Yuka

Yuka
1557 2nd Avenue (between 80th & 81st Street)
(212) 772-9675 (reservations not accepted)

Cuisine: Japanese
Price: $18 all you can eat sushi/hand rolls/maki (from a list you check off). They have a regular menu, as well, linked above.

After hearing rave after rave after rave from J-bot, I finally, after two years, dragged my butt all the way up to the UPPER EAST SIDE. This place is far from where I work (all the way at the bottom of the Financial District), but after talking about the place a bit to my coworkers, they were game and so off we trekked. When we first sat down, we were a bit disappointed by the selection, as it seemed teeny tiny and a lot of the normal rolls were $1.25 extra (Boston roll, Alskan Roll, etc.). But we bit the bullet and all three decided to take on the daunting task of “eating our money’s worth”.

Our final tally, between two girls and one guy: 24 nigiri sushi; 6 maki; 10 hand rolls.

I’d say we succeeded.

The eel was delicious; I have to say that it wasn’t skimped on for the nigiri and was tender, cooked just right. The tamago, eh, but I was just in the right mood to have a piece. The salmon nigiri was a bit thinly sliced, leaving me frowning, but still fresh and yummy, so I ordered more. Salmon skin roll was good but not outstanding; the real surprise, for me, was the crab salad handroll, which I’d gotten on a whim.

I’d never had a handroll before that night, because they look difficult to eat and messy as well. I have to say, I am thrilled that I decided to go against my normal and try the crab salad handroll. It was terrific, though the nigiri proved a bit tough to bite through occasionally, it was definitely excellent. My two coworkers braved it and tried the squid with mint leaves handroll; both of them were like “Ehhh.. not bad but I won’t order it again. Maybe the plum with mint next time.”

At John’s raves about the spicy tuna rolls, I also gave that a go, though I’m no fan of spicy tuna in general. He kept on saying it wasn’t like other places though, so I did try a piece and wasn’t disappointed- it is different- but it’s still not a fave of mine. My coworker liked it though it also isn’t a normal must-have for her. She mentioned that the yellowtail- both the nigiri sushi and maki- weren’t that great and took marks off the final score for that.

At this point, we were all starting to get full, but we trooped onward. I stuck with more eel nigiri sushi because it was that good, had another crab salad handroll, and then recalled reading great things about the tataki on Menu Pages. So we ordered a salmon tataki each, which was another great decision. It was so yummy. Lightly seared, it tasted fluffy, mixing all the things I love about salmon with a slightly cooked airiness to it. Yummy!

My coworker opted to try the ikura handroll, which, looking back, I wish I had as well. When it came, we peered into it and were pleased to discover salmon, salmon roe, cucumber, and your standard rice. She said it was really good, but I was too stuffed to even attempt to eat a whole handroll. Instead, my other coworker and I had more salmon tataki.. so airy… so yumm!

Finally, we were done. The waitress materialized and asked us if we wanted dessert, and we all groaned. Definitely no room this time. We wound up walking down 3rd Avenue to Dylan’s Candy Bar (just to look) and then jumping on the R train to head home.

One thing to note: we arrived somewhere between 6:00 and 6:30, and it was pretty dead. But when we were leaving around 7:30 or 8:00, it was packed, every single table taken.

Yvo says: YUMMY! Count me in to go the distance to Yuka on the regular. I will definitely be back to try and eat more and more each time. The fish is fresh, the price is right, and I’m there, despite the sweaty walk from the 6 train 77th Street station to Yuka.