Masa

New York's Highest-Priced Omakase Counter, Placed in Context

At the top of New York's omakase market, a handful of counters compete on a different axis than the broader sushi scene. Seat counts are low, waiting lists are long, and the price per head moves into territory more commonly associated with multi-course tasting menus at French three-stars like The French Laundry in Napa or Alinea in Chicago. Masa, on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, has held three Michelin stars and appears on the World's 50 Best list, ranking 27th in 2009.

For comparison points within the Japanese counter format specifically, Sushi Noz, Sushi Amane, Kosaka, Sushi Nakazawa, and Sushi Yasuda each occupy distinct positions in the city's omakase tier structure, at varying price points and formats.

The Counter, the Room, and What the Format Demands

The dining room at Masa holds 26 seats in total, with 10 of those positioned at the hinoki wood counter itself. Hinoki, a Japanese cypress prized for its pale colour, fine grain, and faint citrus fragrance, has become the material marker of serious omakase spaces globally, but the counter at Masa is among the most cited references for the format in the Western hemisphere. Under the room's lighting, the wood reads almost white. The counter configuration places guests close to the preparation, which matters: in omakase at this level, proximity is part of the exchange. Watching technique, asking questions about specific fish or rice temperature, and occasionally receiving a piece handed directly from the chef are all part of how the format communicates.

The room operates Tuesday through Saturday for both lunch (noon to 2 pm) and dinner (5 to 9:30 pm), and is closed Sunday and Monday. With 26 seats and a four-hour daily service window, the total number of covers served each week is structurally limited, which explains why the reservation process is tightly managed. The dress code is smart casual.

The Sake Programme as a Structural Element of the Meal

In the wider conversation about omakase pairing, sake is often treated as an afterthought, a list of four or five options appended to a wine programme that does most of the work. At Masa, the approach is structurally different. The sake selection rotates seasonally and features six varieties alongside a private-label expression developed specifically for the restaurant. The range is designed to cover distinct brewing styles rather than clustering around a single register: lighter, more fragrant expressions sit alongside fruity and more refined options, and nigori sake, unfiltered, with a milky appearance and a sweeter, rounder profile, appears as a deliberate contrast to the cleaner, drier styles that dominate most pairing lists.

This matters editorially because it reflects a specific stance on how beverage and food interact in Japanese counter dining. Sake, unlike wine, shares fermentation grain with the rice in the sushi itself, which creates a kind of compositional continuity across the meal that no wine programme can replicate. At the luxury end of the omakase market, where foie gras nigiri and Osetra caviar appear as course elements, the sake programme has to hold its own against the weight and richness of the ingredients. The private-label inclusion signals that the programme is treated as a sourcing project, not simply a list assembled from distributor allocations.

For guests planning a comparable beverage-forward experience in other formats, Lazy Bear in San Francisco and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg both treat the pairing programme as an integral structural element rather than an add-on, though through entirely different culinary traditions. Outside the United States, Sushi Masaki Saito in Toronto and Endo at The Rotunda in London represent the North American and European ends of the same high-end omakase conversation.

The Menu: No Choices, Considerable Latitude

Masa operates on a pre-set format with no printed menu for guests. The meal opens with a sequence of approximately five appetisers, formats have included hot pots with meat or vegetables served in broth, seaweed and clam preparations, and toro tartare with caviar. Sushi courses follow, built around seafood sourced daily from Japan and from international suppliers, with the selection covering tuna, sea bream, eel, sea urchin, octopus, scallops, squid, clams, and fluke depending on the day. White truffle appears over the rice in certain preparations; abalone and foie gras nigiri have been documented as recurring elements at the luxury end of the menu's register.

The rice itself has attracted specific attention in critical coverage. Served lukewarm rather than at room temperature, the individual grains remain distinguishable within the ball, and the slight temperature contrast between the rice and the cold fish produces a textural and thermal dynamic that separates it from the more homogenous rice compression common at mid-tier omakase counters. A buckwheat tea mid-meal and a grapefruit granite at the close round out the structure. Guests who want a course repeated can ask; the format allows for it.

The hot pot component is worth noting as a structural choice. In a meal organised almost entirely around raw preparation, a cooked broth course serves as a textural and thermal interruption, a device that high-end Japanese kaiseki uses routinely but that most sushi-focused omakase formats omit. Its inclusion at Masa reflects a broader approach that treats the meal as a composition rather than a sequence of individual pieces.

Luxury Ingredients in a North American Context

North American tasting menus at the four-dollar-sign tier tend to resolve into two broad approaches: French-influenced classicism (as at Emeril's in New Orleans or Providence in Los Angeles) or contemporary formats that use luxury ingredients as a baseline rather than an accent. Masa belongs to neither category cleanly. The use of white and black truffles, Osetra caviar, and foie gras within a Japanese omakase structure represents a deliberate overlay of Western luxury signifiers onto a format that originated in restraint and seasonal precision. This creates a tension that is either the point or a complication, depending on the diner's frame of reference. The Michelin Guide awards it three stars.

For comparison within New York's broader ultra-premium dining tier, Alinea in Chicago and contemporaries like Eleven Madison Park, Per Se, and Atomix each anchor different ends of the same price bracket, with the Korean-influenced formats at Atomix and Jungsik New York representing the most significant recent challengers to French and Japanese dominance at the top of the market.

Planning a Visit

Masa is on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, Manhattan. The address places it within easy reach of Central Park South hotels and the Lincoln Center area. Reservations are essential, and the 26-seat capacity means lead times are substantial. Bar Masa, on the same floor, offers a less structured version of the format for guests who want proximity to the kitchen's sourcing and style without the full omakase commitment.

What People Recommend at Masa

Forbes Travel Guide inspectors specifically identify the sushi counter seats, the 10 positions at the hinoki bar, as the seats to request, ahead of the table seating in the wider room. The reasoning is direct: counter placement puts guests in contact with the preparation, and at a counter of this calibre, watching technique is part of the value. The sake programme draws consistent recommendation, particularly the nigori expression and the private-label variety. The rice preparation, lukewarm, grain-distinct, with white truffle in certain courses, appears in almost every piece of critical coverage as the specific technical element that separates Masa from its peer counters. Chef Masayoshi Takayama's three-Michelin-star credential and the restaurant's 27th-place ranking on the World's 50 Best list establish the historical foundation.