Profile

It’s hard to believe it, but you might need a dinner reservation at this humble-looking wooden box of a restaurant, whose ten tables overlook the bustling foot traffic of Eighth Avenue. The one-room operation, with its unadorned walls, bamboo wainscoting, and plain blond tables, is enlivened only by a group of brightly painted birdcages hanging from the ceiling. It seems like a place to wait for takeout, not to linger over a meal. Yet although the restaurant does a brisk delivery business, it also draws a respectable after-work crowd, especially on Thursdays and Fridays. That’s when young couples and tie-loosening office workers come to relax over glasses of Kirin and creative sushi platters. The vast menu of specialty rolls includes some unusual choices, like a spicy mango shrimp roll whose bite is balanced by the fresh fruit, and a black-pepper tuna roll that pairs the buttery fresh fish with a fiery-sweet wasabi-and-honey sauce. — Sarah Gold

Spicy tuna naruto, $12.50; spicy mango shrimp roll, $6.50