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At first glance, this restaurant appears to be nothing more than an ordinary, quick-feed stop for area business types. During lunch, the publike front room bustles with delivery staff ferrying takeout orders to nearby offices; in the evenings, pasty-faced men in suits sit hunched at the bar over noodles and bottles of Sapporo before heading home on the train. But venturing past this room and into the cavernous main dining area reveals another story. Here, in a soulless, cheaply decorated space—linoleum floors, bare walls, wood-veneer tables, track lighting—the real Ise emerges. Laminated but scrawled in an unsteady hand, the specials menu forgoes sushi-house standards (California rolls, yakitori, teriyaki) in favor of more esoteric fare like needlefish sashimi, sautéed monkfish liver, and several varieties of simmered fish head, including red snapper and yellowtail. These oddly inexpensive dishes are not only authentic but also much better than the everyday offerings; on average, the specials cost about half what the entrées on the regular menu do. Look around and you know you’re in the right place: The crowd here, versus the front barroom, is largely Asian, all tucking into yellowtail carpaccio dabbed with wasabi-infused roe and smoky-tasting shredded daikon pickle. — Sarah Gold