Ise Restaurant
“It's arguable the best soba in the city right now (and I eat a lot of soba).”
“Prices are reasonable and they're not overwhelmingly busy in this hidden gem nestled amongst the eateries of St. Marks.”
“I will miss our old ramen joint, but this place was a very pleasant surprise.”
Ise Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Came in around 6:30 on a Thursday night and the 2 of us were seated immediately. Servers were so friendly! I saw them showing the table next to us how to prepare the soba properly.
We ordered the dinner special ($28 from 5:30-7PM) and the Chirashi. The sashimi with the sushi rice, uni, and roe was bomb and the salad was my favorite part of the dinner special. Shrimp Tempura was good too 🙂
Ise is one of those Japanese restaurants that you like instantly because everything is so beautiful and well-presented.
I came here with my good friend and fellow yelper Michelle on a weekday. We reserved literally an hour before we planned to meet up (yes, they take reservations), so we ended up sitting at the bar, which was fine because you can order anything off the full menu at the bar.
I had such a hard time choosing. It was one of those days when I walked in thinking I was craving soba until I saw the sushi platter of the person sitting next to me and then on the other side of the bar, two people were eating from this beautiful octagonal lacquered bento box. I ended up going with the bento box when I discovered it had three levels: 1) appetizers, 2) sushi, 3) soba. Why choose when you can have it all?
And it wasn't a bit of everything, it was *plenty* of everything. This has never happened to me at a Japanese restaurant: I ended up doggy-bagging the leftovers. It was all so delicious, of course I scarfed the rest of it down an hour or so later.
Their soba is excellent. Made fresh in house, it is perfectly chewy. I don't think any of the other soba places in East Village beats what you get here. The sushi was decent, but I've definitely had silkier pieces of fish at other Japanese restaurants. I wouldn't call it their forte. Overall, great food, great service, as you can expect. Heard the lunch specials are a steal, so I'm definitely going to be back.
I love soba noodles and Japanese lunch sets. Ise is here to the rescue! Soba noodles were really delicious! My friend and I stopped by here for a weekday lunch. The minimal decor is simply Japanese, bright, and easy on the eyes. There are a number of patrons dining in as well. We were seated comfortably in the back dining area. It seems that Ise change their lunch special choices time to time but soba is their specialty therefore, it is always included.
Cold Soba Noodles with Sushi and Sashimi. Soba noodles and fresh sushi are two of my favorite things in the world. It is even better when they are served together. Soba noodles came in a bowl already in the dipping sauce. It is topped with scallions and grated daikon radish. There was a bit of wasabi on the side of the bowl to be added. I mixed everything together thoroughly and waited a bit for the dipping sauce to soak into the noodles. Soba noodles had a notably firmer texture than normal but I personally liked this a lot more. For sushi, I had tuna, salmon, fluke, shrimp, and bluefin nigiri with three rolls of tuna scallion. Sashimi pieces include tuna, salmon, fluke, and scallop. Fish were really fresh and really did an amazing job to satisfy my sushi cravings (for now!).
Green Tea Creme Brulee and Yuzu Cheesecake. OH MY GOD! Perfect dessert combination! Green Tea Creme Brulee had just the perfect texture of the caramelized sugar coat on top. It was creamy with just a subtle green tea taste. Yuzu cheesecake had an amazing yuzu aroma and taste to it! My first bite was exploded with pleasant yuzu! The crust was too soft and I wish that it had more of a texture. This was an excellent ending to our meal, so get it! I do not recommend sharing with anyone – just saying!
Excellent spot for lunch and I look forward to come back for another lunch or dinner!
I'm happy that this is now a soba place. I'm sad that this is no longer MenKuiTei. Another piece of my history that has been erased by the ever changing food scene in NYC.
That being said, and thus making my peace with it, if you are looking for a relaxed yet somewhat formal feeling place to have soba, this is the place to be. The white walls and dim lighting and soft music just give you an elegant and classy vibe. Very, very different than what it used to be. I like what they have done to the place.
For soba, as usual, it is a bit expensive. It really isn't that hard to boil some soba, make a cold dipping sauce, grate some radish, and poach an egg. Wait, we had sake too, I forgot about that….
Also to make something so simple well, well, not everyone can do that. I'll have to give them that.
I like this spot, always have. It's in a good location, just slightly off the beaten path of St. Marks proper.
Definitely would come back again.
4.5 Stars
Simple, elegant, minimalist environment. I felt very comfortable sitting here especially since the staff was both nice and unintrusive.
The sauteed wild chicken with just some salt and pepper was really delicious chicken! The texture was soft and each piece was flavorful. It was served with a bit of salad greens on the side but the chicken was clearly a star.
The chawanmushi was good but the dashi flavor was not strong enough. I would have also liked the egg to be a bit softer and silkier. The chawanmushi had quite a bit of seafood, mushrooms, and ingredients inside which I liked.
The stamina soba was delicious, I really enjoyed this dish. The noodles were thin, a good texture, and I loved the toppings of nameko, grated radish, grated yam, raw egg. (There was some okra and green sprouts as well.)
The assorted sushi was simple pieces of sliced fish and rice. The fish was soft and fresh. It was presented prettily on a platter, but this type of sushi was quite basic and classic.
I enjoyed the raindrop cake dessert, presented in a pretty blue glass dish. The shingen mochi was smooth like jelly, and the brown sugar gave it a simple sweet taste. There was kinako powder sprinkled around as well.
Overall, good meal, really enjoyed the experience, especially loved the flavors of the chicken, soba, and raindrop cake. (And I do like the soba here better than at Soba-ya.)
I look forward to coming back again.
This is my new favorite soba place.
I've tried soba at Soba-Ya, SobaKoh and Soba Totto, and this place beats them all in terms of soba (haven't had the other dishes, so can't speak for those). Unfortunately, I can't ever make it for the lunch special because I work M-F on the west side, but it seems like a great deal.
I've had the hot tempura soba, and the noodles are chewy without being too al dente. I also loved the flavorful broth. The tempura batter was also light and not too greasy.
Service was excellent. I've already been back several times within a short period of time, which doesn't happen very often.
I thought this place was great, this place felt super Japanese and I liked how the decor had a very sushi bar look to the restaurant. It had the typical very wood and very clean look to the place. I also appreciate how the entire staff was Japanese. I came here for lunch with a friend since she likes eating Japanese lunch boxes and this place is popular for their soba.
The food:
Kurobuta Katsu- Breaded deep fried pork cutlet, 4 kinds of sashimi, soba and rice. I enjoyed their lunch set. The pork was nicely fried and not greasy, it was tender but a tad dry and mild in flavor for me. The soba is offered hot or cold and I chose cold. The cold soba was great, there was a nice chew to the noodle and a really nice flavor especially with the addition of the wasabi. The sashimi was prepared well, all the sashimi had good flavor and there was a decent mix of pieces. I really enjoyed the salmon and the scallop, there was also fluke and blue fin tuna. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
Green Tea Brulee and Creamy Yuzu Cheese Cake- My friend was about to attack me for this dessert, she had one bite and she was about to fight me for the rest. =( My friend was obsessed. I thought this was really good. I normally hate green tea since it is so bitter but the green tea brulee was outstanding, I loved the flavor of the creme brûlée and loved the texture of the custard. The yuzu cheese cake had really great flavor but I wish it had a different texture, I felt the name was misleading since it didn't feel like cheese cake at all. If it resembled anything, it was more jello like or maybe panna cotta-ish. I also thought the crust was kinda weird, it was there but it was so unnoticeable since there was very little texture from the crust, I only really noticed it since it was a different color. But overall, a must order dessert. yelp.com/user_local_phot…
I used to love St. Mark's but over the years I've felt that it's felt like a race to the bottom as quality has dropped on the main street while all the gems have gravitated towards 1st ave or further south.
I'm so happy Ise has opened right around the corner from the main St. Mark's stretch. It's arguable the best soba in the city right now (and I eat a lot of soba). They also offer a wide range of specialty sobas, such as green tea, gluten free…etc.
The best deal here is probably the $35 Hexagon box – which comes with 3 different generous layers. The first is a selection of 3 appetizers (i had eel, pickled veggies and egg), then soba, and finally chiraishi / select sushi. I think the selection also varies by day since both times I've come it's been a bit different.