Since I'm making my return trip to Ninja after nearly 5 years, I figured why not repost the review I wrote of it from back then. It seems like I had a pretty good time. So jump in your Delorean, set the time circuits to April 2009, make sure your flux capacitor is functional and hit 88mph with me...
When you go to a restaurant called
“Ninja” you expect to go to some kitschy joint with just edible
food and weird stuff hanging on the walls. Well, that’s not at all
what Annie, Megan, Lisa and I walked into. Instead we walked into a
place that was well-thought out to provide its customer’s excellent
food and great fun if you can manage to let yourself enjoy it.
The experience begins the minute
you walk through the unassuming door on Hudson Street. The tiny
lobby looks kind of like the inside of a cave. A “ninja” shows
you onto an elevator and than vanishes. When you exit the elevator
one floor below the street the ninja is there waiting for you. Upon
exiting the elevator you’re given the choice between the quick way
to your seats or taking the secret “ninja” way through a hidden
door in the wall. You know we took the secret hidden ninja path,
which turned out to be a dimly lit, narrow, wooden walkway that
scared Lisa and Annie just a touch. We were seated in a little
alcove off of a winding hallway with wooden sliding gates keeping us
just separated from the rest of the place. Being in your own little
chamber is quite conducive to conversation. It seemed as though the
4 of us were jabbering on pretty much through the whole meal. I
couldn’t have asked for 3 better people to share a meal with. We
absolutely had a blast.
I’ll get to the food in a minute
but first the service. The hostess was excellent and attentive. She
seemed to have a knack for showing up exactly when we needed
something and that was pretty much it. She was very much like a
giggling hostess ninja. She even gave all 4 of us ninja stickers.
The waiters were excellent. Every time they opened our jail cell
doors they made a cool “HIYA” noise. It was awesome. Some of
the food actually came with a lil presentation when being served.
The sashimi appetizer came on top of a dry ice smoking bowl thing.
There was a cool fireball thing to cook the sauce for our scallop and
crab appetizer. There was also another fireball thing that was
started when the waiter hit the plate with his sword. The fire
melted a big pat of butter which combined with the juices from the
lamb on the plate to create an excellent sauce. The lamb was
actually so good that Meg, Lisa and I ate it right off the bone like
meaty popsicles. Annie chose not to get down and dirty like we did
and used her knife and fork. The ninja waiters that “performed”
for us were funny and fun. They could easily have been miserable
being that they were grown men serving food dressed as ninjas. They
all seemed to be sort of enjoying the whole thing. Maybe not as much
as we were, but enjoying it nonetheless.
Now to the food. The food was
excellent. Ninja was a place that easily could’ve had crappy food
and counted on the novel décor to keep business coming in. That was
absolutely not the case. Everything we ate was fantastic. All the
sashimi and the sushi rolls we tried were outstanding and fresh
tasting. And they all came on planks of petrified wood, which is an
awesome way of presenting anything. I really wanted to steal one of
the planks. But I don’t think we could’ve hid it to get it out.
They were ninjas…probably pretty observant. The Caesar salad was
crisp and tasty and came with a giant Cheese Nip cracker instead of
croutons. By the way, eating Caesar salad with chopsticks is very
difficult. Unless you’re Megan and you just put the bowl to your
mouth. She’s such an animal that sister of mine. For entrees we
shared the ninja version of fish and chips which was really tasty and
the aforementioned lamb chops. There’s not much better than meat
that comes on its own stick. Then we got to desserts, mostly because
Lisa insisted. She’s a dessert girl. It’s a good thing she
insisted. Lisa got a Rose Chocolate which was some funky version of
chocolate mousse that came with a smoking rose. Meg got the Ninja
Star which came with a real ninja star (they took the star back much
to Megan’s chagrin). And I got the Bonsai which was sweet potato
custard
After all the food was done we
were treated to a table-side magician. I’ve always liked magic but
I’ve never been quite so close before. I couldn’t help but think
that being a foot away from a magician I’d totally be able to catch
on to the gimmicks. Not a chance. I had no idea at all how he did
what he did. He kept us all involved and bantered with us the entire
time. He made us feel like we were as much a part of his act as he
was. By the end of his act there were fruit on the table and 8 balls
in Lisa’s hand and none of us had any idea how any of it had gotten
there. He was good enough that we asked to have him come back to our
table so we could properly tip him.
I’m really glad this wasn't a
large outing. I think it was as enjoyable as it turned out because
it was a smaller party. We wouldn't have gotten to sit in that
tiny alcove if there were more of us and I think that had a lot to do
with how enjoyable the whole experience was. In all I had a great
time with some cool people in a really fun place eating fantastic
food. You really can’t ask for much more from any outing. I think
everyone should check this place out at least once.
25 Hudson Street
New York, NY, 10013
212-274-8500
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