Solid Choice
TLDR: Momoya is a really good, casual Japanese spot with high quality sushi. It’s not fussy and it’s good takeout on nights you just don’t feel like cooking. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here, but if you find yourself in one of the three neighborhoods with a Momoya in it, you should check it out.
Image credit: momoyanyc.com
Sushi is a staple for me; I rarely go more than a week without it and it’s a great weeknight “I want to be healthy-ish but I don’t want to cook” solution (is it healthy? I don’t know. But I don’t feel like shit when I eat it and I’ll take that). Fortunately, New York is full of incredible sushi. Unfortunately, much of the good stuff is served omakase or in hard-to-get-into sushi bars (a la KazuNori). That’s where Momoya comes in.
Momoya is reliably good Japanese food for both dine in and take out. I might even prefer it as take out, because then I get to enjoy excellent quality nigiri from the comfort of my couch, which is really what modern society is all about, you know? The restaurant itself is nice too, and has multiple locations (UWS, Soho, and Chelsea) – convenient!
The sushi here is the star; it’s fresh and simple. Their combo sets give you a nice variety of fish, plus enough food to split with someone else if you get an appetizer. I don’t usually pay attention to the appetizers when I get sushi, but they have some really interesting and tasty options at Momoya you shouldn’t miss. Some fan favorites include the corn and miso soup (great on a chilly day), the hijiki seaweed salad, the miso black cod, and the soft shell crab when it’s in season.
I have only eaten one dish at Momoya which I cannot recommend, and that is the katsu don. I think anyone who loved chicken fingers as a kid (who am I kidding, we still love chicken fingers) probably loves chicken katsu. But the bowl here is sort of… wet? It’s definitely not crispy enough for that proper katsu crunch. There’s a lot of rice that just blandly fills you up on the bottom and all in all, I just think it’s not remotely worth ordering. But if soggy chicken sounds good to you, you go girl.
Momoya is definitely a spot you can walk into on most nights, though it does seem to get super busy for dinner in the warmer months; I generally prefer it for lunch or take out. In either case, this is a nice place to drop in when you’re in the neighborhood, but I wouldn’t go all the way from BK for it.
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