If you are looking for a unique dining experience in New York, you gotta try the Ninja restaurant. I have heard from a couple of friends about this place and they always say, "I don't want to ruin the surprise. Just go and see how it is". After having a 3 hour dinner there, I do believe that you should go experience it for yourself and be pleasantly surprised. If you don't want to ruin the surprise, stop reading now and just make your reservation.
Before I got there, I did manage to find out that there are 2 entrances into the restaurant. The regular one and the dangerous one. We chose the dangerous one. Choose your path wisely!! Even the menus are cool! When our ninja (aka waiter) pulled it out, she does it really quickly with flair. Like a real ninja :)
There are a few choices of set menu items. My friend and I shared a Sasuke meal. It was $68 when I went last year. First, we had the appetizer, Batto Jitsu. It has tuna and beet in ginger sauce and a bowl of tuna confit with Sira-ae sauce. It definitely looks very cool! But... it wasn't that great to me. It's not a fair review though because I don't like beets.
Next we had spicy tuna roll and shrimp tempura roll. I like these! The spicy tuna didn't feel that spicy when I ate the first 2 pieces. Then, the heat started to kick in and by the fourth piece, my mouth was burning! I really like the little white balls on the outside. I think it's something like rice cake. It is crunchy and adds to the texture of the rolls.
This is one of the best fish dish I have ever had. This is skate fish & ume. The fish is deep fried. When I saw the oil on the plate, I was a little bit apprehensive. But, the ume-plum butter sauce was so good! It has just the right amount of tartness. I think that's why it didn't feel as oily as it looks. It was served with cabbage that was very good too. It's lighter than rice but compliments the fish very well.
For the last course, we had a 22oz ribeye steak with wasabi, pepper saiko, miso and teriyaki sauce on the side. It also came with a side of taro and cauliflower gratin, which was very creamy and just great. We were pretty full by the time the steak came. But, it was so good! All the sauces were great. It was the first time I had steak with wasabi. It was interesting. Definitely fun to have all the sauces to try.
Then, it was dessert time!!! This is the pina colada. I like the description: variety of fruits and vanilla ice cream "sinking into mysterious pineapple and coconut pond". More dry ice fun!
My friends each ordered Kunoichi course. First up was the "Aburi" Shrimp Salad. It was on fire!!! It looks cool, but my friend said it was just... "Good".
Second course was the same spicy tuna and shrimp tempura rolls that we got. Third course was the roasted salmon with red pepper garlic sauce with grated apples. Yum!! The sauce was very good.
Fourth course was the Volcano. Looks so interesting right? On the outside, it was an onion. On the inside was really tender beef brisket. It was good too.
We ordered 3 course meals, so we got 3 desserts. The rose in the middle is part of the rose chocolate. The chocolate mousse was very rich, but not too sweet.
This is the bonsai. Looks very cool! But, definitely didn't taste that great. The branches are fried dough I think. And the brown stuff is just chocolate. Not very sweet, very bland. The pina colada was definitely the best.
During dinner, the ninjas will periodically come and scare you. Some may put a sword to your throat. Even when they come in to check on you, they do it in a sneaky way. This guy was fun! He saw us taking pictures of random stuff and he was like "you want to take pictures of something more fun?" So, he pretended to assassinate all of us. The whole staff was very fun and nice. There was even a magician!
All in all, it was a fun experience! Most of the food was great and it was just very fun. I think kids will really like it there. I like all the semi-private dining rooms. They even have tiny rooms for 2 people. All the ninjas look like they have a lot of fun working there. The whole place just feel very positive and fun and they really make it feel like a ninja castle. Even the front door was cloaked in mystery. For a big restaurant, the door was really tiny and it only had one sign that says "Ninja". Can't wait to go back :)
