Takahachi Reviews

Casual place, but super delicious. Be prepared to wait for a table, but it's worth it! Spicy tuna tartare was incredible.

I enjoyed my visit to Takahachi this week. My dinner partner who is more of a sushi aficionado than I gave Takahachi her seal of approval. The food was fresh and the staff was welcoming & attentive. We arrived around 6:00pm. Only three tables were taken in the small location, although it was packed around the time that we left at a little after 8pm. Service was quick. It began to pick-up around 7pm. By arriving at the time that we did, we made it in time for the 'early bird special' from 5-7pm. The two of us ordered one special and an additional entree (seafood/vegetable tempura), both which we shared. The special included miso soup , salad (with ginger dressing), 9 piece sushi, 4 skewers (meat skewers and okra skewers), 4 small appetizers, and ice cream (we chose green tea). The tempura included items such as shrimp, squid, and sweet potato. There is an additional specials menu if the 'Early Bird' is not your thing. The specials menu is pretty extensive. The food came to our table in a steady flow. We did not have to wait for anything long. The food was very fresh and tasty. The tempura was crunchy, yet not oily. Our meal was affordable. We ate for under $43 total. Service came with a smile. You could tell they had regulars, because the staff seemed to always get hugs from patrons and promises of return. Takahachi is also family friendly. The staff went out of their way to accommodate families with small children. I appreciate that the menu, even with the additional specials menu, was not too overwhelming. The amount of items available was just enough to satisfy any palate. I would definitely return. Word of advice, keep a good eye out when looking for the restaurant because it is easy to miss on a dark rainy night. It is right above what looks like a club. Also, the space is a tight squeeze, but not hard to manage.

I am real good with this! Easier to get into however they are very busy! You stand a chance of eating there and having a food experience like heaven! FRESH FRESH sushi, great quality and same fish vendor as Nobu - for less money! Need I say more? They pay attention to you as a customer. We were visiting NYC, busy night, ate dinner there. Skipped a day and went back to Takahachi. The waiter we had before came over to our table and said, "Welcome back!!!!!" Blew our minds! Blue jeans, ski coat, nothing remarkable about us. Can not say enough about the food, what an experience! My husband actually ordered 2 orders, one after another of the vegetable roll. What??? My husband have a vegetable roll? I ordered it, asked him to taste it, he ordered one for him and then another one. Will ALWAYS go back here!

I've been there a couple of times and have never been disappointed. The place proposes a good mix of Sushi (like their appetizer sashimi, usually based on what they got during the day are really good) and other dishes like my definite favorite the grilled codfish, which is fantastic. Definitely a good value for your food in NYC. Service is not always the best, but it's NYC experience.

this is one of my most fave restaurants in new york. great japanese food with latino influences (eg, hamachi sashimi with jalapeno). great prices (even if you order lots and lots of sake like we always do), always crowded with people in the know. great attentive staff. i have eaten lots of sushi, all over (nyc, san fran, vancouver, sydney, tokyo) and this place is amazing. the crab dumplings and tempura shrimp will make you melt.

Consistently yummy- fresh food- great variety-solid service and fair prices -nice sake selection. One of the best deals is their early bird from 5-7 for $17. It includes soup, salad& dessert, assortmed kushiyaki,4 other compliments and sushi or sashimi. SO much food but fabulous! They are opened from 5-12 Sunday - Thursday and till 5:30 on Fri. and Sat. Depending on the size of our group, we try to go for an earlier seating to avoid the lines. Even, if you have to wait- it is always well worth it. Treat yourself to a couple of appetizers- I recommend their seared sliced tuna with black pepper and mustard sauce. They also have great specials. This place is very local and has a loyal following. You really need to look for it, as it is easy to miss. ENjoy!

I know that I have probably misspelled the word of Takahachi's most wonderful dish, and I sincerely apologize for disrespecting the ultimate flavor and taste of this rich, buttery, meal, but I have to say the 'Hamachi Kama' is one of the best foods I have had while in New York City! "Delicious..." "Spectacular..." Is what diners would say of this meal. It is only available in limited amounts, so I recommend getting there early to try some of this food. The sake is very good, too. Especially the Kurosawa, it was presented in a small wooden square cup, which added to the experience that Takahachi is. As opposed to the usual glass cup, Takahachi brings a unique dining experience along with it, too. Other appetizers finished out me and my partner's concept of dinner. It included, among other things, beef and asparagus skewers. The asparagus was roasted to dryness, but done so in a way that the asparagus was still tasty. The food was great, and the service was, too. Our server was patient in answering our questions about what ingredients were in which dish, and took the time to check with the chef to make sure our food was perfect. Takahachi has the appeal of a foodie, and its laid back atmosphere welcomes people in. Check it out, you will not be disappointed.

Cool east village place. Lively with the hustle and bustle.

Nice food at reasonable prices. The tofu steak & mushroom was bliss. Also loved the skewers - shrimp, fish cake, eggplant. Many skewers to choose from. Salad dressing so yummy! Hubby loved the eel dragon rolls & my tofu. Very fresh. Gets really busy so go early if you do not wish to wait. There is also an early bird special with a good selection that hubby had because we were there about 6pm. Its packed by 7pm midweek.

solid neighborhood sushi place, the sushi/sashimi special priced around $17 was a solid deal. popularity guarantees freshness of the fish.

Good value Sushi restaurant. Appetizers were also delicious.

Our favorite neighborhood place for Japanese food, Takahachi is always welcoming, always consistent and very very good- by that we mean super fresh and well prepared by a team of chefs that have been working together in harmony for many years. Try the kanuta maki appetizer, either a sushi or sashimi deluxe, any tempura, or any special and you will be very pleased.

Excellent Food, good menu and very creative, moderately priced, super long wait on a week night, their door policy was a complete mess and staff were not apologetic at all, service was also slow inside. Good portions , tasty fresh food

My husband and I ate at this restaurant last week and had an excellent experience. We sat at the bar and received excellent service throughout. The food was very good and great value. The head chef was very chatty which really made our evening. We would highly recommend a visit!

Having been to nearly every sushi joint in the city from the finest, to the lowliest, Takahachi takes the prize for best overall value. The only places I have been to with better quality ingredients will charge you three times the price. Be aware, this is not a fancy spot. It's almost a dive, and I mean that in the best way possible. Get there early since tables fill up quickly and the only way to reserve is in-person. Absolutely go for the baby yellowtail, the Otokayama sake, and be sure to order at least a few things off the specials menu.

A friend and I stumbled upon Takahachi when looking for a place to get dinner. We split edamame, peppers, and we both got a roll. Everything was fresh, and the quality of the sushi was exceptional. However, the rolls are a little pricy in comparison to other NYC sushi spots, Overall, I was pleased with the experience, but I would not necessarily seek out Takahachi again.

totally unimpressed.

This is my favorite Japanese Restaurant in Manhattan. I've had the sushi and cooked food here. The prices are reasonable and they do take out. Every time I go they are busy but service is very good. The Una Don is my fav. The sushi is fresh and prepared beautifully.

I came here thanks to a friend living locally. Apparently good and fresh sushi can be much more expensive in NY, so I take that $90, including 20% tips is a good deal. Waiting time without reservation on Friday night was 10 minutes. The food was abundant and delicious. Very fresh and tasty fish. Staff was reasonably kind and attentive considering that they work at very fast pace due to turning tables. Not good if you want a romantic or peaceful environment for dinner. But otherwise I loved it and recommend it!

Loved it! Try the Dragon roll. Another must try is the tuna sushi with jalapeno. We had the hot and cold sake with our meal (yes! we love Sake!). Just about everything on the menu is good - can't really go wrong with any choice. The staff is courteous and the service is prompt.

We live around 2 minutes away and we use to go for dinner about 2-3 a week 15 years back. Gala hi is the local favorite that never changed much, The daily special is a one A4 paper and some of it strictly seasonal. But you will know they are recycled menu partly if you are a regular after 20 years. The best is the fried flounder that you can even finish the crunchy bone. The sushi are dollar to dollar. The only thing I hope Mr. Takahachi will not put less on the plate by keeping the price low! The early bird special I had recently is a disaster. No more beef but hot dog..... The shrimp tempura still tasty but 2 pieces of vegetables missing. Still a low-cost good Japanese stable but the equality has dropped. Hope improvements come soon.

Five of us ate there last night. Great food, just loved the steamed crab dumplings and the seared duck. The udon is pretty good too as was the miso soup, often the measure of how much attention Japanese restaurants pay to their traditions. After all cutting up and serving raw products is not that hard, provided it’s fresh and handled well. Here you can have the bento box (if you really want to), or get things in batter, but why? The sashimi is excellent, and the sushi rolls come in a serving of six small pieces, enough to be an apertiser, with 2/3 plates being enough for a meal. There's other stuff too.The place offers both tables and sit at the bar, (but there’s no sushi train). There’s an extensive list of sake (although we didn’t indulge), beers and teas. Not the cheapest place in the Village, but certainly one of the best.

My son took me here for dinner and I can honestly say it is very fresh. The rolls were excellent. In times of COVID we sat on the street. Service was fine. The Chucka salad was composed of 4 different seaweeds which was a surprise but I enjoyed it.

Wow, everything's perfect. Excellent Japanese restaurant in the heart of the charming east village. Cool and informal atmosphere, staff of a unique kindness, appetizers and sushi (what I tried) spectacular. Overrecommended!

We ate great sushi and sashimi. Greatly recommended. We sat a the bar and seeing the cooks work is amazing

I have been going to this place since it first opened in the 80’s. Really enjoyed it. The restaurant has been sold to one of the chefs. Most of the staff appear to be different. The food is not the same. The sushi rice is not the same. Rolls fell apart. The veg tempura was soggy and lack of veg diversity. The veg skewers did not taste good. I was not the only one to notice. My wife also felt the food quality had diminished. This was the only nyc restaurant where I would wait for a table. Not no more.

Excellent! Great food and staff a neighborhood classic worth a weekly visit.

one of my favorite. intimate meal and smiles.

Cooked food is ok. Good atmosphere. Sashimi not so good.

Four of us went to see a show and were looking or dinner afterward. We walked over to Takahachi and got a table within a few minutes. Sushi was fresh and prices were reasonable. Would highly recommend if you are in the neighborhood and looking for a fun dinner option.

Our friends in NY really like this restaurant so we all went there for dinner on a Thursday evening. The place doesn't look like much from the outside, could easily have walked past it and not know there's a restaurant there. The dining room inside is also quite tight and small which seems to be kind of the norm for Japanese restaurants in NYC, although this is probably the most crowded I'd seen. Where we sat our table was about a hand's width from the table next to us. The atmosphere was not bad and since it's so busy and noisy with so much activity around you could sort of ignore the fact that you are practically dining with strangers at the same table. It doesn't take reservations so you'd just have to go and wait for a table, which was what we did, for about 20 minutes. The food was good, but not as outstanding as I'd expected, maybe due to the raised expectation, or that I didn't order the right dishes. Overall I'd say that you are better off with the sushi dishes, as that seem to be more of their specialty. I ordered a tempura shrimp appetizer and it was the most un-Japanese like food I'd ever had – more like popcorn shrimp and the heavy sweetish mayonnaise based sauce made it even worse. I found that actually inedible and couldn't finish it. My friend who ordered the salmon teriyaki plate had some issues with taste of the dish as well, but the two others who had the assorted sushi plates were quite happy with their selections. I'm rating this restaurant a 3 for the tight quarters and dishes I ordered, but if you don't mind the environment and stick with sushi the food could be a 4.

Friendly, attentive service. Solid sushi (although some bites are a bit on the large size for my mouth) with a few unique twists. It's a local favorite and is usually buzzing throughout the week.

not much different from most sushi places but def fun place and neighborhood.

The food was delicious and the quality was also top notch. We ordered 3 rolls and each was scrumptious and had its own unique taste and flavor.

I visited the restaurant on tues evening ,prior to leaving to fly back to London,I was accompanied by my daughter and friend who live in the East village. I loved the menu and yum yum yum 😋,delicious that’s all I can say !,, This was absolutely Fab You Lous. Fabulous !,,, cannot wait to return ,Service excellent ,and such a great atmosphere. Pauline

In the East Village, my friend & I found this little place in her "Not For Tourists" NYC guidebook. It was only a 5 minute wait for us, but for the others behind us, they had to wait for up to an hour. The sushi was extremely fresh and the atmosphere was cute and quaint. Service was great too. Would recommend to any and all.

I would have never found this place on my own, but I went with some locals. It was a little daunting waiting outside in the winter for a table inside, but once we obtained a table, I understood why this place was so popular. The fish/sushi was extremely fresh. I'm extremely picky when it comes to fresh sushi, so this is a huge compliment. Too gad they can't buy a larger place for everyone to enjoy their food. I'm sure they would still pack it out.

Staff are friendly and the place is very clean. Sushi is nice but the portions are small. We ordered some of the ‘big’ special rolls and they were rather small compared to other sushi bars. Reasonably priced.

My favorite sushi place of all-time (aside from that place in Tribeca that is super pricey and where I once ate roe with gold slivers). The rolls are great. The chirashi is bountiful.

I visited the Tribeca restaurant, at 145 Duane street. The ambiance is Japanese, and so are the sushi and sashimi items on the menu but if you venture into more sophisticated dishes you will find an americanised version of Japanese food with funny names and strange taste, I believe they should not try to convert nor translate Japanese food, it should be as simple as possible without many changes. Slow service, not coordinated, dishes come once in a while not all orders together. Will not come back.

The place was packed but we were seated promptly. We had the black cod appetizer and the tempura sushi, both amazingly made from fresh fish! The sushi sashimi combe was a great choice of fresh sashimi and the pink lady roll was a nice twist to the more traditional salmon avocado roll. Wonderful food! I would the sushi menu more than the noodles. But overall experience- WOW!

The dumplings were great, very juicy and tasty. The special roles, which vary weekly, are big and offer a nice variation from the standard maki roles. They were however a bit pricy.

good for inexpensive sushi or last minute dinner decision. healthier range of options besides sushi.

Cute little Japanese joint in the east village, its been there forever and its really a classic. The food is yummy and is traditional Japanese cuisine.

not for me :P

It was my first time at this restaurant and I was impressed by the quality of the food. We had a mix of sushi and sashimi, the fish was so fresh we ended up ordering a few more (yellowtail was the best)! We also had crab shumai and mushrooms for starters, they were delicious and light. The staff is very efficient and friendly. The restaurant is a bit small and they don't take reservations but we only had to wait 10 minutes to be seated on a Saturday night, which is great for East Village / Alphabet City standards (we were 3).

I used to love this place and go regularly for the past 13 years. It was like an East Village Nobu. Japanese with a subtle creative Latin American flare. But last night's visit was a huge disappointment and I think the whole operation has changed for the worse. The crowd was suburban and provincial (welcome to the new New York) and looked like they were revelling in their first sushi experience. All of my old faves somehow tasted different. Less fresh. No wow yum factor. The roll we ordered looked like it had been under a heat lamp. Maybe it had just been sitting at the sushi bar for 10 minutes. Everything just seemed ordinary, or even slightly less. Not just one dish. The whole experience. And why do sushi restaurants think it they have to have all Asian staff? Like i'm supposed to be impressed by the authenticity of the experience by having a Thai woman (as lovely as she is) serve me. Seems so 1950s. Anyway, too many other great sushi experiences in this city to take a chance on Takahachi. Sayonara, old friend.

Few Japanese restaurants have an authentic Japanese feel to me these days, but Takahachi had me feeling like I had just teleported into a lowkey family run sushi place in Kyoto. 7/5 for the ambiance. I have yet to find Sushi in East village that blows me away, so I was excited to try this place based off the ambiance alone. I STAN a good seaweed salad, but this one really missed. It was 4 different types of seaweed and you pour the dressing on yourself, idk it just really didn't do it for me. I hadn't been that let down since John Frusciante left the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2007. However, the sushi plate for 2 truly restored my hope for Takahachi. At $59, it was a great portion size and the fish was fresh. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the fish. The only miss on the plate was the shrimp nigiri, but I don't understand how people actually like shrimp nigiri. I just firmly believe it doesn't belong with pieces of QUALITY nigiri. Anyways, I WILL be back. My new goto sushi spot in EV. IG @jnov_ Tiktok @jnov__

It's always a good sign when a restaurant is heaving with locals. Takahachi on Avenue A in LES just north of East Houston is such a place. Couples, hipsters, families mix comfortably. The atmosphere is noisy and buzzing with action as the chefs prepare sushi, sashimi and home cooked popular Jspanese basics. The menu is limited but they do it well. Beware, they don't take bookings and it's not big, so be prepared for a wait. In our case, 45 minutes. But there were 7 of us in our party and once they got us in it was well worth it. I recommend the beef teriyaki and ribs. I recommend the (very large) glasses of clear sake (lots of different choices) which aren't like anything I've ever had before. Great for a fun night out with friends or family.

Sushi was fine, but nothing to rave about. However, the prices were great....4 of us ate and drank for about $130 (tax, tip incl.)..unheard of!

Fantastic authentic Japanese restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience at Takahachi. Excellent food, awesome service. Can only highly recommend the restaurant. Thank you for a great night.

The quality of the sushi here is very good. The sushi is so fresh and the price is reasonable. With the exception of the price it reminded me of eating sushi in Japan.

The place was recommended by one of my NY Japanese friends. We went there together. Fortunately we've got a table in no time just around 7:30PM. Afterwards several guests arrived and were waiting to be seated. Takahachi is located in a wall bay, so it's easy to miss from the street. Excellent service and food. I'm not big fun of sushi, but I appreciated the menu and the help from waitress to choose the right meal. Even our 13yo guest found something to grab, where she was not a big fun of sushi ether. The staff was running around the tables to satisfy everybody. Good service. Summary; If You are not in hurry and can wait it's worth it.