Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Restaurant Review: Ninja, NYC

Remember how I went to NYC?  Well besides from hanging out with my running blogging friends, I also met up with two of my besties Debbie and Dana who live in the big city.  Debs was my college roommate and I've known Dana since we were 8.  These girs pretty know every one of my dark secrets and love me all the same. Right girls?
Debs planned a special dinner out at a restaurant called Ninja.  Our reservation were at 6:30pm.  Early for New York.  Perfect for me!
Here's what we know about Ninja...from the website of course... "the interior of the NINJA New York is designed to depict a Ninja castle of the feudal days, with individual rooms layed out in complexity of a maze and clever contraptions are setup throughout so as to deceive the eye of the intruder."
Basically, the place is set up to scare it's patrons.  Yep, and scared we were!  

We arrived a little after 6:40 and were greeted with a somewhat frantic hostess who infomed us we had to wait.  And wait we did.  For about 30 minutes.  With a reservation.  That's NY for ya!  When we finally were called, we took an elevator down to the basement where we were greeted AKA scared by our first Ninja in this creepy hall.
Then our ninja convinced us to take the creepy way through dark quarters.  I was scared!
Finally we were seated in a very cool, ninja-like atmosphere.

First order of business: DRINKS.  I ordered RIN which was delicious.
Our waiter was hysterical and we had a blast all night with his ninja-isms.  The restuarant in general was so much fun and the service was stand-out.  Aside from our somewhat moody hostess, the service was first class and lots of fun!
Our waiter rolled out our menus for us- they are acutally part of the Ninja-look (you'll see in the picture of him below).
We definitely knew we wanted to order some ninja art dishes which were signature dishes.
First, we shared the Caesar Salad.  
What made it art was that we had to break the parmesan cheese topper with our chop sticks in order to enjoy our salad.  See below.
Then we ordered four sushi rolls- Teriyaki Roll, Rock n Roll NY, Shrimp Tempura Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll.
YES, there were poprocks.  And it was amazing.
My pictures aren't great because I was too busy downing RIN cocktails : )  
We had a lot of laughs at Ninja in NYC and I highly recommend it if you are interested in an intriguing restaurant with great sushi and tons of fun.
Our waiter with us girls (see the menus are part of his uniform!)
Have you been to Ninja?  Ever been to a restaurant where the waitstaff/employees try to scare you throughout the night?

15 comments:

  1. That looks fun *AND* incredibly yummy!!!

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  2. Wow, that sounds like such a unique and fun place!! And good service and food on top of that sounds awesome. Love your detailed restaurant reviews!

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  3. I want a Ninja in North Carolina! Not only does it have an awesome atmosphere, but it looks like delicious sushi, which I love!

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  4. This is the most unique restaurant you've reviewed yet! Sounds super fun! Next time we're in NYC, can you please take me there? :)

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  5. What a fun experience! That's hyseterical that the staff kept trying to scare you. Looks like you guys had a great time. I'm definitely adding that to my "must eat at list" for the next time I'm in NYC!

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  6. That is hilarious and awesome! I have never heard of Ninja and I think it might have to be a must do on my NYC restaurant list.

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  7. this place looks like such a blast! gotta love NYC.

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  8. There are some restaurants in Japan like this, I am afraid I would hit someone if they tried to scare me. I would never go here, I am way too much of a wimp!

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  9. I'm a little sad that I missed out on Ninja! I guess it just means I have to go
    back to the big city. So fun!

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  10. Just in case you can find Ninja, I put a link to it on the coolest new map of NYC that i just came across called CityMaps. You can find restaurants, bars, clubs, store and more on a 21st century mall map of NYC. Very cool!

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  11. Holy smokes Ninja looks amazing! I'm kind of a sucker for NYC restaurants because so many of them have a shtick, and this one clearly is no exception. I've kind of secretly always wanted to be a ninja. I mean, if a girl could get paid to take out bad guys with her nun-chuck skills, perform gravity-defying acrobatics and just be an all-around BAMF - all whilst wearing breathable and exercise-friendly clothing - why WOULDN'T she?

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  12. Haha, what a ridiculous concept for a restaurant. I'm in NY right now. So many delicious restaurants... so little time :)

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  13. sounds like a really fun place! Glad you had a great trip :)

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  14. Hi Lizzy -- this is Carrie Seim from The New York Post. I'm writing a fun food article feautring Ninja New York and found your blog post about it. I'd love to do a quick interview w/ you for the story about your fun experience there. Possible? Please let me know as soon as you can: ckseim@gmail.com.
    Thanks!
    Carrie

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  15. Ninja vampire? Very cool concept.
    The work is very versatile, with so many concentrations intermingling
    Ninja Gear

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