"I have recently eaten at mimi with a group of friends at night. we ordered a series of orders before so that our food was not directly from the menu, but I was there a series of times, and our meal was quite in tune with my other experiences. mimi is short on both atmosphere, and the type of raffinesse that characterizes many new york restaurants. eating at mimi is more like eating in a small restaurant in tokio, or nagoya, where neither atmosphere nor service is demanding, but where eating is good. I am a fan of Japanese food, and I lived in japan for four years in the 1980s. I found it hard to get good Japanese cuisine here, beyond the top level restaurants of midtown. some places I tried on the upper west side are not even really Japanese, but pan asian . I notice the difference. I find eating at mimi authentic and well prepared. the plant tempura is produced, for example, with a light teig. weeds like bambus shoot, katsuo tataki, auelplant dengaku, oldashi tofu, chawanmushi etc. are all authentic and very tasty. not a destination restaurant, no romantic date place, mimi is an excellent restaurant to have in the neighbourhood if they are interested in having a real Japanese food."
