Red Bank Is Getting Its First Omakase Counter This Fall
Red Bank has a lot of things. A real downtown. A music scene. A restaurant lineup that keeps getting better. What it's never had is a proper omakase counter. That changes this fall.
Studio Omakase is opening inside Anderson Market, the 8,000-square-foot food hall in the Anderson Building on Monmouth Street, in the old Sickles Market space. Fourteen seats. One chef. Twelve courses. No menu, no choices. You sit down and trust the person in front of you.
That person is Steven Wong, coming from Moko Omakase in New York City. Moko is one of those quiet, serious sushi spots that people in the industry respect — the kind of place chefs eat on their night off. Wong running his own counter in Red Bank signals intent. This isn't a food hall afterthought. It's the anchor.
For anyone who hasn't done omakase: it's the chef's tasting menu, served piece by piece across the counter. The fish was picked that morning. The rice is seasoned and held at the right temperature like it matters, because it does. You eat each piece the second it lands in front of you. There's a rhythm to it — almost ceremonial — and when it's done right, it's the best way to eat sushi that exists. No rolls stuffed with eight ingredients. No spicy mayo hiding mediocre fish. Just fish, rice, and skill.
If it's your first omakase, a few things worth knowing. Eat each piece right when it's served — sushi waits for no one. It's fine to eat with your hands; that's traditional. Skip the heavy perfume or cologne — you'll taste it in the fish, and so will everyone around you. The counter is intimate. Fourteen strangers become fourteen people sharing the same twelve moments. That's the magic of the format, and it's why counter seats create regulars faster than any dining room.
Wong will serve 12 courses, Wednesday through Sunday, at $108 per person.
Sit with that number for a second. A 12-course omakase in Manhattan from a chef with this resume starts around $200 and climbs from there. At $108, Studio Omakase isn't just Red Bank's first omakase counter — it's potentially the best value in New Jersey sushi the day it opens. The only real question is execution: the sourcing, the rice, the knife work. If Wong delivers, this room books out for months and never looks back.
So here's the part that actually requires you to do something. Fourteen seats. Reservations open Thursday, September 24. A 14-seat counter turning twice a night is under 200 covers a week — in a county with over 600,000 people. This sells out. Not eventually. Immediately. Set an alarm. Text your group chat. The people who book in the first wave will be talking about that dinner for months. Everyone else will be reading about it.
Anderson Market itself is part of the story. An 8,000-square-foot food hall in a converted market space on Monmouth Street is exactly the kind of project that gives an ambitious chef room to try something Red Bank hasn't seen. Food halls live or die on their anchors, one great vendor that gives people a reason to walk through the door. Studio Omakase is that reason.
And the building keeps getting more interesting. Lobby Bar is opening in the same space, fresh juice and smoothies by day, cocktails and Iberian snacks by night, led by beverage director Pat Pipi of Reyla and Laylow. There's also an all-vinyl hi-fi listening room in the mix. Think about that combination: a 14-seat omakase counter, a day-to-night bar program, and a vinyl listening room, all under one roof on Monmouth Street. That's not a food hall anymore. That's a full night out with the plan already built in dinner at the counter, drinks at the bar, music to close it.
Red Bank's dining scene has been leveling up for years, one opening at a time. This is the one that changes the map. September 24. Don't sleep on it.
What to know before you go:
- Where: Anderson Market, Anderson Building, Monmouth Street, Red Bank (the old Sickles Market space)
- What: 14-seat omakase counter, 12 courses, Wednesday–Sunday
- Price: $108 per person
- Reservations: open Thursday, Sept. 24, book the second they drop