Nobu was at the cutting edge of bringing the innovative "new style Japanese cooking" to New York City. A partnership of actor Robert DeNiro, celebrated chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, and Tribeca Grill restaurateur Drew Nieporent - Nobu is a visual and culinary experience. Tall birch tree columns rise into the ceiling, which is painted copper with patches of open brickwork showing through-- evoking a feeling of the Japanese countryside. Superb raw and cooked ingredients make for a wonderful meal.
However, much of the attitude at this restaurant urgently needs to be dispelled, especially considering the high price of dining. When even the most couth and sophisticated of diners can be treated with disdain and slipshod service by the staff, we are compelled to declare: that's utterly unacceptable. We therefore hope for reform. Chiemi Karasawa was quoted in
Vanity Fair in June 2007 as saying: "...a theme park of a restaurant, sort of a homogenized extraction of the real thing for the masses: a bunch of Caucasians serving things they don't even know how to pronounce."
