Japanese comfort food @ Sake Bar Hagi (a midtown izakaya)

Izakayas are the japanese equivalent of pubs in the UK mixed with a tapas component - they're comfortable, you can easily catch a sports game or just throw back some drinks (sake, beer and much more) and sample a variety of small, inexpensive dishes with friends.  I really like this style of dining and it's a good thing I live pretty close to Saint Marks with no lack of izakayas to frequent but on this cloudy, often-rainy day, some friends and I decided to head up to Midtown to eat at Sake Bar Hagi (49th and 7th).

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The Decor: (7.5/10)

The Pros:

• Very comfortable, well-spaced out tables
• Good service and an attentive waitstaff
• Feels like a good place to talk loudly, drink and eat with abandon
• Semi-private section for larger parties

The Cons:

• Crowded, there's always a wait of around 30 minutes - an hour, no reservations accepted
• Not many tables
• Location-wise, Midtown West is definitely not one of my favored dining neighborhoods
• I counted at least 4 tv's broadcasting the basketball game of the moment

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The Food: (8.5/10)

• Great value - none of the dishes I saw were priced above $10 and most were in the $5-$6 range
• Very fresh ingredients and simple preparations really spotlighted the star ingredients in each dish
• Most of our dishes were cooked perfectly and seasoned perfectly andsubtly
• A wide selection of dishes

Deep-fried chicken with ponzu citrus sauce and grated daikon ($6.50)

• Deliciously crispy skin, juicy meat and fried well so this wasn't very oily at all
• Sweet, tart and salty balance with the ponzu citrus sauce
• This has always been one of my favorite dishes and it's hard to find it done well

Fried rice with spicy cod roe ($8.50)

• Probably the biggest surprise winner of the night - this dish is incredibly simple, just some spicy cod roe, egg, scallion and shredded nori on top of rice but amazingly flavorful.  This could easily have been bland and boring but the chefs have a deft hand with seasoning and enough restraint not to oversalt so all the flavors in the dish were expertly enhanced and balanced

Soft-shell crab tempura with ponzu citrus sauce ($6.50)

• Beautifully fried, incredibly fresh and really well-priced
• The ponzu citrus sauce really goes with all sorts of fried things really well and it enhanced the flavor of the crab really well in this case

Kobe beef skewer ($4)

• A standard skewer kicked up a notch with pieces of glazed tender pieces of kobe beef
• Nothing too special but good
  

Agedashi tofu: deep-fried tofu with dashi sauce ($5.50)

• Pretty bland and uninteresting - the tofu had a light crispy coating and falls apart as soon as you bite into it but the dashi had no depth

Roasted eggplant ($4)

• INCREDIBLY smokey - I don't think I've ever had a dish with a smokier profile but it was surprisingly good
• A little nub of the eggplant was left on the plate so we surmised that the eggplant was blistered directly over an open flame and then peeled
• The bonito flakes and sweet sauce cut the bitterness of the eggplant quite a bit and made this dish really interesting

Takoyaki: pan-fried octopus balls ($6)

• Takoyaki are incredibly popular in all sorts of street stalls, izakayas and markets in Japan and I always remember them fondly as a festival food
• These unfortunately were way too mushy though the chunks of octopus in each were pretty tender and tasty

Grilled onigiri with soy sauce ($3)

• Grilled rice brushed with a light soy glaze always = deliciousness

Red bean ice cream, mochi, azuki ($3)

•  Good quality red bean ice cream which wasn't overly sweet, azuki beans and paste and some really chewy mochi balls made this the perfect end to a good meal

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Summary and More info:

Address: 152 West 49th Street, lower level

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