Ono Restaurant

Imaginative design. Innovative menu. Ono brings a new level of sophistication to New York's hippest location. Ono, a neo-Japanese inspired restaurant, bar and garden, offers exquisite cuisine in an unsurpassable setting. Design collaborator Jeffrey Beers successfully incorporates the four elements: fire, water, earth and sky into a spectacular extra-sensory backdrop. The result is an exotic paradise, the perfect setting for a culinary adventure. A fusion of traditional and contemporary Japanese cuisines with impeccable attention to detail.

Silk shades hang from vaulted ceilings, spilling warm, flattering light over the already dashing diners. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the bamboo-filled outdoor gardens, the restaurant's most coveted see-and-be-seen seating in warmer months. Service is swift and efficient, but has a tendency to rush through courses.

The menu is huge, listing traditional Japanese fare (tempura, dumplings), inventive sushi rolls and pieces, and robata (grilled meats and veggies), as well as full entrees. The best bet: Order as you go and share everything, starting with the Kobe-style beef, dramatically presented on a tabletop grill. For the carb-phobic, there's the rice-less spicy crab roll stuffed with tobiko and avocado, and robata: grilled skewers of lobster, asparagus, clams and much more. But the real draw are the nontraditional sushi pieces, like decadent foie gras with sweet-salty shiso and plum, salmon with tomato-onion marmalade and toro with jalapeno and fried garlic.

The sake list is quite good; ask the sake steward for advice. Wines by the glass are $9-$16. Several bottle choices are in the $40 range.

Meet up with friends in the exclusive Garden of Ono. The exotic outdoor setting serves up delicious cocktails and a menu offering traditional and modern Japanese cuisine - open seven days a week from 5:30pm-2:00am. Also, enjoy Sunday Brunch, served 12:00pm-6:00pm.

Book one of the semi-private tatami rooms, which seat from four to six diners. For larger parties of 20 to 75, the mezzanine dining room is ideal.