Mitsuba

This was your average sushi restaurant but the Chinese menu was pretty authentic in all Chinese. Some offerings included sweet and spicy frog, etc. the sushi was just ok though, lots of tempora and immitation crab.

This review is solely based on their service. Not how the food taste. The waiter didnt even bother to write what we ordered and then brought us a wrong dish. We told him it’s not ours but he returned a second time insisted he didn’t make a mistake. We ordered 3 dishes in total. Each of them came in 25 minutes after one another. I spent more than an hour here waiting for them to cook.
This is actually not the first time that this kind of thing happened. About a month ago, a couple friends and I came here for dinner. There were 8 of us so we ordered about 10 dishes. The waiter didn’t write anything down either and later returned to ask what we ordered dish by dish.
Dude, if you are not that smart, what’s wrong with writing stuff down? It’s super slow, so if you are looking for something quick, don’t come here

I want to start off with saying it hurts me to give this restaurant a low score. I was traveling to Ithaca for a one day trip. I’ve done a bit of research and wanted to find the best sushi Ithaca has to offer and found this place. Having coming in around 4pm on a Friday, there was only a few tables seated inside.
As I sat down, I’ve noticed there was a 2^nd menu which was filled with Chinese dishes. On the menu, it literally says «Mitsuba Japanese Cuisine.» First impressions was confusion with a Chinese menu, and Thai dishes such as the Tom Yum Soup for example. Another observation was the drink/​dessert menus weren’t wiped down and literally had dried soy sauce spots on them.
As I’m looking through the Japanese menu, I was searching for the a la carte section (Nigiri). I was told it was on the take-​out menu so here comes a 3^rd menu if I wanted Nigiri. There are a couple errors on the take-​out menu such as «Salmon» being spelled «Sakmon.» Also, it states on the take-​out menu that Happy Hour is 3:00pm — 5:30pm but on the plastic stand that sits on the table it states 3:30pm — 6:00pm. I also want to point out there is literally a picture of a hibachi table on the menu. There isn’t a single actual hibachi table inside the restaurant.
A complimentary volcano roll was given to us, which was 3 pieces and mainly rice. Suspicions rose and I asked what the volcano roll was filled with and I was told «white fish.» A very unnoticeable amount of «white fish» was found inside the roll and it only tasted of deep fried rice. Though complimentary, I could have done without.
So I wanted to start off with the Shumai and Gyoza. The Shumai came out barely lukewarm, and came with an overly strong sauce. I’m not shy of strong sauces, but this will hit your sinuses and make you lightheaded. The Gyoza was actually quite tasty. The filling was tender, and the was nicely done.
I then ordered Nigiri which consisted of Scallop, Super-​White Tuna, Yellow-​Tail, Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, Sweet Shrimp and Ikura (Salmon Roe). I think the Yellow-​Tail, Super-​White Tuna, and Scallop were the highlights. The Tuna was just alright. The Salmon was odd to me. It looked fresh in colour, but tasted off. The Mackerel and Ikura had to be the biggest disappointment. The colour of the Mackerel was off, and very dry. The Ikura is the worst I’ve had. Old Ikura is what I had. To the point where the shell or skin of each roe would literally stick to the inside of your teeth. As for the Sweet Shrimp, didn’t taste quite fresh.
Onto the rolls. I ordered the Mitsuba Lobster, Crazy Eel, and Paradise. What really gets me, is the menu is loaded with pictures left and right. Beautiful professional looking pictures of the rolls and how they’re plated. None of the rolls were presented the way it looked in the pictures.
I must say, once the Paradise Roll and Nigiri came out my mind was blown. I was astonished seeing how this was plated. It looked incredible, and I absolutely loved it. Seeing the effect on the plate really blew me away. But unfortunately came with a price. I noticed a thin strand growing out of the middle of the plastic flower. At first, I was really hoping it was a fiber from one of the petals but I was wrong. Not only was it a dark colour, but it was without a doubt a hair. As I started to pull it out, it kept getting longer and longer to the point where I actually pulled the plastic flower out of the cup hanging by the hair. I called the Host over and showed him and he apologized and took away the flower. The Crazy Eel and Mitsuba Lobster Roll came out and they were tasty and I have no complaints.
After the meal, he came over and asked if we wanted dessert and we declined. He brought over the bill and told me he took off 10% for what has happened.
From being confused entering a Japanese Cuisine restaurant with a Chinese menu and Thai dishes, to dirty menus, to a hair being dead center of the plate. I’m very saddened to give this restaurant such a low score because I see potential. The presentation is phenomenal and I truly feel the chef is creative and skillful making sushi. Unfortunately, the best way I can describe this restaurant is it’s a beautiful car with a bad engine. The engine needs some tweaking and this would be a great restaurant.
—Food—
*NIGIRI*
Scallop: 8.5÷10
Super-​White Tuna: ⁹⁄₁₀
Yellow-​Tail: 8.5÷10
Salmon: 7.5÷10
Tuna: ⁷⁄₁₀
Mackerel: ³⁄₁₀
Ikura: ¹⁄₁₀
Sweet Shrimp: ⁵⁄₁₀
*ROLLS*
Mitsuba Lobster: 8.5÷10
Paradise: ⁸⁄₁₀
Crazy Eel: ⁷⁄₁₀
Presentation: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
—Restaurant—
Atmosphere: ⁸⁄₁₀
Decoration: ⁹⁄₁₀
Cleanliness: ⁶⁄₁₀

I am so glad that me and my husband decided to try this place! We ordered an alligator roll, tri-​pepper chicken and beef in spicy pepper sauce! It was incredibly delicious! Plus we got a few free things from the restaurant: deep fried roll, salad bar and fruit. It is very rare to find a place that you can have nice eel sushi and authentic Sichuan spicy dishes at the same time! This place is very clean and the waitress are friendly! We will definitely go back again!

The sushi is better on Long Island. But for upstate new york this place is great. Fish seemed really fresh and the service was good.

Came here after dropping off a sibling at CU, exhausted and famished. My standards were pretty low and Mitsuba still disappointed.
There were only 2 servers for approximately 12 tables (one group with 8 – 10 people). The servers were clearly overwhelmed and it took forever to get any service. The waitress brought my boyfriend a water after he asked for a Sprite.
After waiting for 20 minutes, we got a complimentary volcano roll. Deep-​fried roll with rice and what tasted like leftover odds and ends. I ordered Yaki Udon with vegetables and chicken and it was supposed to be a stir fry but the dish has liquid on the bottom. Boyfriend had the oyako-​don. He liked it but gives the disclaimer that «it’s hard to fuck it up.» The spicy salmon roll had too much vinegary rice with old salmon. We ordered another roll with spicy salmon, avocado in the middle with eel on top. It wasn’t great.
All in all, this place might do in a pinch. Order the kitchen items, not the sushi and expect a wait. They must have known they would have been swamped with CU families, poor planning on their part.

First dining experience after arriving for college.
I had mixed feelings about having sushi in Ithaca but this restaurant is just as good as some of my favorite places back home. Fish is served very fresh and in generous portions. I tried three of their special rolls and all were delicious, though on the sweeter side. I look forward to trying some of their teriyaki entrees and maybe even their Szechuan dishes (they have a separate menu for Chinese food). The dishes looked beautiful, with orchids and dry ice!
Service was good but I did notice that they had only one sushi chef, and though our food didn’t take forever I can imagine it being more slow when the restaurant is busy. When I was there it looked pretty full though.
I’m really happy I found good sushi here!

Friendly service, great lunch special prices ($ 8.50 for two rolls plus soup and salad), and an average dining room.
The fish was pretty fresh — good texture and flavor. We had the salmon, yellowtail, tuna, and eel. The rice was definitely lacking in seasoning and thus also in consistency. There was also a little too much of it in the rolls. So the bland, mushy rice overwhelmed any flavor of the fish. The eel sauce is also too sweet.
With a couple little tweaks, though, this place could be a good staple for those on the hunt for sushi in Ithaca. I think I’m most curious about the Szezuan menu now…

My girlfriend and I have been coming to this place for quite some time and it has always been consistent. They have a small convenient salad bar which provides the basics along with some delicious ginger salad dressing. In terms of sushi they are pretty good. However I suggest trying the Chinese style dishes (our particular favorites include the eggplant and Szechuan fish). I hope to see more people here as we enjoy our meal every time.

My wife and I have been to Mitsuba about a dozen times and the sushi is fantastic! Great variety of rolls to choose from. The restaurant is clean and inviting and the service is also good. I enjoy the Mohawk roll and the rainbow roll in particular.
I’m excited to order from the Chinese menu on our next visit.
I really have no experience with authentic Chinese food, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

I had an early dinner here on a Saturday night. Everything was fantastic. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sushi. No complaints about service. I would definitely return.
So far Mitsuba is my favorite of the many Japanese restaurants in town.

Ugh! Why is it so difficult to find a good sushi spot in Ithaca???
Came to Mitsuba for an early dinner. Ordered miso soup, which was free since I used their offer, edamame, spicy tuna roll, yellowtail roll, and eel roll. Unfortunately, the sushi was just below average. The fish didn’t taste fresh and the rolls were pretty bland. The meal comes with two free volcano rolls, and if you write a review on Unilocal,customers get $ 5 off or a free appetizer.
As for the service, the place was empty, so there was little to no waiting time for the food. With tax, my tab was only $ 24.84. Super cheap, in my opinion; however, service and price alone won’t convince me to return.
Maybe their other dishes are better, but I personally wouldn’t recommend this place for sushi.

This is my second time being here for its new Chinese spicy food. The first time, I brought four friends for dinner. We ordered seven dishes and I liked most of them. They add tips automatically without notice though. I would give four star based on that visit.
The second time, I came here for lunch and ordered three new dishes from the Chinese menu to try. The taste is totally different from last time. I could not eat much due to their strange flavor. So I guess choosing right dishes is very important. Avoid picking these three dishes in the pic will save you some money :)

First time ever at mitsuba and they served me a half full pint. Needless to say i will never go there again.

Came here for quick dinner, the complementary volcano is delicious as always. Service was really slow but food was overall satisfying.
Update: returned here on a cold winter night and the heat wasn’t even on. Also the normally warm deep fried volcano roll seems it came straight from the fridge, cold and hard.

Food was okay, but it made me sick… gave me food poisoning…
Enough said, never coming back!

I’ve been here a few times since their opening and usually I can count on decent service, and yummy rolls. Specifically their Christmas roll and Orchard roll are among my favorites.
However a few weeks ago I came in with some friends and was severely let down with the service. I believe they were severely understaffed at the time, but I was not thrilled with how management handled the evening. I came in with two friends and it took 10 minutes after being seated for someone to come and ask if we wanted anything to drink. By then we decided on our orders too. It took almost 30 minutes for them to get any of us drinks, including a simple water for myself. After an hour after arriving we finally got our food. And it took a long time to get someone’s attention to get the bill.
If it were not for this being entirely out of the usual I would give it less stars, but it was an isolated event so far. Unfortunately it didn’t make a good impression on the two friends I brought (it being their first time). I hope they hire more help soon!

Given the string of bad luck I’ve had with sushi in Ithaca, I decided to just go for a bento box and not order any sushi here. The lunch specials are pretty good deals. Most things are under $ 10 which is reasonable for a Japanese restaurant. Unlike other Japanese restaurants, this place offers a salad bar so you can make it however you like (although their selection of ingredients is relatively limited).
The bento boxes come with three California rolls, which is one fewer than other places usually do but the pieces here are a lot fatter. They also come with two pieces of shu mai. The main item I got was chicken teriyaki. The chicken itself was great — it was thoroughly cooked but not dry. One complaint is that the teriyaki sauce they use seems more watery than I’ve tasted at other places, so it was a bit unusual.
I was offered two complimentary pieces of volcano roll too. I ordinarily try to avoid sushi in this city but free is free, and these were actually surprisingly good.
I also tried the fried ice cream here. It’s $ 4.50 but they give you a very generous bowl of it. I liked it, but there were places in the bowl which the batter was not thoroughly fried, so they may need to work on that. Overall, it was a nice dining experience and the service was great.

–excellent service
–generous portions
–teriyaki is on point and sushi is fresh
–very high attention to detail. They plate their dishes with orchids, and other flowers and decorations.
–mochi ice cream dessert trio (green tea, strawberry, mango)!
–hot tea is free and delicious
–Check in on Unilocal and/​or foursquare. We got complimentary edamame, soup, and volcano roll! 3÷22÷14
I’d definitely come back! This place is a gem

I have nothing but good things to say about this place. My friend and I were attracted by the near-​perfect rating and the $ 10 for $ 20 deal. This turned out to be the perfect choice for dinner before a concert at the State Street Theater.
We were seated immediately on a Saturday night at around 5:30 (no surprise; it’s fairly early). People trickled in over the next hour including several hibachi parties. We watched some of the action and even witnessed a birthday (the birthday subject is sung a teasing birthday cheer and wears a giant mask, very funny).
I knew that it was a great choice the second our waitress handed us real hot towels — something that I wish happened more often, it’s nice to be pampered — and alerted us to the complimentary salad bar. The ginger dressing was as good as any I’ve ever had, and I was ready to go back for seconds when the waitress brought us a complimentary volcano roll. It was so crispy and delicious!
I ordered the dragon roll and my friend had an avocado roll and a shiitake roll. The presentation was so beautiful, with edible orchids and a multicolored dry ice decoration. The rolls themselves were incredibly fresh and tasty, honestly flawless.
I’m glad we chose Mitsuba. The staff was friendly and courteous and our bill was $ 6.50 per person since we used the coupon.
I hope this place gains the popularity it deserves!