Tenzan

Pleasant place, especially to dine outside. My wife an I had the lunch Sushi special and they were fine. Nothing exceptional. Will probably try again.

Your typical «not really Japanese» Japanese restaurant, which is commonplace in our lives now. Every dish looks different than I had ever seen in Japan. Hijiki salad had a myriad of additional ingredients including lots of edamame. It was fine. Futomaki roll was small and peculiar looking, but it was OK. What the hell is peanut avocado roll? It’s bizarre. They have a sad looking assembly mass market line and don’t come in for the atmosphere or smell. You can do worse. A place like Haru, for example, is not too far away on Amsterdam and I feel it’s overpriced, considering that it seems on par with this establishment. Tenzan is more affordable for sure and that’s why it isn’t entirely a bad choice. It’s just «different»… I rarely frequent Japanese restaurants these days, as well as Mexican. I am losing faith in both.

My worst experience in a New York City restaurant, hands down. Nothing special until the server set down the dish of tempura sauce pretty much where my plate would be. I moved it out of the way, thinking I was doing him a favor. He moved it back, then promptly put my plate down and overturned the dish of tempura sauce and spilled it on me. I got out of my chair, used a napkin to wipe the sauce from my trousers, and then started to wipe off the table, since he hadn’t. He then said, «it didn’t spill on your pants». I thought he was confused and said that I had already wiped the sauce off of my pants. Then I realized that I’d missed some and showed him the spot. He responded, «you put that there with your chop sticks». I was dumbfounded — he spilled the sauce on me and then claimed that I had put sauce on my pants myself! I really couldn’t believe that he’d accused me of that and said that I wanted to speak with the manager. He announced, «I’m the manager». We left without eating.
I’m at a loss to think of what motivated him to accuse me of sabotaging my own pants after he’d spilled the sauce on them. The only thing he accomplished by that was to make sure I would never ever return to this restaurant.
By the way, the food isn’t so good, either. I regret that I can’t give zero stars: don’t be misled by my one star. One star implies that a place is good at something.

Very fresh. Ordered the deluxe sashimi platter which included 15 pieces. The portions were good sized and the presentation appealing. The selection came with either soup or salad (I had miso soup which was good but typical.). We sat at the bar section which got pretty loud once the restaurant filled up. They do have outdoor seating when the weather is warm.

One of the worst meals I’ve had in NYC in a long time. Service was dreadful and the food even worse– warm beers, tasteless Teriyaki and fish that hurt the stomach.
Décor and smell inside was atrocious.

Vegetarian focused review:
Discovered this place years ago when it first opened. It was so tiny. We would have to wait to get a table. I think they used to be better when they were smaller. Although they are still good. Generous portions. Filled rolls.
My vegetarian husband fell in love with their peanut avocado rolls and something like 10 years later it is hands down his favorite peanut avocado roll anywhere. They use honey roasted peanuts and even non-​vegetarians will love it.
I haven’t had their sushi in a while but I got some vegetarian rolls today.
Peanut avocado. Still delicious.
Healthy roll. Good but hard to eat. Falls apart.
Sweet potato tempura roll. More delicious than other places. But supposed to have pineapple sauce that I didn’t taste. Idk if they forgot it or what.
They gave me lots of utensils, little paper sauce trays, even small plates and good thick napkins. So if you’re doing takeout and that matters…
Good solid sushi place. A big menu. Extra star for more vegetarian options than most places and for that delicious overly stuffed peanut avocado roll we can’t get enough of.

Very good portions. Fish is always fresh. Chicken teriyaki is awesome as well. Friendly staff and clean environment. Go to spot

My favorite place for sushi, especially for their sweet potato tempura roll, followed closely by their AAC (avocado asparagus cucumber) roll. Definitely sets them apart from your ordinary sushi place in that they are always extremely fresh and moist, and even when I order delivery the tempura is still crisp. They are quick with their delivery, always coming when they say they will, often before.

They’re doable when it comes to their regular sushi rolls, but I am so disgusted by the $ 5.50 per piece Uni. It looked dry and I was already wary, but opted to eat it anyway cause. starving, duh.
Well.
GROSS. NOT FRESH. And I had two pieces to make matters worse. If you’ve ever had bad Uni (literally Uni gone bad), then you’ll know what I’m talking about. I can’t believe I let myself eat the second one to see if it was just one piece, or both. I treated myself to two sushi rolls and two sewage water sushis today. Yay. hope I don’t poop my brains out later.

Ordered through Seamless. Took about 20ish minutes, fairly quick. The salad tasted weird even drenched in their mediocre ginger dressing, The combination teriyaki (beef, shrimp, chicken) was so-​so. Chix and beef were ok, shrimp was like rubber. Ill stick to my usual place, tastes better and cheaper.

Great value — a good spot for someone who is looking for a good balance between price and quality. The location is awesome for people watching.

There was so much wrong, that it was hard to decide where to begin.
Décor: The walls are covered the same tile as the floors, adding up to a slightly dingy institutional feel. The lighting was too bright to create a sense of intimacy, but too dim to read the menu without aid of iphone flashlights.
Service: The servers never seemed to remember what stage of the meal we were in, repeatedly reached across diners to clear extra items, in the middle of eating! They made no effort to answer questions. Once our food arrive we had to asked for every condiment, individually.
Food: Bland. The ingredients of the udon seemed to have been thrown together minutes before arriving at the table. There was no seasoning whatsoever, except for the plain chicken broth. Everything was unceremoniously plated. Our salad arrived as a icey pile of bland greens, with a pad of some very thick unrecognizable dressing, and an enormous amount of shredded, tasteless carrot on top. The tempura was greasy and tasteless.
Drink: None of the simple cocktails we ordered were made properly. The olives in the martini were so foul they couldn’t be eaten.
This place seemed to be one of the better ranked Japanese restaurants on the Upper West Side, but enough was wrong that I couldn’t help but think our experience wasn’t a fluke. Are Upper West Side restaurants just that bad?

Very adorable lunch special, so delicious and fresh. The sweet potato roll is amazing!

We ordered «shrimp» shumai which was made primarily with fake fish. When I complained, they said «that is the way it comes» (effectively admitting that they were using frozen pre-​made appetizers) and I «shouldn’t expect it should be like it is in a dim sum restaurant.» I also ordered sukiyaki which was mediocre (it contained broccoli which is not authentic at all and the beef in it was not seasoned at all). My wife said her shrimp tempura was good, though.
Won’t be eating there any time again soon. I don’t understand why there aren’t higher standards on the UWS.

This is a great little sushi place on the UWS near the AMNH.
The PROS:
–I love that they have trendy indoor seating for the young folks as well as casual outdoor seating if you have a little one (like we did).
–The service was fast and prompt.
–Sushi was relatively cheap for the upper west side… Which means you can order a lot!
The CONS:
–The sake should definitely have been served hotter. Luke warm sake was probably by design to get us to drink it quickly so we could order more.
–The portions are relatively small.
–There’s only one bathroom for both men and women to share. I know, I know I can’t really complain because at least they have a working (large, clean) bathroom, but this place it huge and there was ALWAYS a line for the bathroom.

We love Tenzan. My wife and I have been coming to this location ever since they opened with a lovely cut-​glass window and a much smaller overall space. Although the restaurant is much larger now, the service is still excellent and they still have the best sushi on the Upper West Side, IMHO.
Some of the starters: If you like salmon skin rolls, and if you like salad, you must try the salmon skin salad. It’s large, delicious, and a real bargain. This plus two rolls are plenty of food for me! The dressing has a bit of a kick, and I order it often. I frequently order the yellowtail vinaigrette. And the salmon tartar is delicious salmon chopped with a few crunchies and the same unique yummy dressing that comes on the salmon skin salad. The soups are great, the mango salad is very tasty. You should do well with any appetizer on the menu that sounds good to you!
While most of the dishes I like are made with raw fish (not the salmon skin), there is plenty of wonderful food at Tenzan for those who prefer cooked specialties. My brother enjoys the beef negimaki and orders it every time we bring him here. The gyoza (Japanese dumplings) are very good, though a bit oily. My wife and I like the veggie gyoza the best, and the dumpling sauce is perfect.
Tenzan on the Upper West Side is really a terrific neighborhood staple. If you’re planning on dining here during peak hours, especially on the weekend, make a reservation. You may still wait for a table, but it won’t be too long. I hope to see you here soon!

Jane and Tarzan. The story of J and T is portrayed as a «frame story» — a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story. Similarly, my experience at Tenzan, mirrored the narrative.
The overarching theme: sushi. And not just sushi, but «What’s the Best Sushi Place in UWS?» The details of the story: impeccable service, delicious, fresh sushi, ‘I wanted to sample all of their dishes.‘
The story within a story: «flashbacks.» Catching up with someone you haven’t seen in a really long time, laughing over inside jokes, enjoying the time shared together, sushi then, became the bridge toward that experience. Good sushi became the hook within the frame story.
It was Jane and Tarzan, whereby the focus was on the storytelling from the perspective of the diner.

Blech! This place is pretty awful. Don’t be fooled by the décor.
The cuts of sashimi were way too thick. With some pieces, I felt like I was eating rubber. The tuna also seemed still frozen.
The shumai are easily recognizable to anybody who’s patronized an Asian market: they’re from the frozen food aisle and completely unacceptable.
It feels like sushi dumbed down for white people who don’t know any better.

So, everybody wanted sushi so we found this spot nearby my daughter’s apartment on the Upper West Side. The service was good. The servers were quiet and subdued, but attentive, always coming by to fill a water glass. The food was just okay. I had crunchy maki, advertised as crunchy and spicy. Unfortunately, it was neither. It was however, a good value for the money. There was plenty of sushi at a reasonable price. Miso soup was standard fare. The shrimp tempura was just okay, as was the mango shrimp. The beef teriyaki, as well as the chicken Yaki Udon, were both found to be underseasoned. What I enjoyed most, was dining outside on the sidewalk as the weather was perfect. It was a real show viewing the constant parade of eccentric characters that make up the Upper West Side. In the future however, I will endeavor to search out a sushi place with a bit better quality of food

I love this place. Fresh food, great service and good atmosphere. The tvs at the bar area are great. And theres a great bar selection.

Achei o lugar muito agradável e limpo. A salada de entrada é uma delícia o problema é que o prato é pequeno para a proporção da salada. O sashimi é fresco porém o corte estava tão grosso, tive dificuldade de comer nunca vi sashimi cortado assim. Em compensação o spicy salmon estava incrível, acho que é um dos melhores que já comi. Não sei se pretendo voltar não brilhou meus olhos!