My partner had won some tickets to watch Appropriate on Broadway starring Sarah Paulson. The show starts at 8, but we had to pick up the will-call tickets by 7:30. I saw this Japanese small eatery was nearby the theater on 46th St, and I thought this would be a decent restaurant to try out since there’s a lot of little things we can order. We were able to walk in on a Saturday evening at around 5:30 PM before it got busy.
Ambiance & Service
The restaurant plays a lot of Japanese music, and in general feels like a Japanese izakaya joint like the rest. They have decent options of liquor (beer, sake, wine) and lots of options for small Japanese eats like ramen, hot dishes, cold dishes, etc.
The service was very fast, and because it was small restaurant, it was easy to get ahold of servers if needed.
Food
The Yuzu Sour w/ sweet ($5 - happy hour, $8 normally) came in a tall, chilled glass with ice. This was actually really good because it’s like a yuzu spritz. The yuzu was tart but also aromatic and gave some punch in flavor. You don’t really need to sip a lot of it to enjoy the flavors of the yuzu along with the fizz. For $8, it might be pricey, but I think it’s a great choice for happy hour because they give you a decent amount of it.
The Whitening Tempura ($10) came with 4 pieces, radish with ginger, and a shishito pepper. The fish meat was pretty good, almost like a Japanese version of fish and chips. You can eat the whole piece, including tail. The tempura batter for this restaurant is decent, and I wished it was a bit more fluffy.
The Shrimp Tempura ($10) came with 4 pieces, radish with ginger, and a shishito pepper. The tempura batter for the shrimp comes off a bit soggy, so it’s not the best. The shrimp though was pretty good.
The Yakitori was all ordered salted instead of tare (teriyaki).
From left to right:
- The chicken skin ($4) was ordered crispy, but it didn’t come out crispy at all.
- The pork rib ($4) was basically thick pieces of bacon and was decent.
- The chicken gizzard ($3) was crunchy and cooked nicely.
- The chicken thigh ($3) didn’t have that much flavor, but it was cooked thoroughly.
- The asparagus with bacon ($5) was probably our favorite because the bacon provided salt without us needing to add any.
- The cherry tomato ($3) was ok. I was hoping for some charcoal flavors to it, but it was nearly nonexistent.
The house special Sea Urchin Tempura ($15) came with 2 pieces cut in half. I didn’t know what to expect. This came with a shiso leaf that wrapped sea urchin and then fried in the batter. Had I known about the batter they used, I probably wouldn’t have ordered this. The uni unfortunately was cooked almost all the way through, so you don’t get any of its creaminess or raw texture. The texture is more akin to minced tofu. The flavor was subtly there, but the enjoyable piece was largely the shiso leaf. In the end, I would probably skip this the next time.
The Grilled Eel Don ($32) came with 4 slabs of eel on top of rice and served with some Japanese pickled cucumbers. This was quite delicious, and it most definitely capped our night.
Final Verdict
Heno Heno is a decent Japanese yakitori-izakaya type restaurant near all the theaters. The food was good for the price, but it’s also not out of this world. Definitely check this restaurant out if you desire this type of Japanese food if you want to be near the theaters.
Yelp Jabs
Restaurant closes at 12, arrived at 11:20 only to say that they are closed. I understand we arrived pretty close to closing time, but don’t be a jerk and kick us out. Walked many blocks just but disappointed by their attitude.
If this Yelper understood they arrived pretty close to closing time, then they wouldn’t have been disappointed by their attitude. Generally even though the restaurant is opened during a time range, it doesn’t always mean they will accept diners. Usually the last call for orders before they shut off the stoves can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes before closing time.
The yakitori is a skip. It didn’t have that much flavor and was just slightly warm not hot, like off the grill. Yakitori is one of my favorite foods, so I’m quite picky about it.
A few things to note based on this Elitist’s comment. The instant the yakitori comes off the grill or charcoal, it cools down very quickly unless you’re right next to the chef. For seasoning, you can choose salted or teriyaki. Based on this Elitist’s picture, it looks like they chose the former, so the seasoning is going to be on the plainer side of things. Lastly, there really is nothing spectacular about yakitori. It is just “food on a stick”, except maybe you might get the charcoal tastes in it. If you’d like to get much better yakitori, check out a yakitori restaurant’s tasting, e.g. Kono, where they use high quality meats and will most definitely come piping hot.
Revisions
- Dec 9, 2023 - Initial revision.