Ninja New York
Ninja New York
25 Hudson St
btw Duane and Reade St
New York, NY
(212) 274-8500
Reservations: Definitely, so the people can make the proper arrangements for you and your party.
For some of you who don’t know, Ninja is a themed restaurant with of course your ninjas in a ninja-like setting. This was one of softrice recommended places to go to and I thought it was the perfect place for me to take my boyfriend for his birthday since he loves ninjas. Let me stress that even through it is a theme restaurant, you shouldn’t take the quality of the food less seriously than it’s other similar counter parts, like, Mars 2112. And of course it might not be the best japanese food as well because it’s a theme restaurant.
Ninja is hidden in lower manhattan, a few blocks away from City Hall. The reason why I probably didn’t see this restaurant is because Ninja does not have fancy flags with its logo waving around and from far away, it looks like another apartment, to me anyways. The lamp gave it away because it has their initials and the paperwork on display behind the glass are their menus. Not bad.
Once you step pass that door, you’ll be in a dimly lit room that looks like a cave cause the walls are rocky, and there’s one woman standing behind a computer that will look you up on their reservation list. That is it for the whole room, including an elevator. When I went there it was pretty quiet, but later on more people started to come in, mostly the older adult crowd – early 30s and up. Anyhoos, my bf and I were the first to go in, and the lady pressed up to the second floor. Based on what I heard from my friends who went, I was on alert mode! I held onto my bf’s hand and he stepped out first where a ninja yelled a quick, “HIYA!” Scared the sheit out of me. Then afterwards, we had to climb down the stairs in complete darkness, where I almost fell down the stairs if it weren’t for my boyfriend.
My flash is pretty dam powerful don’t you think? And when we got to the end of it, another ninja popped out and said the same thing. Whoa, nearly had a heart attack, haha. We decided to check our coats there since they did it which was nice, but that part wasn’t even part of the restaurant. There’s was more to go an I was already out of breath from all that flinching. Man…I am so paranoid. When we stepped into the restaurant, wow, it looked like a little hidden Japanese town. Luckily there were no more ninjas to scare us, it really depends on which ninja is free, so we were guided by one ninja to take us to our table.
The people here really encourage you to take pictures here. They actually like it, so I’m already giving them points for that, haha. On the left is my little “private” booth to sit in. And yes, you do sit on chairs and use tables to eat off of.
My super nice ninja/waitress because she’s willing to pose for me. Extra points again. That scroll is my menu!
All your different menus combined into one scroll. Cute.
Ahh what a pretty little area to sit in. We can see others eating in their own booth, but it was far away enough that I can’t hear their conversation which is perfect.
Drink for the night:
Toh sweet champagne with one lychee
Price: $12
Verdict: I decided to go with champagne because it was good for the occasion. It’s probably not I would get next time because it’s just regular champagne with one lychee in it, but it was alright. Very sweet.
Recommended: No, unless you’re celebrating something.
Dawen doesn’t like alcohol so he chose Coke instead, but they didn’t have that – only Pepsi which is even better. Haha. There are no free refills here and it costs $5 for a cup of soda.
Cold Appetizer
Tamate Bako* treasure box, us prime beef tartar topped with boiled egg yolk and white, served with minced shallot, tomato, chive and caper on the top
Price: $14
This is the ninja that served me my box.
Verdict: I will probably never order a cold dish again. It is my fault for not knowing that the meat is completely raw! Uggh, I thought it was tomato because I was under dim lighting and it tastes weird to me. This is only because my mind is not opened to raw foods. But even then, I don’t think anyone should eat raw meat like this. Well, at least my appendix will start to work on this.
Recommended: Definitely not. You’re better off with something else. It’s a cool concept, but it’s not that tasty. Maybe if it’s just with the tomatoes. But otherwise, yeesh.
Sushi Rolls
Summer Roll shrimp tempura and avocado wrapped with saffron rice and rice paper, served with sesame sauce
Price: $12
Verdict: Holy crap, this is the best summer roll I have ever, ever tasted before. I’ve had viet and thai ones, but this japanese one, oh my god, it’s so good. This is very soft and seasoned to perfection. Unlike the other rolls, this roll is not wrapped like a burrito and it is more tasty than the others.
Recommended: I highly recommend it, especially if you’re not a fan of raw sushi.
Korean BBQ Roll grilled beef and pickled daikon kimchi wrapped in rice and sesame
Price: $12
Verdict: This roll isn’t that special, but it was still a treat to me because I was starving. It’s essentially just meat wrapped up with rice and seaweed. But I do like this because the roll is big and it is packed with rice, just the way I like it.
Recommended: Sure! But for you hardcore sushi lovers, you might want to avoid it.
This is how it looks like when you’re being served with more than one sushi roll. I thought the presentation is very cute.
Main Course
Sukiyaki Ninja Pan fried sliced Wagyu Beef seasoned with Sukiyaki Sauce, Grilled Tokyo Negi (scallion), Pan fried Tofu Lightly deep fried Half steamed Whole Egg wrapped with Pate Filo
Price: $35
I had to order this with rice because I just can’t eat a chunk of meat at a japanese restaurant without my rice. That and I felt that I got so little because I was starving.
Japanese Rice: $5
It comes in a very cute orb, haha whoa.
Anyways to continue, the wagyu beef is very tender and sweet — even sweeter if you dip it more with the sauce it comes with. The waiter told me to cut the egg right down the center so that that egg yolk will come spilling down the center onto the meat. Well I didn’t have such luck, and probably I didn’t want it to be like that, but here’s how it looks like:
I’m impressed on how they make the egg, very interesting.
Verdict: The wagyu beef is definitely good. Everything else doesn’t taste anything special, but I would get it just with the beef.
Recommended: Yes, also get a bowl of rice to eat with it. It definitely fills you up without eating more.
Ninja T-bone Steak us prime t-bone steak prepared in your choice of garlic, wasabi or teriyaki sauce served with fried and marinated cucumber, bell pepper and eggplant
Price: $35
Garlic was chosen for this one:
Verdict: This medium slab of meat is jam-packed with flavor. It tastes especially good when it’s hot because then it’ll lose flavor and it’ll become hard when it’s cold. The potatoes are great, feels like I’m eating it with butter, but then again it’s my favorite vegetable. This steak looks bigger than the one softrice had at STK and I really liked it.
Recommended: Keep in mind that you’re at a japanese restaurant, so you might as well try something else. There’s nothing wrong with this steak, but I think you might get more for your money with something else.
Magic Trick
After your main course, you’ll have a magic that will pop into your room to show you some cheesy magic tricks. I guess I was slightly buzzed from my champagne that everything and anything entertained me. The first trick was with playing cards, where you pick a card and your card will automatically appear on the first deck. I see him hiding a card on his curve palm. Haha kinda lame.
The second trick was with rings and him using a light blue rope to magically get the rope to be untied. Eh….
And the last trick was with two different dollar bills. I held one $10 bill and he held the other $1 bill. he told me to hold his wrist and then magically both my bills where in my hands. Which was cute. Dawen watched the whole thing so he knows how it works. We ended up tipping him $10 because he was standing there for a while looking at us like we’re supposed to tip him. I guess that’s what his bills of money in his pockets are from!
Dessert
Bon Sai tiramisu with a twisted sugar
Price: $12
Verdict: This tiramisu is very bitter. You have to poke your spoon all the way to the bottom of the bowl to get to the creamy part. Even then it was still nasty. The branches are alright, tasted like crossants, but it was nothing special. Nice presentation, sub par taste.
Recommended: No
Rating: 4.5/5
Food: 0.85
Decor/Atmosphere: 1
Service: 1
Speed: 1
Price: 0.70
Now how clean is this restaurant? Well NYC Dept of Hygiene says this:
NINJA RESTAURANT
25 HUDSON STREET, MANHATTAN 10013
212-274-8500
Current violation points: 23
Inspection Date: 10/18/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1) Milk or milk product undated, improperly dated or expired.
2) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used
or stored.
3) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
4) Hot food not held at or above 140°F.
Now you know!
P.S. Don’t forget to ask for several keychains if you want it!
Comments
29 Responses to “Ninja New York”
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I want to go !!
looks cool, and Im a hard-core sushi lover for sure.!!:) I aleady hate the magician.:)
o snap, you got extra keychains for me?! I want one! And mmm I want some ninja to randomly appear and scare me shitless lollll. Anyways though you see what did I tell you? Sa Fa Churn yo, always man ALWAYS. lol you’re willing unlike ***. Therefore it’s always just sa fa churn you sucker! Anyways though I tried to go to Kim’s page but it somehow brings me back to the wordpress.com homepage not her page…..weird. The Tiramisu looks lovely. FYI I AM A TIRAMISU LOVER. We MUST find the best Tiramisu place and go try it. I had tiramisu @ one place that was AWESOME. Anyways take care!~
Ninja power! I wonder if I’ll be welcomed dressed as Kakashi HAHAHA
lol o so you didn’t think about me and gotten a keychain just for me, I gotta have aldo’s leftovers eh?! messed up yo!!! lol tch.
lol see? I knew you’d cave in, You’re not ***. Though I’m sure when you become *** you’d be cold hearted, and I’d say you’re cold hearted! r0ar! >=(
um I’ll go with you for the dessert place, just wait eh? haha.
i can’t see the pictures!!!!
i had the grossest dream last night, but it’s too gross to tell the public so i’ll tell you on facebook tonight…
when people tell me they had a bad dream the next night i will have a wierd dream… it’s the wierdest/grossest dream ever!!!!!!!! but i’m sure my nipple blog is much more foul-er than my dream because no pictures are involved…
This is such a short review, and there’s so many negatives on the restaurant and their food! Yet it’s still your #1 restaurant?!? It’s basement, not 2nd Floor. Underground village, anyone? Your sukiyari ninja looks very yummy! I didn’t have to tip the dumb magician, and mine had different tricks. You must not have a taste for tiramisu, because the bon sai was very good. Yeah, it looked like you had corny people the whole night serving you. And I so should have ordered more than 1 roll just to get that tree lump!
tanks for putting this up tiff
sounds like u pay for the environment and the atmosphere more so than the food aye?
HEYA BABE!
hehehe
price looks a little stiff but i guess they try to put on a good show..
thanks!!
wow the food is so expensive… but then again i’d pay to see some ninjas
like I said, the link does NOT work. I think Kim did something to her wordpress. Probably prevents unknown users from going to her page…but definitely I cannot go on with whatever links you sent to Vick or me.
http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/01/will_the_starbucks_of_bahn_mi.html
Kim’s blog really doesn’t work. I tried it too.
kim doesnt have a blog, stop sending spam!
leeann is making us go to this training session called “lunch and learn” i guess because no one is going? and it’s during lunch hour from 12-1pm where we bring our lunch and listen to the meeting… how ridiculously lame… technically they are taking my lunch hour away from me and i should get 1 hour overtime… but they dont pay us overtime anymore…
and i dont want to eat lunch. i’m just bringing my clementines. i hope no one asks me what they are because i might accidentally call them an idiot…
You should come to work and flood me already. Lol.
the meeting was sooooo long. it was over 1 hour! fake-bake was sitting in front of me, wow, he’s hot.
p.s. i saw those pics last night and i looked so horrible… don’t ever ask me to pose for pics because i can’t hold a pose for that long because it makes me sleepy and i blink my eyes a million times and you always catch me during my blink…
i’m not satisfied with my lunch today. i’ll have some cheerios
oh i hate my kate-spade bag… it’s way too wide! i prefer vertical to be the longer part. on the path train yesterday, that bag was sooo wide, that when i turn either way the bag knocks into the other person. plus it’s so boxy. i thought after i took out all the paper stuffing that the bag would be more fluid, but it’s super stiff. i can’t stand it. i’ll come out again when it gets warmer.
i think we should eat at Haru… i think that’s the place. never been, but was supposed to go but couldn’t find it.
So you back with your dog? So confusing and complicated.
so you’re alive!
my dream has something to do with my parents and their make-up
sweet-cakes, money IS important! i would like to live comfortably when i get old… it’s jsut a matter of spending wisely and spending on necessities. you and kim seem to always talk like i have a lot of money… my mom would seriously kill you 2 if she was with me at the Kate Spade store and she hears kim tells me to buy 2 bags – no way in hell am i gonna buy 2 bags! and my mom would beat you both down for “si-cheen” (washing money) – actually she’ll get my dad to do it, but then again he doesn’t hit girls… (phew, lucky for me)
Glad you have your dog back. So where is my review of Golden Unicorn? Voss is not just another bottle of water, it’s super premium water! I want my review on it.
I’m at work working very hard right now. You don’t get your thesis or TAO. Your seem to have more and better looking tangerines than mine. And you’ve set it up better. Bet you that bitch was the boss lady.
Blog your long ass story then. Everyone likes a get together story.
damn it, the most unhelpful person had to help me over the phone… she gave me all the wrong info. now i have to call again. ridiculous. i think the sales reporting and commissions should match these trades and eliminate this section.
You are so whipped.
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf
so whip it. whip it good. da da da.
Happy back to school day and all, but if class is preventing you from flooding my blog, maybe you should consider dropping out and get a real life? Like, stay on this thing 24/7?! Lolz.
if i got the $500 bag, it would still be too big because it’s way too wide for my taste. hopefully they’ll let me return it even though there aren’t any scuff marks but i threw away the paper stuffing…do you think they will care? i dont have a lot of tissue paper to restuff the bag
well she seems to know a lot about that stuff. i’d rather wait to get the real thing
i threw away ALL the tissue paper
Time to go home and write TAO. I don’t know what dad thinks of the tangerines? I’m stupid, but okay, I’ve already bought it? Everyone is interested in your 313rd time breaking up and then shacking it back up the next couple of days. C’mon! Who wouldn’t read that?
PRICEY!! but i wanna go cuz it looks nice =)