Kanoyama

The omakase dinner was delicious and the ice cream that came with it was pretty good too. The sushi wasn’t out of this world, but you get what you pay for. The roll that comes with the omakase wasn’t anything special and tasted like it had some ume shisho in it. Would come here again, but would not partake in the omakase next time.

Delicious and super fresh super place in the East Village. After the closings of Shima and Kotobuki, there aren’t as many authentic and affordable Japanese restaurants in Lower Manhattan. Kanoyama is one of the few great sushi places left.
The fish is intricate and fresh — you can tell just by looking at it. The freshness is even more evident once you take take a bite. The restaurant even have the daily fresh catches for sushi lovers.
The service is friendly and casual. The chill vibe matches with the East Village tranquility.
Come here, eat some sushi, drink sake, and enjoy.

I was meeting up for dinner with my old Cornell friends for a small reunion again this year n was staying in the East Village. so my friend said he knew the perfect place cuz he took his wife there for her birthday last year n the food was definitely above par for sushi on the East Coast. (we LOVE all kinds of Japanese food.)
Kanoyama is located on 175 Second Avenue in the East Village district in Manhattan. it’s right on the corner of East 11^th Street n 2^nd Avenue across from Love Mamak. walk it if possible cuz 2^nd Ave seems too crowded n busy to park.
with so many good Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, it’s easy to overlook Kanoyama. from the exterior, it looks small n old-​school, like a family-​style drinking hole in Tokyo; but then u would b mistaken. the interior is large n clean with two dining areas, the front room for groups, n the other caters to individuals where the customers can watch the sushi chefs work their magic.
Omelet: I usually always order one cuz I LIVE for eggs. it wasn’t overcooked n it still had a bit of soft n runny consistency which was perfect for me!
Chawanmushi: this was cooked ok. I can also steam this dish at home so it wasn’t that impressive to me.
Hokkaido Uni: LOVE UNI! especially the ones shipped from Japan. buttery goodness. was just a few small pieces, but they hit the spot. it was presented in a bed of cucumber which was interesting. can’t say anything bad about Uni from Hokkaido.
Sushi For Three: there’s 11 kinds of sushi in this large platter. it’s just enough for 3 ppl, although if u r really hungry, it’s better to also order some appetizers. the sushi is sliced small n delicate. this attributes to the excellent knife work of the chef of course. everything tasted fresh. the Hamachi was so good! I always try to get the freshest sushi possible to avoid getting sick. HATE it when that happens.

** Warning, lengthy review **
I made a reservation for four about a week before for a Friday night. Someone from the restaurant left me a voicemail to confirm the reservations but there were additional details that weren’t really comprehensible. When I made the reservation I stated two people from our party were going to partake in the omakase experience.
Ever since I saw Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I’ve wanted to try sushi, Omakase style; this is where the chef picks out the different types of sushi cuts according to the day’s special and sometimes with your input to your likes and dislikes.
We arrived and were seated promptly. Our waitress informed us that since we made reservations for Omakase that it would be $ 180 for EACH person… this was not something that was online/​on their menu. Their menu stated omakase for $ 42 a person which is a great deal so that’s why I made reservations here. Our waitress informed us that we could not sit at that table unless we got their super omakase at $ 180/​person which was not relayed to me when I made the reservations. She had to go to the manager and came back to say that we would be able to sit in the «special» dining area this one time only because of the communication issue. What made the service worse was that they took the nice plate mats away, and our stainless steel chopsticks and replaced them with a cheaper wooden kind which seemed very unnecessary. and our waitress’s attitude changed after she found out we wouldn’t be paying as much money for our food that evening.
All that aside, we were still looking forward to our sushi. We attempted to order the famous Tuna rib sushi (literally, the rib of a tuna fish with the sushi grade meat (toro aka fatty tuna) still attached but was informed that they sold out for the night. The issue that bothered us was that we saw two other tables get the special rib tuna and they were seated after us. we can only assume since we didn’t partake in the super omakase we weren’t privileged enough to get that fish.
They were however able to honor the omakase price online of $ 42 for the sashimi. I also got the following: grilled salmon belly, grilled baby octopus, and one chutorro hand roll. My sashimi omakase was the BEST and freshest sushi I have ever tasted. I don’t recall anything that was on my plate, but I got around 20 pieces of sashimi. The salmon belly you can pass, the octopus was spicy and tasty and the chutorro was good, but not as flavorful as I was expecting. Everyone else mentioned that their food was really good but the our experienced was slightly ruined by the terrible service.
TL;DR– service was crappy because of the miscommunication about the Omakase reservations. The sushi was the best I have ever had; super fresh and melts in your mouth.

Over priced for bad sushi and poorly done seaweed salad.
I ate in house a few years ago and it was an amazing meal. Ordered delivery from here tonight not only was it very expensive (which if the food/​quality was there I wouldn’t mind) but tasted old and just plain old bad. I would skip this place and move on to the next.

Good service and very fresh sushi that is not too pricey compared to other restaurants in the city. They have traditional rolls and special rolls.
Their sushi for two is worth its price and comes with miso soup. The Dragon Roll is really good as well.
I’ve eaten here several times and I believe it’s among the best sushi options in East Village.

Definitely one of the best sushi restaurants in New York that I’ve been to. Top quality sashimi, relaxed atmosphere and great service. I’ll be coming back here for sure.

The food is good. But again, it is NYC. You can always get better sashimi in my other places.
The service is what I want to focus on now. One of the worst services I have had. The staff has a lot to work on. None of them was attentive. No one paid attention to me. Is it because I was a single diner? Why can’t people get that it is extremely important to pay extra attention to solo diners? The girl spilled water all over, and I don’g understand how she did not even see that, just walked off.
I was anticipating a good meal as I have heard so much about the place and have seen the place always packed whenever I walked past. But again, just a major disappointment.

This place is a bit of a conundrum. It’s really somewhere between 3 – 4 stars, depending on how you order.
First, the décor is nice, and practical in nature, but certainly nothing worth oohing and aaahing about, which is fine because that’s not why you’re coming here.
The prices on the other hand are extremely notable at first blush: as others have mentioned, they are very high. In March of 2016 Kumamoto oysters were $ 4.50 per piece, which is about $.75 — $ 1.00 more than other very serious oyster places in the city. The Hamachi Collar appetizer is $ 18, which is perhaps $ 7 – 8 more than other very nice restaurants. An Asahi draft beer, maybe 12 ounces, was $ 8, which is high. «Ok,» I thought to myself, «we’re in for a bit of a beating.»
…but then, I saw the Omakase Sashimi menu was $ 42. At first I thought, «well, you must not get very much, based on the pricing of the rest of the menu.» I ordered it anyway… and I was surprised.
There was plenty of fish for my appetite (spoiler: I don’t gorge myself), the pieces were breathtakingly fresh, the variety was satisfying and I’d never even seen some of the species on offer. In short, afterwards, I was left feeling as though I’d really gotten my money’s worth. Hence the conundrum: some dishes seemed very expensive for what they are, and yet, the historically most decadent item on a sushi restaurant’s menu ended up being what I considered to be a really good value (note: I admit $ 42 is a lot to spend on an entrée, but given the quality of the fish and that this was a bit of a splurge I went for it).
I would go back again, and I would order in the same vein. I recommend you do as well. If you’re just looking for some rolls or a simple chirashi dish, you might find better value elsewhere.

The sushi here is fresh and delicious, but it’s overpriced. The «Sushi for 2» costs $ 52 and the menu says it comes with 16 pieces of sushi and 3 rolls. The sushi/​nigiri were fine but the rolls were disappointing. Each «roll» was half the size of what I normally receive at sushi restaurants (4 pieces rather than the usual 6 or 8). We were still hungry so we ordered the gyoza and fried oysters. I enjoyed the gyoza but the fried oysters had too way much breading.
The service was very slow. We had to flag down servers for more water, sake, and food. The food also took way too long to arrive.
While I enjoyed the freshness and the taste of the sushi here, the pricey menu items and slow service will keep me from coming back.

It’s not easy to find good quality sushi these days, But Kanoyama is one of the best. The service was on point and the atmosphere was perfect. Since I am all about atmosphere, this was a huge plus. It was very old-​school Japanese, clean, and spacious (which is hard to find in this part of the city). When we looked at the menu, we were concerned at first. It looks extremely overpriced. 7 dollars for a miso soup is always a bad sign. But, the sushi for two combo was 52 dollars which combined 16 pieces of sushi sashimi, including miso soup. It was An amazing deal, and worth every dime. Very fresh fish, great (and strong) sake, and the rock shrimp appetizer was incredible. I highly recommend this place for a nice date night. 5 stars!

Perhaps I dropped by on their off day. Kanoyama turned out to be a disappointment to me on multiple levels.
Disappointment #1 — I was not impressed with the sushi. It was decent, but not memorable. I felt some pieces were a bit tasteless and boring. They were missing the richness that you should expect in good quality sushi. It’s a shame that I found myself having the need to dip the fish into soy sauce & wasabi.
Disappointment #2 — As for the rice, it seemed under seasoned since I was struggling to taste even the slightest hint of vinegar. It’s an essential component in crafting good sushi but Kanoyama fell short of this.
Disappointment #3 — The nori on my tuna hand roll turned out to be soggy. A hand roll can’t be left sitting for a couple minutes since nori is very fragile. It should’ve arrive to us still crisp. Super fail.
Setting aside the imperfections, there were a couple of highlights for me. The sea eel was fantastic as well as the hotate. Overall, my visit wasn’t stellar. We made the mistake of ordering a la carte instead of going for their omakase set. However, we ordered most of the nigiri they had to offer and I wasn’t even impressed. I would probably return to give Kanoyama a second shot in the future.

Superbly priced omakase sushi ($ 39) and omakase sashimi ($ 42). This is a great place to start trying omakases or frequent often because it won’t break the bank, the fish is very fresh and the service is friendly.
Hubs and I started off with the Oyster uni ikura app. I thought I had had fresh oysters before but these were refreshing. The uni and ikura added another level of savory and umami, perfect complements and a great start.
Because we ordered the omakase, we then got miso soup and then got our platters. I don’t remember all the fish but the eel was fantastic. Interesting display on the platter but it was boneless, soft, flavorful, divine. We also ordered toro nigiri and the hubs ordered an uni. To end the meal, we were offered a choice of vanilla, red bean, or green tea ice cream. We both chose red bean and the ice cream was so milky and creamy, had red beans but didn’t really taste it much.
Kanoyama is a great place to eat sushi if you’re feeling for the real stuff made right.

Kanoyama USED to be my favorite place. I have been going this restaurant to get omakaze-​sushi box from the bar every month or 2. They have decent sushi and serving it with unique style. Itamae makes his sushi and give it to you with hand to hand, not on your dish. It feels little odd. My girl friend almost opened her mouth as she though he was feeding her. However, when you get used to it, it feels nice to get sushi to your hand. Sushi supposed to be eaten with hand anyway. I see many people complains about their quality but I believe their quality and freshness of sushi is above average. They used to give you 11 piece for $ 65 so I thought it is pretty good deal for it s price.
I got few complains to say thou. Which could be reason why I don’t go here anymore.
— Price for sushi box went up to $ 65 to $ 95.
$ 30 was increased yet amount of Sushi went up from 11 to 18 pieces. They don’t accept anyone who want only 11 pcs anymore. I mean.$ 30 is almost 50% of price and 18 pcs? I am sushi lover but 18 pcs seems too much for me. 11 pc was good enough for me.
— Sushi chef (Itamae) is not friendly to anyone who is not Japanese
This Itamae is truly speechless. He doens’t want to speak English at all. May be just «Hi-​Bye». I never understood what he said when he handed me a sushi. And I saw him talking to many of his Japanese customers. He acted so differently to them. Sometimes when he got too busy, he makes sake drinks to his Japanese customer and let his assistant to make our sushi. And those sushi were not in good shape. I don’t know why but it feels like he doesn’t care about you when you are not Japanese. I never got this feeling when I went to other sushi place such as Jewel Bako or Sushi Kura. They seem to have more experienced Itamae than this guy, they don’t speak good Eng too, but they know how to serve their customer professionally. This chef is not. He may knows how to make good sushi but doesn’t know how to treat his customer.
— Slow service — takes 2 hours to finish your 11 pc of meal.
Every time I go to location, I have to wait minimum 30 min for my first piece to come out. And then it takes 5 – 10 min between each pieces. I always made reservation minimum a week before I go there, never late for it yet always ended up waiting so much. It makes me so upset when I see another person gets their meal first even they were sited after me. I also saw that they were having better (pricey) meal than I am having. This restaurant has higher omakaze opt for $ 125 and 175 per person. Hey– I am also paying over $ 200 include drink, tax and tip. BUT YOU ARE TREATING ME LIKE I AM NO BODY.
My girlfriend and I loved their sushi but their careless customer service made us turned our step away from them. There are many many good Sushi place to go– This is NYC!

We had the sushi sashimi for two for $ 64, which had sashimi of Tuna, fluke, white fish, mackerel, octopus, white tuna, sushi is 2 pc of yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, mackerel again, tobiko and eel. They shouldn’t have duplicate of any fish — see mackerel. The fish was fresh and I had to ask them to fill up my tea. Also had the uni roll at $ 17, very little uni, not worth it. This does not make the cut for me. They offer omakase and other rolls, lots of variety.

I made a reservation for a weekday night three hours in advance, the hostess was very nice about getting us a table, we made it a bit earlier and the place was not packed. It’s one of the more notable sushi places in East Village, I usually prefer traditional places that don’t do too much fusion (no super crazy rolls or mayo over anything please), as soon as we entered, the décor and sushi presentation kinda made us settle for it.
The chefs all dressed in suits and that’s when my boyfriend told me that they must be Japanese. Usually I judge how busy a sushi place gets by the number of sushi chefs in one counter, and there were five. I suppose each was responsible for something unique.
We ordered an omakase and sushi & sashimi combo for 2, I have to say that the omakase price at $ 42 is definitely not bad! But the sushi was just not as good as we’d have liked honestly, just a bit off. My boyfriend’s brother said that the fish was warm, I didn’t like the rice too much, but overall the uni and ikura were great. We ordered the oysters with uni plus ikura on top, they were divine. I initially wanted to go to Hatsuhana for dinner because I think they simply serve better sushi, so I probably will not go back to Kanoyama.

I was in the mood for sushi and I Unilocaled for an option. I needed a minimum of 4 stars sushi and something near 7^st toward 1^st Ave. There are several great options in this area but I was very pleased with my choice.
Food: I appreciate when the simple sushi tastes flavorful (i.e. your companion tuna roll). I was pleased with the tuna cucumber roll since it didn’t need anything but I added a touch of soy sauce. The «sushi regular» actually had quality fish even if they weren’t my favorite kinds. I really like to try a bite of a piece and then decide if it needs anything so it was amazing (even though it should be a basic) to take a bite of a piece and then decide if it needed wasabi or soy or nothing without it falling apart.
Sake: extensive menu and the semi sweet was perfect for me. A can is whimsical and just enough.

I came here with a group of girlfriends for a birthday. We were a group of 5 so we got to try out a good amount food.
PROS:
–The uni oysters were delicious. Very very fresh.
–The Black Cod was cooked perfectly.
CONS:
–Tight space.
–The three rolls I tried seemed to be very dry.
–One option for desert.

Kanoyama in East Village is one of the more authentic Japanese restaurants with real sushi chef preparing your friend behind the bar. My boyfriend and I came here for early dinner on a Sunday around 6pm. We didn’t make a reservation but were seated right away. The place wasn’t packed when we got there, but by the time we left, it was starting to get full.
We had the Sushi for Two ($ 52), which came with 16 pieces of sushi and 3 rolls. Initially I worried that this was too much food, but the portions at Kanoyama are pretty small so I was still kind of hungry afterward: p
The day’s selection of sushi included tuna, yellowtail, salmon, tobiko, and eel. It usually includes shrimp and mackerel, but because neither of us like them, we got other fish (not sure what it was, but I liked them) instead. For the rolls, we had salmon, yellowtail, and salmon. The rolls here are outside in (seaweed outside). They are jumbo sized but only 4 pieces per roll. There was too much rice. The sushi itself was fresh, but again I don’t think the price justifies the quality.
The miso soup here is excellent — probably my favorite part of the meal!

I got the sushi and sashimi for two. I didn’t like that the waitress didn’t ask me what kind of roll I wanted so they gave me a california roll… sigh. The quality of the sushi and sashimi were mediocre but they were fresh. The salmon was probably the best cut. The liver that was included in this was interesting and quite good.
I also tried their shishito peppers which were tasty. They are nicely fried and cripsy. Could be salted a little more, though. But they gave a good amount of peppers!
If you come here, you have to know that you’re not here for top quality sushi. But if you want to eat a bunch of raw fish for a good price (and not getting tape worms), I would recommend here.