Pros: - the staff were nice and the food took a but to come out, likely due to a large amount of orders - the food was pretty decent, the sashimi was a lot better than I expected Cons: Comments: - went on a Friday around 7PM, it wasn't too busy, there were occupied tables but also lots of open tables - it's quite spacious - it wasn't too loud, the music was at a decent volume read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

See all

I have been eating at River for many years and went here over a dozen times. It was a great AYCE spot. Keyword was. Most recently, the experience declined dramatically. The restaurant was understaffed. On Mother's Day there were 2 waitresses for an entire floor that was half full. The dirty dishes and garbage accumalated at my table to a point that I never experienced before at a restaraunt. Presumably the kitchen was understaffed too because.... Some of the items, such as the relatively expensive mussels, that I ordered took 1.5 hours to come out. The expensive squid skewers were conveniently out of stock. I saw my table neighbor wait 30 mins for food. He looked unhappy. I saw a delivery guy waiting in the lobby for over 20 mins. He looked angry. Although we ordered non-stop, there was a good 15-20mins between orders where we had no food on the table. This is unacceptable at an AYCE that forces you to order instead of having a buffet. The sashimi and sushi also fell in quality and is sub-par compared to local AYCE peers such as Sushi Village in Bayside, The Buffet at College Point, or Akino, a block away, which I highly recommend. To add insult to injury, for my table of 2 -the bill came with a thinly veiled mandatory gratuity in the form of a service fee of 18%. Does the restaurant know the service is sub-par and so it puts a required tip without disclosing this beforehand? Goodbye River, forever. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

This is one of the few places still open later in the night, and it was great for a late night meal. It is definitely hard to locate as the only sign is a board on the ground next to the entrance what has stairs going downwards. Vibes were great inside. It was nicely decorated with music playing and anime on the tv up front. We opted for the standard menu instead of AYCE. The food was definitely a larger portion than what is given for AYCE. We enjoyed each dish. The katsu rice dish was definitely worth its price with it's huge portion size and 2 large cutlets. Rolls were also huge and had a good fish to rice ratio. The bill came with an 18% service charge included. read more

See all

The staffs have no manners what so ever no hello or thank you from the beginning to the very end lol I was speechless. It takes quite a long time for the food to arrived after ordering and the food weren't even fresh. I think they put the sashimi through some sort of oil lubricant to make them look shiny and "fresh" My toilet had some fair share after I ate theirs food. Smfh and not to mention the tip was forced giving. Not willingly but forced Jesus Christ. P.S. I read the reviews before I came and I have to say I'm so regretting not taking their advise due to my disbelief of the terrible reviews. I wish I can take back my time and money from that place but I can't so hopefully my review can help some people to avoid this terrible experience Good luck to the people Whos willingly to take a chance with them. read more

We went to River Japanese Cuisine, a spot I've been coming to since my high school days. It's my go-to place for sushi and Japanese food. We arrived about an hour before closing. There were still a few people dining, and we were seated right away. We initially planned to do the AYCE sushi, but since there wasn't enough time, we went with à la carte instead. We ordered a kani salad (you can't go wrong with that), three special rolls, the Spider Roll, Salmon Lover, and Snow Mountain, all of which were pretty good! We also got a katsu meal, and the portion was huge. There was so much katsu I couldn't even finish my rice. The food was solid as always, and the staff was friendly and attentive. They made sure to let us know when the kitchen was closing so we could get in any last-minute orders. Overall, it was a good experience! great food, generous portions, and reliable service as usual. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

Awful service, unbelievably rude. They automatically charge 18% tip so they don't worry about having nasty attitudes. Food also made me feel sick. Avoid, avoid, avoid! I had to ask for the lunch menu, they wanted to hide it and charge dinner prices.... So shameful, please improve or leave the restaurant business to those that care. read more

See all

Came for the ayce on a weekend night and it was roughly 50$ per person after tax and tip. Honestly, the quality wasn't really good and the rolls were just okay. The wasabi was weirdly blue and savory and nothing was good besides maybe the crazy dragon roll which was okay. The service was pretty bad but there wasn't even that many people. Overall, did not have a great experience. read more

See all

I went with my cousin tonight for AYCE sushi. We have both been here several times and enjoy the food. The interior is cute and cozy, nothing special really. I think the quality of the sushi is very good and I like the variety of the items on the AYCE menu. We ordered a variety of rolls and sashimi that were all delicious. I really like their special rolls like the pink girl roll or the rock and roll. The sashimi was really good and super fresh as well. I will say the service at times leaves a lot to be desired, but overall not too bad. I think the price is fair, the bill came out to $96 for AYCE for the two of us, including the automatic gratuity. I recommend this spot if you're in the area! read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

See all

Came to queens for lunch with friends PARKING - like the city pretty nonexistent. LOL. Parked in the mall parking lot a few blocks from Main Street ENTRANCE - kind of tricky to find. Sort of a door on Main Street then walk down the stairs HOSTESS - very nice greeting but it really helps to have someone who speaks Chinese MENU - very high tech menu with a plethora of Japanese options. Took a bit to get it (I'm too old school), but it was kind of fun. The choices and options are wildly cool. SERVICE - the main waitress was a little hard but the bus waitress was nice - but quite. Our Chinese guide was a big help in translation. SUSHI - we sampled a bunch of stuff and all really good. Also tried the sashimi and that was great. PRICE - overall on the above average range. Beers are like $4. Sushi Sashimi for two like $58 Rating a solid 4 read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Dish after you walk downstairs - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

This is my favorite place to eat some suchi to be honest I have been there like 7 or 10 times and I always love the place and the food the staff is friendly. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

Bad service terrible. Makes me sick to my stomach. I waited for a whole hour and 30 minutes just for fried Oreos and ice cream. That's absurd no matter what don't go here to ease sushi. You can have your toddler roll some sushi for you in the service and fish quality will be so much better. every sushi piece had shrimp as a filling so if you're coming here, you're just eating fried shrimp. I did not come here to eat all you can eat fried shrimp I asked the lady where my ice cream at. She gave me the nastiest look . The noodles were hard too. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

It's been quite a few years since I've been to this downtown Flushing location. I'm a regular at their Springfield Blvd location and sometimes even go to the Westbury, Long Island to go counter. Arrived at exactly 5:15 pm and wait by the front counter. Sushi chef sees me, makes eye contact but does not acknowledge or even gestures to any of the staff. I continue to stand there humming to myself bom bom bom doo doo dah lol. Finally, after another few minutes, I decided to call the restaurant from my phone and the ring could be heard throughout the restaurant as it was pretty empty. Finally, an employee comes to the front and picks up the phone. I said I'm here while looking looking at him. Don't worry, I'm still respectful. I get seated and have to wait another 5 to 7 minutes before anyone even checks on me. After ordering, the food is comparable to their other locations but I would say very slightly better. The decor here is definitely better as it got that darker tone with the dark wood look and lanterns. Feels more authentic. They even got giant DragonBall figures here. Kinda cool. read more

See all

Very good service. Food was fresh. Atmosphere is great. Good music and even though the place had a lot of customers the tables are spread apart enough that you can talk to your party without screaming at each other. Will come back. Good AYCE. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

I have lunch here once or twice a month. Firstly, it is difficult to find. There is an entrance to the stairs to the lower level which can be invisible despite signage due to the visual overload of Main St. Several doors to the north is an entrance to a language school whose elevator will take you downstairs. The place is manga-themed and is a bit cluttered with things stuck in corners and back spaces such as the elevator entrance. Less decor would be better as in the distant past when it had the plainer Japanese esthetic. I usually have the tempura and teriyaki dishes. I have been pleased with these. They might decorated with a flower or leaf. Sometimes I have the lunch box (bento) that comes with California rolls. I am not fond of sushi and cannot comment on that. The menu is a small tablet which one can page trough with your finger and then order without the aid of the waitstaff. They sometimes bring me a printed menu as I am old and assume I cannot use a computer or chopsticks for that matter. There is a service charge of 18%. Formerly, they had a robot that would run between the sushi counter in the front to the kitchen in the rear. It was sort of fun to see it zooming through the place, but I have not seen it lately. read more

*bring cash for a 10% discount* Food was good, but service was not the best. It came out to $40 for the weekend lunch AYCE including tip. An automatic 18% service charge is included in the final bill, which may explain why the service was not great. We had some questions about what was being brought to the table and every time we said thank you, the staff never said "you're welcome". The sashimi was good, but the rolls had more rice than the last time I was here. Fried oysters, baked cheese mussels, and mushroom bacon wraps are new menu items. The kitchen specials come with 2 pieces per order, so be aware of that when you order! I enjoyed the cheese wontons, udon in soup, baked cheese mussels, and fried Oreos. We didn't love the fried oysters because they had a lot of breading. read more

See all

Decent place for AYCE sushi. I don't go to AYCE sushi that often, but I found the quality and options here to be not bad. I think this is a great place to go to if you like sushi rolls and are craving a lot of sushi. The only other AYCE sushi place I've been to is Akino, and I thought this place was much better in terms of sushi quality, ambiance, and the fact that they actually use reusable tableware (Akino produces so much plastic waste, and for that alone I support River more). I wouldn't recommend the hot dishes here like the teriyaki meats, fried rice/noodles, etc. The teriyaki chicken and salmon were bland and drenched in teriyaki sauce (the meat felt so separate from the sauce, like the meat wasn't cooked with any seasoning). The fried rice also was bland. Akino might be better for hot foods, but I like the sushi and variety of special rolls here a lot more. For the sushi rolls, the rice-to-filling ratio was great -- there wasn't a ton of rice, and the rice was cooked well. The food overall seemed fresh. The service wasn't bad. The waiters did their job. They just didn't say the names of the special rolls we ordered when they got here, and they lost track of 2-3 of the things we ordered. They also didn't seem too familiar with the menu items and how they were prepared. We ordered 5 special rolls, and they came with only 4. There was some confusion on which ones we already had because one of the rolls that came didn't seem to match the description of any of the rolls we had ordered. If they ran out of / replaced some ingredients, the chefs didn't communicate that with them before the waiters came with our food. I saw a lot of reviews complaining about the bad service, but the 2 waiters when we visited were nice and attentive, maybe because we came at an odd hour (2pm on a weekend) and they weren't too busy (the restaurant was only 30-40% full). The restaurant is located underground, but the ambiance wasn't bad. The seating area was clean, and the tables were nicely spaced out. Overall, I had a good dining experience here. Would definitely return if I was hungry and craving sushi! read more

See all

Order lunch today and the shrimp tempura and one of the monster roll served feels like it was a days old. The beef was dry and tough to chew on, the vegetable soup had an odd smell and taste. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - yummy food. - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

I don't come back here anymore!! They automatic add 18 percent on the check when they only run the food to your table !! Adding 18 percent is not good at all read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

See all

I've been ordering from River Japanese Cuisine for multiple times now, and I have to say their food is pretty solid. Even with low ratings, I've never had any problems with their sushi or sashimi. This time I ordered Sushi & Sashimi for 2 (10 pcs sushi, 18 pcs sashimi, Crazy Dragon Roll, Snow Mountain Roll and 2 miso soups for $68.95 through Uber Eats ($13 more than Grubhub). The combo was well-presented with an orchid. All sashimi were fresh and thick sliced. The two rolls were tasty. I think it's a fair portion for two people. Miso soup was good as well. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Sushi & Sashimi for 2 - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

I usually don't like going to "all you can eat" places but this is one of the few I don't mind. They also have an all you can drink menu which is $12 per person and that's great because sake bottles run out so fast lol - sometimes you just wanna keep drinking and drinking. I can't go crazy with straight eating sushi unlike my bf so I'm glad they have decent kitchen items on the menu which gives it more of a variety. I love their little ramen bowl, haven't seen a place with that yet. Their mushroom soup is also pretty good - flavorful but very light. It opens up your stomach for the sushi. Im also a fan of some of the rolls there but I can never finish one on my own. Decent amount of seating, I prefer the booths. Phone service down here sucks so I'm glad they offer Wi-Fi & the password is posted all over the place. I'm feeling all the anime posters & decor since both my bf and I are fans. Shout out to Demon Slayerrrrr! Service can be slow at times so you have to be a bit patient. All in all, since Sushi can get expensive, it's a good place to just go to town - even with a larger dinner party. Just make sure you have minimum of two hours to eat otherwise it's not worth it- call ahead to confirm their closing time. read more

See all

We were both hangry a few days ago and the first spot was completely full to the max, so we end up going to flushing for dinner and long behold SUSHI AYCE SUSHI The freshness of the food is always the best, but the service still sucks Here's the recap on what we got... - salmon/tuna hand rolls - Spicy Girl Spicy salmon inside, salmon on top with a slice of jalapeno - Salmon/tuna/stripped bass/white tuna sushi - Sashimi- 2 rounds - Tuna/Salmon/Striped Bass/Yellowtail/ Tamago/White Tuna/red snapper - Salmon lover salmon & avocado on top with spicy salmon - another round for Spicy girl - and of course can't not forget about the seaweed salad. i got someone addicted to this lol & spicy mayo not shown read more

See all

You definitely get what you pay for here--this is not authentic sushi, and not everything on the menu is guaranteed to be fresh. It's budget-friendly sushi, and most people come for the all-you-can-eat option. Unfortunately, the quality has continued to decline over the years. read more

My go to spot for some comfort and affordable sushi. My friends and I always have a great time here! We did the AYCE menu and now you can easily order using the iPad. They have a lot of options and can't go wrong with any of them. I highly recommend the Phoenix roll and of course all the sashimis! This place is cozy and very on theme. The service was amazing, the workers are super quick and nice! I enjoyed my meal~ read more

See all

This review is for delivery only! I was craving some sushi so I found this place was nearby work and decided to order. It was around lunch time, so I ordered the lunch special rolls - salmon avocado for all. It wasn't an option on the app, so I wrote a note requesting all one type and they kindly accommodated. I also added a few pieces of salmon sashimi. The food got here on time, and it was packaged with care. They gave a free miso soup, which was pretty good but it only came with one or two tiny specs of tofu...it had a decent amount of seaweed. The sashimi was good, average quality. But when I tried the salmon avocado rolls, the salmon was firm and hard.... to the point where it was almost crunchy? It was a very weird experience. I dont think it was frozen because it wasn't freezing cold or anything. I would not order this again. If I went back, I'd only get the sashimi because I don't know what's up with the fish in the rolls. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Salmon sashimi and salmon avocado roll lunch special - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

Absolutely deplorable customer service. I have no idea who owns this- but either train or get a new staff. I was here yesterday for Mother's Day in a group of 4. I had to get up at least 5 times to get something, I kid you not- for a place that has the audacity to add 18% tip, I have NO clue what the servers here did. Actually, they ruined the experience. From the beginning: -no hello or greeting, waited 5 minutes at the counter (with no one else around) to be acknowledged -no waters served, had to ask, also was shoo'd away when attempting to ask -plastic forks.. are you serious? (A 5 year old can't use chopsticks, sorry I guess) Food was bought out with no coordination, main dishes weren't all bought out at the same time leaving other members at the table awkwardly sitting there with cold food. The most horrifying part was they put a California roll we didn't order at the table which was then accidentally touched- when clearly informed, the waitress took it and STILL SERVED IT TO THE TABLE OVER! DISGUSTING! Food is nothing to rave about either, nor is it cheap. I don't say this lightly.. AVOID THIS DUMP! read more

This restaurant disappointed me. The sushi tasted like it went bad, they served us dirty plates, the workers are rude. I told them my sushi tasted off and they said it was because of the seasoning. Absolutely wrong! I told my friend to try my sushi and she says it tastes way different from hers and it did indeed taste like it went bad. They ended up adding 18% gratuity which is absurd. Their service is horrible and they dismiss any comments or concerns from customers. The ambience is lousy and the music is uncomfortably loud. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

Quality has gone down so bad and they don't even care. Ppl who eat sushi know how important rice is so them serving undercooked soggy rice that's hard to swallow deserves a two star. Used to come here every two weeks or so for AYCE but I won't be anymore. After complaining about the rice I was told to just order sashimi. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Mushy undercooked rice - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

The food is not good. Like we just left some of the food on the table cause it just wasn't good. Tempura was terrible, the batter is too thick and the shrimp was not fresh. Any of their fried food was bad. They have a service button on their iPad but they never came here after we clicked it. We waited for a bit and there's only two tables here. They also auto tip you, we had a party of 2 not a large party either. read more

See all

Bad experience with this restaurant We come 2 person when I ask for check server put 5 people and have gratuity 18% BY LAW NYC you can put gratuity if party of 6 people read more

The worst food I could possible have received my friend had the lobster and shrimp roll, after eating it a hour or two afterwards my friend started vomiting and afterwards he felt better but the next day he woke up with a fever and abdominal pain not to mention diarrhea he had to miss two days of work. read more

We called in a reservation for 7 people and were seated near the front of the house behind the hostess table. We placed our first round of food and then waited 30 minutes before our server bothered to check up on us. We had to flag him down and ask what happened to our order and we were informed they lost our ticket -- the restaurant wasn't even full or busy. This ate into our two hour window for all you can eat. After we submitted our order again we had servers bring in the wrong order to our table and then removing it. A server also poured water into my soda glass. The food itself was okay but the poor attention to service left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. read more

See all

Measuring a child is ridiculous. Especially when you're not Asian. It should go by age. Not height. Insane and there are much better places to eat. Stay away read more

Food is poor average. The noddle from the pork Ramen was too soft which tasted like left over noddles from yesterday. The beef Teriyaki is good, but the broccoli was kind of raw. The mango of the super star roll Mango isn't the fresh. Tip was automatically added for three people... read more

See all

Came here for dinner since it was close, located right on Main Street. It was pretty quiet when we arrived, was honestly surprised. The service was great. The waitress was super friendly and full of energy. Originally came for ayce but after taking a look at the menu we decided to just order what we want. The options looked so much better, especially the sushis. I highly recommend their lobster roll. It was definitely my favorite. Glad we decided to order what we wanted rather then go for the ayce. read more

See all

Came here for AYCE sushi with a couple friends on a weekend night. The sushi and food itself was great and we loved the tastes. However the servers there are not attentive at all and everytime we wanted to order something more or needed something we had to spend a lot of effort to flag them down. The price is definitely on the expensive side but if you can eat a lot of food then it might be worth it for you. read more

River Japanese Cuisine - Salmon Roll - Japanese Near Me - Flushing, New York

See all

I came here more than 3 times and how worth I pay for sushi and sashimi buffet? No place in Manhattan can beat this place and the quality of food compared to the price isn't that bad at all. for the service, sometimes when you order so much of food, they can forget your order so you have to follow up with your order. Normally they will give you 2 hours to eat and gratuity is already add, so make sure after your bill comes. read more

See all

I really wanted to love this restaurant. So many people had said incredible things about it. Maybe I went on an off day but I wasn't impressed. First, after being told we would be seated in five minutes, we were seated half an hour later. People who came after us were seated first. That wasn't totally horrible though. We were happy to be seated when we were. Then, after we ordered, we waited another hour to get our food. Someone was seated well into our wait for food and were served before us. By a long shot. When we brought it up again to the server, they seemed confused. Not exaggerating when I say we waited an hour for food and half and hour to be seated. I would have been able to overlook the unfortunate situation had the food been fantastic. It was alright. The salmon was really delicious but the white tuna was a bit dry and tasted old. The rice to protein ratio was a bit depressing and the miso soup was all broth. The salmon sashimi earns the two stars. The salmon rolls were disappointing because the salmon inside was all the fattiest part of the salmon. All around, there are better and cheaper places close by. I'd return only for the salmon sashimi and tempura Oreos. read more

See all

Super confused at the bad reviews. I've been coming here with friends and family since I was a wee 200lb 5th grader the menu has constantly expanded with lots of creative ways to eat sushi. Their sushi pizza is delicious and they even have a unlimited drink menu if you choose. The ambiance is super fun with cool anime posters and low volume dance beats. You can still have amazing conversation with friends and go on a date and hear yourself. Service has never been lacking and our water has always been filled. Sometimes they skip an appetizer we order but it's for our own good as we are always stuffed to the brim. I will continue to frequent here and expand horizontally, come join me! read more

See all

All you can eat sushi option is fair in price and service at the table is pretty quick. It is located on the basement level and can be easy to miss on the street but the restaurant itself is spacious with ample seating. The sushi is fresh and they have a lot of options for both sushi/sashimi/kitchen dishes. Deduct a star for take out only orders because they will make you wait a very long time. read more

River Japanese Cuisine is located at the lower level and we couldn't find the entrance when we came at the first time. As an AYCE place, their cooked food was decent with good variety but as a Japanese cuisine restaurant, their food wasn't authentic at all and their raw fish wasn't fresh. If you are curved with Chinese-style-Japanese food, River would be a good choice for you. They served food extremely slow and sometimes missed orders, we ordered grilled eggplant 3 times with reminders and it was finally served... read more

See all