Sushi Seki Hell’s Kitchen

Great cocktail menu. Tried and loved the Yuzu. Two floors of sushi! And a bar on both floors!

My friends and I came here for dinner before catching a show on Broadway. We made a last minute reservation, had to call and make it a little later but had no trouble at all changing the time. The hostess checked out coats for us and then showed us to our table which was upstairs. They have really nice private dining rooms that seat about 6, they definitely look like something I’d want to try.
I ordered the miso soup to start and then my boyfriend and I shared a plate of sashimi. We had yellowtail, medium fatty tuna, king salmon, eel, and another one I can’t remember. They were all so fresh and delicious! Our waiter Frank was incredibly helpful answering all our questions, explaining the specials and giving recommendations. He mentioned that they just recently opened a few months ago and I’m very impressed with the place.
We mentioned how pleased we were with the service and they brought complimentary hot green tea! Which hit the spot since it was below 10 degrees that night.
Great job Sushi Seki! Will definitely be returning next time I’m in NYC!

Best sushi I ever tried. Very friendly staff. I never tried omakase before and the staff helped me understand what I was getting.

It was a disappointing dinner, and here is why.
I walked into this newly opened Japanese restaurant — well decorate, spacious, friendly staff, got its own Japanese sake and whiskey bar — looking to enjoy a good dinner, but it failed.
None of the dishes I tasted met my expectation:
Agedashi Tofu: it was too firm, there’s no air at all inside the fried tofu
Spicy scallop roll: there’s no scallop in it
Tempura roll: not well fried and the shrimp was tiny
Uni sushi: good, but it’s Uni, you can’t fail Uni
Miso cod: good fresh fish, but way too sweet
Sea bass: again good fish, but the black bean sauce messed up the dish, it was too salty
Tea: how can a Japanese restaurant not serve its traditional tea but rather have some tea list that charges you $ 7 for a cup of tea?
Overall, I might still give the restaurant a try, but this place is not anywhere near the level of 15 east, yasuda, morimoto, azabu, etc.

Great ambience. Newly renovated modern décor. It’s a duplex restaurant I had some friends that were very important to me visit and I needed to go to a place that would be memorable. This place did it. I was warmly greeted by the maître d Marco who was excellent and very welcoming. We were originally seated upstairs but requested to sit in the more lively downstairs and were quickly accommodated. I felt compelled to mention that since it’s the little things that count in high volume dining and for a busy Saturday night they delivered and did not dance around the subject. I haven’t had tempora for a while so I decided to get both the appetizer and entrée. They were both crispy and delicious. The drinks were mixed well and the desert was amazing. I had the crème Brule. I can’t prove it but the fact that It was green made it more appetizing. The staff’s approach was very attentive. I lost track of all the people who serviced us and thought it was a unique and effective technique. I want to give it five stars but since it is a sushi place and I did not have their sushi, I will withhold a single star until my next visit. Which will be soon because they have two of my favorite things; sushi in a great atmosphere all done with class and grace by the lovely management. Thanks guys.

I don’t usually write reviews, but I came here tonight and was greatly disappointed by the omakase. Last year I went to the original location on the UES and absolutely loved it (UES had an accident and was closed today) – not to sound cheesy, but each piece was truly a work of art, and I was amazed at how the chef used a variety of seemingly unrelated and, sometimes even questionable ingredients to concoct such a unique and distinct tasting experience for each course.
Granted, this time around, I indicated to the waitress that I was under a budget and couldn’t go all out (range was $ 80-​$ 230). But for about the same price as I had last year, this year’s omakase menu was very lacking. No sushi stood out to me – there was no piece that really struck me with a perfect balance of sauce, fish, and rice. In almost every single piece, there was something just not perfect, whether it was too much sauce or too much rice or very mediocre ingredient combinations. In many of the pieces there was a significant discrepancy in the temperature of the fish/​meat and the rice, creating a strange sensation mixing hot and cold together. Often times, the sushi looked almost sloppily put together – it seemed as if cuts were not made cleanly or the rice was falling apart. The pacing was erratic, too; sometimes pieces would come one after another in rapid succession, and then there would be a long hiatus, which felt very inconsistent. What was most disappointing was that it was Chef Seki himself making the sushi for us, which made me lose hope in gaining a better experience if I were to go again in the future.
And, even keeping on the cheaper side for omakase, it was still pretty pricey (~$ 120 per person after tax/​tip). Don’t know what happened, but I highly do not recommend the omakase, at least not at this location.

The 1^st ave location needed to close due to an accident and moved my reservation to the hell’s kitchen sushi bar. Based on multiple omakase experiences at the 1^st avenue location, i thought the quality of the food would be the same BUT WAS COMPLETELY DISAPPOINTED. While my date thought it was ‘ok’, the omakase was uninspired with no ‘wow’ moments… ‘ok’ doesn’t justify the price tag.
The space is beautiful but a la carte is the way to order here, too bad.

AMAZING! Highly recommend. Excellent service. Food was spot on. Go for it! Theater or not its a great choice. After I ordered Ikura the sushi chef recommended the Ikura Shoyu Zuke (house marinated version). SO good! Great to learn something new.

One word, ECTASY! EAT HERE!!! All was amazing from appetizers to dessert. The staff was also friendly and knowledgable. Very approachable! We will be back ASAP!

With the demise of the old Firebird joint in restaurant row, I was eager to see who would come and take over the copious amount of real estate left behind by the Russian stalwart.
In comes Sushi Seki. in all of its east side glory in the Theater District.
To be honest, I was a bit skeptical. Why open a new Japanese restaurant on a street that’s full of high level, established names (Sushi of Gari 46). new entrants (Saki Bar Hagi 46) and pretenders (Osha)? Clearly the owners feel there is demand for high-​quality Japanese food here, and for the most part Sushi Seki does not disappoint.
The new digs are a big departure from the days when we saw the ornate furnishings of the old Firebird restaurant that made diners think they were taking a trip back in time to the days when the Czar ruled Russia. Now it’s been totally overhauled with the sublime, neo-​Japanese décor that defines to many new restaurants. The overall experience — from the huge bar featuring their highly touted cocktails — to the spacious seats — to the simple/​clean sushi bar in the back — it all screams modern chic.
I decided to give the pre-​theater menu a try. For $ 42 dollars they offered a simple four course menu with a few choices for each part of the meal. I opted to start with the agedashi tofu, which featured two small pieces of finely fried tofu paired with some warm tempura sauce. It was tasty and simple.
I followed that up with the snow pea salad with house ginger dressing. This dish was fine and the fresh, crispy snow peas really paired well with the savory dressing. My only qualm was how the dish could have been better had the peas been mixed more with the dressing to accentuate the flavor, but this dish should suit those with light palates very well.
Since I was in the mood for protein, I opted for the beef teriyaki as my entrée. The quality of the meat was fine, but I was expecting a better cut. The meat was a bit more rubbery in texture than I expected and the sauce was also underwhelming. Given the type of dish it was. I was expecting the flavors to stand out more. In this case, it didn’t feel like the meat and sauce worked in harmony.
The meal wrapped up with my order of red bean panna cotta. I enjoyed this dish a lot as the sublime custard paired well with the rich red bean flavor. Again, this could have used a bit more red bean to help create more harmony between the milk and azuki flavors but for the most part it was delightful.
One theme seemed to resonate with me based on my initial experience. While the quality of the ingredients and the flavors were there — there seemed to be instances when the flavors didn’t jive completely and certain elements that should have been more robust or pronounced didn’t materialize.
The service here was polite but spotty. At times I had multiple come and ask me the same question. Other times I had to flag people for attention. It didn’t seem very even to me but given it’s a new restaurant these things may take time to shake out.
I will come back to try more of their menu (and sushi) on a future visit, but for now I still have to give the edge to Sushi of Gari 46 as the best Japanese joint on restaurant row. But I do think this place has a lot of potential to take the top spot if they work on some nuances.
PS — I did also get to try their tempura udon. It was good but not remarkable. The soup base was the best part of that dish … being light and mostly flavorful.

Went from being a very loyal customer to never coming back. Couldn’t get the order or service right on a 6+ dinner reservation. Disappointing.

What an amazing experience!
First off, the entire staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Everyone from the hostess, the sommelier, the mixologists, to the waiters catered to our every need and provided terrific suggestions.
The venue is stunning and can accommodate whatever mood you are looking for (cocktail bar, sushi bar, open space dining, private nooks, tea room, etc.).
The drinks were extremely well-​crafted and original, unlike any other cocktails we’ve ever tried. We had the Yuzu, Lychee, Sakura, Peach, and Matcha. They were all terrific! The mixologists were not only talented but incredibly knowledgeable, delivering each drink with a detailed explanation of its contents as well as techniques used for its preparation.
And then there’s the food… We ordered a selection of oysters, accompanied with a variety of wonderful pairings. We followed it up with several tapas, including the Washu-​Gyu beef and the scallops. Everything was delicious!
Highly recommend this place, whether for a few drinks or a long dinner. You won’t be disappointed! :)

Great service very average food. Expensive wine list, small portions and limited roll selection but very attentive staff. If we lived here I’m sure we could find better choices nearby for sushi. Disappointing.

Been going to the 1^st avenue location for years and always had a good to excellent omikase dining experience. With clients, I decided to try the 46^th St locale and left with huge regrets and and even bigger check. We did omikase for 4, 1 – 2 drinks each and 2 – 3 apps=$ 850!
Ok, so it was outrageously expensive, I could be ok with that IF the sushi wasn’t so dry, flavorless, uninspired, basic. Blech! It was a 4 course omikase with 4 pieces per course. Not a truly great piece in the mix and explained poorly by an uninspired and uncaring server.
Suffice to say I’ll pass on all Seki’s going forward. Since they expanded and are now a small chain, the quality has sunk faster than an anchor. Many better options in the city but it’s still sad to lose what was a good one. Bye Seki.

Wow, we are from Seattle and love our sushi. We heard this place was good and boy did it deliver. A little spendy but very good quality and the hand roll spicy scallops was AMAZING.

I’m going to start this review off by saying that I love all of the Seki restaurants. Their sushi is my favorite in NYC, hands down. Usually when I go, I eat at the sushi bar and get their sushi omakase. I try not to go too often because it’s not the cheapest sushi around, but it is definitely the best. My favorite appetizer is the magura avocado. I’m a big fan of how creative each sushi chef is with their rolls, from the salmon tomato roll (so so good) to their yellowtail jalapeño roll to the chopped eel and avocado roll, this place is just dynamite. I’ve only been to the midtown location once, but the sushi chef I had was awesome and just kept giving us piece after piece until we had to cut him off, we were bursting of delicious fresh fish. This place has a different vibe than the other two locations… it seems more upscale: there’s a cocktail bar downstairs and a sushi bar and private seating upstairs. It’s dangerous to have this place so close to where I live now because I will definitely be visiting much more than my wallet is okay with… but my stomach rules my world, so what can you do.

A gem on restaurant row, with elegant ambience and exquisite food. Sushi Seki recently opened but is definitely worth a try. The service is impeccable!

One of the best sake bar in the City is «hidden» on the 2^nd Floor. The sake selection was masterfully put together, and, will challenge even the most discerning aficionados.
The overall décor, attention to details and design are sure to get your attention as well.