Walking around Times Square is usually a way to look for a frustrating evening. Restaurants are heavily overpriced, the throngs of people that block your movement down the streets can be aggravating, and the lack of good restaurants usually keeps me out of the area altogether. Luckily, the nearby hell’s kitchen, with its family run Thai restaurants and quality Irish pubs has always been my safe haven from the madness of 42nd Street and Broadway. A friend invited me to try a restaurant in between these Hell’s Kitchen and Times Square, and I skeptically accepted the dinner meeting, unaware that I would find another one of the best sushi restaurant in New York City.
Rio and You Japanese Restaurant, 328 W 45th St # 1, New York, NY
Rio and You, 328 W 45th St # 1, New York, NY, (212) 307-0717
Experience: 20
Food: 18
Bill: 12
Quality: 9
Creativity: 5
Flavor: 7
Service: 9
Total: 80
EXPERIENCE: Walking a few blocks down from a throng of theater-goers waiting in line for Rock of Ages, I entered the large white entrance gate of Rio and You sushi, and into the entrance hall that reminded me of the Genkan (entryway) in some of the Japanese homes I have stayed in. This entryway led to the restaurant, which has a long interior stretching back into three sections; tables, a sushi bar, and more tables in the back. This restaurant seems designed to house large groups of people before a show, but its location is just far enough away from Times Square itself that it was surprisingly empty on a weekday evening at 6:30 pm. The restaurant itself is covered in dark, reddish wooden plank walls, and reminded me of Japanese restaurants found near the base of Mount Fuji. Upon entry I was greeted by both the host and the restaurant’s manager, a happy old mama-san that asked me how I was (though we had never met before), and asked where I would like to sit. I decided to take a seat at the sushi bar, because Rio and You is one of the few restaurants I’ve been to in the city that allows one to make orders one by one with the sushi chef. The ‘mama-san’ I mentioned above (I forgot to ask her name, I’ll have to do so next time), came back to take my appetizer and drink order (the menu was well organized, but pricey), and from there my meal was between me and the sushi chef himself. The sushi bar at Rio and You was long, made of a lighter colored wood, and low, allowing customers to easily see the fish available behind its glass-windowed facade. The fish was beautiful looking, and the sushi chef was more than happy to discuss which selections were worth trying that evening, though he made the point that ‘everything is best tonight.’ Normally I take that phrase with caution, but the fish before me truly looked as fresh as it could be, with shiny red ahi tuna, full sized clams waiting to be shucked and not a plastic container of pre-made food in sight. As I ordered piece after piece of sushi, ordering more of the same for the friend who met me at the restaurant a few minutes later, my attempt to stick to a few pieces of sushi and a roll disintegrated into a full feast of 5 different kinds of fish and a few different rolls. Each order of sushi was prepared quickly, and arrived on a brand new plate with more ginger and wasabi. The sushi itself was beautiful, and even the pickled appetizers and fruit dessert I ordered came out looking like works of art. At the end of the meal, the waiters had no problem splitting the bill between two cards, and after a few minutes of talking to the sushi staff and ‘mama-san’ about the Broadway shows in the area, I was happily out the door, smiling all the way to the subway (not even the crowds could bring me down after that meal). And I almost forgot to mention that before we received any food, the waiter checked to make sure if my friend and I had any allergies, so that the kitchen could prepare the food differently if necessary. In terms of my total experience at Rio and You, it doesn’t get any better than this, folks. A costly meal can mean very little in the face of truly friendly, interactive service and beautiful, fresh food. 20 points all the way for this restaurant, and I challenge any other sushi restaurant to try to outdo the service here.
Note: I noticed a review on the net that chastised this restaurant for not giving restroom service to an injured relative. I have discussed this issue with other restaurants in the Times Square area, and with all of the tourists wandering the area day in and day out, it would just be impossible to accommodate the restrooms in these nicer restaurants for everyone passing by. I know it sucks, but unless you are willing to give patronage to a restaurant, you shouldn’t expect to be able to use their facilities, no matter what your situation is. And to give a bad review based on said experience?! I’m sorry, but if you’re not going to review a restaurant based on the meal there, then what is the point in reviewing it at all? Speaking of…
FOOD: Everything I ordered for dinner at Rio and You was made fresh, used little to no salt, and was served looking like a work of art. The Japanese pickles appetizer was served on a small plate, with pickled cabbage, raddish, cucumber, olives, and plums. Each pickle tasted so fresh that they could have only been prepared on site, and each was displayed on a different section of the small plate, carved into different shapes and sizes, creating a landscape of flavors and colors that I almost didn’t want to eat. When I did taste these pickles, though, I experienced flavors that I hadn’t tasted since I was in the local food markets along Kyoto’s Teramachidori shopping district. The plate was large enough that I was able to split it with my friend, and still feel like I had a full appetizer. After the pickles, I began to order my sushi individually, starting with an order of yellowtail nigiri sushi. A piece of yellowtail would be the perfect way to gauge if the quality of the fish was a amazing as the look of it. Good yellowtail should have a subtle, building flavor that melts into your taste buds to eventually and briefly have a rich, flower and fruit taste that overpowers even that of white tuna (beginner’s hamachi), yet lightens to a tuna-like candy flavor in the end. Soy sauce and wasabi a accentuate these flavors (there was wasabi on the rice, as there should be), but overuse of salt on the fish itself will always take away from the inherent flavors in any piece of fish. This yellowtail was not salted, fresh, and flavorful, and though it didn’t hit the borderline orgasmic level at the peak of its flavor that I have had at only few sushi restaurants, this yellowtail still succeeded in being one of the best pieces I’ve had in New York City. The rest of the fish I ordered continued this trend. The mackerel was prepared in vinegar and was just salty and sour enough that the flavors of the fish were still present, though it never tasted too salt-watery or bitter, which is a sign of bad mackerel. The eel was prepared perfectly, with a crispy exterior and soft bite, and the sauce the eel was prepared with had a homemade eel sauce that was just the right amount of sweet and salty to make me absolutely crave another piece of the fish immediately after finishing the first. I ordered an eel and avocado roll to test the roll quality and sate this craving, and said roll was also prepared very will, with warm, only slightly chewy rice and perfectly sliced avocado that did not overpower the still perfectly prepared eel. I decided to try another roll that would give me a few different flavors that all combined well together, but would not burn out my wallet. Considering the classic Japanese-style food Rio and You offered, I went for a Futomaki, a classic Japanese train station roll (and the first ‘fat’ roll) that includes a variety of local pickles and ingredients that change from city to city. This roll had tamago, eel, cucumber, and avocado, and lacked the usual pickle assortment that I expect in a roll like this (though admittedly in Tokyo eel and egg futomaki are fairly popular). Though disappointed to get another roll with eel in it (not for quality, but simply for variety’s sake), I was still able to try the cucumber and tamago, both of which were prepared fresh at the restaurant. The tamago-yaki was sweet, but not overpowering, and was fluffy and flavorful, as good egg custard should be. The cucumbers also had a subtle flavor that did not overpower the roll, but gave it a necessary crunch. Admittedly, I should have asked in advance what was in the roll, but I incorrectly assumed that all Futomaki in NYC would be the same. The last piece of sushi I ordered was Uni.
Sea Urchin sushi, Sea Urchin roe, or Uni, as it is called in Japanese, is one of the most delicate things one can order at a sushi restaurant, as well as one of the most expensive. I am always careful about ordering Uni, as the only truly delicious piece I tried of it was in Japan, and fresh off the boat from that morning. That uni tasted as it always should; sweet, rich, flavorful, and not too salty. If should remind the taster of the ocean and a day at the beach, but also have a calm and smooth ending that makes one feel at relaxed and happy. Bad uni, like the prepackaged kind that is served at most American restaurants, is still edible, and some diners enjoy the stuff, but after about a day of sitting in those containers, the sea urchin roe has already lost its inherent sweetness, gotten incredibly salty, and tends to remind me more of a slimy mess than a day by the ocean. Some try to make up for uni’s lack of consistency by ordering it with a raw quail egg (available at many sushi restaurants), and some mix it with various other kinds of fish in order to charge more for said combination, but my rules are as follows: If the uni was recently imported and freshly prepared that day, if the uni costs more than the other fish on the menu, and especially if the uni did not come out of a plastic container, then it is worth ordering. Otherwise, avoid this sushi, as it will usually cost a lot and simply ruin your meal.
I took a chance on the uni at Rio and You, and I was not disappointed. I cannot say that it is this delicious every night (because of what uni is), but except for a little too much saltiness, the sea urchin was delicious, brightly colored, and reminded me, let’s say, a slightly stormy day at the beach. Still better than most other orders of uni I’ve had in America though, I was quite pleased with it, as was my friend, who also ordered a piece. Full and happy, my meal was concluded, but not before receiving a complimentary plate of peaches, plums, pineapples, and various other cut fruits which were beautifully displayed, and very tasty. This after dinner fruit plate was light enough not to overfill me, yet delicious enough to mention on this blog as an excellent part of my meal. Overall, I gave the food here a score of 18 for being fresh and nearly perfect, but still lacking the perfect yellowtail an uni to push it over the edge. The quality gets a score of 9 for the similar reasons, including the bright and candy-like look of freshness in each piece of fish. Creativity only receives a score of 5 because the menu was very Japanese, but lacked anything within my price range that would bring me back again and again besides some great nigiri sushi. The rolls were all classic with higher priced varieties containing the usual spicy tuna and dragon roll variations, and even the futomaki used tamago and eel instead of a variety of Rio and You’s homemade pickles. Flavor was a difficult category to decide on, since the sushi tasted so good, and the eel sauce was so delicious, but in the end there weren’t a lot of new flavors here to set this restaurant apart from others in New York. Apart from quality, amazing sushi, Rio and You didn’t have much to offer that didn’t cost a small fortune.
BILL: The only part of Rio and You that would keep me from coming back again and again were the prices. I understand that this restaurant is located near Times Square, probably has high rent to pay, and needs to cater to the rich folk in the area, it was admittedly difficult to find things on the menu here that were worth spending money on. Sushi dinners start at around $18 for the same combinations offered anywhere else, Japanese classical appetizers go for prices close to $10, and main courses are so far out of a reasonable price range that I’m not even mentioning them in this article. The nigiri sushi seemed cheap, but a $4.50 piece of yellowtail goes up to $9 for two pieces of fish when ordered in pairs, and most rolls even started getting prices at $7 and up. The futomaki, for example is only four pieces of the large roll that go for $8 (a surprise that will result in me not ordering that roll next time I visit). My entire meal consisted of a few pieces of nigiri sushi and two rolls, and I ended up spending an easy $40 on all of it. While the experience and sushi here were so amazing that I didn’t regret the meal at all on the night I ate at Rio and You, looking back at the experience makes me doubt a return trip more and more. An experience score of 20 should make it so that prices don’t really matter, but sadly, this place is so overpriced that I’ll have to save going there for only very special occasions. This opinion is exemplified in the score of 12 I gave to the Bill category. The service here easily receives a score of 9 for being fast, friendly, and if not for a few quickly corrected mix-ups in my drink order, almost perfect. Even if you don’t speak Japanese, the staff here truly made Rio and You the kind of restaurant I could wander into on a weekday evening to happily converse with over a sake and some appetizers.
If not for the crummy prices and limited menu, I would easily consider Rio and You the best sushi restaurant I’ve eaten at so far in New York. So if you have some money to burn, a few shows to see, and want to be taken care of by the kindest restaurant staff in town, be sure to give this restaurant a try.
