Details: Located at 90 E 10th St, New York, NY 10003. Official site is http://ikinaristeakusa.com/
Ikinari Steak is the latest, trendy import from Japan. This place has been all over social media and the food blogs. The idea is that you get good quality steak, fast. And you don’t get to sit down. They have standing tables. Luckily, the hype around eating steak while standing as well as how packed the place was has died down and I got to eat in a less crowded Ikinari Steak while sitting down.
You order steak here by the ounce. There is a minimum amount of ounces you can order which I think is around eight. There are some sides, but they are inconsequential.
I ordered eight ounces of the sirloin cut for around twenty dollars. I also ordered the rice and mixed salad set which is just rice and salad for four dollars more. The steak was good. It comes out sizzling hot. It seems they grill it in a cast iron plate while it’s covered in soy sauce. The rice and salad… were just rice and salad. Nothing special there.
Worth mentioning is the large number of condiments that are on the table. They have various dressings and a garlic sauce I think. I really appreciate this as I had no idea that wasabi and steak was a decent combination. Actually, after trying all the sauces with steak I’ve found that there are few things that don’t go well with steak.
The service was fine. You go up to order, they deliver your food, then you go to the cashier to pay. They don’t accept tip here, which helps me appreciate this place. I’m a big fan of places that don’t take gratuities.
Overall, I liked this place and I can recommend it easily. With that said, I’m not sure I’d recommend coming back here more than once. There really wasn’t anything extraordinary about this place. In my mind, the food ranks similarly to an Outback Steakhouse or a Texas Roadhouse, except that Ikinari does not give complimentary bread.
Score: 6.7/10
Muse Bank 