I personally like when the seaweed is softer in the onigiri because it's easier to eat, which is the case here because the seaweed is already wrapped and everything is wrapped again in plastic wrap Spam musubi was solid - I like that it comes with egg too! I prefer the onigiris over musubi though, grilled eel has nice sweet glaze over it and was my fav! read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Grilled eel onigiri - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

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The onigiri tasted quite old and bland. 5/10 the vegetable one was okay and the spicy tuna made me nervous with how old it tasted. The 'super market' style was good 7/10. 2 onigiri a sushi plate, green tea, and a mochi piece was about 23$ so it's a good choice for a cheap meal. I'd only suggest going here early in the day read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Veggie onigiri - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

Reasonably priced Onigiris for the midtown area! There are many different flavors and they range from $3-6. Service is quick. The store is usually pretty packed during lunchtime but they try to get the lines moving quickly. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Onigiri - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

I got a musubi from Omusubi Gonbei 3 days in a row during my trip to NYC. I just happened to stumble upon the Katagiri Japanese Market while exiting Grand Central Station and had to come in! The musubis are the first vendor to the left as soon as you enter. During the day, you can make your selection and they'll place it in a container for you. Later in the day, all of the musubis are individually wrapped for you to grab and go. Now, iykyk that rice really makes the difference. Sure, anyone can make a musubi, but these ones are special. Rice quality was spectacular as were the ingredients. I enjoyed the mentaiko, kombu, shiso and spam and egg. All were so good and the perfect snack to grab before hopping on a flight! During the lunch hour, this place can get really busy. To pay, the line wraps around the interior of the store, but it moves so fast, so don't be scared off by it. read more

I've been an onigiri fan ever since the Japan Village opened up in Sunset Park and they had the made to order ones available. Those, I think, are the best that I've found -- good value, good flavour, good quality. After my acupuncture appointment Midtown, I was walking back down and remembered that I had Omusubi Gonbei boomarked, so I thought it would be a nice treat. I almost missed it since it's on an unassuming side street and part of a larger Japanese grocery store. Right when you walk in, the onigiri shop is to the left and there are many options to choose from, ready made, which are all generally quite affordable, but definitely smaller than Japan Village's. I went with the spicy tuna (unfortunately cooked), mentaiko (good, but not as savoury as Japan Village's), and shrimp tempura (really yum). I enjoyed all three and definitely want to try others, as it was so convenient and affordable. read more

The rice balls are really good and tasty. They are made fresh daily and there is a small army of workers in limited space making a wide variety of rice balls and also fried chicken. The staff worked quickly like a well oiled machine. They work out of a small space so there is no sit down spot. It's right inside the Japanese market which also shares space with a ramen shop. My favorite is the spam musubi. The other rice balls are good too. read more

This place was inside the Katagiri Japanese market (left hand side when you enter) which has lots of food and snack options! They also had a fresh sushi bar. But back to Omusubi Gonbei - I loved their selection of onigiri and felt like I was back in Japan. I got the tuna mayo onigiri and it was very tasty. They had tons of options including cooked salmon and it was hard for me to only choose one, but we had plans to eat lunch somewhere else so this was just a snack. The onigiri was warm and the rice was soft. I think I paid about $2 for it and it was well worth the price as it was quite heavy. We also got our favorite Meiji chocolate covered almonds and matcha chocolate covered macadamia nuts from the market. Great experience! read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Tuna mayo onigiri. - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

Wanted to try after reading the great reviews and it dis not disappoints!!! The onigiris are top!!! Full of flavor, sticky and really good in fill (not just rice!) the rice was also flavorful since it got some of the filling sauce. There are plenty of different options to choose from. Definitely a great bite. It is also a japanese grocery store, ramen joint and offers other cooked/un cooked food readt to go (bowls, sushi) read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Kaarage - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

Located inside katagiri grocery, Omusubi Gonbei is a great place to grab a rice ball. I had gone to Hanamizuki Cafe a week before to try their spam musubi and was not impressed, so wanted to try this place to scratch the itch. Came at 12:45 PM on a Sunday and it was busy but the line moved fast. I tried: + Spicy tuna + Spam with egg + shrimp tempura + grilled eel 5 stars for the spam alone. Grilled eel was the next best bite. Also liked the spicy tuna! read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

Tried it out twice just in case the first time was a dud but both times the rice balls fell apart easily and didn't have a lot of flavors. The only upside is that it's cheap but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it read more

Quick onigiri spot inside a grocery store. Card only despite very affordable prices. I got the spicy tuna for $2.60 + tax, so good price. They pre wrap so you can just grab and checkout within a minute or less. The onigiri itself is okay - the spicy tuna is just cooked tuna with spicy sauce so it's a bit different from what I expected, and the seaweed is quite soggy from it sitting a while, but you have to choose between efficiency and quality I guess. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Onigiris - IG @bougiefoodieboi - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

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4.5 One of my favorite spots to pick up a quick snack or low key meal. They're located at the front section of Katagiri Japanese grocery directly to the left once you walk in, it's a simple counter with a couple dozen options for rice balls. They have placards denoting what's what and prices, and also a separate single page doc with all the options. The fillings range from traditional vegetarian options like ume (Japanese pickled plum), shiso leaf (perilla leaf which tastes like light mint), marinated seaweed, kakiage (fried tempura), takana (pickled mustard greens), to seafood like spicy salmon, grilled eel, shrimp tempura, fried oysters, to meat like chashu pork and spam. Price range between $2.50 and $4.80 each, very reasonably priced and a good value for the neighborhood. You can pick up at the counter and pay directly at the Katagiri registers. Flavor-wise these are all tasty, the quality is pretty good, rice cooked properly and generous amounts of filling. They don't do the separate wrapper for the seaweed so it's not as dry/crispy as some may like, though I think this allows them to make these onigiri larger than most other takeout onigiri spots in the city. read more

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Located in a Japanese supermarket. They had tons of onigiri options. The spam masubi was listed as a best seller but I definitely thought the mentaiko was better. For an affordable and fast meal, I would highly recommend. I plan to go back! read more

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Omusubi Gonbei is small counter inside Katagiri Japanese Grocery, which serves onigiri (Japanese rice balls). I stopped by with my mom last week, because we wanted a quick meal on the go while we were out and about in the neighborhood. Stop at the counter, grab a few onigiri (they have tons of flavors) and then get in line. At lunch time (we visited on a Friday), the line wraps around and through the store, but it moved fast. I enjoyed the two I tried, and my mom (who is vegan) enjoyed hers (a Japanese curry onigiri). This is a great place for a lunch on the go; we took ours to some seating nearby and enjoyed an affordable, quick, simple, and healthy lunch! read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

There's no reason you shouldn't go here every week if you love onigiri and live in the city. Great prices, yummy onigiri and very quick service. You do what you want but we will make this a regular spot! read more

Good pricing for the onigiris esp in NYC where everything is usually expensive. A great snack to take to the airport. The spicy tuna and the spam were both really good. The ratio of the ingredients to the rice was perfect. It's made fresh too. read more

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they have two fresh food vendors --musubi/onigiri in the front left as soon as u come in and another counter on the right side behind the registers. They also have the grocery store part in the back. I sometimes pick up snacks but really i just come in for the musubis/onigiri. I've always come in the morning while the musubis are still warm and they've always been very good. they're always quick and there's never been a line when I've went. I've never had any dried or crunchy rice and they've always seemed fresh. they're my fav to pick up before a trip or for lunch. read more

Just a a 5 minute walk away from Grand Central station. we came in from the airport and was looking for a quick food to grab and this caught our attention. A japanese grocery store that offers omusubis and even ramen. the sweet lady gave me her Recommendations, I went w/her recommendation and had the 'bomb' and it was really good. Would come back when I'm in New York! read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

I had no idea that Omusubi Gonbei would be inside this incredible mini Japanese mart! On top of all of OG's options, there are so many other foods that are ready-to-eat and a marketplace to boot. From my one visit it looks like a great place to pop in, grab a snack or small meal, and pop back out. But there is a small counter where hi can quickly enjoy the food you purchased. During peak hours, the checkout line can almost reach the back of the store but it goes by fast and it's well worth the visit! I tried an assortment of Omusubi and each was very affordable. Even a few pieces totaled to be cheaper than any fast food meal, and way tastier. Everything is clearly labeled and priced. If I'm ever on this side of the city again I'll definitely be back for more. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

If you love a classic rice ball with various fillings to start your morning, as an afternoon snack, or late night bite, this is the spot for you. I already have one location that I go to for rice balls but this is going to be my second spot to get rice balls. The reason for it is because it's made on the spot (I usually come in the morning when it is being made) and they offer a variety of fillings with no frills, your classic rice balls. My personal favorite is the Karaage Ball because they are generous with the fried chicken filling and you can't go wrong with a fried chicken rice ball. This is technically a supermarket or mini mart with indoor seatings. So it's quite lively with shoppers and people eating in this one space which adds to the experience. The rice ball section is the first thing you'll see when entering and the lady who took my order was kind and packed my order neatly. This is a bit of tucked away/hole in the wall kind of spot since it is nearby Grand Central Station. Highly recommend finding it and trying it out for yourself while in the area or leaving Grand Central Station read more

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Really nice, quick, affordable lunch spot. I got three onigiris (kelp, oyster and egg) and chicken karaage, and they came out to $15.20. The food was tasty, I'd definitely be back. There is no seating other than a little bit of standing room/standing ledges by the ramen spot behind the cashiers. The spot is in a cute little Japanese market that sells other goodies, worth checking out even if just for the market. read more

Omusubi Gonbei - Three onigiris (kelp, oyster and egg) and chicken karaage - Japanese Near Me - New York, New York

very convenient grab and go type of establishment. they have a great variety of onigiri available and they're good if you're looking for a fast on the go budget meal! it's located super close to grand central too so that makes the grab and go even easier for commutes! read more