O Ya

Reviews 5

TA

Taka Tanaka

Ive been to O Ya twice, in May 2011 and in July 2013. The food is very, very good. Unique. Exquisite. Reliably delightful sushi that melts in your mouth, with innovative twists that are not done, or not done as well, anywhere else. (Examples: basil sauce with maguro sashimi, oysters with watermelon, aged sake with foie gras sushi.) The sommelier also makes exceptional drink pairings, drawing on both wines and sake. But the price is very high for what it is. We had the standard omakase meal for two with a wine pairing, which ran about $750. You can eat there for less, but will probably end up spending more than $200 a person. When you charge as much as they do, you simply cant have an item on the omakase menu that reminds you of a Philadelphia roll (the cream sauce overpowered the salmon) or make a highly questionable wine pairing (sweet eel with a very dry riesling), and both of those things happened on our second and most recent visit. To their credit, the sommelier was receptive to our criticisms and substituted the questionable wine free of charge; the second pairing was much better. We also noticed a few items that were slightly too salty, which to me absolutely should not happen in a Japanese restaurant. Note that this was over 17 dishes; about half or slightly more than half were fantastic, a handful left us unimpressed, and the rest were enjoyable or very good. You can have phenomenal culinary experiences at restaurants like Morimoto in Philadelphia, Kyo-ya in New York, Koy Shunka in Barcelona (weve been to all of the places named above), not to mention most starred Michelin restaurants, for about 1/2 to 2/3 the price. If you simply want great sushi, you can have that throughout the USA on a budget of $100 a person. Dont get me wrong. Kyo-ya is an absolute delight, and its a unique sushi restaurant, especially when you limit your comparisons to within the Boston area. Its just that while the extra amount you spend at Koy Shunka will get you a very unique experience, it will not necessarily get you a better meal. Its like spending $800 for the best seats at a concert or for a great pair of headphones. You will have an excellent, excellent time, but you may also end up wondering whether you would have been happier spending "only" $400 eating at another great restaurant—especially if you notice slight flaws in execution as we did. Lastly: dont let the price tag fool you into thinking the place is formal; just the opposite. I wore jeans, and there were several patrons in shorts and baseball caps. The servers are also very friendly.

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AM

amira a

Alors, par ou commencer.. Dabord le restaurant est hyper difficile à trouver, cest à peine si on peut voir la porte qui est cachée dans la ruelle. Ensuite, le bouquet, est le service qui laissait à désirer. Si ce nétait pas de lhôtesse qui a du sortir du restaurent pour nous montrer ou était lentrée, je ne donnerais aucune étoile pour le service. Le serveur manquait énormément de professionnalisme, il a demandé à mon mari sil avait déjèa manger de la viande A5 dans sa vie , en allant même linterroger sur le nom de la ville et le nom du restaurant. De plus, il a terminer la conversation par lui dire que le restaurant lui avait clairement menti car un 6onze de viande A5 ne pourrait pas être moins de 250$!! Cest très insultant et en plus très demeuré, surtout quand on a fait les restaurant les plus renommé de la planète! Bref, pour ce qui est de la nourriture elle même, cétait très bon, les saveurs très trendy et les portions parfaites pour partager.

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A

A Private User

The service once we entered the door was exquisite. Our waiter was wonderful, and made everything sound flexible about the menu...except that we could have ordered one to split rather than paying $300 for the two of us. Hence, we ordered items a la carte, since were light eaters anyway and could easily have split the huge chefs sampler between the two of us. We ordered hamachi sashimi, blue fin tuna tataki salad, and a rock shrimp dish, followed by a tres leches boston cream pie and a almond/coconut gelato with espresso. The fish was clearly very fresh and meticulously prepared, but the reality is that is was just plain overpriced. The rock shrimp dish for example was simply two pieces of tempura battered shrimp with a few tasteless garnishes for the "modest" price $17. The hamachi was probably our favorite, and the only piece worth the price for 3 pieces at $18. The blue fin tuna tataki was very traditional in taste (although not in appearance) in a ponzu sauce; I would gladly order the same dish at any of a number of fine sushi restaurants around the country for a quarter of the price. The boston creme desert was delicious, but a little "rummy" and the gelato was oddly salty, with a hint of trail-mix taste (sweetnsalty). The atmosphere is cold and barren, not by any means cool enough to warrant the outrageous menu. When we called for a reservation, I requested a table for two and was told the place was entirely booked, except I "lucked out" because someone had just canceled at the chefs counter. Well, in fact, there were multiple tables available when we arrived and when we left; unfortunately this kind of snooty attitude is absolutely uncalled for and alone is reason enough for me to never visit O Ya again.

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MI

Michael Collins

It is expensive, but totally worth it. Save up and go. You will not be disappointed. Definitely check out the photos I took, some of my descriptions dont do the courses justice. Ive told others that Ive gone here, and they dont think any meal is worth that price, and I would agree - if Id never eaten here. Oyster - Fantastic presentation, a delisious little oyster to start our meal Hamachi Nigiri - Came with a spicy banana pepper mousse, one of my favorites Salmon Nigiri - Great salmon flavored with a great moromi sauce Turo Nigiri - Perfect Turo, came with micro cilantro Scarlett sea scallop Nigiri - Came with a yozu sauce and tobiko Prawn Nigiri - came coated in garlic butter and white soy Fried Kumamoto Oyster Nigiri - Fried oyster topped with squid ink foam, see the photo. Warm Braised Shiitake Mushroom Nigiri - When can qualify your least favorite item on the tasting as just good, youre doing fantastic. A simple peice of Nigri. sea urchin sashimi - Came with a Uni mousse Hamachi sashimi - Came in a great ginger sauce diver scallop sashimi - Came with sage tempura and meyer lemon artic char sashimi - delicious white fish foie gras mousse - It was like foie gras ice cream, definitely different and tasty if you like foie gras tea brined fried pork rib - I wish I could have had a whole rack of these shiso tempura with grilled lobster - usually I think lobster is over rated, not in this case. miso marinated French cheese - They marinate the cheese in miso foie gras balsamic chocolate kabayaki - Perfect combination of sweet and savory, you would never know you were eating foie gras

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JI

Jill Springer Gostic

Loved it! We arrived about 15 minutes early and spent some time overlooking and asking questions about the menus. When our table wasnt ready at the time of our reservation, the host handed us complimentary champaign. We were eventually seated about 15 minutes after our reservation, happy with our champaign. We both ordered the Grand Omakase - the 21 course tasting menu. I dont love eating raw food, so I explained to the waiter that though I eat it from time to time, I dont think I would enjoy eating a ton of uncooked fish. The waiter was completely understanding and substituted several of the raw courses with cooked courses, or asked the chef to torch my fish a bit longer than usual. They still served me a few raw dishes, which were great. Their ability to accommodate was well above my expectations and the courses were perfect. I had only eaten a handful of Cheerios that day, in preparation for the big meal, but by course 10, I was stuffed. The A5 wagyu beef melted in our mouths like pads of butter. I was so stuffed, by the time this course was served (course 19 I think), I had to take the last slice of beef home in a to go box. Were looking forward to going back one day and trying new dishes a la carte. I would definitely get the A5 wagyu beef again - but would be sure to eat it early-on so I can enjoy all of it.

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