Kumo Sushi

Attempted to go here on a Saturday night with a group of 4. I say attempted, because despite making a reservation and confirming it earlier in the day we never made it in. We were told at the door that our reservation was moved to the East Village location. Someone from the restaurant allegedly called around 7pm about our 8:30 reservation, left no voicemail «because it was too busy» and didn’t confirm anything but assumed we would magically know to go across town. After much back and forth with the frazzled hostess we asked to be reimbursed for the cab across town. She called her boss, it was approved, and we were on our way to «the 1^st avenue location.» We’d been there before, so it wasn’t too bad even though we were starving and it was already 30 minutes after our reservation time.
Then, we got to the second location only to be turned down again by the bouncer because it was TOO BUSY. We explained that the owner instructed his hostess to tell us specifically to come here because they messed up our reservation. The bouncer knew nothing of this, wouldn’t let us inside to talk to the staff, and came back out a few minutes later to tell us we needed to go to THE OTHER 1^st AVE LOCATION, which has a DIFFERENT NAME. No one at the first restaurant told us there was more than one on 1^st Ave, that there was another name, or which one to go to.
It was such a mess, and the only reason I’m even giving two stars is because we were eventually compensated for the cab fare across town. Realistically we should have been comped something else for having to go to three different locations before finally getting to sit down and eat, an hour after our reservation time. There were no apologies, no attempts to figure out a solution until it was clear we weren’t going away without an answer, and they made it seem like it was somehow our fault.
Look, I’ve been to this place before. I’m not expecting fine dining and world class service, but I am expecting basic competence, which I guess isn’t included in the AYCE package.

You know your never one to be pleased if you are criticizing an all you can eat joints deal via a Groupon you got that provides an even bigger discount on an already pretty nuts value. Sans Groupon its $ 37 for unlimited sushi, beer and sake. Is the sake top shelf? No. Is it probably made in the back of the house moon shine status? Yes. Is the sushi to die for? No. Is it edible? Yes actually found some pretty fresh, some not the hard. Did it take me back to my college days? Yes, frat status atmosphere but its fun to be a part of. Summary its a great value and is what it is. If your the type of person that complains you don’t get Crystal at your $ 25 all you can drink brunch (see 1 star reviews here) than you’ll find a way to complain.
Worth the experience and value.

I came here for a Groupon deal ($ 26/​voucher) for 2 hours of unlimited sushi and 3 drinks (draft beer, sake, house wine). I came here on a Thursday night and there were only 2 or 3 tables with customers so it wasn’t too busy. I’m sure on Friday and Saturday evenings it can get packed and rowdy since their unlimited sushi/​sake deal seems pretty popular. A really cool thing Kumo has is a tablet you get that you can use to order your sushi and drinks which is a big positive so you don’t have to keep calling over the waiter/​waitress to place your orders. It would be great if other AYCE sushi spots adopt this because that would save so much time on ordering.
Food/​Drinks:
Solid sushi for an all-​you-​can eat place. I ordered my standard rolls (spicy salmon, spicy tuna, sweet potato rolls) and a bunch of other specialty rolls. Nothing really stood out per say, but it satisfied my sushi craving. The deal also lets you order other things on the menu so I went with the chicken and pork Katsu which both came out crispy and decently flavored. The seafood salad was pretty good, too. Unfortunately you can’t order sashimi so I had to order a bunch of sushi rolls with the fish slices on top. In general, I thought the food came out in a reasonable amount of time and didn’t feel like I needed to rush in the 2 hours allotted for the deal.
The standout for me with this Groupon deal was the size of the sake you get per drink order. You can order hot or cold sake and I thought you would only get a tiny shot glass or small glss worth of sake. To my surprise, it comes in a carafe which has got to hold at least 3 – 4 shots of sake!
Setting:
It’s a narrow restaurant but there were plenty of tables that you could easily combine for large parties. The bathroom was kept clean but that could also be due to the lack of customers that evening.
Overall, Kumo is a solid AYCE sushi restaurant that has decent sushi and is conveniently located. The tablet they give you to place your orders is a cool perk!