Double Knot
At a whim, we’re around near the Bryant Park area. We didn’t make any reservations, and we wanted to try something new. I offered the option of yakitori (or skewers) because I knew about Double Knot being part of this movement of Philly restaurants expanding to NYC. We were able to walk in to this restaurant at around 6:00 PM, when it was prime time for the Midtown after work crowd.
Ambiance & Service
The restaurant vibe was the epitome of noisy and dark. The tall ceilings didn’t seem to help. We were seated in the second row in a comfortable 2-seater.Everyone here appeared to just have gotten off of work and looking to decompress. There was a lot of noise in the air and definitely a lot of people watching going along. It was reminiscent of a club-like atmosphere.
The service was pretty quick, but inattentive at times. We didn’t have a dedicated server, and it seemed like there were 2 servers covering our row. When we ordered our food, the food comes out as it’s being made, so there’s no sense of creating pacing of courses. Generally, I think this place is more of a lively club scene than a calm dinner outing.
Food
The Prawn ($13) was cooked with head on, and the whole prawn was entirely edible. For the price, you simply get 1 skewered prawn.
The Short Rib ($11) was very soft and glazed thoroughly. It had a nice charred flavor, though it’s probably pricey for this single skewer.
The Octopus ($8) was tender, albeit small pieces. The octopus had a nice bounce to it although it wasn’t the most tender piece of octopus I’ve had.
The Jowl ($7) was quite good. It had some nice flavors from the char.
The Scallop ($13) appeared to be sliced multiple times. They took a meaty scallop, and made it smaller. The scallop tasted good, but if this is true, the price for this is definitely on the expensive side.
The Double Knot Big Eye Tuna ($19) tasted how it looks. The roll was surprisingly crunchy, and the big eye tuna slices were pretty fresh. Other than that, this was a pretty no frills sushi roll.
The Cheesesteak Bao ($17) came with 3 baos stuffed with ribeye and provolone. This was surprisingly pretty good. It was very cheesy and densely packed with ribeye meat.
Overall Impression
The food here was mostly OK. I think the way they cooked the food was just too basic, and the flavors were not very unique. I’m sure if you’re drinking and want to have a night out, this would satisfy that. For the food alone, I did not find this to be a value play, and if you really are desiring yakitori or sushi, there are a ton of better restaurants to go to. Otherwise, if you do want to try out what Philly restaurants have to offer, try this out. Maybe you will enjoy this more than I did.
Yelp & Google Jabs
Really got to try a variety of the expansive menu by ordering many of the smaller shareables. The pork tonkatsu is a yummy filling–be warned if you’re trying to portion!
All the food is meant to be sharable in a more extreme sense. You’d think the portions would be good enough to be shared, but I would even question that. The value to portion ratio is not great.
Out of everything we ordered, the must tries were all the Robatayakis! And if you don’t believe me, start with the Short Rib Robatayaki and I guarantee you’ll double back and get more.
The Elitists typically are wrong. The skewers here are similar to any yakitori place you go to. The short rib that we got was very sweet but also very tender. Would you want to come back for more? Probably not for the full price they charge. And even then, there are other yakitori restaurants in the city that server more and better portions at a lower cost.
Revisions
- Mar 19, 2026 - Initial revision.