1. Donguri
Let me start this reveiw by just giving you a link to the other
Japanese restaurants I have reviewed and I have not reviewed all of them
that I have been to.
I
am giving the links to let you know I am not a Sushi novice. Either
tonight was the worst night they have had or they have gone down hill
and are now coasting on their reputation. Either way I will not be back.
Japanese cuisine is my husband's favorite and he chose this
restaurant for his birthday week.
Well the portions were so small and the food so bad we had to head to our usual Sushi spot Mishima after wards for dinner. And Mishima even threw in free dessert for his birthday!
First I will start with the room. We took a few pictures of the room. The room was tiny and cramped and so cold I don't even know if they had the heat on. It was not a comfortable place to dine. Especially on a 20 degree night.
The first thing that went wrong was I told the waitress I was really cold and would like some tea to warm up and I needed it to be extra hot. She brought back room temperature tea. It took her so long to get back to the table for me to ask for hot tea and explain to her this wasn't hot. The next thing that happened was the food came out. We ordered a Sushi Sashimi for 2 and a few extra pieces of Sashimi. I took a lot of pictures of the food. But there were only 2 dishes. Plus we ordered an appetizer of vegetable Tempura. The portions were so small that we used it as an appetizer and went to Mishima for a full dinner.
The bill here at Donguri came to $161.00 and as I said it was appetizer size. There was no soup or salad and with cold tea it was just too expensive for what they were serving. We have been to expensive Sushi restaurants before such as Sushi Sasabune in Honolulu. But it was worth it. Here it was so not worth it. The waitress told us the fish was imported from Japan and they just got it so it was fresh. I believe her ,that it just got in from Japan because it was almost still frozen. It was so cold it wasn't thawed out fully. The Sushi had gold flakes in it. It is an impressive touch but I just wonder if it is to wow you so you don't notice that the fish is not thawed out. Also the Sushi chef was in the back just as in an American restaurant.
Though it is trying to be a traditional Japanese restaurant, it fails because other Japanese restaurants like Ushiwakamaru display their fish in a special display counter so that you can see that the Sushi is fresh. Here at Donguri you are not allowed to see the fish or Sushi chef. There was no beer on draft. They do not make rolls everything was Sashimi. The prices were absurd for what they offer. The vegetable Tempura was embarrassing. It was like the fritters at TGIF. They looked like hash browns, see the pictures.
The service wasn't bad. But it was the food , the reason to go to a restaurant. There are not a lot of Japanese people living in the neighborhood. The customers were mostly older upper East Side white men when we went. I guess if you have extra money to burn on appetizers in a cold unheated restaurant with no privacy to chat then it is okay but for those looking for good Japanese food there are plenty of other fish in the sea!
Well the portions were so small and the food so bad we had to head to our usual Sushi spot Mishima after wards for dinner. And Mishima even threw in free dessert for his birthday!
First I will start with the room. We took a few pictures of the room. The room was tiny and cramped and so cold I don't even know if they had the heat on. It was not a comfortable place to dine. Especially on a 20 degree night.
The first thing that went wrong was I told the waitress I was really cold and would like some tea to warm up and I needed it to be extra hot. She brought back room temperature tea. It took her so long to get back to the table for me to ask for hot tea and explain to her this wasn't hot. The next thing that happened was the food came out. We ordered a Sushi Sashimi for 2 and a few extra pieces of Sashimi. I took a lot of pictures of the food. But there were only 2 dishes. Plus we ordered an appetizer of vegetable Tempura. The portions were so small that we used it as an appetizer and went to Mishima for a full dinner.
The bill here at Donguri came to $161.00 and as I said it was appetizer size. There was no soup or salad and with cold tea it was just too expensive for what they were serving. We have been to expensive Sushi restaurants before such as Sushi Sasabune in Honolulu. But it was worth it. Here it was so not worth it. The waitress told us the fish was imported from Japan and they just got it so it was fresh. I believe her ,that it just got in from Japan because it was almost still frozen. It was so cold it wasn't thawed out fully. The Sushi had gold flakes in it. It is an impressive touch but I just wonder if it is to wow you so you don't notice that the fish is not thawed out. Also the Sushi chef was in the back just as in an American restaurant.
Though it is trying to be a traditional Japanese restaurant, it fails because other Japanese restaurants like Ushiwakamaru display their fish in a special display counter so that you can see that the Sushi is fresh. Here at Donguri you are not allowed to see the fish or Sushi chef. There was no beer on draft. They do not make rolls everything was Sashimi. The prices were absurd for what they offer. The vegetable Tempura was embarrassing. It was like the fritters at TGIF. They looked like hash browns, see the pictures.
The service wasn't bad. But it was the food , the reason to go to a restaurant. There are not a lot of Japanese people living in the neighborhood. The customers were mostly older upper East Side white men when we went. I guess if you have extra money to burn on appetizers in a cold unheated restaurant with no privacy to chat then it is okay but for those looking for good Japanese food there are plenty of other fish in the sea!
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