Bar Masa

Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures when your enter the restaurant, but that is also its charm. The experience of getting served one piece of sushi at a time is magical. Watching searing of a piece of tuna with a hot poker is something that is so unique and unusual it'll make you forget about the dinner's price tag. The taste is nice, no better than you will probably find in your local sushi restaurant, but the visual of the process, army like coordination of orders being shouted from Chef to his support staff is not like anything you'll ever see anywhere else.

Yes, this place deserves all three Michelin stars and yes it's worth making that reservation. No, I haven't found another omakase that is on par with this yet. Frankly, I've never had a meal in my life that comes close to this. I wish I was a seasoned sushi reviewer who could explain in detail the intricacies of each piece. I'm not up to that task so suffice it to say that I felt forced to close my eyes to truly appreciate the pure euphoria brought on by the pieces here. I was so honored to be served by Chef Masa Takayama himself and to be given the opportunity to take a photo with him. Thank you so much.

Great experience with amazing variety of sushi. Number of portions were more than other omakese. We liked the intimate experience as we were sitting on the counter and had an amazing chef (Gino) serving us. The only reason I gave 4 (instead of 5) starts, were the crowdedness of chefs behind thr counter and the level of noise.

You're not allowed to take photos except when invited to. We were allowed a few for my husband's birthday, and I also snapped one of the parting gifts (two menus and the paper one of our meals was prepared on) once back outside. The restaurant entry is hidden behind a banner hanging at its front. I thought it was simply decorative marketing until my husband ducked behind it and waved me over. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and polite. To quote a server I spoke with, "Chef Masa is perfect; therefore, he expects nothing less." And the dinner really lives up to that. I didn't dislike anything we ate, and surprisingly, we were stuffed by the end of our 2 hours there. I say "surprisingly" because each item you eat is what I call a "petite serving." Basically, everything fits in your mouth in one bite, and you're done. No redos or seconds. So you must savor the flavors. Every plate is timed so you fall into a rhythm set by the chef and his staff. You even receive specific instructions on not using your tiny serving of soy sauce until you're told you may, and that's important because every detectable bite already has everything you need built into its creation. Then there's the dinnerware! It's so pretty and unique. Every piece is specially designed by Chef Masa to complement his sushi creations and then manufactured for the restaurant. We didn't sit at the sushi bar where Chef Masa and his staff were most active, but we did have the best view of their process as our table was diagonal to the right of the bar (as you look at it from the front) so we could see every roll made, every bit of sashimi sliced, etc. Dining at Masa is an experience, and although I'm not rich enough yet to go on a regular basis (our dinner, additional appetizer, and 4 alcoholic beverages were almost $2k), it was worth it.

Gotta treated like I was lower class. Did nothing wrong and paid and tipped like everyone else but still kept getting looks got escorted out when I walked into the wrong part of Masa (not mass bar) I also feel like the sushi was very overrated and there are many better places for a quarter of the price. Drinks are good and bartender is nice, everything else wasn’t great.