Sakagura

"Finding Sakagura is at least a quarter of the fun of eating here. You have to walk into a nondescript office lobby, and down a random staircase in the back. At the bottom, you’ll find yourself in a big, dark room with bottles of sake lining the walls. The menu is mostly Japanese snacks—sashimi, tofu, little rice bowls—and there’s a textbook-sized drink menu. Make a reservation if you’re set on eating at a certain time. Even though it’s not easy to stumble on this place, it gets busy. " - neha talreja, bryan kim, hannah albertine, molly fitzpatrick

"Sakagura isn’t a speakeasy, but the fact that you have to walk past a security guard in a very normal looking Midtown East office building and descend down a flight of stairs to get there makes it feel like one. The izakaya has an extensive sake list, with flights and seasonal specials, so it’s a great spot to explore your taste in rice wine. The menu ranges from things like $18 karaage with matcha mayo, to an $88 bowl of cold soba noodles with sea urchin dashi and Hokkaido uni." - will hartman, neha talreja, bryan kim, willa moore

"Right across the street from Yasuda, Sakagura is hidden underneath an office building, the lobby of which you actually need to enter to get inside. If Yasuda is George Clooney, Sakagura is… Sia. In other words, not similar at all. Sakagura actually isn’t a sushi place at all - it’s really a sake bar/izakaya, but we’re including it here because if you’ve made your way to the East 40s and realized you aren’t quite ready to drop $250 on dinner, Sakagura is going to show you a good time. There are several sashimi platters, as well as raw fish rice bowls and onigiri rice balls that may satisfy a similar craving. Like Sia, it’s fun, hidden, and if you drink enough sake here, you might end up swinging from a chandelier." - hillary reinsberg

"Sakagura and Sake Bar Decibel were both opened by a man named Bon Yagi in the 1990s. Does that designate Bon Yagi as the de facto sake king of New York? We aren’t here to comment on fictional monarchies. What we do know, however, is that Sakagura’s underground setting makes it one of the most unusual places to have dinner or drinks in all of NYC. To get to Sakagura, you walk through the lobby of a very normal office building in Midtown, pass a security guard, then head down a flight of stairs. Right now they’re offering three different sake tastings, each curated by the sommeliers. These range in price from a $30 beginner flight trio to a $40 dry flight trio, and the most deluxe $100 trio tasting. You can pair any of them with a five-course, $85 prix-fixe meal or order drinks and snacks a la carte. Just be sure to book in advance either way." - Hannah Albertine

"Walk into the lobby of a high-rise office building in Midtown Manhattan and ask the concierge for Sakagura. They’ll send you down a flight of stairs deep into the bowels of the skyscraper, where you’ll take a few marked turns to find your destination. It’s not a broom closet or a freight elevator. It’s one of the largest sake bars in the city. Selected for its low rent, the space opened in 1996 and became one of the early portals into Japanese nightlife for Manhattanites. While concepts like izakaya, sake, and hibachi have gone mainstream, Sakagura is still literally underground. Replete with ikebana, paper lanterns, bamboo accents, and a wall lined with sake taru barrels, the dimly lit, subterranean space transports you to midnight in Tokyo. The menu features all the classics you’d expect from an izakaya, from chawanmushi to chicken karaage. Its impressive sashimi offerings and an array of grilled items served on hot stones are surefire crowd-pleasers as well, but Sakagura’s crown jewel is its sake menu, with more than 260 options available. The sake menu divides its offerings into technique and, within those categories, by region. If there’s something for everyone, there’s also a lot that no one at the table has ever heard of. Ever tried a fruit sake made with yuzu citrus, peach, and strawberry? Cedar-aged sake? What about sparkling sake? With all the money you’ll save not having to fly to Tokyo, you could surely afford to do some exploring. None" - MrFusion88, lukefater