Ashiya Sushi 5

We sat in this place for 30 minutes without any service or at least a cup of water, eye contact, or something. Total waste of time. I think they didn’t want our money. Bad service, don’t come here.

You should know what you’re coming for — all you can drink. Bring a big group of friends and the sake bombs coming out will make it a ton of fun. This location seems really good at keeping beer /​sake on the table and bringing sushi out pretty quickly –I feel like the other locations weren’t quite as good about that. While it is all you can eat, the sushi isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s certainly on par with what you’d get at most other sushi restaurants.
Good for large groups of people who just want to get messy

Avoid.
I did read the reviews before I came here — but this was not my choice, a colleague was having «I am off to a new job» party.
Service — awful. for 30 minutes we could not get the attention of the waitress (and that cut the AYCE for 2 hours to 1.5 hours!). The waitress was annoyed with any request we made. Someone asked for extra wasabi. She paused, grabbed a USED plate from the table (like, a personal plate, someone was eating off of it!) — and brought a sliver of wasabi back on this plate.
Sushi — THIS IS NOT SUSHI! Actually, $ 45 is too much for this (By the way, the menu says $ 33 AYCE, but they bring you a check for $ 45 — I would never tip this much for this sort of awful service) — it is a bunch of rice with paper thin cuts of warm fish that doesn’t even cover the rice!
Someone will say «you get what you pay for». Which is true — I had read the reviews prior to coming here. However, having been here, I would say — get a pack of salmon at a supermarket, get a baguette and a 6-​pack and sit in a park. Much more tasty, and no annoyed waitresses.

$ 33 AYCE lunch OR DINNER — all the sushi rolls and sashimi you want, and includes unlimited sapporro beer and/​or saki.
This place is fantastic, great quality, good selection (I’m a sushi junkie)
The place was pretty empty when I went for an early lunch on a Friday so service was very attentive and fast.
The sushi tasted delicious and totally fresh. SO GOOD. This is coming from somebody who has been to a lot of these AYCE sushi places.
The avocado was really creamy and the sushi rice was perfect… not like the crappy stuff they serve at buffets.
I love how they DON’T do stupid americanized tempura rolls or ones with creamcheese and crap inside.
They also serve «real crabmeat» and red snapper options for sushi rolls — which i don’t see that often

Environment: ³⁄₅
Employees: ⁵⁄₅
Food: ³⁄₅
Drinks: ⁴⁄₅
Cost: ⁵⁄₅
Accessibility: ²⁄₅
Total: ²²⁄₃₀
Story Time: Princesscas Calientes, which consists of Kristina, Ed and myself were ready to party. They are visiting me from San Diego and D.C. and I miss them so much! They helped me survive the social mishaps of Chicago, and I don’t know what I would have done without them. :D James and Kristina’s boyfriend was came along as well. Damn James… lol he said leaving Chicago allowed him to lose weight. Hahaha… right?
Synopsis: This is definitely not the time or place to have intimate questions. With the banging of plastic glasses because of sake bombs and unlimited sushi, you find yourself between a zoo of college students and pure gluttony from alcohol and food. Say good-​bye to $ 43, which includes tips and taxes, you better eat and drink the shaaat out of this place!
Environment: A very small place compared to the other location south. You would think that a big ruckus could never come about. You have certainly been misguided! It was like a zoo with young adults, screaming, telling people to do sake bombs left and right. DAMNN! I’m surprised there wasn’t puke everywhere. The appearance is very simple with wood flooring, table and chairs. Definitely nothing spectacular put together for this place. Which is reasonable, I mean how many drunk people would really give a damn?
Employees: They were on-​the-​go constantly. Refilling our beer and sake. Snap, snap, snap, they were on it. They even didn’t take long to get our check either. Nice! I guess they wanted us in and then out!
Food: Depending on what you get the sushi here is pretty good. Yellow tail, spicy tuna, salmon skin and tempura rolls are your best bets. When you look at the quality of the fish, you cannot really taste the «badness» because of the liquor that you are consuming. It’s more there to um. have a taste of the ocean and then swallow.
Drinks: Sake and beer. Can you really go wrong? The sake quality isn’t expected to be superior in these situations, but definitely can take you on a ride to buzzed and then finally drunkenness without the cringe face of taking regular shots.
Cost: $ 43 can go a long way for 2 hours, only if YOU can make that happen. So you must eat, eat, eat and drink, drink, drink beyond your heart’s content.
Accessibility: 1^st avenue… gasp. Every time I think of going to the east side of Manhattan, I always have to cringe!

SO MUCH FUN! I would recommend going to this place with a big group– and of course go for the AYCE/​AYCD special– unlimited sushi and sake and beer for two hours. For the price, I was expecting the sushi to be a little bit gross– but it wasn’t at all! I’m not a sushi snob but I can definitely tell a good roll from a bad one and this sushi was great. The service is fast and nice. If you’re looking for a very fun, very sake infused night with delicious sushi, go here!

I got sick the next day. Perhaps the fish wasn’t fresh. Or the sake was bad. Who knows.
This place was dead on a Friday night, except for the one table of drunks bros who were all sake-​bombing as if they were at a frat party. The All you can eat sushi, All you can drink deal is $ 33 but I’d rather pay more for food that won’t make me sick.
They also charge you for leftovers.

This place was surprisingly empty on a late Friday night. Of course, I’d read the Unilocal reviews before going and we weren’t expecting gourmet sushi. For $ 33, you can get all you can eat and drink sushi, sake, beer. Since it was just us and one other medium-​sized party, the service was fast. They seemed to get a lot of take-​out orders too. We were brought a pitcher of beer and carafe of sake right away. The sake is room temperature, neither warm or cold, but I guess you can’t be picky at the rate people are drinking it.
You can only select from the ACYE sushi list, which is fairly large. It has all of the classic on it pretty much, like california, fish + cucumber/​avacado, and shrimp tempura. The sushi has a lot of rice so you definitely get full quickly. The drink special definitely makes it worth it in NYC considering sushi for 3 costs about $ 60 without drinks.

It’s hard to know what to think of this place. My experience has been mixed. First, it’s definitely not a top notch sushi place in midtown. This is a place you go for either a) a quick bite, b) a bargain or c) take out.
Much of the time the restaurant looks closed because they keep the dining room lights out — but odds are, they are open. I suspect thats because a lot of their business in take out/​delivery.
The quality of the fish is decent. The selection of rolls, sushi, etc. is fairly americanized and standard. But, if you want something quick, decent and at a reasonable price, it’s decent. Once in a while, we’ll order from here or grab a couple of rolls to go and it does hit the spot.
However, if we are looking for a quality sushi experience, you can do better in a 2 – 3 block radius.

For the money and what you go there looking for, I haven’t found anything better in NYC!
I went with a few friends for the all you can eat sushi and all you can drink sake/​beer for $ 33. I was expecting sub-​par sushi (because what else would that budget cover?) but the sushi was actually really good for the price! Fresh, delicious, awesome. I am a sushi fanatic (not a snob– big difference) but after that night, I left with a belly full of fish and I didn’t even crave sushi again for nearly a week. That’s just unheard of for me.
Don’t go in expecting a snazzy midtown restaurant experience. I mean it’s offering AYCD/​AYCE, that should be an indicator there. Go in expecting a small, clean place with good food and service but nothing fancy. The restaurant is small and seems like more of a takeaway place. The servers were distracted by organizing the takeaway and delivery orders, but once you got their attention and asked for something you didn’t wait long. The sushi we ordered took some time but I think that was because they were busy with online orders and the fact that we each ordered a massive plate didn’t quicken anything.
I didn’t have any of the beer, left that to a friend of mine, but I can honestly say that 2 hours of endless sake and tasty sushi was the best night I had that week. I plan on coming back here way too often once I move back for good. i mean $ 33 plus tip in NYC is great. And you get to shovel it into your mouth. Just go try it.

Great price for lunch! 3 rolls or maki for $ 10.
The sushi was a ok but nothing special!

I ordered the Philadephia sushi roll and the seafood soup. The Philadelphia roll was pretty standard. It was what I expected and it was good. Nothing wrong there. Good prices, good sushi. Now, the seafood soup. It said there would be shrimp and other seafood in it. However, I think I had like ¹⁄₈ of a shrimp in there… and barely any seafood. It mostly comprised of vegetables and mushroom, might as well call it vegetable soup. It was slightly bland as well. I was hungry, though, so I ate it and it was fine. I just wish there was actually a decent amount of seafood in it. Price wise, I think it was reasonable.
The delivery guy was okay. He was slightly rude because he had trouble finding my building and gave me a slightly hard time about it, saying how he is very busy and has a lot of food to run and can’t wait for me forever. I stated in the directions on Seamless, he just chose not to read it or listen for directions. I have the worst luck with deliver people.
So, food was good. Service was so-​so, eh.

Ashiya sushi is awesome! I hate when you go to an AYCE sushi restaurant and the AYCE only includes the tiny and/​or crappy rolls.
Ashiya’s AYCE menu is $ 33 and includes ALL sashimi, sushi, rolls, and even specialty rolls. In addition, you get all-​you-​can-​drink sake. The specialty rolls are pretty good, and they have a wide selection. There’s nothing too exotic or pricy, but for $ 33, I’ll take it!
The restaurant is underground, right next to the Duane Reade. I must have walked past it 10 times before I noticed it. The service can be a little slow if you happen to show up on a night when the tiny place is packed. But they never complain or act like you’ve overstayed your welcome, even after ordering more and more and more and more sushi and sake.

I had the AYCE sushi & AYCD sake /​beer special for dinner at Ashiya. Overall, it’s a fun dining experience but there are better places for this in the city.
We had reservations but they were late in seating us. You get two hours to eat and drink as much as you want. I would actually recommend coming here in a big group — the more the merrier, and pretty much every table here is at least a party of 10. The vibe is very fratty, be forewarned.
Sushi selection was not that great and the quality was below average. As far as AYCE /​AYCD sushi deals, the food at Kumo Sushi is a lot better and costs basically the same price. Overall, not bad but I wouldn’t come back.

Nice people, good menu, okay tasting sushi, but decent amount of vegetarian choices.

For my friend’s birthday last week we needed an all you can drink sushi sake restaurant with about three hours notice. Ashiya (the East Village one) after some negotiation agreed to take on our table of 10. We had to wait upon arrival for about 20 – 30 minutes but then we were showering in sake and sushi. The sushi was ACTUALLY good! That never happens at all you can drink. The place was packed which is just the kind of atmosphere you want when you are taking sake bombs to the face. I had a great experience here and would 100% recommend it for birthdays.

I give this 5 stars for a few reasons.
We did the AYCE and drink with 40 people. We planned ahead of time and made the reservation, but as far as a sushi place goes, this place’s service was unbelievable. They not only had tons of rolls already made for us when we arrived, but for 2 hours they kept bringing them out, had our tables all lined up, brought anything else we asked, and never once was short on beer or sake.
Their sushi roll selection for AYCE is phenomenal and the quality is very good for a AYCE place. It’s $ 33 for AYCE and drink, so a good price.
It’s a small location and gets rowdy when full, but the other group of 10 that was there, just joined it with us and it was a great time. The more we drank, the more crazy we got, but the staff remained very polite and kind (huge props to them).
If you go here, try to be as nice as possible to the staff, and keep that in mind when you get hammered as they will do their best to accommodate and deserve it for putting up with this many drunk people.

I’m giving five stars because the staff put up with our crew while we hijacked the restaurant
We rolled in with about 20 people on a Saturday night, obvi for the AYCE/​D sitch. We took up half the restaurant but took over the whole place within half an hour. At one point, my friend got up and gave an emphatic «I Have a Dream» speech.
This is not the place for a quiet dinner. If that’s what you want, go a few blocks down to Hatsuhana.
Everyone needs a dumb, drunk sushi/​sake night once in a while, and this is the place to do it — the food… who cares? They kept the drinks flowing.

I ordered on
(25% off your first order from Ashiya!) and requested a 12:15 delivery and they delivered at 12. So I was a happy camper right off the bat.
Very neat presentation, the soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger are all packaged in separate containers. Instead of a regular ol’ plastic soup container the miso soup comes in a cardboard soup container like you’d get from your nearby sandwich joint. They even send you a container of diced pineapple for dessert.
Everything we ordered is so fresh and tasty. They have several lunch specials to choose from. I got the two roll special for $ 8 that comes with miso soup and my boyfriend got the sushi special that has 5 pc of sushi and a spicy crunchy tuna roll which also comes with miso soup. I highly recommend the Snow Mountain Special Roll — it is delicious! It has spicy shrimp tempura and avocado and is topped with crab meat and tempura flakes!
The spicy crunchy tuna could use a little more crunch and the scallion was missing from my Philadelphia roll, but besides that I have no complaints at all. I’ll definitely be ordering from here again!

First of all, I’m glad that All You Can Eat sushi is at least maintaining popularity, if not slowly rising in our fair city. Even though economic times are better than they have been in the past few years, there aren’t many people who would compare these times to pre-​2008 levels. Thus, it’s still very nice, and a welcome treat to get good value out of a dinner.
It’s not hard to «win» here. And by win, I of course mean eating more than it would cost on the menu. This is, of course good, and one of the reasons why we gravitate towards this kind of place.
On the other hand, Ashiya has a sort of feel that I can best describe as plywood. It’s the mark of an establishment, usually bar or restaurant but it can apply to any place really, that just kind of feels like the construction was only recently completed. Shortcuts were taken. The kind of place where if you violently sneeze while leaving the bathroom, slip and knock against the wall, that you might cave it in, thus ruining the evening for you and your dining companions. Such an event would be cataclysmic in nature and is best to be avoided at all costs.
I am not suggesting that one avoids this restaurant, and all like it, due to this possibility. More that one should exercise more caution than usual when dining here, so as to avoid any accidents.