Details: Located at Hyatt Place Hotel, 133-42 39th Ave., Flushing, NY 11354. Official site is http://ikicuisine.com/
Came here for lunch one day with a friend. Ordered the Oyako Don (chicken and egg over rice), a special of the day lobster roll, and the lunch set. The lunch set came with salad, miso soup, a small dish of some pickled stuff, egg custard, six pieces of sashimi, a sushi roll (six pieces for us), and ice cream all for eighteen dollars. Oyako Don also came with everything I just mentioned above except the sushi and sashimi for twelve dollars. Don’t remember how much the lobster special roll was. I think it was somewhere over ten dollars.
You can tell when you walk in what this restaurant is trying to be. Iki tries to be an upscale restaurant in Flushing, one of the cheapest places to find food in all of New York City. I can see why they might think this would work. Firstly, there has been and continues to be an influx of wealthy Chinese into the city and many of them settle in many of the luxury condominiums being constructed in Flushing. Secondly, there aren’t really that many good sushi places in Flushing, so there is a potential demand for it. Lastly, it’s in a hotel, so at least the people staying at the hotel will likely go downstairs to eat there.
However, it is pricey compared to the surrounding area. After trying their food, my opinion was that the food was only okay. The special lobster roll was a waste of money. The egg custard was nice. The Oyako Don was something that could’ve come from a Japanese supermarket. The sushi and sashimi that was served was your standard pieces, nothing extraordinary.
In Iki’s defense, we did come at lunch and ordered lunch specials. At dinner time, they serve an omakase (a chef’s choice tasting menu for sushi and sashimi) for $125.00, which is likely of high quality. With that said, there are reputable omakase spots in Manhattan which charge less than that, and they have a much wealthier reservoir of customers. Overall, Iki just feels like a misplaced, half hearted attempt at a high end sushi place that attemps to cater to the less affluent customers in Flushing and the affluent at the same time. This is something the more well known, high end sushi places in Manhattan do not do. It just ends up being a mixed message as to the restaurant’s quality.
Score: 5.5/10 It’s just okay. However, their omakase may be spectacular. I wouldn’t know since I’ve never had it.
Muse Bank 