FIVE HUNDRED, TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED MINUTESSSSS
After seemingly an eternity, the outpost of the legendary Tokyo sushiya is finally set to open at the end of May, 2026 at the Lotte Palace in midtown. If you’re unfamiliar, the Lotte Palace delivers luxury ethos with a cruise ship attitude. The lobby is straight from level 4 of the Oasis Of The Seas. If you yearn for the days of tour groups milling around aimlessly waiting for Sharon from Biloxi to retrieve the camera from her room, the Lotte Palace is for you.
FOUR SEATINGS, SIX DAYS A WEEK
12:30pm – you read that right – 5:00pm, 6:00pm and 8:00pm.
If the time slots confuse you, trust me – I’m confused more. I’m told there will be two rooms, six seats per counter, and that the 12:30, 5pm and 8pm seatings will be in the main room. 6 pm will be in the adjacent. Mondays off.
THREE MENUS
- Sushi Mitani: $700 per guest, 12 courses of sushi plus 6-7 otsumami and four teas
- Sushi Mitani Mariage (this is how they spelled it everywhere, and I had to triple check there wasn’t a Japanese word I was missing): $1500 per guest, the sushi plus standard alcohol pairings
- Premium Mitani Mariage: From $2,000 per guest, the sushi plus elevated alcohol pairings.
Notice the “from $2,000″ on the super-duper-premium option. Turns out the $2,500 per person was probably right. Good times.
So for that amount of money, you might assume the Taisho would be Mitani-san himself. Not so fast.
WILL MITANI-SAN BE THERE?
I’ve heard all sorts of things – he’s coming for a few weeks, he’s coming for a few months, he’ll be there but isn’t serving the sushi – but the bottom line is this.
THE BUSINESS MODEL BAFFLES ME
Where to start.
As I wrote when Sushi Mekumi closed, I think operators are wildly overestimating New Yorkers willingness to pay superstar prices for non-superstars. I’m sure whomever runs the counter at Mitani will be fantastic; that’s not the point. Inter Miami has plenty of stars, but look what happens to ticket prices when Messi takes the night off?
And that doesn’t even consider that all comparably priced sushiya in this city – some of whom struggle to sell out every service – have Itamae who were established before they got here.
WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE SEATINGS
Look, I’ve been wrong before. I used to think Gretzky was better than Lemieux. I’ve made mistakes.
But I am pretty certain that two hours and $1500 for boozy sushi in the JV room at 12:30 on a Tuesday is going to be a hard sell.
Maybe it works. But right now, this feels like the NYC sushi version of NFL Europe.
We’ll see.
(and yes I’ll be reviewing it. make your reservations here).