Ginza Long Island: a review

I never, ever, Ever say no to a sushi dinner... or lunch... hell I've even had it for breakfast on occasion. One random weeknight I got the craving.... that indescribable urge to gorge on raw fish. There's something simple and perfect about sushi (and my personal favorite, sashimi). On the way back from the mall we passed an enormous and intriguing building, sleek and modern and completely out of place for the neighborhood that we were in. Screw it, let's do this.

 

So here's my brutally honest review of Ginza, in Massapequa, NY.

 

 

Very first impression... (holy crap, this place is Huge.) Dark and industrial with Japanese accents. Off to the side there's a cool looking bar with what looks like large egg-like seats dangling from the ceiling. The host didn't say a word, and ignored us while taking a to-go order on the phone (not even a head nod in acknowledgement). Soooo turned off by this! A restaurant has very little control over the amount of people that walk in the door that night, so when they do, they should be friendly and welcoming. The apologetic waitress then led the way to the sushi bar. This place was seriously busy, even late night on a Wednesday.

 

 

My boyfriend and I, when dining at a sushi restaurant, always opt to sit at the sushi bar. Not because the food is any different than sitting at a table, but rather, for the experience of watching your food being prepared and engaging in casual conversation with the sushi chefs. These chefs? Oh they were soooo not in the mood for chatting. Stone-faced, fingers flying, I almost felt the need to apologize for distracting them. Not a good look, in my opinion.

 

 

 

We sit down and wait for our drink order to be taken... After what seems like Forever (only 15 minutes, but that is forever in the restaurant world) we finally flag down our waiter. What pissed me off the most is that he had the audacity to tell us that we need to order everything in one shot because the kitchen is closing. I get it, I do. I understand that kitchen's do, in fact, close, and their employees do, in fact, need to go home. However, we wouldn't have been in that predicament had the waiter made first contact 15 minutes ago. I'm not a math genius but the numbers add up... right?

 

What I must say is that their food was A+. We got the wonton seaweed soup, Vietnamese salad, shumai (really good) and softshell crab app. Everything was tasty and the food came out really quick. My chocolate razz cosmo was Amazing.

 

After that, we split a plate of sushi. Pretty standard order, we didn't go crazy. Just the basics to judge if a sushi restaurant is passable or not.

I always judge, in particular, the preparation of smoked eel sushi nigiri, and they did it very well. Ginza did a very good job in terms of preparation and presentation. We left in a food coma. Good job, Ginza.

 

 

My finals thoughts for this place?

"Maybe we should have stopped in earlier"

"Ahhhhh the shumai I'm having a religious experience"

"Good food, not the best service"

"Will come back, probably when it's not so crowded... Maybe around 5pm with all of the old people"

 

 

Ginza - Massapequa