Sun-Chan Japanese Restaurant
“Can't resist an awesome Nagoya style una(eel) don for 2, which called "hitsumabushi"!!”
“I highly recommend the unagi Hitsumabushi — or eel for two.”
“My favorite is the chicken skin skewer, and they do it super well here unlike other places which undercook it or just burn the heck out of it.”
Sun-Chan Japanese Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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People all know how much I hate carbs, and today I'm telling you I love the eel rice cooked at Sun-Chan. Eel rice, in my opinion, could be easily messed up – rice too bland, eel not marinated well, the two elements weren't combined well…apparently Sun-Chan successfully avoided all the possibilities of failure and presented me the best eel rice so far I have eaten.
The big bowl was for two people to share, and trust me, there was a lot of fish meat on top of tons of rice. However I did not at all feel too stuffed. The fish soup was a perfect way to clean up my palate after the rice. This eel rice dish worth a full credit! Aside from the main dish, we also shared a small pot of wine-steamed clams. Less impressive, however still worth a try!
I commuted a long way to get here, now I am so glad that I made that decision.
This is my favorite Japanese restaurant in the upper west side neighborhood. The eel rice for two comes with a hot teapot of broth that is unlike any eel over rice in NYC. I highly recommend it. The grilled riceball is awesome. Its decor is rusty with dim lighting.
I can't believe there's such authentic Japanese restaurant in this area near columbia! I never noticed it before because it just looks like an average sushi place until I read a review about the unagi over rice here. So I came to try it. It's amazing! The restaurant is a small family oriented, less business chain feeling compared with ootoya. There are two types of unagi here. One is served for two people. The waitress mix the eel with rice, we then add fish soup and wasabi to mix everything. The other is just unagi over rice. They both taste really good, and the portion is big. The menu also has lots yakitori options.
Anyway, it's a hidden gem in the uptown are. The place is ideally for two people so you don't need to wait long.
Wait… my #600th review is for an izakaya? Stop the presses!
No, really, did you expect anything different? 🙂
Sun-Chan is a rare gem in the UWS in that it is a proper izakaya, focusing specifically on authentic yakimono cooked on a nice smokey grill, by a very humble and nice Japanese lady. It's not a charcoal grill, but either way, everything has a great smoky rich flavor. If possible, get any whole grilled fish; second priority, try a couple skewers, especially the home made tsukune (chicken meat ball.)
Note, they seem to put more focus in their land-based meats than fish when it comes to skewers. I had a mildly overcooked scallop skewer both times I tried it. So when in doubt skewerwise, stick to chicken, beef, duck, and pork. My favorite is the chicken skin skewer, and they do it super well here unlike other places which undercook it or just burn the heck out of it. The shape of the skin is still obvious but the correct amount of crunch has been added through grilling. Perfect.
It also goes without saying, the sushi provided here is merely a cash cow for the willing masses of the area who expect Japanese places to categorically serve sushi. The fish isn't terribly fresh for sushi-grade, and you'd be missing the point anyway.
Anyway, the first time I came here, I had hitsumabushi (Nagoya style eel over rice) with my girlfriend, which is a little expensive but the unagi kabayaki is grilled on site (as far as I know.). It was a good dish for two to share with an interesting presentation, but in the end it was not significantly better than your typical una-don as far as base ingredients are concerned.
The second time – just last night – I came by myself past midnight (I had just gotten in from JFK.) Firstly, it's awesome that I can just stroll in past midnight, though it helped that it was a Friday night. I got the sake-kama dinner set with rice and soup. It is good because they don't cut off anything and you can eat eeeeeverything, including the skin, cheek, and the eye of the salmon. I spent 20 minutes or so gnawing on that thing like a caveman, pausing briefly only to take a sip of Otokoyama (my favorite cheapo sake $5.25 per glass at Sun-chan) which goes really well with fish and rice.
Make sure to sit at the bar. Your grill orders will come out faster and fresher and you will be coated afterwards in the heady smell of Japanese charcoal. You will also be able to see the regulars – you can recognize them because they have their own shochu bottle which they store at the place. And they all come alone, making me feel a little better about my current lonely-bachelor situation.
I hadn't the heart to befriend the yakuza-looking regular to my left, but was able to strike up a conversation with the American couple next to me. The dude there was an extremely big fan of the place and basically blew his load while biting into his grilled mackerel. Now that's restaurant promotion you just can't buy. 🙂 He became drunker and drunker as the evening wore on and by the time I left he was really slurring! Proof that yakitori is the alcoholic's favorite food.
Moral of the story: You /can/ have an extremely interesting izakaya experience uptown without having to slog down to St. Mark's Place. And a very delicious one at that rivaling the best yakitori joints in town. I'm extremely proud to make this my review #600.
Challenge: find a suitable restaurant for a double date with another couple. Reservations preferred. Two people can't eat meat. One person is craving katsudon.
Armed with this daunting task, I fed the information into Yelp & out popped Sun-Chan, a Japanese restaurant on the UWS with plenty of sushi, traditional Japanese dishes, & yes, even katsudon!
Reservations were difficult to make (impossible for us, actually) because the restaurant only opens at 5:30pm & we didn't time our phone call properly. No worries; we arrived about a half hour early and put our names on the list … with a half hour wait! For such a small restaurant and a growing crowd, surely this was kismet.
Once we were seated, the feast began. Delicious appetizers of edamame & shumai disappeared from our table faster than you could say "tabemasu!" (It means "to eat" in Japanese; yes, I looked this up.)
I had the Tempura entree, which was a big ol' plate of shrimp & vegetables, lightly battered & fried to delicious perfection. Served with rice, it was perfectly sized for dinner & I left with my tummy in that perfect "satisfied & content" place, which is nestled between "OMG I can't eat another bite!" and "so … are you gonna finish that?" (I opted out of the soup or salad though, which normally comes with the entree.)
My boyfriend's Chicken Katsudon was exactly what he had been craving. Before we finished eating, he hugged me, saying "Thank you for finding katsudon! DON'T FORGET THIS PLACE — we're coming back!" My friend had the Shrimp Tempura Udon, which she loved — but the big bowl overwhelmed her. (I suspect she filled up on edamame, but who am I, her mother?) Her boyfriend also had a noodle bowl, along with a couple of Yaki-tori skewers. I was dyinggg to try some, but I couldn't eat meat that day! Woe is me. The Yaki-tori skewers are cooked on a little grill at the bar area, & the intoxicating smell hits you as soon as you walk in the door. Next time, Yaki-tori, you're mine!
I need to come back here. There are so many other things I need to try! Full sushi menu, lots of sake choices, and seriously … the Yaki-tori. Chicken Skin, GARLIC, Asparagus wrapped with Bacon?! I think I just talked myself into a return visit.
One of my favorite places to hang in NYC in Upper West. Their happy hour starts at 11 PM. YES 11 PM. I said it. Half price sake and sochu is definitely worth the late night drinking efforts with tasty treats from the food menu. It is a very small establishment so if you want to go in groups, then please do get there early. It gets very crowded during dinner time and you have to leave your phone number if you are gonna wait outside. They will call you.
Having a stranglehold on being the (only) choice for Japanese food in this neighborhood definitely gives Sun-Chan an obvious advantage. However, there is no real excuse for poor execution and effort. The Agedashi Tofu definitely does not utilize fresh tofu tasted like some that have been aged for some time. The ramen was so stingy on ingredients that it may as well be advertised as a plain ramen with msg and sesame oil. At least the rolls were average and will satisfy a basic hungry stomach.
This resident is going to make the effort to commute down to the 70s next time a Japanese craving comes along!
The huge eel dish for two (I can't remember what it was called, but I think it started with an H?) was delicious! It seems like the most popular dish here, as I believe there was one at every table in the nearly-full restaurant. It comes hot in this large bowl and the server mixes up the eel and rice in front of you and watching it steam and smelling it is heavenly..It als comes with this fish broth in a very heavy
Usually I don't eat eel (I suffered for a good part of a week the last time I ate eel because a bone got stuck in my throat) but the boy said that the eel dish was a must-try so I agreed. It was almost 8:30pm and we were both pretty hungry anyway; we wanted to eat SOMETHING asap so I decided not to be picky about our choices. Besides, if I spent more time perusing the menu, I might have missed out on this delicious dish based on my past experiences with eel, but I'm really glad I got to try it here! The eel was fresh and no bones got stuck in my throat so I think I just may become a fan of eel again, haha.
Boy also wanted to try something else so he decided to order this cod egg roll. I found it slightly salty but the cod egg reminded me of a Korean side dish my mom used to feed me when I didn't have my appetite, so it was good because it reminded me of home 🙂
They also serve you hot green tea at the end of your meal, which I really enjoyed.
I wish this place had better lighting. I won't complain about the noise, because it is a small restaurant with tables really close to each other, but yeah, don't expect to have a quiet, private conversation here. Other reviews have mentioned the authenticity of this place, but I can't comment on that, except that the servers here are Japanese (which I generally view as a good sign if I'm looking for authentic Japanese food).
Service is pretty slow. Eh, I don't care that much about service if the food is good though.
Either way, this place seemed promising and I'd return. Fortunately boy lives/attends school around here, so it's likely I'll get another opportunity 🙂