Sakagura

Amazing food and sake

We live 100 miles from NYC and make a special trip at least twice a year to eat at Sakagura. The food is outstanding and the menu offerings are unique. The sake selection is second to none. I love that this restaurant is kind of a hidden gem and have no problem with making my reservations well in advance. I'm going to continue come back again and again!!

Bar service was not attentive and very unhelpful with choosing sake (surprise in a place with so many choices..)

Service was slower than I am used to.

Incredible flavor, excellent service, close your eyes and you’re in Tokyo. NYC Japanese gem.

When it was a find, and there were few decent izakaya around NYC, Sakagura was a standout. Now, it's got stiff competition from above and below and Sakagura is good but not great. The food is very standard and decent, but there are better places with better value. Still, the sake list is a good one, although they inexplicably leave helpful guidance out such as the sake meter value (SMV) or acidity. Still, the basement location and some of the decor make you feel as if you're in a Tokyo-like setting, but that may no longer be enough.

Best restaurant in NYC for my taste. Small plates and Sake.

Great Ambience and great service. Quality food. Took my sister family and aunt here. Everyone loved the food and we stayed for dessert.

Second time there. Celebrating birthday. Excellent food and overwhelming choice of saki. Has that authentic restaurant look (girlfriend spent time in Japan). Not too expensive if you don't drink too much saki. Wait staff extremely helpful. Read other reviews for food choices or just order what's in red - can't go wrong.

Very disappointed, we’ve been there before but the quality has changed, not as refined as we remembered. Everything was too salty and the presentation not inspiring. The seaweed salad was ou favorite usually and this time it was not as tasty, the beef was over cooked and way too salty. The cod was okay but too salty as well. Not the experience we were looking for.

Great place

The daily lunch specials are a great value for what you get. Anything else on the menu is another thing. I had the Kaisen don. Lots of rice with maybe 3 thin slices of fish, a cooked shrimp, raw scallop, ikura, comes with soba and pickles, for $23. I’m not sure that there was value for money there. The lunch special was the bara sushi with the soba, and pickles. The rice serving is a bit smaller which is fine.
There are a lot of choices, but next time I’ll stick with the lunch special.

Absolutely delicious Japanese cuisine and phenomenal service! Hard to get a reservation for the restaurant but it's well worth it 😇☺.

Greeted by name, speedy transition from entrance to table, delicious food that takes me right back to Tokyo, superb service by Marcia and her colleagues. This is my go-to restaurant for casual Japanese dining. Tenzaru is my favorite summer meal and this is just like my Japanese mother used to make. The tempura is delicately flaky and crunchy. The cold soba is has just the right mouth feel. I can't say enough good things about this wonderful establishment. I have been patronizing it for nearly 20 years.

Cool, subterranean sake den that serves good food at lunchtime. Reasonably-priced Japanese w/ a selection of soba, donburi, and appetizers. Can’t go wrong. Feels like a secret hideaway.

L’expérience a commencé par un mauvais accueil à la réception. Ensuite on nous a placé à une table dans le couloir proche de la porte de la cuisine alors qu’il y avait d’autres places. Les plats étaient sans goût et clairement pas à la hauteur de ce que l’on pouvait attendre d’un restaurant japonais aussi cher. Je n’y retournerai pas c’est sûr.

日本の居酒屋と殆ど同じレベルの料理が出て来ます。

Food was great. Good experience.

Very good experience, high quality and authentic. Price point actually was not bad when you consider the value of what you get from having the experience at Sakagura. Will come again.

great sake bar that stays true to its concept. bravo bon yagi!

Good food, great for a date. Will definitely go again.

We often get together at Sakagura because the food is creative and excellent, the sake list extensive, the service attentive and knowledgeable and the price very fair for high quality.

More high-end, but as someone's who's been to Japan, I was very happy with the quality and authenticity of the food. Extensive sake menu!

Wonderful experience and super cool restaurant. Management even came to personally wish me a happy birthday. Food was fantastic.

Great ambience, food was amazing! Very cool spot

What can I say? It's been here since the 1990s. Their bathrooms are giant sake vats. It's an institution!

unfortunately they offer a lunch menu with a very attractive price but only 100 menus are prepared, no more, if you are the 101, you have to choose Something more expensive.

Great experience wait staff was very attentive. Waiter made recommendations and they were spot on. Sake recommendations were also exceptional!

You never disappoint at their food and service. We had a great lunch!

Amazing how so many people find their way to this basement izakaya. There are so many sake and food selections. For four people we spent pretip $192: 4 beers, 1/2 bottle of sake, and 12 items. Every dish was prepared to perfection; authentic. Don’t miss ordering the ebi stick!

I haven’t been in a real Japanese restaurant in many years since my favorite spot closed decades ago. Sake listing is to die for!

Nice selection of interesting foods. Was a little steamy downstairs. Probably better in a colder day.

Unbelievable food at normal prices, but the very expensive sake list makes dining there very pricey if you have more than a glass or two.

Always very good and authentic food at Sakagura and the lunch special is a great deal.

Guy who led us to our table was officious and unfriendly. We ordered two appetizers, and they were each only 3 spoonfuls, barely a taste for the four of us. Our sashimi moriawase was skimpy and had only one small helping of radish slivers. Most sashimi moriawase for 4 has many helpings of daikon. Compared to the moriawase which was served to the table next to us, the sashimi pieces were thin; the presentation was different and skimpy; the servings were generally surprisingly miniscule. We ended up having to order way more than at other Japanese restaurants.

Service was Tops

Overall the experience was pretty good despite of the slow service. Food was decent (I had tempura don) and the price was reasonable ($18?) for midtown. I would recommend for my friend.

A little piece of Tokyo in the middle of Manhattan. Simply outstanding.

Not as great as I have expected based on the raving reviews. The best was the sea urchin noodle. Stay away from the specials which were mediocre and over priced. Stay with the classics.

Fantastic food and sake selection! A hidden gem in the basement ...