Soto

Critics' Pick

357 Sixth Ave., New York, NY 10014
nr. Washington Pl. See Map | Subway Directions Hopstop Popup
212-414-3088 Send to Phone

Critics' Rating: Price Range: $$$$
Reader Rating:
8.7 out of 10

3 Reviews | Write a Review
Cuisine: Japanese/Sushi

Photo by Jeremy Liebman for New York Magazine

Map

Rate & Review

Hours

Mon-Sat, 5:45pm-11:45pm; Sun, closed

Nearby Subway Stops

A, B, C, D, E, F, V at W. 4th St.-Washington Sq.

Prices

$8-$28

Payment Methods

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa

Special Features

Dine at the Bar
Notable Chef
Open Kitchens / Watch the Chef

Alcohol

Beer and Wine Only
Sake and Sojou

Reservations

Recommended

Profile

There is no sign on the little restaurant’s front door. Inside, the austere, whitewashed room seats only 42 people. And night after night, you will find the proprietor himself, Sotohiro Kosugi, bent behind his sushi bar with his two loyal assistants, working with a kind of surgeon’s intensity in his spectacles and white sushi cap. Kosugi is a third-generation sushi chef, from a small town in northern Japan that he likes to say “has more fish than people.” For eleven years, he labored in Atlanta, where his cooking won a wide following among diners in that sushi-starved region. By New York standards, however, the sushi at Chef Kosugi’s restaurant is good but not fabulous. The raw fish is flown in from around the globe five times a week, and it’s available in the usual rainbow of esoteric and pricey varieties. Take a seat at the polished, blonde-wood bar and sample semi-fatty “chu-toro” tuna from Ecuador, fresh Amber Jack from Hawaii, and pearly white Toyama shrimp from Japan, all served in the decorous, classically small Tokyo style. More notable at Soto, though, are the raw and gently cooked seafood dishes that emerge from the kitchen in a blizzard of inventive, unlikely, and often quite delicious ways. — Adam Platt

Note

For a small establishment, Soto carries an impressive list of artisanal sakes, served by the bottle or in chilled beakers.

Ideal Meal

Aji tataki, scallop and shiso agedashi, uni, squid and shiso, fried flounder.

Reader Ratings

8.7

Make sure you adore uni (and all kinds of Japanese food)

food_is_amazing from 10019 | Posted on 3/28/08

Overall Reader Rating: 7 (Recommended)


Food:	7
Service:	9

Décor:	7

Value:	6

I am a recent convert to Japanese cuisine (and, by recent, I mean since about 2006). But I fancied myself an enthusiastic, if late, convert, one capable of branching out beyond easy-to-enjoy Japanese food from restaurants like Bar Masa...Read More

Extraordinary

jkempel from 02115 | Posted on 2/8/08

Overall Reader Rating: 10 (Highly Recommended)


Food:	10
Service:	10

Décor:	10

Value:	10

Soto is by far the most interesting and exquisite Japanese restaurant in which I ever ate. Sotohiro-san is an artist, able to combine and create flavors I did not even know existed. His work on the sushi bar is perfectly...Read More