Sasabune Express

The fish here is so fresh, they have a short menu its mainly omakase but you can order from the menu as well. It smelled fishy in the restaurant and its a little runned down but food is good. Sushi rice is warm. They bring the sushi piece by pc which is nice and they don’t accept tips. They def need to improve the veggie sushi, they only have one roll: cucumber avocado, and it tasted like more like fish then the sashimi for some reason. Would recommend getting one of the options a, b on the menu. This small place def needs some reno.

It’s a five star sushi spot with the cheapest prices I’ve ever experienced for this high quality of fish. This is for sure the best around the upper east for the price. Order the combination b. Also albacore belly sashimi is a must. And the salmon is unlike most and Scottish instead of Alaskan and you can taste the difference and you’ll keep wanting more. Favorite sushi joint on the upper east hands down!

This place is a hidden gem. The food is so fresh and delicious. This is not your typical sushi spot where they charge you 15 $ for fancy rolls that all end up tasting the same. No, this place thrives on it’s simplicity. The staff is incredibly courteous and the small space atmosphere is cozy. I came here with my fiancé, but would totally come back alone with a book.

Take out from this restaurant is incredibly slow — call ahead or be prepared for a 45 min or so wait even on weeknight. Also raised prices recently. No longer a good value.

Amazing. Sat at the bar service was excellent food was outstanding. Loved the flavors and the presentation. Ambience is … Interesting but good — I think there is elevator music playing … But the sushi is fantastic

Extremely fresh fish. Limited menu, limited seating, limited staff, big flavor! You come here to get simple and clean raw fish. Very good, the warm rice was a first for me but I would do it again.
Enjoyed the miso soup, salad was a sesame oil dressing not ginger.
Had tuna and scallop — extremely fresh. Don’t be thrown off by the Hispanic sushi chef behind the counter, he has he job down pat. Not only enjoys what he is doing, wants you to enjoy his product as well.
Will have to try the non-​express original spot.

I’ve always been interested in trying Sasabune on the upper east side, just haven’t gotten around to it.
I wouldn’t say I’m a purist as the original Sasabune caters to. When the express opened up with a more open menu I was excited to give it a go. The menu is pricey for a small sushi place, but this was to be expected going off the namesake and the area.
I figured I’d wait for a special event to go try Sasabune Express. I had one and took my lady and friend out for lunch.
The lady ordered a Don Buri with tuna and salmon roe, I ordered the Don Buri with Spicy Salmon and Eel. We both opted for the salad as our side. My friend ordered ala carte rolls Blue crab, shrimp, and? Lol he didn’t remember. He requested Spicy mayo on the side but we had to request it a second time. (not a big deal but details are where it counts right?)
First our salads didn’t have the usual ginger dressing, instead what we got was iceberg lettuce with a couple of tomatoes and a soy sauce and vinegar dressing, this is something I find at the knock off Japanese/​Fusion restaurants. Not horrible just not to our expectations.
My lady said she enjoyed her Don Buri. As for mine it was tasty and the presentation was fine.
My friend didn’t seem amazed at all, but didn’t give specifics as to why.
It is quiet in the small restaurant, and feels a little sad to me.
Total cost with tip and beer for $ 81.
Now it’s time for comparison, one of my favorite places for sushi is Iroha, which is also a izakaya (side dishes and more). The energy is better, the value is better. Admittedly it is a larger place in a busier area but still the morale at Sasabune Express leaves a lot to be desired.
Overall the sushi at Sasabune is good, but the value and energy are not something I would return for.

This is a good, convenient sushi option but keep in mind it is ultra casual and an «express» sushi joint, thus, it’s 4 stars at what it does. It’d be lower to a sushi connoisseur judging it against the like of the Yasuda’s and Ichimura’s of the city, of course.
First off, this is very much a hole in the wall type of location. There was some litter on the street nearby, and you’re basically next to a major underpass so not exactly scenic.
The positives:
— Service is friendly and cheerful, in fact, it’s quite a bit friendlier than at Sasabune UES
— The fish is good, and some pieces even very good (such as their specials of the day)
— The rice is tasty, especially if you’re into warm sushi rice which is the Sasabune hallmark
— Blue crab is admittedly tasty and the same recipe, AFAIK, as the namesake uptown
— Same cute little plates as Sasabune
— Pacing is surprisingly well thought out; I had the sashimi deluxe, which was served in two courses, followed by a few pieces of special nigiri from the day, including an albacore tuna belly to round out the experience
The cons:
— Fake wasabi, lower grade ginger, lower grade ikura, no uni, no very fatty tuna (sometimes they have specials but not all the time)
— The presentation, already somewhat haphazard at Sasabune, is even lower quality
— The servers, while pleasant, are not as prompt to remove dishes
— One of the sushi chefs may have been in training, as he struggled with some simple requests, such as hosomaki rolls (nori on the outside, so smaller)
— Miso soup was pretty low grade
I enjoyed the sashimi special, and the scallop was very special. The other highlight was a fluke fin nigiri, which was warmed up and brought out the fresh flavors. A lot of the fish is local, which is their thing, and the Japan purists may blanche at that thought, however, it does give Sasabune Express’s (and its namesake restaurant’s) fish a very bright, clean flavor.

I always pass by this place on my way home and it looked like a hole in the wall. I finally stepped in after work since I was craving some fresh sushi.
I got the sashimi assortment, blue crab stuffed squid (special), and a bonito nigiri. I really enjoyed the sashimi and it tasted so fresh and had a melt in your mouth texture.
The blue crab stuffed squid is a dish I would go back for. I’m a big crab fan and it tasted great with the squid which was cooked perfectly.
The last thing I’m going to rave about is the bowl of rice I got with the sashimi. It was soft and not very vinegary like most sushi places. That made it a nice complement to the fresh sushi because too much vinegar really overpower the sushi taste.
Now I have a convenient and quiet sushi spot to go!

Limited menu selection, limited seating butttttt the fish is super fresh & delicious!

Went here with my brother by his suggestion. Said it was crazy good sushi. The place itself was very hole in the wall, with soft music playing, and it was a nice refuge from the cold outside. The waiter was very polite, bowing to us and welcoming us, and we took our sushi to go.
This sushi is delicious. We got all tuna rolls (my brother loves tuna rolls) from the Party B option. It came with miso soup. Each roll is very high quality fish, and the rice doesn’t try to take center stage — this place is all about the fish. I was skeptical of this place based on the reviews, but they were not my experience at all. Also, I find rating a place poorly on its soy sauce (which is fine, by the way) is much like rating a place poorly on its ketchup. Really strange.

Fish quality is comparable to its uptown place which means its top notch, highest quality in town. Its an amazing bang for your buck when compared to most other sushi joints in town. Its a great little secret for now.

An interesting place. I hadn’t read the other reviews before having lunch there today and didn’t know it was associated with a bigger, better-​known sibling. For this reason, I was taken aback at first by the prices, expecting more of a hole-​in-​the-​wall experience. I think the word «Express» in the name got me thinking of Panda Express. The décor didn’t do much to dispel this expectation.
But it was obvious from the first bite that the sushi itself is special — super fresh and tender and thoughtfully prepared. Taste-​wise and presentation-​wise (no wasabe or ginger provided), I was reminded of Sushi Yasuda, which I see someone else mentioned here previously. It’s not a full dining experience like Yasuda and its peers. Instead it reminds me more of the old Sushi Nozawa in LA. The place looks like a casual neighborhood dive and is indeed too quiet. But the quality of what’s on the plate is excellent, and the joint would rate five stars if that were my only consideration.
Just remember — it’s not cheap if you’re expecting something run-​of-​the-​mill. But it’s pretty reasonable for what’s on tap. I had fluke, salmon, shrimp, tuna, yellowtail and scallop. All excellent.

Very good quality fish and very good alternative to the real sasabune which only has omakase and can sometimes be too filling.
At sasabune express you can pick different combinations or even choose a la carte and they even sometimes have specials — a lot of which you see in the sasabune omakase.
If you are looking for a chill casual setting (it is very quiet) and just want good quality fish — this is the right place.

Sasabune Express is a place you come to if you’re a fresh fish purist and you are unconcerned about atmosphere, variety, portion sizes, or convenience but a little concerned about prices. The menu is highly compacted, as is the restaurant space itself — the bare bones aesthetic probably means your money goes towards the food more than it does the dining experience.
I got myself a salmon and ikura don. Perhaps I’m too used to overly processed ikura, but the ikura here tasted almost bland because of its lack of brine. There was also not enough salmon to really go around the generous quantity of rice — could have used a more generous heaping of fish. But what little of the fish there was was good, and the rice itself was evidently carefully prepared too.
The quality doesn’t nearly make up for the otherwise mediocre dining experience in so many other aspects.

Great food. The sea urchin sashimi was awesome, and the tuna was really fresh. Only minor problem is that it is so so so eerily quiet, as other reviewers have noticed.

Disappointing. I had high hopes that this would be a good addition to my neighborhood dining options. The selection of fish was extremely limited, more indicative of a Chinese run «Japanese» restaurant with barely the basics. The portion was tiny. The tuna roll tasted a bit like Tuna fish from a can. The sushi rice was maybe not sushi rice. The venue had virtually no atmosphere which could be fixed with some soft music so as not to overwhelm the tiny sliver of space.
On the plus side the waitress was very pleasant. And other than the roll the balance of fish was good.
I think they could turn it around with addressing these basic issues and it would be worth the price.

I had Sashimi and California rolls here… Excellent taste! Really good!
My only comment why I I’m only giving 3 stars it is because my Tuna and Salmon Sashimi looked like Bacon… Very small and thinly sliced for $ 4 each (2 pcs per serving). The waitress is very knowledgable and nice tho. I agree with the others too that the place is soo quiet and just plain sit and eat.

How often are you the ONLY people in a restaurant during prime dinner time in NYC? Pretty sweet. EXCEPT, it was absurdly quiet in this place, and there was no music playing — at all — so I’m pretty sure that the waitress and cooks heard our entire conversation. You know that feeling you get for being the jerkface who is munching on popcorn really loudly during the sad and quiet part of a movie? I felt like I should have been whispering the entire time we were eating. Aaaawkward. They should really play some music, even if its low volume and soothing tunes. That said, I could see this being a great place if you’re just looking to eat a roll or two on your own and read a book or something.
Great, friendly, fast service, and delicious sushi! Seriously, best California roll I think I’ve ever eaten. They do have sake as well ($ 9 for a large caraffe). Prices were a little more than I was anticipating, and I think that they have gone up since someone posted the menu here on Unilocal.Basic rolls were $ 7 and not $ 6. Still, not too shabby, but I’d say it’s definitely more of a double dollar sign place (unless you really think you’re just going to eat one roll — who does that?!).

I’m Japanese, so you have to trust me on these things: this place is pretty freaking good for the prices.
Though it is not as good as one of my favorite sushi places in all the world: Ajishin in Novi, MI (if you’re in the area, check it out. It’s seriously amazing).
Yea, the ambiance is lacking. And yea, the silence is super awkward. But who cares? Good quality sushi for under $ 30 bucks? I blow that much on mediocre take out sushi from «asian» restaurants (you know, the places that have like 5 kinds of asian cuisines, and mysteriously also have like, chicken fingers or something weird?).
Japanese girl says give it a go.