Order the smoked uni spoon first, then keep the small plates coming. Uni is Oringer at his most exhilarating — sit at the bar.
Start With the Smoked Uni Spoon
One bite sets the order at Uni in the Eliot Hotel: the smoked uni spoon, very lightly smoked sea urchin with raw quail egg and osetra caviar. It is the dish that must be ordered, and it tells you what the rest of the evening is going to be, precise and a little irreverent at once. Ken Oringer opened Uni as a small sashimi bar and expanded it into the full izakaya it is now; Executive Chef David Bazirgan runs the kitchen day to day at 370 Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay.
Uni operates as an izakaya in the Japanese sense, where food and drink are inseparable and the meal progresses by accumulation rather than formal coursing. Small plates arrive continuously, so the order is less a sequence than a running tally.
What to Order After the Spoon
Move to the A5 wagyu sirloin nigiri, among the finest single bites in Boston, and the crispy duck buns the regulars order without reading the menu. The lobster BLT roll and the hamachi with jalapeno fill out the middle of the table, and the spicy tuna with foie gras is the plate that shows the kitchen's register best, too fluent to call fusion. The sake program, one of the more serious in New England with unfiltered nama varietals, is the drink to build alongside the food.
What It Costs
Plan on roughly 90 to 130 dollars a head in the dining room before drinks, with the cocktail and sake list lifting the total. The omakase tasting runs around 125 dollars per person and provides structured access to the kitchen's range without your having to assemble it. The izakaya plates are designed to add up, so the total is a function of how long you stay and how deep into the sake list you go. It is a special-occasion room priced to match the Eliot Hotel address.
The Value Play
The bar, before seven on a weekday. It takes some walk-ins, puts the kitchen's production in front of you, and is the correct seat here regardless of the reservation. On weekends the late-night ramen program runs after ten without a booking and is some of the best-value serious eating in Back Bay. To lock the seat you want, read our guide on how to book Uni, and if you are after a hushed Edomae counter instead, weigh O Ya in the Leather District.
Not for a hushed, traditional sushi temple or a quiet conversation. Uni is a loud, high-energy izakaya built for cocktails and sharing, and the room runs at pace. Diners after a silent, formal Edomae dinner should book O Ya instead.
View Uni on Restaurants for Kings →
Related Reading
- Our full profile: Uni at the Eliot Hotel.
- Book the table: how to book Uni in Boston.
- The wider city: Boston dining guide.
- The quieter counter: O Ya's Edomae room.
- By kitchen: the best Japanese restaurants worldwide and the best sushi worldwide.
- By occasion: the best first-date restaurants and where to eat well alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I order at Uni in Boston?
Start with the smoked uni spoon, very lightly smoked sea urchin with raw quail egg and osetra caviar, the one dish that must be ordered. Then the A5 wagyu sirloin nigiri, among the finest single bites in the city, and the crispy duck buns. Add the lobster BLT roll and the hamachi with jalapeno to round out the table. Uni is an izakaya, so the plates are built to add up across the evening rather than arrive as courses.
What is the signature dish at Uni?
The smoked uni spoon is the calling card: barely smoked sea urchin with raw quail egg and osetra caviar in a single bite. Ken Oringer's kitchen, run day to day by Executive Chef David Bazirgan, pairs it with the A5 wagyu sirloin nigiri and the lobster BLT roll, dishes too fluent to call fusion and too irreverent to call classical. Together they are the reference order at the Eliot Hotel izakaya in Back Bay.
How much does Uni cost?
Plan on roughly 90 to 130 dollars per person in the dining room before drinks, with the omakase counter running higher. The shared izakaya plates, the uni spoon, the hamachi and the duck buns among them, are designed to add up across the table, and the cocktail and sake list will lift the total. The omakase tasting runs around 125 dollars per person. It is a special-occasion room priced to match its Back Bay setting.
Is the omakase at Uni worth ordering?
Yes, if you want structure over a self-built order. The omakase tasting runs around 125 dollars per person and gives access to the kitchen's range without asking you to assemble it plate by plate. The Thursday four-seat counter is the harder, Edomae-style version and books well ahead. For the full a la carte night, the smoked uni spoon and the A5 wagyu nigiri deliver the highlights for less. See our guide on how to book Uni for the counter window.
Where should I sit at Uni?
The bar. The long counter that dominates the room lets you watch the kitchen, talk through the plates with the staff and move through one of New England's more serious sake lists with guidance. It also takes some walk-ins early in the evening, before seven on a weekday, which is the best route in without a reservation. Uni sits at 370 Commonwealth Avenue in the Eliot Hotel, on the quieter Back Bay stretch facing the Fens.