Sun Cafe

** Be aware management has changed, quality has hit the floor**
If I could give this restaurant less than 1 star I would. I should have known by the greasy smell that wafted in my door as I brought the food inside.
I eat sushi at least once a week for lunch at my office in Chelsea. I just moved downtown to the financial District and decided to give this place a try. I’m not a picky eater and would rather finish a plate of mediocre food than throw it away, but I had no choice here. This was terrible. Not to mention the only hot food I ordered was cold. I asked for a refund, but the restaurant did not appease. Safe to say I would not recommend this place.

Best chicken teriyaki I’ve ever had! Could use a bit more salmon in the salmon teriyaki, but maybe I’m complaining because I want more deliciousness. The miso soup? Exceptional. I’m not a sushi person, but I had a spicy tuna roll off the plate of a friend… and it was amazing! Never disappointed by this place.

ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE — DO NOT COME HERE!
It’s a new owner now. They are just waiting for their lease to end that is why you can tell they don’t five a f*** about the place anymore. If you come here, this is what you will experience:
1. They don’t even use ventilation to get rid of the oil or stench. Your eyes start to burn from the smoke from the kitchen as you walk in. By the time I left, I could hardly see bc I was squinting the whole time.
2. You leave with your hair and clothes smelling like shrimp tempura. I had a meeting after lunch and I felt so sorry for my coworker who had to sit next to me.
3. There is no SOAP in the bathroom — absolutely gross for a place that sells RAW fish. I wonder how the sushi chef washes his hands after he pees with HIS HANDS.
4. No paper in the bathroom to wipe your hand.
5. There are gaps in the rolls where there should be FISH! And the rolls are much much smaller than before.
6. And they have no order in when they serve their customers. Random people get their orders first or last.
Absolutely expensive compared with all the whole food goodie lunch joints in the neighborhood. Come in -$ 9 for measly 2 small rolls? I can get a huge tray of food at Chipotle for that price or a huge falafel sandwich at ther corner joint — with change left over.

I had a great experience with this restaurant for lunch. I ordered online for delivery at our office and we loved everything. The lunch special was delicious and under $ 10!

AVOID: I’m currently suffering from 3 days of food poisoning from this place! I’ve been living in this area for more than half a year but just discovered it a few days ago after joining the yoga studio nearby. I was so happy to discover a decent sushi place in the area as most of you know, FiDi area lacks in good sushi. However, this place gave me major food poisoning three days in a row! Something fishy about their fish!
The first time I got take out: sashimi plate (the $ 9.50 one), Alaska roll, and seaweed salad. All was tasty, especially the sashimi — which also came with huge thick melt in your mouth pieces. But I knew the price was too good to be true. $ 9.50 for 12 pieces of sashimi?! Low and behold, I ended up on the toilet for an hour the following morning. I originally had thought it was from the Chipotle I had earlier in the day, so I didn’t think twice about it being the sushi until I ordered a few more things the next day via Seamless ($ 15 off woohoo) and again ordered the sashimi (really bad choice, I know) and salmon avocado salad. I ate the sashimi that day and saved the salad for the following day. So, now I’ve been having stomach flu for the past three days.
I definitely wouldn’t give this place another try. Like I said, something is fishy about their fish!

I order two rolls and soup by phone and pick up from here weekly. Fish is always fresh and prepared quickly. Reliable. Consistent. Good option for the City Hall area.

I used to frequent Sun Café when I worked in the area. Their lunch special is awesome — $ ⁹⁄₂ rolls or $ ¹²⁄₃ rolls with soup or salad. They offer bento boxes, etc. but I’ve only ever ordered sushi. The rolls come with 8 pieces instead of the standard 6! All my orders were to-​go though. I came back last week for my first sit down meal.
It was about 6:30 and the place was empty. I don’t imagine there is ever a full house for dinner since this is FiDi we’re talking about, but lunch time is always a mad house. Anyways, CG and I were starving and ordered 7 rolls. I ordered some standards — spicy tuna, spicy salmon, eel avocado plus some specials — yellowtail jalapeño, Mt. Fuji and two others that I don’t remember the names for. Nice presentation. Huge, fresh rolls that we devoured. The prices are a tad more than what I’m used to paying but since they offer more pieces, fine.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to come here but it is definitely a solid choice if you’re in the area and need a sushi fix.

Came here for lunch on Monday. Low quality sushi, but reasonably priced. Service was lackluster: I ordered Spicy White Tuna, Yellowtail w/​Cucumber, and Salmon w/​Avocado, I received Spicy White Tuna, Tuna with Cucumber, and Shrimp w/​Avocado. I informed the waitress. She replaced the Shrimp w/​Avocado with Salmon w/​Avocado, but did not give me Yellowtail. I was too hungry to have her fix the remaining mistake. Will not be returning. I seem to recall this place being better in the past. oh well.

Went to lunch today with my co worker. We were both looking forward to some Japanese. We were seated at an extremely unstable table that rocked back and forth like a rocking chair. I ordered beef teriyaki and my co worker ordered the maki b… The food took forever to come and there was barely anybody there. The presentation of my beef teriyaki was decent at best. The beef was over cooked & the vegetables were under cooked. My co workers sushi was not good at all. Seaweed was as chewy as a piece of gum and the ginger was that fake pink kind. The waitress brought us our check before we finished eating! How do u know we don’t want anything else?! No thank you after paying or leaving. Not coming back.

I ordered the two roll lunch special for takeout — salmon avocado and yellowtail cucumber. Fortunately there is a discount on
because the rolls were quite mediocre. There is a lot of great sushi in the area. Yes, the prices are better here than a lot of place is Tribeca and Fidi, but the two roll lunch special price is comparable to a few other places and even for the price I wouldn’t get sushi here again. The fish wasn’t very flavorful, the rice was cold and hard, and the roll that had avocado had a huge piece that overpowered the fish.

Came here for lunch and we got the lunch specials. 3 sushi rolls which were great (spicy California, shrimp tempura and peanut avocado).
The chicken teriyaki however was pretty bad. That couples with the stench of cat urine + the B food inspection grade made me very nervous.
Overall, a decent place. I’ll update if I get sick…
3 stars because the sushi was actually quite good. Service was good. Hoping the cat urine smell is only because the door is open and coming from outside.

Quiet & charming place if you’re looking for a real meal & not the buffets that offer tons of food, but nothing good nearby. The sushi is spot on at Sun Café & the staff is friendly and attentive.
Don’t come to people watch since you may have to watch your friend or the staff.
Sun café is underrated Sushi in a hurry.

I was Sun’s best customer for 7 years but I have fallen out of love with this place. Amy, the former waitress/​manager is gone, as is the service, class and my business. Our party of 6 went for dinner on a slow Wednesday night. The sake the waiter, Edwin, brought was a bit cold so we politely asked if we could have a warm one. He said OK, seemed cool with the request…
THEN HE BROUGHT THE SAKE CARAFE INTO THE BATHROOM!
We were all disgusted and mortified! We already ordered the food, should we leave? We didn’t know what to do! So when he brought the tainted sake back, we just left it there.
That is totally disgusting! There is no reason to ever bring food or beverages into the bathroom ever. I am so sad because this was my favorite sushi place in the whole city but I can never go back now after this experience.

Today was the 3^rd time I’ve had lunch at Sun Café (dine in, not delivery) and I have to say, although the sushi, chirashi, and rolls are consistently delicious (and fresh), the service is pretty poor.
The hostess and servers seriously treat you like crap — from the time you walk in the door, you’re treated as if you’re annoying them. They frequently forget items you ordered, it’s not uncommon for two separate servers to come by to take your order, and you wait forever for the check. It’s almost as if the minute they step away from your table they have a massive brain fart.
Aside from that, the lunch specials are a great value — skip the gyoza and shumai, but I highly recommend the chirashi, the avocado peanut roll and even the sweet potato tempura roll.
Just don’t take the poor service personally, don’t lose your cool and you should be fine.

I’ve been coming here since 2006, and really enjoy their Twin shrimp roll. Waiters are friendly, and very accommodating for requested seating.
Great lunch special too!

The service and quality of the food has been steadily declining in the past year. I used to come here once a month for lunch and was very happy, but as of late everything seems to be off.
The service is either too rushed or the opposite extreme and you can’t get anyone’s attention. The quality of the rolls is no longer good. Although you do have 8 pieces per roll, they are mostly rice and very limited on the other ingredients.
The last time I had lunch here was a few weeks ago and I took half of my food to go. When I opened the box later, all the pieces were just thrown in and they opened up, leaving me an unappetizing mess, and the restaurant also neglected to provide any eating utensils or chopsticks. This oversight is small, but really unpleasant.
I think after this experience I’m not coming back.

I have been here about 10 times roughly and overall the restaurant is good. I normally come for the Sushi 2 roll special and never disappoints.
The sushi tastes good and they are filling.
I recently tried their roti canai which I know they really arent known for. It definitely does not taste like the ones I get in the Malaysian restaurants, so I wouldnt recommend it if that is what you are expecting.
Its one of the better sushi places near my work location in the Financial District. I recommend.

I saw some sign outside about unlimited free sake. Hmm tempting. However, I was on break from jury duty in the area, so not a great idea.
Met a friend for lunch. Lunch specials are decent, but I wasn’t that pleased with my sushi. I had the 2 rolls + miso soup combo for $ 9. Went with the spicy salmon and spicy tuna. On the plus side, the rolls were HUGE. On the other hand, quality wasn’t the best. too much mayo, and I couldn’t really distinguish between the two. I mean they actually looked and tasted identical. Dining partner had the house udon and said it was good.
I don’t like feeling rushed. The waitress came over when my friend had just gotten here and asked if we were ready to order. No. He hadn’t even had a chance to look at the menu yet. I get it, higher volume means more $$ for you, but hovering around is kind of rude.

3 roll lunch special is so huge and worth the money but for sashimi, it really depends on your luck.
The make it 8-​cut for one roll which you’ll find only 6-​cut from other places. I could get full from 2 rolls. Spicy California (it’s really spicy), Shrimp Avocado and Spicy Tuna are so good.
Service is very friendly.
The restroom is always clean and toilet is so low that you don’t have to climb up.

This place has definitely gone downhill of late. A new employee charged with packing orders, although nice, has been leaving the standard accouterments out of my most recent orders. I can live without the little metal dipping tray, but my order of two sushi rolls today was utterly devoid of (the usual ~5 packets of) soy sauce, which I consider a vital component of the sushi consumption process. Soy sauce is also of historical import:
«This salty dipping sauce has historical significance. Its flavor reminds us of what sushi tasted like when the preparation was merely used as an act of conservation.»
«Soy Sauce or shoyu („shoi-​you“) is used to lightly flavor the sushi by pouring a small amount into a dipping dish or bowl.. .The popularity of soy sauce is not a new interest. Soy sauce was brought from the Far East, by Dutch merchant ships to the dining tables of European nobility in the sixteenth century.»
Unfortunately the absence of soy sauce wasn’t the only problem with my order. Instead of receiving the California roll I ordered, I was given a shrimp avocado roll. I’m not sure if there was an error in transmission or if they were trying to pull a fast one on me because they were out of Pollock and cucumber. Unlike a California roll whose triad of crisp and soft components come together to create a harmonious whole, texturally this shrimp avocado roll just did not work. I have also noticed inconsistencies in the sushi preparation, which leads me to believe that there has been a changing of the guards behind the sushi bar, and not for the better. It’s a shame that what was once a reliable standby can no longer deliver.

Un tout petit restaurant japonais coincé entre deux immeubles downtown à coté de ground zero qui vous propose de déjeuner ou diner à toutes heures de la journée. Les sushis sont délicieux, originaux et pas chers! Le petit plus: on peut s’asseoir comme des vrais japonais à des tables basses
Le petit plus qui se transforme en moins: vous pouvez emporter mais la qualité n’est vraiment pas la même ! La dernière que je suis passée pour emporter j’ai été vraiment déçue, mais allez y pour diner !