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NY Times food critic Frank Bruni's review of Japanese eatery Ninja made the downtown sub-basement restaurant sound so awful that Gothamist is tempted to go there ourselves. Instead of shelling out $110 for a ticket to see Wicked on Broadway, you can travel through a warren of Shoji screens and have ninjas wait on you hand and foot! Bruni writes, "Each party of diners receives its own nook, which quickly takes on the aspect of a jail cell as the ninjas, delivering and removing dishes, laboriously slide the latticed doors open and closed, closed and open, ad infinitum." It's just like going to Japan, except without the geishas or jetlag! Sure, the sushi isn't that great, but don't you want your servers to be screaming in your ears for a purpose? And don't you want to have a dessert in the shape of a bonsai tree? We'd splurge on an insane night of dining because we're never going to save enough to be rich for the rest of our lives. Admit it - you're intrigued now as well.
And we'd say Bruni doesn't like the Japanese, but he did Masa four stars after a $1,000 dinner for two. Maybe he just had a previous bad run-in with a ninja that left him scarred for life. And speaking of run-ins with ninjas, we are fond of this short film that looks at what happens when your new roommate is a ninja:
A Ninja Pays Half My Rent. And here are reviews of Ninja from Lower Manhattan and Raspberry Heaven.
Photograph from Raspberry Heaven
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To quote a friend of mine, "Why would you want ninjas, skilled assassins and masters of every deadly poison, handling your FOOD??"
My potential problem with this place is being ready to pay the check, only to have the shadow-warrior waiter throw down a smoke bomb and disappear. Then, to quote another friend, "you try to leave without paying and then it's 'fft! fft! fft!' with the blowguns."
Will Sho Kosugi be the celebrity greeter?
Bruni's right when he says that the whole concept of Ninja seems like an SNL skit. Maybe if this were some sort of chain restaurant that was targeting tourists (like the places you see in Times Square) the concept might work. But with those prices listed in the review, I don't see this place lasting a year.
If you don't see it lasting a year, then make haste and check it out! The tasting menus are 10 courses deep and a true experience. It took us three hours to get through! The food is exotic and very tasty, presented in unusual configurations, woth it just for its uniqueness. There are some tourist attractions like the lighting of the snail shell before it is served. But I say, food is more fun when it is on fire, so go for it! Definitely get the bonzai tree for dessert. Well worth the prices for a once in awhile splurge. We need some super tasty fun to rally the food snobbery in this damn town.
I rather go to Disneyworld...