Dainobu

This is a small Japanese grocery store, part of a chain that also has and makes fresh food items. like sushi rolls, noodles, katsu, banchan and even chicken patties. They have frozen ramen, Berkshire sausage. that you can microwave in the store, including sashimi if you dare. And they also have beauty and household items too.
The place is packed at lunch time but the food is the quick to go that is reasonably price for the area but I feel it is not restaurant quality but maybe better that a food truck.
I go to here and at there other store on 47^th street and Lex, because of the large selection of Japanese snacks, like rise crackers, muchi, candy, and not just Pocky but Macha KitKats and then you have soft and hard Japanese drinks.
The place is worth a look if you are in the area, who knows, you may find something you normally don’t see at other places.

Wonderful variety of Japanese pleasures. I got to consider some Japanese matcha teas and so i wasn’t frustrated. It’s a compact retailer that’s comes with free of moisture merchandise, most yet not all merchandise is from China. Helpful employees.

Great selection of Japanese treats. I came to look for some Japanese matcha tea and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a small store that’s is packed with dry goods, most but not all products are from Japan. Friendly staffs.

Did not meet my expectations after going to this place that I found on Unilocal… my precious time was not well spend this time…
It has the essentials that a chef might need or is looking for. Staff was very friendly but did not have much answers to any of my questions in regards to certain products I was looking for. Store is very clean and well organized.

Among others, I like Dainobu because they accept a credit card at no minimum amount! (FYI, there are many Japanese places in the Midtown which accept only cash, which is a bit annoying. Seriously…)
Dainobu literally feeds me all day long. They open at 8am in the morning, so I usually stop by to grab a bottle of green tea on my way to the office. I definitely stop by to pick up lunch (freshly made sushi rolls, a bento box or don). When craving for late afternoon snacks, I’m back to Dainobu to buy snacks like green tea chocolate, mochi, pocki, etc.
Thanks for being near my office. Dainobu is such a great spot to grab quick japanese lunch for me who can’t afford a sit-​down lunch at Nobu everyday.

Cute little Japanese grocery store in Midtown that is very close to Grand Central. I come here to grab some rice balls/​onigri or Pocky to eat so I don’t faint at my desk from hunger. Quite literally this place has saved my life and dignity more than once. I really love their inari (deep fried tofu rice pockets) which is one of my favorite comfort foods. The sushi is also quite good according to my co-​workers.

Has everything from takeaway bento boxes, Japanese candies and snacks, sauces (shabu shabu, dressing, soy sauce, mirin…) to a range of Japanese grains and noodles and fresh Japanese vegetables. Not to mention there’s frozen dumplings and meat for shabu shabu at great prices.

Great option for quick Japanese. Their cooked food is pretty cheap for the area. You can get two basic sushi rolls (i.e. salmon or tuna) for about $ 7. Chicken karaage is only $ 3.50! It’s cold but it’s still surprisingly crispy! You can skip the onigiri. I got a raw spicy tuna one and the tuna tasted cooked to me. There was also not much filling so you’re basically eating seaweed and rice. They also have noodles, katsu, and some banchan.
Dainobu also has a good selection of Japanese groceries like noodles, candies, dried goods, frozen meat for BBQ, and even frozen pieces of sashimi. The sashimi seemed a little bit questionable since it was so cheap (about $ 5 a piece) but I decided to take a risk and try it. I’m glad I did because it actually tasted pretty good (for the price).
Il’l deffo be back to try the sushi rolls and for some more sashimi!

Great little Japanese foods and goods store! The store is already small in size but feels even smaller because it’s absolutely jam-​packed with a dizzying array of items on every shelf. Walking in you’re greeted by a spread of prepared meals, like sushi, ramen, and soup; right beyond that are the groceries, followed by rows of Japanese snacks, frozen foods, cooking ingredients and sauces, and even skincare and home goods. Prices are fair, the staff is friendly and speak both Japanese and English. The only thing to take note of is that many items are directly imported so they don’t have a stitch of English on the package, but fortunately there’s the simple solution of just asking the staff :)
I know I’ll definitely be stopping here quite a bit — quite excited Dainobu is so close to my flat!

Great Japanese market!

I probably buy my lunch here at least once a week. If you’re in the mood for something salty and a healthy portion of rice, you can’t go wrong. I especially love the salmon bento, and the udon noodle soup. The soup is really cool. It comes as this gelatin with noodles on top that after a minute or two in the microwave liquifies into soup! Most people may not think that’s exciting, but most people need to remember to get excited about the small stuff sometimes.
They have a great selection of Asian drinks, snacks, and deserts, including a small grocery section in the back. It’s great if you remember you have no sponges or something at home to be able to ring them up with your lunch. You certainly can’t do that at Pret!
Although it gets as crowded as everything else in this area at lunch time, they usually have four registers open, so you can get through pretty quick.
If you’ve never had An Pan before, do yourself a favor and pick one up a Dainobu!

This location of Dainobu, Japanese market, is much bigger than the Midtown east location. At least it’s not claustrophobic in this location.
There is a ton of refrigerated ready made bento boxes, reheatable rice bowls, sushi and snacks, dumplings, mochi, stir fried udon, Japanese curry, and some japanese grocery items.
The food is nothing gourmet but it’s quick and reasonably priced. Just re-​heatable food here but I would come if I was in a hurry and hungry.
I come here usually for the Ito En gigantic 2 liter bottles of unsweetened tea but today when I visited, they did not sell it anymore… SAD FACE! :(
There is over 200 flavors of Kit Kat in Japan, only two in Dainobu, more sad face.

This is the coolest specialty goods store in all of midtown. Everything else in midtown is pretty dead– if it’s not office buildings it’s incredibly crappy places to grab lunch for work. But this place… this place is bomb as hell. You step inside and immediately feel transported to Japan– all the goods are as Japanese as it can get and their lunch menu items are VERY reasonably priced. They’ve got so many snacks and goodies that I’d much rather allot my daily lunch allowance from here than Glazed or that Chinese restaurant down the block.
This place doesn’t need a review. Just go check it out and indulge in the Japanese-​ness that is Dainobu.

It’s not as expansive as the Dainobu on 47^th or the m2m in the East Village, but they manage to pack a whole crapton of gems in this small space. Hey, maybe that’s some kind of artistic metaphor for the entire country of Japan (feel free to use this unsolicited piece of art criticism of course), OR maybe it’s just that this Dainobu is so well curated in terms of products that they don’t even NEED more floor space.
I always come here looking for one specific thing, and then kind of think «oh but if they HAVE x, y, and z, I’ll grab one,» and inevitably I leave this Dainobu with like 3 grocery bags.
Also, their to-​go onigiri is so good and so cheap that I could probably eat it every day. I’m not sure why I’d ever have to only pick ONE thing to eat every day, but, yeah, Dainobu’s take out food is solid.

Summary: Great cuts of meet for your hotpot. Saves me the trip to Chinatown. Wish they carried more hot pot things.
Atmosphere: I love this place. Lunch gets a little busy and they work hard to check you out quickly. evening is nice and quiet.
Service: They are always extremely Japanese polite. I really like how nice everyone is in the store.
Inventory (Grocery): It’s only a minor mark-​up vs. Koreatown or Chinatown on basics, which I will gladly pay to avoid trekking down. They are a Japanese grocery place, so missing some Asian sauces. Can’t mark them down for that. Their rice selection is fantastic and the cuts of meet, especially beef is noticeably good for hot pot. They run out though of a lot of hot pot favorites this time of year. Not sure if my compadre Asians have figured out this is here.
The Japanese beauty section is pretty good, especially if you need shishedo soap and the like. I always get too much stuff to also grab these. Pricing is pretty good.
Lunch: Great grocery selection that is fresh and well prepared. A total Gem!

What a gem in this neighborhood. Its a Japanese supermarket with frozen foods, fresh produce, snacks and sushi. For the ladies there’s personal care items and it’s a pretty impressive selection. Although, I would love to see them expand with more beauty items as well.
The space is small, can’t really have more than 2 ppl back to back per aisle, but seems it’s the norm for any Japanese mkt in the city.
We loaded up with frozen ramen and Berkshire pork sausage. Making a steaming bowl of loaded ramen is much easier than you think, though ingredients aren’t restaurant quality. Price per person is around $ 5, surely beats the $ 16 bowl in any NYC ramen joint.
Really had fun shopping here, def coming back

Good (and one of the only) spots in midtown to get Asian snacks, ramen, sauces, and to-​go meals. They have another location on 47^th and 3^rd as well that’s almost identical to the 56^th st location.
I’d skip the pre-​made food (I’ve found that I’m always left disappointed after the first few bites) and save my money for snacks. Out of the 3 aisles they have, one is dedicated solely to snacks! From 5 different flavors of pocky to Japanese chocolates and cookies to shrimp chips and salty snacks, they have it all.
They also have a wide selection of bottled asian teas, soft soft drinks and beers. And a small freezer with gyoza, fish cake, tofu and other miscellaneous items.

Wow! This place is so awesome! I finally had the chance to come here since I wanted to try one of their pre-​made boxes for lunch. I got the pork rice and that was amazing. It had a lot of flavor and I was so surprised since I wasn’t expecting it to taste good, but it did!
They have a lot of other pre-​made lunch boxes that are very reasonably priced! They also have a grocery store section with a lot of asian groceries which I think is awesome! This is a great addition to the midtown area since I can get my Japanese food lunch fix at a reasonable price!

Came to Dainobu on a weekday morning. If you know the area, you know parking is terrible unless you’re driving a commercial van then you have space. I specifically came here to purchase a palette of Uni. Costs $ 11.99. Good enough to make 6 to 8 Uni sushi. Fresh. That $ 12 came up to more since like I said, no parking and I was not gonna take the train for a 30 minute walk around the small store.
If you are in the area around lunch time or a little before that and curious about this place, come in and check their bento boxes and lunch bowls.
I grabbed two rice bowls (chicken teriyaki and pork miso, $ 6.50 each) with my Uni. I wasn’t expecting much and to my surprise they were actually good. They’re cheap, filling and most of all quite tasty. I would’ve stayed longer so I can catch the bento boxes fresh from the kitchen but $ 25 for an hour of parking a few blocks down, those bentos may not be as cheap.
1130 am would be the best time to come pick those up if you work around the area.

This place suffices if you need a quick take out meal or snack, but it’s not exactly going to replace Sunrise/​Mitsuwa, for those who do regularly cook Japanese Meals. They do have some basics — frozen meats, fish, noodles, suaces, and condiments, as well as some assortment of veggies. Prices are a bit higher than Sunrise. I am still thankful for it being literally a couple of blocks from my office, for when I run out of say, soy sauce, or shishitou peppers.
What is it with a store that dedicates 20 percent of the shelf space to junk food, panda cookies, and gummies? I’d be much happier if they dedicated this space to real food.