Just made it to Morimoto on Sunday evening. All of the following comes with the caveat "in my opinion" since I am no expert but rather enjoy the overall experience and am much less into the details than many of the posts I've seen on here. Overall, the dinner was enjoyable but not exemplary for me. I went with the 贄 Omikase which started out strong (excellent tuna tartare w/caviar) but ended in a bit of a whimper with sushi that was good but not great or memorable (rice was slightly dry). One of the dishes was a sort of whitefish in a type of soy based sauce...this sauce tasted extremely salty and overpowered the fish completely. In addition, a wasabi sorbet was served as one of the courses. My wife and I live in NY, and have eaten a few times at Nobu where we've always ordered the Omikase. I've never been served sorbet as one of the courses at Nobu, although I'm not sure if that has changed. I'm not opposed to sorbet, but would prefer it not to be counted as a "course". On the positive, in addition to the tuna tartare, a black cod course with a sweet sauce (miso?) and a tempura style course (can't remember the exact name of the fish, but it was listed on the sushi menu and there is no translation for it - has a japanese name) were excellent. The decor is definitely different ... the only thing I did not like was the giant picture when you walk in with the morphing face that gives it very much a MOMA-type of feel ... again, this is definitely an 'in my opinion' type of thing since I'm sure many will love it. The rest of the decor is very well done and the changing colors of dining booths is a nice and interesting touch. The service was the most disappointing thing, however. Waitstaff was very nice but not helpful ... and in someways even made things worse, albeit unintentionally, with poor recommendations. Our waiter was well trained to be able to tell us what each dish was when he delivered it, but if we asked a question about the dish or for more information or for a recommendation, we received either a "deer in the headlights" look or poor advice. After re-reading the post I think it may appear more harsh than the experience was. It was an enjoyable dinner (especially given the company of our closest friends), but it was one of those finishes where you look at the bill at the end of the night and say that it really should have been a heck of a lot better than it was (imo). Good luck with your dinner on the 4th, Robert. I'll be interested to hear about your experience.
