Aburiya Kinnosuke

An authentic Japanese restaurant, located in mid town Manhattan. The menu is not large and complicated, the food is excellent and served with impressive aesthetics and precision. Ww loved the pleasant atmosphere and the service that was very friendly and professional. We enjoyed every bite and highly recommend.

Black cod was Perfect with a capital P! It was everything I needed for Tuesday’s lunch. We ordered a sesame pudding which was also so great. The flavor was intensely good. I will definitely be back.

Awesome fine Japanese dining. Initial May review 1 * out of 5, read to the bottom for the redemption with the July update. OK, pre-covid I gave this place 4 stars but post covid the stars dropped to 1. The food is still amazing given what they had to work with but service... Man it was terrible. I mean I'm rooting for them to improve but yesterday has to be my worst experience ever at a higher end restaurant. I come here 3 or 4 times a year, from anniversaries, to birthdays to mothers day. Yesterday was my anniversary and our first indoor dining experience since covid started. The food was great despite the limited menu now and given the pricing, you kind of expect better in terms of service and attention. There was one server to the whole restaurant with an assist from the manager from time to time. On a slow day I'd say yes you can get by but the place was packed. So the girl had to take orders, serve, set the tables, clear the tables, and who knows what else. I feel for her but this was terrible. The wait was long and the service was noticeably lacking. On top of that, they missed one of our entrées which supposedly was served to the wrong table. How does that happen? No idea. And to not even catch it until we asked what happened to our dish. And then to add insult to injury... Their kitchen closed at a certain hour during our meal... So after a 200 dollar meal, we left hungry. And when we complained, the manager said they're taking it off of our bill.... I'm like d'uh.. Isn't that suppose to be off of our bill? And to make up for us having a miserable experience and being still hungry.... the manager said 'Sorry, but we had a busy night!' This is how they take care of clients to make sure they return again.... Uh huh... Just a sorry and have a nice effing day, please come again. That will sway us to return. Gonna be looking for a new go to place moving forward. JULY 22nd REDEMPTION Update 4 **** out of 5 So the establishment reached out to make it right and hope to redeem themselves. That in itself warrants an update. For the managers to care enough about their patrons satisfaction which ultimately reflects on the business' reputation and bottom line is admirable. I were invited back to have another meal here and I was not disappointed. The servers were attentive, the food came out in a timely manner and the flavors were reminiscent of the good old days. Unfortunately it is still a covid menu with bento boxes and some tried and true dishes. Nothing exotic like the firefly squid or even the crab salad which was always a favorite. Alas the evening wasn't perfect...I didn't even ask for the bill but it was presented to us as soon as we said we were skipping dessert. Perhaps I'm being nitpicky....still, I'm adjusting the stars and continue to root for the establishment. The regional manager indicated that they are opening a new restaurant in the Flatiron so looking forward to trying that spot out soon.

A colleague had recommended Aburiya over Sakagura (which is literally just two blocks over). I've been to Sakagura, so I can attest to the quality there. And since I saw that Aburiya was offering #nycrestaurantweek, it was the perfect chance to see if it was the better of the two. Based on my experience, I would say that I have inconclusive evidence to prove the hypothesis that Aburiya is superior to Sakagura. The food was good - my cod was undeniably tender, and yet still charred just sufficiently to taste the essence of simple, good cooking. But I can't say I was blown away. And I think that, for me, is the blessing and curse of traditional Japanese restaurants - they always deliver as you expect, but it is always exactly as you expect. 1. Broiled Black Cod (with saikyo white miso) 2. Soy Marinated Firefly Squid 3. Obanzai Assorted Appetizers ("kinpira" spicy 5 vegetable stir fry, marinated eggplant & fresh vegetables with sesame sauce) 4. Miso soup 5. Salmon sushi roll 6. Shiratama Anmitsu (rice mochi, ice cream, sweet red bean, sweet black syrup)

fresh and top notched ingredients prepared in authentic Japanese cooking methods. Good selection of sake with seasonal special and "dessert drinks" (sake infused with sweetened fruit juice). A bit of wait even with reservation and seats are very cozy. It's three minutes walk from grand central and one of the best around in the area for izakaya experience.