NYC’s Newest Fancy Sushi Restaurant Is Located Inside a…Grocery Store?

When Wegmans opened its first New York City location in 2023, shoppers began lining up at 2:30am. The grocery store, now with 112 locations across the East Coast, has a devoted following for its accessible pricing, high-quality prepared food, and excellent customer service. And as of today, Wegmans fans can rejoice over a new concept: a high-end Japanese restaurant.

Next Door, located within Wegmans Astor Place, is based on its restaurant of the same name at the original Rochester, New York outpost. The menu is a collaboration among chefs Kazuya Matsuoka, Oliver Lange, and John Emerson. “You’ll see many favorites from Rochester on our Astor Place menu, alongside many new dishes that we’re excited about,” says Matsuoka. 

The restaurant is anything but your typical grocery store food court. The design is luxurious, with golden hues, a marble sushi bar, custom mosaics, and velvet banquettes. There’s Champagne, tableside service, and plenty of caviar. However, the focus of the menu is undoubtedly the sushi. 

Wegmans grocery store has long been known for its premium sushi bar and seafood counter, featuring fish flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market, the largest fish market in the world. “We have the advantage of Wegmans’ longstanding supplier relationships — for instance, direct access to the Toyosu Fish Market — allowing us to source some of the freshest and highest quality ingredients available,” says Oliver. “At Next Door, we bring the same commitment to ingredient quality that has always been at the heart of Wegmans.”

Of course, all this decadence doesn’t come cheap. While a nine-piece assorted nigiri set at Wegmans market costs $16, the “chef’s choice,” nine-piece nigiri variation at Next Door is priced much higher at $72. Granted, the fish tastes fresher and is presented on beautiful plates, with the nigiri served on a large, rectangular stone. Beyond that, premium menu items such as uni sea urchin will cost you as much as $42 for two pieces; meanwhile, just two miles downtown, Nobu serves the same for $18 apiece.

In addition to the raw seafood program, which includes oysters, sashimi, nigiri, specialty maki rolls, and tartare, Next Door also offers ribeye, Tokyo-style tenderloin, and A5 Japanese wagyu, all cooked on a robata grill. Their more affordable vegetable dishes (all under $20) are surprising highlights; in particular, the baked sweet potato mashed with black garlic ponzu butter and served with sweet potato chips for dipping. During my recent visit to Next Door, I noticed more tables with the sweet potato than with the “chef’s special” signature platter — a seafood tower of sorts, featuring oyster, king salmon pâté, lobster, and Hokkaido scallops. 

Considering the price and the upscale atmosphere, Next Door feels like a special occasion spot. However, the Wegmans team hopes their Astor Place restaurant becomes a staple of the neighborhood — a restaurant that shoppers can wander into after picking up their produce, perhaps drawn in by the mysterious, large golden doors located directly to the right of the grocery store’s exit. For now, if you’re interested in dining at Next Door, it’s probably best to make a reservation in advance. Given how hyped Wegmans’ fans get, it’s likely that a table at Next Door will be difficult to secure.