Christine

Nice cozy Japanese restaurant with great service. The matcha cocktail and tuna tataki were delicious! Also tried the chicken and veggie donburi which were good, but not mindblowing. Would be curious to try the other menu items which may be better.

Mark Lin

Food was kinda hit or miss. The edamame, adegashi tofu, and soft shelled crab was good. The tuna takai pieces were small and over-sauced and looked nothing like the photos online. Service was good and the restaurant is located in a nice cozy spot.

Kim

Nice place for a quiet date night. Went with the small plates since they seemed more interesting. I'd recommend the beef tataki which is quite flavorful. The cocktails and sake selection is nice. For cocktails, the Summer Echoes is aptly named.

+3

Cherri Chan

I thought the food felt like home. It wasn’t anything surprising or unexpected. The pork katsu were a little dry, and the steak lacked garlic flavor as expected. But good vibes and kids friendly; and easy to get seats on a Tuesday night without any wait.

+1

Tay Jacobe

Good food at pretty fair prices for NYC! Lots of different options for a variety of Japanese dishes (curry, rice dishes, etc), so there is something for everyone. I had the vegetable don which was surprising in that it was just tempura vegetables, rice, and a side dish of ten don sauce, but the tempura veggies were really well cooked and the sauce was delicious. Simple, yet effective!

+2

K. Sher

Appreciate that they were able to accommodate us (party of 3) without a reservation on a Thurs evening. Nice environment but we thought that the dishes could have better flavours/textures. Especially the curry katsudon- usually it comes in a bigger piece of meat but they serve them in “fingers” instead. We do think that there are better izakayas in the neighbourhood.

J W

The overall experience was good! We came here on a Friday night around 6:30 and wait around 30 minutes which wasn't too bad considering how crowded the restaurant was. The staff were friendly and apologize for the wait. The food were pretty good and definitely worth the try. We ordered the beef tataki, tuna tataki, hot squid, yakiniku Don and katsu curry. We enjoyed all the dishes, but thought the sauce for the tuna tataki was quite overpowering which kill the natural flavor of the tuna. Also, the don was too oily to my liking. I definitely recommend the drinks. I had the white clouds which tasted like milk foam tea.

+3

Reggie Mateo

Benemon in the east village serves tapas, donburi, and Japanese curry dishes. They do not take reservations on the weekend and we saw the reason why; by the peak dining hour customers were lining up for a seat! We started with small plates of tuna tataki; seared tuna with Cajun spice, sweet miso-nuta sauce, and smoked pork belly with shishito peppers served with spicy black kaimi sauce. Both dishes are delicious yet we commented that the sauce for the tataki has overpowered the main star which is the tuna. For our main entree, we shared Nanban Don; crispy chicken tempura glazed with Nanban sauce served over rice, and the tender stewed beef with savory curry served with rice. We found both dishes delicious and filling. This place serves solid Japanese comfort food. The outdoor dining added quaintness to the ambiance. With awesome customer service and price points, we will be back here!

Jubie Tan

Terrible food, very surprised by this. Service was good though. I got the katsu and they just douse the overcooked meat in mayo and other sauces. Rice not seasoned. App not impressive and also drowning in sauce. Drinks not memorable. I only came by word of mouth. Please don't spend money here.

Josephine Lee

Major dining pet peeve: Restaurants that are stingy with AC on hot summer days. Come on, we all have electric bills to pay, and we all know how high they get from May to Sept. But no one wants to sweat like they're doing HIIT while trying to enjoy a plate of hot food. Oooo, weak pee in my gnocchi....tasty. Benemon is another stingy-with-AC restaurant. On a sweltering day with 251,000% humidity, the air conditioner was barely on, the fan was non-existent, and perhaps most insulting of all, they served us tepid, room temperature water. We had to ask for ice, which they (begrudgingly) gave in small cubes that melted instantly. The food was fine, but not worth the suffering. We started with Beef Carpaccio that was a bit too cooked for my liking, and Tuna Tataki likely drowned a painful death in the too-sweet miso-nut sauce. The Soft Shell Crab was pretty good, but I could've used more than six tiny legs. My Katsu Curry featured cute, sausage-shaped cutlets, but most of the dish was just sticky rice and gravy that I could've made myself. In attempt to avoid feeling feverish, I also got Yuzu Shiso Spritzer to wash everything down. It was fine, but if I hadn't desperately needed more ice than the staff wanted to give, I wouldn't have bothered ordering this. Not worth the sweat or the schlep.