We went to Izakaya Mew during the Summer, and we loved most of everything that we had there. So, when we were going out with friends, and looking for an izakaya to go to, we knew which one to go to! Our friends have never been there, so it was going to be a fun evening. Since we didn’t get there before they opened up for the evening, so we had to wait about 45 min or so, which seems like a normal wait time here.

Starting off the fun night, we had some cocktails, Take Me Home ($9), made with rum, triple sec, peach syrup, lemon and strawberries. It was strong, sweet, and tropical. Another one we had was Fig 53 ($10), made with red wine, Cointreau, grapefruit juice, orange juice, figs, blackberries and thyme. It was also sweet but not as sweet as Take Me Home. It had some chunks of fig in there, which was really nice.

For food, we ordered several dishes to share. We told them what we had during our first visit, and they wanted to try them all! We knew which dish to avoid, so made sure that no one ordered that particular one. We had Omu soba ($11.95), Kani Cream Croquettes ($8.95), both items we had before. Our friends loved these items, so it was a great recommendation.  

Another item that we recommended from our previous visit was Yaki Cheese Potato ($8.95). It was not as cheesy as I remembered, but it was still really tasty and comforting.

Then, we tried some new dishes that we haven’t tried before. We had Geso Kara ($8.95), deep-fried squid legs. It was lightly fried, crunchy exterior and juicy inside. It had nice seasoning, really nicely done. We also added something else around this time. We ordered Japanese sake, Itami Onigoroshi ($16). It was dry, clean, and went great with the comfort food dishes that we were having.

Then, some grilled fish dishes. Saba Shioyaki ($9.95) and Hamachi Kamayaki ($12.95). They were both really good, perfectly grilled, juicy and flakey, and just the right amount of salty flavor. These dishes were high quality, delicious, and memorable.

At the end, we decided to try some of their sushi. Since we were going to share, we decided to order their large sushi dish called Super Mew ($23.95). It comes with three pcs of tuna, salmon, and yellowtail. It also come with spicy tuna rolls. It was a pretty spread! We noticed something strange on salmon and tuna sushi pieces though. Tuna sushi had guacamole on top, and salmon pieces had jalapeño salsa sauce. Well, it was certainly different and interesting, but we felt like it was so not necessary. The sushi was really fresh and good quality, yet the additional topping kind of overwhelmed the sushi flavor. I think the sushi was delicious without any of these strong flavored topping.

And that was not really “the end” after all…LOL. We wanted to share a couple of desserts. We ordered Matcha Warabimochi ($7.95) and Yuzu Cheesecake ($6.95). The funny thing was, after we put in the order, one of the staffs came over and told us that the restaurant has accidentally ordered Matcha Cheesecake with their vendor, and that they don’t have Yuzu Cheesecake… What!!! He apologized and asked what we wanted to do with our order. We decided to just have Macha Cheesecake which was quite disappointing. 

Macha Cheesecake was small, very dense and rich. It was nice, but still, we were a bit sad since we all really love the yuzu flavor. Macha Warabimochi came with ice cream of your choice, and we went with black sesame. The mochi with red bean paste was really nice, but small portion. The ice cream was very tasty.

This was certainly a successful night, tasty, fun, and relaxing. Everything we ordered this evening was a hit, we all enjoyed every dish and drinks. They did not let us down, so they remain to be one of our favorite izakaya in the city. We will return again in a near future for more awesome food and drinks! I hope they will have Yuzu Cheesecake the next time we visit though…

Izakaya Mew – 53 W 35th St., New York, NY 10001