Hori

[Dryden]

It’s a Midtown East noodle shop/izakaya that follows the Japanese ichigensan okotowari system, so first-time diners must be guests of a prior diner.

 

Was wondering if anyone here had been?

[MetsFan5]

That’s absurd to me. I have to show my dining history to dine somewhere? That’s a hard pass. 

[gfweb]

Ouch. Bad marketing advice, I think.  I'm on the edge of being offended.

Although you can get away with this stuff in NYC perhaps.

Maybe consider it to be a club?

[Mjx]

They're doing a soft open, https://www.horinyc.com/

[rotuts]

' exclusive '  is the  BitCoin of NYC.

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, gfweb said:

Ouch. Bad marketing advice, I think.  I'm on the edge of being offended.

Although you can get away with this stuff in NYC perhaps.

Maybe consider it to be a club?

I think it’s quite a Japanese thing to be able to get into a tiny restaurant  with the help of someone who has already been.

 

and that’s a neighborhood which has often been a center of good, little Japanese restaurants that fly or flew under the radar.

[Duvel]

On 1/2/2026 at 3:49 AM, weinoo said:

I think it’s quite a Japanese thing to be able to get into a tiny restaurant  with the help of someone who has already been.

It it - and it is meant to create a mutual „connectednes“ (if that’s the correct word). I have been to two places like that in Japan - both tiny (lile this one - 8 seats only, maybe two seatings oer night, omakase only) - both very memorable dinners.

 

On 12/31/2025 at 8:06 PM, MetsFan5 said:

That’s absurd to me. I have to show my dining history to dine somewhere? That’s a hard pass. 

 

You don’t. You have to know a former patron (likely a regular) who introduces you via an invite (to dine together).

 

 

 

[haresfur]

6 hours ago, Duvel said:

It it - and it is meant to create a mutual „connectednes“ (if that’s the correct word). I have been to two places like that in Japan - both tiny (lile this one - 8 seats only, maybe two seatings oer night, omakase only) - both very memorable dinners.

 

 

You don’t. You have to know a former patron (likely a regular) who introduces you via an invite (to dine together).

 

 

 

 

Seems to me it is a superior system for a small place than having to deal with hoards who are outside or dominating the reservations because some tick-tocker "discovered" it.

[MetsFan5]

I guess it just seems like “country club rules” for lack of a better term here in the US. If it’s traditional in Japan, then my apologies for my ignorance.