Izakaya Oni

«All warfare is based on deception.» — Sun Tzu
Deception, in the form of ridiculously strong and cheap sochu cocktails is the name of the game at Oni. Get em’ drunk, and they won’t notice the sub-​par food, is what someone was thinking when they opened this place.
I checked this place on the merit of the nearby ramen Setagaya, for whom I would give up my first born for a bowl of shoyu ramen. On a whim, we ventured to the back room which specialized in Izakaya, or Japanese street food.
I won’t call it an outright mistake, because I did discover a few things to like. The fried chicken was completely fatty and laden with connective tissue, but for some reason, my dining partner and I finished the entire plate. It was delicious, in a gourmand sort of way.
Near inebriated on a couple of glasses of the white peach sochu (at $ 4.50 a glass, it was a helluva bargain), we ordered up the grilled mackerel and a daikon radish salad. The salad was a mound of freshly chopped daikon, dressed in a vinaigrette, covered in bonito flakes and other… «stuff». By itself, the daikon wouldn’t have been bad, but the chef completely fucked the dish by adding… «stuff». I don’t even know what… «stuff» was, but it didn’t taste that great.
The grilled mackerel was well cooked, but I definitely tasted notes of freezer burn. No matter, for $ 7, it was literally a whole side of giant mackerel, one of the better deals you would find in Manhattan. We shoveled the fish down, muttering something about «Omega 3’s». Not one of my finer moments, but hey; we were drunk.
By the time we tucked into the food, we were pretty well sloshed. At that point, a soft taco and side of beans at Taco Bell would have tasted like a $ 30 combo plate at Dos Caminos. The waitress played her part well.
This place is worth checking out, if anything for the chill atmosphere and cheap booze. Though it’s sort of a cursed spot (pasta waifu didn’t fare so hot here), I hope their kitchen and PR department can get their act together and make this place a popular eating and drinking joint.

The person who said this is the worst izakaya in NYC was not exaggerating. I had a horrible meal at Oni tonight. We went in with an open mind, having read no reviews prior, and just ordered whatever sounded good off the menu. The sashimi was of questionable quality to the point where we were afraid to eat some of it. The grilled vegetables were charred and dry, the takoyaki tasted good but didn’t seem freshly made (perhaps reheated), and the salmon rice bowl was edible but bland. The best part of the meal was the beer, which came in a chilled glass and was very cold. Also nice was that they offered each customer one free drink per meal.
The place was nearly empty at 8pm on a Saturday, with only five other people eating there and many open seats. No customers entered the restaurant throughout our entire meal — and keep in mind there was a sign on the sidewalk advertising the free alcohol. It’s unfortunate that the food is so bad; it’s like they don’t care and maybe assume people will just walk in when Setagaya is too crowded. At $ 40 for two people, which only included one beer since the other two were free, we felt like we’d paid too much.

The 50% off part was pretty sweet. I had salmon sashimi, grilled mackerel, and short ribs. The mackerel was a much larger portion than I was expecting. It seemed over cooked though. The salmon sashimi was pretty good. The short ribs were tender.

Hate to be the kill joy here. Despite the awesome 50% all drinks grand opening promo, this is by far THE WORST IZAKAYA IN NYC. not trying to be a hater and all, but come on!!! put some effort it was your opening weekend
Wanting to take a break from Yakitori Taisho for once, my bf and I decided to give Oni a try. Since we LOOOOVED pasta wafu/​sushi wafu that was closed abruptly and now became this «Oni» place we thought we would just give this place a try.
since the drinks were half off, we both had the shochu cocktail (the white peach was good, the grape was too sweet) but they really make strong drinks here, more than half the glass was shochu, i think they are trying to get you drunk so you cant tell that their food totally blows. but for $ 4.50 this is a good deal while it lasts
we ordered 3 cold appetizers:
picked eggplant (this is a pretty regular dish, you might be frightened by the bright blue color, but it taste okay)
kani daikon salad (crab and japanese radish salad) Appalled that they actually used IMITATION CRAB MEAT! what kind of crappy restaurant charges like 10 bucks for a salad with imitation crab meat? even though i love that imitation crab stuff, this salad lacked taste completely.
then we had the kimchi natto (fermented soybean with kimchi) they cannot possibly screw this up, such an easy dish, it was good
then we had the Kushi-​yaki (3 different types of chicken parts on skewers: gizzard, liver, and chicken chunks with scallion) chicken chunks was edible, the meat was too tought and totally unfresh. the gizzard was okay, the liver was disgusting, it was totally unfresh and mushy
then under the «oni special» section of the menu, they had a bunch of stuff that was not available. so we had to settle with the grilled potato with cheese, which was the best dish we ate there (they better not screw that up, its just potatoes and cheese)
then we had the Takoyaki (octopus dumpling style balls) which was not bad either
since the portions were small and we basically didnt eat half of the food because it was so gross, we decided to order the Ochazuke with salmon (salmon with rice in green tea), given that it was only $ 2 (the cheapest thing on the menu) and we always make this dish at home its super safe, we waited for over 20 minutes and we were too upset and frustrated we decided to just get the check and leave.
total bill with decent tip put it came out to $ 60. for this much money i could have had a delicious feast at Taisho or Typhoon sushi
still not sure why they closed down Pasta Wafu/​Sushi Wafu to open up this joint. this place is nothing special at all, i would skip it and just go have a bowl of ramen up front at Setagaya

Set it the back of Ramen Setagaya, this is a nice little Japanese place with bar food, foods on sticks, and little salads.
The food is good but not great. Well arranged, in OK portions.
The BBQ sauce is not overwhelming and the food is cooked well,
giving everything a great flamed flavor. Best of all, the chicken,
fish and veggies were «clean» flavored, not harsh like other cheap
Japanese eateries.
Get the Mackerel fish dish ($ 7) for a well flamed mackerel
layed out. Very nice.
Otherwise, the Chicken, Onion, and Eggplant is delicious.
The large Radish and Crab salad was nothing special.
Also try the grilled veggie «deluxe» dish. The veggies are
flamed to perfection, and the onions melt in your mouth.
The space is pleasantly open, with paper lanterns hanging over
tables. The service is efficient and attentive (Not to mention cute).
All in all a pleasant find. If you’re lucky to arrive between 5−7pm,
everything is 50% off. BARGAIN!