Yuzu

Came in for the $ 10 bento box. It had fried Japanese chicken which I had never had before with potato salad and a salmon roll. Not what I am used to at all when it comes to Japanese cuisine but it was delicious nonetheless. A pretty good meal for 10 bucks if you ask me.

Super expensive, but still delicious! The night my wife and I went, there was a live jazz band playing at the front, so it definitely added to the ambience of the restaurant. Servers were friendly and always interacted with a smile.

A wonderful surprise. I see some people complaining about the prices but this is not your typical seamless sushi. Yuzu is the real deal — Sushi chef and waitresses are all Japanese, not those Chinese or Thai sushi joints you usually find on UES. The fish is super fresh and reasonably priced. Will be back to Harlem again just for this place.

Pretty nice lunch specials. You can get a ton of food for $ 10. The sushi is good but the fried chicken is a little bland and greasy. Service is pretty quick at lunch time.

I was on the fence about coming here after reading all the inconsistent Unilocal reviews, but decided to give this place a go anyway. Stopped by for lunch on a weekday with my friends and got seated right away. We ordered chirashi bowls and were pleasantly surprised by the variety of fish they included and how fresh everything was. Portion sizes were also perfect and reasonable for the price ($ 15 each). The servers were pretty attentive and nice as well. Service was a bit slow though; took them a while to bring out the food and give us the check despite there being only two other tables at the time. All in all, a solid experience.
Final thoughts. Would not recommend coming here if you’re expecting some mind-​blowing sushi, cause this is not the place for that. But do come if you’re in Harlem, craving Japanese food, and looking for a convenient spot to grab food that is both reasonably priced + decent tasting.

What a great restaurant. We’ve been a couple of times and cannot stop talking about how great the food is here. I told all of our friends about it and look forward to returning soon.

The food here is really good, but three times now I’ve had very disappointing service experience. I called ahead to place an order rather than eating in because I was busy and when I went to pick up my order, they hadn’t even started making it yet! What is the point of me calling ahead so I can quickly pick up an order, when I’ll have to wait 10 – 15 minutes anyway? I don’t mean to sound like a brat, most days I enjoy my hour-​long lunch break with no rushing or stress, but one these days I was very busy and needed some food quickly.
There was another time I went into the restaurant and placed an order to pick up at 2 pm. When I can in at 2 pm, they didn’t start making the order yet and I had to wait almost 20 minutes. That is honestly unacceptable. The restaurant wasn’t crowded, there weren’t many people, and you guys had an hour to make one sushi roll! What could have possibly been the hold up?
After these experiences, I have to say you guys have lost my business. I like the food, but the service needs to be better than this.

Average. They rushed me out as soon as they could; didn’t even ask me if I wanted dessert — interesting.

Wow. So I live in area, decided to order n try instead of going to my usual UES spots.
2 Cali, 2 spicy tuna, 2 shrimp tempura 1 small order of chicken karaage (like few pieces of fried chicken wings) 68.18 $
10 $ FOR SPICY TUNA ROLL?! In HARLEM? Lol I must see this roll. Must have gold or diamond dust sprinkled on it.
Laughed and hung up. Anyways though.?

We came here the other night for a birthday dinner and did the omakase course. Everything was great — waitresses and sushi chefs were all very friendly and chatted to us about the fish and where it came from, etc. The food was good — not amazing Japanese considering the caliber of other sushi restaurants in New York, but good for the price and location.
Left satisfied — unfortunately, that wasn’t long lasting as within 2 hours both me and my dinner companion were doubled over with food poisoning. I’m sure their California rolls are great, but I’d lay off any raw fish and the omakase.

I was excited to try this restaurant after reading positive reviews. Coming in you get greeted by a nice waitress. I opted for the sushi bar with a friend of mine as I came for the sushi.
In terms of sushi, we chose to start with pieces of akami (lean tuna), himachi (yellowtail), aji (mackerel), and the root of this unfortunate dining experience — otoro (delicious fatty belly of a tuna). On receipt of my plate, I immediately questioned the quality of the otoro. The cut revealed major strands of sinew and it appeared a bit freezer burned. Freezing sushi is not a problem, Chef Yasuda does it, but it should be done properly. Not wanting to offend the chefs, I only pointed out the freezer burn and not the sinew.
This is where things went downhill for Yuzu in my perception. The chef took it personally, and said loudly eat it, if it’s freezer burn I’ll take it off your bill. I did not want to eat it, I know what I saw. He judged me, because I was in sweats and a cap. Not to get too food-​snobby, I’ve been to several Michelin sushi restaurants in NYC and more recently Japan. I know, from experience, you can get better otoro from the most inexpensive little sushi hut in the Tsukiji fish market. In terms of cut, marbling, and storage. He turned to his colleague, whispered some snide remark, and embellished in laughter. After the laughing, he stared me down and shook his head.
I entertained him and ate the otoro. To nitpick, it was served too cold. More apparently, two large unchewable pieces of sinew and a very non-​melt in your mouth experience which otoro should be. The rest of the sushi was pretty good except the ikura was too salty from the soy marinade. After mentioning the otoro again, he made sure the crowd heard that he was removing the otoro off my check. I just thought he was embarrassing himself. I’ve never seen this kind of arrogance amongst any sushi master. Turned off by this ordeal, I opted not to order more as I had planned. Leaving, I thanked the chefs as I normally would anywhere else. He chuckled, and gave a condescending thank you. Class act. He does have a nice mustache though.

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING. Don’t go here, there are much better places for the price.
My friend wanted to meet for Sushi AND wanted to check out Harlem since he had never been to this part of the city. I didn’t think they had any sushi in Harlem but went on Unilocal and found several options. I was very excited by the great reviews only later to realize that these people must have been paid to write them or haven’t eaten much sushi.
My friend had worked and lived in Tokyo for two years and I’ve been living and eating sushi in all the Boroughs for 25 years now.
One star for how friendly and attentive the staff was. (we were the only couple eating at the tables and there were only a few people at the bar) In other words the place was empty.
The other star is for the entertaining descriptions of the Sake, which was very good.
We started off with the delicious Lotus Root and Gindara (grilled black Cod)
All downhill from there.
My O Toro was almost not edible. Chewy, grisley, with a sand paper texture. Frozen way too long!
I had the rainbow roll which was just the worst I had ever had.
My friend had the Omakase Sushi Set. It was very sad looking and we both said nothing to each other about the food until we left the restaurant.
This is the first time I have left a sushi restaurant hungry and needing to eat when I got home. Other than the appetizer, the portions were very small compared to other places I have eaten. Usually I am stuffed after an appetizer and a «special» roll.
Oh Harlem, you disappoint me again! I will continue to head downtown for my dining experiences.

I’ve been there last week. I didn’t think there is nice place, but we just wanted to eat Japanese food around my house in Harlem.
In Manhattan, there is tons of sushi restaurants, but mostly Chinese or Spanish or super expensive places.
However this YUZU was amazing, chefs are Japanese, their works are professional and their food were everything delicious! I and my friend were really surprised! Really high quality. Completely better than JADO sushi in Harlem.
I’m worried about this place is going to be famous. I want to keep there in my secret.

This was a delicious place for a sushi meal. Located on a busy Lenox ave.
Ordered the dish that gave us a sample of all the best pieces of sushi. All the pieces tasted fresh and well crafted. The starters are surprising good. The roots tasted great. The miso soup had some veggies in it which gave it good bite.
Service was quick and responsive. The ambiance was a dimmed lit «let’s get to know each other» type vibe.
Overall: will return if I’m ever in Harlem looking for some sushi.

Relatively new, opened 5 months ago. Great tasting sashimi, their seafood selection is so delicious. We shared a yuzu plate, and got to taste several different types of fish, tuna, eel, salmon etc. But these plates are not meant to be shared, they ended up having to cut up each sushi for us, but it’s okay because we weren’t that hungry.
Their tea is also delicious and complimentary.
I would come back to satisfy my sushi cravings! Very clean, friendly and well-​prepared. The only downfall is the sushi rice doesn’t taste right or authentic, but that’s how most sushi is served in America I guess.

Had the sushi omakase:
Fluke
Amberjack
Tachio/​Sewer fish/​Barracuda
Aji (Excellent! best course of the night)
Jumbo sweet shrimp
Jumbo sea scallop
Big eyed snapper
O-​toro fatty tuna
Ikura
Uni (Santa Barbara)
Tuna
—
Real good sushi for uptown. But when you have to qualify «for uptown,» and there is great world-​class sushi for the same price or less a subway ride away, it’s really too bad… It’s great to have real sushi in Harlem — a big (raw) fish in a small pond — but lackluster in the greater ocean of Manhattan.

I was craving sushi and living in West Harlem the choices for quality sushi are slim. I debated between hitting up my favorite UWS sushi spot that is both affordable and great quality but while looking to see what sushi options were nearby I saw the reviews for Yuzu and decided to check then out since it was a rare night that I was actually home before 10.
First of all the location is great, a little inconvenient for me – I have to take the one downtown and then take the ²⁄₃ uptown unless I want to walk 30min crosstown – but we’ll worth it. It’s on Lenox a block up from Red Rooster so if you want to go on a weekend night you cane definitely plan your night in the area.
It was a Tuesday night and there was flamenco going on in one restaurant, a salsa band at Red Rooster, and live music at Yuzu.
The décor is very clean, and so is the restaurant which is definitely reassuring when you’re going to be investing raw fish. The service is polite and accommodating. I came in solo at about 9:30 an hour before closing so there weren’t many people there, I sat at the bar.
The menu is pretty small so if you are a picky eater this might not be the place for you. They have traditional rolls, contemporary rolls, signature rolls (which are pretty typical), and then a modest selection for sushi/​sashimi and hot dishes. It’s definitely much more of a traditional sushi bar.
I got a Sapporo, the yellowtail and scallion, and salmon rolls, and the ambacore and lean tuna sashimi. The rolls were fairly small for the price (10 each) and the seaweed didn’t go all the way around the roll, so they came apart a bit when you picked them up but they were delicious.
The sashimi was good but most notably it was beautifully plated. I almost didn’t want to eat it because it was really pretty.
It came out to almost 50 with tax and tip which is definitely not cheap. They do have a couple sushi deals so I’d probably go for one of those if I’m back.
I’m not sure if I be back – my favorite UWS spot is closer, easier for me to get to, and cheaper for the same quality – but I’d definitely recommend it or go if I was in the area and wanted sushi. All in all it was a good experience and I left full and very content.

Let’s talk about quality. Here’s a sushi chef (Hayashi-​san) who has been making quality sushi for decades. He will not compromise on the quality of his ingredients or the presentation of his art. I revere this man tremendously. His dedication and skills are exemplary.
Let’s talk about sushi. What, aside from exceptionally fresh fish flown in daily from Japan, makes it great? Balance, seasoning, presentation? Yuzu takes the cake on every measure. Where else in Manhattan can you find this level of expertly crafted sushi? I dare you to compare Yuzu against the pillars of New York sushi (Yasuda, 15 East, Azabu) and tell me that Yuzu does not at least hold its own, if not take the top spot.
Then let’s talk about value. This is the one «budget» sushi restaurant where you can get high end Tokyo quality sushi for a price that won’t break the bank.
Harlem never had it so good…
We will be back, hungry, ready for more.

Let me start by stating that I have an unhealthy obsession with Yuzu. This newcomer to Harlem fills the major gap of good sushi.
Their food is top class fish excellently prepared and their service is fantastic. I highly recommend the scallop sashimi!

After having lunch in Chinatown, I felt like eating good Sushi. As there are some Sushi places in Harlem, I decided to go to the one with best scoring. You can check the menu or make a reservation on their website.
It’s located in central Harlem, and the Chef is Tomoyuki Hayashi, one recognized Chef by Sushi lovers here, as there were some people coming there because of him.
I wanted to tried different Sushi dishes, but I didn’t want to choose them one by one. As they have Sushi dinner courses, I decided to stick with a Omakase Sushi Set.
It began with a starter, I was really freaking out from the beginning, the Sushi melt down in my mouth, it was delicious, but it was only the first dish of the set.
I sat at the bar, next to the Chef, watching him preparing the Sushi pieces, very meticulously and with love. As soon as he finishes, he put it on the plate and then explained the Sushi piece. I’ve to admit it, I’ve never tried Sushi as good as this, each piece was a masterpiece. The Sushi pieces are chosen by him and are subjected to the fish they have that day.
The ingredients were very fresh, as more as I have more pieces the more I was delighted with the Sushi pieces, and having him very closely preparing them were worth it.
After some Sushi pieces, he prepared a delicious tuna roll, and as the last one, I had a Miso soup, very tasty and Tofu pieces were pretty good too.
Chefs and waiters were very fast and kind, the site was a bit intimate, with light lower than usual, but the atmosphere was incredible.
They have also take away to order and take them.
My conclusion, if you enjoy Sushi and you are in New York you must drop by here, I’ll do it again.