New York City: BondSt (October 2017)




My spouse and I visited BONDST for dinner on a Saturday evening in mid-October 2017. We booked our places using the online using the Open Table reservation system; however, we also called the restaurant to ensure seating at the sushi bar. Note that you can only make reservations for the dining room at BONDST; you cannot reserve a place for the lounge, which is first come-first served. BONDST is open daily for dinner only.

BONDST is located in the East Village, near NoHo, on Bond Street (as its name implies!) near the intersection of 4th Street and 4th Avenue. The restaurant occupies three floors of an historic brownstone. The 75-seat bar area/main dining room/sushi bar is located up one flight of stairs from the street, whereas the lounge is located down a flight of stairs from the street. A third-floor houses the upper-level dining area, including overflow dining and a private tatami room. (None of these areas seems handicap-accessible.) Although the lounge and the dining room share the same menu, seating is more casual in the basement lounge. Décor is minimalist, featuring wood and neutral tones. The main dining area contains a small bar with a few lounge seats adjacent, preceding table and semi-circular booth seating; the bustling sushi bar with tables adjacent occupies the rearmost room. 

Although we sat at the center of the sushi bar positioned in front of the head chef, he did not actually make any sushi for us; in other NYC Japanese restaurants that we have visited (including O Ya, Kura, Jewel Bako, and Brushstroke), when we have been seated in front of the master chef, he has prepared and handed/served us our sushi piece by piece personally. In fact, the head chef at BONDST prepared only sushi rolls on the night that we dined, rather than sushi or sashimi. We missed that service element at BONDST.

BONDST serves Japanese cuisine, offering both an a la carte menu and several tasting menus. We chose the lowest-price tasting menu ($95 per person); the mid-priced $120 menu included the addition of sashimi, and the chef steered us away from the $140 highest price option, saying it was too much food. We ordered the shishito margarita and a Sapporo while we waited for our food service to begin. Our tasting menu included the following courses:

1.       Sea-salted edamame
2.       Mixed greens with ginger dressing
3.       Oyster with mignonette and spicy tuna on crispy rice (served simultaneously)
4.       Sushi sampler
5.       Fish with parsnip puree, mushrooms
6.       Sea bass with sesame-crusted rice
7.       Miso soup
8.       Two different desserts (bread pudding with whiskey toffee sauce, and the ricotta cup with macadamia nuts and bayberry granita)

We enjoyed the energy of the loud and busy atmosphere at BONDST; however, we prefer a more personalized and refined sushi experience.












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