First Look: Washoku Cafe

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As Eater reported last week, Washoku Cafe (on 37th btw. Mad+5th) has opened for business.  They’re running at about 60% right now, with bento boxes, sushi, and drinks packaged and ready for sale.  There is a coffee section in the front, but the hot food section in the back isn’t quite ready yet.

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A look at some of the food is after the jump…

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The Salmon Lunch Box ($8.00) looked pretty standard.

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The Chicken Teriyaki Combo ($7.50), however, looked pretty meh.

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Sushi and rice balls.

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Potato salad and ?????

According to a commenter on Friday, the $2.25 hearty Miso Soup is the early star. I’m going to reserve full judgement until after the the hot food is introduced, but my gut tells me that this place is not going to be replacing Cafe Zaiya anytime soon. Early adopters, feel free to comment below.

Washoku Cafe, 9 E. 37th St. (btw. Mad+5th), 917-515-0238

7 Comments

  • those onigiri’s look alright…

  • There’s also a Japanese-style deli right outside the “entrance” to Katsu-Hama on 47th between 5th Ave & Madison Ave. Both the deli and Katsu-Hama are great saviors for my lunch-time hunger.

  • I just walked in for a sec and it looked like it wasnt even open, not even a greeting.

  • I went there and had a spaghetti bento w/ potato salad and fried chicken last week. It was all right. I think I will be on the look out for their hot bar when it opens.

  • I’m not the biggest fan “to go” sushi.

  • salmon don $6 perfectly acceptable and filling, going back today for miso and onigri or salad which is an odd combo but still balances out at just 6 bucks so yay!

  • I got my lunch here today after reading it here. Well, the greetings was in full force but the operations is still 60%. The hot bar is open with an extremely ambitious menu – bento box will a zillion combos. I ordered a grilled eel combo with my choice of 2 sides (white rice + hijiki salad). Comes also with green salad and miso soup. Quality of food is good, quantity is lacking and packaging is aweful. Basically they mixed the green salad, hijiki and eel (2 pieces) into one square plastic box. Then white rice in the other and a small miso soup. There were maybe 4 ppl and it still took a good 10mins. Much to improve!

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