Becca Samuelson

Absolutely amazing Japanese Jewish fusion food. The food was warm, inviting, and homey. We ordered the challah for an appetizer and the matzo ball ramen and the pastrami for mains. It was so much food!!! I was so stuffed by the end. The ramen was so delicious and unique. The pickle on the side of the pastrami was the highlight- so fresh. The cocktail we ordered was beautifully made and very good!! Will come again :)

+2

katie cannia

We ordered their Matzoh Ball Ramen through Goldbelly and it was so good! This ramen was packaged up and shipped 1,250 miles in the cutest box and I am telling you it tasted just as though we were sitting in the restaurant. I have never had a matzoh ball/ramen fusion and it was delightful. The flavor in the broth was so incredible and I could live off of it. I wish I could try other things off their menu, maybe someday!

Jason Rosman

I went here after a year of wanting to. I live in Seattle and lately been coming to New York a lot for work. My cousin lives on Long Island but doesn’t like to get out . I was like the city is awesome but I guess the suburbs gets in your bones and changes who you are. Today everything worked out and we went. It was me , my cousin , her fiancé and his mom. The food was awesome or as we say in the west coast “da bomb.” We ordered every appetizer on the menu. The challah was good, the cauliflower was great, the fried chicken was the shiznit. Let’s talk about the “Jew Egg” I honestly like saying the word Jew egg. It was awesome like really great. My cousin’s fiancé who usually doesn’t speak much or show too much emotion, his eyes lit up and he smiled like when you found your dads dirty magazines for the first time when you’re a kid. Clifton who was our waiter was excellent in every way. In life , quality really stands out. My cousin and I even asked between each other , how many years he’s been working there? His depth of knowledge of the menu was beyond impressive. Clifton my main man only made the great food experience even better. The people who ate with me go to like fancy restaurants all the time and when they fly they get those seats with the extra room so when they say Clifton was great and the food was great , they know what they are talking about. I’m an Applebees and bodega kinda guy so far from an expert on food and service like this. Don’t hate on bodegas , they are awesome too in New York . What I’m basically trying to say is that this may have been the best food I’ve ever had in my life. I can’t wait to come back here and maybe one day even move to New York.

+5

Elina B

Food and drinks were impeccable. It's a cute date night out or a casual get together with the girls kind of place. Be sure to make reservations, the place is small and unlikely to accommodate a walk in for a sit down dinner unless you are ok sitting at the bar for dinner. It gets pretty packed quick. It's worth the trip. Enjoy the fusion experience, its definitely unique.

Renee Lam-Whiteman

I was intrigued by the concept of this restaurant and I am so glad I tried it out. They hit it out the park with home run flavors and tastes. It’s a tiny little place in Williamsburg that’s worth visiting. Every dish was delicious. Their Spring Jew Egg, the Okonomiyaki, Grilled Caesar Salad and the Sake Kasu Challah were amazing starters that we shared. The Matzoh Ball Ramen was flavorful and perfect with their soy marinated egg. Yummy!! For dessert we had their banana bread pudding and their Japanese Sweet Potato Cheesecake. Just so good!!! Staff was amazingly good!! I highly recommend Shalom Japan!!

+12

Elizabeth Hadden

Was a little trepidations considering how hyped this place is, but it was surprisingly impressive. The matzoh ball soup ramen was very tasty, a delicious marriage of two different soup flavors. The matzoh balls were fluffy and the soup had a lot of chicken elements. Great marinated egg too! The okonomyaki was also excellent with a kraut flavor. The wagyu pastrami was ok, but I’d try something else from the menu next time. Drinks were great and the menu had a lot of options. Employees were super kind!

+1

Finally got a chance to go to Shalom Japan a few days ago with my wife and nieces who live in Bklyn. Saw their bit on Shark Tank and it was a pleasant surprise! A small place but they have outdoor tables (for warmer weather - it was a brutality cold day when we went). Parking was a pain because the streets were still snowed in. Typical bklyn street parking. Brunch menu was very good. Had the challah and the karaage (Japanese chicken) for the table for apps. The star of the show, however, was the matzoh ball ramen! This is their signature dish and why we went there! Did not dissapoint! I made mine spicy and loved it! Paired it with the pear saki (pun intended) and had a very good lunch! We want to go back and try some of the other menu items. Service was excellent! Not your typical Japanese restaurant and well worth a try!

Janet Taylor

I looked up the restaurant online. Great reviews of the foodies. We instantly fell in love with the esthetic and restaurant/bar feel. Small and quaint. My husband had the Lox bowl and I had the Matzo with Ramen. The egg was suggested as an addition. Our food was so incredibly delicious and tasted fresh and authentic. The glass of wine and beer came just before dinner. Just a suggestion to ask if you would like now or with dinner. We would have ordered another. We did not order desert or alcohol to top off the evening as it would have taken approximately an hour. If we had more time we would have done so. I highly recommend this wonderful neighborhood eatery.

Phoebe Brewer

Interesting Japanese-Jewish fusion resistant! We had the Challah bread, Summer Jew Egg, and the Matzoh Ball Ramen. The bread definitely tasted fresh! The Jew egg looked like a falafel and at first we thought our waiter brought out the wrong order, but turns out the egg had a falafel coating. The matzoh ball ramen was good, I wish the broth tasted more ramen-like instead of watery chicken broth but other that, food was good!

Mary Naughton

I’ve visited Shalom Japan and love the Matzoh ball ramen. I even came back to bring family members. However, when I came with my dad, who has trouble walking distances (which I mentioned on the phone) they tried to sit him and us all the way towards the back. He can’t walk that far and there were tables empty near the door. We asked to sit at one of them and they obliged. The food we had there on many occasions has been delicious, while purchased in the restaurant. The quality is not the same when ordering pickup, the matzoh ball ramen loses something in transit, I’m sure that’s true of most places. So plan your visit to dine in. The small challah roll with butter is a must, it’s so delicious! We even wanted to come during one of their Passover dinners, to get an idea of what it may be like and to try their different options. I can tell you, what they do to the gefilte fish is unbelievably delicious! This is not the kind you see swimming in jars at the supermarket, these are made into little fried bites of perfection. During a previous visit some time ago, we also enjoyed the other items which were designed to be representative of the seder plate items. The food was absolutely delicious and so were the drinks. During visits, I’ve also enjoyed the “Jew Egg” - a play on the Scotch Egg, the lox bowl, the teriyaki duck wings, and definitely get the foie gras dumpling 🥟 in the matzoh ball ramen, it was so delicious!

+5

Y

Solid food! Tried the jew egg, it's decent enough for two, but should come with pita chips or something because there is so much dip on the side. The beet / dragonfruit salad was good although I thought there would be more greenery. If you want greens maybe try the Ceasar salad. The karaage was crispy, juicy and excellent flavor. Really good option. If they added a sauce on the side it may have taken it over the top. Something akin to a Chipotle sauce perhaps. The dip from the jew egg could also work as an added "sauce" The matzo ramen was pretty good as well; we added an extra matzo ball, a dumpling, added spice to have enough for two. Everything was seasoned just right with enough flavor and not too much salt. Dessert was also pretty good the cheesecake and challah were both excellent. If you want a creamy option go with the cheesecake. If you want something that reminds you of French toast with a little fudge, go with the challah. The drinks were good, nothing watered down and if you wanted something sweet they had that for you. If you wanted something a little strong, they had that for you as well. Seating experience was tight, but intimate (some people may be put off by the confines). Service was also personable and I felt like we got solid recommendations from our waiter. Pricing is just about what you can expect for williamsburg/greenpoint so keep that in mind. Overall 8/10.

+1

Elizabeth T.

Wanted to be obsessed with this place so so much. The service was really good and our server was absolutely lovely. We ordered the challah and the Jew egg to start. Highlight of the meal was the Jew egg hands down. For the mains we got the ramen with an extra matzoh ball and the hot pot with the truffle. The ramen was … eh. The matzoh ball addition was a cute thought but I wouldn’t get it again. The hot pot was delightful though, and the truffle was a nice touch. Ultimately it filled us up and we had a good time, but this might be a one and done for me.

+1

beldim2010

A couple of unique tastes overshadowed by poor service and steep prices. We visited Shalom Japan in May 2025, meeting up with my cousin from Seattle, who picked the spot based on YouTube algorithm and the intriguing cuisine fusion concept. The restaurant left mixed impressions though. We tried five appetizers (out of seven available) and two entrees (out of five). From appetizers only the Jew Egg stood out with its unique taste and texture combination. The rest were passable: Sake Kasu Challah was just a fresh bun with butter - something most restaurants offer complimentary before appetizers. The Duck Prosciutto Salad was a plate of arugula with four dried mushrooms and a few water-thin slices of duck prosciutto, so tiny we could hardly taste them. Sawa's Mama''s Karaage (fried chicken) - was simply a fried chicken you would get in any diner, KFC, Chick-fil-a etc. The name was fancy though. Hamachi - the finely chopped fish lacking any spices was essentially tasteless at $18, the price of a good tuna tartare. Even Costco's sesame-wasabi raw tuna at $20/lbs offers way more flavor. From the mains, the Chilled Sesame Temomi Mazemen was absolutely great and really impressed by its taste, flavor, and ingredients combination. In my opinion, it’s the best dish in this restaurant. I only wish they offered an option to add protein beyond mushrooms, but that wasn’t available. The Matzoh Ball Ramen was decent, but nothing special. Less interesting and flavorful than what we get in typical Japanese ramen shops. The add-ons were questionable and unjustifiably expensive. We got one with soy marinated egg ($4) and spicy ($2) and one with foie gras dumpling ($5). The egg was a basic poached egg in a soup. Who can feel and appreciate a distinct taste and texture of foie gras inside a dumpling in a soup? It tasted like a dumpling with some filling, nothing else. “Foie gras” however sounded fancy to get people pay extra $5 for it. Charging $2 to make the soup spicy? $4 for an extra matzo ball? Seriously? Knowing what matzo ball is and how it’s made, I think they should include two by default and add more upon request for free. We skipped the Lox Bowl - a rice+avocado+pickles combo with lox, it sounded more like a healthy appetizer for $32 rather than an entree. Drinks - the cocktails were tasty but laughably small, with barely any little alcohol, yet costing $18 each. The Riesling from the wine list was good, but at $16 per glass and $64 per bottle (market price: $23), it was heavily overpriced. Desserts - we tried Matcha Ice Cream Parfait, Hoji-Chai Cheesecake, and Chocolate and Banana Challah pudding. The first two were pretty good but nothing outstanding to justify the price tag. The service was almost non-existent. Very slow, inattentive, serving one appetizer at a time, serving different entrees at different times, etc. For example, the server took our drinks order and then went behind the bar to prepare them himself, delivering them one by one. Really? Overall, the experience was quite disappointing and I cannot recommend this restaurant. The hype is very high, but in reality aside from a couple of standout dishes, it’s just a couple of really good dishes with poor service and ridiculous prices.

+16

Miguel Vega

It’s a creative concept and there are some really fun fusion dishes, like the okonomyaki, and matzoh ball ramen, plus their umami-rich challah. But there are also some dishes that play it safe, like an unremarkable noodle bowl or the admittedly tasty but not even remotely Japanese (but rather Levantine-inspired) falafel-breaded egg. For dinner, the large plate menu is pretty lightweight: a sandwich, ramen, a pork chop, aforementioned vegetarian noodles and what is essentially a poke bowl with smoked salmon. In short, Shalom Japan has flattened out over the years, and some of the fun fusion has faded. Service was average — food just dropped in place, a missed opportunity to convey the restaurant’s approach to fusion — and we were very disappointed to see that the menu prices reflect cash payment (add 3% surcharge for cards), a clear violation of New York consumer law, which requires menu prices reflect card prices. (The cash discount mentioned on the menu is already reflected in the prices, so it’s actually a surcharge to pay with cards.) I hope they can address this soon.